NATA Compliance Services Blog

The recent Ebola outbreak has grown to infect people outside the Western African regions where it originated with more than 68 scares here in the United States since the beginning of August. While none of these scares turned out to be real, airline travelers may find they are experiencing increased anxiety about flying as reports continue to surface.

“On the airplane, we are constantly touching stuff that hundreds of other people are touching...” says Brenda Powell, MD, from the Cleveland Clinic. Since Ebola and other communicable diseases can survive outside of bodies for some time, taking simple precautions beyond washing hands can go a long way towards keeping passengers healthy, whether they are worried about Ebola or any other infectious diseases.

Fuel is the number one expense for airlines, so it’s no surprise that they continuously seek new ways to reduce their fuel use. While air carriers can’t immediately replace their existing fleets with new, fuel efficient aircraft, they can make subtle changes that make them cheaper to operate.

There is a lot of news about companies like Amazon and Domino’s Pizza using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, to expand their operations. Until commercial use is permitted, however, these ideas will remain just attention-grabbing headlines. Yet pressure has been mounting this past spring for the FAA to develop a process for authorizing and regulating UAS, which can’t come fast enough for those who are skirting the law and making money on UAS.

It looks like winter is continuing to roar into 2014, with snow and ice shutting down schools and businesses in places it hasn’t snowed in more than a generation, like southern Mississippi. Naturally, this greatly affects air transportation industries.

The Greek legend of Icarus is a tale of caution. Daedalus was a talented Athenian craftsman who built the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete to imprison the Minotaur. However, the king imprisoned Daedalus and his son, Icarus, in the Labyrinth as punishment for giving the king’s daughter a ball of string that allowed Theseus to defeat the Minotaur and get out of the Labyrinth. Daedalus designed two pairs of wings, one for him and another set for Icarus. These wings were made of wax and feathers. Daedalus told his son before their first test flight that he should follow him, instructing him to avoid the sea and beware of getting too close to the sun. In a classic example of hubris and failed ambition, Icarus became so excited about the ability to fly that he began to soar higher and higher. With wings made of wax, Icarus soon found that he was only flapping his arms for the wax had all melted away and no feathers remained. He crashed and drowned in the sea that would be named after him, the Icarian Sea. Flying too close to the sun has now become synonymous with hubris and is something to be avoided.

Until now!