British Airways provided hotel rooms to cabin crew near London Heathrow airport when doing short overnights as part of longer trips... and now the British govt wants the taxes, all 7 million dollars worth!

but these are London stays for flight attendants based in London. 

They could have just gone home. So the expense isn’t deductible.

The government says that the rooms were a taxable employment benefit, rather than a necessary business expense.

BA provided something of value by reason of employment. 

The travel subsistence exemption is only allowable if the employee could deduct the same cost if they were the ones paying. 

London Heathrow is their permanent workplace or base. 

Accommodation at or near a permanent workplace is not deductible business travel. 

Ordinary commuting and private living costs aren’t deductible.

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs department treated the hotel stays as taxable. British Airways disputed that.

When British Airways scheduled back-to-back trips where they spent the night in London, BA paid for a layover hotel rather than treating the crew as simply off duty at home. This is important because flight attendants need minimum rest between flights, which amounts to time ‘behind the door’ and commutes eat into this.

https://viewfromthewing.com/british-airways-put-up-flight-attendants-in-london-hotels-now-the-u-k-demands-7-8-million-in-tax/

A United Airlines flight arriving from Italy struck a light pole above the New Jersey Turnpike while on final approach to Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday afternoon

https://www.facebook.com/yahoonews/posts/a-united-airlines-flight-arriving-from-italy-struck-a-light-pole-and-a-tractor-t/1351887546796927/

https://abc7chicago.com/amp/post/united-flight-169-strikes-light-pole-landing-newark-liberty-international-airport-new-jersey/19030977

a 5-year-old in Colorado with a remarkable aviation enthusiasm spotted a discrepancy in the training manual, and earned a Southwest Airlines VIP tour (skip to 1:11)

 

The great-grandfather of all flight recorders from Germany. A porcelain plate with thinning discs, illustrating various possible causes of a crash. In the event of a problem, a crew member would puncture the relevant disc.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=858814377174196&set=gm.10163548664147508&idorvanity=29919442507

a Boeing 747 was acquired in 2019 from Victorville Ca, and it was deconstructed, and the exterior is being reassembled without a lot of interior and engines, between two 47-story residential towers at 1200 Stewart Street, in Seattle. It's not finished yet

 The nose extends outward, making the plane visible from the street and impossible to ignore. The landing gear remains, subtly suggesting motion, as if the aircraft is arriving rather than resting. Its aluminum skin, left raw or polished, reflects light like a gallery object instead of a preserved relic. Even the tail is integrated into the flow of the building, forming part of the entrance sequence to a music venue below, ensuring that the plane is woven into how the space is used.

https://luxurylaunches.com/buildings/seattle-suspended-boeing-747-03222026.php

https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/seattle-high-rise-boeing-fuselage

news flash... LaGuardia ATC has got a lot of explaining to do

2 pilots of Air Canada dead, the airliner collided with a fire fighting vehicle

The pilot and copilot of the Air Canada plane were killed, and 41 passengers and crew members, some with serious injuries, were taken to local hospitals. Of those injured, 32 have since been released

The fire truck was traveling across the runway to respond to a separate incident on board a United Airlines flight that reported an odor issue. Moments before the crash, audio of an air traffic controller revealed that they gave clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the tarmac. Moments later, a controller can be heard saying, “Stop, stop, stop, truck 1 stop, truck 1, stop.”

Later in the audio transmission, a distraught controller is heard saying, “We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”

Preliminary data show that the Air Canada plane was traveling between 93 and 105 mph when it collided with the fire truck

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/article/2-pilots-dead-dozens-injured-after-air-canada-plane-collides-with-fire-truck-at-nycs-laguardia-airport-141713866.html

Follow up, 

A flight attendant was found alive on the ground by rescuers, still strapped to her seat with the seatbelt - which had fallen through the floor of the damaged plane

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c620w12y59nt

And we will never hear the end of that from airlines about wearing the damn seat belt during landing UNTIL the plane has reached the terminal. God damn it. They now have proof 

some people are perfectly suited for a certain job, some of them gravitate to it, and some can't leave it at the office, on the clock. This FAA Inspector did, and it cost him. Now he's trying to flip it, and sue for 12 million (no idea how he came up with that number) for getting kicked off a flight while he was off the clock.

So, this officious nitpicker took a flight and the seat pocket that holds the safety bullshit was torn. So he took a photo of the storage pocket which he says “impaired” securing and accessing the safety briefing card, which is a violation of FAA rules.

(omg! a rule is broken! Oh no! it's the end of civilization! Waaaaa!  JFC)

The crew thought he was taking photos of them, and seems to have had enough of his crap, and decided to complain he was being combative, (and angling to move to a better seat for free) so the pilot turned the plane around, and kicked him off. 

United then allegedly imposed a lifetime travel ban, and filed a complaint with the FAA, and since he was under investigation, he was removed from safety oversight duties involving United. He alleges this was United’s objective. 

That would be really clever

He says that the enforcement case against him was dropped, because United’s witnesses were deemed unreliable, but that United refused to lift his ban.

So, he's come up with an amount that will make him wealthy, but United won't notice... they are probably going to pay their lawyers more regardless,

If United allegedly portrayed him to the FAA as disruptive, dishonest, greedy, or threatening (factual assertions) then there’s a claim for defamation and reputational harm especially with his role as a safety inspector.

https://viewfromthewing.com/faa-safety-inspector-sues-united-for-12-75-million-claims-he-was-banned-for-life-after-reporting-torn-seat-pocket/

I wonder if we'll learn the outcome

Passengers aboard an already-delayed American Airlines flight were stuck for nearly 3 hours at Harrisburg International Airport, until after 3 a.m., because of an airport equipment malfunction and an apparent insufficient airline staff to help the passengers off the flight another way.

The jetway was not working, and they said there were no stairs and the pilot wasn't able to arrange for a tug to pull the plane to another gate.

American Airlines flight 1549 from Dallas-Fort Worth 

Passengers finally got off the plane through a rear stairway and walked to the terminal.

That two-and-a-half-hour wait between landing and deplaning would enable the airline to narrowly avoid potentially millions of dollars in fines under what’s sometimes known as the “tarmac delay rule.” Under the rule, airlines face fines of up to $27,500 per passenger for a wait on the ground, aboard an aircraft, of more than three hours.

Airlines at Harrisburg, except American, use contracted “ground handlers,” as the companies are known, to perform tasks such as operating the jetbridges and — in a case like this — bringing stairs and managing the unusual arrival. But American — with more flights than any other airline at the airport plus its own subsidiary, Piedmont Airlines, with a maintenance and crew base at the airport — uses its own Piedmont workers to perform those jobs.

Based on several accounts, no such worker was at the airport when the flight initially landed, with the specific knowledge and training to operate the stairs.

https://www.abc27.com/local-news/passengers-stuck-at-gate-aboard-flight-from-dallas-for-hours-will-airline-face-tarmac-delay-fine/amp/

I suppose the FAA and US Marshalls would lose their fuzzy little minds if someone simply made the call and used the emergency inflatable ramp and get the passengers off the damn plane in a nice bit of "training" in emergency plane evacuation equipment 

Over the past 11 years, ANA painted four jets in various Star Wars-themed liveries, "jets also featured customized cabin audio, safety briefings, with seats, cups, literature and other items to match the respective liveries." Thank you Doug!

the last remaining livery (C-3PO) will be decommissioned in early January 2026. 

ANA has opened up a lottery to allow up to 80 people (40 ANA Mileage Club members and one accompanying guest each) to have the chance to view the C-3PO skinned aircraft one last time at its Haneda maintenance hangar.

https://www.gatechecked.com/ana-to-retire-final-star-wars-jet-announces-lottery-event-for-exclusive-farewell-viewing-11129

Air India hit with 13-year parking bill after rediscovering lost Boeing 737, it will now serve as a non-flying training platform for aviation maintenance technicians.

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/air-india-forgotten-737-parking-fees

a long-lost Boeing 737-200 that had been quietly sitting in a remote corner of India’s Kolkata Airport for more than a decade — a jet that somehow slipped entirely out of the memory of anyone at the airline.

Over the years, staff turnover and record-keeping gaps meant the jet gradually slipped out of the airline’s institutional record-keeping.

The confusion appears to have stemmed from administrative lapses dating back to mergers involving Indian Airlines and Air India, as well as the aircraft’s former use as a freighter for India Post.

The aircraft was taken out of service and parked on a remote pad at Kolkata Airport in 2012.

It is the 14th abandoned aircraft cleared from Kolkata Airport in the past five years.

1957

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122146100816716349&set=g.246840025517856

Pan Am had a great marketing dept in the 50s... everything was cool, but this? Wow.

http://www.everythingpanam.com/Children_s_Items.html

been a long time since I've heard of these

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=25020560934226866&set=g.408253066033468

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/01/since-2008-alaska-airlines-has.html

unreal... an airliner at 36000 feet hit a weather balloon head on, bullseye into the pilots window

A United Airlines Boeing 737-8 diverted to Salt Lake City last month after striking a Washington-based weather balloon at 36,000 feet, showering its flight crew with glass and leaving the captain with minor injuries, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report released on Thursday.

UAL Flight 1093 was en route from Denver to Los Angeles on Oct. 16 when the collision occurred at 6:43 a.m. MDT near Moab. None of the 111 passengers and crew, aside from the captain, was hurt.

The captain told investigators he had just spotted an object on the horizon when a loud bang reverberated through the cockpit and the first officer’s forward windshield shattered outward. The blow sent pieces of glass across the flight deck, cutting the captain’s right arm.

https://komonews.com/news/local/weather-balloon-launched-in-washington-strikes-united-airlines-flight-injures-pilot-plane-boeing-737-glass-crew-diverted-travel-delay-sea-seattle-tacoma-airport-collision-ntsb-safety-danger-rescue-utah-storm-winter-temperature

unique look at a 747 making con trails

 

Did you hear of the UPS cargo plane in Louisville Kentucky, at UPS HQ "Worldport" , that crashed shortly after takeoff, as a wing caught on fire during take off, that caused an engine to fall off, and the plane to drop the 40 feet or so back to earth into the businesses under it, crashing into businesses (loaded with fuel) such as Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and a auto salvage business

The plane gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of the runway before crashing just outside Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport

Airport security video “shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll,”

Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said  “It could have been the engine partially coming off and ripping out fuel lines. Or it could have been a fuel leak igniting and then burning the engine off. It’s just too soon to tell,” 

He said the crash bears a lot of similarities to one in 1979 when the left engine fell off an American Airlines jet as it was departing Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, killing 273 people.

Guzzetti said this UPS plane and the American plane were equipped with the same General Electric engines and both planes underwent heavy maintenance in the month before they crashed.

https://fordauthority.com/2025/11/ups-plane-narrowly-missed-hitting-ford-louisville-assembly-plant

https://apnews.com/article/ups-cargo-plane-explosion-louisville-deaths-af12da7f8611bad0bf0cb664de189250

Plans to revive the long-defunct Pan American World Airways are moving forward.

a comprehensive business plan for the potential relaunch of Pan Am has been announced, the airline certification process with the FAA has started, which could reestablish Pan Am as a Part 121 scheduled carrier.

https://airlinegeeks.com/2025/10/09/pan-am-begins-certification-process-with-faa/

In the news, United Airlines is facing a class action lawsuit in California for selling so-called window seats that do not actually have a window

Travelers allegedly purchased what they thought would be a window seat only to find themselves staring at a blank cabin wall. The lawsuit claims United charges more for window seats and therefore deceived passengers who paid extra, believing they would enjoy a view outside.

https://liveandletsfly.com/united-airlines-window-seat-lawsuit/

I had a job interview this morning with Siemens, to be a mechanic at the airport on the long conveyor belts that move and sort luggage, and I have no idea how that went. But I got this photo

 This is the view, of airliners leaving the gates, from UNDER the gates! 

The job seems to be pretty straighforward, do preventative maintenance on conveyors and carousels... but it takes getting a background check by the FBI, for the past 10 years. Not a problem for me, but it had me wondering... what's the point for a kid out of high school, they haven't lived yet! Once a person has a couple decades behind them, then it's proof they haven't been a criminal. 

there's a LOT of GSE tugs/tractors... I'd love to work on those, but that's some other companies stuff. 

Spirit Airlines' Aircraft maintenance hangar at Detroit Metro Airport had an accidental fire suppression system activation, releasing a massive foam discharge.

The open hangar doors allowed the foam to spill onto the ramp area. The incident on July 4th, 2025, affected an Airbus A320 and A321 plane inside the hangar.

There's no reason to think this had anything to do with the airline preventing the maintenance crew from getting the holiday off

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1101790292003704&set=pcb.1101790428670357