Free Republic

The dead of Kandahar By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent and Richard Westmacott in Kabul (Filed: 04/09/2006) The RAF's ageing fleet of Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft was grounded last night after a crash in Afghanistan claimed the lives of all 14 service personnel on board in the worst single military loss of life in action since the Falklands conflict. The remaining fleet of 15 aircraft operated by 20 crews was having emergency checks before being allowed to resume operational flights. There were immediate Opposition claims that the RAF had to operate with old aircraft and equipment. advertisementThe Tories accused the Government of...

FORT HUACHUCA — Slightly more than three years ago Chief Warrant Officer Corey Lefebvre was heading to Fort Rucker, Ala. He wasn’t going on duty. He was heading on post to pick up some milk and put gas in his vehicle. Around 7:30 p.m. — BAM — his life changed. He was hit by a drunken driver doing 75 mph. After the wreck, Lefebvre saw his military career take a different path as the result of the crash. Just a week away from graduation at the Army Aviation Center, the former enlisted soldier was heading toward a career as an...

Air Zimbabwe grounded for lack of fuel By David Blair in Johannesburg (Filed: 23/11/2005) Zimbabwe's state airline grounded its entire fleet yesterday after running out of aviation fuel. For the first time in its 25-year history, Air Zimbabwe cancelled flights to every destination. All seven of its aircraft sat on the apron at Harare airport "until further notice". Hundreds of angry passengers thronged the check-in desks at Harare, although some flights did resume after more than 24 hours on the ground. "The board would like to sincerely apologise to all its valued customers for the inconveniences," said Jonathan Kadzura, the...

NASA realizes debris that fell of external fuel tank yesterday came close to causing irrepairable damage to shuttle now in orbit. Fleet GROUNDED. More later Chances to return to flight again, no better than 50/50.

NASA officials are grounding the entire space shuttle fleet, after reviewing video of damage done to the heat-shield tiles of Discovery during Tuesday's launch. Officials are still working to determine just how severe the damage is. It appears a small piece of the tile was chipped-away by a falling piece of insulation foam from the orbiter's external fuel tank. NASA engineers say now it's a matter of determining if that piece was a "chip" or a "chunk". Discovery's sister ship Atlantis was set for a September launch to send astronauts to the International Space Station. Atlantis was also on standby...

British Airways has cancelled three planned flights from London to cities in the United States for security reasons. Two flights from London to Washington (BA 223), on February 1 and February 2, and one flight to Miami (BA 207), on February 1, have been cancelled on security advice from the British Government. A BA spokeswoman apologised to customers for the inconvenience. She added: "The safety and security of our operations is our absolute priority and will not be compromised." A spokesman for the Department of Transport said: "Aviation security is kept under review at all times. "In the light of...

US space flights 'could be grounded for years' Russian space officials claim US-manned space flights could be grounded indefinitely following the loss of the shuttle Columbia. Sergei Gorbunov, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency, told the ITAR-Tass news agency it could be years before flights resume. He said Russian Soyuz rockets should be used to ferry crews back and forth to the International Space Station instead. Mr Gorbunov said: "It's absolutely obvious that shuttle flights will be stopped, possibly for some years, until the final determination of the cause of the Columbia accident." If US shuttles are grounded, only...