Aviation News

Victoria Cleven, 42, was flying home from the US last week when she got a couple of packets of an Australian-made trail mix as a snack.

She didn’t turn on the overhead light in the darkened plane and had started eating the nuts, raisins and grains before she realised the mix was infested with maggots.

“It tasted strange, and I turned the light on and looked at the rest of the packet, and just started seeing maggots coming out of it everywhere,” Ms Cleven said.

“I couldn’t talk. I was nearly throwing up. I was beside myself.”

Her son, 15, checked another two packets of the mix and found they also had maggots.

The mother of two, who took a photo and video to prove her story, said she had been insulted by her treatment when she asked for compensation.

She said a Qantas spokeswoman offered her a refund, but later said only about $400 of the $1600 flight cost would be refunded.

Ms Cleven said Qantas couldn’t explain the mishap and suggested it could be the manufacturer’s fault.

The Sydney Biscuit Company apologised and said moths could have got into the packets when they were stored in a Qantas warehouse.

“I got a call from the CEO, who was very apologetic” Ms Cleven said.

A Qantas spokesman said the incident was being investigated.

“Qantas sincerely apologises to Mrs Cleven for the incident that occurred on her return flight from LAX to Melbourne.

“Qantas has also contacted the supplier … and is currently investigating how this issue occurred.”

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Airline employees have mid-air meltdowns; what's causing it?

DETROIT -

Flying is more stressful than ever and not just for passengers.

Pilots are being put to the test and, as the country just witnessed with the JetBlue captain, some can’t handle the pressure.

Can pilots handle the pressure? What really happened in that JetBlue cockpit?

Cellphone cameras captured the tense scene in the sky. Passengers onboard the JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas restrained the captain, Clayton Osbon, who apparently had a major meltdown midflight.

Watch: Video from JetBlue flight

Osbon had been flying JetBlue for 12 years. He never had any problems in the air. Then, on Tuesday, he appeared to have what many described as a total breakdown. His erratic behavior started in the cockpit and played out in the cabin. He was foaming at the mouth as he was taken away on a stretcher and sent to a hospital.

What happened on that JetBlue flight has passengers flying out of Detroit Metro Airport talking. Most believe their pilot will be poised to handle pressure, but this incident makes some think twice.

It’s no surprise that flying can be stressful. In fact, airline pilot ranks as the 3rd most stressful white color job.

The Federal Aviation Administration has stepped in working to control hours and flying conditions. This coming after a commuter flight went down in Buffalo in 2009. The pilots onboard that flight were not only inexperienced but also extremely fatigued. As far as bizarre incidents go, remember JetBlue flight attendant Stephen Slater? He opened the evacuation slide after getting into a confrontation with a passenger.

Moreover, an American Airlines flight attendant made headlines when she started screaming about 9/11 and telling passengers the plane was crashing.

John Cox is an aviation expert who says the crew and specifically the captain are under intense pressure.

“It’s staying ahead of the airplane. Ensuring that all the many details of a flight are done correctly and they’re done in a timely manner,” said Cox. “The more fatigued you are, the more difficult that becomes.”

It’s unclear if fatigue was one of the factors that played a role in Osbon’s episode. However, his flight schedule and hours logged are now being reviewed. So is his mental health.

Dr. Gerald Shiener is a clinical psychiatrist in Birmingham who says pilots and the crew experience stress on a different level than many.

“You’re sleep deprived. You’re lonely. You’re bored. There is nothing to do between flights and if you’re in a strange city you can’t enjoy the sights because you have to be up for work the next morning,” Shiener said. “That’s very, very stressful.”

Shiener said Captain Osbon appears to have suffered from a mental breakdown, not a panic attack, and his problems may have been detected if the FAA required regular psychological evaluations.

“We know that the stress of sleep deprivation and time zone shift can trigger psychiatric illnesses like depression, like bipolar disorder,” said Shiener.

Although the captain, and copilots, have limited contact with passengers before takeoff, passengers still should point out any potential problems he or she spots with any crew member.

“Ask one of the flight attendants, ask one of the other crew members, tell them what you’re seeing,” said Shiener.

The FAA and FBI are beginning a thorough investigation into the JetBlue incident and are now reviewing procedures in place to help crew members fight fatigue to make sure they are fit to fly.

What could have been done to spot Captain Osbon’s problems before the plane left the gate?

Right now, Osbon is undergoing psychological evaluation. Soon, he may find himself in a courtroom facing charges for disrupting the flight.

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A Hawaii-bound Qantas flight was forced to divert to Fiji last night after pilots discovered a crack in the aircraft’s windscreen.

More than 200 passengers on board QF3 from Sydney to Honolulu spent an unexpected night in Nadi after the 1.9-centimetre crack was discovered on the Boeing 767′s inner windscreen.

A Qantas spokesman said pilots took a conservative approach to safety and decided to divert to Nadi mid-way through the flight to allow engineers to examine the defect.

“The aircraft windscreen is multi-layered, made up of separate internal and external panes of glass as well as a vinyl sheet through the middle,” the spokesman said.

“Only the inner windscreen was cracked and the crack was only 1.9cm long. The external windscreen and the vinyl layer were unaffected.”

He said the cause of the crack was not clear.

Another Qantas plane has been sent from Sydney to pick up the 227 passengers in Nadi and take them to Honolulu.

The spokesman said affected passengers were provided accommodation and meals in Nadi last night.

The cracked windscreen will be replaced and the aircraft is expected to return to normal service.

Meanwhile, a Qantas aircraft was forced to climb at maximum speed to maintain separation from a Pacific Blue aircraft over Queenstown, New Zealaand, when their flight paths crossed, a report has revealed.

The “loss of separation” incident sparked a Transport Accident Investigation Commission inquiry almost two years ago.

The commission report, published today, says a Pacific Blue Boeing 737 was en route from Auckland to Queenstown on June 20, 2010.

It was flown using instruments but pilots must be able to see the runway until landing. If they lose sight of the runway they must abort the landing and execute a figure eight “missed approach procedure”.

Pilots must circle while descending over Queenstown because terrain is mountainous, which means radar cannot be used.

The Pacific Blue flight, with 82 passengers, arrived at the descent altitude, and while pilots spotted cloud the runway was clear.

However, cloud patches were likely to obstruct a final approach so the pilots reported a landing on an alternative runway.

Meanwhile, an air traffic controller cleared a Qantas aircraft en route from Sydney with 156 passengers to start an approach behind the Pacific Blue aircraft.

A controller cleared Qantas for the approach based on an expectation that Pacific Blue, having started circling, would land or execute a figure eight.

However, the Pacific Blue flight stopped circling and climbed to intercept the required heading for a missed approach.

“They had not planned to enter or remain in the visual circuit as the controller had expected and, because of their position when they started the climb, probably could not have done so because of their proximity to terrain,” the report says.

A controller then told the Qantas pilot to conduct a missed approach procedure at a maximum rate of climb to maintain separation from Pacific Blue flight.

Investigators did not establish whether the required 1000 feet vertical separation was breached because it was clear the potential for a breach was high and safety was an issue.

The report found the weather was unsuitable for Pacific Blue to descend below a minimum descent altitude; a controller failed to ensure separation was maintained; Pacific Blue and air traffic control had different understandings of missed approach procedures; and inconsistent manuals for air traffic control and pilots were “a hazard.”

Investigators said a review of air traffic management systems at Queenstown was prudent and recommended to the director of civil aviation that he ensure a plan for Queenstown aerodrome addressed safety issues, clarified manuals and installed a system to give real-time weather observations behind Deer Park Hill.

SYDNEY — Australian flag carrier Qantas and China Eastern Airlines will launch a new Hong Kong-based budget airline as they move to tap into China’s booming aviation market, they announced Monday.

The new low-cost Asian carrier, Jetstar Hong Kong, will launch in 2013 and fly short-haul routes, including in China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia, the partners said in a statement.

The move marks a major expansion of Jetstar, Qantas’s budget brand, which flies domestic Australian and Asian routes, and comes as the embattled carrier struggles to refocus on Asia, the world’s fast-growing aviation market.

“This is a unique opportunity to capitalise on the enormous potential of the Greater China market, where the penetration of low cost carriers is less than five percent,” Jetstar’s Chief Executive Bruce Buchanan said.

“Jetstar’s fares will be 50 percent less than existing full service carriers, which we’ve seen create new travel demand in our markets across Asia because it enables people to make more trips, more often.”

Qantas and China Eastern — which will have an equal stake in Jetstar Hong Kong — told the Australian Stock Exchange the new airline, Hong Kong’s first budget carrier, would have capitalisation of US$198 million.

Jetstar Hong Kong, which will be a pioneer in the China budget market, will launch with a fleet of three Airbus A320s, but will increase that number to 18 by 2015.

“We believe there are huge opportunities in the Jetstar low fares model throughout Asia, including Greater China,” said Shanghai-based China Eastern’s chairman, Liu Shaoyong.

The announcement of a low-cost China-focused airline comes little more than a fortnight after revelations that Qantas talks over forming a premium joint-venture Asian airline with Malaysia Airlines had collapsed.

Qantas is now moving to cash in on the successful business model of budget Jetstar, which also has a Japanese operation Jetstar Japan and a Vietnamese base, by slashing fares and boosting traffic.

“We see tremendous potential for the Qantas Group in Asia and we’re looking forward to working more closely with China Eastern Airlines to deliver on it,” Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said.

Qantas in August announced plans to establish a joint-venture in Asia as it repositions itself within the world’s largest airline market and seeks to turn around its loss-making international arm.

Singapore and Malaysia were seen as the likely bases for the new joint-venture premium airline and, until the collapse of talks, Qantas was said to have favoured Kuala Lumpur because of the lower costs involved.

But the mooted new Asian airline sparked a fierce domestic backlash, with Australian unions concerned the move would see jobs sent abroad.

The ensuing acrimony between management and unions saw Joyce ground the entire Qantas fleet in October, stranding thousands of passengers at airports around the world and digging into the airline’s bottom line.

The airline has said that refocusing its business is crucial to its long-term survival as it struggles at a difficult time for the global industry.

Last month Qantas announced it would slash at least 500 jobs, cut costs and close two international routes after an 83 percent slump in first-half net profits.

The new airline’s base in Hong Kong gives it a China springboard and a home in one of Asia’s key aviation hubs, through which around 40 million passengers pass each year.

Australian Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson last week highlighted China’s growing tourism and transport potential, pointing out the rapid expansion of a travelling middle class and huge growth in its cities.

Since 1981, the share of China’s population living below the poverty line had dropped from 84 percent to just 20 percent today, he pointed out.

AFP

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