From Drinking Too Much and Talking to Strangers to Leaving the Airport - IgoUgo Survey Shows Travelers Admit to Doing Whatever It Takes to Pass the Time During Layovers

IgoUgo.com, the fastest growing online travel community in the world, recently surveyed its members and found that more than 73 percent of travelers said they are spending more time in airports due to flight delays or layovers. But what was really surprising was just what people are up to on their layovers.

IgoUgo editors found some interesting behavior happening in terminals: one-third of people are spending more time in the bar; 36 percent pass the time by eavesdropping; 16 percent drink with strangers and 8 percent attempt to sneak into the VIP lounges. The results also show a majority of travelers still turn to typical activities such as reading (74 percent), eating at a restaurant (60 percent) or walking the terminal for exercise (43 percent).

Additionally, more than half (53 percent) admitted to participating in behavior at an airport that they otherwise would not have; some of their out-of-the ordinary behavior includes:

FULL ARTICLE - BUSINESS WIRE

It seems all news is bad news when it comes to aviation these days, and it's too bad because it overshadows just how wonderful it is that we can fly. Think about it -- 100 years ago, few could imagine it. Today we take it for granted.

It's an amazing accomplishment, and too often people lose sight of that. Aviation.com has compiled a list of the greatest innovations of aviation that have taken us ever further and faster in the 100 years since the Wright Brothers took wing. It includes things like the monoplane, transatlantic flight, the steam catapault and human-powered aircraft.

We looked at their list, tweaked it a bit and came up with our top 12 because 10 wasn't enough.

FULL ARTICLE - Wired.com

Jamco, a supplier to Boeing and Airbus, last month became the first company in the Pacific Northwest authorized to self-certify that its products meet FAA safety requirements. It joins just eight other companies nationwide, among them Northwest Airlines and business-jet maker Gulfstream, that have so far been approved to self-certify under the new rules.

But other large aerospace companies that do major work on airplanes, including Boeing, will shift to the new regulatory regime by next year.

Delegating such responsibility to manufacturers has sparked criticism among some safety experts and FAA insiders. But the agency defends the new program as a smart way to farm out the simplest reviews while focusing its limited resources on the most critical ones.

FULL ARTICLE - Seattle Times

The Aviation Herald: The glitch of a flight plan computer at the FAA center near Atlanta lost flight plans and caused delays to several hundred flights across the USA, until all processing load was shifted to a backup system near Salt Lake City. Normally the two processing units share the workload.

Airlines were told, that they needed to refile at least some of their flight plans.

The situation returned to normal during the evening. The glitch was identified to be a software bug.

In the world of warbird collecting, Glacier Girl was a rare prize. The World War II-era P-38 fighter made an emergency landing on a Greenland ice cap in July 1942 while on a flight from Maine to England. The aircraft eventually was buried under a layer of ice and snow more than 200 feet thick.

In 1992, Glacier Girl was excavated and later restored to flying condition -- one of a handful of airworthy P-38s known to exist. When the Kentucky entrepreneur who led the recovery effort died in 2005, the famous plane's future was, well, up in the air. Enter Provenance Fighter Sales Inc., a Murrieta-based company that buys and sells vintage warplanes.

After eight months of negotiating, Brown bought Glacier Girl for an undisclosed sum and then sold the P-38 to a Texas oilman for close to $7 million. It was an eye-popping price, even in a niche where seven-figure price tags are not unusual.

FULL ARTICLE - L.A. Times

Delta Air Lines Inc., which plans to acquire Northwest Airlines, said 4,000 employees have taken voluntary buyouts, double the number it initially targeted and an increase from the total announced two weeks ago.

The airline said May 30 that 3,000 workers had accepted the severance offers, and since then 1,000 more people have agreed to leave the Atlanta-based company, spokeswoman Betsy Talton said Friday in a telephone interview.

Delta initially targeted 2,000 job reductions under a plan announced in March that also included trimming U.S. capacity as much as 11% and parking up to 90 of its planes and regional jets. There may be additional "incremental cuts," President Ed Bastian told reporters June 3 after the company's annual meeting. Detroit Free press

The Flying Heritage Collection, one of the world's great collections of rare World War II-era fighter planes from five major countries of the war, announced today that its exhibition facility at Paine Field in Everett, Wash. is now open to the public. The collection features 15 of the most famous fighting planes ever designed and built, and it is one of the nation's largest collections of vintage planes in flyable condition.

Click To view the Multimedia News Release

Boeing and Cathay Pacific Airways celebrated the delivery of the airline's first 747-400ERF, or Extended Range Freighter, last Friday.

The airplane -- the first of six Boeing 747-400ERFs to be delivered to Cathay Pacific -- was unveiled last week at a pre-flight ceremony at the Boeing Delivery Center in Everett, WA. Among those present were Cathay Pacific's Ron Mathison, director and general manager for Cargo; senior managers from Cathay's North America and Hong Kong cargo team and invited senior cargo industry executives.

Cathay Pacific currently operates 115 airplanes, 18 of which are freighters, including six 747-400BCFs (Boeing Converted Freighters), six 747-400 and six 747-200 Freighters. The airline has remaining orders for two 747-400BCFs to further expand its freighter fleet. Cathay Pacific also has an order for 10 747-8F freighters.

The 747-400ER Freighter, which entered service in October 2002, has a maximum takeoff weight of 910,000 pounds. This takeoff weight increase over existing 747-400 Freighters allows the 747-400ER Freighter to fly an additional 525 nautical miles, or it can carry an additional 22,000 pounds of payload on long-range flights at maximum takeoff weight.

The new aircraft is powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4062A engines and will be deployed on trunk routes to North America to take full advantage of the airplane's superior payload range capability.

Melbourne, Australia: JETSTAR will use foreign pilots employed under 457 work visas in the first large-scale hiring of international flight crew in Australia since the pilots' strike of almost 20 years ago.

The budget Qantas offshoot has reportedly secured the support of federal Immigration Minister Chris Evans and Employment Minister Julia Gillard, to employ 75 foreign pilots, Fairfax has reported.

Jetstar said the move, which was expected to be opposed by aviation unions, was needed to address the chronic pilot shortage. "We are in a global industry and we should be able to source a global talent pool,'' Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce said.

The foreign pilots will be used on Jetstar's domestic and international routes, and the first visa application was processed last week. Jetstar has also recently hired 20 foreign cabin crew on 457 visas and has government approval to hire up to 60 more.

The city's effort to ban jets that land at high speeds could be adopted elsewhere. The FAA has been granted an injunction to stop the rule from taking effect.

Recent-model Gulfstreams are the Ferraris of private jets, with prices reaching up to $50 million each. Their sleek fuselages contain some of the most advanced control and navigation systems available. Fully fueled, the sophisticated jets with their plush interiors can fly 16 executives coast to coast at speeds of up to 527 mph -- about 0.80 on the Mach meter, not far from the speed of sound.

The twin-engine aircraft and others like it have become increasingly popular across the country -- but not at Santa Monica Airport. There, local leaders and the Federal Aviation Administration are locked in a legal battle over the city's unprecedented attempt to ban certain high-performance jets for safety reasons.

FULL ARTICLE - L.A. Times