Last December we reported on a Go! Airlines flight where the pilots fell asleep and missed the airport. Today a Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 flight missed their destination of Minneapolis by 150 miles.
The flight crew said they became engrossed in a conversation about airline policy (and honestly, who couldn’t?) and lost track of their location. However, the FAA is investigating if pilot fatigue played any roll in this event.
The flight from San Diego to Minneapolis had 144 passengers onboard and none of them were aware of what happened, until the aircraft was swarmed by police once they finally arrived. The police kept all passengers onboard until they were allowed to question the flight crew.
The FAA lost contact with the aircraft while it was traveling at 37,000 feet and they notified the Air National Guard, who then put two fighter jets on alert. They were never given the order to take off.
Andrea Allmon, a passenger who had been traveling from San Diego on business, stated, “When I do my job, I do my job. These guys are supposed to be paying attention to the flight. The safety of the passengers should be first and foremost. (It’s) unbelievable to me that they weren’t paying attention. Just not paying attention.”
She is right. No matter if they were awake having a heated debate, they should have still been paying attention to their flight and of course the radio. The FAA is investigating the incident and the two pilots have been suspended from flying. Hopefully it is not found that the pilots fell asleep during flight.
On April 28, 1968, United Airlines flew its first Boeing 737-200 on an inaugural flight between Chicago and Grand Rapids. Over 41 years later, a Boeing 737-300 will be the last Boeing 737 to fly in United Airline colors.
Instead of going with the next generation of Boeing 737’s, United chose to go with Airbus A320s instead. The last flight will start off in Washington DC on October 28th and end up in San Francisco where it will be prepared for its retirement. The airline was only flying 737-300’s and 737-500’s and most likely the Airbus A320 will replace the lost 737’s.
Maybe Delta Air Lines should have the special Falcon livery
On Saturday, I blogged about how AirTran is the official airline of the Atlanta Falcons. To celebrate, AirTran made a special livery for the airline. Today, I was interested about the arrangement and did a little research and found that even though they are the official airlines, when traveling, the Falcons fly on Delta Air Lines.
The deal between the Falcons and AirTran allows the airline to put signs up in the Georgia Dome, use of the Falcon players in advertising, and of course the special livery Boeing 717.
The Falcons are not the only ones. The Phoenix Cardinals and US Airways had an arrangement, although the team flew on Northwest Airlines (which is now Delta Air Lines).
Even though this can be mis-leading, it is business. In fact, with AirTran flying only Boeing 737’s and Boeing 717’s, they have no aircraft able to fly a whole NFL team and staff. It just shows that just because an airline is the official carrier of a team, doesn’t mean the team gives their seal of approval. Personally, I don’t consider what sports team is endorsing the airline I fly when booking my travel.
We have been following the creation of the Continental Blue Skyway livery from the beginning. The voting, the showing, and I was even able to see it first hand while on a layover in Houston.
After seeing my excitement with seeing it in person, Continental Airlines pointed out there was a time-lapse video showing the creation of the special livery.
I know this might be a lot of attention giving to one livery, but I really love special liveries as much as I love retro ones.
Some special liveries might change the look of the tail or put a little graphic on the side of the plane. However, AirTran went all out for its Atlanta Falcon’s livery, called “Falcon 1.” AirTran is the official airline of the Atlanta Falcons and the two will have joint advertising.
There is also a very interesting video here, showing the transformation.
