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!
Bad English Costs The Lives Of Over 1,500 People
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:
For flights to and from the United States: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.
The latest scare is not good. Not good at all for people with aviophobic like me.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.
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.
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?
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 good thing, no one panicked.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)
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.
Mocking Clouds
Mocking CloudsThe A330 meandered in between the clouds, skirting the heavy ones and trying as far as possible not to ram directly onto it.
I guess pilots are taught to respect this weather phenomenon and not to try to challenge it by purposedly ramming jetliners onto it, unless there were no other ways to skirt around it, so I was told. I would have to verify this. I do know for sure about one thing, clouds are contributors to air turbulence.
Anyway, I think they have a name for it -- the cloud formations I mean, not the aircraft manouevre. I can tell a Cumulonimbus anytime when I see one. As for the rest of the brood -- Nimbostartus, Cirrocumulus and Altostratus, well I guess I need to read more in order to learn more. I know one thing though -- all clouds are Latin.
The cloud naming system was invented in 1892 by an Englishman Luke Howard. It comprises of two parts -- first to describe the altitude or the heights where the cloud were forming and the second, to describe the shape. The part that describes the heights are: cirro, high clouds above 20,000 feet; and alto, mid level clouds between 6,000 - 20,000 feet. There is no prefix for low level clouds.
The names denoting shapes are: cirrus mean curly or fibrous, stratus means layered, while cumulus means lumpy or piled. Nimbo or nimbus is added to indicate that a cloud can produce precipitation.
After a slight turbulence -- enough to scare an aviophobic like me -- the aircraft landed smoothly on the runway of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. As the A330 taxied to the terminal building, I looked out of the window and wondered what the clouds would have done had they were a living being. I guess they would have mock me all the way throughout the flight for being afraid to fly.
Hell, the clouds were mocking me even after I landed safely. I could see them reassembling to form what could have been the shape of a middle finger! WTF! Who do you think you are? Cumulusdickus?
Flying Again
Bandar Maharani, Johor, MalaysiaI am flying again today, to the north, that is. It's just a short flight by A330 and to tell you the truth, I am looking forward to it. I don't feel apprehensive at all about the flight I am to take at 1.30pm from Changi Airport to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
That is not to say I've overcome my fear of flying. I guess it's still there only this time there's something inside that makes me want to enjoy the flight. Afterall it's just a 55-minute flight, including the time taken to taxi to and from the runway on both ends of the journey.
I guess it's just a mood swing. As I've come to realise, fear manifests itself in a varying intensity. I can have no fear of flying in one day, and completely freak out in another. In fact, there were days I can become jittery just by thinking about a flight. Mind you, I can become afraid to fly even when my feet are planted firmly on the ground. That's quite irrational, to say the least.
If I can become irrational on the ground, heck I can become irrational on the air. I guess, most fears are irrational, I can tell you that much. Anyway, subject to clearance from the air traffic controller, I should already be lounging around KLIA by 2.30pm.
The Business Of Being Busy
Ah, It's been a busy week. I hardly had the time to update this blog and when I did, I was already too tired and too drained out of creative energy to do anything with the the string of thoughts that come to mind. So I shall just let the thoughts float around for a while.
There are some pending things to do in relation with this blog: write emails to friends to discuss about aviophobia, blog about the test flights of Airbus A380 superjumbo to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and the problem with Malaysia Airlines which revenue seemed to be nosediving at an alarming speed.
Can somebody help throttle the company up, please? Then there is also the coming onboard of Sarawakian executive Idris Jala to be the Managing Director of Malaysia Airlines in December. May he be the one who could put Malaysia Airlines back into the black.
There are so many things to blog. Alas, here I am...letting things to be overtaken by events.
Fly Off Fear. Can We?
Marita Paige of A Leaf Off The Page of Marita's Life ask me in her comment, do I fly a lot. I don't.
That probably is one of the factors contributing to my flying woes. I don't fly often and therefore I can't get used to being on a flight. Therefore, I am afraid to fly. It's like meeting someone new. If you get to meet that someone often, you can become comfortable with that person.
But I had flown in many types of air transporters -- from 8-seater and 12-seater light aircrafts which I've forgotten the make, to the Fokker 50 and the commercial passenger planes by Boeing and Airbus. Had also been on a de Haviland Beechcraft flights and C130 militry transport aircraft. Island-hopping on Nuri helicopter, criss-crossing Sabah on a Bell helicopters in the 90's, and circling around Mount Kinabalu on a Russian made Mi-17 helicopter.
The longest flight I've flown so far was in 2003 along this route: Kota Kinabalu-Kuala Lumpur-Amsterdam-Stockholm. 3 days stop. Then Stockholm-Nice. 3 days stop. Then Nice-Paris-Frankfurt-Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu.
Not a single incident happened on those flights. Still, I am afraid to fly. Even a short 25 minutes of flight from Kota Kinabalu to Labuan can freak me out.
Perhaps it's because I had also seen crash sites, smelled the smell of charred bodies of air crash victims.
A Proven Cure For Aviophobia?
Psychologists believe Aviophobia or the fear of flying is curable. The rate of success can be high -- experts estimated that about 90 per cent of those who seek treatment, can actually wake up in the morning, take a flight and not feeling any fear at all.
The method they use is hypnotherapy. The problem is, you can't self- hypnotise. Somebody else must employ the process on you. An aviophobic reporter who had been to the hypnotherapist has written an article about it:
The rest of the article, here!Sitting Out Of Fear
The fear of flying (aviophobia) is a bit irrational – you’re more likely to be killed by a donkey or a falling coconut – but it is thought to affect about 10 million UK residents to a degree.
With me, just a touch of turbulence reduces me to sobs and wide-eyed panic. And the six major air disasters this summer haven’t helped.
Dr Richard Bradley is a clinical hypnotherapist, who has been practising for 14 years. He runs clinics at Carlisle, Dumfries and Corbridge. Most of his patients are aged between their late-teens to early 20s, but he has successfully treated people as young as seven and as old as 87.
He estimates that more than 90 per cent of his patients are cured through hypnotherapy: “Some go away after a couple of sessions and never experience their problem again. Others leave with a far more positive mental attitude. However it affects you, it always helps.” [...]
Dr Bradley has treated the fear of flying hundreds of times and is confident he can help me. We begin with a preliminary chat which allows Dr Bradley to analyse me and to decide the best way to help me.
“There are two main methods of hypnosis,” said Dr Bradley. “I treat 20 per cent of my patients through classic hypnotism, where you simply tell the patient to stop doing what they are doing. For example, I would tell a smoker they are a non-smoker and when they wake up they will oblige.
“The remaining 80 per cent are treated using Erickson hypnotism, a more complex method in which I will tell a metaphorical story which is embedded with suggestions to help the patient. It’s a less obvious method which appeals to the subconscious mind".
Dr Bradley asks me to consider why I am afraid of flying. Is it a fear of small spaces or a fear of death? I tell him it is probably a bit of both. And the fact that I am a bit of a control freak. I certainly don’t like the lack of control when sitting in a plane. And probably not when I am under the control of a hypnotist, either. [...]
An hour later Dr Bradley tells me he will use the Erickson method with me. While I’m getting comfortable on the couch Dr Bradley dismisses a few of my stereotypical beliefs about hypnotism.
“Nothing strange is going to happen. I’m not going to knock you out and become a mad magician. There are a lot of misconceptions about hypnotism. Television and entertainment would have you believe that we are in control and you won’t remember anything, but hypnotherapy is actually more about encouraging you to take control.”
My next 35 minutes are spent under hypnosis. Dr Bradley’s soothing voice lulls me into a semi-sleep and he talks me through the process, telling me I’ll feel light and relaxed or heavy and numbed, but relaxed. I feel the latter. It is a case of lying on the couch, listening to his words and using my imagination.
It is a pleasant experience that instilled a calmness in me. But has it helped me tackle my fear? As yet, I can’t be sure. My next flight is at Christmas.
The calmness I felt during the session remains and I am taking a far more positive outlook when reading about the horrors of a plane crash. [Source: News & Star, UK. Oct 19, 2005]
Thank You: Minishorts, Peter Tan, BlogsMalaysia
Hey, someone found my blog and posted it on the newly launched BlogsMalaysia.com. Thank you minishorts, for submitting my article and thank you Peter Tan for publishing it.
Aviophobic Anonymous, is, in their own words "rather intriguing and educational":
Weather You Like It or Not... It isn't every day that someone starts a blog to chronicle his experiences of living with aviophobia (fear of flying). Aviophobic is a fresh cut off the crop, and his blog is rather intriguing and educational.
Hmm...I guess I would have to live up to that "rather intriguing and educational" tag from now on, or else, Aviophobic Anonymous would perish, just like a doomed aircraft.
Aviophobic Anonymous
After two month of blogging about Aviophobia or the fear of flying and taking into consideration some of the comments here, I've decided today to "revamp" this blog, first by having its name changed from "I Believe I Am Afraid To Fly" to "Aviophobic Anonymous".
I will also edit some of the entries here to reflect a more positive attitude towards the safety of air transportation. The grammatical mistakes will still be there after the editing, I reckon, but that can't really be helped. I find English grammer as difficult to comprehend as the fear of flying itself.
Next possible entry: When a child is afraid to fly, what can the accompanying parents (who are also aviophobic) do to help calm the situation? Views and comments are welcomed.
Nigerian Air Crash Kills 117 (Edited Version)
Here's a piece of news that could aggravate aviophobia. A passenger aircraft crashes yet again. From Reuters:
All 117 likely killed in Nigerian air crash
LISSA, Nigeria (Reuters) - A Nigerian airliner with 117 people aboard crashed and disintegrated in flames shortly after take-off from Lagos and there was no sign of survivors, officials and the Nigerian Red Cross said on Sunday.
Dismembered and burned body parts, fuselage fragments and engine parts were strewn over an area the size of a football field near the village of Lissa, about 30 km north of Lagos.
Video grab shows the crash site of the Nigerian airliner in Lissa, about 30 km north of Lagos, October 23, 2005. (REUTERS/Nigerian Television Authority via Reuters TV)
"The aircraft has crashed and it is a total loss. We can't even see a whole human body," a senior police official said at the scene. The Bellview Airlines plane, which left Lagos on Saturday night on a scheduled flight to the capital Abuja, left a smoking 70 foot crater in the marshy earth, uprooted trees and blew the roofs off nearby houses.
"I can't confirm if there are any survivors, but there is no trace so far," Red Cross General Secretary Abiodun Orebiyi told Reuters after visiting the scene. "The plane was totally destroyed. It was scattered everywhere."
A wig, human intestines, clothes, foam seats and a hand were visible wedged in the sodden earth. A cheque for 948,000 naira ($7,300) from the evangelical Deeper Life church was one of a number of personal papers found in the smouldering wreckage.
A U.S. official confirmed that a U.S. military officer was aboard the aircraft. [...]Bellview Airlines flight 210 left at 8:45 p.m. (1945 GMT) and lost contact minutes later during a heavy electrical storm. It was carrying 111 passengers and six crew, the Federal Airport Authority said, updating an earlier figure of 110 passengers.
The pilot made a distress call after take-off, indicating the plane had a technical problem, a source at the presidency told Reuters.
Ten Deadliest Air Crashes In History (Edited Version)
Here's just for the record the 10 deadliest air crashes in history:
1. TenerifeA statistical breakdown also includes the following:
27 March 1977
Number of people killed: 583
Two Boeing 747s, operated by KLM and Pan Am, collide on a foggy runway at Tenerife, in Spain's Canary Islands. The KLM jet departed without permission, striking the Pan Am jet as it taxied along the same runway. Confusion over instructions and a blockage of radio transmissions contributed to the crash.
2. Mount Fuji
12 August 1985
Number of people killed: 520
A Japan Air Lines 747 crashes near Mount Fuji after takeoff from Tokyo on a domestic flight. The rupture of an aft bulkhead, which had undergone faulty repairs following a mishap seven years earlier, caused the destruction of part of the aeroplane's tail and rendered the jet uncontrollable. A JAL maintenance supervisor later committed suicide, while the president of the airline resigned, accepting full responsibility for the crash and visiting victims' families to offer a personal apology.
3. Delhi
12 November 1996
Number of people killed: 349
An Ilyushin IL-76 cargo plane from Kazakhstan collides in midair with a Saudia 747 near Delhi, India. The Kazakh crew had disobeyed instructions, and neither aircraft was equipped with collision-avoidance technology.
4. Orly
3 March 1974
Number of people killed: 346
A THY (Turkish Airlines) DC-10 crashes near Orly airport outside Paris. A poorly designed cargo door burst from its latches, leading to rapid depressurisation, failure of the cabin floor and impairment of cables to the rudders and elevators. Out of control, the plane slammed into woods northeast of Paris. McDonnell Douglas, maker of the DC-10, which would see even more controversy later, was forced to redesign its cargo door system.
5. Ireland
23 June 1985
Number
of people killed: 329
A bomb planted by Sikh extremists blows up an Air India 747 en route from Toronto to Bombay. The plane fell into the sea east of Ireland. Investigators in Canada cited shortcomings in baggage screening procedures, screening equipment, and employee training. A second bomb, intended to blow up another Air India 747 on the same day, detonated prematurely in a luggage facility in Tokyo before being loaded aboard.
6. Riyadh
19 August 1980
Number of people killed: 301
A Saudia L-1011 bound for Karachi returns to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when a fire broke out on board shortly after takeoff. For reasons never fully understood, the crew delays evacuation after a safe touchdown and the aircraft rolls to the far end of the runway before finally stopping. No evacuation is commenced, and the plane then sits with its engines running for more than three minutes. Before any doors can be opened by the inadequately equipped rescue workers at Riyadh, everyone on the widebody died as the passenger cabin is killed by a flash-fire.
7. Straits of Hormuz
3 July 1988
Number of people killed: 290
An Airbus A300 operated by Iran Air is shot down over the Straits of Hormuz by the US navy destroyer Vincennes. The US military said the crew of the Vincennes were distracted by an ongoing armed battle and mistook the A300 for a hostile military aircraft. None of the passengers or crew survived.
8. Chicago
25 May 1979
Number of people killed: 273
As an American Airlines DC-10 takes off from Chicago's O'Hare airport, an engine detaches from its mounting seriously damaging a wing. Before its crew can react, the aeroplane rolls 90 degrees and disintegrates in a fireball about a mile beyond the runway. This remains the worst-ever US crash. Both the engine pylon design and airline maintenance procedures were faulted by NTSB investigators, and all DC-10s were temporarily grounded.
9. Lockerbie
21 December 1988
Number of
people killed: 270
Pan American flight 103, explodes in the night sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all the passengers, and 11 people on the ground. Two Libyan agents are later held responsible (one is convicted) for planting a bomb aboard the aircraft.
10. Sakhalin Island
1 September 1983
Number of people killed: 269
Korean Air Lines flight KL007, a 747, from New York to Seoul (with a technical stop in Anchorage) is shot down by a Soviet fighter after drifting off course - and into Soviet airspace - near Sakhalin Island in the North Pacific. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) later attributes the mysterious deviation to "a considerable degree of lack of alertness and attentiveness on the part of the flight crew."
An accident survey of 2147 aeroplane accidents from 1950 through 2004 determined the causes to be as follows:Number of Boeing 747s involved in the 10 crashes: seven
Number resulting from terrorist sabotage or that were shot down mistakenly: four
Number that occurred in the US: one
Number that occurred prior to 1974: nil
Number that occurred during the 1970s or 1980s: nine
Number in which pilot error can be cited as a direct or contributing cause: three
Number that crashed as a direct result of mechanical failure: three
37%: Pilot errorThe survey excluded military, private, and charter aircraft. Sources: Wikipedia.org; Salon.com. (Article by Patrick Smith); airlinesafety.com. Extracted from an Al-Jazeera report compiled and edited by Asim Khan.
33%: Undetermined or missing in the record
13%: Mechanical failure
7%: Weather
5%: Sabotage (bombs, hijackings, shoot-downs)
4%: Other human error (air traffic controller error, improper loading of aircraft, improper maintenance, fuel contamination, language miscommunication, etc)
1%: Other cause
Cell Phone Man Kicked Out Of Plane
This blog fully supports the action taken by the pilot of a Malaysia Airlines flight in kicking out a passenger for ignoring the instruction to switch off the mobile phone while inside the aircraft.
The passenger, according to the report, was a businessman on the way to Kota Kinabalu, which is about an hour's flight away. He kept on taking over the phone despite being repeatedly told to swith it off. Here is the story:
SIBU, Oct 5: A businessman "talked" his way out of a Malaysia Airlines flight from here to Kota Kinabalu on Monday.The businessman in the report was not being helpful, even inconsiderate, to other passengers who might not be as free from the fear of flying as he. It's even unfair to the majority of other passengers who duly abide by the instruction.
The pilot ordered the businessman off the aircraft after he refused to listen to repeated requests from the crew to stop talking on his mobile phone. It is understood the man even ignored the pilot’s request to switch off the device.
The businessman was escorted off the aircraft by security officers. Flight MH2802, scheduled to take off at 9.15am, took off minutes later. It is not known if action can be taken against the man for delaying the flight. [...]
Sibu MAS manager Abdul Rahman Hassan, when contacted today, said the drama began when a passenger noticed the businessman using his handphone even as the aircraft began to roll down the runway.
The use of mobile phones on aircraft is generally forbidden during flight. One reason is that the use of the device could interfere with sensitive equipment on the aircraft. [Source: The New Straits Times]
I should really kick up a big fuss the next time I saw people talking on their phone inside an aircraft. You see, I don't mind being exposed to danger so long as it's worth it. Hell, we all are willing to die for a cause.
But I hate it if my safety is being put in jeopardy because of the foolishness of others!
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