Airlines do not track in-flight medical episodes

This is interesting: Since airline companies have become huge corporate moguls, that have integrated a lot of fields of expertise to satisfy their customers onboard, but one thing that's missing is medical assistance. Today, airline companies still rely on the presence of doctors on the plane to provide medical care to sick persons.

Medaire is a medical advisor for airlines. the company managed 19,000 flights in 2010, out of which 442 had a sick person onboard that required diverting the plane. Also, 94 people died onboard.

It should be mentioned that airlines are not required to track in-flight medical episodes, nor to report them.

Source: NYT

I'm sorry, are you a plane doctor?

" - You're not supposed to be on the phone, it's bad for the plane.
- Oh, I'm sorry, are you a plane doctor? No? So shut the fuck up!"

I find this line captured from the movie She's out of my league just brilliant!

Air traffic controller taking a little nap

This has to happen once in a while: the air traffic controller of the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport fell asleep while on duty. Two airplanes were un pleasantly surprised when they tried to contact the traffic operator before landing, to realize that nobody was on the other end of the line.

Airport officials talk about "human fatigue" and long night shifts as the cause of this incident. However, those uncontrolled events are very rare in the flying industry (never ever heard of something similar), and even when they did occur at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the two planes managed to land safely.

Source: CNN

The Panama Canal expansion and the australian trade

Last time I mentioned that Panama started to recover after the crisis and had the great challenge of expanding the Panama Canal.

The Panamanian people are very enthusiast about this project which will drive the economy. It will allow the transit of larger vessels so there will be more traffic and the government would collect more taxes for the passage of boats.

However, this is not a good deal for everyone. In his blog, Samuel Taliaferro talked very well about the consequences of the expansion of the Panama Canal “ Australia’s iron ore exporters are going to have to start dealing quite soon with the implications of the upgrade to the Panama Canal... Bear in mind that while Australia enjoys a geographical advantage over Brazil as an iron ore supplier to Asia, Vale's iron ore is of slightly higher quality, so competition to ship ore into China is going to heat up...”

You can find his post here: How the canal expansion may affect Australia mining?

The source article was published in The australian.com. It shows the concern of Australian ore exporters because of the Canal expansion which will increase competition for the export of ore to China. It is interesting to see the Panama Canal in this light. The coming years will tell how the Australian trade is impacted by the expansion of the canal and if the expectation of the government and the Panamanian people is reached. Stay tuned.

The Panama Canal expansion

After a severe economic crisis that shook the global economy, some regions return to top. Panama is one of them. Indeed, this year, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) expects a 5% growth rate for the country, the highest growth of the region after the Dominican Republic, which expects 6% growth rate.

While the Dominican Republic bases its economy on tourism, Panama focused its economy on public infrastructure such as mining projects and the expansion of the Canal. The Panama Canal generates $ 5 million a day in revenue for Panama, but it became obsolete.

The expansion of the Canal is a pharaonic site: 7 years of work, five billion dollars to accommodate bigger ships.

Since its opening, the canal was a huge success and continues to be a key conduit for navigation. Each year, it is used by more than 14,000 ships carrying more than 203 million tons of cargo.




Its construction has been one of the most difficult engineering projects ever. Its impact on maritime trade was considerable, since it shortened the route of vessels. Although restored to Panama, the canal is still considered an inland waterway by the United States: it is thus stipulated in the treaty of surrender that ships flying the American flag have a right of way over another.
The Panama Canal is, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) , one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

In Panama -a small country of three million inhabitants in which the U.S. has restored Canal December 31, 1999- everything related to shipping is a state-wide matter. This unprecedented investment - a $ 5.2 billion - has first been the subject of a national referendum. In 2006, nearly 80% of the population voted in favor of the initiation of work. The day it began,September 3, 2007, all employees and students enjoyed from a Panamanian holiday, to better savor this historic moment.

The Canal has already brought four billion dollars to the country's budget hence Panama, wants to make it a business.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, winner of the Open de France:

Last week, I was so impressed by the Solar Impulse that I have not talked about the open de France. So let me catch up on that story.

One week after the BMW tournament in Munich, to the Open de France Alstom took place in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. The specificity of this event is that it never happens in the same city twice year after year.

Following a decisive play-off hole No. 18, Miguel Angel Jimenez won the most prestigious tournament EPGA, played on the course of the Golf National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. The Spanish defeated his compatriot Alejandro Canizares, and the Italian Francesco Molinari. Gregory Bourdy ranks 9th, four shots behind the winner. German Kaymer, who won the title last year, has played well the last day but he could not go through.

Two weeks after his great run at the U.S. Open where he finished in 2nd place, Gregory Havret did not shine in his homeland: the 94th Open de France Alstom was over for the leading french player only two days after it started. Another french Grégory, Gregory Bourdy, ended up first in the list of the french players attending this edition 2010.

At 46 years old, Miguel Angel Jimenez breaks a record:never in the history of the open de France have we seen someone that old win the tournament. He posed for the official photo with a big smile and a cigar in his mouth.

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Successful challenge for the solar plane Solar Impulse

The fact that we can fly 24 hours around the clock with nothing but sunlight has been successfully demonstrated by Solar Impulse. Solar impulse is an experimental aircraft that has been designed by a Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard who completed the first trip around the world with a hot air balloon in 1999. It was piloted by Andre Borschberg, CEO and co-founder of the project, a former fighter pilot.




The electro-solar plane landed today,Thursday, July 8 in the morning without incident after a flight of 26 hours only powered by solar energy and batteries.
The aircraft hit the runway at the military base of Payerne, in western Switzerland, cheered by hundreds of spectators.
The prototype, whose wings are covered with 12,000 photovoltaic cells powering four electric engines, took off Wednesday morning and continued the night flight without interruption , a first for the aircraft and the team. The lithium-polymer batteries 400kg installed on the aircraft, which have been recharged by solar panels throughout the day Wednesday, provided the energy to keep the aircraft in the air during red-eye hours. Solar Impulse had succeeded on April 7 in Switzerland its first flight about an hour and a half, the first step in a series of tests. "We did it, it's fantastic!" Said Bertrand Piccard.

The team of about 70 people plans to conduct more flights to calibrate the machine and eventually build a second copy, which will tour the world in five stops in 2013 or 2014.