The AirSafe.com News

How to prevent thefts by TSA employees when you fly

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:53:47 PST

Several recent media reports highlighted a number of alleged and admitted thefts by TSA employees, and these stories serve as a reminder to passengers that while most TSA employees are honest and fully dedicated to protecting the public, a rare few will steal from passengers.TSA employee sells stolen items on craigslistA January 20, 2012 Miami Herald story described the arrest of a TSA employee

More AirSafe.com Podcasts on YouTube

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:46:10 PST

For over six years, the AirSafe.com podcast The Conversation at AirSafe.com has brought you a number of interviews, special reports, accident analyses, and other topics of interest to the AirSafe.com Community. While some were available as either as downloadable video files or on the AirSafe.com channel on YouTube, many of them were only available as audio files. Classic shows now on videoThe

AirSafe.com Safety Review for 2011

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:23:35 PST

This 16th annual review discusses 12 fatal airline crashes and 11 other significant events from 2011, a year with more fatal passenger airline crashes than 2010, but fewer significant events. Unlike last year, which saw no fatal passenger airliner crashes in North America or western Europe, there were two this year. 2011 saw two significant milestones for both aviation safety and aviation

No deaths in Kyrgyzstan jet crash

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:13:33 PST

28 December 2011; Kyrgyzstan Airlines Tu134A; EX-020; flight 16; Osh, Kyrgyzstan: The aircraft was on scheduled domestic flight from Bishkek to Osh, Kyrgyzstan. The airplane reportedly landed hard rolled over, broke up, and caught fire. The right wing was completely separated from the aircraft, and the aircraft came to rest inverted, but all of the occupants were able to escape. There were no

Holiday Air Travel Advice 2011

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:52:24 PST

Once again, the holidays mark one of the busier travel times of the year, with much of it personal travel as family and friends take to the skies. As with every holiday season, many of the same issues come up again and again, but in the past few months AirSafe.com has added a number of resources to help you deal with some of the uncertainty and stress.The two biggest changes include the recent

TSA officer in alleged sexual assault while in uniform

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:52:20 PST

On November 20, 2011, Harold Glenn Rodman, a 52-year-old TSA employee who lives in Manassas, Virginia, was arrested and later charged with several felonies, including three sexual assault related charges (aggravated sexual battery, object sexual penetration, and forcible sodomy) and one kidnapping related charge (abduction with intent to defile). Details on these charges, which are based on a

Passenger arrested for viewing child pornography in flight

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:08:28 PST

On Saturday November 26th, a 47-year old man was arrested at Boston's Logan airport after he was allegedly seen viewing child pornography on a flight from Salt Lake City to Boston. The accused passenger, University of Utah chemistry professor Grant Smith, was sitting in first class when another passenger saw the pornographic images on a laptop and alerted the crew. The accused passenger was

Revised AirSafe.com Baggage and Security Guide Published

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:43:32 PST

A revised and greatly expanded version of one of AirSafe.com's most popular downloads, the AirSafe.com Baggage and Security Guide, has just been released. Bringing together some of the most popular content from the AirSafe.com network of web sites, podcasts, and published articles, this book provides airline passengers with advice on how to deal with many common problems they may face when it

How to Fly with a Sex Toy

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:06:16 PST

Last month, writer and attorney Jill Filipovic was on an international flight from Newark, NJ to Dublin, Ireland, and upon arrival found in her checked bag a printed advisory from the TSA stating that her bag had been opened and inspected by the TSA. In the margin of the note, a TSA screener added an extra message saying "Get your freak on girl." The checked bag had contained a sex toy, and

767 Lands with Gear Up in Warsaw

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:42:18 PDT

1 November 2011; LOT 767-300; SP-LPC; flight 16; Warsaw, Poland: The aircraft was on a scheduled international flight from Newark, NJ to Warsaw, a flight that was uneventful until shortly before landing when the crew was unable to lower the landing gear. The crew continued to fly and burn off fuel for about 90 minutes, giving emergency crews time to foam the runway, and allowing the authorities

Ditching and large commercial airliners

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:41:49 PDT

7 October 2011, Cessna 310, near Hawaii: Last week, the US Coast Guard rescued a pilot who was forced to ditch his small twin engined aircraft near Hawaii. The pilot, who was flying solo from Monterey, CA, contacted the FAA when he was about 500 miles from Hawaii, estimating that he would run out of fuel about 100 miles short of the island chain. The FAA contacted the Coast Guard, which

Single passenger survives 737 crash in Canadian Arctic

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:02:04 PDT

20 August 2011; First Air; 737-200; flight 6560; Resolute Bay, Canada: The aircraft (C-GNWN) was on a chartered domestic Canadian flight from Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories to to Resolute Bay in Nunavut Territory. The aircraft crashed near the runway during a landing attempt and broke up. There were four crew members and 11 passengers on board. While both fight attendants survived,

Caribbean Airlines 737-800 crashes in Guyana

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 11:05:25 PDT

30 July 2011; Caribbean Airlines; 737-800; flight BW523; Georgetown, Guyana: The aircraft (9Y-PBM) was on a scheduled international flight from Port of Spain, Trinidad, arriving at about 1:25 a.m. local time at Georgetown, Guyana. The flight had originated at New York's JFK airport. After landing, the aircraft departed the runway and broke into two large sections. While there were several serious

Plane crash in Brazil kills all 16 on board

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:00:40 PDT

13 July 2011; NOAR Linhas Aéreas; Let 410; PR-NOB; flight NRA-4896; Recife, Brazil: The aircraft was on a domestic flight from Recife to Natal, Brazil, and crashed in a populated area about one minute after takeoff, narrowly missing several buildings. The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and post crash fire. Both crew members and all 14 passengers were killed.While this airliner accident

Plane Crash in Russia Kills 43

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:56:04 PDT

20 June 2011; RusAir; Tu134A; RA-65691; flight 7R-243; Petrozavodsk, Russia: The aircraft was on a domestic flight from Moscow (Domodedovo)to Petrozavodsk, Russia. The aircraft crashed on a roadway about one kilometer from the destination airport. Of the 43 passengers and nine crew members, 44 were killed and eight survived. Related InformationAviation Herald article with airport approach

AirSafe.com Approches 15th Anniversary

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:45:21 PDT

Believe it or not, next month marks 15 years of AirSafe.com. It is very unlikely that anyone involved with AirSafe.com in 1996 could have predicted either the current state of the Internet or the current state of aviation safety and security. One thing that we may all agree on is that without the Internet, the relationship that the general public has with issues of airline safety and security

Two new plane crash and aircraft safety videos

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:00:59 PDT

The AirSafe.com site Plane-Crash-Videos.net has two new postings this past week. The first is about a September 2009 crash of an Ilyushin 76 during an air show in Teheran, Iran. All seven crew members were killed after the aircraft broke up in flight and crashed. The newest event was not a crash, but came very, very close to being a disaster for both the crew on the aircraft and several

FAA creates new and harsher rules concerning lasers

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:20:03 PST

On 1 June 2011 the FAA announced that it will now use a rule originally used against someone on board the aircraft who interfered with a flight crew, and apply it to people on the ground who deliberately point lasers at aircraft. With this change, someone who points a laser at an aircraft can be fined up to $11,000.While this threat to aircraft has not resulted in a major accident, flashing a

Air France BEA investigation update from 27 May 2011

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:09:25 PDT

The latest BEA update on the Air France Flight 447 investigation, which was released on 27 May 2011, is based primarily on data recovered from the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. This update is not a full or final report on the investigation, and only provides a small amount of the data that was contained in the black boxes.The update indicates that the aircraft experienced a

No survivors in Saab 340 crash in Argentina

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Thu, 19 May 2011 00:21:35 PDT

18 May 2011; Sol Líneas Aéreas< Saab 340A; Flight 5428; near Prahuaniyeu, Argentina:The aircraft was on a scheduled domestic flight from Neuquén near the Andes to Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina when it crashed about 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of the town of Los Menucos. The last contact with the aircraft occurred about 40 minutes after taking off from Neuquén. All three crew members and

Air France AF447 Flight Data Recorder Recovered

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Sun, 01 May 2011 20:54:07 PDT

The ongoing search for wreckage of Air France flight 447, an A330-200 (F-GZCP) that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in the early hours of 1 June 2009, has successfully located the flight data recorder (FDR), one of the two "black boxes" that may contain data that may reveal why the flight crashed almost two years ago. The search continues for the cockpit voice recorder (CVR).The French Bureau

FAA controllers sleeping on the job may have many causes

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 22:52:02 PDT

On April 14, 2011, after several very public and very embarrassing incidents involving air traffic controllers falling asleep on the job, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt accepted the resignation of Hank Krakowski, who was the manager of the FAA's air traffic control organization. Babbitt promised to perform a full review of how the air traffic control system was operated, and several political

How old is the aircraft that you are flying?

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 08:52:45 PDT

The recent emergency landing of a Southwest Airlines 737 due to a fuselage rupture has once again brought the issue of aging aircraft to the public attention. The NTSB investigation into the Southwest incident has pointed to unexpected and unseen metal fatigue on some models of the 737 as a potential safety issue, and the FAA, along with Boeing, have developed procedures to address the

A review of a very eventful week in airline safety

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:56:17 PDT

This has been a very eventful week in airline safety, which has been dominated by the fallout from the April 1st fuselage rupture involving a Southwest Airlines 737-300, and an announcement by the French government wreckage from Air France flight 447 had been located at the bottom of the Atlantic. The A330 crashed into the ocean in June 2009, While the Southwest event has dominated the media, two

Wreckage found from 2009 Air France A330 Crash

tcurtis@airsafe.com (Dr. Todd Curtis) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:18:37 PDT

Air France flight 447, an A330-200 (F-GZCP) on a scheduled international flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France, departed Rio late on 31 May 2009, and crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in the early hours of 1 June 2009. While some wreckage and the bodies of about 50 of the 228 passengers and crew were found floating on the surface of the ocean in the weeks after the crash, most of the