1.Air Canada obliged to accept lab monkeys as cargo
The arrival of 48 monkeys on a flight from China this weekend has brought Air Canada under fire for shipping primates destined for research laboratories, but the airline says it is obliged by federal law to accept monkeys as cargo.
A Pearson International Airport employee tipped off the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection that a shipment of monkeys destined for Montreal was being held at the Toronto airport after arriving from China on Saturday.
Sarah Kite, director of communications and special projects for the BUAV, said monkeys destined for research facilities are usually transported in cramped wooden crates in the plane’s cargo hold, where they can be subject to fluctuations in temperature, stopovers and in some cases long delays.
“I think most people would be alarmed to know that monkeys could be travelling alongside their luggage in a cargo hold,” Kite said. She said these monkeys, typically macaques, are often factory farmed for research purposes in countries such as Laos and Mauritius.
Air Canada is one of a small number of airlines that continues to transport these primates, Kite said. Under pressure from animal rights groups and the public, many airlines have banned the practice. British Airways, for example, has a policy of “not carrying live animals that are for use in any laboratory, or for experimentation or exploitation,” according to media liaison manager Sophie Greenyer.
But Air Canada has its hands tied because of an old squabble with a customer. In 1994, the airline refused to carry a shipment of monkeys from Barbados because they were destined for a lab.
The Primate Research Center and Wildlife Reserve of Barbados filed a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency, which ruled in 1998 that Air Canada could not refuse to carry the monkeys because they were not a nuisance to passengers in flight. According to the ruling, the “opinion” that the monkey shipment was offensive on “humane or moral grounds” wasn’t good enough.
“We cannot by law refuse the carriage of animals for the sole reason that they could ultimately be destined to a laboratory or for research,” said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick in an email.
In 2007, Air Canada stopped shipping beagles used for medical research after a passenger complained about the dogs yelping from the cargo hold during takeoff and landing.
According to the Pearson tipster, this weekend’s shipment was destined for Montreal, but it is unclear whether the monkeys travelled by truck from Toronto or were held overnight for a connecting flight.
At LAB Research, a facility in Laval, Que. that tests drugs for diabetes and cardiovascular disease on rodents and other animals, a veterinarian who did not want his name used out of fear of retaliation by animal activists said monkeys are usually shipped by truck from the Toronto airport to avoid long layovers.
The veterinarian would not confirm that the new batch of monkeys had arrived at LAB, but he did say the primates there lead comfortable lives with television, toys and candy. After a drug trial is over, he said the researchers try to reuse the animals by keeping them or transferring them to another lab certified by the Canadian Council on Animal Care. He said sometimes the animals are put to sleep because their careers are over or their organs need to be studied.
The veterinarian, who holds a PhD in pharmacology, says new drugs are typically tested in rodents first, but that in some cases their bodies are not relevant and non-rodent species such as monkeys, dogs or miniature pigs must be used to make sure the drugs are safe for humans.
2. Pilot typos behind string of take-off mishaps
Crew, pilot errors behind many accidents
Simple data calculations and errors common
Can lead to tail-strikes or even crashes
AIRLINE crew errors are a leading cause of take-off accidents and incidents, according to air safety investigators.
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report said mistakes made by pilots and crew worldwide have lead to near-misses and even death.
The safety regulators analysed 20 international and 11 Australian take-off accidents and incidents between 1989 and June 2009 involving incorrect flight data.
It found that the most common contributing safety factor was crew error (39 per cent), leading to a range of consequences, including one incident in Melbourne where a plane suffered substantial damage from a tail-strike.
“There have been numerous take-off accidents worldwide that were the result of a simple data calculation or entry error by the flight crew,” the ATSB report stated.
In Australian the most common mistakes involved pilots and crew entering the wrong takeoff speed, followed by the incorrect aircraft weight and wrong temperature.
The result of these errors ranged from a noticeable reduction in the aircraft's performance during take-off, to the aircraft being destroyed and loss of life.
In one case a pilot from an overseas airline entered a figure 100,000 kilograms below the aircraft's actual weight, leading to a tail strike at Melbourne Airport in 2009.
Meanwhile, seven air crew were killed in 2004 when their MK Airlines Boeing 747 cargo jet departing from Halifax, Canada, struggled to get airborne and hit a runway embankment.
The plane's take-off weight was entered as approximately 240,000kg instead of its real weight of approximately 354,000kgs.
Investigators also cited a Texas study of 4800 flights that found a quarter of pilots' errors were made before takeoff.
Pilot and ground crew error, time pressure, fatigue, distraction, poor system design, bad procedures, a lack of reference material and poor training were cited as key factors leading to these types of mistakes.
The report emphasised how critical the take-off phase of a flight is, with statistics between 2000 and 2009 showing that 12 per cent of fatal accidents occurred during take-off.
This is despite the take-off phase accounting for approximately just one per cent of the total flight time.
“Despite advanced aircraft systems and robust operating procedures, accidents continue to occur during the take-off phase of flight,” the report said.
“The takeoff is recognised as one of the most, if not the most, critical stage of flight, as there is limited time and options available to the flight crew for managing abnormal situation such as insufficient airspeed.”
The ATSB says that while these incidents will keep occurring due to human nature, airlines need to take action wherever possible to avoid mistakes.
3. Virgin America Pulls Out of Toronto
Virgin America's foray into Canada was short-lived: The airline revealed it will suspend service from Los Angeles and San Francisco on April 6. The low-cost carrier will shift emphasis onto its Dallas service, boosting its daily flights to three each from LAX and SFO.
In a statement, Virgin America VP of Planning and Sales Diana Walke said, "the smaller Toronto-West Coast markets ... were not able to stimulate demand as quickly as we would have liked. As a young and growing airline we’ve decided to instead focus on the immediate opportunities that DFW and other markets offer from our California base."
While the service suspension is "indefinite," Walke did say, "we hope to return to YYZ at some point."
In addition to added service from DFW, the airline said it is "adding additional nonstop flights from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to San Diego International Airport (SAN), SFO to Las Vegas McCarran International (LAS) and from SFO to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)."
According to USA Today's Ben Mutzabaugh, the loss of Virgin in Toronto may pinch consumers' wallets. A reader wrote in to say his now-canceled $335CDN flight is going for more than $600CDN on Air Canada. Air Canada had been more or less matching Virgin America's fares.
4. Copa to beef up service to the U.S. and Canada
Panama's Copa Airlines announced today that it will fly to three new destinations and increase frequencies on other key routes as part of its 2011 expansion plan.
Copa's new routes will begin in June when the carrier adds service from Panama City to Toronto Pearson, Nassau in the Bahamas and Porte Alegre, Brazil.
Copa also will add one daily round-trip flight on five routes from its Panama City hub. Two of those routes are to Florida, where Copa's Miami service will increase to four daily round-trip flights and Orlando will go to three daily round-trip flights. Bogota (up to six daily round-trip flights), Lima (three) and Santiago, Chile, (three) are the other routes.
Copa also plans to reorganize its flight schedule, saying in a press release that it will transition from a schedule of four daily flight banks to a six.
That will begin June 15, with Copa saying it "will allow the airline to better utilize (Panama City's) Tocumen Airport's existing infrastructure as well as offer passengers more and better scheduling options."
In its release, Copa asserts that its Panama City hub "continues to be the most efficient and convenient connection point on the continent."
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