This week we discuss a science fair project that evacuated an airport, a list of the world’s creepiest abandoned cities and the strange case of TSA mistreatment of a transgender person in their own ranks.
Science project prompts Transportation Security Agency to evacuate Omaha airport terminal
A science project being worked on by an Oregon college student forced the full evacuation and shutdown of Omaha’s airport terminal at Eppley Airfield the week before last.
The student was returning from participation in the Creighton University science fair in Omaha, according to the FBI.
The airport’s north terminal was evacuated and shut down for about two hours Wednesday after X-ray screening workers spotted the science project in a carry-on bag, the federal Transportation Security Agency said.
The terminal was reopened around 2 p.m. Wednesday.
“Out of an abundance of caution, screening operations were suspended and the terminal was evacuated,” a TSA written release said. “The Omaha Police Department’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit cleared the item with negative findings.”
World’s creepiest abandoned cities
Some cities die. The people leave, the streets go quiet, and the isolation takes on the macabre shape of a forlorn ghost-town – crumbling with haunting neglect and urban decay. From Taiwan to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, these abandoned cities lurk in the shadows of civilization. Their histories are carried in hushed whispers and futures stillborn from the day of their collapse. Some have fallen victim to catastrophe while others simply outlive their function. I think we can all agree on one thing – they are all very creepy.
Air France #447 doomed by pilot error
The voice data recorder and flight data recorder are telling a story about pilots on Air France flight #447 who did not recognize a stall warning and took exactly the opposite action than what was prescribed in training.
The latest review of the accident data, the first formal report since the cockpit voice and flight data recorders were recovered and analyzed, again highlights that the aircraft stalled at high altitude and that the pilots never performed the nose-down inputs to recover. Normal speed readings came back on both recorders after 29 and 54 sec., respectively. At that time, the aircraft was at 38,000 ft. at a displayed speed of 185 kt. In that moment, the aircraft was not stalled and could have been fully recovered by returning to its initial cruise altitude of 35,000 ft. with power being reduced. The pilot flying however, continued to pull back on the stick, with speed rapidly decreasing. He was not corrected by his two colleagues.
Throughout the descent, the crew maintained the nose-up attitude of the airliner. In fact, the pilot flying made nose-up inputs and set thrust to takeoff/go around. The BEA notes that “In less than one minute after the disconnection of the autopilot, the airplane was outside its flight envelope following the manual inputs that were mainly nose-up.”
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
