Results tagged “plane”

On Thursday, a 20-pound engine tail cone fell from a Boeing 777 plane headed from JFK Airport to Tokyo and onto the front yard of Michelle Russell in Roosevelt, Long Island. The Delta crew only realized the four-foot piece of metal was missing after it landed in Tokyo—14 hours later. While airline officials say the tail cone isn't necessary for the plane to operate (it helps with fuel efficiency), Russell said, "I'm a firm believer if you take off with something you should land with the same parts you took off with."

If you see a giant V in the sky on Friday, fear not, it's just the big wigs in Hollywood trying to get you to watch a new television show about aliens. Reportedly "The network is mum on where and when the V's will strike, but such places as the Statue of Liberty are under consideration. The skywriting will be done multiple times a day at each site until the series launch." Yes, television people, it is a great idea to "secretly" send a small aircraft spouting out gas over major landmarks in New York City.

With Miracle on the Hudson pilot Captain Chesley Sullenberger back in the air, of course there's some grumbling. The Post suggests, "Wimpy US Airways bosses feared... Sullenberger might not be able to hack the media glare of what they billed as his 'return to the air' yesterday," so they had him fly three other flights for prep. A US Airways spokesman explained, "We didn't want to put too much pressure on the guy." Of course, the Post probably has sour grapes since the Daily News was included on one of the earlier flights.

After the Scottish government released him on "compassionate" grounds, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was greeted like a hero in Tripoli, Libya, much to the dismay of U.S. and British governments. al-Megrahi was convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland; 270 were killed, 189 of them Americans. President Obama had said yesterday that al-Megrahi's release was a "mistake" and added, "We are now in contact with the Libyan government, and want to make sure that if in fact this transfer has taken place, he is not welcomed back in some way but instead should be under house arrest." However, as CNN described, "al Megrahi walked off a plane in his native country to a cheering crowd that waved flags and honked horns."

NYPD divers and the Army Corps of Engineers managed to raise some of the wreckage of the small plane that crashed into a helicopter this past Saturday. Two more bodies were recovered, meaning that all nine victims' bodies have been found; three were on the plane while six were on the sightseeing helicopter. The Hudson River's murky conditions have been an obstacle to divers during the recovery effort; they explained to the Times they have been doing much of the search by touch.

In the wake of the fatal collision between a small fixed-wing airplane and a sightseeing helicopter, officials gathered today at the 30th Street Heliport on the west side to demand that the F.A.A. and the city ban tourism helicopter flights over the densest parts of Manhattan. Meanwhile, outside an East Harlem elementary school, Mayor Bloomberg said he was leaving the decision up to the F.A.A., telling reporters, "They don’t need me weighing in. They know certainly well what goes on there. They are professionals. I assume they’re going to wait until the National Transportation Safety Board to make its report and then they’ll make their decisions."

      

Investigators continue searching the Hudson River for other remains and wreckage from Saturday's tragic collision between a small plane and sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River. So far, seven bodies have been found, as well as helicopter wreckage. Authorities are hoping to pull the plane's wreckage from the water, but they say that finding the two remaining bodies is their first priority.

       

Happy Friday—the Pentagon has released more photographs from the Presidential Airlift Group's NYC flyover. You remember that day back in late April, when the Boeing 747 (known as Air Force One when the President is on board) and fighter jets zoomed near Lower Manhattan building, prompting building evacuations, panic, front page marvels and annoyance. The White House released one underwhelming photo in May, but now, on a slow summer Friday, we've got more to peruse—here's the PDF.

Because the cost of housing homeless families in shelters is so high, the Bloomberg administration has been quietly funding a $500,000-a-year program to buy one-way plane tickets for indigent individuals if they agree to stay away. Well, the program was quiet until it was featured in today's Times, so who knows how many New Yorkers will now start posing as transients for one-way tickets to Burning Man. So far the city has paid for more than 550 families to leave since 2007.

Brazilian and French military jets are conducting searches of the Atlantic Ocean, in hopes of finding wreckage from the Paris-bound Air France Flight 447 that disappeared a few hours after taking off from Rio de Janeiro on Sunday night. Brazil's largest airline, TAM, reported that a crew member saw "several orange points" on the ocean's surface yesterday morning, over the same route the Air France flight was taking.

The White House spent up to $357,000 for the Presidential Airlift Group—which includes the 747 that is Air Force One when the President is on board and a military fighter jet escort—to fly over lower Manhattan and take pictures—and is the photograph they release? It's really mediocre—we guess they didn't want to spend the money/time to Photoshop it up. And why not at least give us a shot of the darn plane in front of the lower Manhattan skyline? Or is that too good for us?

Maybe Senator Chuck Schumer has the right idea with being constantly ticked off by the Federal Aviation Administration—it turns out that the FAA was well aware that the Boeing 747 and military jets (also known as the "Presidential Airlift Group") would scare the bejesus out of people in lower Manhattan and New Jersey as they did on Monday. From WCBS 2:

In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD the Federal Aviation Administration's James Johnston said the agency was aware of "the possibility of public concern regarding DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft flying at low altitudes" in an around New York City. But they demanded total secrecy from the NYPD, the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor's office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out.

As it faces criticism over engine maintenance, American Airlines says the engine of a Chicago-bound plane that failed because of an object that was sucked in. However, in this post-Flight 1549 world, American doesn't think it was a bird; "early speculation" is that the object may be from an earlier flight (the engine was sent to Tulsa for inspection). The flight had taken off from Laguardia on Tuesday morning and, about 20 minutes in, something caused dozens, if not hundreds, of pieces of sharp metal to fall over a warehouse in College Point, Queens. The flight made an emergency landing at JFK and no one was hurt from the plane or on the ground. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the plane had a recent history of engine issues and was overdue for inspection; American disputed that and said, "There was nothing in our previous maintenance checks to indicate any issue that could be related or connected to the failure of this engine."

Yikes: WABC 7 reports, "A plane that experienced an engine failure above Queens may have dropped plane parts on a College Point neighborhood." An American Airlines flight (#309) left Laguardia this morning, bound for Chicago's O'Hare airport, and experienced some trouble and engine number two failed. The FAA said metal parts fell from the engine onto a home on 123rd Street. The plane, an MD-80, was diverted to JFK; according to WCBS 2, no injuries were reported from the plane or on the ground.

Get ready to heart Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger even more; the air traffic control tower recording from Flight 1549's dramatic "splash landing" in the Hudson has surfaced. And it's pretty riveting; the man is a remarkable paragon of calmness in the midst of extreme crisis. Sure, Sully doesn't talk much on the recording—he's kinda busy—but as soon as we heard him say, "Unable. We may end up in the Hudson" we knew we'd found our new ring tone.

After the NY Post's outraged article on how CitiGroup was buying a $50 million corporate jet, politicians joined the chorus over how the banking giant is not really thinking straight. President Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president "doesn't believe [business jets are the] best use of money." Especially when CitiGroup is getting $45 billion in TARP funds, right?

Citigroup, which was bailed out by the government last fall to the tune of $45 billion, is continuing on with its purchase of a new, $50 million corporate jet, according to the Post, which calls it "JUST PLANE DESPICABLE." Sure, the banking giant announced it would cut up to 50,000 jobs and posted a staggering $8.29 billion loss last quarter, but executives need to get places faster, you know? But only up to 12 executives, because that's all the Dassault Falcon 7X seats. A source tells the Post that "It's not uncommon for large companies to pay a deposit on a new plane then cancel the order before delivery," so when the Post asked the head of CitiFlight about the 7X, he said, "Why should I help you when what you write will be used to the detriment of our company?" Citi trying to sell its older Dassault jets.

       

US Airways Flight 1549 was removed from the Hudson River yesterday, and the National Transportation Safety Board said that they had recovered both black boxes—the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. The two recorders (flight data recorder pictured below) were taken to Washington D.C. for analysis.

Birds—they think they own the skies. Ever since the Wright Brothers they've been vying for supremacy up there, landing their first fatal blow in 1912 by downing a plane into the surf off Long Beach, California. Yesterday's emergency landing in the Hudson River was just the latest chapter in an ongoing pitched battle between bird and plane. Of course, from the point of view of the Canada geese believed to have been consumed by both engines of U.S. Airways Airbus A320, yesterday's strike must have seemed a bit of a Pyrrhic victory (though there's probably a sweet flock of virgin geese greeting them in the afterlife, hey-oh).

                     

Reports are coming in that a plane has crashed in the Hudson River, between Piers 88 and 92 (West 48th-West 52nd Streets; U.S.S. Intrepid is at Pier 86). The newscasts are reporting that it's a US Airways (twin-engine) flight.

Part of the Southwest Airlines terminal at MacArthur Airport on Long Island was evacuated for about an hour this morning after an improvised explosive device was found in the carry-on bag of an unidentified man. Officials say they won't be able to determine what the device is until it's defused and examined, but it's believed to be either a smoke bomb, pipe bomb or firework. It was spotted by TSA baggage screeners as the 20-year-old attempted to board a flight to Las Vegas, where he resides. The TSA then pulled his checked luggage and found a knife and fireworks, including M-80s. The FBI and agents from the DOJ's Joint Terrorism Task Force are on the scene; FBI spokeswoman Lara Uselding tells Newsday the man has "no known nexus to terrorism." At least four outgoing flights were delayed following the incident.

An unidentified man was forcibly removed from a United Airlines at JFK before it took off last night because he wouldn’t sit down and stop praying. A San Francisco author named Ori Brafman, who was on the flight, told WNBC the Orthodox Jewish man ignored instructions from flight attendants to remain in his seat. During the minutes before take off, he walked to the back of the plane to pray, and when he continued to defy attendants' orders, they summoned airport security.

While it may be beautiful now, yesterday's weather was awful enough to cause some holiday travel headaches for those flying out of area airports. Winds were gusting up to 47 MPH, and travelers arriving at LaGuardia had two hour delays, which wasn't bad considering arrivals at Kennedy and Newark had delays of four to four-and-a-half hours.

What is Rudy Giuliani getting for the new year? It looks like he's in for some campaign tactics from families representing firefighters that died on 9/11 that The Post is calling "Swift Boat" like. James Riches, a deputy fire chief who's son James Jr., a firefighter who died at Ground Zero, is organizing the campaign against the former mayor. Riches told The Post that things should be "up and running" for January 1st and that "the purpose is going to be to set the record straight about 9/11. Rudy Giuliani is not a hero."

Just the kind of thing needed for everyone to continue questioning in the current air traffic control situation at area airports. Two planes almost collided on Sunday at JFK Airport. Senator Charles Schumer said that an air traffic controller said, "That was the closest I have ever seen two airplanes get together." According to the NY Times (also, see image at right), a "37-seat commuter jet" almost collided with a "Boeing 747 cargo jet on...

Another reassuring tale of airport security. At JFK Airport yesterday, an airport security screener was able to board a plane - without a ticket. Apparently the man wanted to go the United Arab Emirates to see off his parents, so somehow he managed to board an Etihad Airways flights without a ticket or boarding pass. And, according to the AP, "when the plane's doors shut, [he] told a flight attendant what he had done." We...

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a scaffolding collapse on 5th Ave. and 115th St. in Manhattan, a stabbing on Franklin Ave. in Queens, and a homicide at 83rd St. and 4th Ave. in Brooklyn.
• The new Kaleidoscope Light Show is now on display at Grand Central Terminal's main hall.
• The Toshiba company returns to Times Square after being absent for several decades. The company signed a 10-year lease to capture the top sign spot at 1 Times Square.
• Marty Markowitz will be lighting the giant Brooklyn menorah tomorrow night at Court and Montague Sts. Mr. Met will do the honors flipping the switch on the menorah at Grand Army Plaza.
• A DHL cargo plane will depart from JFK tomorrow loaded with 500 Christmas trees to be delivered to troops in the Middle East.
• Donald Trump Jr. has been renamed the head of his condo board after being ousted without warning a year ago.
• Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte will hold off on retirement and return to the team for the 2008 season.
• The folks at WOXY radio will be streaming nothing but holiday music online between now and Christmas.

The artist Do Ho Suh is known for creating architectural installations made of translucent fabric. His latest work to be shown in New York is "Reflection," a suspended nylon replica of a gate from his childhood home in Korea. On view since last Wednesday, this is the inaugural installation at 201 Chrystie Street, the new downtown location of the Lehmann Maupin Gallery. "Reflection" continues Suh's exploration of ephemeral space and memory. "The space I'm interested...

Being heir to $12 million can be a real dog. Especially if you're Trouble Helmsley, the cherished Maltese owned by the late real estate developer Leona Helmsley. "Queen of Mean" Helmsley shocked people from the grave by leaving $12 million to the pooch, which was more than what her grandchildren (combined) inherited. Helmsley's friend John Codey, who oversees Helmsley's trust, reveals that there have been many death threats: "We received any number of threats to...

The Thanksgiving Day and Thanksgiving Day Eve have emerged as some of the busiest travel days of the year. While the media shows shots of crowded airports and train stations on the Wednesdays before Thanksgiving (like today), the Bureau of Transportation Statistics says that when personal vehicle travel is included into calculations, "Thanksgiving Day is actually a heavier long-distance travel day [to and from a destination more than 50 or more miles away] than...