November 1, 2011 – A commercial aircraft performed an emergency landing onto Frederic Chopin International Airport two hours ago. The LOT Polish Airlines B-767 that had taken off from Newark had then been circling over Poland’s capital for an hour as a landing gear failure had been reported. The belly-landing unfolded perfectly, and the firefighters responded immediately. No casualties have been reported among the crew members and the 230 passengers.
74-year-old Jimmy Leeward, a movie stunt pilot was flying a P-51 Mustang called « Galloping Ghost » for the Reno Air Race yesterday September 16, 2011.
On the video you can see that shortly after lifting-up to reach the middle part of a loop, the aircraft dived towards the bleachers, and crashed very close to them. According to the news, 3 died, and 54 would have been injured, 12 of which in severe conditions. A Mayday emergency call would have been heard a few seconds before the accident.
The Reno Air Races have been cancelled even if the families insisted on letting the airshow go on. Some videos on the Internet show how violent the impact was. The area has been cordoned off as the NTSB is still investigating, as well as FAA officials were on the spot, and a mass-casualty situation has been reported.
Jimmy Leeward would have tried to dodge the bleachers as his P-51 was going down. The famous pilot would have saved hundreds of potential casualties before he died, according to this eyewitness account:
It first happened on Monday September 5, 2011. A Nepal Airlines flight was cancelled at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu.
Do you guess why? The flight attendants spotted a stowaway mouse onboard their B-757 bound to Bangkok! The small rodent fled from the galley’s pantry, and rushed from a box of drinks to the back of the cabin although the 113 passengers did not notice the tiny stowaway.
The mouse was finally caught thanks to a glue trap. The jetliner was grounded for more than eleven hours.
Then, the same Boeing 757 – this time bound to Kathmandu – was grounded at Hong Kong International Airport on Tuesday September 6, in the evening.
The reason: the pilots spotted a mouse in the cockpit just before the airplane departure. The aircraft has not been cleared to take off because this mouse was trapped but then escaped, and would still be on the loose. The 84 passengers were rerouted on a Dragonair aircraft.
As far as flight safety is concerned, an aircraft cannot take off with a mouse moving freely onboard as it can gnaw the wiring, and therefore represents a potentiel danger.
It can only be caught or trapped. However, NAC (Nepal Airlines Corporation) could not poison any mouse for a small animal can damage an airplane even if it is dead somewhere, and particularly if in contact with a vital part of the plane.
Special thanks to Mr Hermas, and LadyEleanorA who buzzed this piece of news.
A pilot risking his life onboard a 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron WC-130J Weatherbird weather reconnaissance aircraft, observed the hurricane in the eye of the storm and reported winds at around 100mph today:
New-York braces for what could be the most destructive hurricane since 1938 maybe 1821. South and North Carolina are beginning to feel the effects of Irene. As showed in the videos hereafter, Irene might cause widespread damage particularly by flooding well beyond the coastal cities such as Virginia Beach; Norfolk; Atlantic City, as well as Kill Devil Hills, the site of the Wright Brothers National Memorial close to Kitty Hawk: