Did an Oxygen bottle cause the Qantas emergency? This could cause a major review of 747s worldwide.

Here is part of an Sydney Morning Herald article on the subject.

Qantas has been ordered to urgently inspect every oxygen bottle aboard its fleet of 30 Boeing 747s after a mid-air explosion forced a jumbo to make an emergency landing in the Philippines on Friday.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority expects the inspections to begin by tomorrow and be finished within a few days.

CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said Qantas would be asked to check each oxygen container and the brackets holding the containers.

“It will be a visual inspection and it is a precautionary step,” Mr Gibson said.

“The inspection will take a couple of hours for each plane so it will take a few days to do them all.”

CASA is investigating whether an exploding oxygen container was responsible for ripping a jagged hole in the fuselage of flight QF30 from London to Melbourne.

The Boeing 747-400 was cruising at 8800 metres with 346 passengers aboard when it was shaken by the blast.

Major implications for 747s

If the blast was caused by an oxygen container, such a finding would have major implications for 747s around the world, Australia’s aviation safety authority said today.

Passengers aboard Flight QF30 had just been served a meal after a stopover in Hong Kong when they heard a loud bang, then their ears popped as air rushed out of the three-metre hole.

Oxygen masks dropped from some, but not all, of the overhead lockers as the jet descended rapidly and debris flew through the cabin.

The aircraft managed to land safely minutes later at Manila Airport, leaving passengers and crew unhurt but badly shaken.

Four Australian Transport Safety Bureau experts were today continuing their inspection of the aircraft that started yesterday.

Boeing and the US National Transportation Safety Board were also sending specialists to assist, but as it involved an Australian aircraft in international airspace the Australian Transport Safety Bureau is leading the investigation.

CASA said an exploding oxygen container was one possibility being examined by investigators.

“There are two cylinders located pretty much exactly where that hole appeared,” CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said today.

“We cannot just say that is the cause, but clearly the fact that two oxygen bottles are in that location, and clearly this was damage caused by some sort of outward pressure, obviously that means that is a key aspect of the investigation.

“It is emergency oxygen for the flight deck.

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On another one of my walks around Narita I was admiring the way so many Japanese houses are small yet elegant. The lack of land available to build upon is reflected in the design style.

In the west we build these massive houses that are so out of balance with the size of the land and the houses that surround it. As baby boomers become empty nesters it makes sense to downsize and use the extra money for travel or other lifestyle choices. When I look at Japanese architecture I think we could learn much, whether house or apartment - they are wired up and full of the technology to make life easier and more pleasant.

However - I think the house below may be taking it too far for the average baby boomer. This house measuring 4 by 5 metres, is wired up, has gas and water ….. a fully functional house. It even has its own vegetable patch!

Is this the worlds smallest house??

Who could forget the first phone used as kids? I still remember the telephone receivers made of two plastic cups and the cord which was nothing more than a string, can you think back to those days? Time and time again throughout all generations, children used this hearing experiment imagining that they were using the real thing. Even if this was merely a game, it sparkled into an ingenious solution that represented the key to the first hearing aids forms. The history of hearing devices begins with its first member called ‘the ear trumpet’ - it facilitated a better hearing to some extent but since, the improvement of hearing aids has reached new incredible heights!

Hearing is defined as the process of perceiving sounds - the medical term for hearing loss is ‘otosclerosis’. Having a good hearing aid can help you get past the attitude barriers of others who don’t seem to understand your challenges - it opens the door for better, more accurate communication. It’s no fun to be made fun of because your hearing aid or hearing impairment won’t allow you to properly interpret the words directed to you or around you. Such a circumstance can be demoralizing in the childhood period more than ever and the hearing impairment is not the only difficulty the child has to cope with. For children that face such communication barrier due to hearing loss the hearing device will bring their self confidence back and definitely reduce the stress. Alternatives as sign language and lip reading are a part of the practical solution for numerous hearing impaired people - however they cannot be applied in all situations as they might not be suitable for every person.

Once you’ve come to realize that a hearing aid is the key in your case, pay attention to several things. The fact that only one of your ears or both might be affected, at any rate, you need to know the loss degree in both cases. Other things are the fit to your unique ear shape, the cost, service fees for the equipment, batteries and their availability, location of a hearing aid provider, your lifestyle, and the testing to determine your needs. If you’re a parent, you’ll want more than just a test by the school nurse to determine the extent of hearing loss and the proper needs for your child. To procure a the best hearing aid for children these days has not only got the potential to offer significant help in the hearing loss advancement but also the aids are specifically built to be fun for the children.

Here are some of the most important companies present on the today’s market: Starkey, Rexton, Sonic innovations, Phonak, Unitron,Sebotek, Siemens, Beltone and Widex - the Miracle Ear has become so popular that almost everybody found out about it! The commercials can be found in health magazines, doctor’s office booklets or periodicals that center their content on elders’ wellbeing. You will not believe who is using an aid at the moment! Regardless of age, it has been demonstrated that any person can encounter this kind of difficulty, not only seniors. It is a good idea to ask somebody about their hearing device experience. The people who’ve been there can give valuable pieces of information that you can use in choosing your best hearing aid. A quality hearing device is always accompanied by: a good service contract, instructions and the telephone numbers of the service centers as well as extra batteries, a case to store it in and an instrument for cleaning the ear wax.

A Baby Boomer icon……. Does this say it all? You don’t really have to read on…..

The Harley-Davidson company began with two friends, in 1903, the headquarters of HD back then was Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The joint forces of William Harley and Arthur Davidson came together to begin work on the first prototype, they were joined by two additional Davidson’s, Walter and William, who were Arthur’s brothers. Walter was a mechanic, and William a toolmaker, all four of the group had a hand in the later incorporated company.

The first year, 1903, was a slimmer year than future ones would be, in terms of production, Harley-Davidson only produced 3 pre-paid motorcycles. The early motorcycles did not show the brightness of their later counterparts, as they were all gray, earning them the name ‘Silent Gray Fellows.’ It took just two short years to add a number of products to the company’s list, in 1905 HD was also producing motorcycle motors, marine motors, reversible propellers, and float feed carburetors.

The Harley-Davidson company only continued to prosper through the next decade. By 1914, nine departments of the federal government of the United States used them, including the U.S. Postal service who used more than 4,800 for rural mail delivery. In 1916, with tensions between the US and Mexico running high, the government helped to solve their border problems with revolutionary Pancho Villa with HD’s (those models included machine guns, of course.) The military love affair with HD’s continued during World War I, with fifty percent of all HD’s that were produced going to the military use overseas.

The end of the war did not hurt HD, as they took the opportunity to engage the sport of racing for the first time. The Great Depression of the following decade did affect Harley-Davidson, but the company was able to thrive nonetheless. With the advent of World War II in the following decade, HDs went into service for the government once again.

In the decade of the 1950s, the company began employing more aggressive marketing strategies and saw increased growth. The Jeep was favored by the government over the motorcycles when war once again was declared during the 1950s in Korea. Harley-Davidson responded to this by simply continuing to target their already expansive civilian consumer base.

The 1960’s brought about as much change for the company as everyone else in the United States. The company met this wind of change head on with the decision to branch out and begin producing a 3-wheeled cart for golfers. Cornering a third of the market by the end of the decade, these carts were also sold in other countries. Harley-Davidson also began marketing an extensive line of motorcycle accessories.

The sport of racing became a focus of Harley-Davidson during the next decade, as the 1970s machines included great mechanical advances that made them ideal racing machines. The 1980s were a decade of great financial change for many companies, and for the HD Company, this was especially true when they became a private ownership again as the result of a buyback. This decade continued the theme of change by the company continuing to strive for even greater standards of quality in their machines, this paid off when the California Highway Patrol granted them a contract in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1989.

In the nineties, Harley-Davidson focused on customized motorcycles with the production of the FLSTF Fat Boy making its debut. The production of this bike allowed buyers to produce high quality items that were both evocative of previous era’s products, and contemporary enough to compete in the present-day market. The HD Company retains its strength and popularity in the dawn of the twenty-first century. There are a number of lines of bikes made by the HD company, and these include the Sporster, the Dyna, the Softail, the VRSC, and a Touring line, the amount of models that branch off from those lines are numerous.

As I mentioned Dubai in the last post I couldn’t go past putting this short video showing ‘the world’. A massive real estate project that has led to many more spectacular building projects.

Click here

to view the video.

Here is an extract from wikipedia;

The World is a man-made archipelago of 300 islands constructed in the shape of a world map and located 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The World is one of several artificial island projects being constructed in Dubai, others being the Palm Islands. Like the other artificial island projects, The World is built primarily using sand dredged from the sea. It was developed by Nakheel Properties and was originally conceived by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai.
Each island in the archipelago ranges from about 14,000 m² (150,000 square feet) to 42,000 m² (450,000 square feet). The distance between each island will be an average of 100 metres (328 feet). The entire development covers an area of 9 km in length and 6 km in width, surrounded by an oval breakwater. Roughly 232 km (144 miles) of shoreline has been created. The overall development cost of The World was estimated as 14 billion USD. As for the individual islands, prices range between 15 and 50 million USD.[1][2] One island is still for sale at a price of 250 million USD.
The project was unveiled on 6 May 2003 by Sheikh Mohammed.[2] Dredging began four months later in September 2003.[2] By January 2008, 60% of the islands had been sold, 20 of which were bought in the first four months of 2007.[1][2] On 10 January 2008, the final stone on the breakwater was laid, completing initial development.[2] The next phase of the project is to hand over the individual islands to developers.

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