Aviation Conspiracy: "Snakes" Invade A Boeing 747!!!

The graphic (website) version of this newsletter can be accessed at:
http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/newsletter390.htm

Quote of the Week: "It sounds like bombs are getting dropped. This is not
what they promised. The planes are coming much closer than we were told they
would." story about resident's complaint about Georgia's Hartsfield-Jackson
Atlanta Airport after fifth runway opened

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Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter
#390.............................................. .................................August
20, 2006 Past newsletters can be accessed at:
http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/ACNewsmenu.htm The PASSUR airport flight
tracking system at many major U.S. airports http://www.passur.com/sites.htm
(you must have Java installed to view it). If you want to get the newsletter
sent to you every week, sign up to AviationWatch. Bill Mulcahy


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"Snakes" Invade A Boeing 747!!!

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As Bill Sees It: (Editorial) "Snakes On A Plane" Hot Horror Movie This
Summer!!! At first I thought that the movie might have something to do with
FAA, drunken pilots or maybe even exploding fuel tanks; but no, it's
apparently really about snakes on a plane. As if flying in a metal box at
thirty thousand feet with radical Moslems trying to blow you up wasn't bad
enough, how about 500 deadly serpents slithering around the airplane cabin?
Oh well, anything that keeps the public off these noisy, air polluting
monsters is good us victims on the ground. Boeing Bidding On Border Security
Contract!!! Stories this week told about how Boeing is bidding on a
multi-billion dollar contract for "revamping" America's border security. No
doubt this company will use all of its close ties to congress and the
military to squeeze more taxpayer money into their coffers. I hope they can
do better at border security than they do designing airplane fuel tanks;
some of which have the bad habit of exploding.

Tips For Avoiding Snakes On A Plane: When it comes to dealing with snakes on
a plane, preparation is key. That's why we sought advice from David Cooper,
living collections herpetologist at the N.C. Museum of Natural
Sciences.Cooper cares for about 40 snakes, including venomous rattlesnakes
and copperheads that are native to North Carolina. His first, best piece of
advice on dealing with snakes in midair?" Don't panic." For those who need
to know what to do instead, here are a few ideas:
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/476216.html

* To avoid inadvertently bringing a snake on a plane, check your luggage for
serpents before boarding. This can be particularly important if your travels
take you to a place such as Guam, which is infested with brown tree snakes.
Cooper describes these snakes as "mildly venomous."

* Since not everyone will follow the above rule, look around the plane
before taking a seat. If you spot a snake, alert a flight attendant and
calmly exit the aircraft.* If you find yourself on a plane filled with snake
smugglers whose stowaways have escaped, remain calm. Cooper recommends
lifting your feet and scrunching them on your seat. Keep still. Snakes see
movement as a threat or a meal possibility.

Killer Bees On Planes Too? "Snakes on a Plane" may be the hot horror movie
of the summer, but bees on planes are creating the most buzz in some
aviation circles. Africanized honey bees - the infamous "killer bees" - are
increasingly making unscheduled layovers at airports across the Southwest.
As pilot Brian Murphy prepared for a quick flight from Burbank's Bob Hope
Airport to San Francisco in May, his ground crew alerted him to a problem on
his Beechcraft King Air 200: A five-foot-wide blanket of bees was draped
over the plane's left engine cover. And many bees were finding their way
into an engine compartment and even into the cockpit. "I was just shocked,"
says the 36-year-old charter pilot, who raced to shut the cockpit's open
vent windows. "Within just 20 minutes there were thousands of bees that had
moved onto the exhaust area." He considered turning on the engines to shoo
away the swarm but decided that that might make matters worse by agitating
the bees.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/...llife_problem/

Boeing Wants Billions For Border Security Surveillance: WASHINGTON - Boeing
wants to guard the nation's borders for a couple of billion dollars.
Boeing's St. Louis-based defense division has developed a plan combining
radar and laser technology, sensors and cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles,
other surveillance equipment and rapid communications tools to keep illegal
immigrants, drug smugglers, potential terrorists and gun runners from
entering the United States. It's done so at the behest of the Department of
Homeland Security, which, seeking better ways to protect U.S. borders, a few
months ago asked corporations with expertise in systems integration to
supply ideas and technological know-how. That started a process that has
received scant public attention partly because federal officials have been
tight-lipped about it despite the intense public debate over immigration and
the role of border security in the war on terror. The competition for the
contract ends next month, when federal officials will choose Boeing or one
of four rivals: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Ericsson of
Sweden. The firms have devised a variety of ways to combine technology
existing or to be developed with the government's border patrol and
infrastructure.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandf...s/15310983.htm



FAA opens skydiving probe: CRESWELL - The Federal Aviation Administration
has opened an investigation into city complaints that two companies here are
landing skydivers on Creswell Airport property after receiving formal notice
that they no longer have permission to do so. The city's complaint cites an
FAA regulation allowing deployed parachutes over airports only if they are
at least 2,000 feet above the airport's traffic pattern. FAA regional
spokesman Allen Kennitzer confirmed the investigation this week but said the
agency does not discuss details of open cases. He estimated that it will be
at least mid-September before the FAA completes the probe and decides
whether to sanction Eugene Skydivers or Wright Brothers Skydiving.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/20...ion=cityregion



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