JetBlue vs. Air Rum

There seems to be a difference in how the U.S. and other countries look at airline travel. Last night I watched a JetBlue pilot put his damaged plane down smack on the centerline on runway 25L at LAX. After a smoky, sparking arrival, the pilot had this to say to the Mayor of LA:

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who spoke with the pilot, identified him as Scott Burke and praised him for the calm he showed during the flight.

"He joked that he was sorry he put the plane down 6 inches off the center line," Villaraigosa said.

That was as nice a piece of flying as I've ever seen.

Then we have the outrageous case of Air Rum (aptly named) who decided to declare a false fuel emergency so his passengers would be able to see a soccer game:

Pilots of a chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans faked the need for an emergency landing in Peru so passengers could watch their nation's team play a key match, officials said Wednesday.

The plane, claiming to be low on fuel, landed Tuesday in Peru's northern coast city of Piura, where Gambia played Qatar in the FIFA Under-17 World Championships later that night.

Emergency crews were scrambled ahead of the Lockheed L-1011 Tri-Star's unscheduled landing. It was to have landed in the capital, Lima.

The fans were allowed to watch the soccer game in Piura, which Gambia won 3-1. The fans apparently would have been late or missed the game if the flight had first gone to its scheduled destination of Lima, 550 miles to the south.

"It truly was a scam," said Betty Maldonado, a spokeswoman for Peru's aviation authority, CORPAC. "They tricked the control tower, saying they were low on fuel."
Maldonado said the plane, owned by Air Rum, flew directly to Piura, entering Peruvian airspace "without permission," instead of approaching Lima. She said the flight was chartered by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh.

These guys shouldn't be allowed to fly anything, ever again.