As dangerously destructive wildfires sweep across Southern and Northern California, several airlines are issuing weather advisories and travel waivers to those affected. Dozens of people have been killed and more than 6,500 homes have been destroyed. More than 8,000 firefighters are battling the wind and flames. Stories lists how each airline is accommodating passengers with plans to travel in California. <br/>
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The Irish Aviation Authority is investigating after an unidentified flying object was sighted by pilots flying over Ireland. On the morning of 9 November the pilot of BA flight BA94 from Montreal called air traffic control in Shannon to report seeing an object moving past her aircraft, and asked if there were any military exercises taking place off the west coast of Ireland. “It was moving so fast,” she said. “It came up on our left-hand side and then rapidly veered to the north. It was a very bright light that disappeared at very high speed.” According to a recording of the conversation by Airlive, a site for enthusiasts, the pilot was told there were no military exercises in the area. “There’s nothing showing on either primary or secondary [radar],” air traffic control said, according to the report. The pilot said her plane and the object were not on a collision course, but she was “wondering” what it could be. Other aircraft flying in the area reported the same thing. A pilot, flying a Virgin Airlines plane from Orlando to Manchester described the sight as a “meteor or another object making some kind of re-entry”, adding it seemed to be “multiple objects following the same sort of trajectory – very bright from where we were.” A spokesman for the Irish Aviation Authority told the Irish Times it was investigating the incident and would file a report. <br/>
International air travel has become remarkably safe in recent years, with deadly accidents like last month's Lion Air crash in Indonesia becoming more rare. Statistics aside, the accident is making travellers wary of flying in some countries or on certain foreign airlines. The safety of Indonesia's airlines had been questioned long before the Lion Air accident. "There has been a lot more trepidation about flying smaller airlines that Americans have never heard of" since the Oct. 29 Lion Air crash, said Blake Fleetwood, president of Cook Travel in New York. "It is pushing people to the bigger airlines. People are scared." Before plunking down big money to book international flights, nervous flyers can tap into resources that can provide red-flag warnings if there are doubts about a carrier's safety. The FAA determines whether countries meet international safety standards set by the UN aviation agency. Five currently do not — Thailand, Bangladesh, Ghana, Curacao and Sint Maarten. Airlines from those countries can't launch new flights to the US. Indonesia got off the blacklist in 2016. Europe bans 120 airlines from its skies. Most are smaller carriers from developing countries in Africa and parts of Asia. Lion Air was banned for nearly a decade until 2016; other blackballed Indonesian carriers only got off the list in June. Aviation Safety Network has an accident database that can be searched by airline or country. Websites like AirlineRatings.com rank carriers based on crash records and other data. <br/>
A passenger plane in the running to become the aviation industry’s first fully commercial battery-powered model needs about $200m to bring it to market, according to developer Eviation Aircraft. The Israeli company plans to fly a prototype of the “Alice” design at the Paris Air Show in June and to begin building the first production version in the next 2 1/2 years, CEO Omer Bar-Yohay said. It should sell for $3 to $5m. While the plane is one of several electric models at the design stage, its nine-passenger capacity and 650-mile range from a single charge could give it an edge in the commuter market currently served by a variety of light aircraft. Many other proposed craft are smaller, reflecting the limiting weight of batteries and fuel cells, while full-size airliners may take years to develop. Running costs for the Alice will be about $200 per flight hour versus $1,000 for a turboprop, presenting a “compelling business case,” Bar-Yohay said, adding that it already has “a few hard commitments” from would-be operators. Existing funds should take the project to the prototype stage “and a bit further,” but won’t by themselves bankroll manufacturing, he said. The Alice will be slower than some conventional craft, with a cruising speed of 240 knots (276 miles per hour), half the pace of modern business jets but not far short of some turboprop models. <br/>