Australian air safety bureau probes smoking iPhone

Japan's government stepped in to give Boeing Co's now-grounded 787 Dreamliner and its made-in-Japan technology a boost in 2008 by easing safety regulations, fast-tracking the rollout of the groundbreaking jet for Japan's biggest airlines, according to records and participants in the process.

A British Airways jetliner carrying 75 passengers was evacuated on the runway at London’s Heathrow airport, with television pictures of the plane’s approach showing smoke spewing from one engine. Customers and five crew exited safely after escape chutes were deployed, following which both landing strips at Europe’s busiest air hub were initially closed. The disruption caused the cancellation of 186 flights, Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd. said, with BA scrapping all short-haul services through 4 p.m.

A Canadian tour operator says it’s considering suing a Cape Breton family for the estimated $40,000 cost of a flight diversion to Bermuda caused by what it claims was unruly behaviour and smoking during the trip. Daryl McWilliams of the Sunwing Travel Group says the plane was flying from Halifax to the Dominican Republic and was forced to make an emergency landing at L.F. Wade International Airport in Hamilton, Bermuda, on Friday.

Boeing 787 Dreamliners will remain flightless birds for some time, it appears. Federal investigators said Thursday they are still early in their probe of a Dreamliner battery fire in Boston Jan. 7. That fire, along with a subsequent 787 battery problem in Japan, led to groundings of Boeing's breakthrough plane model in the U.S. and elsewhere.

OTTAWA – A plane carrying 170 people made an emergency landing at Ottawa’s airport Friday morning after a report of smoke in the cockpit. The Ottawa Fire department had initially said there was a report of a cockpit fire, but later amended that to say it believed there was a report of smoke. “For a minute, I thought that was it, this is how it’s going to all end,” vacationer Marc St. Jacques told the Ottawa Citizen.

The airline at the centre of a mid-flight smoking drama says it will sue the passengers who refused to butt out while on a plane to the Dominican Republic from Halifax, an act of defiance that forced an emergency landing. Daryl McWilliams of the Sunwing Travel Group said the plane carrying 180 passengers and crew members was diverted to the L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda on Friday night because a mother, father and son refused to stop smoking. The trio also apparently hid their cigarette butts and refused to divulge where.

(rchris173)