Flesh eating bacteria consumes cruise passenger in 24 hours
58-year old Raymond Evans was on a Mediterranean cruise when he fell and hurt his knee. The ship’s doctor put him on antibiotics just to be safe.
Despite the shots, his widow said his condition started to deteriorate, and that the back of his knee was turning black. This developed into a “blotchy blackness” that spread to his chest, elbow and fingers, and he was admitted into the ship’s hospital.
When the ship docked in Alexandria, Egypt, Evans was transported to the intensive care unit of the city’s hospital where he died hours later. The total time from noticing the blackness on his knee till death was just 24 hours.
A pathologist told an official inquiry that Evans “had been infected by the flesh-eating bug necrotising fasciitis.”
Boeing, Airbus gets cancellation orders
Boeing reported that it has received cancellation orders for 26 planes, 25 of which are Dreamliners. This follows Airbus Industrie’s announcement that it is cutting production of its A380 from 18 to 14 because airlines were delaying taking delivery of the superjumbo.
The changes in the order book for Boeing bring its net cancellations total to 1. The company has 58 orders and 59 cancellations this year. Boeing did not say which customers cancelled orders for the delayed 787. Boeing has said it is on track for its first 787 flight by the end of June.
Long-haul traffic, which is expected to drive the business case for the 525-seat A380, is seen as most severely affected. The planemaker also gave a target for next year of more than 20 deliveries. Subsequent delivery and production rates depended on airline demand and customer financing availability, Airbus said.
Increasingly, it’s a tight squeeze in the air
Whether they like it or not, business travelers must now put up with airlines using smaller jets and turboprops for regional routes.
Three-quarters of the airports in the United States are now served entirely by smaller aircraft, according to the Regional Airline Association. The number of passengers on regional aircraft has grown about 40 percent since 2003, and although traffic for all carriers fell in 2008, regional planes still make up half of all flights and carry 23 percent of passengers, according to the association.
