RT @TelegraphNews Coming up: what's on in the world of travel
RT @TelegraphNews Travel advice: How to forecast holiday weather
Planes struck each other on tarmac twice within 18 months
Two separate incidents in which one plane struck another on the tarmac at Manchester Airport have
been revealed in an investigators' report.
By David Millward (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/david-millward/) , Transport Editor
Published: 4:19PM GMT 10 Feb 2010
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said all four aircraft suffered damage, but none of the 468 passengers on board
were hurt.
In the first incident, on Feb 15 2007, a Pakistan International Airways Boeing 777, with 144 passengers aboard, struck the
rudder of a 37-passenger Q400 aircraft operated by Flybe as it taxied behind it.
The crew of the Boeing had "been cautioned" about the presence of the other plane, the AAIB report said.
Then, 18 months later on Aug 5 2008, the right winglet of a Tenerife-bound Boeing 737, with 180 passengers on board and operated by the now defunct Spanish airline Futura, struck the tail of a 107-passenger Lufthansa Airbus A320 which had been due to fly to Frankfurt.
In this case, the report said, the crew of the 737 believed that there was enough room to get past the other plane.
Since the two incidents, which took place at almost the same spot, taxiing procedures have been tightened up at Manchester Airport.
Airport denies body scanner photo claim by Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan
BAA has disputed a claim by Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan that his naked image was printed and circulated by body scanner operators at Heathrow Airport.
The airport owner said the claims made by the My Name Is Khan star on the Friday Night with Jonathan Ross show were “completely factually incorrect”.
The 44-year-old pin-up, nicknamed ‘SRK’, said female security staff at the London airport had printed his naked image, as captured by the newly-installed body scanner.
He even claimed he had autographed the pictures, although it is not clear if his comments were intended as a joke.
The star’s claims have resonance because his latest film, My Name Is Khan, which is about racial profiling of Muslims at airports after the September 11 2001 terror attacks.
A report last August that he was detained for questioning at Newark Liberty Airport near New York City sparked outrage in India.
Appearing on the BBC chat show, he told Mr Ross of his experiences with the new body-scanners, that were introduced at Heathrow on the orders of the UK government in the wake of the transatlantic Christmas Day terror attack on a plane as it neared Detroit.
He said: “I'm always stopped by the security, because of the name. And I think its okay: the western world is a little bit worried, paranoid and touchy, I guess – and freely when they're frisking you.
“I was in London recently going through the airport and these new machines have come up, the body scans. You've got to see them. It makes you embarrassed – if you're not well endowed.
“You walk into the machine and everything – the whole outline of your body – comes out.”
He added: “I was a little scared. Something happens [inside the scans], and I came out. Then I saw these girls – they had these printouts. I looked at them. I thought they were some forms you had to fill. I said 'give them to me' – and you could see everything inside. So I autographed them for them.”
However, a BAA spokeswoman said the claims were “completely factually incorrect” because the body-scanning equipment had no capability to print images. She stressed that images captured by the equipment could not be stored or distributed in any form.
She also added that the scanners had only been brought into use four days before the chat show was recorded and was only used for departing passengers, making it unlikely – although not entirely impossible – that the Bollywood actor would have used them in any case.
She said there would be no investigation into his claims because they "simply could not be true".
Khan was not immediately available for comment on the BAA denial.
He has appeared in more than 70 films, and has consistently topped popularity rankings in India for the past several years.
Immigrants 'exploiting loophole at Stansted Airport to enter the country'
Illegal immigrants are exploiting an immigration loophole at Stansted airport to enter the country, a court was told.
They are sidestepping passport checks by coming into Britain through the immigration controls reserved for passengers arriving from the Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man, where only boarding cards need to be shown.
Last night the Immigration Service Union said the problem, which created a "glaring hole in Britain's immigration controls", had arisen because of the layout of the airport.
The loophole emerged at Chelmsford Crown Court where Andrea Tardin, 29, a Brazilian woman of no fixed abode was jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty to possessing a false identity card.
Richard Strong, prosecuting, said Tardin went through this channel, telling immigration officials she had arrived from Shannon.
In fact she had come from elsewhere in Europe and waited until the Shannon flight had arrived, so she blended in with other passengers coming in from Ireland.
Helen Fleck defending, explained: "You buy a ticket online and pay for it and you can print your ticket and boarding pass online on the day of your travel.
"It seems perhaps Ryanair may wish to rethink their system."
Judge Rodger Hayward Smith QC said: "A police report says that using this channel is becoming more prevalent at Stansted and they are cocerned about it."
Speaking after the case John Tincey, spokesman for the Immigration Service Union, said the problem was due to the lay out of controls at the airport.
"There are no formal immigration controls on flights from the Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
"At Heathrow people on domestic flights and from Ireland are diverted away from immigration control. At Stansted they are not segregated, which makes it easy for someone coming in from the continent to join the line for Irish arrivals.
"People have been aware of this problem since 1991."
A UK Border Agency spokesperson said: “On arrival at Stansted airport this individual did attempt to gain entry to the United Kingdom through the route for passengers arriving from within the Common Travel Area (CTA).
"Only passengers arriving from Republic Ireland and the Channel Islands are allowed to use this channel.
“Her presence in this area was challenged and she was subsequently refused entry by a Border Force Officer.”
A Ryanair spokesman said: "This incident, which happened last year, is unlikely to be repeated since the airline has introduced its mandatory visa check for all non-EU passport holders at their departure airport prior to travelling to the UK.
" Ryanair continues to work closely with the authorities at airports in our network to prevent passengers using false identification. The fact that this passenger was caught and successfully prosecuted demonstrates the effectiveness of Immigration controls at Stansted.”
Air accident investigators demand repairs to aircraft televisions
Seat back television sets on Boeing 777s should be fixed more securely to prevent them injuring passengers following a crash landing, investigators have found.
he danger was disclosed by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch in its latest report into the British Airways Boeing 777 which crash landed at Heathrow in January 2008.
Investigators confirmed their previous conclusions that the accumulation of ice in the fuel supply was responsible for the aircraft losing power on its descent to the airport.
n this report they turned their attention to the crash worthiness of the plane itself, after examining the wreckage following the incident in which 34 passengers and 12 cabin crew suffered minor injuries.
They discovered that nine out of 32 televisions in the premium economy cabin detached from the seat as a result of the impact when the plane, carrying 136 passengers, landed on the grass ahead of the runway having just cleared the perimeter fence.
Although nobody was injured as a result of being hit by a television set, investigators concluded that they could cause head injuries and also obstruct passengers during an emergency evacuation.
Investigators also called for modifications to the design on cabin lighting on the Boeing 777 – of which there are around 1,000 currently in service.
This followed evidence from passengers who said that there was a fog of particles in the air after the lighting shattered.
Testing showed that it was possible to break the tubes, leaving those on board running the risk of being injured by broken glass.
The AAIB said Federal Aviation Administration in the United States and the European Aviation Safety Agency should order Boeing to take steps to avoid this by, for example, installing covers over the light tubes themselves.
Investigators also voiced concern about the landing gear which failed to completely detach itself from the fuselage on impact as should have happened to prevent part of the equipment puncturing the fuel tank.
They recommended Boeing redesign the landing gear to prevent it puncturing the fuel tank – which could lead to an explosion – in the event of another crash landing.
In this case the pilot was unable to reach the runway at the end of a flight from Beijing because first the right and then the left engine failed, because of a blockage in the fuel system.
It was discovered that ice had accumulated at the face of the Fuel Oil Heat Exchanger – where oil is cooled down and fuel warmed up.
The ice had accumulated from water which occurred naturally in the fuel during the flight.
But, according to the AAIB, plane safety requirements at the time did not take into account the risk of ice accumulating in fuel was not considered.
