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Showing posts with label Miles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miles. Show all posts

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Michelle Obama's Plane Flew Less Than 3 Miles to Military Jet, Safety Officials Say

The White House plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama came even closer to a military cargo jet than previously reported, according to a new report from the National Safety Transportation Safety Board.

The close call on Monday night left 2.94 miles of distance between the Obama plane and the 200-ton C-17 jet as they both approached landing at Andrews Air Force base just outside of Washington. Air traffic controllers at Andrews directed Obama's plane to abort a landing, the board said in a statement Friday.

The Federal Aviation Administration had previously said there was more than three miles between the planes, and had ordered controllers' supervisors to oversee flights carrying the first lady and the vice president. A supervisor was already required to monitors flights with President Obama on board.

Obama's plane, a Boeing 737, was considerably smaller than the 200-ton C17 ahead of it. Federal regulations require five miles between planes to avoid dangerous wake turbulence when the plane in the lead is significantly larger than the one trailing.

The planes were lined up for their landing approach into Andrews by a controller at a regional radar facility in Warrenton, Va., the board said. The planes were already too close when controllers at Andrews took over.

The Andrews controllers immediately ordered the 737 pilot to execute a series of turns to increase its distance from the cargo plane. When the distance continued to narrow, the controllers directed the 737 pilot to abort the landing and circle the airport until the cargo jet cleared the runway.

On board the plane with Mrs. Obama was Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Biden.

The board also said a Southwest Airlines jet with 142 people aboard came perilously close to a small plane over central Florida last month. The planes, traveling at more than 100 miles per hour, could have closed the short distance within seconds. They were flying at an altitude of about 11,000 feet at the time.

The board said previously that a controller at a regional radar facility near Jacksonville asked the Southwest pilot to fly close enough to look into the cockpit window of the smaller plane, a single-engine, four-seat Cirrus SR22. The Cirrus had been out of radio contact for over an hour.

Both planes landed safety. The controller has been suspended pending an investigation.

Also Friday, National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Paul Rinaldi called on the FAA to allow controllers to sleep on breaks during daytime shifts, and to take scheduled naps of as long as two hours during overnight shifts. Rinaldi also endorsed 10 other recommendations for combating fatigue offered by a working group of agency and union officials.

"If we are serious about addressing controller fatigue, then every recommendation must be adopted and implemented" Rinaldi said.

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood have ruled out any change in policy to allow controllers to nap during work shifts, even on breaks. That's despite the disclosure since late March of at least five incidents of controllers dozing off at work.

Instead, Babbitt has increased by an hour the minimum amount of rest between work shifts. The FAA has also added a second controller on overnight shifts at 27 airports and a radar facility to prevent any more planes from landing without tower assistance because a controller working alone at night has fallen asleep.

Planes flew unguided because of a sleeping controller into Washington's Reagan National airport last month and in Reno, Nev., this month.

Rinaldi, while appreciative of the changes, said "they barely scratch the surface of the problem."

FAA officials declined comment.

The FAA has known for decades that controllers work exhausting schedules that can affect their ability to safely manage air traffic. The sleeping incidents, as well as recent errors by controllers, have shaken public confidence in the nation's air traffic system.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Moms angry after kids were served booze at chains 1,000 miles apart

Jill Vanheest's 2-year-old son was given sangria on March 31 at an Olive Garden in Florida. STORY HIGHLIGHTSA Florida mother says of Olive Garden: "They poisoned my child right in front of me"Her toddler was taken to the hospital after being served sangria at a Florida restaurant8 days later, a Michigan boy was served alcohol at an Applebee's franchiseBoth chains apologized and vowed to change their drink-serving policiesRELATED TOPICSApplebee's International Inc.Olive Garden Italian Restaurants (CNN) -- Two mothers expressed outrage Friday night that their young children -- about 1,000 miles away and days apart -- were inadvertently given alcohol by servers at franchises of national chain restaurants.

Jill Vanheest, whose 2-year-old son was given sangria on March 31 at an Olive Garden in Lakeland, Florida, told HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell that she's having difficulty accepting what happened.

"They poisoned my child right in front of me," Vanheest said Friday. "There aren't really words for how distrustful that makes me feel, how angry I am."

Just over a week later, on April 8, Taylor Dill-Reese said that her 15-month-old son was given alcohol during a meal -- rather than the apple juice he'd ordered -- at an Applebee's in Madison Heights, Michigan.

She said that the staff there explained that the boy got the wrong drink due to a mix-up at the bar, after containers for apple juice and margarita mix (which has tequila and triple sec) were somehow switched.

This week, Applebee's issued a statement apologizing to the parents of Dominic Wilson Jr. "for the stress and worry this caused them." It vowed to immediately retrain servers on the company's "beverage pouring policy" and change to pouring apple juice only from single-serve containers, like a juice box.

"We recognize our responsibility to constantly assess our safety policies and procedures to ensure they are rigorous and consistently followed," the Kansas-based chain said. "We believe today's strong actions make a statement to our guests of all ages around our commitment to provide a safe and enjoyable dining experience."

But Dill-Reese told Velez-Mitchell on Friday that she's not convinced.

The mother, who is 18 and was at the restaurant with her son and fiance, said she was particularly angry given that a similar incident happened before at Applebee's -- namely, a 2006 case in which a 5-year-old boy was given a Long Island iced tea, which contains rum, gin, vodka and tequila, at a New York City establishment of the national chain.

"it's just sad, the simple fact that this isn't the first time this happened (or) that they were going to change the way they were going to serve drinks," the mother said. "Why wait two, three kids later to change the way you serve drinks? What if my son was the one that died?"

Steven Krawitz, a personal injury attorney who represented the family involved in the 2006 case, told HLN that -- whatever Applebee's and other restaurant's promises to change their policies for serving drinks to children -- a parent should never rely on a server fully when their son or daughter gets a beverage.

"The parent, unfortunately, cannot now trust what used to be a no-brainer," Krawitz said. "Restaurants are serving drinks for kids, millions of drinks, but now, given this sort of rash of ... unavoidable or unacceptable mistakes, the parents now have to test the drink."

Police were called to the Applebee's in Michigan after Dill-Reese and her fiance noticed Dominic acting strangely -- "saying 'hi' and 'bye' to the walls (and) laid his head down like he was sleepy, then woke up and got really hyper," recalled the mother.

Once a server told the parents that the boy was given margarita mix, he was rushed to the hospital, where Dill-Reese said he had a blood-alcohol limit of .10. Applebee's, though, said that Madison Heights police conducted a field test and found the drink itself only registered a .014 alcohol level.

While Dill-Reese has already filed a lawsuit against Applebee's, Vanheest said she has not decided whether to do the same against Olive Garden.

Vanheest claims that her son, Nikolai, ordered an orange juice and started drinking it. But then a waiter "came over and said there's been a mistake, grabbed the cup and kind of scurried away."

Meanwhile, her son "was not acting like himself" -- climbing in and out of his high chair and people's laps, not responding to requests to calm down, and "just getting louder and louder."

When the restaurant's staff admitted that the boy had gotten sangria, which contains wine, the child was brought to the hospital. After some struggle, he was given intravenous fluids and had his blood drawn before being checked and eventually released.

"He ended up with a lot of bruises," Vanheest said.

After the incident came to light, Olive Garden released a statement in which it called the incident "unacceptable." The chain, which is headquartered in Orlando, Florida, said "we have implemented a change in our procedures to prevent this situation from happening again" -- though it didn't detail what those changes were.

"We take the responsibility that comes with serving alcohol seriously," the statement said. "As much as we strive for perfection, this was an unfortunate case of human error."

But Vanheest, the toddler's mother, said she's not yet ready to forgive.

"Just that their disorganization allowed this ever to happen -- it's extremely frustrating," she said. "I've lost all trust and all faith in them."

Watch ISSUES with Jane Velez-Mitchell Monday through Sunday at 7pm ET on HLN. For the latest from ISSUES click here.



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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

California tsunami victim found washed ashore 380 miles away

Tsunami victim's body washes ashoreSTORY HIGHLIGHTSDustin Douglas Weber of California was swept out to sea by the tsunami from JapanHe was photographing the surge last monthWeber's body was found on a beach in Oregon near the Columbia River (CNN) -- The body of a 25-year-old northern California man swept out to sea while trying to photograph the tsunami's arrival from Japan last month has washed ashore about 380 miles away, in Oregon, officials there said Tuesday.

Dustin Douglas Weber of Klamath, California, was standing on a sand bar near the mouth of the Klamath River in Del Norte County, California, when he was swept away March 11, authorities said.

Tsunami's first moments

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Friday, April 1, 2011

Legendary Miles Davis

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Miles Davis is an American born musician known around the globe for his  trumpeter, and bandleadership capabilities and also a renowned composer. He is among the most influencial personalities of the music industry and has earned a name in jazz, jazz fusion, bebop and hardbop. He is not only one of the key figures in the music industry but was also inducted into rock and roll hall of fame in the year 2006. He was born on May 26th, 1926 in to an African American middle class family. His father was a doctor. He was interested in joining the music industry almost from the beginning and at the age of sixteen, he made it when he became a member of a music group and started playing professionally outside school.



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