The Space Shuttle Discovery’s arrival to Washington DC yesterday was an event of a lifetime. It was what it was hyped up to be. This blog itself got more hits on my last two posts on the Shuttle’s arrival, than my entire number of hits on all my other posts so far this month combined. (Read my earlier posts – Space Shuttle Discovery flies into Dulles and Live Blog from the Shuttle arrival).
My personal experience in trying to spot the shuttle was not as good. First I got stuck in …

7:30 AM:
Starting my live blog. I will be posting updates here all day. So keep refreshing this page. I am also posting updates on Twitter, so keep an eye there.
Wheels up: The Shuttle flight has lifted off. NASA posted this picture of the shuttle flight taking off from Florida. ETA in DC – 10AM.
8:18AM: Getting ready to head to the airport. Still deciding where to go. The two main choices are: Air & Space Museum parking lot or Dulles airport Daily LOt #1. The airport lot will probably give a …

Space Shuttle Discovery’s final resting place is going to be the Udvar Hazy Air and Space museum, just off Washington, DC’s Dulles airport (IAD). It is going to be a flown in to Washington riding piggy-back on a 747 on April 17th. It is expected to arrive early morning, as reported on WTOP. I happen to live in the flight path of one of the runways and between the flight paths of two others (IAD has four runways – three are parallel to each other and one diagonal). I am …

Lufthansa just announced it’s first route for the brand new super-jumbo – the Boeing 747-8i. The will be flying the Frankfurt – Washington Dulles (FRA – IAD) route. The flight #s are LH418 and LH419.

As luck may have it, just a few weeks before the announcement I had booked myself on LH419! That too in Business class!! My flight is in August. As Lufthansa will get their first 747-8i in a month or so, I am almost 100% certain that I will be flying the jet. The new 747-8i will …

 
Malaysian Airlines is taking the first step towards what may become a trend – ‘Child Free’ cabins for adults who don’t want their flight being disturbed by noisy kids. They have just announced that the upper deck of the A380 aircraft will be child free. Here is a link to a report on USA Today.
As a business traveler who thinks he flies too much anyways, I appreciate the idea of a child free zone. I too want to be rested on a long flights before a business meeting. On the …

While scouring the internet for interesting things to blog about (it’s a slow news day), I ran across this article on Readers Digest (ok, I am getting desperate). It lists 13 things Flight Attendants want you to know about flying and their jobs, but cannot say out aloud. I was hoping that the post would include tips on how to score free upgrades and drinks, but…
Check out the article in full, but here are a few good ones:
#3. We don’t have a boyfriend in every city. …and our median age …

Electronics as banned from being used on flights during take off and landing – much to the ire of celebrities and flight attendants. The exact requirement is no electronics below 10,000 feet. That may be changing soon. Time magazine reports that the FAA is seeking to look into allowing electronics use at all times in-flight. This will keep celebs from getting booted off and us all from being forced to un-plug at least till 10 minutes into the flight.
This does not address the ban on cell phone use. I believe …

Time magazine believes that the the #1 way to get a Flight attendant upset is to keep talking on your cell phone after they have announced that you need to turn it off. I can think of many other ways to get a FA pissed off. Another one of Time’s own articles proves that they are not right, more celebrities have been booted off planes for using profanities than for using electronic devices. Gadgets just get a bad rap. Or maybe Alec Baldwin is just a bigger celebrity than Leisha …

What is the retirement age of a airplane after all? The brand new, yet to land at your nearest airport, Boeing 787 already has a plane in retirement! SeattlePi reports that Google Earth has spotted the first 787 running for president of a Florida retirement home . Ok, that was a Sienfeld episode I love. The plane in question was spotted in equally sunny Palmdale, CA. This is the aircraft ZA004 (serial # N7874, according to airliners.net), one of the first 787s used for flight testing and FAA certification. Now …

There are some unique cities around the world when it comes to flying. While they may be excellent destinations themselves, for long haul travelers, they are best known as being key transition hubs. Two cities that have earned this reputation are Dubai and Singapore. They are both in this position due to their unique geographical location but more importantly because they are hubs for two very large, world-class airlines that have a worldwide reach. Dubai and Singapore are not the only cities in their neighborhood. Both have other cities that …