Boeing Machinists on Strike

A helpful passenger tries to help out ... in an accented voice

(NEWSER) - Who would have thought a jammed bathroom door could lead to a terror scare? The New York Post has the comical tale of a Chatauqua Airlines pilot who, on an Asheville to New York City flight, jammed the bathroom door and found himself trapped—as the plane was in a holding pattern above LaGuardia, no less, waiting for him to land it. A first-row flier heard him pounding on the door; the captain told him to tell his co-pilot and the cockpit crew what had happened. Which the passenger did—in an accented voice. More»

No one injured in Sky Airlines mishap

(NEWSER) - A plane en route from Germany landed on its engine at a Turkish airport following the collapse of its landing gear, a Turkish official says. None of the 156 people on board were injured. The landing gear of the Sky Airlines flight broke during the landing at Antalya Airport, causing the Boeing plane to skid on its right engine. Other flights weren't affected, the official tells the AP ; no reason has yet been given for the accident. More»

Emergency crash-landing off Hilton Head claims life of bystander

(NEWSER) - A small plane making an emergency crash landing on a South Carolina beach last night struck and killed a jogger, authorities say. The 38-year-old Georgia man was listening to his iPod and probably could not hear the single-engine aircraft, which was operating without power. Oil leaking onto the windshield hampered the vision of the pilot and passenger, who were headed from Orlando to Norfolk when their Lancair IV-P developed engine trouble. More»

Boeing runs a shortened test flight of its long-awaited plane

(NEWSER) - Boeing's Dreamliner passed its first test today by completing a three-hour flight over Puget Sound. The round trip—rain and wind shortened it by two hours—means Boeing can begin a 9-month certification process with the FAA, reports the Post-Intelligencer . After that, the company can presumably begin shipping the 840 jets on order from 55 airlines. The jets are lighter than those in service today, which should mean big fuel savings. More»

(NEWSER) - An Air France flight scheduled from Buenos Aires to Paris was delayed last week because of a phoned-in bomb threat, according to Brazilian media. Authorities searched the plane for 90 minutes before allowing it to take off. Nothing was found. The delay occurred just three days before Air France flight 447 traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris mysteriously crashed into the Atlantic. Salvage crews are racing today to the scene where the plane's wreckage was spotted yesterday. More»