Japan Airlines Flight 123 (日本航空123便, Nihonkōkū 123 Bin) was a scheduled domestic Japan Airlines passenger flight from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to Osaka International Airport, Japan. On Monday, August 12, 1985, a Boeing 747SR operating this route suffered an explosive decompression 12 minutes into the flight and, 32 minutes later, crashed into two ridges of Mount Takamagahara in Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Tokyo. The crash site was on Osutaka Ridge (御巣鷹の尾根, Osutaka-no-One), near Mount Osutaka.

The explosive decompression was caused by a faulty repair performed by Boeing after a tailstrike incident during a landing seven years earlier. A doubler plate on the rear bulkhead of the plane was improperly repaired, compromising the plane's airworthiness. Cabin pressurization continued to expand and contract the improperly repaired bulkhead until the day of the accident, when the faulty repair finally failed, causing the explosive decompression that ripped off a large portion of the tail and caused the loss of hydraulic controls to the entire plane.

Casualties of the crash included all 15 crew members and 505 of the 509 passengers; some passengers survived the initial crash but subsequently died of their injuries hours later, mostly due to delays in the rescue operation. It is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history, the deadliest aviation accident in Japan, the second-deadliest Boeing 747 accident and the second-deadliest aviation accident behind the 1977 Tenerife airport disaster.

Aircraft and crew

The accident aircraft was registered JA8119 and was a Boeing 747-146SR (Short Range). Its first flight was on January 28, 1974. It had more than 25,000 airframe hours and more than 18,800 cycles (one cycle equals one takeoff and landing).

At the time of the accident the aircraft was on the fifth of its six planned flights of the day. There were fifteen crew members, including three cockpit crew and 12 flight attendants.

The cockpit crew consisted of the following:

• Captain Masami Takahama (高浜 é›…å·±, Takahama Masami) from Akita, Japan, served as a training instructor for First Officer Yutaka Sasaki on the flight, supervising him while handling the radio communications. A veteran pilot, having logged approximately 12,400 total flight hours, roughly 4,850 of which were accumulated flying 747s, Masami Takahama was aged 49 at the time of the accident.
• First Officer Yutaka Sasaki (佐々木 祐, Sasaki Yutaka) from Kobe flew Flight 123 as a training flight as part of his requirements to be promoted to Captain. Sasaki, who was 39 years old at the time of the incident, had approximately 4,000 total flight hours to his credit and he had logged roughly 2,650 hours in the 747.
• Flight Engineer Hiroshi Fukuda (福ç"° 博, Fukuda Hiroshi) from Kyoto, the 46-year-old veteran flight engineer of the flight who had approximately 9,800 total flight hours, of which roughly 3,850 were accrued flying 747s.

Passengers

The flight was around the Obon holiday period in Japan, when many Japanese people make yearly trips to their hometowns or resorts. 299 of the passengers originated from Hyogo Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture in the Kansai region, making up 57% of the passengers.

Around twenty-one non-Japanese boarded the flight. By August 13, 1985, Geoffrey Tudor, a spokesman for Japan Airlines, stated that the list included four residents of Hong Kong, two each from Italy and the United States, and one each from West Germany and the United Kingdom. Some foreigners had dual nationalities, and some of them were residents of Japan.

The four survivors, all female, were seated on the left side and toward the middle of seat rows 54â€"60, in the rear of the aircraft.

The four survivors were:

• Yumi Ochiai (落合 ç"±ç¾Ž, Ochiai Yumi), a 26-year old off-duty JAL flight attendant who was jammed between seats;
• Hiroko Yoshizaki (吉崎 博子, Yoshizaki Hiroko), a 34-year-old woman, and her 8-year-old daughter Mikiko Yoshizaki (吉崎 美紀子, Yoshizaki Mikiko), who were trapped in an intact section of the fuselage;
• Keiko Kawakami (川上 慶子, Kawakami Keiko) a 12-year-old girl, who was found from under the wreckage. Air Disaster Volume 2 stated that she was wedged between branches in a tree. Kawakami's parents and younger sister died in the crash, and she was the last survivor to be released from hospital. She was treated at the Matsue Red Cross Hospital (松江赤十字病院 Matsue SekijÅ«ji Byōin) in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture before her release on Friday, November 22, 1985.

Among the dead were singer Kyu Sakamoto; and Japanese banker Akihisa Yukawa, the father of solo violinist Diana Yukawa.

Sequence of events

The aircraft landed at Haneda from New Chitose Airport at 4:50PM as JL514. After more than an hour on the ramp, Flight 123 pushed back from gate 18 at 6:04 p.m. and took off from Runway 15L at Haneda Airport in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, at 6:12 p.m., twelve minutes behind schedule. About 12 minutes after takeoff, at near cruising altitude over Sagami Bay, the aircraft's aft pressure bulkhead burst open due to a pre-existing defect stemming from a panel that had been incorrectly repaired after a tailstrike accident 7 years earlier. This caused an explosive decompression, causing pressurized air to rush out of the cabin, bringing down the ceiling around the rear lavatories. The compressed air then burst the unpressurized fuselage aft of the bulkhead unseating the vertical stabilizer and severing all four hydraulic lines. A photograph taken from the ground some time later confirmed that the vertical stabilizer was missing. Loss of cabin pressure at high altitude caused a lack of oxygen t hroughout; emergency oxygen masks for passengers were deployed. Flight attendants, including one who was off-duty, administered oxygen to various passengers using hand-held tanks.

The pilots set their transponder to broadcast a distress signal. Tokyo Area Control Center directed the aircraft to descend and follow emergency landing vectors. Because of control problems, Capt. Takahama requested a vector to Haneda, opposing ATC's suggestion to divert to Nagoya Airfield, knowing Haneda was ideally suited for a 747 in case of an emergency.

Hydraulic fluid completely drained away through the rupture. With total loss of hydraulic control and non-functional control surfaces, plus the lack of stabilizing influence from the vertical stabilizer, the aircraft began up and down oscillation in a phugoid cycle. In response, the pilots exerted efforts to establish stability using differential engine thrust. Further measures to exert control, such as lowering the landing gear and flaps, interfered with control by throttle; the aircrew's ability to control the aircraft deteriorated.

Upon descending to 13,500 feet (4100 m), the pilots reported an uncontrollable aircraft. Heading over the Izu Peninsula the pilots turned towards the Pacific Ocean, then back towards the shore; they descended below 7,000 feet (2100 m) before returning to a climb. The aircraft reached 13,000 feet (4000 m) before entering an uncontrollable descent into the mountains and disappearing from radar at 6:56 p.m. at 6,800 feet (2100 m). In the final moments, the wing clipped a mountain ridge. During a subsequent rapid plunge, the plane then slammed into a second ridge, then flipped and landed on its back. The aircraft's crash point, at an elevation of 1,565 metres (5,135 ft), is located in Sector 76, State Forest, 3577 Aza Hontani, Ouaza Narahara, Ueno Village, Tano District, Gunma Prefecture. The east-west ridge is about 2.5 kilometres (8,200 ft) north north west of Mount Mikuni. Ed Magnuson of Time magazine said that the area where the aircraft crashed was refer red to as the "Tibet" of Gunma Prefecture.

The elapsed time from the bulkhead explosion to when the plane hit the mountain was estimated at 32 minutes â€" long enough for some passengers to write farewell messages to their families. Subsequent simulator re-enactments with the mechanical failures suffered by the crashed plane failed to produce a better solution, or outcome; none of the four flight crews in the simulations kept the plane aloft for as long as the 32 minutes achieved by the actual crew.

Delayed rescue operation

United States Air Force controllers at Yokota Air Base situated near the flight path of Flight 123 had been monitoring the distressed aircraft's calls for help. They maintained contact throughout the ordeal with Japanese flight control officials and made their landing strip available to the aeroplane. The Atsugi Naval Base also cleared their runway for JAL 123 after being alerted of the ordeal. After losing track on radar, a U.S. Air Force C-130 from the 345 TAS was asked to search for the missing plane. The C-130 crew was the first to spot the crash site 20 minutes after impact, while it was still daylight. The crew sent the location to Japanese authorities and radioed Yokota Air Base to alert them and directed a Huey helicopter from Yokota to the crash site. Rescue teams were assembled in preparation to lower Marines down for rescues by helicopter tow line. Despite American offers of assistance in locating and recovering the crashed plane, an order arrived, saying that U.S. pers onnel were to stand down and announcing that the Japan Self-Defense Forces were going to take care of it themselves and outside help was not necessary. To this day, it is unclear who issued the order denying U.S. forces permission to begin search and rescue missions.

Although a JSDF helicopter eventually spotted the wreck during the night, poor visibility and the difficult mountainous terrain prevented it from landing at the site. The pilot reported from the air that there were no signs of survivors. Based on this report, JSDF personnel on the ground did not set out to the site the night of the crash. Instead, they were dispatched to spend the night at a makeshift village erecting tents, constructing helicopter landing ramps and engaging in other preparations, all 63 kilometers (39.1 miles) from the wreck. Rescue teams did not set out for the crash site until the following morning. Medical staff later found bodies with injuries suggesting that individuals had survived the crash only to die from shock, exposure overnight in the mountains, or from injuries that, if tended to earlier, would not have been fatal. One doctor said "If the discovery had come ten hours earlier, we could have found more survivors."

Off-duty flight attendant Yumi Ochiai, one of the four survivors out of 524 passengers and crew, recounted from her hospital bed that she recalled bright lights and the sound of helicopter rotors shortly after she awoke amid the wreckage, and while she could hear screaming and moaning from other survivors, these sounds gradually died away during the night.

Cause

The official cause of the crash according to the report published by Japan's Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission is as follows:

• The aircraft was involved in a tailstrike incident at Osaka International Airport seven years earlier as JAL Flight 115, which damaged the aircraft's rear pressure bulkhead.
• The subsequent repair of the bulkhead did not conform to Boeing's approved repair methods. The Boeing technicians fixing the aircraft used two separate splice plates, one with two rows of rivets and one with only one row when the procedure called for one continuous splice plate (essentially a patch or doubler plate) with three rows of rivets to reinforce the damaged bulkhead. The incorrect repair reduced the part's resistance to metal fatigue to about 70% compared to the correctly executed repair. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the one splice plate which was specified for the job was cut into two pieces parallel to the stress crack it was intended to reinforce, "to make it fit". This negated the effectiveness of one of the rows of rivets. During the investigation, Boeing calculated that this incorrect installation would fail after approximately 10,000 pressurization cycles; the aircraft accomplished 12,318 successful flights from the time that the faulty repair was made to when the crash happened.
• When the bulkhead gave way, the resulting explosive decompression ruptured the lines of all four hydraulic systems and ejected the vertical stabilizer. With the aircraft's flight controls disabled, the aircraft became uncontrollable.

Aftermath and legacy

The Japanese public's confidence in Japan Airlines took a dramatic downturn in the wake of the disaster, with passenger numbers on domestic routes dropping by one-third. Rumors persisted that Boeing had admitted fault to cover up shortcomings in the airline's inspection procedures, thus protecting the reputation of a major customer. In the months after the crash, domestic traffic decreased by as much as 25%. In 1986, for the first time in a decade, fewer passengers boarded JAL's overseas flights during the New Year period than the previous year. Some of them considered switching to All Nippon Airways as a safer alternative.

JAL paid ¥780 million (7.6 million USD) to the victims' relatives in the form of "condolence money" without admitting liability. JAL president, Yasumoto Takagi (高木 養根), resigned. Hiroo Tominaga, a JAL maintenance manager, and Susumu Tajima, an engineer who had inspected and cleared the aircraft as flight-worthy, both killed themselves to apologize for the accident.

In 2009, stairs with a handrail were installed to facilitate visitors' access to the crash site. Japan Transport Minister Seiji Maehara visited the site on August 12, 2010, to pray for the victims.

In 2011, British academic Christopher Hood published a book, titled Dealing with Disaster in Japan: Responses to the Flight JL123 Crash, on the crash and its effect on Japanese society.

Japan Airlines no longer uses flight number 123. After September 1, 1985, the flight was changed to Flight 127, now using either Boeing 767 or Boeing 777. Japan Air retired their last Boeing 747 on March 1, 2011, ending 41 years of service with the airliner.

Families of the victims, together with local volunteer groups, hold an annual memorial gathering every August 12 near the crash site in Gunma Prefecture.

The crash also led to the 2006 opening of the Safety Promotion Center. It is located in the Daini Sogo Building on the grounds of Haneda Airport. This center was created for training purposes to alert employees of the importance of airline safety and their personal responsibility to ensure safety. The center, which has displays regarding aviation safety, the history of the crash, and selected pieces of the aircraft and passenger effects (including handwritten farewell notes), is also open to the public by appointment made one day prior to the visit.

The captain's daughter, Yoko Takahama, who was a high school student at the time of the crash, went on to become a flight attendant for Japan Airlines.

In popular culture

• Japan Airlines Flight 123 is featured in the TV series Mayday (called Air Emergency or Air Disasters in the U.S. and Air Crash Investigation in other countries outside Canada) 3rd-season episode 3 "Out of Control (2005) (Japanese title "Osutaka-no-One (御巣鷹の尾根)")". This episode was also shown as Season 6 Episode 3 on the Smithsonian Channel. The crash also featured in the second series of Aircrash Confidential in programme 5 about 'Poor Maintenance' first aired on March 15, 2012 on the Discovery Channel in the United Kingdom. The Seconds From Disaster episode "Terrified over Tokyo" featured the accident in December 2012.
• Climber's High was released in 2008. This film is based on the novel by Hideo Yokoyama. The novel and film revolve around the reporting of the crash at the fictional Kita-Kanto Shimbun. Yokoyama was a journalist at the Jōmō Shimbun at the time of the crash.
• In 2009, Shizumanu Taiyō, starring Ken Watanabe, was released to national distribution in Japan. The film, which does not mention JAL by name, instead using the name "National Airlines", gives a semi-fictional account of internal airline corporate disputes and politics surrounding the crash. JAL did not cooperate with the making of the film. JAL criticized the film, saying that it "not only damages public trust in the company but could lead to a loss of customers."
• The cockpit voice recording of the incident also became part of the script of a play called Charlie Victor Romeo.
• A fragment of the flight recorder of the Japanese Boeing 747 disaster is recorded on the "0-Track" of the German band Rammstein on their 2004 album Reise, Reise.

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Seattleâ€"Tacoma International Airport (IATA: SEA, ICAO: KSEA, FAA LID: SEA) (Sea-Tac Airport or Sea-Tac) /ˈsiːtæk/ is the largest airport in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is in the eponymous city of SeaTac, Washington, about twelve miles south of downtown Seattle and is the primary airport for the Seattle metropolitan area .

The airport has flights to cities throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It is the main hub for Alaska Airlines and its regional subsidiary Horizon Air, whose headquarters are near the airport. It is a hub and international gateway to Asia and Europe for Delta Air Lines, which has expanded at Sea-Tac since 2011.

In 2016, the airport served over 45 million passengers. It is categorized in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2015â€"2019 as a primary commercial service (large hub) airport based on 16,121,123 enplanements in 2012. The airport is the largest generator of vehicle trips in the state, and its 13,000-car parking garage is North America's largest parking structure under one roof.

History

The airport was built by the Port of Seattle in 1944 after the U.S. military took control of Boeing Field in World War II. The Port received $1 million from the Civil Aeronautics Administration to build the airport and $100,000 from the City of Tacoma. The first scheduled airline flights were Northwest and Trans-Canada in 1947; Western and United moved from Boeing Field in the next couple of years, and Pan Am moved in 1952â€"53, but West Coast as well as successors Air West and Hughes Airwest stayed at Boeing Field until 1971.

In June 1951 there were four runways at 45-degree angles, between 5,000 and 6,100 feet (1,500 and 1,900 m) long; the northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast runways intersected just west of the north-south runway that eventually became today's runway 34R. Runway 34 was lengthened to 7500 ft in 1951, to 8500 ft by 1958 and to 11900 ft by 1962. Runway 34L replaced runway 2 around 1970.

The April 1957 OAG shows 216 departures a week on United, 80 Northwest, 35 Western, 21 Trans-Canada, 20 Pan Am, 20 Pacific Northern and 10 Alaska. The first jet flights were Pan Am 707s to Honolulu via Portland (OR) in late 1959. In 1966 Scandinavian Airlines began the airport's first non-stop route to mainland Europe (Pan Am nonstops to London began around 1961). The first concourse opened in July 1959.

The two-story North Concourse (later dubbed Concourse D) added four gate positions and a new wing 600 feet (180 m) long and 30 feet (9.1 m) wide. The one-story South Concourse (now Concourse A) opened in 1961, adding another 688 feet (210 m) to the length of the airport. The 800-foot (240 m) long Concourse B opened in December 1964. It added eight gate positions, bringing the total to 19, a 12,000 square feet (1,100 m²) area housing international arrivals and the offices of U.S. Customs, Immigration, Public Health and the Department of Agriculture. Concourse C opened in July 1966. Just four years later, it was extended to include another 10 gates, bringing the total to 35. The Port embarked on a major expansion plan, designed by The Richardson Associates and lasting from 1967 to 1973, adding a second runway, a parking garage, two satellite terminals and other improvements. In 1973, $28-million new terminal was built over and around the 1949 structure; the new termi nal quadrupled the area for public use. On July 1, 1973, the Airport opened two new satellite terminals, along with an underground train system to connect them to the Main Terminal. In the mid-1980s, the Main Terminal was renovated and another 150 feet (46 m) was added to the north end. Concourse D was expanded in 1987 with a rotunda that added four new gates. In 1993, Concourses B, C and D were renovated. The project, designed by NBBJ, included the addition of 150,000 square feet (14,000 m²) and the renovation of 170,000 square feet (16,000 m²) of space in Concourses B, C and D. On June 15, 2004, the 2,102-foot (641 m) new Concourse A was unveiled with 14 new gates, a dozen new restaurants, new artwork and the airport's first moving sidewalks.

Residents of the surrounding area filed lawsuits against the Port in the early 1970s, complaining of noise, vibration, smoke and other problems. The Port and the government of King County adopted the Sea-Tac Communities Plan in 1976 to address problems and guide future development. The Port spent more than $100 million over the next decade to buy homes and school buildings in the vicinity, and soundproof others nearby. In the mid-1980s, the airport participated in the airport noise-compatibility program initiated by Congress in 1979. Airport-noise contours were developed, real estate was purchased and some homes were retrofitted to achieve noise mitigation.

In 1978 the U.S. ended airline regulation, and U.S. airlines were allowed to determine routes and fares without government approval. Deregulation resulted in new service to Seattle, including from TWA, then the fourth-largest U.S. airline, as well as Delta, National, and American.

After the death of U.S. Senator Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson in 1983, the Seattle Port Commission voted to change the name of the airport to Henry M. Jackson International Airport. Denizens of Tacoma interpreted the change as an insult to their communityâ€"the second time in the airport's history that the port authorities had attempted to remove "Tacoma" from the name. The $100,000 that Tacoma had provided for the airport's construction during World War II had come with an explicit promise that the city would be included in the airport's name. The controversy was resolved after polls of Seattle and Tacoma area residents indicated their preference for the original name by margins as much as 5:1. Helen Jackson, the widow of the late Senator Henry M. Jackson, expressed her desire that their family remain neutral in the debate. With a 3â€"2 vote of the Port of Seattle Commission, the name was reverted to Sea-Tac in early 1984.

In the late 1980s the Port of Seattle and a council representing local county governments considered the future of air traffic in the region and predicted that airport could reach capacity by 2000. The planning committee concluded in 1992 that the best solution was to add a third runway to the airport and construct a supplemental two-runway airport in one of the neighboring counties. Members of the community opposed a third runway, as did the Highline School District and the cities of Des Moines, Burien, Federal Way, Tukwila and Normandy Park, but a 1994 study concluded there were no feasible sites for an additional airport. The Port of Seattle approved a plan for the new runway in 1996, prompting a lawsuit from opponents. The Port secured the necessary permits by agreeing to noise reduction programs and environmental protections. Runway opponents appealed these permits, but dropped their challenges in 2004.

The new 3rd runway opened on November 20, 2008, with a construction cost of $1.1 billion. Parallel to the existing two, the new runway is 2500 ft west of runway 34R, allowing landings on both in times of low visibility. The older runways are 800 ft apart, too close to allow use of both in low visibility.

Operations

The three parallel runways run nearly northâ€"south, west of the passenger terminal and are 8,500 to 11,900 feet (2,600â€"3,600 m) long. In 2008 the airport averaged 946 aircraft operations per day, 89% being commercial flights, 10% air taxi operations and 1% transient general aviation.

A new control tower was built beginning in 2001 and opened November 2004, at a cost of $26 million. The floor of the new tower's control cab is 233 ft (71 m) above ground level; the tower's overall height including antennas is 269 ft (82 m). The cab has 850 sq ft (79 m²) of space and was designed to support operation by ten controllers, with possible future expansion up to 15. The site and construction method of the tower were designed to maximize visibility and efficacy of radar systems. The airport's original control tower, built in the 1950s, is now located in the airport's passenger terminal and used as a ramp control tower, after being repaired from damages caused by the Nisqually earthquake in 2001.

A recurring problem at the airport is misidentification of the westernmost taxiway, Taxiway Tango, as a runway. A large "X" has been placed at the north end of the taxiway, but a number of aircraft have landed on the taxiway. The FAA issued an alert notice dated from August 27, 2009, to September 24, 2009, urging airplanes about taking precautions such as REILs and other visual cues while landing from the north.

In 2007 the airport became the first airport to implement an avian radar system providing 24-hour monitoring of wildlife activity across the airfield. This pilot program, designed and implemented with the assistance of the University of Illinois Center of Excellence for Airport Technology (CEAT), was designed to decrease potentially fatal incidents involving collisions with birds and to provide a test bed for implementation of the technology in the US which was expected to begin in 2009. The technology is part of a strategy to reduce the presence of wildlife on the airfield.

Threatened Southwest Airlines switch

Citing increased landing fees and other costs due to the work at the airport, Southwest Airlines threatened in 2005 to move to nearby Boeing Field. This plan ran into several problems. Boeing Field is a public airport and each airline would have to have equal access, requiring more capacity than available on the airport's single runway suitable for large airplanes. (Boeing Field has a parallel, smaller runway used by smaller aircraft.) Major renovations would have been required. While Southwest did indicate willingness to pay for upgrades, there were problems with the transportation infrastructure around Boeing Field, which was not designed to handle traffic in and out of a major passenger airport. It eventually became clear that Southwest Airlines would not fund the necessary transportation improvements and the plan was rejected by King County Executive Ron Sims. Furthermore, there were concerns that the high costs of operating the Seattleâ€"Tacoma International A irport would be increased even further if some airline service were moved to Boeing Field, which was expected to be less expensive to operate for the airlines.

Increased Delta Air Lines presence

In mid-2014, Delta Air Lines announced plans to rapidly expand Seattle into a transpacific hub. Since then, Delta has added numerous flights to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, London and dozens of domestic flights to feed those services. By December, Delta expects to offer 95 flights to 33 destinations from Seattle. By the third quarter of 2014, Delta hopes to be the airport's largest sole source of revenue. Delta's increased presence in Seattle has been seen by some industry analysts as a response to United's transpacific hub at San Francisco International Airport. Other analysts speculate that this growth also results from Delta's disenchantment with its Tokyoâ€"Narita hub, citing Japan's diminishing importance in light of the boom in Chinese international travel and the lack of a Japanese partner airline.

Delta's rapid expansion at Seattleâ€"Tacoma International Airport has created some controversy. Many of the new domestic services Delta started offering from Seattle to boost traffic to international flights encroach on routes that Alaska Airlines, a long-time partner of Delta, have historically operated. Additionally, Delta is currently seeking a total of 30 gates at Seattle/Tacoma, nearly triple its current 11 gates, to accommodate its planned growth. As an interim solution to overcrowding, the Port of Seattle has announced the North Sea-Tac Airport Renovation project (NorthSTAR). By 2020, the North Satellite will be expanded by over 240 feet, increasing the terminal's square footage by 181,000 feet and increasing the gate count from 12 to 20.

"We’re making good progress on our discussion to upgrade the facility and to turn Seattle into a huge international gateway for Delta," Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said on a recorded message to employees. President Ed Bastian, in 2014's third quarter earnings call, stated that Delta's decision to cut seats in Cincinnati and Memphis have been producing solid results. "Seattle’s domestic performance has significantly exceeded our expectations as unit revenues increased 6 percent on a 25 percent increase in capacity, driving margin improvements year-over-year," Bastian said. Seattle airport spokesman Perry Cooper has also stated that Delta currently plans to operate around 150 flights a day by 2017. This would require 19 or 20 gates, assuming the airline will operate eight flights a day from each gate. Cooper speculates that if Delta takes on 30 gates, over 240 flights a day could be operated. Ultimately, the success of Delta's growth in Seattle relies on the Port of Seattle's decisions regarding further terminal expansions and gate allocation, which is currently assigned to airlines according to a formula that utilizes their number of outbound flights.

Terminals

The airport has a Central Terminal building, which was renovated and expanded in 2003. This project was designed by Curtis W. Fentress, FAIA, RIBA of Fentress Architects. The airport also has four concourses (A, B, C, D) and two Satellite Terminals (North and South). The satellite terminals are connected to the central terminal by an underground people mover system made by Bombardier. There are five security checkpoints at Sea-Tac but one is only used for cruise passengers during peak periods. Once through security, passengers have access to all gates.

Central Terminal

• Concourse A has 14 gates (A1â€"A14)
• Concourse B has 13 gates (B1, B3â€"B12, B14â€"B15)
• Concourse C has
  • 7 gates (C3, C9, C11, C15, C17â€"C18, C20)
  • 15 parking slips (Q1-Q8, Q10, Q12, Q13-Q16, Q18)
• Concourse D has 10 gates (D1â€"D5, D7â€"D11) (D6 was removed to create space for American Boeing 757 operations at D7).

North Satellite Terminal

• The North Satellite has 12 gates (N1â€"N3, N6â€"N11, N14â€"N16)
• 3 Parking Slips (N12Aâ€"N12C)

South Satellite Terminal

• The South Satellite has
  • 13 gates (S1â€"S12, S15)
  • 1 parking slip (S1A)
  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities for international arrivals.

Airlines and destinations

Note: All international arrivals (except flights from cities with customs preclearance) are handled at the South Satellite Terminal, regardless of their departure terminal.

Passenger

Cargo

Other

• Kenmore Air
• Omni Air International

Statistics

Top destinations

Airline market share

Annual traffic

Ground transportation and access

Interstate 5 and Interstate 405 converge near the airport, with an easy connection to the airport via State Route 518. The airport offers on-site parking in a 13,000-space garage; numerous off-site parking facilities are located near the airport.

Public transportation

Seattle's Central Link light rail line serves the airport at the SeaTac/Airport Station with frequent service to downtown Seattle and the University of Washington. The station opened on December 19, 2009, and is connected to the airport terminal via a pedestrian bridge to the airport parking garage. Another pedestrian bridge over International Boulevard is used to access the city of Seatac, nearby airport hotels, and King County Metro buses including RapidRide A Line. A 1.6-mile extension of the Link line south to Angle Lake Station at South 200th Street opened on September 24, 2016.

Tukwila Station, which is approximately 5 miles east of the airport, is served by Sounder commuter rail and Amtrak Cascades regional inter-city rail with service north to Vancouver, Canada, and service south to Portland and Eugene in Oregon. This station can be reached in less than 20 minutes via the Central Link light-rail transferring at Tukwila International Boulevard station to RapidRide F Line bus service.

The airport is also served both by the King County Metro bus system and Sound Transit regional express buses. Taxis (exclusively serviced by Yellow Cab), rental cars and door-to-door shuttle service (serviced by Shuttle Express) are available. All public transit services are located at the end of baggage claim, next to door 00. Bellair Charters also services Yakima and Bellingham. Free parking for the first thirty minutes was discontinued in the mid-1990s.

There is also a scheduled bus service to downtown Vancouver, Canada, through Quick Shuttle, with other pick-up stops at downtown Seattle, Bellingham International Airport, and drop-off stops just inside the Canadianâ€"U.S. boundary and at the Vancouver International Airport.

Rental car facility

A 23-acre (9.3 ha) rental car facility opened on May 17, 2012. The facility is located at the northeastern portion of the airport at the intersection of South 160th Street and International Boulevard South. The facility has 5,400 parking spaces and can handle up to 14,000 transactions per day. After the opening of the facility, 3,200 parking spaces in the central parking structure were opened up for general use. Passengers reach the facility on a five-minute trip aboard one of 29 Gillig CNG buses. Previously, only Alamo, Avis, Sixt, Budget, Hertz and National had cars on site; Advantage, Dollar, Enterprise, Thrifty, EZ Rent-A-Car and Fox Rent A Car ran shuttles to off-site locations. Payless Car Rental now has a presence. Customers of Rent-a-Wreck must ride the shuttle to the facility and then board one of the company's shuttles to Rent-a-Wreck's office.

The facility was originally scheduled to open in spring 2011. However, construction was suspended on December 15, 2008, by vote of the Port of Seattle Commission and did not begin again until June 2009.

Live music

In 2013, SeaTac launched a program centered around the local music scene, giving local musicians the opportunity to perform in different locations throughout the airport. It has since become a near-daily staple for Seattle-area musicians. The airport hosts an additional 30 entertainers on site along with the daily music program during the Christmas holiday season.

Future development

The South Satellite Terminal has reached its maximum capacity for handling international passengers in terms of immigration check stands as well as customs declaration. The existing facility is used to its full potential yet it continues to be packed with people arriving. Plans have been made for major expansions, such as adding two new baggage claims, as well as increasing from 20 to 30 immigration inspection booths. There is no certainty right now, but there is a plan for a skybridge or tunnel over to the main terminal at Concourse A where passengers will use a new international arrivals area. This is a possible solution to the double claim problem for baggage as well.

The North Satellite Renovation Plan (NorthSTAR)

The North Satellite Terminal has only received limited upgrades and is in need of modernization. The NorthSTAR renovation project includes The North Satellite terminal renovation and several other projects including main terminal improvements, refurbished north satellite baggage systems, and new exterior walkways, stairs and elevators.

Accidents and incidents

• November 30, 1947: Alaska Airlines Flight 9, a Douglas C-54A en route to Seattle from Anchorage, Alaska, landed in heavy fog and damp conditions after failed attempts at nearby Boeing Field and Paine Field in Everett. The plane touched down 2,748 ft (838 m) beyond the approach area to Runway 20 and sped onto a nearby road, colliding with an automobile and bursting into flames. Nine fatalities resulted from the accident, including a blind woman riding in the car.
• April 2, 1956: Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser headed to Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon and points east, experienced reduced power and extreme buffeting shortly after take-off due to an improper setting of the airplane's cowl flaps by the flight engineer. Plans were initially made to land at McChord Air Force Base, but the pilot was forced to make a water landing in Puget Sound east of Maury Island. The plane sank within 15 minutes. Five of the 38 on board died.
• November 24, 1971: Northwest Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 flying to Sea-Tac from Portland International Airport, was hijacked by a man calling himself "Dan Cooper," later misidentified by the press as "D. B. Cooper." Cooper released the passengers after landing in exchange for $200,000 and four parachutes, ordered the plane back into the air and jumped out over Southwest Washington with the money. To this day, neither Cooper nor most of the $200,000 have been found.
• January 20, 1983: Northwest Airlines Flight 608, a Boeing 727 flying from Sea-Tac to Portland, was hijacked. The man told a flight attendant that he had a bomb and demanded to be taken to Afghanistan. Federal agents stormed the plane after it landed in Portland for refueling. The hijacker was killed and the box he carried revealed no explosives.
• April 15, 1988: Horizon Air Flight 2658, a twin-engine de Havilland Canada Dash-8 departing for the Spokane International Airport, experienced a power loss in the number two engine shortly after takeoff. While the crew lowered the gear for landing as they returned to the airport, a massive fire broke out in the right engine nacelle, resulting in a loss of braking and directional control. After touchdown, the aircraft veered off the runway and crossed the ramp, colliding with two jetways before coming to a stop against a third. The aircraft was destroyed by fire on impact. Four of the 37 passengers were seriously injured, but there were no fatalities.

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Air Pacific Limited, trading as Fiji Airways (and formerly as Air Pacific), is the flag carrier airline of Fiji. It is based in Nadi and operates international and domestic services to 10 countries and 17 cities around the Pacific Ocean, including Oceania, the United States and Hong Kong. Fiji Airways annually transports almost two-thirds of the visitors to the country.

The first commercial flight as Fiji Airways was made in 1951 but the airline's origins date back to Katafaga Estates Ltd. formed in 1947. After being acquired by Qantas in 1958, Katafaga Estates was retooled as a regional airline and renamed Air Pacific. In May 2012, MD/CEO David Pflieger announced that as the final part of the airline’s successful turnaround, the airline would be returning to its former name of Fiji Airways to reinforce its role as the national airline of Fiji. The Fiji government owns 52% of the airline and Qantas 46%, with the governments of several Pacific island nations holding the remainder. The airline plans to replace five of its older Boeing 737s with Boeing's newest 737 MAX 8s upon delivery in 2018, at a cost of about US$110 million each. Two of the new Boeings are scheduled to arrive in 2018, and the remainder the following year. The planes are intended for Fiji Airways' regional services to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Isl ands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

History

Origins

The airline was founded by Australian aviator Harold Gatty who in 1931 had been the navigator on a record-breaking round-the-world flight with Wiley Post. Gatty moved to Fiji after World War II and registered the airline in 1947 as Katafaga Estates Ltd., after the coconut estate Gatty had established on Fiji's eastern island group. Gatty renamed the airline as Fiji Airways in September 1951. The New Zealander Fred Ladd was Fiji Airways' first Chief Pilot.

Air Pacific

After Gatty's death in 1958, Fiji Airways was acquired by Qantas. Initially, Qantas tried to create international support for a multinational, shared, regional airline. By 1966 Fiji Airways's shareholders included the governments of Tonga, Western Samoa, Nauru, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.

After Fiji gained independence from Great Britain in 1970, the new national government began buying shares and the airline was renamed Air Pacific to reflect its regional presence.

By the early 1970s, seven Pacific island governments, some still under British rule at the time, held shares in Air Pacific, in addition to shares held by Qantas, TEAL (now Air New Zealand) and the British Overseas Airways Corporation (later merged to form British Airways). However, the regional airline idea lost support as some of the shareholding Pacific island governments sold their shares and created their own national airlines.

In the 1970s, tourism became the nation's leading industry, which made the airline even more important to the Fijian economy; and the government of Fiji acquired a controlling interest in Air Pacific in 1974. In 1981, the New York Times published an article that included details on the Fiji government's plan to buy out more shareholders in order to gain more control of Air Pacific as the national airline. However, the airline received no subsidies from the government and had to buy its own aircraft.

In the 1990s the airline relocated its headquarters from the capital city of Suva to the coastal town of Nadi where the main international airport is located. The company also constructed an elaborate aircraft maintenance center there. In 2007, Air Pacific acquired Sun Air, a domestic airline, renamed it Pacific Sun and began operations as Air Pacific's domestic and regional subsidiary. In May 2012, Managing Director & CEO Dave Pflieger announced that the airline, which was completing a successful turnaround that included restructuring and re-fleeting, would be re-branded as “Fiji Airways” to help enhance sales and marketing of the airline and the south pacific island nation. In June 2014, Pacific Sun was rebranded to Fiji Link.

Flight history

Fiji Airways' first flight was on 1 September 1951, when a seven-seater de Havilland Dragon Rapide biplane departed Suva's Nausori Airport for Drasa Airport near Lautoka, on the west coast of the main island. The airline's first international flight to Brisbane, Australia was on 1 June 1973.

In 1983 it started flights to the USA with a route to Honolulu called “Project America.”

In December 2009, Air Pacific commenced a twice weekly service to Hong Kong, which was increased to three services in January 2014. In July 2010 Air Pacific announced a new Suva-Auckland service.

Today, the airline and its domestic/regional subsidiary, Fiji Link, operate over 400 flights a week to almost 15 cities in 10 countries around the world.

Fleet history

In the beginning Fiji Airways used small de Havilland Dragon Rapide and de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover aircraft. The fleet grew to include two ATR 42 turboprops and two leased jets, a Boeing 747 and a Boeing 767. By the late 1990s, the fleet included both Boeing 737 and 767 jets, while the ATR 42 turboprops were used on flights to neighboring islands.

The 2000 Fijian coup d'état devastated the country's tourism industry and overall economy, which led to a substantial decrease in travel to Fiji. Faced with a falloff in air traffic, Air Pacific returned one of its two leased Boeing 747s.

In April 2011, Air Pacific announced that it had cancelled its order of eight Boeing 787-9s due to delivery delays of almost four years by Boeing. In October 2011, Air Pacific announced that it had ordered three Airbus A330-200s.

In March 2013 the company received its first “Fiji Airways” re-branded Airbus A330. It was christened The Island of Taveuni and had its first flight to Auckland on 2 April. Today the fleet includes three Airbus A330-200s, one Airbus A330-300, four Boeing 737-800s and one Boeing 737-700. Fiji Link operates with two ATR 72-600, an ATR 42-600 and three de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft.

Partnerships

In conjunction with Qantas, Air Pacific helped pioneer the concept of codeshare agreements in the early 1980s. Today, codesharing is an accepted airline practice the world over. In the 1990s Air Pacific signed a codeshare agreement with Canadian Airlines, allowing it to transport traffic from Toronto on to Auckland, New Zealand. Soon after it struck a codeshare deal with American Airlines. As of 2014 Fiji Airways partners with Qantas, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Solomon Airlines.

Qantas, which owned less than 20% of Air Pacific at the time, began a ten-year management contract with the airline in 1985 to help reverse the financial losses the company was struggling with. In 1986, Air Pacific posted a profit of nearly $100,000. In 1987 Qantas paid a reported $3.5 million for a 20 percent stake in Air Pacific. Qantas raised its equity from 17.45 percent to 46 percent in 1998.

On 25 January 1995 Air Pacific and the then Royal Tongan Airlines began a joint leasing of aircraft. The concept came complete with the livery of the two airlines painted on each side of the Boeing 737-300 fuselage.

Fiji Airways has a subsidiary airline Fiji Link (formerly Pacific Sun) that offers domestic flights and flights to the nearby islands of Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Fiji Airways is also a partner with the frequent flyer programmes of Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Qantas.

Rebranding

In May 2012, the airline announced that it would be rebranding and revert to its original name of Fiji Airways, with the rebranding coinciding with the delivery of the A330 aircraft in 2013. Fiji Airways' new brandmark, a "Masi symbol that epitomises Fiji and enhances the new name of Fiji's national carrier", was announced by Managing Director & CEO Dave Pflieger on 17 August 2012. The design was created by local Fijian Masi artist, Makereta Matemosi. The airline's new brand identity and colour scheme were fully revealed by the CEO and Prime Minister of Fiji at a formal red-carpet, black-tie event in Suva on 10 October 2012, in conjunction with Fiji Day.

The rebranding to Fiji Airways officially took place on 27 June 2013. The name change aimed to associate the airline more closely with the nation and to be more visible in search results. In China, the name Air Pacific was often confused with Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific, Philippine airline Cebu Pacific and a Chinese air conditioning company. With the rebranding came a name change for the airline's booking classes. The Pacific Voyager (economy) and Tabua Class (business) of Air Pacific became the Fiji Airways' Economy and Fiji Airways' Business Class. The airline also launched a new website with the rebranding.

Corporate affairs

Ownership and structure

Fiji Airways is part of the Air Pacific Group (which includes the national airline, its wholly owned subsidiary Fiji Link, and a 38.75% stake in the Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa on Denarau Island). The Air Pacific Group itself is owned by the Fijian government (51%), the Australian flag-carrier Qantas (46.32%), and Air New Zealand and the governments of Kiribati, Tonga, Nauru and Samoa each hold minor stakes.

Business trends

The airline was largely profitable from 1995 to 2004, but suffered back-to-back record losses of FJ$5.2 million for fiscal year 2008/2009 and FJ$65.3 million for 2009/2010. In early 2010 a new MD/CEO, Dave Pflieger, was recruited to turn the airline around and restore it to profitability. Having successfully accomplished that task and ensuring the airline was extremely well positioned for future success and increasing profitability, Pflieger returned to the United States at the end of his contract with the airline in the third quarter of 2013. Stefan Pichler was selected as the airline's new MD/CEO and assumed his role in September 2013.

The key trends for Fiji Airways, and the overall Group (including Fiji Link operations), are shown below (as at year ending 31 March until March 2013; year ending 31 December thereafter):

Destinations

Fiji Airways serves 24 direct-flight destinations in the Pacific Ocean region.

Codeshare agreements

Fiji Airways codeshares with the following airlines:

Fleet

Current fleet

The Fiji Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of November 2016):

Historical fleet

Former aircraft include examples of the Boeing 777 (on wet lease), Boeing 767, Boeing 747, de Havilland Dragon Rapide, de Havilland Heron, Douglas DC-3, BAC One-Eleven, Hawker Siddeley HS 748 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. Known details include:

References

External links

• Official website
• Official website at the Wayback Machine

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Flight Deck is a steel inverted roller coaster located at California's Great America in Northern California. Built by Bolliger & Mabillard, Flight Deck made its debut March 19, 1993 as Top Gun. This was Bolliger & Mabillard's second inverted coaster behind Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Great America. The third inverted coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard opened a little under two months later at Six Flags Great Adventure. Flight Deck at California's Great America isn't quite as tall, nor as fast or long (in length) as its partner, Afterburn at Carowinds.

Flight Deck was also featured in a commercial for Excedrin in 2007.

History

The Park opened the ride in 1993 as the first custom B&M Invert. The roller coaster opened as Top Gun. The color scheme when it opened was all black. In 2008, the name has changed to Flight Deck and in 2014, the color scheme changed to red track and white supports, possibly to support Levi's Stadium.

Ride experience

The ride begins with a small right-hand turn followed by the lift hill. The drop at the top of the hill begins with a sharp left turn. After the drop, there is a vertical loop. The ride then performs a 3/4 turn to the right followed by a Heartline Spin. There are a couple mild turns. After this, there is a small drop immediately followed by a corkscrew loop and a Flat Spin over a nearby pond . The ride features another 3/4 turn, this time to the left. Finally, the train turns right into the loading station.

Ride elements

• Vertical Loop
• Heartline Spin
• Flat Spin/Wing Over

References

External links

• Official page

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Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills.

Flight training consists of a combination of flight lessons given in the aircraft or a simulator and ground school, where theory is learned in preparation for the written examinations.

Although there are various types of aircraft, many of the principles of piloting them have common techniques, especially those aircraft which are heavier than air types.

In addition to providing flight instructors, flight schools commonly rent aircraft to the students.

The oldest flight training school still in existence is the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) Central Flying School formed in May 1912 at Upavon, United Kingdom. The oldest civil flight school still active in the world is based in Germany at the Wasserkuppe. It was founded as "Mertens Fliegerschule". Its current name is "Fliegerschule Wasserkuppe".

Type conversion

A type conversion, commonly known throughout Australia and Europe as an endorsement, or in the United States as a "type rating", is the process undertaken by a pilot to update their license to allow them to fly a different type of aircraft.

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A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is the member of an aircraft's flight crew who monitors and operates its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referred to as the "air mechanic". Flight engineers can still be found on some larger fixed-wing airplanes, and rotary wing helicopters. A similar crew position exists on some spacecraft. For U.S. civilian aircraft that require a flight engineer as part of the crew, the FE must possess an FAA Flight Engineer Certificate with reciprocating, turboprop, or turbojet ratings appropriate to the aircraft. Whereas the four-engine Douglas DC-4 did not require an FE, the FAA type certificates of subsequent four-engine rec iprocating engine airplanes (DC-6, DC-7, Constellation, Boeing 307 and 377) and early three- and four-engine jets (Boeing 707, 727, early 747, DC-10) required flight engineers. Later three- and four-engine jets (MD-11, B-747-400 and later) were designed with sufficient automation to eliminate the position.

Not all large aircraft were designed and built with a flight engineer's position, and in many, if not most modern aircraft, their complex systems are both monitored and adjusted by electronic microprocessors and computers, resulting in the elimination of the flight engineer's position.

History

Historically, as airplanes became ever larger requiring more engines and complex systems to operate, the workload on two pilots became excessive during certain critical parts of the flight regimes, particularly takeoffs and landings. Piston engines on an airplane required a great deal of attention throughout the flight with their multitude of gauges and indicators. Inattention or a missed indication could result in engine or propeller failure, and quite possibly cause the loss of the aircraft if prompt corrective action was not taken.

In order to dedicate a person to monitoring the aircraft's engines and its other critical flight systems, the position of "flight engineer" (FE) was created. The FE did not actually fly the airplane; instead, the FE's position had a specialized control panel allowing for the monitoring and control of various aircraft systems. The FE is therefore an integrated member of the flight deck crew who works in close coordination with the two pilots during all phases of flight.

Traditionally, the FE station has been usually placed on the main flight deck just aft of the pilot and copilot. Earlier referred to as a "flight mechanic" on the four-engine commercial seaplanes like the Sikorsky S-42, Martin M-130 and the Boeing 314 Clipper, the FE's role was referred to as an "engineer" (much like a ship's engineer) on the first very large flying boat, the Dornier Do X. On the Do X the FE operated a large and complex engineering station similar to later large transport aircraft to monitor the twelve engines.

The first commercial land airplane to include a flight engineering station was the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, but only ten were built before the onset of World War II. During the war the Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax bombers employed FEs, as these large aircraft employed only a single pilot. The first Allied military operation during the Second World War involving FEs occurred in February 1941 with a Short Stirling; it was the first four-engined bomber-raid of the war by the RAF.

Duties

The flight engineer ("air engineer" in the Royal Air Force) is primarily concerned with the operation and monitoring of all aircraft systems, and is required to diagnose, and where possible rectify or eliminate, any faults that may arise. On most multi-engine airplanes, the FE sets and adjusts engine power during take off, climb, cruise, go-arounds, or at any time the pilot flying requests a specific power setting to be set during the approach phase. The FE sets and monitors major systems, including fuel, pressurization and air conditioning, hydraulic, electrics (engine driven generators, auxiliary power units), gas turbine compressor/air turbine motor (APU, GTC, ATM), ice and rain protection (engine and nacelle anti-ice, window heat, probe heater), oxygen, fire and overheat protection of all systems, liquid cooling system (Boeing E-3), draw through cooling system (Boeing E-3), forced air cooling system (Boeing E-3), and powered flying controls.

FEs are also responsible for preflight and postflight aircraft inspections, and ensuring that the weight and balance of the aircraft is correctly calculated to ensure the centre of gravity is within limits. On airplanes where the FE's station is located on the same flight deck just aft of the two pilots (all western three- and four-man deck airplanes), they also monitor an aircraft's flight path, speed, and altitude. A significant portion of their time is spent cross checking pilot selections. The FE is the systems expert of the airplane with an extensive mechanical and technical knowledge of aircraft systems and aircraft performance. On some military airplanes (Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, Boeing E-3 Sentry, McDonnell Douglas KC-10) the FE sits behind the co-pilot in the cockpit, facing outboard to operate a panel of switches, gauges and indicators or forward to operate throttles, lighting controls, flight controls. On the Tupolev Tu-134 the FE sits in the nose of the aircraft. On other western military airplanes, such as on the Lockheed P-3 Orion and Lockheed C-130H Hercules, FEs sit between, slightly aft of (and, in the case of the C-130A-H models, slightly higher than) the pilots. On the P-3 Orion and E-3 Sentry the FE is responsible for starting and shutting down engines at the start and end of each flight, and also during in-flight shutdowns which are carried out to save fuel on long range operations. In some militaries, the aircraft's FE is also authorised to make and certify repairs to the aircraft when it is away from its base. This can eliminate the need for technical repair crews to accompany the aircraft on short deployments.

On civilian airplanes the FE is positioned so that he or she can monitor the forward instruments, pilot selections and adjust the thrust levers located on the centre pedestal; the FE's chair can travel forward and aft and it can swivel laterally 90 degrees, which enables him or her to face forward and set the engine power, then move aft and rotate sideways to monitor and set the systems panel. The FE is the aircraft systems expert onboard and responsible for troubleshooting and suggesting solutions to in-flight emergencies and abnormal technical conditions, as well as computing takeoff and landing data. The FE's seat on modern aircraft has a complete range of motion (side to side, forward to aft, swivel, up and down) to accommodate the many positions required to monitor and operate the aircraft systems.

The basic philosophy of a three-person flight deck in many flight operations, should an abnormality or emergency arise, is for the captain to hand over the actual flying of the aircraft to the first officer (co-pilot). The captain and FE together review and carry out the necessary actions required to contain and rectify the problem. This spreads the workload and ensures a system of cross-checking which maximizes safety. The captain is the manager and decision maker (pilot not flying, PNF), the first officer, or co-pilot, is the actual flier of the aircraft (pilot flying, PF), and the FE reads the check-lists and executes actions required under the auspices of the cptain. There can be occasions when the roles of the pilots during an emergency are reversed, i.e. the copilot becomes the PNF and the captain becomes the PF; one such example was on the A300 B-Series aircraft when there was a complete loss of generator-supplied electrical power, whereupon the standby instruments that wer e powered were on the captain's side only, requiring the captain to be PF and the PNF and FE to resolve the issue.

During World War II many U.S. bomber aircraft incorporated a flight engineer's position. However, this position also doubled as a gunner, usually operating the upper turret, as was the case of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. On some commercial airliners with a flight engineer, the FE is the third in command, after the captain and first officer.

Elimination

Starting in the 1980s, the development of powerful and small integrated circuits and other advances in computers and digital technology eliminated the need for flight engineers on airliners and many modern military aircraft. Some of the last aircraft built with FE stations were early-production Boeing 767s, Tupolev Tu-154s, and military variants of the Boeing 707, such as the E-3 Sentry and E-6 Mercury.

On two-pilot flight deck airplanes, sensors and computers monitor and adjust systems automatically. There is no onboard technical expert and third pair of eyes. If a malfunction, abnormality or emergency occurs, it is displayed on an electronic display panel and the computer automatically initiates corrective action to rectify the abnormal condition. One pilot does the flying and the other pilot resolves the issue. Modern technological advancements in today's aircraft have reduced the dependence upon human control over systems.

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Flight International (or simply Flight) is a weekly magazine focused on aerospace, published in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldest continuously published aviation news magazine.

Flight International is published by Reed Business Information. Competitors include Jane's Information Group and Aviation Week. Former editors of, and contributors to, Flight include Bill Gunston and John W. R. Taylor.

History

Claiming to be the first aeronautical weekly in the world, Flight first appeared on 2 January 1909 as the official journal of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom (later the Royal Aero Club). The magazine was an offshoot of the The Automotor Journal. On 4 January 1962 it was renamed Flight International.

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