Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Naked Music Video (In Flight Safety Video) Air New Zealand

Pan Down.!

Update

David J Brenner, Director of Radiological Research at Columbia, testimony on risk of airport X-ray scanners.


Intellectual Take-Out. When you're eating lunch at your desk.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Border Patrol

via CourtHouseNews.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Head Scarf Case Proceeds

ACLU steps up.

Friday, March 25, 2011

AA flight attendants will not strike

Based on the "totality of the circumstances". We think this is code for "someone else wrote this statement".

Spending the Absolute MOST money you can to buy a ticket

Extra Fees. via ABCnews

Miranda

Not so much, anymore. New rules, where is Bill Marr when you need him?

NYTimes gets the memo.

Mirandized, sorta.

Case in point, sorta. "He had the mentality of a six-year old" via CourtHouseNews.com


Preventing abusive detentions and coerced confessions. The people endangered by this are those who are guileless, we victimize the weak at the expense of our liberty and integrity, and we lose the beacon of justice we have wielded in our world. No one will look up to us, now. They have won. Game over.

what's that. . .

oh. . .he said, "Luke, I am your father."

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Fuel Fire at MIA

NPR.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Nuclear Detonation

Preventing Smuggling.


Minimizing the consequences.

"We superimpose a radiation fallout model onto a traffic flow model to assess the evacuation versus shelter-in-place decisions after the daytime ground-level detonation of a 10-kt improvised nuclear device in Washington, DC. In our model, 80k people are killed by the prompt effects of blast, burn, and radiation. Of the 360k survivors without access to a vehicle, 42.6k would die if they immediately self-evacuated on foot. Sheltering above ground would save several thousand of these lives and sheltering in a basement (or near the middle of a large building) would save more of them.

Among survivors of the prompt effects with access to a vehicle, the number of deaths depends on the fraction of people who shelter in a basement rather than self-evacuate in their vehicle: approx. 23.1k people die if 90% shelter in a basement and approx. 54.6k die if 10% shelter.

Sheltering above ground saves approximately half as many lives as sheltering in a basement.

The details related to delayed (i.e., organized) evacuation, search and rescue, decontamination, and situational awareness (via, e.g., telecommunications) have very little impact on the number of casualties.

Although antibiotics and transfusion support have the potential to save about 10k lives (and the number of lives saved from medical care increases with the fraction of people who shelter in basements), the logistical challenge appears to be well beyond current response capabilities. Taken together, our results suggest that the government should initiate an aggressive outreach program to educate citizens and the private sector about the importance of sheltering in place in a basement for at least 12 hours after a terrorist nuclear detonation."

Source.

Nuclear duck and cover.

Report.

Journal of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.

see, also: "Nuc'ler" as search term in this site's search box.

Frontier's Men/Women

ALK.

Fire on the Windshield

United.

More, from the WSJ.

Japan, resources

News and Information.

Updates on air quality and food safety in the United States.
Information about Potassium Iodide (KI).
Monitoring of food, mail, and cargo from Japan.
Information about evacuations for Americans in Japan.
Advisories on travel to Japan.
Information about donations and relief efforts.
Disaster preparedness resources.

Lessons from Chernobyl. Poetry, if such a thing can be said about such a horrifying subject.

Indian Point.

TrustedTravler Report

Of course, if you are not in that line, perhaps you are not trusted. I'm with Michael Boyd on this one, its a protection scheme, for no real benefit, as Bruce Schneier says, "security theatre".

In case you missed it. . .

Thief enters cargo hold in flight.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Mike Boyd of AviationPlanning

His usual, circumspect self concerning the refusal to submit to the background checks that even Atta could have passed.

Scanner Cancer Risk

Article.

AA sued

via CourtHouseNews.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

U.S. Nuclear Reactors & Our Own Fault Lines

There are 8 on the West Coast and 27 near the New Madrid Fault Line.

Letter from Congressional Reps regarding danger to Mainland Reactors on Fault Lines.

NewMadrid.

Mainland.


Quakes and Nuclear Reactors.

From the WSJ.

Cancer risk. (via nytimes)

10 days at the Fukushima Plant. (from the WSJ)

search
http://www.world-nuclear.org
for plant locations and information

AirFrance Airbus Crash That Killed 228 in June 2009

Still looking for flight data recorder.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Tarmac Delays

First, give them the run-around, then, if you have to. . .


Tell them they can file a complaint here.

Repeat from 2010, shelter in place

Imagine, the gamers have.

Congressional Study:


"We superimpose a radiation fallout model onto a traffic flow model to assess the evacuation versus shelter-in-place decisions after the daytime ground-level detonation of a 10-kt improvised nuclear device in Washington, DC. In our model, 80k people are killed by the prompt effects of blast, burn, and radiation. Of the 360k survivors without access to a vehicle, 42.6k would die if they immediately self-evacuated on foot. Sheltering above ground would save several thousand of these lives and sheltering in a basement (or near the middle of a large building) would save more of them.

Among survivors of the prompt effects with access to a vehicle, the number of deaths depends on the fraction of people who shelter in a basement rather than self-evacuate in their vehicle: approx. 23.1k people die if 90% shelter in a basement and approx. 54.6k die if 10% shelter.

Sheltering above ground saves approximately half as many lives as sheltering in a basement.

The details related to delayed (i.e., organized) evacuation, search and rescue, decontamination, and situational awareness (via, e.g., telecommunications) have very little impact on the number of casualties.

Although antibiotics and transfusion support have the potential to save about 10k lives (and the number of lives saved from medical care increases with the fraction of people who shelter in basements), the logistical challenge appears to be well beyond current response capabilities. Taken together, our results suggest that the government should initiate an aggressive outreach program to educate citizens and the private sector about the importance of sheltering in place in a basement for at least 12 hours after a terrorist nuclear detonation"

PDF.


Grass Roots Movement of Citizens.

TSA Hearing and Testimony

See Testimony by David Brenner, Director of Columia University's Center for Radiological Research. We simply cannot make mistakes with women who do not know they are pregnant, yet.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

TrustedTraveler

Oh, they'd like that wouldn't they.?


Something tells me at least one of these guys has a financial interest in the deal.

TSA no show at Congressional Hearing

Radiation Exposure a simple math error.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

GAO Air Cargo

Repeat.

Monday, March 14, 2011

TSA reorders radiation level testing of scanners

Japan Syndrome.

Read THIS

CourtHouseNews brings story of prank gone awry.

Traveler was told that "by purchasing a ticket and commencing the screening procedures, he had surrendered his Fourth Amendment rights and consented to a search of his person"

So. . .we wonder. . .do we surrender our FIRST amendment rights, as well.?

Friday, March 11, 2011

Radiation Findings to be published

Airport Screening.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Aviation Security

GAO Report.

Costs.

SW Border

Border Security.

TSA Tryanny

England.

Singled Out

NPR.

more NPR.

No O2 in bathrooms

Airlines Remove Lavatory Oxygen Units.

edocket.

Decompression Not That Rare.

More.


Federal Register Notice.

Background.

Pics.

Bigger Threat.

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Too shy for body scanners

India.

Are Scanners Effective?

Wired Magazine.

Thief steals money in flight

I know, I couldn't believe it either.

Monday, March 07, 2011

Yew!

Four out of six tray tables tested positive for the superbug methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Bring you own wipes, people.

Let me count the ways

There are 10.

Minimum Standards for IDs

From the Federal Register, just published.

Travel for Seniors

Resources.

Air Consumer

Airline Performance, March 2011 Report covering Jan 2011.

Friday, March 04, 2011

Dirty Cop

Security Screener aided drug mules.

TSA planned to put body scanners in public places

Christian Science Monitor.

Hard Drive Scrutiny

Digital Inspections and Privacy.

Storing Your Files in the Clouds.

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Boxcutters

Passenger Gets Through Security.

Airline Alliances and Anti-Trust Immunity

Paper.

SWA/AirTran Hearing

OverHeard.

Art in the Nuc'ler Age

Citizens.

Art.

What will make it when we are gone.?

Duck and Cover.

Book by William Langewiesche, Atomic Bazaar.

Nuc'ler Commerce.

NewBook.

Airline Worker Convicted

In Plot to blow up airplane.

BAbites

Passenger gets even with BA over bed bug bites.

BA fumigates its plane.

U.S. Supreme Court

via NPR.

Material Witness.

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

You belong in Pictures

Scripts.

EU emissions trading scheme

You're gonna pay.

Flight Time Limitations, Federal Register NPRM

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Part 121
[Docket No. FAA–2011–0045]
Proposed Legal Interpretation
AGENCY: Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA).
ACTION: Proposed interpretation.
SUMMARY: The FAA is considering
clarifying the application of flight time
limitations and rest requirements in 14
CFR 121.481 and 121.483 for pilots
operating in flag operations as part of a
two-pilot crew and as part of a two-pilot
crew and one additional flightcrew
member during a seven-day period.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before May 2, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments
identified by Docket Number FAA–
2011–0045
using any of the following
methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
Regulations. and follow
the online instructions for sending your
comments electronically.


Mail: Send comments to Docket
Operations, M–30; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue, SE., Room W12–140, West
Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC
20590–0001.


Hand Delivery or Courier: Bring
comments to Docket Operations in
Room W12–140 of the West Building
Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between
9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.


Fax: Fax comments to Docket
Operations at 202–493–2251.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sara
Mikolop, Attorney, Regulations
Division, Office of the Chief Counsel,
Federal Aviation Administration, 800
Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20591;
telephone: 202–267–3073.



SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FAA
provides flight time and rest
requirements for flightcrew members
used in flag operations in 14 CFR
subpart R. Within subpart R, § 121.481
provides flight time limitations for one or
two-pilot crews and § 121.483
provides flight time limitations for
crews of two pilots and one additional
flight crewmember
.


The flight time limitations are more
restrictive for operations under
§ 121.481 than § 121.483 because the
crew size is smaller and thus each pilot
must assume responsibilities for more
in-flight duties. See Legal Interpretation
from Donald P. Byrne to James W.
Johnson (August 24, 1999).

In contrast,
when a crew of two pilots and one
additional flightcrew member operates
under § 121.483, the in-flight duties are
divided among more crewmembers and
so the overall burden on any one
crewmember may be reduced as
crewmembers rotate through flight deck
duties and may be provided an
opportunity for rest. See Legal
Interpretation from Donald P. Byrne to
James W. Johnson (August 24, 1999).
Thus, when the number of flightcrew
members used in a flag operation
increases, Subpart R allows for
increased flight time. Compare 14 CFR
121.481 with 14 CFR 121.483 and 14
CFR 121.485.

PROPOSALS
Federal Register /Vol. 76, No. 40 /Tuesday, March 1, 2011 / Proposed Rules 11177
1 § 121.483 does not contain a provision that is
parallel to § 121.481(d). Nevertheless, the flight
time limits for 48 and 72 hour periods found in
§ 121.483(b) are less restrictive than the flight time
limitations in § 121.481(d).
On July 15, 2010, the FAA received a
request for a legal interpretation
regarding how to apply flight time
limitations and rest requirements for
pilots engaged in flag operations when
those pilots participate in varying sizes
of flightcrews during a seven-day
period. Specifically, a pilot labor
organization requested a legal
interpretation regarding the application
14 CFR 121.481(d), limiting a two-pilot
crew to 32 hours of flight time within
any seven consecutive days, when that
same crew is augmented with an
additional pilot during or after the
completion of 32 hours of flight time
within a seven-day period. We have not
previously addressed these questions.
We do not require an air carrier to use
a pilot for just one flightcrew
complement in flag operations. Air
carriers engaged in flag operations are
permitted to use the same pilot as part
of a crew of two pilots, a crew of two
pilots and one additional flightcrew
member, or a crew of three pilots and
one additional flightcrew member. This
flexibility allows certificate holders who
use multiple flightcrew complements
throughout their operations to use
flightcrew members interchangeably.
The FAA’s rules have a long history
of acknowledging that pilots may be
used in flightcrews of varying sizes, in
that § 121.487 provides a framework for
calculating monthly and quarterly flight
time limitations for such pilots. In an
early version of the current requirement,
Special Civil Air Regulation No. 386F,
it was envisioned that this rule would
‘‘not allow evasion of the stricter
limitations applicable to smaller crew
combinations, but will allow assignment
of a pilot in any given month to another
type of crew combination without
additional flight time limitations if he
flies not more than 20 hours in the type
of crew to which the more restrictive
flight time limitations apply and if such
assignment is not interrupted more than
once during such month.’’ See 28 Fed.
Reg. 2000, 2000 (1963).

Although
§ 121.487 provides a structure for
calculating monthly and quarterly flight
time limitations for pilots used in
varying sizes of flightcrews, neither the
current § 121.487 nor the regulatory
history answer the question of how to
apply daily and weekly flight time
limitations for these same pilots.
We did not intend, however, for this
flexibility to be used by a certificate
holder to select less restrictive flight
time limitations for a flightcrew by
augmenting that flightcrew midway or
at the completion of a scheduling
period. For example, the flight time
limits of 14 CFR 121.481(d) would be
circumvented if a certificate holder
schedules a two-pilot crew for a series
of operations and then augments that
two-pilot flightcrew during or at the
completion of a 32 hours of flight time
within any seven-day period, for the
purposes of extending the flightcrew’s
flight time under the less restrictive
framework of § 121.483.
Although we have not clarified the
effects of augmenting a two-pilot
flightcrew within a seven-day period, in
a Legal Interpretation issued August 24,
1999, we examined the application of
§§ 121.481 and 121.483 when a twopilot
flightcrew is augmented so as to
extend the duty times for the original
two-pilot flightcrew members within a
24-hour period. See Legal Interpretation
from Donald P. Byrne to James W.
Johnson (August 24, 1999). As
previously stated, § 121.481 applies
when a certificate holder conducts flag
operations with a one- or two-pilot
crew. When a certificate holder
conducts flag operations with a twopilot
crew with one additional
flightcrew member, § 121.483 applies.
However, in an August 24, 1999 Legal
Interpretation, we stated that once an air
carrier conducting flag operations
schedules a pilot to fly under § 121.481
and the pilot completes the flight time,
it would be contrary to the intent of
§ 121.481 to then schedule that pilot to
fly under § 121.483 without providing
the rest required within a 24-hour
period as required by §§ 121.481(a) or
(b). See Legal Interpretation from
Donald P. Byrne to James W. Johnson
(August 24, 1999) (stating that the
regulations prohibit augmenting a twopilot
crew after completing a 55 minute
flight, subject to § 121.481, so that those
two pilots may then continue on to
operate a 9 hour and 50 minute flight
subject to § 121.483(b) without
providing the rest required by
§ 121.481(a) or (b)). The August 24,
1999, Legal Interpretation ensures that
pilots who have operated as part of a
two-pilot crew receive the rest intended
by 14 CFR 121.481(a) and (b).
Finally, our knowledge regarding the
causes and effects of fatigue has
significantly increased since the
regulations on flight time limitations
were drafted. We now know that the
longer one has been awake and the
longer one spends on task, the greater
the likelihood of fatigue. We also know
more about transient and cumulative
fatigue. Transient fatigue and
cumulative fatigue are conditions
brought on by sleep restriction that
occurs over one or two days or a series
of days respectively, thus making the
daily and weekly flight time limitations
and rest requirements a significant
safeguard to ensure adequately rested
pilots.


Therefore, similar to the principle
articulated in the August 24, 1999 legal
interpretation and considering what we
now know about fatigue, to fulfill the
intended rest requirements of
§ 121.481(d), the FAA has tentatively
determined that once a flightcrew has
completed 32 hours of flight time under
14 CFR 121.481(d),
that flightcrew must
be provided the rest required by
§ 121.481(d) before being scheduledunder § 121.483.

Further, should an air
carrier engaged in flag operations use
two pilots in both a two-pilot flightcrew
and a flightcrew of two pilots and one
additional flightcrew member
, within
any seven consecutive days, then the
flight time limitations and rest
requirements of § 121.481(d) would
apply to the two pilots who have moved
between crew complements.


This clarification would fulfill the
intent that pilots serving in two-pilot
crews in flag operations are afforded the
rest contemplated by § 121.481.
Issued in Washington, DC, on February 22,
2011.
Rebecca B. MacPherson,
Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations,
AGC–200.
[FR Doc. 2011–4271 Filed 2–28–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–13–P

Libya's Assets Frozen in U.S.

via CourthouseNews.