Aviation.

AFP File Photo: MH370 Search Operations Sydney, Australia:   Two ships surveying the sea floor where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is thought to have crashed are making steady progress with a deep-water search to get underway in September, Australian authorities said Thursday. Since May experts have been surveying an area of about 60,000 square kilometres along the seventh arc -- a thin but long line that includes all possible points where the last known communication between the aircraft and a satellite could have taken place. It is using two vessels, Chinese survey ship Zhu Kezhen and the Australian-contracted Fugro Equator, to map the ocean floor in the remote region, a process considered crucial to identify possible hazards that could affect the deep-water search. The Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said that as of Wednesday the Zhu Kezhen had sounded over 25,000 square kilometres while the Fugro Equator had surveyed more than 43,000 square kilometres....

RECENT ACCIDENTS Date:   July 24, 2014      Time:  02:30 Location:   Aguelhok, Mali Operator:   Air Algerie        Flight:  5017 AC Type:   Mc Donnell Douglas MD-83 Reg:   EC-LTV       cn:  53190/2148 Aboard: 116      Fatalities:  116     Ground:  0 Route:   Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso - Algiers, Algeria Details:  Radar contact was lost 50 minutes after the flight took off from Ouagadougou and after the crew diverted from their planned course due to bad weather. Wreckage was found in the northern mali dessert. The plane was on loan from Swiftair.

A large contingent of AFP officers is in Ukraine ready to secure the MH17 crash site.   Source:  AAP A DUTCH-LED  investigation  team including 11 Australian police officershas had to abandon a plan to visit the MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine due to safety concerns. RUSSIAN-BACKED separatists in control of the area around the site have agreed to allow an unarmed international police team to recover more bodies and start a forensic examination of wreckage. Some 170 unarmed AFP officers have been deployed in Ukraine to help with the grim task. Eleven officers had been planning to accompany a 30-strong Dutch contingent to the crash site on Sunday guided by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). But the Netherlands' security and justice department says the situation is too unstable. There are reports of heavy shelling in rebel-held Grabove, the village next to...

Aust, Dutch police scrap MH17 site visit 6 HOURS AGO JULY 27, 2014   9:33PM Australian police  officers  haven't been able to travel to the MH17 crash site in the Ukraine.   Source:  AAP DUTCH forensic experts haven't been able to travel to the MH17 crash site as planned due to fighting in the region. SOME 11 Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers had been planning to accompany the Dutch-led contingent, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced earlier on Sunday. But the Netherlands' security and justice department says the situation is too unstable for a large contingent to carry out its work. "The team of 30 Dutch forensic experts currently has no safe passage to the crash  site," the department said in a statement. "Because of fighting in the region the situation is still too unstable to safely go to the crash site to work." The department said the Dutch team was remaining in the the rebel-controlled city of D...

A NERVOUS flyer caused alarm on a plane bound for Dublin when he drunkenly tried to get the exit door open in mid-air, after mistaking it for the toilet. SHARE Tomasz Mucha (26) had never been on a plane before and drank vodka and beer to steady his nerves before attempting to open the back door of the Ryanair aircraft. Dublin District Court heard he did not manage to get the door open due to the air pressure. Judge James Faughnan fined him €200 after the accused said he realised how serious the situation could have been. Mucha, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to being intoxicated on an aircraft and using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour. The offences under the Air Navigation and Transport Act happened on the Ryanair flight from Krakow to Dublin on July 11. Garda Shaun Caffrey told the court he was called to Dublin Airport after the plane landed. He arrested the accused after being told that Mucha had been drunk on board the craft and trie...

An  easyJet  flight carrying 154 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing today when one of its planes was struck by lightning just minutes before landing. SHARE GO TO Passengers travelling from  Bristol  to  Barcelona  were left “screaming and crying” after the bolt struck the  Airbus  A319-111 with a “massive” bang as it flew over Barcelona, causing it to shake. Flight EZY6025 was then diverted and landed at Spain's Reus Airport, landing at 10.30am. Passengers are being escorted to Barcelona by bus. Traveller Izzy Ferris, 19, said: "We were just flying over Barcelona and this storm came out of nowhere. "We were hit by lightning, it was absolutely terrifying. There was a massive loud bang and a lot of flashing. "Everyone is fine but a lot of the women were screaming and crying and the cabin crew were flung down the plane." El-Prat airport is believed to be closed currently, with other flights being di...

A British man and 10 members of a French family spanning three generations were among the victims of the Mali crash • Wreckage found near city of Gao, close to Burkina Faso border • French president says no hypothesis ruled out as to crash cause • Air traffic lost track of plane over Mali 50 minutes after takeoff • Plane had rerouted due to heavy rains shortly before contact lost • Flight AH5017 had 116 on board at time, including 51 French • All six crew members were Spanish employees of plane owner Swiftair

Swiftair MD-83 vanished 50mins after take-off from  capital of Burkina Faso Fidel Castro's niece Mariela Castro 'was among 110 passengers on board' Plane 'made detour over fears it was flying into a storm over northern Mali' Crew also worried it may collide with  another aircraft, airline source said Mali air space graded 'high risk' by U.S. aviation authority due to civil war Comes after 298 killed in MH17 disaster and 48 die in plane crash in Taiwan An Air Algerie flight crashed in the Sahara today with 116 people on board that reportedly included the Cuban president's daughter. Air navigation services lost track of the Swiftair MD-83 around 50 minutes into the flight after the crew reportedly asked to change course over fears it was flying into a storm. The plane, which is operated by Air Algerie, was last picked up on radar at 1.55am GMT en route from Burkina Faso to Algiers. It should have landed in the Algerian capital around three ...

Flight, Operated by TransAsia Airways, Was Heading From the Southern City of Kaohsiung to the Penghu Islands A TransAsia Airway plane carrying 58 people on board crashes outside an airport on a small Taiwanese island late Wednesday while trying to make an emergency landing in stormy weather. WSJ's Aries Poon reports on Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero. Photo: AP TAIPEI—A  TransAsia Airways   6702.TW  -5.04%  flight crashed on Wednesday while trying to make its second landing attempt in the Penghu islands off the coast of Taiwan, killing dozens of people. The Penghu Fire Department said the death toll late Wednesday was at least 42 of the 58 people on board, and all bodies and remains had been sent to hospitals or a nearby morgue. The final death toll will be announced after the bodies have been properly identified. The cause of the crash is still being investigated.The government said it suspected technical failure could be a factor in the cra...