Northeastern States Brace for First Major Blizzard of 2015

Winter storm warnings and travel advisories are in effect for much of the Northeast from West Virginia to Maine and Canadian Maritime Provinces as a massive winter storm [named Juno- how long have they been naming winter storms? Seems like a recent phenomenon- NANESB!] bears down on the region.

While cities like New York and Boston could get as much as 2 feet from winter storm Juno, outlying and mountainous areas could be getting as much as three feet overnight. Airlines and commuter agencies are suspending service ahead of Juno's arrival while state, municipal and county officials are prepping sand and salt trucks to deal with the snowfall.

The governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut have issued travel bans for their respective highways that will go into effect on Monday night. In Boston, Logan airport, the MBTA and state offices will be closed on Tuesday. Newly sworn-in governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts also cautioned that some areas could expect power outages because of the wet heavy snow.

Airports from New England to Washington DC cancelled more than 5000 flights on Monday, with most of the cancellations around the New York-area airports like Newark-Liberty, La Guardia and JFK. Amtrak announced there were no cancellations as of Monday, but would be re-evaluating throughout the day and running a modified schedule starting Tuesday.

Monday night is a pretty light sports schedule with no games scheduled in the NHL the night after the All-Star game in Columbus, OH on Sunday. There are 7 games scheduled in the NBA tonight, but two of them in New York- Portland vs Brooklyn and Sacramento vs the Knicks- have been postponed.

Wreckage Found Off Coast of Borneo May Be That of Missing Air Asia Flight 8501

Searchers combing the waters between Borneo and Sumatra may have found the wreckage of an Air Asia flight that disappeared off of radar screens abruptly early Sunday morning. Prior to losing contact with Air Traffic Control in Indonesia, Air Asia flight QZ8501 took off from Surabaya on the island of Java enroute to Singapore.

While over the Karimata Strait, the crew requested clearance to change altitude from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid storm clouds. Permission was denied by Indonesian controllers due to already heavy traffic in the area. Less than 45 minutes into its flight, the Airbus A320 disappeared from screens with 162 people on board and no distress signal sent.

Searchers began scouring the area of QZ88501's last known whereabouts with aircraft and sonar within hours of the flight's disappearance. After nearly 48 hours, searchers believed they had spotted debris from the air and bodies were being recovered from the sea by helicopter and warship. Horrified relatives waiting on news regarding their loved ones were reportedly shown images from Indonesian media of a helicopter crew retrieving a dead body floating from the sea.

By early Wednesday, Indonesian officials said that they had obtained what appeared to be sonar images of an airplane upside down on the sea floor. Meanwhile, Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandes sent out a tweet that confirmed the debris spotted by Indonesian searchers was in fact the remnants of QZ8501.

My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences ... http://t.co/OJGobL93cR

— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 30, 2014

The A320 used by the Kuala Lumpur-based airline was reportedly purchased new from Airbus in 2008, According to the passenger manifest, all but 7 of QZ8501's passengers and crew were from Indonesia. Other nationalities on board included South Korea, Malaysia, the UK, Singapore and France.

Air Asia was started in 1993 and is widely considered to be southeast Asia's first viable budget airline.

Air Algerie Flight Crashes in Mali, All 118 Aboard Killed.

An Algerian airliner flying between Burkina Faso and Algeria crashed over a remote stretch of the Sahara desert on Thursday, killing all 118 on board.

At least 54 of those passengers were from France. French President Francois Hollande declared three days of mourning as soldiers from Mali and the UN have been combing the wreckage for human remains. However, conditions on the ground- even under the best of circumstance- are pretty grim. The nearest town from the crash site is Gao, which has been fought over by the Malian government, Tuareg rebels, Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists and the French Foreign Legion over the last 24 months. Both the remote location of the crash site and the fact that the nearest population center is in an unstable war zone have slowed down transportation and communications considerably.

Two flight data recorders have been recovered from the crash site and flown back to France for further examination by that country's Bureau of Investigations and Analysis- the agency responsible for investigating major air accidents.

With Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 being shot down by a surface to air missile the week before, the downing of Air Algerie Flight 5017 led to concerns that terrorism could've played a role in the downing of the aircraft. However, Algeria has ruled out terrorism in the crash and AFP has reported that the pilots had asked to turn back shortly before the crash.

The Aircraft- a McDonnel-Douglas MD80- actually belonged to Spain's Swiftair and was leased to Air Algiere earlier this year.

Malaysian Airliner Shot Down Over Eastern Ukraine

At least 298 people are dead after a surface to air missile brought down a Kuala Lumpur-bound Malaysian Airlines flight over Eastern Ukraine on Thursday. The flight- Malaysia Airlines Flight 17- had originated in Amsterdam and was flying more than 32,000 feet over the strife-torn Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

In recent weeks, that part of the Ukraine has seen fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatist militias that are essentially Kremlin proxies along Ukraine's border with Russia. Earlier in the week, separatists boasted that they had shot down a Ukrainian military An-26 transport plane over the eastern city of Lugansk.

After the Ukrainian 'Maidan' uprising ousted Kremlin allied president Viktor Yanukovych earlier this year, Russia responded by annexing the strategically important Crimea peninsula- part of the Ukraine, but home to a number of strategic Russian naval facilities. After a hastily put together 'referendum' in which Moscow claimed the populace of the Crimea wanted to become part of Russia, masked fighters claiming to be pro-Russian separatists began seizing public buildings in key cities in the eastern Ukraine. However, it's widely believed these 'separatists' are acting on direct orders from the Kremlin. In May, shortly after candy tycoon Petro Poroshenko won a special election called after Yanukovych fled the country, the Ukrainian military launched a series of counterattacks culminating in a raid on Donetsk's international airport in late May that killed dozens of pro-Russian separatists who were using the buildings as headquarters.

The 'rebels' retaliated by shooting down Ukrainian military aircraft over eastern Ukraine- the deadliest of which was when a Ukrainian Defense Ministry Il-76 transport was shot down while on approach over the eastern city of Lugansk on June 14th, killing all 49 on board. Just days prior to the downing of Flight MH17, two Ukrainian military aircraft were shot down over the restive eastern part of the country.

An hour before news broke of Flight MH17 going down, pro Russian separatist leader Igor Strelkov boasted of shooting down an aircraft on Russian social media site Vkontakte [similar to Facebook- NANESB!] complete with the ominous line 'We warned them not to fly in our skies'. Although it was quickly deleted after news of MH17 being shot down broke internationally, several online observers were able to obtain screencaps of the damning message. In addition to the Russian government caught editing the Wikipedia entry on Flight MH17 on Friday, Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency released what they claim is a telephone conversation between separatist commanders and Russian officers, with the separatists notifying them they had just shot down a civilian airliner.

It appears to capture the chaotic moments after the plane was shot down — and the realization that it was a passenger plane rather than a Ukrainian transport plane, which had been targeted in recent days by the Russia-backed separatists.

"We have just shot down a plane," says a man the SBU identified as Igor Bezler, a Russian military intelligence officer and leading commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

That call came just 20 minutes after the crash and was placed to a person identified by Ukraine’s SBU as a colonel in the main intelligence department of the general headquarters of the armed forces of the Russian Federation Vasili Geranin, according to Ukraine security officials.

But in a second tape released by the agency, two men identified as "The Greek" and "Major" discuss the debris field and the fact the the plane was a civilian aircraft.


“It’s 100 percent a passenger [civilian] aircraft,” Major is recorded as saying, as he admitted to seeing no weapons on site. “Absolutely nothing. Civilian items, medicinal stuff, towels, toilet paper.”

The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by what U.S. intelligence sources confirm was a surface-to-air missile near the village of Chornukhine, Luhansk Oblast, some 30 miles inside the the border with Russia.

The second conversation, if verified as authentic, could dispel Russian separatist claims that it was the Ukrainian military that shot the plane down. According to the transpcript:

Major: "These are Chernukhin folks who shot down the plane. From the Chernukhin check point. Those cossacks who are based in Chernukhino."

Grek: "Yes, Major."

Major: "The plane fell apart in the air. In the area of Petropavlovskaya mine. The first '200' [code word for dead person]. We have found the first '200.' A Civilian."

Greek: "Well, what do you have there?"

Major: "In short, it was 100 percent a passenger [civilian] aircraft."

Greek: "Are many people there?"

Major: "Holy [expletive]! The debris fell right into the yards [of homes]."

In a third intercepted conversation released by the SBU — which the agency says took place about 40 minutes after insurgents seemed to realize they had shot down a civilian plane — Cossack commander Nikolay Kozitsin tells an unidentified separatist that the fact the Malaysia Airlines plane was flying over the combat zone likely meant it was carrying spies.

"That means they were carrying spies," Kozitsin allegedly says. "They shouldn’t be [expletive] flying. There is a war going on."

At this point, the most likely scenario is that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by pro-Russian separatists who misidentified the aircraft as a Ukrainian ministry of Defense transport plane and opened fire with a surface to air missile system known as the 'Buk' SA-11 or an updated variant. The 'Buk' is a complex, crew serviced weapons platform that is mounted on a tracked or wheeled vehicle. Both Russia and the Ukraine militaries have the SA-11 Buk in their inventory, but pro-Russian separatists from the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic boasted of seizing heavy weapons- including an SA-11 launcher- from a Ukrainian air defense facility in late June. On Friday, the Ukrainian government released a brief video of a Buk missile system with at least one missile missing on a flatbed trailer purportedly heading towards Russian territory. For its part, Russia has lobbed accusations that Kiev downed the airliner [a civilian aircraft that was within moments of leaving it's airspace at an altitude of 32,000 feet, no less- NANESB], prompting one English-language RT correspondent to abruptly resign.

Further complicating matters is the fact that the flight data recorder for MH17 is almost certainly in territory controlled by the pro-Russian Donetsk militia. Should it be recovered and sent to Moscow, international aviation experts claim it will most likely be doctored and anything that incriminates Russia or their proxies in Donetsk will be removed. There is also the likelihood that MH17's descent was so abrupt and catastrophic that they black box flight recorders may yield little in the way of data. Even so, heavily armed militiamen had prevented international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe from examining the crash scene on Friday. 193 of Flight MH17's passengers were Dutch- including an American who held dual citizenship with Holland and 22 schoolchildren from the town of Roosendaal, and amid reports of militiamen compromising the crash site, pickpocketing the scattered bodies and dumping dozens of bodies from the crash site by the side of a road, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said Putin has one 'last chance' to show he's serious about helping recover the bodies and personal effects

Despite the ongoing conflict on the ground, the skies above the eastern Ukraine weren't off-limits to commercial airliners. According to online aviation tracking website FlightAware.com, other commercial carriers such as Lufthansa and Air India were routinely flying through eastern Ukraine airspace prior to the downing of Flight MH17.

Death Toll Climbs as Pakistani Taliban Claim Responsibility for Deadly Aiport Attack in Karachi.

At least 27 people were killed when Taliban gunmen who had disguised themselves as members of Pakistan's security forces shot their way into a terminal at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport on Sunday night. The attacks took place in an older terminal that was mainly used for charter and executive flights.

At the airport, gun battles went on for five hours and television pictures showed fire raging as ambulances ferried casualties away.

At least three loud explosions were heard as militants wearing suicide vests blew themselves up.

Pakistani officials believe that there were 10 attackers and all ten were killed when the military launched a counterattack. Seven were reportedly killed exchanging gunfire with police and soldiers while three of them detonated suicide vests after being cornered by authorities. Although a Pakistani Army spokesman said that they had successfully retaken the airport, smoke from a raging fire in the cargo are was clearly visible from a distance. Although some witnesses reported that aircraft on the ground were damaged or destroyed in the attack, the Army denied that and said the fires were from a fuelling facility that was blown up in the attack.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Tehrek-e-Taliban organization claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming it was retribution for a November 2013 drone strike that killed one of their leaders.

Observers point out that the attack is a blow for Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had campaigned on reaching a negotiated settlement with the Taliban last year and was hoping to project an image of stability in order to attract more foreign capital and investment to the country.

As a precaution, flights bound for Karachi were diverted elsewhere as the fighting spilled out to the airport's tarmac. An estimated 44,000 passengers travelling domestically and internationally use the airport each day, making it Pakistan's busiest airport. The airport serves Pakistan's largest city and commercial hub of Karachi and underwent extensive renovation and expansion in the 1990s.

Coincidentally, this is not the first time terrorists disguised as security forces launched an attack at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport. In September 1986, Palestinian terrorists disguised as airport security stormed Pan Am Flight 73 while it was on the ground for a scheduled stopover on its flight from Bombay to New York. The flight crew was able to escape, leading to a tense standoff between the hostage-takers and Pakistani commandoes on the ground. As the commandoes were preparing to storm the aircraft, the hijackers opened fire on the aircraft's 380 passengers and crew, killing at least 20.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, at least 30 people were killed in an attack on a hotel in the western border town of Taftan. According to eyewitnesses, a suicide bomber entered the Al Murtaza hotel in the town along the border with Iran and detonated himself among a crowd of Shi'ite pilgrims on Sunday. An individual claiming to be from the banned Jaishul Islam movement claimed responsibility for the hotel bombing in a phone call with reporters from Quetta.

Cathay Pacific Flight Attendant's Union Says Uniform 'Too Sexy'

Flight attendants for Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airlines are reportedly asking the airline to go back to the drawing board with uniforms that were introduced in 2011, claiming the blouses are too short and the skirts are too tight and attract unwanted attention. According to the flight attendants union representative, the shorter blouse exposes the attendants midriff to passengers whenever she reaches up- such as doing routine tasks like assisting passengers with putting luggage in the overhead compartment.

The Flight Attendants Union (FAU) also says the skirts of the uniforms, introduced in 2011, are too tight-fitting, but says management has so far rejected its pleas for a modesty makeover.

FAU honorary secretary Michelle Choi said: "The blouse is too short and does not cover enough. Whenever a flight attendant bends down, her waistline is exposed.

"We believe the company intentionally does this to make us look a bit sexier and to let the passenger see more."

Choi said she believed the too-revealing uniforms were contributing to an apparent rise in incidents of sexual harassment of cabin crew by passengers, which she now estimates to affect each cabin crew member on one in every 10 flights.

Asked why she thought cases of sexual harassment seemed so prevalent, she said: "I think part of the reason is that we treat our passengers so well. They are spoilt in some ways.

"Some of the Marco Polo Club [frequent flier] members think they can do things to us because they are privileged and we somehow allow it. That is very bad.

"They think it is part of their privilege … Afterwards, they believe they can apologise and everything is settled."

Choi added: "When you report it to the flight manager, they always say it is the crew member's decision whether or not to call the police. They tell you, 'It's your decision. Do you want to delay the flight by calling the police?'

"That puts stress on the flight attendant and it is sad the company is not actively supporting and protecting us in cases like this … [Inflight managers] should be trained to have a stronger mindset to protect the crew."

Choi called for the company to issue specific guidelines on how to deal with instances of harassment on flights.

The FAU had passed on complaints from its members, she said, but no action had been taken to adjust the uniforms. The matter is expected to be raised during a meeting with management on May 13.

In a written response to the South China Morning Post Cathay Pacific Airlines defended the uniforms and said the 2011 overhauls were the result of feedback from flight attendants and other employees. Throughout the Hong Kong-based airline's 67 year history, there have been a total of nine uniform changes- the most recent changes had also drawn comparisons to the 'redshirts' from the 1960s TV Series Star Trek.

Japanese Budget Airline Under Fire From Critics For Retro-Style Stewardess Uniforms

And now for some aviation news out of the Pacific Rim that doesn't involve a Malaysian Boeing 777-200 that's gone walkabout.

A Japanese labor union has lashed out at budget carrier Skymark for introducing a retro-style flight attendant's uniform that prominently features miniskirts.

The new uniform consists of a short, fitted Sixties’ style minidress in royal blue, accessorised with large yellow neck bows, small hats, sheer tights and heels.

Criticisms were led by the Japan Federation of Cabin Attendants, which issued a statement opposing the length of the new dresses and questioning the budget airline’s motivation behind such a move.

Highlighting its concern that the uniform could invite sexual harassment, it read: “We’re concerned that the design of this uniform may cause problems.

“The airline is saying the uniform is meant to attract more customers, but this shows the company is treating women like a commodity.”

Fears of passengers leering at cabin attendant’s legs or even taking pictures up their skirts with a mobile phone were among a string of concerns posted in comments onto the union’s website.

On a practical level, there were queries as to how the staff would be able to fulfill their duties, such as bending over, serving food and reaching above their heads while wearing such short skirts.

However, the airline countered that the uniforms were meant to promote the arrival of new Airbus 330s to the company's fleet and were primarily intended for promotional appearances more than in-flight service. A spokesman for Skymark said that the uniform would be voluntary [Having actually flown on an Asian flag carrier, I can tell you that the hiring preferences for stewardesses tends toward attractive, unmarried women under the age of 30].

While the uniforms are reminiscent of the golden age of jet travel, Skymark Airlines is pretty new itself. Founded in late 1996 after Japan de-regulated their domestic airline industry, Skymark began regular service in 1998 with a fleet of Boeing 767s and 737s. The larger, widebody 767s were retired by 2009 and initiated leases on seven Airbus A330s- the first of which arrived in January of this year. Currently Skymark competes with the domestic arms of JAL and All Nippon Airways as well as a number of commuter and regional airlines.

Ten Days Later, Still No Answers on Whereabouts of Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

More than ten days after a Malaysian Airlines 777-200 vanished from radar, investigators are no closer to finding the missing airliner than they were the weekend Kuala Lumpur to Beijing Flight MH370 disappeared. Apparently the first three days were spent looking for signs of the downed airliner in the wrong ocean, as both the Malaysian and Thai military radar tracked an unidentified aircraft on a westward trajectory across the Malay peninsula shortly after air traffic controllers in Malaysia and Vietnam had lost track of MH370.

Since the March 8th disappearance, every new development has seemingly been a false lead or raised more questions than answers. Theoretically the aircraft could be on the bottom of the Indian Ocean or at a remote landing strip anywhere between Kazakhstan and the Australian Outback, but there have been no signs of the missing flight since March 8th. My pet theory about the plane being hijacked or intentionally crashed by Islamists working on behalf of Uighurs in western China seems to be not farfetched enough.


However, searchers were erroneously directed to a debris field in the South China Sea after media reports began circulating that a Chinese satellite had snapped images of what appeared to be wreckage and debris on the water- presumably from MH370. Investigators are now convinced that the missing flight banked left and continued westward in an erratic pattern long after the transponder was disabled, heading in the direction of India's remote Nicobar Islands when it was last tracked by radar. According to avionics data that was sent to the engine's manufacturer via satellite, the missing airliner was aloft for at least another four hours. However, the signals sent via satellite could not be used to pinpoint the aircraft's exact location.

Over the weekend, Malaysian officials ruled that Flight MH370's disappearance was due to a deliberate act and was treating the disappearance as a hijacking. Aviation officials believe that the aircraft flew as high as 45,000 feet- beyond the manufacturer's recommended cruising altitude- and at times as low as 4900 feet once it pivoted west.

Villagers along Malaysia's eastern coast reported to local police that they had heard what sounded like a low-flying jet the same night MH370 went missing. Authorities in the Maldives are also investigating a report that fishermen on the southern island of Kuda Huvadhoo saw a white 'jumbo jet' with red stripes flying overhead at a low altitude shortly after dawn- colors consistent with the Malaysia Airlines paint scheme.

Currently, 26 nations- including the USA- are involved in the search for the missing airliner. More than 150 of the 239 passengers and crew on board the vanished airliner were from China and that country has undertaken a search of their western territories in the event that MH370 resumed a northbound trajectory after vanishing.

Investigators are also looking at both the pilot and co-pilot. Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah had more than 30 years flight experience and had built a home-made flight simulator at his suburban Kuala Lumpur residence. On Monday, police raided Shah's residence and were combing through the flight simulator for any possible clues. Shortly after the plane's disappearance, an Australian TV report claimed that MH370's co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, had allowed an Australian woman and her friend into the cockpit during a December 2011 flight from Phuket, Thailand to Kuala Lumpur, representing a major security breach.

China-Bound Malaysia Airlines Flight Goes Missing- All 239 On Board Feared Dead

A Boeing 777 carrying passengers from Kuala Lumpur to Bejing vanished while flying off the southern tip of Vietnam and has triggered a frantic search effort in international waters to find any trace of the aircraft. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was last detected by Vietnamese air traffic controllers some 125 nautical miles southwest off the coast of southernmost Ca Mau province.

The plane was a Boeing 777-200- the average age of such aircraft in Malaysia's fleet is just over 14 years. Both Malaysia Airlines and the Boeing have a pretty good safety record- the only fatal accident involving a 777 was in July 2013 at San Francisco International Airport when an Asiana flight crash-landed and three people were killed. Malaysia Airlines hasn't had a fatal accident since a 1995 plane crash in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah where 34 people were killed after a Fokker 50 crashed on approach.

More ominously, Malaysian officials have begun examining a potential terrorism angle in MH370's disappearance.

Malaysia’s director general of civil aviation told a news conference Saturday night that authorities had reviewed closed-circuit TV footage of passengers and their luggage and hadn’t seen anything of concern. But Prime Minister Najib Razak cautioned that it was "too early" to come to any conclusions, and other officials said nothing was being ruled out of consideration at this point.

At least two of the passengers listed on MH370's manifest boarded using stolen passports from Austria and Italy.

One passenger was traveling with a stolen Austrian passport, Austria's Foreign Ministry said Saturday. A 30-year-old Austrian whose name was on the passenger list for the flight wasn't on board. His passport was stolen in Thailand in 2012, a ministry spokesman said, confirming a report in German newspaper Die Welt.

Another passenger on the list, Italian Luigi Maraldi, was also not on the plane, Italy's Foreign Ministry said Saturday. Mr. Maraldi's passport was stolen in Thailand a year and a half ago, his father said.

Malaysia Airlines had no confirmation from Malaysian authorities that stolen passports were used to board the flight, said Ignatius Ong, a member of the airline's crisis-management team. One European security official said it wasn't uncommon for passengers to board flights using stolen passports.

At least 153 passengers on Flight MH370 are Chinese nationals. The flight went missing less than a week after 29 people were killed in a mass stabbing by knife wielding assailants at a train station in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming. Local police shot dead five of the suspected assailants and Chinese officials called the attack a well-organized 'premeditated, violent terrorist attack'- although the state-run media didn't identify the assailants and some social-media accounts of the attack were censored.

On late Saturday afternoon, the Vietnamese Air Force reported that an oil slick between six and nine miles long had been spotted off the southern coast. While there was no independent confirmation that the slick was that of flight MH370, it is consistent with an airliner crashing at sea. Malaysian civil aviation officials said that there was no distress signal or other signs of trouble from the flight, leading them to believe that whatever had happened to flight MH370 was quick and catastrophic.

The USS Pinckney and a P3-C Orion aircraft have also been searching for signs of the aircraft and naval assets from Singapore, Philippines and China have also been deployed.

UPDATE 3/9- According to a Malaysia Airlines spokesperson, the tickets for the two unidentified people travelling on the stolen EU passports had consecutive numbers, indicating the tickets were booked together. The tickets were also paid for using Thai Baht and booked through the China Southern Airlines website. The Italian passport was reported stolen in the Thai city of Phuket last year. China Southern [NYSE: ZNH] is a code-share partner with Malaysia Airlines, among others.

South Korean Airliner Crashes on Approach to San Francisco International Airport

At least two people were killed Saturday afternoon when an Asiana 777 crashed on a runway at San Francisco International Airport. Eyewitnesses report that Seoul-San Francisco flight 214 was swaying back and forth and kicking up dust while attempting to land. The Boeing's tail also broke off during the crash landing before coming to a stop. Most of the flight's passengers were able to evacuate by way of the emergency chutes before the fuselage was consumed by fire.

I just crash landed at SFO. Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok. Surreal... (at @flySFO) [pic] — https://t.co/E6Ur1XEfa4
— David Eun (@Eunner) July 6, 2013

Samsung executive David Eun was one of the surviving passengers and tweeted pictures of the wreckage from up close as first responders were closing in. The two fatalities were found outside of the plane and identified as Chinese nationals. It isn't known right away whether or not they were killed on the plane and somebody carried the bodies out or if they evacuated on their own but succumbed to their injuries outside the aircraft.

Boeing's 777 is considered fairly safe, although there have been a number of other lesser incidents involving the model that was introduced in 1994. In January 2008, a British Airways flight crash-landed just short of the runway at Heathrow International airport, injuring 47 of the 136 passengers. There were also two known incidents of fires while the planes were on the ground- a 2001 fire at Denver international airport when the plane was being refueled by a ground crew and a 2011 cabin fire at Cairo international airport.

Vietnamese Airline Fined by Officials for Unorthodox In-Flight Entertainment

Vietnam's only privately-run airline was fined by aviation officials in that country after video surfaced of bikini-clad beauty pageant contestants dancing in the aisles as music blared and appreciative male passengers snapped photos as their flight was underway.

In a letter to Vietnamese aviation authorities, Hanoi-based VietJet said that the local beauty queens were part of the in flight ceremonies celebrating the low-cost carrier's innagural flight from Ho Chi Minh City [aka Saigon] to the southern coastal city of Nha Trang earlier this month. A VietJet employee who declined to be identified said that the performance in no way violated safety guidelines.

In a letter to Vietnamese authorities Tuesday, the company said the event inaugurated its first flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang on the southern coast. It said all safety regulations were followed. A company spokeswoman refused to comment on the fine Friday, but confirmed the local beauty queens were paid for their performance. She would not give her name because she was not authorized to speak to the media.

Photos and video also show the bikini-clad women handing out stuffed animals to passengers as prizes or souveniers.

Like the viral video of Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke, I opted to go with the non-musical video since the music dubbed in after the fact is pretty loud and grating.

Established in 2007, VietJet didn't begin regularly scheduled passenger flights until December 2011. The airline operates exclusively with a small fleet of leased Airbus A320s.

GAO Audit Uncovers Department of Homeland Security-Approved Flight School Run by Illegal Alien Training 25 More Illegal Aliens

A report released by the Government Accountability Office this week found that even a decade after the September 11th terrorist attacks, flight schools remain a weak spot for national security- one that could be easily exploited by terrorist organizations.

In testimony before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Homeland Security, the Government Accountability Office said it found fault with TSA's Alien Flight Student Program, which attempts to establish whether foreign students hoping to enroll at U.S. flight schools are a security threat to the United States.

Before foreign nationals can begin flight training, the Alien Flight Student Program requires they undergo name- and fingerprint-based background checks. They also must submit security documents, such as a passport, said Kerwin Wilson, the TSA official who oversees the flight school screening program.

But according to the GAO, the Transportation Security Administration has failed to keep its database of these background checks up to date.

By cross-referencing the Federal Aviation Administration's database of registered pilots with similar information kept by the TSA's Alien Flight Student Program, the GAO found that some of about 25,000 foreign nationals registered with the FAA were missing from the transportation agency's database, the GAO's Stephen Lord told the committee.

Moreover, the Alien Flight Student Program does not determine whether these individuals are in the country illegally, Lord said.

When Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., asked at the hearing Wednesday whether an individual who was unable to board a commercial plane because he posed a threat to U.S. security could begin to learn to fly that same plane, officials from both the GAO and the TSA said yes.

The report cited a 2010 case from a Stow, MA based flight school that was run by an illegal immigrant and was certifying at least 25 other illegal immigrants as pilots. The owner, who was charged with overstaying his visa and ordered to return to Brazil in late 2010.

The owner of the TJ Aviation Flight Academy and more than 30 students accused of being in the United States illegally received clearance to train as pilots despite strict security controls put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Each of the three showed documents from the TSA approving pilot lessons through the federal agency's alien flight student program.

"If I was not supposed to do it, they were supposed to block everything and not give me permission. Not just me, but others," another said.

"You cannot start classes without clearance from the TSA," he said.

The school's owner- Thiago de Jesus- denied in a Boston Globe interview that he was in the country illegally, but reportedly declined to show any documentation that would prove his claim. The majority of the students from TJ Aviation flight were also from Brazil.

The findings came the within days of another security breach at an airport. On Tuesday, a fugitive pilot wanted in connection with the stabbing death of his Colorado girlfriend scaled the fence at a St George's, UT airport and attempted to steal a parked passenger plane before crashing while taxiing and before shooting himself.

Authorities were trying to determine just how Hedglin -- wanted in the murder of his girlfriend in Colorado -- gained access to the 50-passenger plane while the airport was closed, among other details.

The short ride was jarring enough to collapse the plane's front landing gear as it careened over landscaping, crossed a road and hit a curb before crashing into cars in the parking lot, St. George police Capt. James Van Fleet said

SkyWest officials said the company deactivated Hedglin's access cards and put him on administrative leave after Colorado authorities named him a murder suspect, but declined to explain how he was able to steal one of their planes.

The 50-passenger Bombardier passenger jet was scheduled for a flight later on Tuesday when Hedlin gained entry. A SkyWest spokeswoman declined to state whether or not the aircraft was secured within FAA guidelines when it was stolen.

Up to 32,000 Evacuated As Massive Wildfire Bears Down on Colorado Springs; Airborne Firefighting Capabilities At Low Ebb With Dwindling Fleet

**UPDATE- 6/27**- The Denver Post is reporting that FBI agents are on the ground in El Paso County, CO to determine if the Waldo Canyon Fire was the result of criminal activity.

Authorities have so far not even said whether they believe the blaze is human or naturally caused. But a string of fires set by an apparent serial arsonist in neighboring Teller County have caused rumors to swirl that the Waldo Canyon Fire could be the work of the same individual.

On Wednesday, El Paso County Sheriff's spokesman Jeff Kramer said, despite the rumors, there is no person of interest. Investigators are taking tips from anyone who may know what happened in Waldo Canyon.

On Tuesday evening, somebody left an anonymous post on the Colorado Springs Craigslist page claiming that the Waldo Canyon fire was in fact arson and they had witnessed the person responsible setting fires.

As firefighters braved triple-digit temperatures in Colorado's Front Range an out of control wildfire encroaching on western neighborhoods of Colorado Springs, CO and the campus of the US Air Force Academy has been deemed too dangerous to fully assess the damage so far.

The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles, and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents, Colorado Springs emergency management director Brett Waters said. The fire burned about 10 acres of land along the southwest boundary of the academy's 28-square-mile boundary, but no injuries or damage to academy structures have been reported.

Steve Cox, an aide to Mayor Steve Bach, said Wednesday morning that the blaze has consumed dozens of houses elsewhere. A more precise figure wasn't available because of the intensity of the fire.

Heavy smoke and ash billowed from the mountain foothills west of the city. Bright yellow and orange flames flared in the night, often signaling another home lost to the Waldo Canyon Fire, which is the No. 1 priority for the nation's firefighters.

On Wednesday morning, the Waldo Canyon fire- the second biggest to strike Colorado in a decade- was estimated at only 5% containment. The fire started on June 23rd in an area about 10 miles northwest of Colorado Springs. Since then, firefighters have been hampered by high temperatures and the remote terrain which the Waldo Canyon started out in.

Included among the 32,000 evacuees in the mandatory evacuation order are personnel from the United States Air Force Academy. As of Wednesday morning, there was no word on whether or not an incoming class of 1,045 cadets would report as scheduled on Thursday.

The Waldo Canyon fire is one of a half dozen wildfires burning throughout Colorado this summer, with others scorching mountains and forests to the west of Boulder and Ft Collins, CO. Earlier this month, the High Park fire burned down nearly 200 homes and was responsible for the death of a 62 year old woman. The High Park fire was reportedly sparked by a lightning strike on June 9 and officials reported it was at 65% containment on Wednesday morning.

In the past decade, the total number of fixed wing firefighting aircraft at the US Forest Service's disposal has been reduced from 44 to 9 after two planes crashed in Nevada and Utah this month. Two of the pilots in Nevada were killed when their converted P2V tanker crashed into remote terrain near the Nevada-Utah border on June 3rd. That same day, another P2V tanker was taken out of comission after making a crash-landing when the landing gear wouldn't deploy.

While legislation authorizing the updating or adding to the nation's fleet of firefighting aircraft has enjoyed bipartisan support from lawmakers in recent years- particularly those representing Western states- Washington has been slow to act.

Federally approved contractors haven't fared much better. Within the last year, federal regulators ordered California-based Aero Union to cease operations at during massive wildfires in central Texas due to unspecified safety violations. Within weeks of the shutdown, Aero Union had filed for bankruptcy and was looking to auction off its assets.

Ealier this month, President Obama signed a bill rushed through the House and Senate that would hasten the addition of seven additional aerial tankers to the US Airborne firefighting inventory. However, these aircraft aren't expected to be ready for delivery until another two months.

To at least temporarily bridge the gap, a number of National Guard C-130s have been specially fitted to drop water or fire retardant and a trio of CV-580 twin engine air tankers loaned from Canada's Interagency Forest Fire Centre have been pressed into service or are on standby. The National Guard C-130s are severely restricted due to byzantine regulations regarding the ability for fight fire from the air.

Oregon-based Evergreen Aviation boasts an aerial tanker that uses a Boeing 747 platform and claims is can hold more than 20,000 gallons of water or fire retardant. Evergreen's 747 Supertanker had previously been deployed to fight wildfires in California, Arizona and Israel in recent years.

FAA Probing Report of Denver Air Traffic Controller Ignoring Emergency Landing Request

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a report that a Denver air traffic controller dismissed a request for an emergency landing from a United flight arriving from Peoria, IL as a hoax.

Investigators are looking at whether controllers' confusion delayed first responders as the plane was on its final approach, 9NEWS Aviation Analyst Greg Feith, a former NTSB investigator, said.

Only one of the 21 people on board the plane was taken to the hospital after the incident.

Tuesday morning around 8:30, United Express Flight 5912, operated by ExpressJet, declared an emergency landing during its final approach to DIA after being cleared to land, according to a control-tower recording provided by an FAA source. The emergency landing was because of smoke in the cockpit.

The controller then went on to continue directing traffic before Flight 5912 made another emergency call announcing the had already landed and were evacuating the aircraft.

The NTSB was investigating the Embraer 145's right engine failed on approach to Denver. According to an FAA report of the incident, firefighters extinguished a small fire located behind the instrument panel.

The incident comes a year after multiple reports of Air Traffic Controllers throughout the country falling asleep or being distracted on the job- including a near miss involving an aircraft carrying First Lady Michelle Obama.

Interestingly, the incident took place around the same time President Obama assailed Republican congressman Paul Ryan's latest budget proposal, specifically mentioning the FAA.

“Cuts to the FAA would likely result in more flight cancellations, delays, and the complete elimination of air traffic control services in parts of the country,” Obama said in a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on Tuesday.

So even without Ryan's budget plan being approved, these dire scenarios Obama is predicting regardin the FAA are already happening. Apparently that's how evil, draconian and sinister the Ryan budget plan is.

Would-Be Nigerian Underwear Bomber Sentenced in Federal Court

More than two years after attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner in midair at Christmastime with explosives sewn into his underwear, Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was sentenced to four life sentences at the federal courthouse in Detroit on Thursday.

"The defendant has never expressed doubt or regret or remorse about his mission," U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds told the 25-year-old Nigerian student-turned-al-Qaida-operative during a 90-minute hearing in Detroit. "To the contrary, he sees that mission as divinely inspired and a continuing mission."

"I believe the defendant poses a significant ongoing threat to the safety of American citizens everywhere," Edmunds added, saying she couldn't control his motivations, but could control his opportunity to carry them out.

Abdulmutallab remained defiant. "The mujahideen are proud to kill in the name of God, and this is exactly what God told us to do in the Koran," he told Edmunds. "The situation of one who believes in Allah is always good ... it's always a win-win situation."

He laid into the U.S. government for oppressing Muslims worldwide and federal prosecutors in Detroit for misrepresenting the facts of the case "to achieve their evil goals."

He also insisted that Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki, who sent him on the mission, are still alive. Both al-Qaida leaders were killed last year by U.S. forces.

Against [standby defense lawyer Anthony] Chambers' advice, Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty on the second day of trial last October to all counts, including conspiring to commit an act of terrorism, use of a weapon of mass destruction and carrying a firearm or destructive device during a crime of violence.

Although Nigerian-based islamist group Boko Haram has been increasingly active and lethal in their attacks since late 2011, Abdulmutallab confessed to FBI agents that he had been working with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula in Yemen to help carry out the attack.

Abdulmutallab received the bomb, as well as training, from AQAP before travelling from Nigeria to Amsterdam.

There he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit, which was carrying 279 passengers and 11 crew members.

The bomb was not picked up in security checks at airports in Lagos and Amsterdam.

On board, the bomb failed to detonate completely and passengers had to put out the fire.

Abdulmutallab's father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, an influential banker who is well connected in Nigerian politics, said he had approached the US embassy officials and Nigerian authorities in 2009 to warn them about his son.

Abdulmutallab was already on a US watch list, but not a no-fly list.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula was also thought the be behind an October 2010 plot that involved parcel bombs flown overseas from Yemen with explosives hidden in ink and toner cartridges.

Counterfeit Parts From China Showing Up In US Military Aircraft

Sikorski SH 60-B Sea Hawk lifting off from carrier. A Defense Department audit found that the infared imaging systems in some of the Navy's fleet were using counterfeit components

Earlier this year, I came across a website called havocscope which supposedly tracks the value of black market, smuggled and contraband goods as though they were legitimate commodities traded on the open market. Instead of listing Counterfeit goods under one single category, they subdivided it into categories ranging from Counterfeit Aircraft Parts to Counterfeit Zippos. According to havocscope, the counterfeit aircraft parts trade is worth an estimated US$2 billion annually. And it seems as though some of that money, however unwittingly, comes from the Department of Defense and the US taxpayers.

The Senate Armed Services Committee announced earlier this month that it had learned counterfeit electronics which had made their way into the Department of Defense supply chain and into at least eight aircraft, some of which were deployed to Afghanistan.

The Senate Armed Services Committee found counterfeit parts -- usually from China -- on at least seven aircraft, including the Lockheed Martin Corp. [NYSE: LMT] C-130J transport plane, Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and L-3 27J Spartan transport.

“Suspect electronic parts from China were installed on military systems and subsystems that were manufactured by Raytheon Co., L-3 Communications and Boeing,” said a memo from the committee’s staff, released yesterday before a hearing today.

“There is a flood of counterfeits and it is putting our military men and risk and costing us a fortune,” committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said. None of the examples found by the committee were connected to lives lost or dramatic failures causing an aircraft crash, and the companies involved cooperated with the investigation, he said.

A seperate Pentagon audit has shown that cockpit displays on two new US Air Force C-27J Spartans from L-3 Electronics [NYSE: LLL] that were deployed to Afghanistan were found to be utilizing suspect parts.

L3’s Integrated Systems unit notified the Air Force on Sept. 19 that 38 suspect video memory chips were installed in the display units on eight of the first 11 aircraft delivered.

The L-3 unit that made the displays learned of the suspect memory chips in November 2010, the memo said. The committee traced the chips to Hong Dark Electronic Trade in Shenzhen, China, which also delivered an earlier counterfeit part L-3 discovered in October 2009, it said. The display units are made by L-3 Communications Display Systems and provide pilots with diagnostic data including engine status, fuel usage, location and warning messages.

The C-27J displays were among more than 500 containing suspect Chinese parts sold to the Air Force, Navy and defense contractors for installation also on C-130J and C-17 transport and Marine Corps CH-46 helicopters, the memo said.

“Failure of the memory chip could cause a display unit to show a degraded image, lose data or even go blank,” the memo said

The Senate Armed Services committee's investigative staff reportedly compiled a database with nearly 1800 cases of counterfeiting and suspect parts. Out of 100 cases given closer scrutiny, nearly 70% were traced back to Chinese firms. The origins of some of these parts are concealed by having them pass through three or four shell companies before finding their way into the Department of Defense supply chain.

LOT Polish Airlines 767 Touches Down With No Landing Gear At Warsaw

A Boeing 767 from Polish carrier LOT airlines enroute from Newark International made an emergency landing at Warsaw's Chopin International Airport on Tuesday with the landing gear stuck.

WARSAW, Poland – A Boeing airliner carrying 231 people from the U.S. landed on its belly Tuesday in Warsaw after its landing gear failed to open, triggering sparks and small fires. No one was hurt, but passengers described feeling severe stress as they prayed for a safe landing.

Capt. Tadeusz Wrona, who handled the descent so smoothly that many on board thought the Boeing 767 landed on its wheels, was instantly hailed a hero in Poland and online, where within hours he was the focus of several Facebook fan pages

"I was praying for the pilot not to lose control because we started to make circles over the airport. It was terrible," passenger Teresa Kowalik told reporters at the airport. "We owe everything to the pilot. He really did a great job."

LOT said the plane suffered "a central hydraulic system failure," indicating that the hydraulics used to extend the landing gear, or undercarriage, failed. The failure of an entire undercarriage was unprecedented for a Boeing 767 and highly unusual overall, according to aviation data and experts.

The pilots discovered there was a problem about half an hour after leaving Newark, said LOT president Marcin Pirog. They circled the plane above the airport for about one hour before descending, partly to keep trying to release the landing gear, and partly to use up fuel to lessen the risk of a blaze.

The pilot told passengers four hours into the flight that the plane faced technical problems, said a passenger who gave only her first name, Malgorzata.

"The pilot addressed us a number of times and said we should follow instructions. Later, a flight attendant said there might be a fire, and at that point people began to get nervous and uncertain," she said.

By the time the plane landed, escorted by two F-16 fighter jets, its fuel tanks were nearly empty, LOT spokesman Leszek Chorzewski said.

A fire brigade laid out special flame retardant foam for the plane to land on. On landing, sparks flew from the engine and small fires erupted under the plane but were immediately put out by firefighters.

The landing itself was so smooth that "we all thought we had landed on wheels," said Andrzej Pinno, a 68-year-old passenger.

Passengers even applauded, but then grew alarmed when sparks and black smoke rose from the plane. "This is the moment where we realized this was not a normal landing," added Pinno.

Passengers were then evacuated using emergency slides. They were taken to a medical center where they were kept several hours before being released.

"We were waiting for a crash, and we waited and waited and waited -- and thank God it never happened," said Greg Cohen, a passenger from Livingston, New Jersey. "It was a very lucky flight, a very, very great pilot. We are very fortunate."

Relatives of passengers waiting at the airport sought information as the emergency unfolded.

Joanna Dabrowska, 29, managed to speak to her mother-in-law, a passenger, via mobile phone after she evacuated the flight. "She was in shock, but she was fine," Dabrowska said.

Meanwhile, Polish officials and media declared the pilots and crew heroes. LOT said there were 11 crew and 220 passengers on the LO 016 flight.

LOT airlines president, Pirog, told reporters that Wrona and co-pilot Jerzy Szwartz carried out a "perfect emergency landing," which prevented anyone from being injured. "Unfortunately it rarely ends this way," Pirog said.

Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski congratulated and thanked the crew and emergency workers for ensuring no one was hurt.

"I thank everyone with my whole heart in the name of Poland," Komorowski said.

Within hours, at least six Facebook fanpages devoted to Capt. Wrona had appeared. On Twitter, admiration was profuse. One Tweeter insisted, "Give that pilot a medal!" Others drew comparisons to Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who became a national hero in the U.S. when he landed a crippled US Airways jet in the Hudson River and saved 155 lives.

Warsaw's Chopin International Airport was shut down overnight due to the plane coming to a rest near a spot where both of the main runways intersect. Flights are being rerouted to the airports at Lodz, Gdansk and Krakow while officials and rescue workers are clearing the runways in Warsaw.

Poland had experienced a number of aviation disasters in recent years, the most recent of which was the April 2010 crash in Smolensk, Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others on board.