Qantas Blames Wireless For Aircraft Incidents 773
musther writes "An Australian airline Qantas Airbus A330-300, suffered 'a sudden change of altitude' on Tuesday. "The mid-air incident resulted in injuries to 74 people, with 51 of them treated by three hospitals in Perth for fractures, lacerations and suspected spinal injuries when the flight bound from Singapore to Perth had a dramatic drop in altitude that hurled passengers around the cabin." Now it seems Qantas is seeking to blame interference from passenger electronics, and it's not the first time; 'In July, a passenger clicking on a wireless mouse mid-flight was blamed for causing a Qantas jet to be thrown off course.' Is there any precedent for wireless electronics interfering with aircraft systems? Interfering with navigation instruments is one thing, but causing changes in the 'elevator control system' — I would be quite worried if I thought the aircraft could be flown with a bluetooth mouse."
Shhh... Don't tell the terrorists (Score:3, Funny)
Why bring a bomb or a bottle of water when you can just bring a couple of bags full of wireless mice...
Not the right reason to worry. (Score:4, Funny)
"I would be quite worried if I thought the aircraft could be flown with a bluetooth mouse."
Flown? No. Crashed? Maybe.
Fixed that for you.
The deadly crash of a Concorde... (Score:1, Funny)
...was blamed on a passenger who punched the monkey.
Re:Shhh... Don't tell the terrorists (Score:5, Funny)
Coming this summer: Mice on a Plane!
This just in.... (Score:3, Funny)
"Terrorist hijacks Airbus with a laptop, MS Flight Simulator and a bluetooth mouse"
Well... (Score:2, Funny)
Now Qantas too? (Score:2, Funny)
Charlie: Ray, all airlines have crashed at one time or another, that doesn't mean that they are not safe.
Raymond: QANTAS. QANTAS never crashed.
Charlie: QANTAS?
Raymond: Never crashed.
Charlie: Oh that's gonna do me a lot of good because QANTAS doesn't fly to Los Angeles out of Cincinnati, you have to get to Melbourne! Melbourne, Australia in order to get the plane that flies to Los Angeles!
That's a shame, now Rain Man REALLY can't fly
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:5, Funny)
Penny-Arcade did a comic on this. (Score:3, Funny)
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/10/30/ [penny-arcade.com]
I can't believe no one has posted this yet.
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:3, Funny)
Or one of us less-than-fragrant techs.
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:WTF? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:5, Funny)
Hmmm...risk being choked to death or spend several hours sharing half your seat with the naked guy sitting next to you. I choose death by thong thank you very much.
Re:Dear editors... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:4, Funny)
Well, that's logical.
Kind of like how my brother's Honda died when his bitchy neighbor walked outside. If Honda's are that susceptible to PMS, then I'd rather not ride in their cars. The last thing I need is to be left stopped in the middle of the freeway at rush hour because some woman with a hormone imbalance got too close to the car.
Buy Ford instead of Honda.
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:3, Funny)
Light does not penetrate solid objects!
My, my. You even used an exclamation point because you were so sure. What about glass? Plastic? Sheets of colored paper for effect? Cardboard (maybe lump with paper)? Shining a bright light under your hand or in your mouth?
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:3, Funny)
What an awful analogy, and not a single mention of a car.
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:2, Funny)
Hey everyone - just think yourselves lucky that the shoe-bomber wasn't the underwear-bomber!
Re:WTF? (Score:5, Funny)
how fast the plane's attitude changes. All you'd have to do is go negative enough to lift people in the air, then back to positive and they'll fall down.
Well, maybe someone should get that plane some therapy and stop all those attitude changes. We can't have planes flying around with violent mood swings. Negative attitude, positive attitude, I can't be dealing with these kinds of planes. I want a plane that has a stable attitude and won't throw a fit and hurl passengers about just 'cause someone clicked a mouse.
Re:Sounds like bullshit to me... (Score:4, Funny)
I'm not sure I agree. After all, I was using my cell phone while driving last week (I like to read the news on my way to work), and experienced a sudden crash. The only explanation is wireless interference.
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:5, Funny)
Or even worse, you're in 32B and the fatty is in 32A and 32C
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, also, can you tell the nice pilot man to keep the plane steady for a few moments, I need to titrate...
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:5, Funny)
Just prey to GOD you're not in seat 32A, with a fatty in 32B and C.
I'm preying to God I'm in a seat next to a hottie with 32Cs or 32Ds.
I'm sorry, I couldn't resist!
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:3, Funny)
And dont mind me while I remove the seats, peel back the floorboards and cut the rats nest of wiring, hydarulic lines and fuel lines. Oh this bottle of "water?" that's nothing I just think that these structural supports look thirsty. Hmm... That smoke probably means that they like it and want more, well there seems to be a lot of supports here, perhaps next time I should bring a few litres. They'll let through security with 10 Litres of water in a glass jug right?
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:3, Funny)
how about the less-than-fragrant male tech in need of 32d's (or would it be 46dd?? not really sure of the nomenclature anymore...)
Re:The truth behind the pre-takeoff safety briefs (Score:3, Funny)
On a chartered military flight (omni air, I think) from CONUS to Qatar, we had this preflight brief:
You know where the seatbelts are and how to use them. If we lose cabin pressure we're all going to die anyways. Hell no you don't want no coffee. Hell no you don't want no snacks. (whispered): Shhhhhh.... go to sleep.... Shhhh...... Sleeeeeep.....
I am not kidding; that was what the flight attendant (civilian, omni employee) said. Short and sweet and they didn't care if we had electronic devices on. The only part that sucked was that the inflight film was some kid's movie about a little girl racing a zebra instead of a horse or something. And it played twice.
-b
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:3, Funny)
did you think radio waves were something other than light?
well.. i suppose youre right.
I make frequent calls to the police telling them to shut down WRAS because their FM signal is keeping me awake at night. I mean.. even with my eyes closed it's like staring into the sun : P
We've got you uncovered (Score:3, Funny)
And I'll handle the bras. To make sure they aren't tampered with before inspection it'll be crucial that I remove them directly from the passengers. I think I'll have my hands full with this job.
Nightmare at Twenty-Thousand Feet (Score:2, Funny)
Re:We've got you uncovered (Score:5, Funny)
Well, since you're new you'll have to start with the over 70s.
Enjoy!
Re:Moral of the story? (Score:2, Funny)
I am the pilot of a PC based flight simulator and I hear these same noises from an incoming sms or phone call:)