Category Archives: Air transport

Singapore Airlines plane dropped 54 metres in seconds, flight data shows

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Investigation report says aircraft ‘experienced a rapid change in gravitational force’ during turbulence

The Singapore Airlines flight hit by severe turbulence last week dropped 54 metres in altitude in less than five seconds, preliminary findings from an investigation show.

A 73-year-old British passenger died of a suspected heart attack and dozens of people were injured after flight SQ321 from London to Singapore encountered what the airline described as sudden, extreme turbulence while flying over Myanmar. The flight carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew diverted to Bangkok for an emergency landing.

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Singapore Airlines tightens seatbelt rules after turbulence flight death

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Airline adopts ‘more cautious approach’ after incident that left one person dead and more than 100 injured

Singapore Airlines has tightened seatbelt rules on its flights after one passenger died and more than 100 were injured when one of its planes hit severe turbulence.

Passengers and crew onboard flight SQ321 suffered skull, brain and spine injuries when they were thrown violently around the cabin during Tuesday’s terrifying high-altitude ordeal. Some passengers said the turbulence happened so fast there was no time to fasten their seatbelts.

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Australian in intensive care with severe spinal injury after ‘horrifying’ Singapore flight, husband says

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Kerry Davis was flung to ceiling when flight SQ321 hit turbulence before falling motionless to floor of plane

An Australian woman suffered a spinal injury and has no sensation from her waist down after her flight to Singapore hit extreme turbulence earlier this week, as others onboard are treated for skull and brain injuries.

The Boeing 777-300ER hit what an airline official described as “sudden extreme turbulence” over Myanmar, sending passengers and crew flying and slamming some into the ceiling. The flight, SQ321 from London to Singapore on Tuesday, made an emergency diversion to Bangkok.

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Hospital details brain and spinal injuries after turbulence on Singapore flight

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Twenty people remain in intensive care in Bangkok, where plane landed on Tuesday following mid-air emergency

Passengers and crew onboard a Singapore Airlines flight that hit extreme turbulence over Asia suffered skull, brain and spinal injuries, the head of a Bangkok hospital has said.

Twenty people remain in intensive care in the Thai capital, where flight SQ321 made an emergency landing on Tuesday after the terrifying high-altitude ordeal.

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Dutton won’t rule out a Coalition government quitting ICC – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Chris Bowen says nuclear energy is ‘slow, expensive and risky’

Chris Bowen is also asked about the latest CSIRO report released today, showing electricity from nuclear power in Australia would be at least 50% more expensive than solar and wind.

CSIRO and Aemo have looked at large-scale nuclear for the first time. It finds that that would be far more expensive than renewables, despite claims from the opposition – quite inappropriate attacks on CSIRO and Aemo from the opposition, that they hadn’t counted the cost of transmission. The cost of transmission and storage is counted, and still renewables comes out as the cheapest.

And of course, CSIRO points out that nuclear will be … very slow to build. So nuclear is slow and expensive and is risky when it comes to the reliability of Australia’s energy system.

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Briton who died on Singapore Airlines flight named as Geoffrey Kitchen

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Retired insurance professional, 73, was en route to Australia with his wife for six-week holiday when plane hit by severe turbulence

The British passenger who died after a flight to Singapore was hit by severe turbulence has been named as a 73-year-old grandfather, Geoffrey Kitchen.

Kitchen, a retired insurance professional turned amateur dramatics performer, had travelled to Singapore on Monday on the 10pm flight from Heathrow.

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British passenger dies after severe turbulence on London-Singapore flight

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Thai authorities say Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, probably had heart attack, and seven are critically injured as passengers describe ‘dramatic drop’

A British passenger has died and seven people have been critically injured after a flight from London to Singapore was hit by turbulence.

Passengers onboard the Singapore Airlines plane told of a “dramatic drop” that launched those not wearing a seatbelt into the cabin ceiling.

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Singapore Airlines flight: British man dead and 30 injured after severe turbulence – as it happened

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One man dies and 18 hospitalised, with a further 12 requiring treatment in hospital, after plane encounters severe turbulence. This live blog is closed

In the US, there has been a recent spate of headlines about turbulent flights. Guardian columnist Emma Brockes wrote this piece on the topic.

In March, a Lufthansa flight en route from Texas to Germany diverted to Dulles airport in Washington DC after turbulence injured seven people. Last December, a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu encountered turbulence so bad that 20 people required hospitalisation. In July, another Hawaiian Airlines flight, from Honolulu to Sydney, hit turbulence that injured seven people. In August, 11 people were hospitalised when a Delta flight encountered turbulence on its descent into Atlanta. The injuries included lacerations, head trauma, broken bones and loss of consciousness, mainly among passengers not wearing their seatbelts.

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Bonza administrators worry that 20,000 out-of-pocket airline customers could attend creditors meeting

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‘That would require a stadium,’ federal court hears as airline administrators try to organise online meeting for Friday that would allow everyone to vote

Administrators determining the future of the troubled airline Bonza are bracing for as many as 20,000 out-of-pocket customers to join a creditors meeting this week with the federal court hearing that online voting options are being considered.

On Tuesday lawyers representing Hall Chadwick, the administrators controlling Bonza after its planes were abruptly repossessed a week ago, appeared before the federal court justice Elizabeth Cheeseman seeking orders to streamline the process for the first creditors meeting on Friday. It will be held amid ongoing efforts to find a new owner for the budget carrier.

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Dick Rutan, co-pilot of historic round-the-world flight, dies aged 85

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Rutan, known for smooth flying style, survived having to eject twice from planes and being stranded at north pole

Burt Rutan was alarmed to see that the plane he had designed was so loaded with fuel that the wingtips dragged along the ground as it taxied down the runway. He grabbed the radio to warn the pilot, his older brother Dick Rutan. But Dick never heard the message.

Nine days and three minutes later, Dick, along with co-pilot Jeana Yeager, completed one of the greatest milestones in aviation history: the first round-the-world flight with no stops or refueling.

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David Cameron under fire for hiring £42m luxury jet for central Asia tour

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Foreign secretary’s use of Embraer Lineage 1000 follows £348,000 bill for James Cleverly’s eight-day trip in similar plane in 2023

David Cameron has been criticised for hiring a luxury jet worth an estimated £42m for a recent tour of central Asia.

The foreign secretary travelled on the Embraer Lineage 1000 for a five-day visit to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia last week, the Mirror reported.

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‘They thought I was a child’: US airline repeatedly registers 101-year-old as baby

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Airport staff surprised by arrival of centenarian instead of infant after American Airlines booking system errors

A 101-year-old woman has been regularly mistaken for an infant because an airline’s booking system was unable to compute her date of birth.

The woman, named only as Patricia, was born in 1922, but the American Airlines system apparently does not recognise that year, defaulting instead to 2022, the BBC reported.

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Air Canada apologizes after headdress of First Nations chief removed to hold

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Politicians decry ‘shameful’ incident on domestic flight in which Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak’s headdress was taken by airline staff

Canada’s largest airline has apologized to a prominent First Nations chief after her ceremonial headdress was removed from the plane’s cabin, wrapped in a plastic bag and moved to the baggage hold.

Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, national chief of the assembly of First Nations, was flying domestically on Wednesday when she said her headdress was taken by airline staff.

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Heathrow expects summer holiday season to be ‘busiest on record’

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Passengers numbers this year predicted to hit 82.4m but airport’s future uncertain, with proposed £6bn sale in doubt

Heathrow is expecting its busiest ever summer holiday season but faces uncertainty over its long-term future as the proposed £6bn sale of the UK’s biggest airport remains in doubt.

The airport said on Wednesday that the summer getaway this year was expected to be “the busiest on record” and promised to have “robust” plans in place to keep the airport “running smoothly”, even if staff strikes held last year are repeated.

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Dubai floods: Chaos, queues and submerged cars after UAE hit by record rains

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Passengers report being stranded in the desert city as the international hub struggles in the wake of unusually heavy rain

Dubai is wrestling with the aftermath of extraordinary torrential rains that flooded the desert city, with residents describing harrowing stories of spending the night in their cars, and air passengers enduring chaotic scenes at airports.

Up to 259.5mm (10.2in) of rain fell on the usually arid country of the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, the most since records began 75 years ago. The state-run WAM news agency called the rains on Tuesday “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949”.

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Heathrow urges government to scrap £10 fee for transit passengers

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London hub says charge for overseas travellers using UK airports puts country at competitive disadvantage

Heathrow has called on the government to scrap a new £10 charge for overseas travellers using UK airports to connect to other flights, warning that it puts UK airports at a competitive disadvantage compared with other European rivals.

The government introduced the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) in November for non-UK residents travelling to the UK from Qatar, with a wider rollout for other countries throughout 2024.

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Investigation launched after Boeing engine cover falls off during takeoff

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Southwest flight returns to Denver airport after latest accident to afflict airline’s Boeing fleet

US airline regulators have launched an investigation after an engine cowling on a Boeing plane fell off during takeoff and struck the wing flap.

The Southwest Airlines flight 3695 rose to about 10,300ft (3,140 metres) before returning safely 25 minutes after takeoff to Denver international airport at about 8.15am local time on Sunday. It was towed to the gate after landing. The Boeing aircraft with 135 passengers and six crew members aboard had been headed to Houston. No one was injured.

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Dozens of UK flights cancelled as Storm Kathleen forecast to bring 70mph winds

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Met Office says temperatures may hit 22C in East Anglia on potentially hottest day of year but warns of strong gusts and rain

Storm Kathleen has brought disruption to the UK and Ireland with dozens of UK flights cancelled and about 34,000 left without power as Saturday provisionally become the hottest day of the year.

The highest temperature of 20.9C was reached in Santon Downham, Suffolk, on Saturday afternoon.

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Two passenger planes clip wings on Heathrow runway

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Footage on social media shows wing of Virgin Atlantic plane overlapping wing of BA aircraft

Two passenger planes clipped wings on the runway while one of the aircraft was being towed at Heathrow.

Footage on social media shows the wing of a Virgin Atlantic plane overlapping the wing of a British Airways aircraft while emergency services surround the area at the UK’s busiest airport.

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Liquid restrictions at UK airports to remain in place until June 2025

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Travellers will have to wait another year for 100ml limit to be lifted after government extends deadline for new scanners

Holidaymakers will continue to face limits on the amount of liquid they can carry on flights out of the UK this summer after the government extended the deadline for airports to install new security scanners by a year.

The Department for Transport had previously set a target for the introduction of 3D scanners in all UK airports by 1 June, but this has now been extended by 12 months because some major airports will not be ready in time.

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