MetaFilter posts tagged with Airline

World's Most Experienced Airline... in the garage

armage — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:30:26 -0800

Anthony Toth has recreated a first-class Pan Am cabin in his garage.

Desperate to get to San Francisco

hermitosis — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:16:06 -0800

"Cathay Pacific has apologized for embarrassing a customer whose anguish after missing her flight was captured on video by an airline employee and posted on the Internet..."

Survival in The Sky

maxwelton — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:16:11 -0800

Known as Black Box in the UK, Survival in the Sky was a four-episode 1996 series about commercial aviation accidents and the investigation of their causes. (Two additional episodes were filmed in 1998.) Not currently available on DVD, five of the six episodes are available in their entirety on YouTube (links within). The series, narrated by Will Lyman, is notable for being produced with the cooperation of the NTSB and AAIB, and is a studied and thoughtful contrast to the much more frenetic Seconds from Disaster, a recent series which often focuses on aviation disasters. Survival in the Sky features a minimum of CGI recreation and no dramatic reenactments, instead allowing period footage and compelling interviews with survivors, air crew, experts, and investigators tell the story. Please see the wikipedia entry for a synopsis of the specific incidents each episode explores, and beware that there are a few moments in the show which take an unblinking look at the aftermath of aviation disasters. The episodes (missing the 1998 program about Flight 800):

"Blaming the Pilot" (1996) [1 2 3 4 5]
"Deadly Weather" (1996) [1 2 3 4 5]
"A Wing and a Prayer" (1996) [1 2 3 4 5]
"Crash Detectives" (1996) [1 2 3 4 5]
"Sky Crimes" (1998) [1 2 3 4 5]

Oh, it's a big, pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the windows and wheels; why, it looks like a big Tylenol!

crapmatic — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:12:32 -0800

Mark takes us on the A380 (warning: image heavy) from Dubai to New York with meticulous photographic detail. For $7300 you can fly the A380 with access to amenities like showers and a full-service bar, and stroll down to see the plebs in steerage. Arguably the last time a flying hotel was tried in earnest was the post-WWII Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, a staple of Pacific routes until jet-powered 707s appeared on the scene.

Boeing 777 PTQ

backseatpilot — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:12:11 -0800

Boeing 777 assembled in 4:13 (SLYT)

Fear of Flying?

spock — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 08:49:27 -0800

Professional Pilots Rumor Network is not recommended reading if you care to fly again. For example, you will discover that what was was initially described by the FAA as a "vibration in the No. 2 engine" was actually uncontained engine failure. Passengers who were on the flight could have told you that. Am I editorializing to say that I'm amazed that this forum is public?

Wet landing

eye of newt — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:04:57 -0800

On Nov 22, 1968, exactly 39 years ago, on a reasonably clear, uneventful day, a new JAL DC-8 descended toward the SFO airport. The landing was so well executed that no one was hurt when the pilot landed the plane into the San Francisco Bay, several miles from the airport. What explanation did 15 year veteran pilot Captain Kohei Asoh give for his botched landing? It was so unusual (especially in this day and age), so refreshingly honest, that it came to be known as the Asoh Defense. Amazingly, the plane was recovered, refurbished, and was in service for another 35 years.

Vintage Flight Attendant Photos

brain_drain — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:07:58 -0800

Remember when air travel was viewed as glamorous and exciting? Of course you don't. So check out this collection of vintage flight attendant photos: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Airline Branding Weblog

riffola — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:09:01 -0800

Airline Branding Weblog. Can you say "Awesome"?

great white wrecks

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:03:39 -0800

Abandoned plane wrecks of the north. The Arctic North is a cruel environment for men and machine; for planes it is no different. The weather creates all sorts of hazards, the terrain offers its own variety of opportunities for disaster. (Warning: extreme comic sans.)

Air Filter

chuckdarwin — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 10:14:57 -0800

Airway Robbery. Another summer, another disaster for British Airways. The company has just received the largest fine ever issued by Britain’s competition agency (nearly £270m / $547m) for price fixing on fuel surcharges. BA admitted to colluding with rival airline Virgin Atlantic (who won immunity in the UK) on at least six occasions. The allegations are thought to be linked to the resignation of commercial director Martin George and communications chief Iain Burns. Although BA said fuel surcharges were "a legitimate way of recovering costs", in May 2007 it put aside £350 million for legal fees and fines. Criminal proceedings against individuals in both countries are a distinct possibility.

FlightMemory.com - easily keep track of where you have flown

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Mon, 14 May 2007 20:13:36 -0800

FlightMemory.com You must remember this: Passengers can wax nostalgic about flights they made and missed. Launched in Germany last year, this free site made its English-language debut last month.

How to crash an airplane by cheating at Tetris

jdfalk — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 14:19:26 -0800

This simple hack actually only crashes the in-flight entertainment system (perhaps this one?), but that's already enough to cause concern with the kind of people who comment anonymously on a blog for "security executives."

I'm certain that this vulnerability (like this vulnerability) will be taken seriously.

Australian News Filter

mattoxic — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 20:37:20 -0800

What is it with airlines and tee-shirts? Australian carrier Qantas is now getting in on the action with a passenger refused a flight because the airline deemed his shirt to be offensive. This is similar to another case. Previously mentioned.

Airline travel on the cheap made easy

champthom — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 18:24:54 -0800

WhichBudget.com: a site that helps you find a low cost airline flight for your destination

Airsafe.com: Airline accident and airline safety and security information

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:18:46 -0800

Airsafe.com: more air crash information than you'll ever hope you need. Celebrity Air Crashes Cases. Airlines without Fatal Events. Fatal Events by Airline. How hard is it to fly a 757 or a 767? How to File a Complaint About Your Airline Service.

Would you like some peanuts....eeewwww!!!

Poagao — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 10:53:30 -0800

Kissing is terrorist behavior now? From the article: 'Shortly after takeoff, Varnier nodded off, leaning his head on Tsikhiseli. A stewardess came over to their row. “The purser wants you to stop that,” she said...The captain told Tsikhiseli that if they didn’t stop arguing with the crew he would divert the plane.'

T-Shirt Censorship: Beginnings of a Deadly Sentiment?

ed — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 14:21:58 -0800

Raed Jarrar was coming home from Jordan wearing a T-shirt with the phrase "We will not be silent" in Arabic script and English. Other JetBlue passengers who could not read the Arabic were "offended" and she was apprehended by security and asked to replace it. She also had her seat changed to the back of the plane. Variations on T-shirt airline censorship have happened before, but, taken to extremes, the fear of foreign language has spawned some unpleasant nights. Where is the line drawn? And where is the path to multicultural reconciliation?

To Paris and back!

junesix — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 22:05:57 -0800

Pilot's eye view of a three day trip [Youtube]. A pilot at American Airlines made this video of his three-day trip from Boston to Paris and back so his young daughter could see where he worked. It's all shot from the pilot's perspective so there's plenty of eye candy for the aviation and gadget geeks. On his day off, fly4fun catches a cruise on a Bateux-Mouches river boat, sees the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, and grabs a few pints in Parisian pubs (including the expat bar, Le Mazet, where the last official sighting of Jim Morrison took place). It's all edited with iMovie and set to U2's Vertigo. [more inside]

Enplaned

cillit bang — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 06:29:06 -0800

Enplaned Even if you don't care a whit about the airline inductry, this is a great example of how to blog a topic well. [via Joel on Software]

Just Do It

fandango_matt — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 11:08:42 -0800

[NewsFilter] Landing Gear Redux: Another airliner with stuck landing gear--this time a Nike corporate jet--may be forced to make an emergency landing, like that JetBlue airliner back in September. Story developing.

I think it's safe to say I'm the only 18-year-old in Britain with his own airline

runkelfinker — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 17:37:28 -0800

Introducing alphaOne Airways: Probably the world's first budget airline with a Geocities website.

The brainchild of British teenager Martin Halstead, alphaOne will offer twice-daily shuttle flights between Oxford and Cambridge - that's only 70 miles as the crow flies.

Is Martin a pimply megalomaniac, the next Richard Branson, or just another harmless flight sim fanatic? No doubt Stelios is on the case...

They'd love to fly...

clevershark — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:11:29 -0800

Like misbehaving teenagers, Jetsgo passengers find themselves grounded indefinitely. As it turns out you can't both operate on razor-thin margins AND spend millions upon millions in expensive marketing campaigns. Who'd have thunk it?

Travel Aggregators

yankeefog — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 07:16:55 -0800

Upstart travel sites challenge the big three Catering to skinflints who can't be bothered to check multiple sites for the best fares, travel aggregator sites like Mobissimo, CheapFlights, Qixo, or Sidestep allow you to search Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity with a single query, as well as bargain airlines like JetBlue and Southwest, which aren't covered by the big three. (note: Sidestep requires a download, and only works on Windows; the others are all just regular websites.) But maybe you'd be best off just heading straight to an obscure Belgian travel site.

Thank God for Airport Security

ZenMasterThis — Wed, 10 Sep 2003 08:26:32 -0800

Thank God for Airport Security. Can you believe this?