He got a book deal, he met the president, he got the key to the city and now Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger is getting the keys to his airplane back. The hero pilot of US Airways Flight 1549, which landed in the Hudson River after goose strikes knocked out the plane's engines, returns to work today at US Airways and will fly on his old route between LGA and Charlotte.

It's been almost ten whole months since the accident, and US Airways is obviously ready to resume business as usual. Sully will not only fly the same LaGuardia-to-Charlotte route that was Flight 1549, but will do it with the same first officer, Jeffrey Skiles. Now we're all for welcoming Sully back to the skies, especially since he'd be the pilot you'd want to have in control in case anything goes wrong, but piecing together much of the same scene from the accident doesn't make avoiding stress and flashbacks any easier. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-01T08:42:59-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/23/10481/5331

We knew Myrtle Beach would be hot this season but we never anticipated this. A dangerous coastal wildfire ripped through North Myrtle Beach early Thursday, destroying dozens of homes and forcing thousands to evacuate from this beach community.

The blaze jumped the busy six-lane Coastal Bays Parkway on Wednesday, stopping not far from the Intracoastal Waterway. Firefighters were expecting the waterway to act as a natural firebreak, protecting the larger city of Myrtle Beach.

A gray-white smoke had engulfed restaurant row between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach on Wednesday evening. It looked like a winter fog, with car headlights and neon signs peeking through the haze.

Fortunately no one has been injured yet although the fires are predicted to get worse as the day goes on.

Also in danger are the area's numerous golf courses which are a heavy draw for tourists. And in a freaky "Final Destination" sort of twist, a group of six golfing buddies who were aboard the US Airways Flight 1549 plane when it crash-landed into the Hudson River in January were headed to Myrtle Beach this week for their annual trip. ]]> juliana 2009-04-23T11:19:40-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/6/03420/09209

There are no losers in the story of US Airways Flight 1549, except for maybe AIG, who was the insurer of the plane. We all know of Captain "Sully" Sullenberger's honors and invites, and even his recent traitor turn to flying Virgin America, but on Wednesday at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, the stream of awards flowed on to his co-pilot, Jeffrey Skiles, the LaGuardia air traffic controllers who handled the situation, and the rest of the flight crew.

At the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Skiles accepted awards for himself and Sully, and for Donna Dent, Doreen Welsh and Sheila Dail--the flight attendants who kept their cool during the ordeal. It was the account of chief LaGuardia air traffic controller Bill McLoughlin, however, which really brought on the waterworks and gave us another angle for marveling at the series of events:]]> JetSetCD 2009-03-06T12:56:16-05:00 36.1156028 -115.18832 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/2/11/164658/914

With so much travel news raining down on us, we don't always have time to give every story its own forecast. Here's more of the day's news, in brief.

· Deltalina Launches Sky Magazine: Delta Airlines will be getting a new magazine, Sky, which is "on newstands, onboard and online" April 1. There's a launch party on Feb. 24th and Deltalina beckons you to attend. If you dare. [Delta Invite]

· Southwest Blog Readers Upset Over "SI One": While Bar looks hot on the side of the Southwest SI One plane some commenters are arguing that a lady in a bikini is not very family-friendly. Also, we're sure Kyla Ebberts would like to weigh in on this. [Southwest Blog]

· Andiamos! Lufthansa Italia Now In Flight: Flights from Milan to Barcelona and Paris have begun on Lufthansa. Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest, Madrid, London Heathrow and Lisbon will all be added by the end of March. [Travel Weekly]

· A Love Song for Sully: A singer-songwriter aboard Flight 1549 has penned a song for Capt. Sully and the crew called, "Send Another Prayer." Emma Sophina is now hoping to get a record deal out of her ordeal. [Rolling Stone] ]]> juliana 2009-02-11T17:01:03-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/2/6/114326/0327

Do we need to retrofit airplanes with floats and return them to parking at the docks outside of LaGuardia's Marine Air Terminal? With all the hoopla over US Airways' Hudson River miracle and now the new story of another successful water ditching in Australia, we're thinking that bringing floaties on our next flight isn't such a bad idea.

Just hours after the 60 Minutes interview with US Airways Flight 1549 pilot/hero Captain "Sully" Sullenberger aired, a private jet carrying five passengers and two crew was forced to ditch into the water off the coast of Darwin, Australia. Although this is not a case of freak bird intervention but good old malfunction, the story is still oddly similar to that of the US Airways flight.

In fact, the pilot of the Aussie jet, whose quick thinking saved the lives of all onboard and landed them close enough to walk to shore, has been dubbed "Sully Lite." That's almost like adding insult to injury, essentially making this hero pilot out to be like the diet version of another hero pilot. Silly Australia; don't they realize that as long unavoidable water landings end happily, that there's plenty of room in this world for several pilot heros?

Related Stories:
· Water Landing for Australia Plane [BBC News]
· Australia: Pilot saves 5 after ditching plane in sea [CNN]
· Flight 1549 Coverage [Jaunted]

[Video still: BBC News]]]> JetSetCD 2009-02-06T11:50:24-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/2/1/132453/5070

The goodies are coming to survivors of U.S. Airways flight 1549 in dribs and drabs. First, everybody got a check for $5,000 of mad money, along with reimbursement of the cost of their tickets. Now, the New York Post is reporting that they've all been automatically upgraded to Chairman's Preferred status, the airline's highest level of frequent flier privilege. The catch? They only get it through March 2010. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-02-01T13:24:53-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/1/29/115258/477

Here's an entry for the history of ironic coincidences: Just two weeks after US Airways Flight 1549 landed on the Hudson River, necessitating the emergency use of the aircraft's life rafts, American Airlines has confessed to having not enough life raft space for all passengers on their Boeing 767s.

It's a true Titanic case; first there must be a disaster in order for safety procedures and equipment to get the closer examination they need. Although American claims that this admission has nothing to do with the "Miracle on the Hudson," it nonetheless means that the airline must keep the affected flights below capacity so that should a water landing occur, everyone will be have a personal little spot on the rafts. Usually the 767s fly Transatlantic to Europe and over the Gulf to Latin America, so it's not like this is a small issue.

How will they fix this, you wonder? Not by redesigning the airplane or removing seats, because that would mean extra spending and loss of revenue, but by installing larger life rafts. American's 767s may soon have some seriously spacious safety rafts, but it will be longer than that before we can get the Titanic comparison out of our head.

Related Stories:
· American Airlines, short of life raft space on Boeing 767s, will limit passengers [Star-Telegram]
· American Airlines coverage [Jaunted]
· Flight 1529 coverage [Jaunted]

[Image: vidiot]]]> JetSetCD 2009-01-29T16:25:57-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/