Tag Archives: United States

CNN: How long will the search for MH 370 continue?

Malaysia logo-1

Malaysia Airlines’ (Kuala Lumpur) missing flight MH 370 has now been missing for 100 days. So far, no debris from the missing fine has been found. Nothing has been found, despite promising leads and observations. Everything turned out to be floating ocean flotsam.

The previously reported “pings” are now thought to be erroneous. In short, missing flight MH 370 is a true aviation mystery of epic proportions.

Missing Air France flight AF 447 took almost two years to be located so there is some hope MH 370 will be found. However authorities had a better idea where AF 447 was located. For the MH 370 without better data, no one knows for sure where the flight is located. For the families of the missing passengers and crew members, this uncertainty is so hurtful and very hard to accept. They cannot have any closure. The families rely on any hope which they cling to. Today, after 100 days, they have very little to cling to.

CNN has raised the difficult question of how long the search will continue. The search is very costly and without better data it has a low chance of being discovered. If anyone wanted to have this flight “disappear” they have succeeded.

So far Australia has shouldered most of the cost in the search. Australia is leading the search due to assumption the flight crashed into the southern Indian Ocean closest to Australia. Many other countries including the United States, Malaysia and China have contributed costly assets and crews in the search with zero results. The assumption that the flight crashed near Australia is now in question. In short, no one knows where MH 370 has gone.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

QANTAS Airways celebrates 60 years of flying to the United States

QANTAS 747SP VH-EAA (70)(Flt)(QANTAS)(LRW)

QANTAS Airways (Sydney) is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its first trans-Pacific services to the USA.

On May 15, 1954, a 60-passenger QANTAS Airways Lockheed 1049C Super Constellation aircraft departed Sydney for San Francisco and Vancouver. The journey to San Francisco took around 30 flying hours and involved fuel stops at Fiji, Canton Island and Hawaii.

QANTAS named this the Southern Cross Route in honor of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew who made the first flight in 1928.

QANTAS International CEO Simon Hickey said the sixty year milestone highlighted Qantasโ€™ ongoing commitment to the USA.

โ€œQANTAS is proud of its flying history to the US. Some of our most historic moments have been on the trans-Pacific route including the start of the jet age in 1959 with our first Boeing 707 services and introducing the largest commercial passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, on the route in 2008,โ€ said Mr Hickey.

โ€œThe milestone comes in a year where QANTAS is investing significantly in the customer experience to the US, including the opening of our new First and Business Lounges in Los Angeles and the introduction of A380 services between Sydney and Dallas/Ft. Worth from September.

The airline first established itself in North America in San Francisco in 1954, when it took over the operations of British Commonwealth Pacific Airline in September 1947.

This year also marks thirty years since QANTAS Airways began nonstop flights between Sydney, Melbourne and Los Angeles beginning in April 1984. These services were operated by the long-range Boeing 747SP (above) with a flying time of around 16 hours. Today, the flying time is around 13 hours.

QANTAS is the only carrier to operate A380 services between the US and Australia.

QANTAS flights to the USA include:

Direct daily Airbus A380 services from Sydney and Melbourne to Los Angeles

A daily Boeing 747-400 service from Sydney to New York via Los Angeles

A direct daily Boeing 747-400 service from Brisbane to Los Angeles

Three Boeing 767-300 services per week between Sydney and Honolulu and;

A daily Boeing 747-400 from Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth, which will move to a six per week Airbus A380 service from September 29.

Copyright Photo: QANTAS Airways. The pictured Boeing 747SP-38 (Special Performance) VH-EAA (msn 22495) was handed over to QANTAS on January 19, 1981. VH-EAA is pictured over the Cascade Mountains in Washington State in the original 1970 color scheme.

QANTAS Airways:ย AG Slide Show