Panic onboard – That is what happened on a JetBlue aircraft last week. The captain dashed to the bathroom’s door which was locked, got jittery, then running along the aisle, he hollered out insane things such as « They’re going to take us down! ». The passengers wrestled the pilot down, tied him up with seat belts, and he was handed over to the police after landing.

An incident of this kind had already been reported two weeks before. An American Airlines flight attendant had been giving the safety instructions just before takeoff. She suddenly ranted about mechanical issues which were immediately refuted by the other cabin crew members. She kept speaking incoherently about Al-Qaeda, and the 9/11 attacks, about her fears of crashing, etc. A few people managed to wrestle her down, and the passengers were startled and scared as they could hear her blood-curdling screams when she was being handcuffed by the police.

According to these reports, these insane behaviors are believed to be air-rage cases but the flight attendant who got temporarily mad would be deemed bipolar by doctors, and her condition could explain her behavior. As far as the JetBlue pilot is concerned, his neighbors cannot understand as they would see him as a kind person.

Another scary situations occurred in flight this week on Monday April 2, 2012. 80-year-old Helen Collins landed the Cessna 414 twin-engine aircraft in which the pilot – her husband – died a few minutes before at the controls!

Thanks to the video/audio tape hereafter, we can imagine now what was going through her mind as it was the first time she had flown an aeroplane: (video with transcripts – click on the link below)

http://youtu.be/QxZKKDTRgyk

Outstanding Helen Collins hurt her back, and cracked a rib but she managed to bring the plane to a safe stop at Door County Cherryland Airport, near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

Last but not least, HATS OFF to Braden Blennerhassett, an Australian pilot who never panicked last Tuesday as a SNAKE popped out from the dashboard; slithered down his leg while he was landing! Read the SCRIPT and listen to the video link about this story below:

Here is how this brave pilot kept his cool on his aircraft (interview):

Another interesting video with the air traffic controller about the emergency message she received:

These recent stories – not to mention the latest crash of an F/A-18D Hornet from Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, on Friday in which the pilots managed to bail out safely before the fighter aircraft crashed into an apartment building fortunately left with no death toll – remind us of this well-worn saying: Flying is simply hours of boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror.

Special thanks to Xavier Cotton – Passion pour l’aviation‘s webmaster – for his help and support, and for passing these video links on to me. Thank you very much indeed.

The post PANIC ONBOARD THESE DAYS – not only due to AIR RAGE appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.

The post Malaysian AirAsia needs more women as pilots appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.

The post Eurofighter Typhoon’s Helmet Equipment Assembly appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.

The post Californian woman recycling Boeing B-747 into dream home appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.

The Russian pilot Svetlana KAPANINA, has won up to 39 gold medals, two World Air Games, and seven World Championship titles – a record in women category.

Among her feats, she is used to challenging the best male pilots in the world as she has reached the top 4 – and even top 2 – several times in overall competition. Finally, she has been awarded a prestigious medal for being the best pilot of the century.

According to her performance on the videos above, she deserves her nickname « Queen of the skies ». Just watch and enjoy…

The post Svetlana KAPANINA – Queen of the skies appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.

The post Women flying high appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.

L’ ANGLAIS POUR VOLER is not only a website but a book, and a CD. Its author is Dominique Défossez. She is an MA graduate in English, a chief engineer in air navigation, an experienced air traffic controller, a pilot, a teacher, not to mention an author for « L’anglais pour voler » and « Info-pilote ».

You can get access to the ELIOT’s page. Eliot is a virtual private pilot who likes to fly abroad. He keeps a journal where he makes note of his different flying experiences. An MP3 list is updated and remains available for listening and free downloading on the website.

I bought the book and the CD a month ago. I have already had some books, glossaries, and dictionaries about aeronautics. All these resources are either similar or different. When you read Dominique Defossez’s work, you do feel that she wants to help pilots, controllers, engineers, and mechanics. And it works! It works for the words have been cleverly selected, and well sorted out. You can feel through these documents that this work is the result of down-to-earth experience.

The lexical filing has been made both thematic and alphabetical. Moreover, there’s an extra section for abbreviations, plus audio/phonetic references, and a browser at your disposal in the compact disc. Here lies the main asset according to me for most dictionaries of this kind never offered audio support before.

L’anglais pour voler undoubtedly is a very effective tool for the air traffic controllers, the pilots, mechanics, and all those who are fond of aircraft. This remarkable work represents a major teaching/learning asset in the aviation world. Click on the picture hereafter to learn more about Dominique Défossez’s products:

The post ANGLAIS POUR VOLER – new edition appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.

The post Cartoons to promote peace appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.

The post Pilots training up to 7 Gs ! appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.

The post BATTLE of BRITAIN – La bataille d’Angleterre appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.

Ce soir, mercredi 24 juin 2009

sur FRANCE 3 à 20h35

Un magnifique documentaire consacré aux portraits de 5 femmes pilotes de l’armée de l’air. Elles ont été suivies tout au long d’une année lors de différentes opérations et situations.On ne souligne jamais assez le courage de ces femmes qui ont décidé à un moment de leur vie de partir à la fois à la conquête de l’air et à la défense de leur pays. Il n’existe dans ce blog qu’un tag consacré aux femmes et seuls quelques articles les mettaient en valeur. Dans la future version de Prepa PLS Anglais, une section entière de la branche « Topics » sera consacrée aux femmes qui ont marqué l’histoire de l’aviation et toutes celles qui oeuvrent dans l’aéronautique ou/et les armées. Pour tout ce qu’elles ont déjà accompli, on ne peut que dire « Chapeau bas, mesdames! »
Ne manquez pas à 20h35 sur la 3 le reportage de ce soir. Certainement TRES INTERESSANT !

The post FEMMES PILOTES dans l’ARMEE DE L’AIR appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.

From the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk

The post India grounds « fat » air hostesses appeared first on AVIATION ENGLISH.