Safety

Flight training at Alaska Airlines – not for sissies

Safety, , ,

Last night was Aviation Geek Night at the Alaska Airlines training center in Seattle.  A dozen folks who follow Alaska Airlines on Twitter (http://twitter.com/alaskaair) were invited to experience what it’s like to pilot a $30 million dollar aircraft and get some Flight Attendant safety training.

We didn’t get any face time with these guys:

Alaska Airlines bad guys

But flight attendant instructors Megan, Claudia, and Clinton assured us that real flight attendants were well trained in how to defend themselves – and passengers – against bad guys.

We did get to practice putting out an on-board fire and learned how to open and set aside the 40 pound window exit.

Alaska Air exit door

Then we each had a chance to slide down the emergency chute.

Alaska Air emergency chute

All skills I’m glad I’ve practiced and, of course, hope I’ll never get to use.

At the end of the night, I did get a chance to sit in the captain’s seat of the flight simulator.  Capt. Bill Morgan calmly and gently guided me and co-pilot Kenji_Onozawa through a landing at Reagan National Airport and Seattle-Tacoma Int’l Airport.  Good thing Kenji was cool and capable.  Because it turns out, I was too short to reach the brakes on the airplane and, once on the ground, I got nauseous guiding the plane to the gate.

Still, they let me graduate with a newly minted Certificate of Geekiness, which I will be carrying with me next time I fly.

Alaska Airlines certificate of geekiness

Man opens airplane door: can ya’ blame him?

Safety,

According to this article, Robert McDonald, a passenger on a Delta flight heading from JFK to Las Vegas on Sunday after arriving from Rome,  is in big trouble after trying to open an emergency exit door while the airplane waited out a delay at JFK airport.

Flight 149 pulled back from the gate just after 5 p.m. but was delayed on the taxiway for more than 2 1/2 hours due to bad weather and congested skies, common issues at JFK. Around 7:45 p.m., McDonald, who was traveling with his wife, lost his cool, prosecutors said.

“Apparently, the defendant wanted to get off the plane,” District Attorney Richard Brown said, “so he opened the emergency exit door.”

Wrong, sure.  But, when you’re stuck in that sort of  “when will we get out of here?” limbo, don’t you sometimes think about doing exactly the same thing?

sign-no-exit


Alaska volcano brings strange planes to Seattle

Environment, Safety, ,

sea-br-747-at-south-sat-001

It’s not just passengers who are having their flight plans disrupted by the repeat eruptions of Mt. Redoubt.  Many cargo freighters heading to Anchorage for refueling are instead diverting to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).

According to airport officials, so far SEA is getting at least three times  the normal arrivals of  international cargo planes: 45 during the first four days of diversion, the equivalent of a full week’s regular schedule at SEA.  Now the airport is figuring out where they’ll put more diverted wide-body planes if the volcano stays active.

seacargovisitors

So are passenger planes being pushed aside to make way for the giant, thirsty, visitors?  “Nope, no delays for passenger traffic,” says airport rep. Perry Cooper, “A passenger may see a big cargo plane next to them at the terminal, but it won’t delay any of their flights. This, of course, is outside what passenger delays are created by the flights Alaska has had to cancel due to the volcano. What has created the cancellation for those flights is creating the extra traffic in the cargo area for us.”

(Photos of visiting cargo planes courtesy Port of Seattle)

Mt. Redoubt, tornadoes, snow nix flights

Cancellations, Safety, Weather,

Due to a mid-morning eruption (re-eruption?) of Mt. Redoubt, Alaska Airlines has suspended all flights into and out of Anchorage, at least until early Friday morning.

Volcano ash is serious stuff; it can limit visibility and ruin engines.  So the airline is taking no chances: 45 flights were canceled earlier this week due to previous eruptions from Mt. Redoubt, leaving more than 4,000 travelers stuck at the airport, at home, or somewhere they didn’t plan to be.

alaska-volcano-2

If you’re scheduled to fly to or from Alaska, check in with alaskaair.com or 1-800-ALASKAAIR.  In the meantime, you might want to follow the mountain’s activities on the Alaska Volcano Observatory Web site.  It has photos, seismic graphs, airport flight status reports, and instructions for collecting ash fall – finally another use for those Ziploc bags!

(Photograph of Mt. Redoubt taken from Diamond Ridge near Homer, by Dennis Anderson. At 9:50 Am  March 26, 2009)

Folks are also ending up stuck at airports all across the country today due to snow in Denver and tornado activity in the south, so if you’re going anywhere, be sure to check in with your airline before you leave the house.

Can that ash-alert for flights to Alaska

Safety,

Alaska Airlines resumed flights in and out of Alaska today now that the ash from Mt. Redoubt has settled.

A big help: airplanes in Anchorage were wrapped in a protective plastic sealant overnight so that engines didn’t get damaged by abrasive ash particles.

No photos have been shared, so I have an image of an airplane wrapped in a giant plastic bag with a large twist-tie at the top. Or a huge zip-top bag, like the ones we stuff our toothpaste and face lotion into at the security checkpoint.

tsa-bag

Is that how they did it?

Exit-row etiquette: should you have a license to sit there?

Etiquette, Safety

exit-sign

Who doesn’t enjoy being seated in the exit row? The seats assure cramped passengers extra inches of legroom and are an airplane’s most coveted feature.

How do get one of those seats? They’re usually assigned to top-tier frequent fliers, passengers who have paid an extra fee, those who ask nicely or folks who are simply at the right place at the right time.

But maybe those seats should be assigned instead to passengers who have taken a safety course and are certified to sit there.  Or at least to people who have actually practiced opening an exit row door and throwing it off to the side.

Those are just two of the ideas offered up by a panel of safety experts outlined in my Well-Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com today.  Here’s a link where you can read all about Exit Row Etiquette. While you’re there, take a moment to cast your vote in our exit-row survey. So far close to 3,000 people have voted and most of them think that they should get an exit row seat just because they ask for one.

What do you think? Would you be willing to practice opening an emergency exit-row door or would you attend a safety class in order to get an exit-row seat?

Sea-Tac Airport: laser-loser locked-up

Safety,

Someone has been pointing lasers at airplanes landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, distracting pilots and creating some really dangerous situations.

Not anymore.

Tonight, the Port of Seattle Police sent out a message confirming that yesterday, March 6th,  a 24-year old was arrested for suspicion of Unlawful Discharge of a Laser – 1st Degree, a Class “C” felony.

criminal6

What’s with the laser at Sea-Tac Airport?

Safety, Security,

I’m due to fly home to Seattle tonight after testing out Alaska Airline’s Wi-Fi equipped “WI FI ONE” plane and wondering if I have to worry about our plane getting lasered on the way in.

According to  the Seattle Times newspaper, the pilots of four planes reported seeing a bright laser light Wednesday night as they headed to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The planes landed safely, but everyone is understandably concerned because those lights are very distracting to pilots.

This isn’t the first time lasers have been focused on airplanes here.  According to the newspaper a dozen planes were targeted on February 22 and the pilots of another plane reported seeing a green laser last Sunday night.

Cut that out!

scissor