Depressurization and Panic at 30K Feet

Jeremy Hermanns runs a blog, he's a GA-VFR pilot, and he was aboard an Alaska Airlines MD-80 that lost pressure at 30,000 feet. His post on this frightening experience is an interesting read, and he includes some photos he took with his Treo 650 during the event. The hundreds of comments posted to his blog by readers contain the usual entertaining stuff you expect to find on the Internet.

ABC News has their version of the story. Thanks to the Varifrank blog for connecting the two.

Sources for aviation video and audio

blinkx.tv is an easy to use search engine for audio and video content using keywords and Boolean rules. You can easily search for your favorite subject, but here our favorite subject is aviation.

So I simply searched blinkx with the word "aviation," leaving the date/relevance slider at it's default value. The result? Video stories from FOX News, the BBC, MSNBC, Biography, The New York Times, and others. A number of podcasts came up as well.

The subjects of my search included business travel, aviation security, the FAA, passenger issues, airline news, jet crash videos, the IATA conference, DVT, and on and on. You click each to view the content, which might be a video from within the blinkx site, or you may be taken to the site hosting the content. Either way, it's easy!

Like any search engine, you can narrow the search with more terms, but leaving it a little open will produce more interesting (and unexpected) results. Try flight simulation, experimental aircraft, aviation podcast or whatever interests you and see what you get.

Air Force releases new mission statement

On December 7, the U.S. Air Force released a new mission statement that defines the current and future direction of the Air Force:

"The mission of the United States Air Force is to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests --to fly and fight in Air, Space, and Cyberspace."

"Cyberspace" is defined to include "network security, data transmission and the sharing of information."

"We have quite a few of our Airmen dedicated to cyberspace ... from security awareness, making sure the networks can't be penetrated, as well as figuring out countermeasures," Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne said. "The Air Force is a natural leader in the cyber world and we thought it would be best to recognize that talent."

See also Slashdot and PC World (Air Force Will Guard Cyberspace) for more.

Wireless Airport Association

The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), the Air Transport Association (ATA), and the Airports Council International - North America (ACI-NA) joined to form the Wireless Airport Association (WAA), dedicated to the expansion of state-of-the-art wireless services at airports. The Association seeks to provide recommendations, models, and best practices for the provision of wireless services at airports for the benefit of passengers and airport tenants. Membership in the association is free and open to individuals or companies that have an interest in wireless services at airports.

Presentations from the 2005 Fifth Annual Wireless Airport Association Conference & Exposition are now available. These .pdf files include:

• Airlines: Wireless Developments
• Wireless for On-Airport Operations
• Airport Wireless Legal Issues
• Large Hub Airports: Lessons Learned
• Wireless Updates: Technology, Roaming and Business Solutions.

The News section of this site is a convenient way to keep current with wireless developments at airports.