Airline Problems in the News This Week : Kathika Travel Website

We’re starting to feel sorry for airlines. If it’s not financial problems connected to rising fuel prices and global economic problems, then it’s bad publicity from some serious incidents and accidents. In the past week the headlines have been full of airline near-misses and trauma for passengers, to the point where we almost don’t feel like flying anymore; take these examples:

Strange Smell Makes Emirates Plane Turn Back

On a flight leaving Perth, Western Australia for Dubai, the pilot decided to turn back after an hour or so due to the smell of some kind of fumes in the cabin. Some passengers also noticed a small amount of smoke. Emirates is a new darling on the international airline scene and although this incident made people nervous, many praised the pilot and Emirates for handling it so well.

Bomb Scare on Etihad

It turned out to be a hoax, but the note detailing a bomb threat, found in the toilet of an Etihad Airlines plane flying between Abu Dhabi and Islamabad, forced the plane to be diverted to land in Karachi. Passengers were asked to leave the plane while it was searched and it was then cleared and determined that the note was a hoax.

Communications Failure

Air traffic controllers had a stressful time of it in Virgina this week when a communications failure meant that chaos reigned in the skies between Florida and destinations to the north. Naturally people are worried that these kinds of communications failures – which seem to be happening more frequently – could lead to an error and an accident.

Hijack Attempt on Turkish Airlines

On a Turkish Airlines flight to Saint Petersburg in Russia this week, a hijacker told the other passengers he had a bomb strapped to his body. The man was drunk, and wrote a note to the captain demanding to be let inside the cockpit or he would explore the bomb. However the other passengers managed to overpower him and keep him pacified until he was arrested upon landing.

Theories on Qantas Mid-Air Drop

In an incident that happened last week, a Qantas flight to Australia had a serious mid-air drop which left a number of passengers incident. This week, the media has been full of various attempts to explain the incident: from passenger use of laptop computers or other devices through to the most recent theory, naval communication base signals that interfered with the Qantas plane’s computer.

photo credit: egmb757lover