Sometimes we get so caught up in just getting to our destination that we forget to be courteous to our fellow passengers & crew. Being courteous can spread  & makes air travel more pleasant. Because I travel so much I am uniquely suited for gripes from air crews & passenger etiquette. Here are a list of some starters:

1) Don't call a flight attendant a stewardess. Today, flight attendants view themselves as safety officers. They do much more then serve drinks. Many flight attendants are also male so stewardess is an out dated term.
2) Don't expect the crew to place your extra carry on in there crew luggage area. It's up to the lead flight attendant & it's a good ideal to never ask, but instead let them offer.
3) Don;t block the aisle. Allow other passengers to walk through by stepping into your aisle.
4) Place any smaller bags, brief case's under your seat. Passengers & crew consider it selfish to place a small bag in the overhead bin therefore creating less space for other passengers carry on bags. This results in someone having to check their bags.
5) Turn off your electronic devices while the flight attendants are doing their safety briefing. They are not baby sitters. There is nothing worst then a flight attendant having to tell you twice to turn off your phone. Follow the rules!
6) While in flight, go to the bathroom before your final descent. You don't know how long it will take from descent to the time you arrive at the gate. Crews hate when passengers get up to use the bathroom while taxing. Besides, it's against FAA regulations. This is also the same for departure. Use the bathroom before you board. I find the bathroom much more comfortable & roomier in the terminal then on the airplane.
7) After you arrive at the gate, don't overreach over follow passengers to reach your bags. Ask other passengers if they can reach it for you, or wait for some people to leave before you make your way backwards.
8) Don't leave garbage in the seat pocket. We are all adults here. The flight attendants come by 3 to 4 times to take up garbage. There is no excuse for garbage left behind. A messy airplane means it takes longer for passengers to board for the next flight.
9) Once you leave, don't come back on the airplane. If you forget something, tell the gate agent.
10)Don't invade others personal space. That means no kicking their chair, or leaning against someone. If everyone follow these basic commonsense tips it would make flying more pleasant for everyone.

Today, the FAA suspended two air traffic controllers plus a supervisor because one of the controllers allowed their kid to get on the radio & direct traffic. The controller supervise his kid while he directed traffic on the ground. I must say this was a shocking abuse of trust in the aviation industry & the controllers lack good judgment. It's ok to take your kid to work ,but in some case's it's hazards to allow you kid to perform you job function in certain career fields. With all the runway incursion that happened in the last twenty years it strikes me as odd that a controller would allow this. Also, back in 1994 over Russian airspace a Russian airline captain on an Airbus A-300 allow his son to come into the cockpit & actually fly the airplane. In the ten minutes of him being at the controls the son somehow kick off the autopilot without the crew knowing. The aircraft spun out of control,and crashed killing all 200 passengers on board. Just last year a deadly midair collision occurred with a air tour helicopter & a small private airplane killing 13 people. The air traffic controller was distracted because he made a personal phone call to his girlfriend at the time of the collision. Somethings just don't mixed.

Starting today March 1st JFK Airport will shut down it's largest runway for construction for four months. They will extend the runway width from standard width of 150 feet to 200 feet. The reason they are doing this is to accommodate larger airplanes like the new Airbus 380 that can carry up to 500 people. Runway 31 is already one the largest in the world. The length of the runway is 14,000 feet. It's so long that its used as a back up runway for the space shuttle. So the question is how does this effect you? Well it effects the whole country as far as delays go. It means when you depart out of JFK & depending on the time of day don't be surprise if you have a two hour taxi delay before takeoff. It also means you should box yourself in with connecting flights. Give yourself plenty of time for connecting & getting to the airport. Four months will come fast & then we will have a more efficient airport when it's all done.

Several days ago was the latest incident of a flight encountering Cat, or clear air turbulence. Cat is a disturbance of air masses around the jet stream. In the latest event a JAL 747 en route from Manilia to Tokyo encountered cat while in cruise portion of flight. Because this is the most active part of the flight for passengers, naturally this is how so many people got injured. In this case 47 people was injured. There was no damage to the aircraft. In most cases there never is damage to the aircraft. Passengers don't fare to well. Most passenger injuries are because they don't have their seat belt on. Then there are cases of people standing up in the aisle. Airlines are required to make a briefing to passengers when they level off in flight. The crew is suppose to brief passengers if they're going to remain in their seat they should always keep their seat belts on. This is your only protection from turbulence because cat remains very difficult to detect. Cat is a very rare type of turbulence, but when it does happened it can be a terrifying few seconds. I personally experience cat only once in my 22 years of flying. For more information on turbulence view this free video link .

Jet lag is a problem that existed for decades. It affects 90% of passengers. Jet lag is essentially the disruption of our body clock that causes us to be temporarily disorientated. It also can be mentally & physically fatiguing. Sitting still for long periods of time in flight causes discomfort, and potentially swelling of the legs called thrombosis, or deep vein condition. Thrombosis can be hazardous. It causes small blood clots in the legs. Some of the problems with jet lag is the cabin atmosphere is dry compared to outside. This can cause dehydration. Altitude & pressure changes can cause fatigue on the body too. Some remedies you can do to reduce jet lag & deep vein (thrombosis) conditions are:

1) Start your trip well rested several days prior so you can start your trip full of energy.

2) Drink lots of water

3) Try to sleep on the airplane. Use eye shades, & ear plugs to create a better environment to sleep.

4) Wear comfortable clothes.

5) Limit alcohol drinks because it will dehydrate you. 

SOP stand for Standard Operating Procedures, & it is the corner stone to every airline operation. The military, & some corporate flight departments follow SOP's too. Every once in awhile you hear of companies who got too complacent on keeping strong SOP's & they pay the price with an accident. I am a strong believer of SOP's. It ensures everyone is on the same page, but most important is if there is an emergency everyone will be able to work in a synchronize fashion to handle problems with confidence.

The problem occurs when a person becomes complacent, or take things for granted, or rely too much on computers & automation. I know at my company they teach us to fly without automation once in awhile so we dont become too complacent & rely too much on it. The computers are only as good as the pilot programming it. So that means if the pilot programs it to fly into a mountain, its going to do exactly that unless someone breaks the error chain of events and catches that mistake. For example, I know most airlines have a SOP that states you should'nt program the FSM computer box while taxing on the ground. It should be done at the gate so both pilots could be looking outside for collision avoidance. When you are relying on human interaction with machines, mistakes will eventually happen. If you look at NTSB Accident Reports, you almost always fine some deviations from SOP's. That's is why its so important to abide by SOP's to reduce errors. I do believe most airline operations are very professional & push strong SOP's.

For the last three weeks,everyday there's been constant new coverage about that attempted Christmas Day terror attack. There's also been nonstop coverage of new changes in security. Naturally all of this will cause increase travel & flying anxiety in many people.  For all the failures in security, the only positive thing that I found reassuring is ever since 9/11 passengers have decided that they will not go down easy when it comes to terrorism. There have been several flights in the past couple of years where you had either a disrupting passenger or an attempted breach of cockpit & other passenger helped the flight crew to contain the situation. We seen this once again on the Northwest Detroit inbound flight on Christmas day. Security is everyone's business & when the public, government, & airlines work together this increases everyone margin of safety.

Just yesterday, we learned of an attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day on a Delta flight returning from Europe. Because of this incident security may change & become tighter. How to navigate these new waters of going through security at the airport will be challenging & require more patience as the government sort this out & decide what new measures to add. However, there are some things the average traveler can do to ease the process. For starters they can pack in layers. This makes it easier for TSA to inspect your bag, & for you to put it back together again. Pack in clear plastic any small amounts of liquid, or use zip lock bags. Limit all jewelry.  Don't  carry certain foods like jelly, sauce, or syrup. If your traveling with kids go through the family friendly lines. Also, as you reach near the front of the lines start taking off your belt, watches, & shoes. Don't wait into you get to the very front of the line to do this. One final thing, allow uniform crew members to cut in front of the lines. With out them, everything grinds to a stop. Happy Safe Flying & A Happy New Year!

Well as we come close to a close this year, the airline industry dodge another bullet. Yesterday an American Airlines flight 331 attempted a landing into Kingston, Jamaica when it suffered a hard landing & broke a part. The aircraft was carrying 154 passengers & crew. There were 40 injuries, but no fatalities. The Boeing 737-800 suffered major damage to the landing gear,& engines. As this year comes close to an end, its importance to know that we still had a good year for airline safety. There was only one fatal accident with 54 fatalies that happened  this year in Buffalo, NY when a Colgan commuter crashed. This American accident almost turned fatal. The cabin crew did a good job getting everyone out of the plane successfully. This underscores the importance of paying attention to those safety briefings. This also shows how most people do survive airline accidents.   

With this weekend's New England's Blizzard it created a huge mess in everyone's travel plans. Countless airlines had already canceled flights before the storm & afterwords. Many people are wondering if the airlines acted too prematurely. However, the bottom line is that the airlines cancel flights because of the effect it cause on their schedules. They don't want airplanes & personnel stuck at places were they don't belong. Otherwise, the alternative is further havoc in the system. Some tips to help people get over this stress & anxiety period is to first have a lot of patience. It helps no one to be too stress out over the situation. Second, be nice to the gate agent & they will look out for you. They already have a stressful job. One or two irate passengers can set them in a bad mood for the rest of the day which could mean they won't go the extra mile for you. Third, keep checking the availability of the flight your'e looking for. Just because they said it's a full flight doesn't make it a fact. Many times space positive passengers may change their flights through out the day. I seen flights were there wasn't supposed to be any seats & then just prior to closing the doors someone missed counted & a seat appears. Hopefully, these tips will provide you with some good luck.