Survivors praise downed plane's pilot

From eTurboNews.com:

NEW YORK -- The pilot of the US Airways jet that crashed in the Hudson River Thursday is being hailed as a hero after all 155 passengers and crew cheated death.

The pilot, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (right), was praised by survivors and officials for coolly landing the jet belly-first onto the river, allowing passengers to make a successful evacuation from the stricken craft.

"He is the consummate pilot," said Lorrie Sullenberger of her husband, an Air Force Academy graduate who flew F-4 fighter planes while in the U.S. Air Force. "He is about performing that airplane to the exact precision to which it is made," she told the New York Post.

"It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river, and then making sure that everybody got out," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "I had a long conversation with the pilot. He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off."

[Go here for the rest of the story.]

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Flight cuts reduce flight delays

From ChicagoTribune.com:

U.S. airlines appear to have found the cure for chronic delays: operating fewer flights.

As they parked aircraft and shrank domestic operations last fall, American and United Airlines significantly improved the rate at which they delivered passengers to destinations as scheduled, new federal data show.

After posting the worst record for delays in November 2007, Chicago-based United finished fourth best one year later among 19 carriers. About 86 percent of United's flights were on time in November versus 76 percent during the year-earlier period, according to data released Wednesday by the Department of Transportation.

Ft. Worth-based American improved its results from second worst for tardy arrivals in November 2007 to seventh best a year later.

The industry's overall arrival performance was much improved in November, aided by generally good weather during the busy Thanksgiving travel period and far less congestion in the skies.

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Eire's oldest brewery may become tour center

The Beamish & Crawford brewery in Cork
CORK, Ireland -- Brewing giant Heineken is considering a proposal to redevelop Ireland’s oldest brewery, Beamish & Crawford, in Cork as a tourist center similar to the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.

A heritage group set up to save the South Main Street brewery complex in the city center held what it described as “a very fruitful meeting” with the directors of Heineken yesterday at Heineken’s Cork headquarters.

Heineken Ireland announced in December its intention to close the brewery, with the resultant loss of 120 jobs. A committee comprising representatives of three heritage groups has since been set up in an effort to save the brewery building with its distinctive mock-Tudor facade.

National Conservation and Heritage Group chairman Damien Cassidy was part of the delegation that met with Heineken directors yesterday. He said the company had promised to “give close consideration to a sensitive development of the site” during a very positive meeting.

Cassidy said the delegation was taken on a tour of Murphy’s brewery and was impressed by the way in which Heineken had restored the historic building since it took over the company 10 years ago.

He said Beamish would continue brewing at the Cork site until March and the heritage group had asked Heineken to then consider transforming the property into a visitor center and microbrewery.

“The Beamish & Crawford brewery is either 300 or 400 years old. Nobody can be sure but it’s certainly the oldest brewery in Ireland,” he said.

The Cork Lord Mayor Cllr Brian Bermingham already has endorsed proposals for a heritage or tourism complex at the site.

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