Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones, are becoming wildly popular around the world, have many practical applications, and can help produce breathtaking cinematography.
But concern over safe operations has grown along with their popularity. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia (CASA) has put together this charming animated video with top tips on enjoying your new drone, without becoming a menace.
Back in the day, when I wasn’t busy helping make aircraft interiors beautiful, I persuaded cabin crew that it was important to kick sharks in the nose.
This was more theory than practice. But it was based on expert survival advice for the unimaginable consequences of an aircraft ditching.
Discussing preparations for an aircraft ditching involved overcoming the audience objection, “That’s probably never going to happen.”
This reaction was based on the indisputable fact that landing a large commercial aircraft on the water–without it breaking up into many little pieces–is a difficult operation.
Still, ditching training is required because it can and has happened. However remote, we must consider all possible emergency conditions in airline safety procedures.
The company I worked for specifically dealt in water survival devices (lifejackets and life rafts). It was part of my job to help crew focus on what to do on the off-chance that they found themselves caring for passengers in open waters.
This was even before US Airways 1549, the exception that proved all the rules.
Though I referenced several other previous aircraft ditching events, it was difficult to persuade airline crew and engineers to pay close attention when they were betting it would never happen to them.
That’s how “kick the shark” was born.
Read More »Oops! They Did It Again. What to Know About Sharks and Aviation Safety
The risks of runaway Lithium-Ion batteries continue to plague aviation, prompting the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), Australia, to caution readers of its Flight Safety magazine on the proper handling of these electronics once again.
The Flight Safety article specifically mentions a recent incident the flight diversion of a British Airways Boeing 787-800, operating flight BA18 from Seoul to London Heathrow, with 205 passengers onboard, which diverted to Irkutsk, Russia, after the battery of a passenger’s smartphone “suffered an obvious thermal runaway and emitted smoke,” according to a report by the Aviation Herald.
“It is estimated that each year, upwards of one billion lithium batteries are transported by air as mail, cargo or in passenger/crew baggage. This constitutes a safety hazard that must be managed in a clear and comprehensive manner.”
