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About me
Graduate of Syracuse University and current grad student at Dowling College working towards an MBA in Aviation Management. Talent Team at JetBlue Airways, New York State EMT-B, contributing writer for Sprout Social, freelance website developer, technology geek and writer.
Though it goes without saying, any opinions reflected here or anywhere else on the web represent mine and mine only.- About
I Wish Money Wasn’t So Expensive
But really. All I have wanted to do since I was old enough to stand and swallow food was become a pilot. And to this day, it’s still the only thing I can think of. Sure, the industry is shakey and the jury is still out on whether or not I’ll make a career out of it, but at the very least I really want to get my private pilot’s license.
Long story (and ever-lengthening) short, I’ve been trying to do this since I was sixteen. I let the idea die for a little while after I went on two lessons and ran out of funds.
I really thought it was finally going to happen. But:
- Couldn’t get a student loan as flight schools don’t count.
- The interest rate on private loans was too high.
- I’m not latino, one armed or a woman so I don’t qualify for any grants.
- The only available scholarships require I attend a four-year aviation college.
- Private financing requires immediate payment…of $580 per month. Yeah, no.
So I’m “grounded” once again.
One day, maybe.
In Emergency Response, You’re on Duty 24/7
“I’m responsible for developing the airline’s emergency response plan, assembling the response team and training employees to prepare for an accident, or for a crisis like a natural disaster. If something happens, we send out a high-speed alert and have the response team members report to a command center.”
This is literally my dream job. A marriage of aviation, emergency management and technology? Yes, please.
Southwest employee finds package of human heads
A Southwest Airlines employee got a rude surprise at work in Little Rock on June 9, and it wasn’t from an unruly passenger - not a live one, anyway, according to a report on an NBC website.
The employee opened a box from a courier and discovered between 40 and 60 human heads on their way to a medical research facility in Fort Worth, the website and other news organizations reported.
“It wasn’t labeled or packaged properly,” Southwest spokeswoman Ashley Rogers told NBC. “They called the local authorities.”
The Little Rock police then turned the gruesome package over to the county coroner, NBC reported. Pulaski County coroner Garland Camper told the network his office wanted to make sure the heads weren’t intended for the black market in body parts.
Source: USA Today
Okay, I understand this is just a shoddy photoshop job so they’d have an image for their press release, but their choice to go with the “United name, Continental colors” is awful. This is so ugly. I’m really upset - United just changed their livery and it looked SO cool and now they’re stuck with this - Serif font and an ugly color combination.
Puppies On The Plane?
*Strange “Barking” Noise Intermittently Going Off Around Plane*
Actual Explanation - Airbus A320 Hydraulic PTU - the system transfers hydraulic fluid and equalized the pumps. It makes a noise similar to a screw gun as it pushed fluid between the different lines. This usually occurs during startup and shutdown of the main engines as the system tries to keep pressure equal to both engines.
Expert Flyer Explanation - When people bring puppies on the plane, they put them below deck, then when the flight is about done and they open the cargo door, they get excited to see people so they bark.
And yes, this is the same woman that explained the miracle of flight to her friend while we were landing.
"So, I watched a video about flying. We’re about to land because the pilot dropped the landing stuff, and the engines are in reverse power and the wing flappers are out. Get ready."
Non-Certificated Airline Pilot Arrested
A 41-year-old Swedish man who was about to pilot a Boeing 737 with 101 passengers aboard was arrested this week at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport for falsifying papers that had allowed him to fly for 13 years without valid certification. He had been flying for Corendon Airlines (Turkey) for two years, but said his career had spanned airlines in Belgium, Britain and Italy, and had allowed him to log more than 10,000 flight hours, by using falsified documents. Few details are yet available, but the man was reportedly in place, in the cockpit, and ready to fly the jet from Amsterdam to Ankara, Turkey, when arrested. Authorities say that he reacted by pulling his pilot stripes from his shoulders and expressing relief that he’d at long last been caught.
The arrested “pilot” had once held a valid pilot’s certificate, police told BBC news, but the certificate had expired, “and did not allow him to fly large jets.” A spokesman for Corendon said the man had “expertly misled the company with false papers.” The airline had been notified of the impending arrest and had a pilot standing by to fly the jet to its destination. As for the suspect, he is now in custody and awaiting trial for forgery of documents and flying without a valid and appropriate pilot certificate.
Source: avweb.comPilots Support Kid Controller's Dad
The FAA has banned tower visits, and airline pilots using New York’s JFK Airport are showing support for tower controller Glenn Duffy and his supervisors after Duffy allowed his kids to issue instructions over the tower frequency in mid-February. The pilots are signing off their transmissions with “Adios,” the salutation Duffy’s nine-year-old son delivered in two of his transmissions Feb. 16. His twin sister took the mic a day later.
According to the New York Daily News, some are amplifying their discontent with the fate that might await the controllers. “Thoughts going out to your co-worker there,” the newspaper reported a Delta pilot departing Kennedy Airport was recorded on LiveATC as saying. “I think it’s BS what he’s going through.”
However, if Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is tuned into 119.1 or 123.9 he’s not paying much attention to the pilots’ support. “This is a stunning example of a lack of professionalism, not following the rules, not using common sense,” LaHood told a Senate committee March 4. “The air traffic controller and his supervisor are on administrative leave and we are doing a thorough and complete investigation. The idea that a young child would be directing planes in and out of an airport is totally unacceptable.” Meanwhile, media reports say the kids are blaming themselves and the family is under stress from the incident.
Source: avweb.comThe science and technology of air traffic control
Really interesting article I came across today. Breaks down all the major parts of ATC and goes farther than “air traffic controllers just sit around and talk to planes on the radio”.
Source: Ars Technica