From The Last Few Days: Aug 24

Well, it is Friday again and I haven’t had as much time as I would have liked to write about this week’s news items.  In the future, I will try not to go as many days between posts.

The NTSB has issued five safety recommendations to the FAA, in response to the midair collision between a helicopter and small plane over the Hudson River on August 8, 2009. The AP has a nice summary.

The FAA has been investigating Southwest Airlines for improper use of parts, which resulted in some flights being grounded last weekend. Although, it appears to more of a compliance issue than a safety risk (via Bloomberg).

The flight data recorders have been recovered from Yemenia Aiways Flight 626, which crashed near Comoros on June 30, 2009 (via The New York Times).

The AP story about “surviving” time on a delayed plane was one of the most popular on Yahoo! News yesterday. Of course, everyone’s awareness was elevated when the passengers, from Continental Express Flight 2816, were held on the plane in Rochester, Minnesota earlier this month. I was glad to see the author began by mentioning that this case was an unusual circumstance, since the title played to people’s fears. I like to think that the subsequent weeks of investigation and discussion (to put it nicely) will result in lessons learned. Even if ExpressJet, Continental Airlines, Rochester Airport, Mesaba Airlines and Secretary LaHood don’t necessarily agree who was most at fault (via USA Today). As for this article, it is good information, since regular delays are not infrequent at all.

This week, The Cranky Flier posted his assessment of Flight 2816 too.

Also, briefly:

A small plane made an emergency landing in a mall parking lot in New Jersey on Tuesday (via The New York Times).

ANA Flight 584 made an emergency landing in Tokyo, Thursday morning. The Boeing 767 suffered a loss in cabin pressure, but oxygen masks deployed and nobody was injured (via Japan Times).

This weekend, College Park Airport in Maryland will be celebrating 100 years of flight with an event called AirFair100! Looks fun! I heard about it via Metro Connection on WAMU 88.5.

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