A friend in DC just e-mailed this update to the Jetwhine news room.

From the wastelands of New Mexico comes the news – no, Eclipse is fine, for now.

This is certain to become THE news story of 2007, from the same state that brought you presidential candidate Bill Richardson.

New Mexico has finally gone public with documentation that proves the existence of the spacecraft we all knew the government  been hiding since the 40s. Jetwhine staffers have been unable to reach the candidate in Iowa for his perspective on the crisis.

Gaze now my friends upon the evidence attached here … a copy of a recently published navigational chart of the Roswell area printed by the State of New Mexico – proof positive that we have been visited by aliens and the folks in New Mexico have known all along (Note prominent spacecraft footprint on the chart).

This evidence does not confirm that the White House has any knowledge of the invasion of course. Press secretary Dana Perrino, in fact, reportedly did not recall any briefing about flying saucers since it would have occurred before she was born. The White House does not believe the saucers could be any more difficult to work around than UAVs.

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As Friday’s Jetwhine posts proves yet again, I simply love to tweak the nose of practically every airline in the U.S. They just give us so bloggers so much ammunition. I can’t seem to help myself.

It’s always been tough to say anything ugly about Southwest though. OK, maybe the dress code thing last summer came pretty close.

After Friday’s announcement that Southwest would fly home 171 soldiers for the holidays – free of charge – there’s not much you can say except thanks to Colleen Barrett and the thousands of other people who operate an airline with something no other carrier seems to think is important … a conscience … a soul … a feeling that the people they carry are just that, people … not stuff.

Here’s the gist of the Southwest News Release …

Southwest Airlines will fly 171 Texas Army National Guard soldiers from North Carolina to Texas on Sunday, Dec. 23. The 436th Chemical Company of the Texas Army National Guard is stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, waiting for deployment to Afghanistan. They recently got news that their deployment has been delayed, so now they are able to spend the holidays with their families, and Southwest Airlines is making it possible! The soldiers will arrive in Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio on Sunday courtesy of Southwest. Southwest Airlines Employees and Customers will be alongside their families to welcome home the soldiers!

Thanks folks!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Night Before Christmas

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp,
Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ.
The aircraft were fastened to tiedowns with care,
In hopes that come morning, they all would be there.

The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots,
With gusts from two-forty at 39 knots.
I slumped at the fuel desk, now finally caught up,
And settled down comfortably, resting my butt.

When the radio lit up with noise and with chatter,
I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter.
A voice clearly heard over static and snow,
Called for clearance to land at the airport below.

He barked his transmission so lively and quick,
I’d have sworn that the call sign he used was “St. Nick”.
I ran to the panel to turn up the lights,
The better to welcome this magical flight.

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While Kate Hanni’s name may not ring a bell in everyone’s head immediately, it certainly should for anyone who flies aboard a commercial airliner this holiday travel season … or any other time of the year actually. Hanni was recently named one of the most influential people for positive change in the travel industry by Travel Weekly magazine.

Hanni was a passenger aboard an American Airline’s flight last winter that diverted to Austin from Dallas due to weather. While the world’s largest carrier tried to figure out the next move, they kept Hanni, her family and more than a hundred other passengers captive inside the cabin on the ramp in Austin for over 9 1/2 hours before the flight left for DFW. No food, no water, no working toilets … nothing. More than 4600 American passengers were in the same fix that day.

That was a year ago. If the Air Transport Association, the trade group representing the major airlines has its way, little change can be expected this season despite the slap on the wrist the airlines received yesterday from DOT Secretary Mary Peters.

Mad as Hell

Within hours of last year’s incident, Hanni reincarnated the soul of the Peter Finch character in the movie Network. Remember him? He was the guy who commanded an already agitated TV audience to open their windows and yell, “I’m mad as Hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

Hanni refused to accept the airline’s style of handling passengers like cattle. She knew, as the rest of us do too, that these incidents happen … a lot.

Once back at her Northern California home, she organized the Coalition for Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights. Right out of the gate, the group saw their mandate as pressing an airline industry that has – for the most part – been unwilling to alter the way it treats customers when problems occur.

                                                         (Flyers Rights Coalition’s Kate Hanni)

If you read the proposed bill the coalition developed, the recommendations appear grounded in common sense and something else many people traveling the airlines seem to have forgotten these days … manners.

First, don’t leave airline passengers trapped aboard an airplane for more than three hours without food, water and toilet facilities; respond to paying passenger questions within a reasonable amount of time and compensate people when you cancel their flight and leave them to their own devises to travel.

Doesn’t sound too radical now does it? How could it be if over 21,279 people have signed the coalition’s petition in the past 12 months?

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One of the huge benefits to being listed on Jetwhine’s blogroll is the personal attention we try to bring each and every member. Here’s a case in point.

Today is the 85th birthday of retired US Airways Captain Brian Power-Waters. He told me yesterday it’s been almost 30 years since he last flew an airliner, which is only slightly less time than I have in the air since my first solo. Thank goodness I know guys like him who can make even me feel young.

Honestly though, if you could hear the energy about the aviation industry that emanates from Brian every time I speak with him, you’d realize he’s just getting going at 85.

In case you don’t know recognize his name right off, Brian is the author of a number of aviation safety books. A former US Air Force pilot too – B-25, F-86, C-54 etc – his most recent book is  “93 Seconds to Disaster,” an investigative study of the the crash of American Airlines flight 587 on takeoff from JFK just weeks after the chaos of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. I’m just about finished reading this volume and plan to share some of my thoughts on it next week.

Brian’s other books include “Is It Safe?” “Danger in the Air,” “Margin for Error; None,” and “Safety Last.”

If you’re after a last minute Christmas gift for that aviation aficionado on your list, there’s still time to get one of Brian’s books sent to the right place by the holiday if you zip over to Amazon or Barnes & Noble.com.

And did I mention that at 85, Brian is still a world class weight lifter?

Who’s going to argue with a pilot like that? Why not send him an e-mail and say Happy Birthday Brian.

It was snowing the other night when I arrived back at Chicago Midway from Washington DC on AirTran. The cabin was about as noisy as you might expect for a 9 PM arrival, people talking, a few reading lights blazing through the darkness.

I knew something however, that I doubted most of the other people realized. Tonight was just a day short of the two-year anniversary of the night a Southwest Airlines Boeing slid off the end of 31 Center at MDW on landing.

What I had always found simply mind boggling during the the various testimonies and even while reading the NTSB report of the accident later was the time delay in getting the thrust reversers – the buckets we call them – deployed to slow the Boeing.

The report said it took about 15 seconds from touchdown until the reversers opened. Anyone reading the report will figure out pretty quickly that all was not well in the cockpit that night. Whether is was the autobraking system or the reversers that did not work properly is tough to know for certain.

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Now that Senator Dick Durbin (D)IL has demanded action from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Inspector General we can only hope acting FAA administrator Bobby Sturgell is listening.

The problem at hand is not really a tough one and is something I talked about with then NATCA VP Ruth Marlin for a magazine story two years ago.

(U.S. Senator Dick Durbin)

FAA plans for having enough trained bodies in the right ATC facilities at the right time simply didn’t then and still doesn’t have much to do with the reality of the air traffic situation at hand.

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It’s been quite a busy few weeks for the webmaster at the Cessna Skycatcher blog since the Textron subsidiary announced its plan to assemble the C-162 in China. The blog has been the landing site for a number of heated comments poking hard at Cessna for doing business with the Chinese. One fellow called the company a bunch of Communists while another simply said they’d never buy another Cessna product (Cessna is a sponsor of Jetwhine BTW).

Cessna’s VP of Marketing Tom Aniello went online to explain the company perspective and a few more positive comments have appeared – I wrote one myself – but what I find truly unbelievable is that no one seems to be talking about the impact of the Cessna decision on the sagging flight training industry. But then I have often found that when it comes time to marketing their services, the flight training industry is often its own worst enemy.

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