Twenty-nine Dead As Passenger Plane Catches Fire On Landing

Twenty-nine people were killed in Iran when a passenger plane caught fire after landing, reports AFP:

TEHERAN: Twenty-nine people were killed yesterday when an Iranian airliner caught fire after landing in the northeastern city of Mashhad, the civil aviation chief said, lowering earlier reports of up to 80 dead.

Talking to state television, the Civil Aviation Organisation’s Nurollah Rezai Niaraki said 29 bodies had been recovered from the plane, 43 people were injured and the rest of the 148 people on board survived unhurt.

State television had earlier said the death toll on the flight to Mashhad from the southern port city of Bandar Abbas was at least 80.

Niaraki also said that since the flight crew survived the crash, a better understanding on the cause of the accident would surface.

Previously, state media reported that the Russian-made Tupolev 154 skidded off the runway and crashed into the nearby barriers, leaving gaping holes in the fuselage.

The incident was the latest tragedy to hit Iran’s aviation industry, whose fleet is made up largely of Soviet or old Western planes owing to the US sanctions imposed after the Islamic revolution in 1979.

According to figures published in the Iranian media and not counting yesterday’s accident, more than 1,460 people were killed in 17 air crashes in the past 25 years, including an Iranian plane shot down over the Gulf by a US warship in 1988.

The first television pictures showed the plane, owned by the Iran Airtours carrier, lying flat without its wheels on the outskirts of the airport, with one huge hole burned out in the centre of the fuselage.

An Iranian civil aviation official was quoted in the media as saying the plane did not ask for an emergency landing before the accident. — AFP

NBC Regrets Emmy Award Airing Of "Mock Plane Crash" Sketch

NBC has finally owned up to its "blunder" and expressed regret over the airing of Emmy Awards comedy that include a mock plane crash. The Associated Press, via Toronto Sun reports:

NBC expressed regret yesterday for an Emmy Awards comedy skit that included a mock plane crash and aired on the network the evening of a fatal Kentucky jetliner accident.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to the many families who lost loved ones in the plane crash in Kentucky on Sunday, and to the entire community that has suffered this terrible loss," NBC said in a statement the day after the ceremony.

"In no way would we ever want to make light of this terrible tragedy," NBC said. "The filmed opening during the Emmy telecast was meant to spoof some of television's most well-known scenes. The timing was unfortunate, and we regret any unintentional pain it may have caused."

The pre-recorded skit was broadcast as part of the live Emmy ceremony just hours after a commuter jet crashed into a field and burst into flames, killing 49 people.

Criticism of the sequence appeared on websites Sunday night, including the Los Angeles Times', with a columnist for the paper calling it "cringe-inducing" and "of questionable taste."

Those of you who have seen the sketch, what do you think? Do you think it was that bad? I actually watched it last night and thought that it was quite funny. I didn't realise there was an air crash, though. I might've seen it in different light had I known about the air crash.

Sometimes When I Look At The Clouds...

Sometimes when I look at dark clouds closing in from all directions, I can feel my heart pounding. I guess my brain was in turmoil trying to make sense of what the eyes transmitted for it to interprete. This is not a good day to fly, it could be telling the heart. And so the heart pounded in protest.

But why on earth am I worried about the dark clouds when my flight is still weeks away? It's irrational, this fear of flying. Too irrational to comprenend!

Shhh... Don't Tell The Children

Sometimes I wish I had the ignorance of a child who can't think of nothing else except to enjoy a flight, no matter how rough it might be. I still remember my first flight; about how excited I was with the prospect of being high up there among the clouds -- something I had long wished for.

It's a different story now -- I wish I could avoid a flight but that seems impossible simply because it has become a necessity to fly every now and then because the job requires me to do so.

Which brings me to the subject of whether it is proper to discuss about aviophobia within the earshot of the children. But my guess is, we'd better not. Let the children enjoy the flight for as long as they could -- for a lifetime if possible -- and never to be bothered by all the worries of an aviophobic.

And because of that I think I had made mistakes by talking infront of the children about how afraid I was during a particularly rough flight. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have tainted the ignorance of a child about the possibility of a flight being in danger.

I am now worried that I had unwittingly cultivated the fear of flying on the child concerned who had just discovered how exciting it is to be flying.

I guess I had better check my mouth and while I was at it, check my fear as well.

Bad English Costs The Lives Of Over 1,500 People

Bad English can be as deadly as a live bomb placed on an aircraft. According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), over 1,500 air crew and passengers lost their lives in accidents because of the lack of proficiency in Aeronautical English on the part of the airlines crew.

[Source: The Australian]

All 189 member states of ICAO are required to meet these new English proficiency standards by March 2008.

Aviphobic people like us would like to welcome the initiative by the ICAO and call for transparency in the process of assessing the Aeronautical English-proficiency of airlines crew around the world. Further read, here!

And another thing, those with my level of English proficiency need not apply for any jobs in the aviation industry, particularly those that are related to flight safety, however remote the relation that job with safety might be!

Mass Murder "Plane Bomb" Plot Foiled

British authorities said it has folied a "mass murder" plot by blowing up several aircraft flying over the Atlantic Ocean to the US. Reuters via The Star today:

LONDON (Reuters) - British police arrested 24 people in overnight raids and said on Thursday they had foiled a plot to commit "mass murder" by blowing up several aircraft flying over the Atlantic Ocean to the United States.

Tough new security measures brought chaos to airports on both sides of the Atlantic in what U.S. President George W. Bush described as a stark reminder his country was at "war with Islamic fascists".

Airports were in near chaos as departure halls were jammed with people, waiting as airlines cancelled flights and trying to sort out their bags as hand luggage and liquids were banned from flights and passengers with babies were made to publicly taste their food.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that Malaysia Airlines flights to London will operate as scheduled.

Airlines Tighten Cabin Baggage Rules After London's "Plane Bomb" Scare

Airlines in the region have tightened screenings on cabin baggages, banning liquids in cabins except for a few items such as milk and medications in the wake of a "mass murder" plane bomb plot uncovered in the United Kingdom yesterday.

The plotters were said to be planning to carry the components of the bombs, including liquid explosive ingredients and detonating devices, disguised as beverages, electronic devices or other common objects. According to Singapore Airlines, items that are allowed in cabins on flights from the United Kingdom are:

Pocket-size wallets and pocket-size purses plus contents (for example money, credit cards, identity cards etc (not handbags)

Travel documents essential for the journey (for example passports and travel tickets)

Prescription medicines and medical items sufficient and essential for the flight (eg. diabetic kit), except in liquid form unless verified as authentic

Spectacles and sunglasses, without cases

Contact lens holders, without bottles of solution

For those travelling with an infant: baby food, milk (the contents of each bottle must be tasted by the accompanying passenger) and sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight (nappies, wipes, creams and nappy disposal bags)

Female sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight, if unboxed (eg. tampons, pads, towels and wipes)

Tissues (unboxed) and/or handkerchiefs

Keys (but no electrical key fobs)

All passengers must be hand searched, and their footwear and all the items they are carrying must be X-ray screened.

For flights to and from the United States:

Baby formula, breast milk or juice for a small child or infant;

Prescription medicines bearing the name that matches that of the passenger’s ticket;

Insulin and other essential non-prescription medicines

No liquids or gels apart from those listed above, and including drinks or items purchased at the airport can be taken on board the aircraft. Beverages, shampoo, suntan lotions, creams, toothpaste, hair gel and other items of a similar consistency are not permitted in the cabin. These items must be carried in checked baggage.

The latest scare is not good. Not good at all for people with aviophobic like me.

Thai New Airport Has 29 "High Risk" Areas

Thai's soon-to-be open ultra-modern airport has many high risk areas, says ICAO. Via People's Daily Online:

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has questioned the readiness of Thailand's new Suvarnabhumi airport for its official opening slated on Sept 28, citing "high risk" areas in a report sent to Thai aviation authority, media in Bangkok said Friday.

The ICAO report, based on its information collected and observations made between June and early July, identifies 29 high- risk areas, or about one-third of the 93 items on its checklist, while 43 others are rated as medium-risk and the rest low-risk, according to Thai newspaper Bangkok Post, which quoted the ICAO report sent to Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT), an agency under the Transport Ministry overseeing international airports, including Suvarnabhumi.

Among the high-risk items identified are the "airfield visual aides" including taxiway, apron and airside road signs, lights and markings.

Failure to address them could lead to unsafe ground operations which "may contribute to an aircraft incident or accident", the report says.

But Thailand aviation authority said it will go ahead with the plan to open the airport as acheduled.

Configured For Landing

Aviophobia and Stage Fright

Do you think there is a co-relation between the fear of flying and the fear of public speaking? That people who are aviophobic are also afraid of speaking in front of audience?

Could be, could be not. Perhaps someone should conduct a study on this. Maybe if we can cure the stage fright, we can also cure the fear of flying in the process.

My Life With Aviophobia... (1)

If you are afraid to fly, I sincerely hope you can overcome it because I know for a fact, aviophobia is not something easy to deal with.

I've been afraid of flying ever since I took my first flight. That was in 1985 and imagine the difficulties I had to endure each time I need to fly -- each and every flight during the 21 years or so, or an average of 15 flights a year since then.

There were times, especially during a particularly rough flight, that I wished I could tell the pilot to just land to the nearest airport and wait for the weather to clear before continuing with the flight. There were even times when I had wished that aircraft was never invented.

That is how "chronic" is my fear of flying but according to what I've read, there were many others whose phobia were even more profound than mine.

I can only hope they would be able to overcome the fear in whatever ways that work.

Plane With 200 Passengers Crashes in Rusia, Over 150 Feared Dead

Oh no! Another plane crash! From Reuters, via NZHerald.

Plane with 200 passengers crashes in Russia
Sunday July 9, 2006

LONDON - More than 150 people are feared dead after a plane with 200 people on board crashed in Russia today, news agencies reported.

The Interfax agency reported that the Airbus A-310 passenger plane on a flight from Moscow to Irkutsk was carrying 192 passengers and eight crew members when it crashed in Irkutsk.

The agency said that the plane crashed during the final approach to Irkutsk, where it overran the runway, hit a concrete fence, crashed into a building and caught fire.

AP news agency quoted Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova as saying 43 people had been taken to a hospital and another 10 had managed to escape but that most of the other passengers were feared dead.

"The aircraft veered off the runway on landing. It was travelling at a terrific speed," Andrianova said.

The plane hit a concrete barrier, collapsing the front section of the aircraft, she said. It then burst into flames.

It took five emergency services more than two hours to extinguish the flames, Andrianova said.

-- REUTERS

Flying On June 18-21

Will be flying out of base this June 18 and return four days later. The last time I took a flight was in early January this year. So it a six-month interval between the last and my next flight.

I don't feel any apprehension. It's just a short flight away -- 50 minutes at the most. I just hope that the weather will be fine during those period.

On the other hand, I am actually thrilled by the prospect of taking to the air again!

This does not mean I have overcame my Aviophobia. Let's see...

Lightning Strikes Plane Carrying Kennedy

Via the Associated Press, May 13:

BOSTON – A plane carrying U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy from western Massachusetts to his home on the coast was struck by lightning and had to be diverted to New Haven, Conn., his spokeswoman said.

The eight-seat Cessna Citation 550 plane lost all electrical power, including communications, and the pilot had to fly the plane manually, according to spokeswoman Melissa Wagoner. No one was hurt.

The Democrat had just delivered the commencement address at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams and was on his way to his Cape Cod home when the plane was struck around 4 p.m., she said.

The jet landed safely at New Haven at 4:11 p.m., said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Murray. A report was filed with the agency, which will look into the incident, she said.

Kennedy planned to stay in Connecticut overnight because he was scheduled to return to western Massachusetts on Sunday to deliver a commencement address at Springfield College, Wagoner said.

Hmm... so a plane can still fly even after losing all its electrical power.

If I Am Super Rich...

I'd be flying around the world in one of these...

Embraer Legacy Executive Jet


Gulfstream Executive Jet
But I am not even rich... let alone super!

Flying Low

I've not been flying much nowadays and that worries me. The last time I took a flight was in January onboard AirAsia from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to Senai, Johor Bahru.



The weather was bad then but having been on such a flight for several times prior to the last flight, I was kind of gotten used to the turbulence.

But that was four months ago. I've been on the safe, hard ground ever since, and four months I feel is too long for my own good.

Sooner or later I would be flying again and being on a safe ground all these while, I wouldn't know what to expect the next time I fly. Would I be scared like before? Would I be treating it like any other flights I've taken?

Aircraft Toilet Cleaners

Take cover. The shit has hit the fan, or shall I say, has rained down from among the clouds?

In a story datelined Kuala Lumpur, flight attendants demanded an apology from local movie producer over a scene referring to air stewardesses as "toilet cleaners". Via The Malay Mail:

KUALA LUMPUR: The producers of local comedy film Buli Balik may find themselves staring at a lawsuit for allegedly ridiculing flight stewardesses in the recent box-office hit.

The Malaysia Airlines Flight Attendants Association (MAFAA) has taken exception to a scene in the movie where an actress refers to stewardesses as "toilet cleaners".

The allegedly offensive scene shows a female patient waiting to see a psychiatrist, played by Harith Iskandar, remarking: "Orang ni, kalau sebutnya stewardess nak mengoratlah dan tulah... pencuci toilet aja diatas tu" (This person, if you mention stewardess, he wants to tackle and such... only a toilet cleaner up there").

MAFAA secretary-general Ismail Nasamuddin A.W. Maxwell said it was unbecoming of the film's producers and director, Afdlin Shauki, to belittle the profession of a flight attendant by equating it to that of a toilet cleaner.

"It is an insult to our profession. We are not toilet cleaners. The producers and director of the movie owe us a public apology for making such disparaging remarks about our profession," said Ismail in a statement yesterday. [...]

He said it was wrong to portray such a negative image of flight attendants as certain aspects of their job were on par with those of airline pilots especially when it came to the safety of passengers, adding that they had saved the lives of many passengers during emergencies in the past.

"Many cabin crew members now are highly educated people..."

Afdlin Shauki who blogs here, replied:

Are the cabin crew association so insecure about their own profession that they have to justify that they are at par with airline pilots? in my mind they have a great profession. They get to travel, meet many people and at the same time...[Afdlin Shauki: Much Ado About Toilet Cleaning?]

Air stewards and stewardesses out there, have your say. Do you feel insulted by the remark?

Non-air stewards and stewardesses, and non-toilet cleaners out there, ponder this question: would you feel insulted if someone were to call you a toilet cleaner?

Will the real toilet cleaners out there stand up and have your voice heard?

Ah... I've Landed

Overcoming Aviophobia: A Self Help

Those who suffer from the fear of flying or aviophobia -- or aviotophobia or aerophobia -- can do a few things to minimise their fear, I recently found out.

First is to read as many aviation-related magazines as possible and not merely reading about aircraft after they had crashed. That way aviophobic people might be able to coax their sub-conscious mind into accepting the fact that there are more to a flight than air crashes. I wouldn't want to go into the details about how the mind operates. You can ask Freud about it.

Aviophobics could also do themselves a great favour by visiting aerospace show and exhibition and be awed by the sheer power, grace and agility of aircraft as they take to the sky in a gravity-defying manoeuvre.

The three pictures here show an Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft ever built, took to the sky during a flight display at the ongoing Asian Aerospace 2006 exhibition and air show in Singapore, which started yesterday till Feb 26.

The A380 was such a beauty, dancing in the sky like that. Makes me really wants to be on an A380 flight.

Heading For Asian Aerospace 2006

Isn't it strange that an aviophobic should find aeroplanes beautiful? But I do. I do find aeroplanes beautiful.

And that is why I am going to see them all at the Asian Aerospace 2006 exhibition as soon as it is open to the public. The A380 will be there, so will other aircraft -- jetfighters, business jets, turboprop military trainer, combat helicopter...also aviation technologies, and all.

PLANE FLYING BLIND OVER INDONESIA AIR

PLANE carrying 145 passengers flew for hours without navigation and communications systems over Indonesia before making a safe emergency landing.

The systems on the Boeing 737-300, of Indonesian regional airline Adam Air, broke down 20 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta's international airport at 10.20am on Saturday, according to Kompass newspaper.

The pilot flew over the island of Java without knowing where he was going for about four hours after finding the problem. He made an emergency landing at 2.45pm on the eastern island of Sumba after seeing a runway, which was only 1800m long.

Boeing 737-300s usually need at least 2200m to land and take off. No one aboard the plane, which had been bound for the South Sulawesi province capital of Makassar,
was injured.

Passengers were not told of the problems during the flight, Kompass said, although many suspected something was wrong as the plane kept changing altitudes. An investigation has been launched. (Source: Herald Sun)

The good thing, no one panicked.

An Eerie Page 487

A friend who was on his way back from from Sydney sent me a SMS, asking if he could grab something for me at the airport or on his way to the airport. I told him, thank you, that was so kind of you but that won't really be necessary. But if you insist, I guess, a book will do.

"Any writer or title in particular?" He asked. "No, nothing in particular. Maybe you could just grab the one nearest to you," I said, and thank him for his thoughfulness. That was in 2002.

A few days later he handed me a paperback version of John J. Nance's "Blackout", with a tagline on the front cover proclaiming Nance as "The Master of Airborne Suspense". Oh boy, didn't I tell you I am Aviophobic? I can't be reading books like this, I'd be dead from the stress. But I bit off the remark before it burst out. How could he know. And besides, it might be good to read such a book, for a change.

At that time I was reading Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher" and as soon as I finished it, I summoned all my courage to begin reading "Blackout". It was full of suspense, as promised but what stands out from among the fast-paced, whirlwind plot, was someting said by one of characters on Page 487:

What spooked me most was the fact that the book was written and published in 2000, a year before the Sept 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Centre in Sept 2001 and there I was reading about a jetliner impacting the WTC.

I got this feeling that somehow, somewhere, I and whoever was behind the Sept 11 attacks, had stared at same Page 487 of Nance's book at one point in our life.

Now Nance has came out with another book "Skyhook" (published in 2003) which promised another hell-raising plane rides. I am still thinking whether I should read this one. Clearly, Nance's "Blackout" had affected me in more ways than one -- because it has somehow managed to enrich my imagination of things that can happen to a flight. If you are Aviophobic, your worst enemy could very well be your own imagination. The more vivid it is, the more formidable the foe would become.

As MAS Trying To Turnaround, SIA Posted S$375 Million Net Profit

Here is a news to sleep the night over with:

SINGAPORE - Singapore Airlines (SIA) said Thursday its net profit fell 14.6 percent in its third quarter to December from a year ago as expenses ballooned due to soaring jet fuel costs.

The net profit of S$397 million (US$244m) compared with S$465 million for the same period last year, but was higher than analysts' forecasts of between S$314 million and S$380 million.

Expenditures expanded 14.1 percent, outpacing the 11.1 percent year-on-year growth in revenue which totalled S$3.557 billion, SIA said in a statement. (Source: Channel News Asia)

Now, that is not a small profit. Its equivalent to RM833 million and that is not yet for the full fiscal year. In contrast, Malaysia Airlines is still trying to turnaround after registering a loss of RM367.7 million in the quarter ended September 2005.

It doesn't feel good in the heart thinking about the two contrasting scenario. It's like living in a dipalidated hut next to a rich neighbour and the neighbour had just brought in their spanking new SUV. I can only wish Idris Jala all the best.

Alive And Flying

The irony of blogging about flight scare or aviophobia is that when the blogger stops posting for an extended period of time, his readers -- if there was one, surely there was one -- tend to perceive that he was no longer afraid to fly and therefore there was no longer the necessity to go on blogging about it; or that he had already died.

Wasn't there a plane accident recently? Was he in the flight? His reader might wonder.

I am alive though. Alive and flying, very often the past two months. You know the weather was not particularly kind during those period of the year in this part of the world and flights were often rough, but here I am. Intact.