An Alaska 737-800 on approach to the Sitka Airport. (Photo by Jonathan Caves/Flickr Creative Commons)
Sitka will miss two Alaska Airlines flights a day during the month of May, in order to allow a paving contractor to replace the runway at the Rocky Gutierrez Airport.
Flight 70, which arrives from Juneau at around 11 PM every night, and Flight 73, which departs at 6 AM the next morning with the same plane, have been suspended as of this week, and will resume sometime around Memorial Day weekend.Only the airport terminal building is the property of Sitka. The airport runway, taxi areas, and ramp are owned and maintained by the state Department of Transportation.
DOT spokesman Jeremy Woodrow says May has the right combination of decent weather and lighter traffic to accommodate the work.
“The overlay is basically asphalt on the runway. The reason there’s a nighttime closure, and the reason it’s delaying the Alaska Airlines flight is that the construction company needs a long enough window to be able to pave the runway and then allow it to set.”
The contractor has been on site since April, hauling gravel and setting up paving equipment. Woodrow says work will begin each evening following the departure of Flight 67 at about 6:20 PM.
Construction on Juneau’s Main Street will likely keep the road closed through June 15th. Crews will be working on the project through August 15th. Photo by Rosemarie Alexander/KTOO.
Three blocks of downtown Juneau’s Main Street will likely be closed for another six weeks.
Contractor Arete Construction started working on street improvements just after the end of this year’s legislative session. CBJ Engineering Director Rorie Watt says the work was scheduled with an eye on having the least impact on both the session and the upcoming tourist season.
“When the name of the road is Main Street there’s never a good time to rebuild it, and it’s always tricky to accommodate all of the needs,” Watt told the Juneau Assembly Public Works Committee on Monday. “But where we are now, we hope to get the buses back and the road open by June 15th.”
Watt said the entire project is scheduled to be complete by August 15th.
This is the second phase of Main Street improvements, which started in 2010 with a major overhaul from Egan Drive up to 2nd Street.
Phase two has a budget of just over $2 million, and includes replacement of the water, sewer, and storm drainage systems between 2nd and 5th streets, as well as the addition of new traffic islands, landscaping, and a sidewalk canopy.
“There will be covered walking more or less continuous from the parking garage up to 4th Street,” Watt said. “So, it’s part of trying to provide covered walkways to the Capitol.”
Speaking of the Capitol, Watt says the city will work with the contractor of a renovation project scheduled to get underway this summer.
Boeing 787 in Tokyo. (Photo by Kentaro IEMOTO/Flickr Creative Commons)
Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, the passenger jet that was grounded around the world after flaws in its battery compartment were found to pose a fire risk, is back in the skies. Airlines in Japan and Ethiopia report no problems after sending the 787 into the sky this weekend. The FAA approved a new design for the 787’s lithium-ion battery system on April 19.
Ethiopian Airlines was the first carrier to return the 787 to service, using it for commercial flights Saturday, according to Reuters. On Sunday, Japan’s All Nippon Airways conducted a test flight of the aircraft, with the company’s president, Shinchiro Ito, on board along with a Boeing executive.
It was ANA that saw one of its 787s suffer from overheated batteries in January, prompting a global grounding. ANA owns 17 of the new Boeing jets, the most of any carrier. Problems also cropped up on a Japan Airlines flight.
In clearing the Dreamliner for duty, the FAA said it will “require airlines that operate the 787 to install containment and venting systems for the main and auxiliary system batteries, and to replace the batteries and their chargers with modified components.”
While both ANA and Japan Airlines plan to conduct more tests of the 787 before using it to carry passengers, Ethiopian Airlines returned the plane to service Saturday, in a move that caught at least one traveler by surprise.
“I wasn’t aware that I was going to be on the 787 Dreamliner until on my way to the airport. It was a good service and the flight was pleasant,” Ethiopian restaurateur Senait Mekonnen told Reuters, after the plane landed in Nairobi, Kenya.
Alaska Airlines is installing passenger power outlets on many of its planes.
It’s part of a switch to a new, slimmer seat design allowing the airline to squeeze more people onto its jets.
Powered seats will eventually be on many longer routes out of Anchorage, as well as Seattle and other larger Lower-48 destinations. But most other in-state flights, including those in Southeast, will not see any change.
The airline’s Marianne Lindsey says each seatback will have a standard AC power outlet, plus a USB connection. They will handle laptops, tablets, cell phones and similar devices.
“Something that our customers have told us once and again has been that they would love to have power,” she says.
Power and USB outlers are part of new seats being installed on some Alaska Airlines jets. Photo courtesy the airline.
The outlets are incorporated into new seats made by Recaro. The German company is known for its upscale luxury- and sports-car seats.
Lindsey says the airplane model provides the same amount of space as existing seats.
“It’s actually the same seat pitch and about the same size, the way that it’s designed in relation to the seat in front of it. And the seatback makes it feel roomier,” she says.
The seats are a couple inches thinner than current models. That allows the airline to install additional rows.
There’s been little comment on travel-advocacy websites.
“Yet, over than same time period, coach airline seats have either remained the same, or have even become smaller,” he says. “Alaska Airlines isn’t alone in their approach of cramming more seats into coach. American and Delta have done similar things with their newer aircraft.”
The $100-million transition will be gradual, starting this fall and continuing through the end of 2014.
Lindsey says the airline is already testing the seats.
“We’ve used them since November of 2012. We’ve been happy with them and the customers have been happy with them. So in a sense, we’ve kind of tested them and now we’re going to roll them out into our larger fleet,” she says.
Alaska Airlines will install powered seats on its Boeing 737-800, 900 and 900-ER aircraft. They will not be on 737-700s or 400s, including “combi” planes carrying both freight and passengers.
Lindsey says the company is also considering offering entertainment channels through its onboard wireless service.
The ferry Malaspina awaits passengers at Juneau’s Auke Bay. The importance of the Alaska Marine Highway System to Lynn Canal communities was one area of agreement at the summit. Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska.
Elected officials from Juneau, Haines, Skagway and Whitehorse met in Skagway on Friday for what was called the Northern Neighbors Summit.
The meeting kicked off with Juneau Mayor Merrill Sanford and Skagway Mayor Stan Selmer discussing energy issues, including prospective hydropower projects each community is working toward and the hope those projects could help provide shore power for cruise ship hook ups. But Sanford said it’s hard to build a project until the need is certain.
“You can’t pay and build something that’s so big you’re expecting to grow into in the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years anymore. You almost have to have enough sales upfront to be able to afford it and keep the price down,” Sanford said.
Haines Mayor Stephanie Scott added that energy project stakeholders need to be identified to find funding sources rather than relying on just the state or federal government.
“I’m looking for business plans with these projects that name the stakeholders. If the state is a stakeholder, let them come to the table with some funds. And if they’re not, let them say so,” Scott said.
Mayor Selmer and Whitehorse Deputy Mayor Kirk Cameron also briefly explained the two cities are discussing options for an electrical intertie from Whitehorse to Juneau. The Yukon Energy Corporation is meeting in Skagway this week for more discussions.
Talk of the Alaska Marine Highway came next with Skagway and Haines leading the conversation. Both communities were active this winter in protesting Gov. Sean Parnell’s move to scrap the Alaska Class Ferry project. The administration’s plan to create two, smaller shuttle type ferries for the Upper Lynn Canal drew criticism from around small communities in the region. Juneau residents and officials were less cohesive in their protest of the plan, although Mayor Sanford said he didn’t agree with the idea of open-stern decks for the shuttle ferries. But he does believe ferry costs need to come under control.
“When you look at the efficiencies of our ferry systems, when supplying our needs, either cargo or passenger throughout our communities whether they be big or small, in my mind the ferry system has gotten out of hand with those costs,” Sanford said.
Talks of ferries segued into the Juneau Access Road project. Mayor Scott of Haines was vocal about her opinion of a road.
“The idea of a road link is still out there and that may happen too but what we’re going to have today, tomorrow and in the next 10 years are the ferries so we need to make sure that system is intact, efficient and viable,” Scott said.
But Sanford point blank said nothing was going to change his mind that a road, or combination of road and ferry systems, was the only option left for opening up more economic possibilities for the region.
“We all believe and we all know where we stand, I think we’ve all listened to all the different debates for all of our lives, everyone that’s here, and I think we’ve basically made up our minds already. I and I respect Mike’s position and Stephanie’s position, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to change my beliefs,” Sanford said.
Still, they attempted to find common ground. Scott asked if maybe all the communities could get behind a road from Juneau to the Kensington Gold Mine. Some Haines Borough Assembly members said they would be more inclined to support a west side road project, rather than one on the East Side of Lynn Canal. Selmer suggested Juneau keep exploring the road option from Taku Inlet to British Columbia.
The three-hour meeting addressed only half the items on the agenda. As host mayor, Selmer closed the meeting on a light note, pointing to a box of wooden toothpicks his staff had bought him.
“They bought me these toothpicks because I always said I would rather put these under my finger nails than bite my tongue,” Selmer said. “I didn’t have to do that today. And I was really apprehensive about this meeting at times and it was weighing on me. But I think we’ve demonstrated Skagway, Haines, Juneau and Whitehorse are at least commonly geographically located and there’s nothing we can do about that.” His comment evoked a laugh from the other mayors and assembly members.
The meeting in Skagway was supposed to include officials from Whitehorse, Yukon and the Yukon Energy Authority, but they were unable to attend because of weather. Whitehorse Deputy Mayor Kirk Cameron joined by phone, as did Rep. Beth Kerttula and Sen. Dennis Egan, who represent Skagway and Juneau. Rep. Cathy Munoz, of Juneau, attended in person.
The mayors tentatively plan another summit for November in Haines.
NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman during Tuesday’s hearing. Alex Wong/Getty Images
The National Transportation Safety Board wants to know how a problem with the design of batteries that led to a fire aboard a Boeing’s 787 ‘Dreamliner’ slipped through the extensive certification process for the new passenger aircraft.
In the first day of a public hearing on Tuesday, the NTSB questioned officials from Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration, Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa Corp. and electrical system maker Thales of France. The safety agency wants to find out what was known about overheating problems with lithium-ion batteries prior to two failures aboard 787s in January, one of which led to a fire on the ground that took an hour to put out.
“We are here to understand why the 787 experienced unexpected battery failures following a design program led by one of the world’s leading manufacturers and a certification process that is well respected throughout the international aviation community,” NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said during the first of two days of hearings.
“We are looking for lessons learned, not just for the design and certification of the failed battery but also for knowledge that can be applied to emerging technologies going forward,” she said.
“Much of the testing was left to Boeing and its battery suppliers. They determined that the likelihood of smoke or fire from a 787 battery would occur fewer than once in every 10 million flight hours. But there already have been two crucial battery events on the 787 fleet with fewer than 52,000 flight hours.”
The 787 “is the first airliner to make extensive use of lithium-ion batteries. Since the FAA doesn’t have safety regulations for those batteries as installed equipment in planes, the agency and Boeing jointly developed the special safety conditions the plane’s battery system should have to meet, according to documents and testimony.
The FAA also agreed to Boeing’s proposed tests for the batteries, and the company and its subcontractors were responsible for performing those tests.
In one key test, a nail was driven into one of the battery’s eight cells to create a short circuit. Based on the test results, Boeing concluded that a short circuit in one cell wouldn’t start a fire or cause the battery’s other cells to short. Yet that’s exactly what NTSB investigators say happened in the battery fire in Boston, although they still don’t know the origin of the short circuiting.”
Boeing’s chief engineer for the 787 program, Mike Sinnett, defended the certification process that OK’d the Dreamliner for service, saying the innovative aircraft underwent the most extensive testing in the company’s history.
“The FAA dedicated over 200,000 hours of certification of the 787 program,” Sinnett said. Testing on the battery system was “rigorous and subject to scrutiny,” he said.
“Our belief … was that any form of internal short circuit could lead to venting of that cell and release of the electrolyte but nothing more than that,” Sinnett testified.
“We had a battery supplier with a lot of experience, and with a test method that was state of the art,” he said. “In retrospect, we may apply tighter test criteria or seek to understand test criteria a little more.”
Steve Boyd, manager of the FAA’s airplane and flight crew interface branch, declined to speculate when asked how dangerous the Jan. 7 battery fire aboard an All Nippon Airways 787 would have been had the aircraft been in flight instead of parked on the tarmac.
But he did voice confidence in Boeing’s test process, in which FAA specialists were involved. “We believed Boeing’s approach was a reasonable approach to show compliance,” Boyd said.
