Pistole Misfires With Plan for Knives on Planes

Flight attendants may not rank up there with firefighters or police officers in terms of dangerous jobs, but the story on Wednesday that a Delta Air Lines employee was injured when the plane on which she was working encountered turbulence is proof - as if anyone needed it - that the job can be a pretty hazardous. And indeed if there were to be a fire or other emergency, firefighter/police officer/lifeguard/medic are all roles the cabin attendant is trained and expected to perform.

Cars or Planes? Movie Might Instigate a Dogfight at My Home

Disney may not have intended to instigate domestic strife with the release of the trailer for its new animated feature, Planes, but I can tell that the sparks are going to fly around my house. 

There they are, all those pretty little airplanes, soaring in time with the swelling chords of the music while cars and trucks with their anthropomorphized windshield-framed eyes remain solidly earth-bound.

Will Passengers Weigh in on the Dreamliner?

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED AND REVISED 

Does the decision of the Federal Aviation Administration to allow the Dreamliner to fly again need judicial review? An airline passenger rights organization thinks so. In a petition to the U.S. Department of Transportation and the FAA, FlyersRights.org is asking that the Boeing 787 be restricted to routes that are no farther than 2 hours from the nearest diversion airport.

Paul Hudson, the president of FlyersRights.org and the chief of the Airline Consumer Action Project says the issue is "urgent" since airlines around the globe are beginning to put the Dreamliners back into service as Boeing's battery-in-a-box safety enhancements are completed.  Hudson is using the Administrative Procedure Act, a process that can subject government policies to the review of a court.

New Books Offer Fresh View of Aviation

With air travel books clogging the store shelves like the departure runway at JFK on a Friday afternoon, it takes a special combination of good writing and fresh ideas to break out from the field.  Two books I've read recently meet this test; Patrick Smith's Cockpit Confidential, and Tiffany Hawk's novel, Love Me Anyway. 

Apology and Correction - Ethiopian IS Flying 787 Again

Readers, an apology is in order. Jon Ostrower of the Wall Street Journal informs me that Ethiopian Airlines is flying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on its Addis Ababa to Frankfurt route and my earlier post suggesting that the headline making Saturday re-inaugural flight of the troubled twin jet was a one-off is incorrect. 

Earlier in the day I was told by Ethiopian reservations agent that the 787 was not flying which I took as an acknowledgement by the airline that before it put the plane and its brand new fire and smoke containing battery box back on the line, it would do a little more flight testing.

That's what All Nippon Airways is doing. But it would seem that Ethiopian feels more confident in Boeing's assurances that all is well with the lithium ion batteries now that the insulation has been beefed up, the charging toned down and the box installed.

My thanks to Jon, an extraordinary aviation reporter and my apologies once again to my readers for leading you astray on this matter. 

Ethiopian's ET-AOP prepares for its post-grounding flight on April 27th
photo courtesy Boeing