Pilot dies after helicopter crashes while fighting fires.

An experienced helicopter pilot who died in a crash while fighting bushfires in northeast Tasmania has been remembered as a great mate to many. A witness in Tasmania's north-east says he heard a loud bang before seeing a firefighting helicopter "go down" in a crash which claimed the life of an experienced pilot. The 41-year-old man was killed on Monday afternoon when the water-bombing aircraft went down in a paddock. He was the sole occupant and had been helping battle blazes at Lebrina across several days.

A tribute from Air Operations Unit - Tasmania, an online group of aerial firefighters, described him as an "outstanding pilot and great mate to many".

"He was highly respected within the aviation industry and the Tasmania Fire Service," the Facebook post read.

"The Tasmania Fire Service Aerial Operations team are saddened by the loss and are proud to have worked alongside him and call him a mate.

"Our thoughts and condolences are with (his) family, friends and work colleagues."

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating and a report is being prepared for the coroner.

"As reported to us the helicopter jettisoned its water bucket and line before colliding with the ground in a paddock," ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said.

A preliminary report is expected to be published in 6-8 weeks.

Lebrina is a rural locality and town in the local government area of Launceston, in the Northern region of Tasmania. It is located about 38 kilometres north-east of the city of Launceston.

Aircraft Information:

Aircraft: Bell Garlick UH-1H Iroquois Helicopter

Registration: VH-UHX

Serial Number: 64-13865
Year of Manufacture: 2007

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY AND FRIENDS DURING THIS DIFFICULT TIME.

Plane makes emergency landing due to "erratic" passenger

The story below is becoming a daily event in the USA, you don't hear of stories like this in Australia, New Zealand or any other country as a matter of fact.

AMERICAN AIRLINES A321-231 N107NN (MSN 5938)

An American Airlines flight from Los Angeles (LAX/KLAX) to Washington, D.C. (DCA/KDCA), made an emergency landing in Kansas City, Missouri (MCI/KMCI), on Sunday due to an "unruly passenger displaying erratic behavior," the company confirmed.

The American Airlines Flight 1775 passenger made a few attempts to enter the cockpit before attempting to open an exit door. The FBI said that the flight was diverted "due to an unruly passenger interfering with the flight crew."
The passenger was "ultimately subdued by our crew and with the help of other passengers," an American Airlines spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The plane landed safely at Kansas City's airport, where it was met by law enforcement on arrival after the crew reported a passenger disturbance on board, according to the airline and the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FBI confirmed the passenger had been taken into custody.

Aircraft Information:

Airline: American Airlines

Code: AA/AAL

Aircraft: Airbus A321-253NX

Registration: N446AN

Serial Number: 10770

Age: 1 month old

Delta Air Lines is urging the Department of Justice to put unruly passengers on the federal "no-fly" list so that "individuals who have endangered the safety and security of our people do not go on to do so on another carrier," CEO Ed Bastian wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland Friday.

Delta has called on its aviation partners to "share their unruly passenger 'no fly' list to ensure individuals who have endangered the safety and security of our people do not go on to do so on another carrier".

"Any disruption or act of violence on our planes and at our airports warrants full and public prosecution of the offenders, with zero tolerance for any behavior that interferes with flight safety."

Qantas accused of 'price gouging'

QANTAS A380-842 VH-OQG  (MSN 047)        File Photo

Consumers have slammed the Qantas flight credit redemption scheme as "deceptive" and "dishonest", accusing the company of "price gouging".
Evidence including emails, videos and screenshots supplied to the ABC suggests that prices for the same flight were jacked up when a customer used a flight credit or voucher.
The price gaps ranged from 50 per cent to 300 per cent more, depending on the credit value, compared to when people made fresh bookings.

'Morally wrong'

In October last year, Dean Ransom booked two round trips from Adelaide to Brisbane for December. He ended up paying three times more than his wife for the same economy seat.

He said the Qantas website restricted all the cheaper options for seats and only made available tickets that were equal to or more than his credit – more than $1,400 received from previous flight cancellations in mid-2021 due to COVID.

When he tried to book for his wife without using a credit, the cost was $437.

"The seats were identical, and we sat next to each other," he told the ABC.

"In other words, Qantas gouged the credit value and gave me a $400 seat for $1,400."

But that trip was disrupted when the Queensland government declared Adelaide a COVID hotspot in late November and introduced strict border conditions, including quarantine.
Mr Ransom had to cancel the flights and re-book for another date. This time, he ended up paying even more.
He said the online system only offered him the choice of business class, which costs more than $1,600.
Given his credit expiring at the time, Mr Ransom said he unwillingly paid over $200 extra in cash on top of the credit for his seat, where his wife's ticket was still around the same price, at $464.

"They never wanted to give [my money] back, no matter what, and to me, that's morally wrong," Mr Ransom said.

"The biggest frustration is that if you have a problem like this, we want to find out why or ask a question about the terms and conditions, you can't get through to them."

Mr Ransom said he made complaints to Qantas via their Messenger chat and Facebook page but didn't get a proper response and his phone calls went unanswered.
When he was booking a flight back in October, he not only noticed the price was cheaper when not using a credit, but also the prices varied when using different vouchers.

"At first, I was like is this one of those IP address things, where they're tracking what I'm doing and then the flight changes," he told the ABC.

"[Then] I became very suspicious, and I was like, this is not right."

He had multiple vouchers valued from $88 to $450. Each time he punched in a different redeem code, the price changed, for the same flight.

"When I used the flight credit of $450, each of the tickets came up at around $237 one-way, Sydney to Melbourne," Mr Evans said.

"Same flight, same airline … when I went to redeem one of the other flight credits that was only $88 or $100, the flight came up one-way at $130."

He said he called the Qantas customer service to seek answers and was told by a representative that the system would allocate a ticket that matched the credit value.
"That's ridiculous. Because you say it's your policy does not make it right," he said.
"It is a deceptive and dishonest way of conducting business. For a national carrier who is presumed to be one of the most trusted businesses in Australia."
Mr Evans said he managed to get a refund on the excess he paid, but the system was unchanged.

Story sourced from here
Qantas accused of 'price gouging' after consumers pay triple for flights using credits over cash (msn.com)

Emirates doubles up and British Airways returns to Sydney

EMIRATES A380-861 A6-EEK (MSN 132)

From the 2nd March, Emirates will offer a choice of two daily superjumbo departures – EK415 will depart at 6am and EK413 will depart at 9.45pm – doubling up from the current single daily service as the Gulf carrier and Qantas partner continues to rebuild Australian network.
It's another sign that international travel is bouncing back, and follows Australia's decision to open its borders to all tourists from the 21st February.

While Emirates is increasing its flights British Airways is also heading back to Sydney from the 29th March 2022. This is almost two years since the airline was forced to suspend its popular Kangaroo Route once Singapore's Changi Airport banned transit passengers in the early days of the pandemic.

BRITISH AIRWAYS BOEING 777-336 G-NSTBA (MSN 40542)

The airline confirmed its long-awaited return to Sydney, with Noella Ferns, British Airways’ Head of Sales, Asia Pacific, saying “We can’t wait to welcome our customers back on board our Sydney to London flights and we will be honoured to play our part in reuniting families and friends with their loved ones after such a long time apart.”

BA's first flight to Sydney will arrive just five weeks after Australia opens to international visitors with BA15 scheduled to touch down in Sydney on the 29th March at 6.10am; the returning flight, BA16 to London via Singapore, will depart at 3.50pm. The London-Singapore-Sydney route is also being converted from a Boeing 777 to the smaller but more comfortable Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

Snake spotted on plane forces flight to make emergency landing

AIRASIA A330-343 9M-XXI (MSN 1411)

An AirAsia flight from Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur (KUL/WMKK) to Tawau Sabah (TWU/WBKW) was forced to divert to Kuching International Airport (KCH/WBGG) on Thursday after passengers spotted a live snake in an overhead compartment.

The airline confirmed "an incident" on board flight AK5748 after a TikTok user posted a video showing the silhouette of a snake moving slowly in what appears to be a plane's luggage compartment. "AirAsia is aware of an incident on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau on Thursday," AirAsia's chief safety officer Liong Tien Ling told Malay Mail. "As soon as the captain was aware, he made the decision to divert the aircraft to Kuching as a precautionary measure to fumigate the aircraft. "This is a very rare incident which can occur on any aircraft from time to time," he added.

A spokesman for the airline said that passengers were diverted to Kuching, Sarawak—some 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) away from the plane's original destination. 

Airline staff were still searching for the reptile when the aircraft landed in Kuching, according to the news outlet. All affected passengers then departed Kuching for Tawau later on Thursday.

It isn't clear what species of snake was on board the flight or what happened to it.
According to a google search 18 of the 140 snake species in Malaysia are venomous. 

Venomous species found in the country include the Cobra, the Malayan Pit Viper, the Mangrove and Mountain Vipers, the Striped Coral Snake and the Speckled Coral Snake.

Aircraft Information:

Airline: AirAsia

Code: AK/AXM

Aircraft: Airbus A320-216

Registration: 9M-RAN

Serial Number: 8797

First Flew: 13/05/2019 

American Airlines flight diverted after passenger made threatening statement

An American Airlines flight from Charlotte North Carolina (CLT/KCLT) to Los Angeles California (LAX/KLAX) was forced to divert to Albuquerque New Mexico (ABQ/KABQ) overnight after a few passengers made "threatening statements" to a crew member, a spokesperson for American Airlines said.
"American Airlines flight 482 diverted to Albuquerque following a passenger disruption in which  threatening statements were made toward a crew member," airline spokesperson Curtis Blessing said in a statement. "The aircraft which departed Charlotte from runway 36C at 8.33 p.m. (local) was met by law enforcement after landing safely on runway 08 in Albuquerque at 10:25 p.m. (local). 

The passengers involved were escorted from the aircraft, and the flight later departed for LAX," at 11.45 p.m. the statement said. The flight landed safely in Los Angeles on runway 06R at 12.26 a.m.

In a statement from the airline they said "We thank our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this caused to their travel plans."

Aircraft Information:

Airline: American Airlines

Code: AA/AAL

Aircraft: Airbus A320-231

Registration: N923US

Serial Number: 6543

First Flew: April 2015

Last year was the worst on record for unruly airplane passenger behavior in the United States, according to Federal Aviation Administration data.
A whopping 5,981 reports of unruly passengers were logged by the FAA as of the 31st December. 

Of those, 4,290 nearly 72% -- were mask-related incidents.

So far this year, 323 unruly passenger incidents had been reported to the Federal Aviation Administration as of the 1st February. 

Australia reopens to vaccinated international travelers

It was confirmed today Australia will open its borders to fully vaccinated international travelers from late February, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced after a meeting of the government's national security committee.

"The National Security Committee and Cabinet has decided today that Australia will reopen our borders to all remaining visa holders on the 21st February," Morrison said, speaking outside parliament in Canberra.
Australia, which has been closed to most travelers since early 2020, has been slowly easing its restrictions since November through travel programs with New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.

Currently, citizens, permanent residents and their families, along with international students, backpackers and migrant workers are allowed entry into the country though they must show proof of having two doses of an approved vaccine.
The same rule will apply to tourists, unless they qualify for a medical exemption.
"The condition is you must be double vaccinated to come to Australia. That's the rule. Everyone is expected to abide by it," Morrison said, adding that state-based caps on quarantine will continue and that those caps will still be determined by state and territory governments.

But Australia is not going it alone, the Philippines announced last month they will grant entry to visitors vaccinated against Covid-19 from the 10th February. The archipelago nation of more than 7,000 islands had planned to reopen in December 2021, but that was aborted over concerns about the Omicron variant. Citizens of 150 countries that have visa-free entry to the Philippines will be allowed to enter. Countries on that list include the UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, Italy and the United States.

New Zealand has also announced it will reopen its border to visitors in stages, starting at the end of February, after its earlier plans to do so were derailed by Omicron. It will be the first time the country has opened up since prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced its snap closure in the first month of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The country’s borders have been closed, apart from a short-lived travel bubble with Australia, for nearly two years.