by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 13, 2017 | Airlines, Airports, Featured |
Almost anyone with a passion for aviation knows about Princess Juliana Airport located on the Dutch side of St. Maarten. Most ‘avgeeks’ see it as a bucket list destination due to the fact that your are literally standing beneath aircraft that are only a few yards overhead as they land at ‘SXM’. Others enjoy hanging on to the fence at the base of the runway only to be treated to jet thrusts of 747s as the spool up their engines for take off.
Unfortunately, one such thrill seeker was killed yesterday when she attempted to hang on to the fence during the take off of a Caribbean Airlines 737. According to Fox News, she apparently lost her grip and was thrown from the fence, landing in such a manner that resulted in her death a short time later.
Though tragic for her friends and family, I hope that the airport authorities do not over react to this and create policies that prevent people from pursuing this ‘thrill’. It’s still on my bucket list and I’m sure it’s on the list of thousands of others that enjoy this sort of thing.
The airport and beach go to long lengths to warn visitors of the potential dangers that exist with being to close to the airport. Signs are posted along the base of the runway, and common sense can also be helpful. Hopefully the airport does not over react and ruin an ‘institution’ that has been popular with visitors for decades.
Fortunately, the family of the deceased agreed that what she did was wrong and that she was aware of the risks and signage warning people about the area.
Airport authorities said an investigation will take place to confirm the chain of events that lead to her death.
What are your thoughts? Should the airport put measures in place to stop the thrill seekers, or allow it to continue at our own risk?
by Lufthansa Flyer | May 18, 2017 | Airports, Brussels, FAA, Featured, Travel, TSA |
After a series of meetings in Brussels, involving heads of national security for the EU and USA, as well as airline security specialists it appears that an Electronics ban on flights between Europe and the USA may not be as imminent as we had feared.
In comments made by the group, it appears that there is an increased willingness for airlines to work with one another as well as will government security specialists in order to prevent the ban.
This information sharing included confidential exchange of intelligence between the EU and the Department of Homeland Security in the USA.
Critics of the ban suggest that a ban would cost passengers $1 billion in lost productivity each year and lead to a significant drop in air traffic between Europe and the USA.
According to one meeting participant, it was suggested that the electronics ban was ‘off the table’ at this point and no plans exist for implementing one in the near term.
This same group is scheduled to meeting in Washington DC next week to expand on their discussions. We can only hope that they realize how frivolous such a ban would be and continue to avoid its implementation.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 18, 2017 | Airports, Featured, Passenger Experience |
I came across an interesting video showing research and simulations that are taking place that suggest that a circular, banked runway (Think race track style) is better, safer, and more environmentally sound.
The research is being conduct at The Netherlands Aerospace Center and several advantages are being discovered with a 360 degree runway. One being the idea that you can micro-tune approaches and departures to account for wind conditions; eliminating all those enjoyable cross-wind landings we like to watch on Youtube. The research suggests that you can have 3 aircraft departing and or arriving at the same time which would reduce congestion at major airports. Also with a circular runway, aircraft would spend less time in the air holding patterns over airports which in turn would reduce air and noise pollution near the airports.
Here is the video (Courtesy of BBC) explaining the concept along with simulator work showing the effectiveness of the idea. (PS, if any of you use X-Plane 10 or 11, there’s a circular airport that is available….and it’s a blast!).
