http://boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:43:46 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It isn't showing up clearly yet on those increasingly sluggish, supposedly real-time sites like FlightStats.com, but air traffic is snarling nationally as the evening crush approaches. CNN has heads-up reporting on the developing mess. The F.A.A.'s inexcusably aged, badly maintained technology is responsible. This is just one sign of things to ... http://boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey/2008/08/26/air-traffic-meltdown/ Lame coverage of the MD80 crash in Madrid continues in the media. We learn nothing useful about airline safety from weepy relatives, dramatic (often inaccurate) eyewitness accounts, assurances that the Authorities Are Investigating (ask me about Brazil), and pointless photos of ambulances. Instead, before everybody in Spain takes their usual August ... http://boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey/2008/08/21/well-lets-look-it-up-then/ The news accounts have settled on a figure of about 145 dead of about 175 on board that Spanair MD80-series plane that crashed today in Madrid. Here's a preliminary report on the plane and the accident from AviationSafety.net ### http://boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey/2008/08/20/madrid-crash-md80-preliminary-report/ From the invaluable airline-safety Web site Airsafe.com, here is a list of crash fatalities on MD80 -series aircraft. Note the more recent incidents and similarities to what apparently occurred on an MD80 that went off the runway and broke up today in Madrid, with most reports now saying about 150 ... http://boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey/2008/08/20/md80-fatalities/ As I've said here repeatedly, airline safety and maintenance is the next big story in air travel. Re that plane crash that killed at least 45 in Madrid today: The plane was an MD-80, a model of aging aircraft that has had well-documented safety problems in the last year. It was ... http://boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey/2008/08/20/spain-plane-crash-whither-the-md80/ ... So what else is new, you might ask. But no, really. Here's a photo of Frank Schmuck, Southwest Airlines pilot and Air Force veteran, who is running for the state legislature in Arizona. The man would have my vote just based on the chutzpah of his campaign signs. I was on ... http://boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey/2008/08/20/the-candidate-is-a-schmuck-really/ I've been unavoidably off the beat for a while, but I need to catch up on what seems to be increasing incidents of airline thuggery. Here's an IAGBlog blogcast interview of a 56-year-old Arizona woman who was harassed, threatened, cuffed, manhandled and arrested after she refused a totally out-of-line order by ... http://boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey/2008/08/15/jetblue-horror-story/ Above: A Hawker 800 jet. FlightExplorer.com has posted a video of the flight path and weather conditions for the chartered Hawker 800 mid-size business jet that crashed today 60 miles south of Minneapolis, killing 8 passengers. The plane was flying to a regional airport in southern Minnesota from Atlantic City. Here is the ... http://boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey/2008/07/31/8-dead-in-business-jet-crash-near-minneapolis/ Tom Parsons, of Bestfares.com, today put out a detailed, depressing survey of soaring international air fares for this fall and winter. Here it is: *** Arlington, TX -- Thursday, July 31, 2008 -  "Airfares to Europe this fall and winter will be much higher than just a year ago" - states Tom ... http://boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey/2008/07/31/international-air-fares-soaring/ They're wearing me out with this stuff. Take it from Rick Seaney at Farecompare.com: Tonight at 8:00pm EDT, after almost a month of silence on airfare hikes, Northwest Airlines increased domestic airfares by $80 roundtrip on over 4,000 city pairs for both leisure and business travelers. While the total number of city ... http://boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey/2008/07/31/80-fare-hike-at-northwest-the-hits-just-keep-on-coming/