Free Republic

Fisticuffs in the cockpit, leaving a leaky engine running while cruising over Africa -- Air France pilots are under scrutiny after recent incidents that have prompted French investigators to call for tougher safety protocols. Two Air France pilots were suspended after physically fighting in the cockpit on a Geneva-Paris flight in June, an Air France official said Sunday. The flight continued and landed safely, and the dispute didn't affect the rest of the flight, the official said, stressing the airline’s commitment to safety. Switzerland’s La Tribune reported that the pilot and co-pilot had a dispute shortly after takeoff, and grabbed...

A friend told me to go to a certain latitude and longitude on Google Maps. When I noticed it seemed to be in the middle of an African desert, I thought he was just sending nonsense. But when I zoomed in, my mind was blown. I noticed a tiny icon that looked like an airplane. So I did some more research and discovered there’s an incredibly tragic and beautiful story behind it. Here it is, from start to finish.

Blasts rocked the capital of the Republic of Congo on Sunday, after a weapons depot caught fire, officials said, killing at least 206 people and pinning countless others underneath collapsed buildings, including a church. A morgue in Brazzaville took in 136 bodies Sunday afternoon, as more continued to arrive. A local hospital reported at least 237 patients wounded in the blasts. Didier Boutsindi of the presidential office said untold numbers of people were trapped in St. Louis church, which collapsed. "Many of the faithful are trapped in the debris of the church," he said. "Several of the dead have been...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Americans who lost loved ones in the Lockerbie bombing slammed France as "utterly disgraceful," "meddling" and "ridiculous", after it threatened to block a compensation deal with Libya. Paris has threatened to veto the lifting of United Nations sanctions against Libya, mandated under a deal in which Tripoli agreed to pay 2.7 billion dollars to relatives of victims of the bombing. "I think it is ridiculous; it's blackmail," Glenn Johnson, whose daughter Beth Ann died in the disaster, said after a meeting with top US officials. Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988,...