Monday, June 28, 2010

Continental Express - A Terrible Ride

I was flying back from Frankfurt to Newark the other day with a stopover at Montreal's Trudeau airport. My flight from Frankfurt to Montreal, on an Air Canada 777-300ER, was beautiful. The plane was awesome, the entertainment system and the service were great, and it was a very, very smooth ride, so I even slept for two hours. One of the nicest plane rides I have ever had in my life. Unfortunately, I had to wait for five-and-a-half hours at Trudeau for my connection flight to Newark and I was not allowed to leave the airport, which sucked.

My flight from Montreal to Newark, Continental Express flight CO 2701, was on an Embraer RJ 145. Those are actually very nice planes. During take-off you can really feel the acceleration from your seat. I just love these small planes. On the other hand, turbulence is very nasty on those Embraers as you can feel every slight bump. Still, I was excited to fly the RJ 145. But when I entered the plane and sat down, I just wanted to get up again and run away. I have flown a lot in my life but I have NEVER EVER seen a plane in such a bad condition. It was terrible. There were spots all over the ceiling (some looked like chocolate, some more like puke). It was disgusting. The plane looked like no one had cleaned it in at least half a year. The next moment, the light bulb for the row in front of me came falling down. When I inspected my window (which I always do), I could hardly look outside. It was unbelievably dirty. And the window looked like someone temporarily installed it and "glued" it in there with silicone. The worst thing, however, was the fact that pieces of the emergency exit broke off and there were cracks in the emergency exit door. For the first time in years I was terrified on board a plane. This was the worst condition of a plane I have every seen. I was surprised that nobody really left the aircraft.

As a frequent flier I am well aware that it doesn't really matter what a plane looks like from the inside, but this plane was an absolute disaster. It was old, dirty and temporarily fixed several times. I also know the RJ145s don't really fly long distances and usually not at a very high altitude, but still I want to sit on a plane that looks like it will make it to my destination. That plane didn't look like it. And like this was not enough, the flight attendant (who was among the nicest I have every had in my life) told us that the fasten seat belt sign would remain on during the entire flight, since they were expecting severe turbulence. She literally said "It was veeeeeery, veeeeeeery bumpy on our way up here!". Not a very smart thing to say in general, but not smart at all on board this crappy plane. Argh! I was already convinced my puke (out of fear) would also stick to the ceiling when I exit, but it didn't happen. Contrary to the crew's predictions, it turned out to be a very nice flight. No bumps whatsoever. Still, sitting on board this terrible, terrible plane turned this otherwise nice flight into a flying nightmare... My advice: Don't fly Continental Express!!!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Air France 447 - One Year Later

June 1 marked the first anniversary of the crash of Air France flight 447. One year later we still don't have any answers whatsoever on why the Airbus A330 crashed into the Atlantic. Still, pretty much all scenarios are possible. Most journalists, and some experts, blame the crash on faulty pitot tubes or a bug in the A330's fly-by-wire system/avionics. None of this is confirmed. All is speculation. Even if the pitot tubes were not working correctly - that is not a good reason for a plane to crash. As mentioned several times before, all airplanes are equipped with GPS and still receive above-ground speed information even if the pitot tubes fail. A bug in the fbw system could potentially be the cause, but this has never happened before and would still not explain why no "mayday" signals were sent.

The search for the black boxes is still ongoing and the area where those boxes can be have been narrowed down to twenty-five square kilometers. Still, that is like finding two shoe boxes in an area half the size of Manhattan. However, I am still positive that the black boxes will be found and the mystery will be solved. I still don't really believe any of the current scenarios. Fingers crossed we will know more a year from now.

If you want to read more about the search and a documentary that is currently being produces, please click here.

Emirates to Order More A380s

I have to start this post with a big WOW! I couldn't believe what I read today: Dubai's official airline Emirates will commit to more than 30 additional A380s, according to Bloomberg. The airline already owns 10 A380s, has 48 additional orders and now - 30 more! Emirates is becoming one of Airbus's most important clients. When all of the planes are delivered, the carrier from the UAE will own 88 A380s and will be, by far, the largest operator of the Airbus. But the Dubai-based airline does not only like this super jumbo. Emirates also firmly ordered 50 A350-900 and 20 A350-1000. The patriotic American might ask: How many 787s has Emirates ordered? The answer: None! This further underlines the impact of Asia and the Middle East on airplane manufacturers. So far, not a single airline from America has ordered the A380...

To read the Bloomberg piece, please click here.

Woman Falls Asleep, Sues United

My lovely colleague Valerie forwarded me this story. It is hilarious: A woman apparently fell asleep on a United Express flight from DC to Philly. Even after landing she wouldn't wake up. The crew wasn't too interested in her either and let her sleep. No one woke her up until a cleaning crew found her four hours later. Now the lady is suing - filing a lawsuit for false imprisonment, emotional distress and negligence.

To read the Yahoo! News story, please click here.