In 2012, a partially paralyzed airline passenger was forced to crawl on and off his flights when traveling on Delta Air Lines between his home in Hawaii and Nantucket, Massachusetts. The rights of disabled passengers are protected by the Airline Carrier Access Act (ACAA). The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Hawaii earlier this…
Continue readingDisabled airline passengers are protected by the provisions of the Airline Carrier Access Act (ACAA). Enacted in 1986, the ACAA “provides that no airline carrier may discriminate against any otherwise qualified individual with a disability, by reason of such disability, in the provision of air transportation”. (Source: U.S. Department of Transportation implementing regulations, 14 CFR…
Continue readingNowadays it seems as though every domestic flight on a large commercial air carrier is “a la carte.” As the cartoon sent to me in a solicitation for New Yorker Magazine suggests, even safety may finally be “pay to play.” As many first and business class passengers get to check a bag without charge, and…
Continue readingOver the weekend we reported last week’s crash at the Leesburg airport. The singe engine craft accident fortunately did not result in injury. However, new questions have arisen since the private airplane that took off from the Prince William County airport crash landed at neighboring Loudoun County’s executive airstrip. A comment in the Leesburg Patch asks,…
Continue readingNormally airport workers and airline employees wait weeks and months for a decision to be reached in their on the job accident cases. The Virginia Workers Compensation Commission had been advising claimants that it would be at least 3-8 weeks for the case to be decided from the date that the record is closed (and…
Continue readingWith the increased air traffic at, and around, the three DC Metro international airports, attention must be paid to the vehicular traffic on the “Airport Operation Area” (“AOA”) at Dulles, Reagan National and Baltimore Washington International Airports. Since the tragic events of 9/11, there has been a marked increase in security for the “sterile areas”…
Continue readingThe Safegate Aircraft Docking Guidance System is being implemented at Los Angeles International Airport to increase runway safety and efficiency. SAFEDOCK is a fully automatic system based on a laser scanning technique that tracks jets taxiing into the terminal. This new system uses a laser to identify and guide aircraft types to an accurate stop position.…
Continue readingEver watch the airport runway workers with the orange wands signaling to a huge jet so that it can get in to a gate ? Airline pilots at Los Angeles International Airport (“LAX”) have parked jets in exactly the same way for decades. The airport marshals with the orange glow sticks could be seen in…
Continue readingAfter a pilot’s texting was found to contribute to a fatal helicopter crash in 2011, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that it prohibit crew members aboard commuter and on-demand service flights from using portable electronic devices for non-operational uses while the aircraft are operating. The…
Continue readingAirline passengers are accustomed to the announcement to power off all electronic devices during take-off and landing, and to set cell phones on “airplane mode” during the rest of the flight. How is it, then, that the pilot in a 2011 helicopter crash was found to have been texting during an ill-fated flight that killed…
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