Author Archives: See Below

Ancient Greeks invented AIR TRAVEL and may have made it to SPACE – shock claim

Leave a reply

A quote by Socrates, recorded in Phaedo, reads: “Well then, my friend to begin with, the earth when seen from above is said to look like those balls that are covered with twelve pieces of leather; it is divided into patches of various colours, of which the colours which we see here may be regarded as samples, such as painters use.

“And in this fair earth the things that grow, the trees, and flowers and fruits, are correspondingly beautiful; and so too the mountains and the stones are smoother, and more transparent and more lovely in colour than ours.”

As a result, some have interpreted this as being a sign that Socrates, who lived from 470 BC to 399 BC, had been on a plane and seen the world from above – potentially even from space.

Website Ancient Origins said: “Socrates’ description of the earth appearing like a colourful ball from above sounds a lot like the planet Earth viewed from orbit to modern ears.

The Shutdown Appears to Be Causing Major Air Travel Delays. They Could Get Far Worse

Leave a reply

Several major U.S. airports, including LaGuardia Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport, are experiencing significant delays Friday morning due to air traffic controller staffing issues. The delays are expected to range from 30 minutes to about an hour, according to an official site that lists major flight delay information.

It’s unclear if the staffing issues are directly related to the ongoing partial government shutdown, during which air traffic controllers are working without pay. However, Friday marked the second missed paycheck in a row for federal employees, including controllers, who work for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Air traffic controllers who spoke with TIME said they believed the staffing problems are related to the shutdown, and that the problem could worsen.

“We are starting to see the breakdown of the system as a result of the shutdown,” said one air traffic controller, who was not authorized to speak to the media.

“It’s obvious that it’s related to the shutdown,” says Bob Ocon, a 63-year-old traffic management support specialist and former air traffic controller from Wading River, New York. “For the first time in a long time, I’ve seen the FAA publicly say that, what we call traffic management programs, delay programs — that’s basically how we control traffic, by delaying and regulating the flow — it’s the first time I’ve ever saw them publicly say that’s due to staffing.”

Ocon, who is considered non-essential and has not been working during the shutdown himself, added that despite their lack of pay, many controllers are working overtime hours, taking away time they might otherwise use to find alternative income and worsening the relative pain of a missed paycheck. Control towers and centers were understaffed before the shutdown, he said, and the shutdown is only making matters worse.

Some air travelers said on Twitter Friday morning that pilots had informed them the delays are shutdown related. Friday’s weather may be further complicating matters.

An FAA spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment. Representatives from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees LaGuardia and Newark airports, as well as Philadelphia International Airport, also did not immediately return a request for comment. A representative for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the controllers’ union, also did not immediately return a request for comment.

As of Friday morning, the staffing issues are occurring at the Washington ARTCC (Air Route Traffic Control Center) and at the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center, both of which are facilities that control aircraft while they’re flying at high altitudes between airports. Because of the highly interconnected nature of the national airspace system, staffing issues and other problems in one geographic area can have consequences for far-flung airports and other facilities.

If they are related to the shutdown, Friday’s delays could be the first of a painful period for travelers. Air traffic controllers who spoke with TIME on Thursday said that, if controllers are forced out of the job by the lack of pay due to the shutdown, it could cause massive air travel delays. Controllers prioritize safety, they said, and can only handle so much traffic at one time. If fewer controllers show up to work, the controllers who are working may be forced to delay departures and arrivals in order to decrease the amount of traffic they’re managing at a single time, causing delays.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that President Donald Trump has been briefed on Friday morning’s delays.

The White House says President Donald Trump has briefed on airport delays amid the extended partial government shutdown. “We are in regular contact with officials at the Department of Transportation and the FAA,” she said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.

Some politicians are already using Friday’s air travel issues as a shutdown talking point. While it’s legally possible for Congress to pass a bill that would pay controllers, it’s more likely that politicians will use travel delays as a bargaining chip in the ongoing battle over reopening the government. “The #TrumpShutdown has already pushed hundreds of thousands of Americans to the breaking point,” tweeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Now it’s pushing our airspace to the breaking point too.”

Other air travel-related workers, including TSA officers, are also experiencing higher than normal rates of “sickouts” during the shutdown.

Write to Alex Fitzpatrick at alex.fitzpatrick@time.com.

United Airlines Plane Skids off Runway at Chicago O’Hare Airport

Leave a reply

A United Airlines plane skidded off a runway at Chicago O’Hare International Airport just before noon on Saturday, Chicago fire officials said.

No injuries were reported of the 129 people aboard Flight 656 from Phoenix when it rolled off the concrete.

Chicago Fire Department Officials said the incident was most likely due to the weather. Chicago has seen continuous snowfall since Friday night and more than 900 flights have been canceled.

Department of Aviation spokeswoman Karen Pride said officials immediately responded to the incident. “No injuries have been reported, and passengers have been deplaned safely,” Pride said. “We are in the process of working with United Airlines and our city partners to recover the aircraft.”

Passengers were escorted off the plane and then transported to the terminal.

Man Sues United for Allegedly Lying About Accident That Almost Caused Pilots to Be ‘Sucked Out’

Leave a reply

A passenger on an October United Airlines flight that had to make an emergency landing is suing the airline because, he claims, the company “fabricated” the real reason for the incident.

In a lawsuit obtained by PEOPLE, Theodore Liaw writes that “United’s negligence nearly resulted in the loss of all life aboard United Airlines Flight 931 on October 27, 2018, and … United has blatantly lied to its customers to cover up that negligence.”

The suit outlines how the aircraft, en route from Chicago to London, had been several hours into its trans-Atlantic flight when the plane “suddenly [plunged] and begin a terrifyingly rapid descent” from its cruising altitude of 40,000 feet. The drop only ended, he says, when the plane successfully landed at a rural airport in Goose Bay, Canada. The passengers then had to wait in their seats for eight hours for another plane, the lawsuit states.

RELATED: Medical Emergency Leaves United Airlines Passengers Stranded in Freezing Cold for Over 16 Hours

Liaw, who claims to have spoken to the pilots after the landing, then alleges that the cause of the landing was a shattered cockpit window — photographs of which he included in the filing. It is unclear if he took or obtained the photos.

During the 8-hour wait for rescue, Liaw says he “wandered up to the cockpit to express his appreciation” to the pilots, who then “freely discussed” what had happened.

“The pilots grimly mentioned that everyone came close to dying many times over – from the pilots being sucked out of the window, to the fact that had the plane been further out on its journey, the pilots would have had no choice but to risk an almost certainly fatal water landing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,” the suit states.

Liaw then says that he asked if something had struck the window and the pilots “chuckled in response” before telling him “there’s nothing alive at 40,000 feet” and stating the cause was “likely” human mechanical error.

United responded to the lawsuit, telling PEOPLE in a statement: “At United, safety is our top priority and we diverted the aircraft due to a cracked windshield and the aircraft landed safely. We are continuing to investigate this matter but there are a number of claims in this lawsuit that are untrue. Due to the pending litigation, we’re unable to comment further.”

The pilots allegedly went on to detail what may have happened, saying, a United mechanic had “over-torqued the bolts of the cockpit window.”

The lawsuit details that the external two layers of the windshield glass were “completely compromised,” affecting the internal air pressure, while the internal third layer only stayed intact because the “co-pilot quickly pushed his weight against [it] … which may have prevented the entire window from breaking during the descent.”

RELATED: The Craziest Reasons Planes Have Made Emergency Landings—From Fighting Couples to a Fatal Smell

The documents continue: “Had that last layer disappeared, both pilots would have likely been sucked out of the plane and Flight 931’s passengers would have been doomed.” It also purports that if the glass had started to give in when the plane was over the Atlantic, it would’ve had to land on the ocean.

The pilots allegedly told Liaw that had that been the case, “everyone on board would have either died from the impact or would have quickly frozen to death in the cold ocean.”

Liaw contacted United several times after the incident and was told by one agent that “her notes showed that a bird hit the windshield” of Flight 931, a statement he calls “an outright lie” because “no birds live or fly at that altitude.”

RELATED VIDEO: Inside Desperate Teen’s International Flight to Freedom as the World Watched: ‘I Swear They Will Kill Me’

The filing claims each passenger was offered a $500 voucher as an apology for the incident, which Liaw says caused him “bodily injury and severe emotional distress. He is asking for “fair compensation from United from his close brush with death due to United’s negligence,” which he says amounts to $75,000.

United Airlines donates $1 million to shutdown relief fund

Leave a reply

United Airlines announced Friday it is donating $1 million to Feeding America’s “Shutdown Response Fund” to help provide food for families of federal employees who missed paychecks during the partial government shutdown, which is set to end following the unveiling of a short-term deal.

“On behalf of the United family, I would like to thank the countless federal employees who have made a large sacrifice to ensure our safety despite not being paid, and we hope this contribution provides them much-needed support. Even with today’s announcement, there is continued need among federal employees, in addition to the important programs that Feeding America administers,” United Airline CEO Oscar Munoz said in a statement.

“We continue to urge our leaders to work in a bipartisan way over the coming weeks to ensure the long-term certainty on which our industry and the overall economy depends.”

President TrumpDonald John TrumpStone: ‘I’ve never had any discussion’ with Trump about a pardon White House: Trump will move forward on wall ‘with or without’ Dems Pelosi after Stone indictment: ‘What does Putin have on the president’? MORE announced Friday that he would reopen the government for three weeks while Democrats and Republicans negotiate their disagreements over border security and his desired border wall in a bipartisan conference committee.

About 800,000 federal employees were furloughed or required to work without pay during the record-long shutdown, which entered its 35th day Friday. Reports flooded the airwaves and internet of employees struggling to pay their bills and taking up second jobs to cover their losses. The crisis caused cancellations at airports and heightened absences of federal employees from their jobs. 

“Feeding America is thankful to our long-time partner, United Airlines, for stepping up, yet again, to help families in need. Even after the government is re-opened, many hardworking families will likely suffer the lingering impact of this crisis,” Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot said. 

United was already working with Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the country, to set up food distribution centers at United’s seven hub airports and New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

United Airlines donates $1 million to shutdown relief fund

Leave a reply

United Airlines announced Friday it is donating $1 million to Feeding America’s “Shutdown Response Fund” to help provide food for families of federal employees who missed paychecks during the partial government shutdown, which is set to end following the unveiling of a short-term deal.

“On behalf of the United family, I would like to thank the countless federal employees who have made a large sacrifice to ensure our safety despite not being paid, and we hope this contribution provides them much-needed support. Even with today’s announcement, there is continued need among federal employees, in addition to the important programs that Feeding America administers,” United Airline CEO Oscar Munoz said in a statement.

“We continue to urge our leaders to work in a bipartisan way over the coming weeks to ensure the long-term certainty on which our industry and the overall economy depends.”

President TrumpDonald John TrumpStone: ‘I’ve never had any discussion’ with Trump about a pardon White House: Trump will move forward on wall ‘with or without’ Dems Pelosi after Stone indictment: ‘What does Putin have on the president’? MORE announced Friday that he would reopen the government for three weeks while Democrats and Republicans negotiate their disagreements over border security and his desired border wall in a bipartisan conference committee.

About 800,000 federal employees were furloughed or required to work without pay during the record-long shutdown, which entered its 35th day Friday. Reports flooded the airwaves and internet of employees struggling to pay their bills and taking up second jobs to cover their losses. The crisis caused cancellations at airports and heightened absences of federal employees from their jobs. 

“Feeding America is thankful to our long-time partner, United Airlines, for stepping up, yet again, to help families in need. Even after the government is re-opened, many hardworking families will likely suffer the lingering impact of this crisis,” Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot said. 

United was already working with Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the country, to set up food distribution centers at United’s seven hub airports and New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

JetBlue CEO: Air travel is nearing a ‘tipping point’ because of the government shutdown

Leave a reply

JetBlue‘s chief executive has some of the strongest words yet about the partial US government shutdown‘s impact on air travel.

The airline’s day-to-day operations had “not seen a significant impact” in bookings or operations, Robin Hayes told investors and analysts Thursday on JetBlue’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

He warned, however, that it was “close to a tipping point” as many security screeners, air traffic controllers, and other federal aviation workers were “about to miss a second paycheck.”

That became reality Friday, when hundreds of thousands of federal workers missed their second paycheck because of the partial government shutdown that is now on day 35 with no end in sight.

Transportation Security Administration workers, perhaps the most public of federal aviation workers who have been working without pay, have been calling out of work at increasing rates in recent weeks. Over the Monday holiday this week, the absence rate hit a record-breaking 10%— or more than 3,000 employees — compared with a more normal 3.1% from the prior year.

That’s caused longer wait times at some airports, including in Atlanta, where millions of football fans are expected to travel for the Super Bowl next weekend.

“Our crew members and customers are likely to face extended security lines, flight delays, and even cancellations,” Hayes said. “And the longer this goes on, the longer it will take for the air travel infrastructure to rebound.”

Behind the scenes, air traffic controllers, already understaffed, have also been working without pay. Despite small shows of support from Canadian counterparts in the form of pizza, many federal workers — air traffic controllers included — have been heading to food pantries as they attempt to make ends meet without an income.

The union that represents air traffic controllers this week issued a dire warning over passenger safety.

“We cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break,” leaders said.

“Our nation’s leaders must find a resolution to this stalemate today,” Hayes said. “We will be closely monitoring the events and will provide any updates if needed.”

Lapsed food benefits for millions, courts system on the brink, and the potential for recession: other effects of the shutdown

Read Business Insider’s full coverage of the shutdown here.

Shutdown Begins To Disrupt Air Travel As Air Traffic Controllers Sick Out, Delaying Flights To New York

Leave a reply

Alexander Kerr, 6, of Warrington, Va., whose father is an air traffic controller, holds a sign during a protest by aviation employee unions against the government shutdown on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Federal Aviation Administration briefly halted flights into New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Friday morning, with ripple effects elsewhere on the East Coast, because of a shortage of air traffic controllers amid a partial shutdown of the federal government that has forced them to work without pay since Dec. 22.

“We have experienced a slight increase in sick leave at two facilities,” an FAA spokesperson said in a statement. “We’ve mitigated the impact by augmenting staffing, rerouting traffic, and increasing spacing between aircraft when needed.”

The spokesperson said the two facilities were the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center in Leesburg, Va., which maintains flight separation and sequences arrivals and departures on some of the busiest routes on the East Coast, and a center in Jacksonville, Fla., that handles the same job for a broad swathe of the Southeast.

The staffing shortfalls led the FAA to order a ground stop to planes bound for LaGuardia shortly before 10 a.m., with flights resuming at a slower rate later in the morning. According to an FAA airport status website, arriving flights at LaGuardia have been delayed by an average of 86 minutes, while departing flights were experiencing gate hold and taxi delays between 15 minutes and a half hour.

Departures have been impacted at East Coast airports that serve LaGuardia, including Orlando International, Miami and Philadelphia. Weather-related arrival delays at Newark International of 46 minutes to an hour were also causing disruption.

The staffing shortfall at the air traffic control centers comes after federal workers missed a second paycheck Friday due to the shutdown. About 420,000 workers deemed essential have been instructed to work without pay, including air traffic controllers and security screeners from the Transportation Security Administration. TSA workers have been taking sick leave in rising numbers, leading to longer security lines at some airports, but this is the first time that absences of air traffic controllers have disrupted flights.

The TSA said that 7.5% of its airport screeners were absent from work Wednesday, up from 3% on the same day a year ago.

“This is exactly what [we] and other aviation unions have been warning would happen,” Sara Nelson, president of The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said in a statement Friday. “Do we have your attention now, Leader McConnell? All lawmakers?” 

Aviation unions warned in a joint statement Wednesday that the government shutdown was undermining safety. “In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break,” said the statement from unions representing air traffic controllers, pilots and flight attendants. “It is unprecedented.”

Staffing among air traffic controllers was already at a 30-year low, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, and the shutdown has forced the FAA to halt hiring and shutter its training academy.

The No. 1 Airline App Just Got Better – United Airlines Introduces Upgraded App

Leave a reply

Customers’ favorite features, such as bag tracking, will continue to be available in the updated app, and new highlights include:

  • A navigation bar that gives customers quick access to some of the most popular tools such as flight status, and some new handy features like My Trips.
  • A My Trips tab in the navigation bar that allows customers to easily access information about their upcoming trip and stores boarding passes when customers are checked in for their flights.
  • An inbox that stores important push notifications United sends customers about their flight, such as if a flight status changes, gate changes and alerts about when boarding for a flight has begun.
  • Dynamic boarding times will be updated throughout the app in the event that departure times change to give customers the latest information even when they are not at the gate. This builds on the airline’s recent addition of boarding notifications, which were added when United rolled out its Better Boarding process.

One of the biggest updates to the app comes during the travel period, when the home screen updates to give customers the most helpful information for each step of their travel journey. The home screen will begin to update starting 48 hours before a flight, and will continue updating throughout various phases all the way through arrival at the final destination with the most useful information. For instance, customers connecting will find a screen that allows them to easily access airport maps so they can easily navigate to the next gate. Bringing the most useful information to the forefront will make the entire journey less stressful and more intuitive.

The app also includes an updated design with more engaging content. When a customer does not have an upcoming trip, the app will open to a beautiful destination image to provide travel inspiration. Content on the home screen is also more personalized to each user; for example, customers who recently passed loyalty milestones will be recognized on the home screen, and the app will also celebrate customers on their birthday.

United’s in-house digital team spent over a year designing and creating this updated app, including eight months during which customers and more than 18,000 employees provided feedback to create the final version that rolls out worldwide today. United issued seven releases during the beta test, making numerous changes based on user feedback. There were more than 13,000 check-ins during the beta test period. The airline will continue soliciting feedback on the app and expects to roll out additional features later this year to further improve and ease travel for our customers.

As a technology leader, United was the first carrier to offer mobile boarding passes and became the first to introduce boarding passes and flight information in its app for partner airlines. Customers can access boarding passes and flight information for flights on United’s Star Alliance partner airlines when flights are booked with connecting travel on United on the same itinerary. The airline also made it easier for customers to search for fare classes available in the app with Expert Mode, a popular feature from united.com.

Last year, United updated its digital platforms including the united.com homepage and entire mobile website to make them more dynamic and personalized.

For more information about updates to the app, visit the United Hub.

About United

United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,800 flights a day to 353 airports across five continents. In 2018, United and United Express operated more than 1.7 million flights carrying more than 158 million customers. United is proud to have the world’s most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark/New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 770 mainline aircraft and the airline’s United Express carriers operate 559 regional aircraft. The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 193 countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United’s parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol “UAL”.

SOURCE United Airlines

Related Links

http://www.united.com