Cheap Flights Coming To New York City

[From article]

New Yorkers can soon fly on a budget.
Starting in November, Allegiant air will be selling one-way flights from Newark, NJ, to Cincinnati; Knoxville, Tenn.; Savannah, Ga.; and Asheville, NC, for as low as $39. Meanwhile, Wow airlines is offering one-way trips from Newark to Iceland starting at $99, and to London, Paris, Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany, for $149.
Although Allegiant travels to 117 domestic cities, only those four nonstop routes will be available from Newark at the start.
“We think we provide something really unique. At Newark, we’ll be the first,” Lukas Johnson, Allegiant’s vice president of planning, told USA Today. He’s referring to the “ultra low-cost carrier” budget airlines like Spirit and Frontier, which fly out of La Guardia Airport.
Though like those other carriers, budget airline customers should be prepared to pay for extras like carry-on luggage and assigned seats.
If you pay with a credit card, for example, you’ll get an $8 surcharge. Many budget carriers maintain their low cost by flying into smaller regional airports with lower landing fees — like Ogdensburg, NY.

http://nypost.com/2016/06/29/39-domestic-flights-are-coming-to-nyc/

$39 domestic flights are coming to NYC
By Christian Gollayan
New York Post
June 29, 2016 | 3:33pm

Airline Employee Cited For Bravery During Hijacking

Neerja Bhanot

[From article]
Bhanot was the senior flight purser on Pan Am Flight 73 flying from Mumbai to the United States when it was hijacked by armed men on September 5, 1986 at the Karachi airport in Pakistan. There were 361 passengers and 19 crew members. Because of her quick thinking, Bhanot alerted the cockpit crew who escaped from an overhead hatch in the cockpit so that the aircraft could not be forcibly flown. The three-member American pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer were following protocol procedures.
The Palestinian hijackers were part of the terrorist Abu Nidal Organization that was backed by Libya. Conflicting reports indicate that the terrorists "were planning to use the hijacked plane to pick up Palestinian prisoners in both Cyprus and Israel. However, in 2006, surviving hostage Michael Thexton published a book in which he claimed he had heard the hijackers intended to crash the plane into a target in Israel (in the manner of 9/11).
[. . .]
Born in Chandigarh, India, Bhanot received her schooling at Sacred Heart Sen. Sec. School, Chandigarh. She attended St. Xavier's College in Mumbai and it was here that she began a career in modeling. She decided to apply for a flight attendant job with Pan Am and once selected, she went to Miami for training. As a flight purser, Bhanot oversaw the flight attendants, and ensured the comfort and safety of the passengers. If there is a disturbance, the purser acts as the intermediary between the cockpit and remaining cabin crew members. The purser is ultimately second in command to the pilots and is usually the only one allowed to make on board announcements. Thus, since the pilots were no longer aboard the plane, Bhanot as the most senior cabin crew member remaining aboard, took charge. After a tense 17 hours, the hijackers opened fire and set off explosives
During the ensuing panic, "...the terrorists shot and killed an American citizen, heaved his body out of the plane's door onto the tarmac, and threatened to kill another passenger every ten minutes if their demands were not met. As the aircraft's power failed and the lights went out, the hijackers recited a martyrdom prayer, opened fire on the passengers with automatic weapons at point blank range, and threw hand grenades into the tightly packed group. In addition to the 20 passengers and crew who were killed, many more were severely maimed, blinded, or disfigured by bullets, grenades, and shrapnel."
In the subsequent chaos, Bhanot opened one of the doors, flung open an emergency chute and assisted passengers from the plane. In addition, she had secretly hidden instructions inside pages of a magazine for a passenger who was next to an emergency exit so he could open the exit. Though she could have escaped first, she let the passengers escape and was shielding three children from a hail of bullets when she was shot and killed.
One of the children, whose life she saved, is a now a captain for a major airline and has stated that Bhanot has been his inspiration and he owes every day of his life to her.
[. . .]
After her death, her parents established the Neerja Bhanot award which "is an award of recognition conferred up to once a year by the the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust in India to a woman of that country subjected to social injustice, who faces the situation with grit and determination and extends help to other women in similar distress."
The names of the unsung heroes need to be etched into our subconscious while the names of the evil ones need to be blotted out. But more importantly, we must vow not to accede to the demands of the malevolent or else we diminish the memory of the brave.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/03/remembering_the_brave.html

March 9, 2016
Remembering the Brave
By Eileen F. Toplansky

Kuwait Airlines Refuses to Accept Israeli Passengers From New York City To London

A Kuwait Airways plane
Photo: Getty Images

[From article]

Kuwait hates Jews so much that its national airline has ditched a popular and lucrative New York-to-London flight rather than allow Israelis on its planes, authorities said Thursday.
Kuwait Airways killed the flight to spite American officials, who threatened to pull the airline’s permit to fly to the United States if they continued discriminating against Israeli passengers.
The airline says they cannot allow Israelis on the planes because the Middle Eastern kingdom prohibits it citizens from doing business with citizens of the Jewish state.
“On December 15th, Kuwait Airways informed the United States Department of Transportation that they will be eliminating service between JFK and London Heathrow,” said a department spokesperson.
The airline has at least twice refused to let customers with Israeli passports buy tickets on flights from
New York to London because of the Islamic state’s ban on trade with Israel.
[. . .]
“They should show some gratitude that they even have their dictatorial little half-assed country,” said Lancman.
The airline will still run its New York-to-Kuwait flight from JFK, but since Israelis are not allowed in the country, the feds cannot require them to allow Israelis on that flight. The lawyer for Eldad Gatt, the Israeli citizen who tried to buy a ticket on the New York to London flight in the fall of 2013 and was denied, said he does not plan to drop his suit against the airline and that he would like a formal ruling that the airline is discriminating against Israelis.

http://nypost.com/2015/12/17/jew-hating-airline-cancels-flight-rather-than-allow-israeli-passengers/

Jew-hating airline cancels flight rather than allow Israeli passengers
By Danielle Furfaro
New York Post
December 17, 2015 | 1:14pm

Boeing Develops Super Light, Super Strong Metal Material

Boeing says an egg wrapped in the new material would survive a 25 story drop. They expect to use it to reduce the weight of planes, and is so light that is can sit on top of a a dandelion.

[From article]
Boeing has revealed the world's lightest metal structure, which it claims is 99.99% hollow.
The revolutionary breakthrough claims to be 100 times lighter than Styrofoam and could be the future for aeronautical design, and is so light that is can sit atop a dandelion
Called a microlattice, it is so strong the firm says an egg wrapped in the material would survive a 25 story drop .
The material, called Microlattice, is a 3D open-cellular polymer structure made up of interconnected hollow tubes, each with a wall 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.
'One of the main applications that we've been looking into is structural components in aerospace,' said Sophia Yang, Research Scientist of Architected Materials at HRL Labs who worked with Boeing on the project.
'The trick is to fabricate a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness of 100 nanometers, 1,000 times thinner than a human hair,' Dr. Tobias Schaedler of HRL said.
In addition to its ultra-low density, the material's cellular architecture gives rise to unprecedented mechanical behavior for a metal, including complete recovery from compression exceeding 50% strain and extraordinarily high energy absorption.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3270060/The-end-heavy-metal-Boeing-shows-material-99-99-AIR-lead-new-generation-planes-spaceships.html

The end of heavy metal: Boeing shows off material that is 99.99% AIR and could lead to new generation of planes and spaceships
Microlattice was inspired by the structure of human bones
Made up of interconnected hollow tubes
Each tube has a wall 1,000 times thinner than a human hair
Egg wrapped in the material would survive a 25 story drop
By MARK PRIGG FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:31 EST, 12 October 2015 | UPDATED: 22:42 EST, 12 October 2015

Humorous Mechanics For Qantas Airlines Keep Planes Flying

Mechanic's Log
Quotes from the repair log of Qantas airline mechanics

After every flight, pilots fill out a form called a gripe sheet, which conveys to the mechanics problems encountered with the aircraft during the flight that need repair or correction. The mechanics read and correct the problem, and then respond in writing on the lower half of the form what remedial action was taken, and the pilot reviews the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems as submitted by Qantas pilots and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers. By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident.
(P = The problem logged by the pilot.)
(S = The solution and action taken by the engineers.)


P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're there for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Investigated For Creating Airline Schedules For Its Chairman

RECORD FILE PHOTO
Former Port Authority Chairman David Samson

[From article]
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether the route was set up, in part, to provide former Port Authority Chairman David Samson with more direct travel between Newark and his weekend home in Aiken, S.C., about 50 miles from the airport in Columbia. There were two round trips a week, with a flight to Columbia on Thursday evenings and a flight back to Newark on Monday mornings.
The flight — which Samson referred to as “the chairman’s flight,” according to one source — was initiated when Samson was chairman and stopped three days after his resignation in late March of last year.
[. . .]
The Record first reported earlier this month that the Port Authority had received a federal subpoena related to Samson’s personal travel and his communications with United and its former lobbying frim, Fox Shuffler. A principal of the firm at the time, Jamie Fox, is now Governor Christie’s transportation commissioner. Fox is also a close friend of Samson’s.
[. . .]
“It seems to me that one possible theory is whether or not they gave David Samson something of value to influence his decision making with regard to federal funds,” said David Lat, a former federal prosecutor and now managing editor of abovethelaw.com. “These types of federal statutes don’t have to be satisfied by bags of money.”

http://www.northjersey.com/news/air-route-at-center-of-port-authority-probe-was-one-of-nation-s-loneliest-1.1275801?page=all

Air route at center of Port Authority probe was one of nation's loneliest
FEBRUARY 21, 2015, 10:50 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2015, 11:06 AM
BY SHAWN BOBURG AND DAVE SHEINGOLD,
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD

Computers Are Dumbing Down Professionals, Restraint Needed In Programming

Computers are taking over the kinds of knowledge work long considered the preserve of well-educated, well-trained professionals. Luci Gutiérrez 

[From article]
Worrisome evidence suggests that our own intelligence is withering as we become more dependent on the artificial variety. Rather than lifting us up, smart software seems to be dumbing us down.
It has been a slow process. The first wave of automation rolled through U.S. industry after World War II, when manufacturers began installing electronically controlled equipment in their plants. [. . .] The new technology would be ennobling.
[. . .]
More often than not, the new machines were leaving workers with drabber, less demanding jobs. An automated milling machine, for example, didn’t transform the metalworker into a more creative artisan; it turned him into a pusher of buttons.
[. . .]
Computers are taking over the kinds of knowledge work long considered the preserve of well-educated, well-trained professionals: Pilots rely on computers to fly planes; doctors consult them in diagnosing ailments; architects use them to design buildings.
[. . .]
“Flying skills decay quite rapidly towards the fringes of ‘tolerable’ performance without relatively frequent practice,” Mr. Ebbatson concluded. But computers now handle most flight operations between takeoff and touchdown—so “frequent practice” is exactly what pilots are not getting.
[. . .]
In other words, our skills get sharper only through practice, when we use them regularly to overcome different sorts of difficult challenges.
The goal of modern software, by contrast, is to ease our way through such challenges. Arduous, painstaking work is exactly what programmers are most eager to automate—after all, that is where the immediate efficiency gains tend to lie. In other words, a fundamental tension ripples between the interests of the people doing the automation and the interests of the people doing the work.
[. . .]
The programs incorporate valuable checklists and alerts, but they also make medicine more routinized and formulaic—and distance doctors from their patients.
[. . .]


A professor from Harvard Medical School wrote in a journal article that when doctors become ‘screen-driven,’ following a computer’s prompts rather than ‘the patient’s narrative thread,’ their thinking can become constricted. In the worst cases, they may miss important diagnostic signals. Getty Images 

Medical software, they write, is no “replacement for basic history-taking, examination skills, and critical thinking.”
[. . .]
When software takes over, manual skills wane.
[. . .]
When system designers begin a project, they first consider the capabilities of computers, with an eye toward delegating as much of the work as possible to the software. The human operator is assigned whatever is left over, which usually consists of relatively passive chores such as entering data, following templates and monitoring displays.
This philosophy traps people in a vicious cycle of de-skilling. By isolating them from hard work, it dulls their skills and increases the odds that they will make mistakes. When those mistakes happen, designers respond by seeking to further restrict people’s responsibilities—spurring a new round of de-skilling.
[. . .]
Even the smartest software lacks the common sense, ingenuity and verve of the skilled professional. In cockpits, offices or examination rooms, human experts remain indispensable. Their insight, ingenuity and intuition, honed through hard work and seasoned real-world judgment, can’t be replicated by algorithms or robots.
If we let our own skills fade by relying too much on automation, we are going to render ourselves less capable, less resilient and more subservient to our machines. We will create a world more fit for robots than for us.



http://online.wsj.com/articles/automation-makes-us-dumb-1416589342

Automation Makes Us Dumb
Human intelligence is withering as computers do more, but there’s a solution.
By NICHOLAS CARR
Nov. 21, 2014 12:02 p.m. ET

France Will Screen Airline Passengers For Ebola

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls leaves after a meeting on Ebola at the Elysee Palace in Paris October …

[From article]
France will begin screening air passengers for Ebola if they arrive on flights from regions hit by the disease, President Francois Hollande's office said on Wednesday.
Hollande told the leaders of Britain, Germany, Italy and the United States about the step during a video conference partly devoted to the Ebola outbreak, his office said in statement.

http://news.yahoo.com/france-screen-passengers-flights-ebola-hit-regions-174843661.html

France to screen passengers on flights from Ebola-hit regions

October 15, 2014

Med School Dean: Ban Flights From Ebola Countries

[From article]
David Dausey, the dean of the School of Health Professions and Public Health at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania and an expert at controlling pandemics says it's time to ban flights from countries where Ebola is out of control.
[. . .]
The White House insistence that stopping flights to the west from Ebola affected countries would make the situation worse has little basis in reality and, in fact, is illogical. And administration critics who are pushing the idea of a ban are not spreading "panic." That's nonsense. The proposal is reasonable, rational, and makes sense - hardly the stuff of "fear mongering."

http://americanthinker.com/blog/2014/10/ban_flights_from_ebolaaffected_countries_epidemiologist.html

October 8, 2014
Ban flights from Ebola-affected countries: Epidemiologist
By Rick Moran

Can't Ban Flights From Liberia, Because

[From article]
On Anderson Cooper 360 Thursday, Ebola expert David Quammen argued that America had a “responsibility” to allow people from Liberia to fly into the country because of the legacy of American slavery.
Quammen, author of Ebola and Spillover, has been making the rounds on news outlets over the last few weeks as an expert on the history of Ebola. Thursday, Quammen offered Cooper his opinion on the proper American response to the epidemic

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/ebola-expert-cnn-we-cant-ban-flights-liberia-because-slavery

Ebola Expert To CNN: We Can’t Ban Flights From Liberia Because Of Slavery
"I mean, we in America, how dare we turn our backs on Liberia given the fact that this is a country that was founded in the 1820s, 1830s because of American slavery."
10.3.2014

News Bradford Thomas

Playboy Cover Model Jailed For Importing Cocaine

[From article]
Playboy covergirl Brandi Brandt has been jailed for more than three years for conspiring to import cocaine on planes bound for Australia.
Brandt, best known for her failed marriage to Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx, was involved in a brazen US-Australia cocaine importation syndicate that hid packages of the drugs in toilets on Los Angeles passenger planes bound for Sydney in 2007.
She pleaded guilty to conspiring to import more than two kilograms of the drug and transferring more than $70,000 into bank accounts over the sale.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2737446/Playboy-model-hid-drugs-plane-toilets-bound-Australia-jailed-role-cocaine-ring.html

Former Playboy model who was married to Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx is jailed for being part of drugs ring which hid cocaine in plane toilets bound for Australia
Playboy covergirl Brandi Brandt was jailed for six years in a Sydney Court
The 45-year-old was guilty of conspiring to import drugs into Australia
She was also found guilty of transferring drug money into bank accounts
The court heard of Brandt's troubled childhood an addiction to drugs
She will be eligible for parole in three and a half years
By DANIEL MILLS FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
PUBLISHED: 01:24 EST, 29 August 2014 | UPDATED: 12:04 EST, 29 August 2014

Visiting Professor At Cornell Busted For Fondling Sleeping Airline Passenger

Eun-jong Lee, 47

[From article]
An Ivy League visiting scholar was arrested Sunday by the FBI after he allegedly groped a sleeping woman’s breast and then tried to slide his hand down her shirt while traveling on a flight from Tokyo to Newark, New Jersey.
Eun-jong Lee, 47, was detained by federal agents upon departing the United Airlines flight. He was subsequently charged with abusive sexual contact, a felony carrying a maximum two-year prison term and a $250,000 fine.
[. . .]
Lee is a professor at Handong Global University in South Korea. He is also a visiting scholar at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he was headed prior to his arrest. Lee teaches in the College of Human Ecology’s Design & Environmental Analysis program.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/ivy-league-scholar-plane-molest-bust-576321

FBI Busts Ivy League Scholar In Plane Molest
Professor charged with groping sleeping woman
August 12, 2014
Smoking Gun

Turkey Refuses To Allow Israel To Bring Citizens Home

[From article]
 Israelis yelled at Turks in Istanbul Ataturk Airport Thursday, after the US Federal Aviation Administration lifted its ban on flights to Tel Aviv, while Turkish Airlines extended its ban until July 31.
Placing nearly 4,000 stranded Israelis on outbound flights has been a challenge, no doubt aggravated by the fact that Turkey will not let El Al, Israel’s national airline, land at its airports, even to airlift out its citizens.

http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Reporters-notebook-Israelis-stranded-in-Turkey-368817

Reporter's notebook: Israelis stranded in Turkey
By MICHAEL WILNER
07/24/2014 18:21
Turkey will not let El Al, Israel's national airline, land at its airports to airlift out its citizens.

Ukrainian Separatists May have 100 SMA Missiles.

[From article]
This report, from the end of last month, has had little play in the Western media, which has preferred to focus on reports from security sources that the rocket launchers (and tanks and APCs) used by the separatists were supplied by the Putin regime.
But if it is correct, then it would seem that the Russian separatists had by the end of June already captured more than enough missiles to wreak havoc. According to defence analyst Richard North, we can assume that the anti-air installation comprised at least three batteries, each with four mobile launchers carrying four missiles, which means a minimum of 48 missiles even before allowing for replenishments that could bring the total stock to more than 100.
"It is enough to sterilise air movement in the whole of Eastern Ukraine, which fundamentally alters the balance of power in the region," says North. "Worse it means that these weapons are in the hands of militia groups who are a accountable to nobody and a danger to everybody - including the Russians.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/07/18/Dangerous-escalation-in-Ukraine-separatists-may-have-captured-more-than-100-missiles

DANGEROUS ESCALATION IN UKRAINE: SEPARATISTS MAY HAVE CAPTURED MORE THAN 100 MISSILES
by JAMES DELINGPOLE
18 Jul 2014

Air Canada Suspends Flights To Venezuela

[From article]
"Due to ongoing civil unrest in Venezuela, Air Canada can no longer ensure the safety of its operation and has suspended flights to Caracas until further notice," said the airline in a statement.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/18/travel/air-canada-venezuela-flights/

Air Canada suspends flights to Venezuela
By Karla Cripps

CNN
updated 4:38 AM EDT, Tue March 18, 2014

Airline Cancels Flight Unable to Accommodate Service Dog

Albert Rizzi and guide dog Doxy in Bellport, L.I. on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013. 

(credit: Mona Rivera/1010 WINS)
Is this the first airline to carry a service animal? Clearly it was possible to accommodate the man with his dog. The crew was not trained properly. 

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/11/14/blind-l-i-man-says-he-was-kicked-off-plane-over-guide-dog/


Blind L.I. Man Says He Was Kicked Off Plane Over Guide Dog
Albert Rizzi Says Fellow Passengers Got Off U.S. Airways Flight In Protest
November 14, 2013 4:00 PM
CBS News New York NY

Thieves Steal Gold Bars From Air France After Airline Was Used to Smuggle Cocaine

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2430452/1m-gold-bars-stolen-Air-France-flight-170m-cocaine-smuggled.html

Thieves steal £1m of gold bars from Air France flight weeks after airline was used to smuggle £170m worth of pure cocaine
Police are concerned that the robbery could be an inside job
On September 11th same airline was used to smuggle 1.3 tonnes of cocaine
Three Britons arrested in connection with drug offences
By PETER ALLEN
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 07:07 EST, 24 September 2013 | UPDATED: 10:06 EST, 24 September 2013

US Airways Fined $1 million For Inadequate Wheelchair Access

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/4/us-airways-fined-12-million-over-wheelchair-access/

US Airways fined $1.2M for inadequate wheelchair access
By Jessica Chasmar
The Washington Times
Monday, November 4, 2013

Huge Cocaine Bust on Plane From Venezuela to Paris, France

Posted September 22, 2013 8:36 PM ET; Last updated October 3, 2013 9:27 PM ET




French Interior minister Manuel Valls talks to journalists in front of cocaine seized by French police, on September 21, 2013 in Nanterre, France. Valls announced 1.3 tonnes of pure cocaine was found on board an Air France cargo plane. A source close to the investigation said the flight had originated in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, adding that the haul had a street value of some 200 million euros ($270 million). (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/Getty Images)

http://www.france24.com/en/20130924-two-britons-three-italians-charged-over-france-cocaine-haul

24 SEPTEMBER 2013 - 21H25 
Two Britons, three Italians charged over France cocaine haul


* * *
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24191714

21 September 2013 Last updated at 15:05 ET
Huge cocaine haul seized on Air France plane in Paris

LASERs Threaten Airline Safety

These lasers could knock a passenger jet out of the sky

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/432928/EXCLUSIVE-Laser-horror-as-attempts-to-blind-pilots-puts-UK-passengers-at-risk?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+daily-express-uk-news+(Daily+Express+%3A%3A+UK+Feed)

EXCLUSIVE: Laser horror as attempts to blind pilots puts UK passengers at risk
THOUSANDS of planes coming in to land at Britain’s busiest airports are being endangered by a wave of potentially deadly laser attacks from the ground.
By: Ted Jeory
Published: Sun, September 29, 2013