Birds strike instead of PAL employees

Last Friday, PAL’s brand new Boeing 777 got struck by a bird shortly before landing at the Vancouver International Airport. Fortunately, no one got hurt, but chaos and havoc naturally reigned when the plane’s return flight PR 117 to Manila had to be cancelled. The incident inevitably made PAL’s flight PR 107 from Las Vegas via Vancouver to become overbooked for its return flight to Manila. As of this writing, PAL’s Boeing 777 is still on the ground waiting for an engine howling part to be replaced. Unbelievably, the said part could not be secured immediately despite the fact that Boeing’s Everett factory in Washington state is just a hop away across the border from Vancouver.

 While PAL has been able to avert strike threats from employees after talks brokered by the Department of Labor and Employment repeatedly failed, it seems the flag carrier can’t do much about bird strikes. The fowl that hit the plane was most likely a Canadian goose, but the real albatross that hangs on the head of PAL is the fact that their brand new Boeing 777 jets are still barred from entering the United States because for some unknown reason, the Philippines’ category 2 rating from the Federal Aviation Authority has not been lifted despite the fact that the issues involved have nothing to do with PAL’s excellent safety and maintenance record – which certainly is better than most US airlines.

In any case, climate change and early bird migration is probably the reason why there seems to be a growing incidence of bird strikes reported in the western hemisphere. Also recently, a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong bound for San Francisco had to be diverted to Vancouver because the plane hit a flock of birds. There has been some conjecture about the design of Boeing’s engines due to several bird strike incidents showing the birds being sucked in and getting rotated in the engine fan blades, thereby causing what is called a cascading failure. According to experts, this type of bird strike, which is also called “avian ingestion” for obvious reasons, mostly happens during takeoff when the plane is on a low altitude and the engine is turning at a very rapid rate.

These bird strikes have caused a lot of damage to the whole airline industry estimated at $1.2 billion yearly. This is also probably the worst time of the year for airlines because a lot of bird migration occurs due to seasonal changes with spring now heralding a much warmer weather.

It can be recalled that in 2009, a domestic US Airways flight 1549 (from La Guardia airport in New York and headed for North Carolina) suffered total engine failure six minutes after takeoff when a flock of Canadian geese hit the engines. The pilot, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, successfully ditched his aircraft over the Hudson River with no casualties whatsoever – an unprecedented feat that turned him into a hero. The incident has since been called the “Miracle on the Hudson,” and consequently described as “the most successful ditching in aviation history.” Captain Sully has since retired from US Airways a year after the incident but continues to be an active airline safety advocate.

The incident also triggered calls for the Federal Aviation Authority to similarly ditch its proposal that would prevent access to a critical database on the number of bird strikes that have been happening. The public outcry to release such records compelled US president Barack Obama to release a memo which partly read, “The government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears.”

Lorenzo’s oil

With the recent filing of plunder charges against former Agriculture Secretary Luis “Cito” Lorenzo by the Office of the Ombudsman, you would think the former Cabinet Official would be losing most of his friends overnight. Fortunately for Cito, a number of his friends have decided to rally behind him because many of them strongly feel that he is just being made a scapegoat. Close friends of the former Agriculture Secretary vowed to keep the “oil” burning until he is completely exonerated and cleared of all the charges.

Not-so-holy alliance

Opposition Congressman and RH bill main proponent Edcel Lagman found himself in a “not-so-holy” alliance with President Noynoy Aquino who recently declared at the UP graduation exercises that he is determined to push the Reproductive Health bill despite the threat of excommunication by the Catholic Church. A number of people who did not vote for P-Noy have also decided to take a stand and rally behind the beleaguered president. They, too, are ready “to be excommunicated” – or so they declare!

Spy Tidbit

– Former president Joseph Estrada celebrated his 74th birthday with former cabinet officials and a small group of friends at his new condo penthouse unit in Mandaluyong. Erap has definitely decided to sell his house in Polk St. in Greenhills, San Juan. Like most retirees, the former president has also decided to downsize.

Spy Bits note: We will be taking time off for the Holy Week starting this Thursday and will be back next Tuesday. Have a blessed Holy Week!

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