Via bends and kinks to Honolulu

The shortest route to HNL There are many ways of flying from Brussels to Honolulu and the travel time is in excess of twenty hours in all cases. You might say that it does not matter since no sane person would want to do a trip like that in one stretch but in case you… Continue reading Via bends and kinks to Honolulu

Surprise in Vienna – When the system really fails

Brussels Airlines flight SN2908 is the evening counterpart of SN2901, the red-eye Brussels-Vienna flight that takes you to that magnificent city in time for a meeting that can start as early as 10.00 and conclude as late as 18.00 since SN2908 will bring you home comfortably. The only trouble with SN2908 is that it is… Continue reading Surprise in Vienna – When the system really fails

The tower with a soul… 18.

Approaching the present day… What a strange folk we are, we Hungarians! We complain when we have to work with an obsolete system and when it is replaced with something new, we complain that we are forced to learn new tricks when we had actually grown used to the old ones. This was the situation… Continue reading The tower with a soul… 18.

The tower with a soul… 16.

9/11 and other events of consequence. 11 September 2001 started like any other late summer day. Unlike most people, I do like September. The stifling heat of August is gone, allergens are also mostly gone, and so I breathe easier. So, for me fall is not a reminder of passing but of a new beginning.… Continue reading The tower with a soul… 16.

US DOT/Volpe Survey on the subject of aircraft cyber security

Hello, My name is Kevin Harnett and I work for the Department of Transportation, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Mass. My team is actively involved in supporting the FAA, DoD/USAF, and UK on several Cyber Security aircraft initiatives, such as: Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) Security Testing, Aerospace Network Security Simulator (ANSS), Next Generation… Continue reading US DOT/Volpe Survey on the subject of aircraft cyber security

Safety briefing – the missing element

This blog is about air traffic management. But, by the nature of our business, we tend to travel more than the average citizen and the pilots among us spend half their life strapped to the aircraft that carry us around. So it is appropriate to say something for once as a passenger rather than the… Continue reading Safety briefing – the missing element

Is being blown up part of my human rights?

It is bad enough that aviation is the target of people hell bent on blowing things up. It is even worse that there are others in pretty high places who will help them… even if unwittingly. There is no point in denying that the aviation security system, including the extensive and supposedly fool-proof US elements,… Continue reading Is being blown up part of my human rights?

Two-way communication and the efficiency of public security

Strolling through the center of Brussels today my mind wandered off as my wife was shopping. I started an incognito surveillance of the security staff present in the mall, the different stores and the public areas. Of course, it was not all that hard to pick them out of the crowd, as they all wear… Continue reading Two-way communication and the efficiency of public security