MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Shocked passengers described being tossed around an Air Canada passenger jet as it hit a pocket of turbulence on its way to Australia on Thursday and was forced to make an emergency landing. Flight AC33 from Vancouver to Sydney hit trouble around two hours beyond Hawaii and diverted back to the US island chain’s capital Honolulu, the company said in a statement. The Boeing 777-200 landed “normally” at 6.45 am (1645 […]
Tag: Aviation
Japanese man dies mid-flight with stomach full of cocaine
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — A Japanese man with 246 packets of cocaine in his stomach and intestines died mid-flight on his way from Bogota to Tokyo, authorities said Monday in northern Mexico, where the plane made an emergency landing. The 42-year-old man, identified only as Udo “N,” began having a seizure after traveling from the Colombian capital to Mexico City and catching a connecting flight to Japan, said the prosecutor’s office for the state […]
US issues warning to airlines flying over Gulf
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Federal Aviation Administration has warned US airlines flying over the Gulf to exercise caution “due to heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the region.” The advisory, which also covers airspace over the Gulf of Oman, comes amid rising tensions between the US and Iran. Increased tensions in the region “present an increasing inadvertent risk to US civil aviation operations due to the potential for miscalculation or […]
Flying cars mooted for Paris’ public transport network
PARIS, France (AFP) — European aerospace giant Airbus and Paris underground operator RATP will study the viability of adding flying vehicles to the city’s urban transport network, the companies said Wednesday. The firms will “explore the feasibility of urban air mobility services” in the French capital and the broader Ile de France region, they said in a statement. “Airbus is developing demonstrators of autonomous and unmanned technologies,” said the company’s chief executive Guillaume Faury. “This […]
Five dead, one missing in floatplanes collision in Alaska
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Five people died and one person was missing Monday after two floatplanes collided mid-air in Alaska while carrying passengers from a cruise ship’s sightseeing expedition, officials said. The two aircraft — a Beaver floatplane and an Otter floatplane — had been carrying 16 passengers from the Royal Princess cruise ship when they crashed near Ketchikan around 1:00 pm (2100 GMT), Princess Cruises said in a statement circulated by US media. […]
Mexican president’s new airport flies into turbulence
by Sofia MISELEM / Sylvain ESTIBAL Agence France-Presse MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) – For a groundbreaking ceremony, there was suspiciously little ground broken as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador symbolically inaugurated work on a new Mexico City airport — a pet project analysts warn could go badly wrong. Smiling and waving an orange flag, the anti-establishment leftist stood before a line of heavy construction equipment last Monday, declaring work was officially under way to turn […]
The Pakistani popcorn seller who built his own plane
by Kaneez FATIMA TABUR, Pakistan (AFP) — The engine is from a roadcutter, the wings are burlap, the wheels are borrowed from a rickshaw: a popcorn seller has caught the attention of the Pakistan Air Force by building his own plane. The tale of Muhammad Fayyaz has captured the hearts of many in a nation where millions, just like him, have limited access to education and are fighting for opportunities. “I was literally in the […]
Boeing plane skids into Florida river in crash-landing, no fatalities
A Boeing 737 skidded off a runway into a river after crash-landing during a lightning storm in Florida on Friday, officials said, with terrified passengers all safely evacuated to shore from the stricken jet’s wings. The plane carrying 143 people including crew from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba slammed into shallow water next to a naval air station in Jacksonville after a hard landing that saw the plane bounce and swerve down the runway, passengers said. […]
Six die after plane hits house in Chile
SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — Six people died on Tuesday after a light aircraft crashed into a house in southern Chile, authorities said. The plane plummeted after getting entangled in power lines shortly after take-off from La Paloma airport in Puerto Montt, a port city 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to the south of the capital Santiago, said Harry Jurgensen, the governor of the Los Lagos region. Local television pictures showed the house, which caught fire after being […]
Boeing 737 MAX changes deemed ‘operationally suitable’: FAA
by Luc OLINGA with Heather SCOTT in Washington Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — The changes US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has proposed in the wake of two deadly accidents of its top-selling 737 MAX aircraft were deemed “operationally suitable,” according to a draft report released by US regulators Tuesday. However, Boeing has not yet submitted a planned software fix to the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency said in a statement. Boeing has […]
American Airlines to cancel 115 flights daily over 737 MAX
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — American Airlines announced Sunday it would scrap some 115 flights per day in the coming months because its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX planes is being grounded until August 19. America’s leading airline had previously only planned to keep the planes out of commission until June 5, with Boeing facing intense scrutiny after 157 people died in an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash on March 10 — the second deadly […]
Boeing reports 19% drop in Q1 plane deliveries on MAX grounding
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Boeing on Tuesday reported a 19 percent drop in first-quarter commercial airplane deliveries as the global grounding of its 737 MAX plane hits results. The aerospace giant delivered 149 commercial planes in all in the first quarter, including 89 of the 737 MAX aircraft. That is down from 184 commercial deliveries and 132 of the 737s in the same period of last year. Boeing has been under scrutiny following […]
