Stray jet's pilots were on laptops

          Last Wednesday, a commercial jetliner overshot its destination by approximately 150 miles. The safety board said that the Airbus A320 was flying at 37 000 feet over the Denver, Colorado, area at 5:56 p.m. when it made its last radio contact. Northwest flight 188 had left San Diego to travel to Minneapolis- St. Paul International Airport carrying 144 passengers, two flight pilots, and three flight attendants. The pilots blamed the overshooting of the plane on laptops. They said that they were using their laptops on the plane and lost track of time as well as their location. Delta airlines released a statement Monday that said, "Using laptops or engaging in activity unrelated to the pilots' command of the aircraft during flight is strictly against the airline's flight deck policies and violations of that policy will result in termination." One of the pilots, Pilot Timothy Cheney, 53, was hired in 1985 and has more than 20 000 hours of flight time. First Officer Richard Cole, 54, was hired in 1997 and had more than 11 000 hours of flight time. After finally landing at the airport, neither of the pilots reported anything wrong. The pilots had a 19 hour layover in San Diego, where they both said that they had not slept on the flight, but they did say that "there was a distraction ' in the cockpit. Neither of the pilots had any ongoing medical conditions on the flight. The pilots did add, however, that there was "a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls" from air traffic control. They both said that they did hear discussion on the radio, as they claimed that they were busy discussing the airline crew flight scheduling procedure. An airline spokesperson said on Monday that the company has sent the passengers on the plane $500 travel vouchers to compensate for the inconvenience. The spokesperson also mentioned that the pilots have been suspended until the conclusions of investigations that are currently being performed.

          I think that this is a very interesting event. It seems to me that something definitely happened in the cockpit during the ride, because no pilot would lose track of time in a normal flight. There has to be more to this story than mentioned. I believe that the pilots were actually sleeping, not being amused by their laptops like they claim, because they didn't respond to calls by the control centre. Obviously even if they were paying attention to their laptops, they could still hear the radio calling them. As it says in the article, the pilots did claim that they heard the radio call, but my question is- why didn't they respond? This fact basically tells us that the pilots were asleep. There is one thing that is making my response very difficult. In the article it states that the main pilot has had his job for 24 years, with over 20 000 hours of flight time. Those statistics determine that the pilot was no beginner. He is a veteran. Veterans shouldn't make those mistakes, so I believe that the pilot definitely screwed up. Should he be severely punished for his actions? I don't think that he should be terminated from his job, but I do think that he should be suspended without pay for a few months. While unemployed for a couple of months, I think that the pilot will think about what he did, and will never make this mistake again when he resumes his pilot career.

Fire rages at Puerto Rico fuel depot

        On Friday afternoon, a massive fire broke out at a fuel storage complex in Puerto Rico. The sky was filled with a thick cloud of black smoke over San Juan, which forced firefighters to act quickly to contain the blaze. Fire Lt. Jose Atorre was at the scene, and he told reporters that this might be the worst fire in the history of Puerto Rico. The fire was apparently started when eleven of the 40 fuel tanks at the Petroleum Corporation facility in the city of Bayaman caught fire. Officials were investigating the cause of the blaze, which started just after midnight. An FBI agent is looking into graffiti found on at least one San Juan tunnel that mentioned the fire. The facility is located on San Juan's bay, which could very well be contaminated by the fire according to Gov. Luis Fortuno. He declared a state of emergency for the area so that Puerto Rico can get aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Newspaper and TV reports said that the fire was hard to contain because a 4 inch pipe from a lagoon on the property was broken, which prevented firefighters from using 2 million gallons of water to battle the fire. Over 350 people were evacuated from their homes, due to the heavy clouds of smoke in the San Juan area, and only one was taken to the hospital because of smoke inhalation. The smoke can be toxic, so the governor is asking people to stay away from the area. Due to the danger of the fire, schools in Bayamon, San Juan, Toa Baja and Catano were closed. Puerto Rico Road 28 was also closed, as well as Roads 5 and 22 which were partially closed. Flights in and out of Luis Munoz International Airport in San Juan were not affected and continued on schedule.

          This is a very unusual event for Puerto Rico. This is said to be the biggest fire in Puerto Rico's history, which is affecting a high population in the San Juan area. I am hoping that the fire was started by accident, not on purpose. It is very unfortunate for the fire departments to have to contain a fire without one of their lagoon pipes which can access 2 million gallons of water. I believe that there is more to this fire than what is visible. I am guessing that whoever wrote the graffiti on the tunnel wall is responsible. It could be a gang, or just a citizen trying to cause trouble. The culprit was very smart, as he/she thought to dismantle one of the lagoon pipes, knowing that it would be ten times harder for the fire department to battle the blaze. This is a very unfortunate event, and I hope that the officials and the FBI figure out the cause of the fire. I hope that the firefighters are able to overpower the fire, so that the people who were forced to leave their homes are able to return to their normal lives again.

Terror blast test caught on camera

          Yesterday, Superior Court Justice Bruno Durno released three videos- the first one of a terror blast test conducted by the RCMP in September 2008. The goal of this blast test was to test the effects of a bomb made with one tonne of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel. The video shows the affect of the explosion on a 2,230-kilogram steel shipping container. The container was flipped by the force and completely damaged. Another video was released of Zakaria Amara, a homegrown terrorist, who was performing a trigger test on a remote detonation device, which he built as a part of a bomb plot targeting downtown Toronto. He was charged for two terrorism offences, and pleaded guilty to both. The last video shows Saad Gaya and Saad Khalid unloading a delivery truck filled with three tons of ammonium nitrate, moments before they were arrested on June 2, 2006 when police busted the Toronto 18 group. The exhibits provide a glimpse into the inner plans of the group, and they also show the intelligence of Zakaria Amara and the potential explosion that could have occurred if the group wasn't dismantled. The targeted area of the failed attack was the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Front St. offices of Canada's spy agency, and a military base off Highway 401.

          I think that releasing these videos now is a beneficial idea because it will make the public aware of the potential disaster that could occur if the ammonium nitrate is put in the wrong hands. The people need to realize how deadly ammonium nitrate can be, and they need to make sure that they report anything suspicious to the police. These videos force me to realize how the police are doing their best to protect the people, which makes me feel safer in public places in the future. I think that there is also a downside to releasing these videos- future terrorists might see these videos which may spark ideas and cause them to start gathering ammonium nitrate to make a bomb. As a society, we need to do our best in making sure that terrorist attacks decrease, and we also need to do our best to remain safe in the case of one of these deadly explosions.

Accused in 200 km/h crash seeks translator

          Yesterday, a twenty-one year old man named Roman Luskin appeared at court due to a horrific car crash on the weekend. The man was apparently driving at an extremely high speed- over 200 km/hour on a 60 km/hour road when his BMW was "out of control" and smashed into a minivan killing three people. When present in court on Monday, he asked for a Russian translator. Roman limped into court with a bandage on his left hand and bloody marks on the right side of his head. He is facing three counts of impaired driving causing death, three counts of criminal negligence causing death, and failure to provide a breath sample. One of the three people who were killed in the crash was 44 year old Hon To who appeared to be winning her battle with bone marrow cancer. Her daughter, Khan Taing, was nursing her back to health and also was training to become a nurse. Pho Taing, the husband and father, was devastated. He ended up with a broken collarbone, and an empty house. He is fighting off depression, and will have a hard time moving on after their deaths.
          I think that the crash is devastating news, not only for Pho Taing, but also for the residents of Toronto. The people of Toronto must question the amount of safety in their neighbourhoods. I think that the police should do a better job of enforcing drinking and driving, because obviously the message isn't clear to everyone. If I was Pho Taing, I would be devastated- having lost my family including my wife and daughter due to the stupid decision by Roman Luskin. I believe that Roman should be locked up behind bars for a long period of time and receive fair punishment for his actions. He killed three people and he is going to have to live with that guilt for the rest of his life. I think that Roman is going to have a struggling life down the road, due to the fact that he may never be able to drive again. Driving at high speeds is one thing, but driving at 140 km/hour over the speed limit is something else. If you want to drive that fast, that is what NASCAR racing is for. This makes me question one thing: why are our cars able to drive at such high speeds? We don't need to drive at 200 km/hour, so why bother in making the cars go that fast? I think that if the car companies made the cars only able to reach 150 km/hour, about ten times less accidents would occur. This would help to resolve the problem of speeding and racing in cars, which would make our world an overall safer place.

How bald chickens help troubled kids

          At Cobble Hills Sanctuary near Stratford, 43 battery chickens have been saved from the slaughterhouse. These battery chickens are very ugly looking- they have no feathers, they are weak, and they have never even seen sunshine in their lives. Christen Shepherd, the proprietor of the rescue farm, has saved only 43 of thousands of these chickens. Her goal is to nurse them back to good health. The way that she is doing this is by letting the chickens run around, exposing them to sunlight and grass, and most importantly- she has four boys who look after the chickens. These boys are aged from 8 to 12, and they have special needs. They visit the chicken coop once a week, to clean it, feed the chickens sometimes, and to interact with the chickens. The boys look forward to this every week, as they have grown a relationship with the chickens and think of them as their own pets. Shepherd has been taking in animals for a couple of years now- some of them she can't really afford to take in. The farm is a non-profit organization and it is slowly losing money. The farm survives on a few donations and the income of Shepherd's husband to keep running. Yesterday, Shepherd and her 16 year old son Michael coaxed the chickens out of their coop and into the sunlight for their first time ever. They watched the chickens peck at grass- their first grass ever. During the event, Shepherd said, "When you see a chicken in the sunshine ... stretching its wings out, it's hard to deny a chicken that."

         I think that the actions of Christen Shepherd and the Cobble Hills Sanctuary have been unbelievable. Not only have they saved tons of animals that were going to be killed, but they also did it without enough money to spend on the animals. I think that the government should lend this sanctuary some money because the sanctuary is slowly losing money, and eventually it will have to close. Right now, the Shepherd family is running this sanctuary because they feel it is the right thing to do. I definitely think that the Shepherd family should be rewarded for their effort and determination to save these animals. I would also like to thank the boys who look after the chickens every weekend as they are doing a great job feeding them and interacting with them. I think that every province in Canada should have at least 10 animal shelters like this one to save animals from the slaughterhouse. The government should make this a law and fund for the shelters to be built. I think that every animal should have a decent life- not one spent inside without any sunlight or fresh grass. Hopefully more non-profit sanctuaries like this are built in the future to save more animals.