Monday, November 1, 2010

AIR CRASH REPORT

Heathrow Airport Air Crash Accident Report

An interim accident report into the British Airways Boeing 777 crash-landing at London Heathrow Airport last month says the accident was not caused by faults with the aircraft's engines.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) said their investigations into the damaged aircraft and the jet's black box flight data recorders had shown there was nothing wrong with major systems on the aircraft.

In an initial report released the day after the accident on 17th January, the AAIB said the 777's two engines "did not respond" to requests from the crew for more power as the aircraft was on final approach.

After completing further investigations, however, the investigators now say they have ruled out the accident being caused by a mechanical problem with the engines.

"Examination of the engines indicated no evidence of a mechanical defect [with the engines] or ingestion of birds or ice," the report said.

Investigators had tested the electric and electronic controls for the engine and fuel systems, and found them to be working well.

The report said: "The autopilot and the auto-throttle systems behaved correctly and the engine control systems were providing the correct commands prior to, during and after the reduction in thrust".

Despite ruling out the possibility of mechanical problems, the AAIB's interim report did not give a specific cause of the accident.

Boeing 777 Fuel Flow To Be Investigated

However, the AAIB said "a comprehensive examination and analysis is to be conducted of the entire aircraft and engine fuel system, including the modelling of fuel flows and taking account of the environmental and aerodynamic effects".

Industry experts believe this shows the AAIB thinks a potential cause of the accident was a partial interruption with the aircraft's fuel flow system.

Indeed, the AAIB report stated: "Detailed examination of both the left and right engine high pressure fuel pumps revealed signs of abnormal cavitation [air bubbles] on the pressure-side bearings and the outlet ports. This could be indicative of either a restriction in the fuel supply to the pumps or excessive aeration of the fuel".

The AAIB did not say this was a cause of the accident, but that it would be carrying out investigations to compare the damage to the fuel pumps with the aircraft's flight data.

The report added that "insignificant" quantities of water had been found in the fuel, and several items of debris in the fuel tanks themselves. It said investigators would be examining this to see if had any relevance to the accident.

Heathrow Air Crash Safety Recommendation

The AAIB did make one safety recommendation in light of its investigations.

Operating procedures for the 777 show that these valves should be cut off first, either manually or automatically, before the fire handle - which is responsible for working the aircraft's fire extinguisher.

Investigators found that, due to the pressure of the situation, the aircraft's crew had failed to cut off one of the fuel valves, which are designed to stop the fuel supply immediately if an accident or engine fire occurs.

The AAIB said this lead to a loss of fuel from the aircraft. The report noted that while this "was not causal to the accident", it "could have had serious consequences in the event of a fire during the evacuation".

The AAIB recommended that Boeing should instruct all airline operators of the Boeing 777 to ensure their crews are fully briefed to cut the fuel valves before using the fire handle.

The Boeing 777 involved in the dramatic incident was on arrival from Beijing when it crash-landed short of Heathrow's Runway 27L onto the threshold, with extensive damage being inflicted on the aircraft as it skidded across the grass to the runway. All 136 passengers and 16 crew were safely evacuated from the aircraft with only several passengers receiving minor injuries.

Source - Airport International's Aviation Correspondent

Monday, October 25, 2010

Review

Morgan Freeman

THE BUCKET LIST

2.5 stars, out of 4

Plot: Two terminally ill men set out to complete their things-to-do-before-I-die lists.

What works: Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson are well-cast as the film's odd couple.

What doesn't: The film's attempt at existential meditation falls short of real depth.

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson, Sean Hayes. Director: Rob Reiner. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. Rating: PG-13, for language, including a sexual reference. Where: Elmwood Palace, Clearview Palace, West Bank Palace, Hammond Palace, Hollywood 9 (Kenner), Hollywood 14 (Covington), Holiday 12, Grand (Slidell).

It won't change your life, but it won't be terrible, either. (Let's pretend we've never heard of "North, " about which the generally genial movie critic Roger Ebert wrote, "I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it.")

"The Bucket List" fits that typical Reiner profile perfectly, for better or worse.

The film is helped by its spot-on casting. The cranky but oddly charming Nicholson is the film's cranky but oddly charming curmudgeon, and the wise and elegant Freeman is the film's wise and elegant voice of grandfatherly reason. Neither steps outside of his comfort zone here, but then neither needs to. Nicholson can be his rubber-faced, eyebrow-raising, wise-ass self, and Freeman can flash that contagious smile and showcase his extraordinary ease of being, and the film is better off for it.

The two actors seem to have a genuine chemistry as they go about playing perfect strangers with terminal illnesses who are forced to share a hospital room. By virtue of their forced companionship, their characters see each other at their most vulnerable -- sick, pained, frightened. ("Somewhere, " Nicholson growls at a particularly low point of chemotherapy, "some lucky guy is having a heart attack.")

Although they are different personalities and from different worlds, they inevitably bond. Reiner probably nurses the odd couple routine too long; it's 35 minutes before we meet the titular list -- that's a fairly long wind-up -- but it's time pleasantly spent, watching the two old pros bounce zingers off each other.

When they finally embark on their shared mission is when the film gets fun.

Along the way, Reiner and company take stabs at engaging in existential meditation, but it's hard to take any of it too seriously, the film's ultimate message being as simple as it is. (Basically: "It's never too late.")

It's also fraught with predictabilities, as well as some unfortunate technical shortcomings. (Will anybody actually believe Freeman and Nicholson are in Egypt?)

The sentimentalists in the audience might find themselves misty-eyed and moved by it all, while those who reside on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum could have trouble seeing "The Bucket List" as anything but mildly diverting.

Years ago, Hrishikesh Mukherjee's ANAND narrated an interesting tale of a man living his life to the fullest, despite being well aware of his impending death. DASVIDANIYA, directed by debutante Shashant Shah, narrates a similar tale. Here, the protagonist, well aware that the clock is ticking, intends realising his 'Top 10 things to do before I die' list.

Bears an uncanny resemblance to THE BUCKET LIST [2007; Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman]? Slightly perhaps, but that could be coincidental. What makes DASVIDANIYA watchable for the Indian viewer is the fact that it portrays the emotions of a common man really well. You identify with the person and the pain he goes through

Sensitively treated with a bravura act by Vinay Pathak, DASVIDANIYA makes you smile at several points, even shed tears [the emotional quotient is quite strong], but most importantly, reiterates the fact that life's a bubble that can burst any time. However, there's a flip side as well. For, the film has an erratic pace and not all chapters are as interesting. That dilutes the impact to an extent!
Shy and quiet Amar [Vinay Pathak] lives a mundane, run-of-the-mill life. His existence is non-existent to people around him. His innocence and obsession for making his daily 'To-Do-List' every morning is what motivates him to look forward to the next day.

Then, one day, a doctor tells him that he will die within three months. He is diagnosed with cancer. Thus begins a journey of a lifetime for Amar, where he sets out to write his final list. The 10 things to do before he dies.

A simple plot is treated with a lot of sensitivity by debutante director Shashant Shah. Watch Vinay finally mustering up courage and confronting his boss [Saurabh Shukla]. It brings a smile on your face. Watch Vinay express his love for Neha on a rainy night. The silence speaks a million words. Watch Vinay go through a traumatic time when he overhears the conversation between Rajat Kapoor and his wife Suchitra Pillai. And, finally, when he meets his brother Gaurav Gera.

If the story strikes a chord, Shashant's execution of the material is incredible at times. But writer Arshad Syed's script could've been tighter. It has some great moments, but a few portions [the story of the Russian girl and also the guitar teacher] aren't convincing. However, the dialogues are wonderful. They sound so fresh. Music is functional, although 'Mumma' is soothing.
Vinay Pathak carries the film on his able shoulders and delivers a matchless performance. At par with his amazing work in BHEJA FRY. The film has a number of characters that stand out: Saurabh Shukla [excellent], Rajat Kapoor [good], Ranvir Shorey [quite funny], Neha Dhupia [perfect], Sarita Joshi [proficient] and Gaurav Gera [nice].

On the whole, DASVIDANIYA is engrossing in parts. While the first hour works well, it's the second part that turns pale due to its slow pacing and a not-as-tight screenplay. Sure, the film has the merits, but it will have to rely on a strong word of mouth to stay afloat.

Director Ron Howard has created a moving masterpiece, elegantly guiding the audience through John Forbes Nash Jr.'s life starting with Nash as an intense, introverted youth striving for that perfect original idea and ending with Nash as a passionate, patient elderly man battling against his inner demons.

Through Howard's skilled hand and via Russell Crowe's amazingly understated yet incredibly touching performance, Nash's achievements and flaws are exposed without portraying mental illness in a clichéd cinematic form. Crowe's Nash is an honest, disturbing look at the price paid by people who suffer from schizophrenia and the toll it takes on families and friends.

"A Beautiful Mind" lays out the story of mathematical genius John Forbes Nash Jr. as he enters Princeton, a bright student with a limitless future ahead of him. Obsessed with finding a way to prove he truly matters, he competes with the other students in Princeton's brutally competitive math department, all of whom are searching for one truly original idea. Inspiration strikes him while he's studying in a local bar surrounded by his rowdy classmates. As they vie for the attention of a stunning blonde, Nash observes their rivalry and, from that, develops his “game theory.” Nash's theory contradicts 150 years of accepted theory and earns him a coveted position at MIT where part of his duty is to teach a course to eager young minds.

Jennifer Connelly enters the film as one of those eager young minds, Alicia Larde. Alicia falls for the nervous, socially inept Nash, inviting him to dinner and starting a romance that breathes life into Nash's carefully ordered world. As Nash's mental condition unveils itself, worsening with time, Alicia is the one true thing in his world that remains steadfast and dependable.

Russell Crowe exquisitely captures Nash's passion for his wife, his work, and his unending hunger for excellence. Jennifer Connelly again proves she's a talented actress capable of conquering characters with depth and emotion. The brilliant supporting cast, including Ed Harris, Paul Bettany, and Adam Goldberg, perfectly create the fuzzy environment where Nash roams. Over the course of little more than two hours, director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman succeed in unfolding a beautiful story of love, despair, perseverance, compassion and pride the likes of which hasn't been seen on screen in many years.

"A Beautiful Mind" is easily one of the finest films of the year and deserves the Oscar buzz that surrounds it. The only real Oscar question is whether Crowe's winning last year will negate a nod this year or will the Academy reward what is clearly the best performance of the year with the golden statue it truly deserves.

Overall Grade: A

"A Beautiful Mind" is rated PG-13 for intense thematic material, sexual content, and a scene of violence.

Cast
Director: Ron Howard
Producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer
Written By: Akiva Goldsman
Director of Photography: Roger Deakins
Film Editors: Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
Production Designer: Wynn Thomas
Composer: James Horner
Costume Designer: Rita Ryack
Casting: Jane Jenkins and Janet Hirshenson
Art Director: Robert Guerra
Set Decorator: Leslie Rollins

John Nash - Russell Crowe
Alicia - Jennifer Connelly
Parcher - Ed Harris
Dr. Rosen - Christopher Plummer
Charles - Paul Bettany
Sol - Adam Goldberg
Hansen - Josh Lucas
Marcee - Vivien Cardone
Bender - Anthony Rapp
Ainsley - Jason Gray-Stanford
Helinger - Judd Hirsch
Thomas King - Austin Pendleton
Professor Horner - Victor Steinbach

Woman’s Inspiring Struggle for Social Justice Reaches Tragic Climax

In P.O.V.’s “No More Tears Sister,”

Hopes of a Generation of Sri Lankan Revolutionaries Are Destroyed

By War Between Government and Murderous Rebels

“This is a deeply moving film on the life and courageous witness of a remarkable person.

Rajani Thiranagama’s commitment to peace, justice and coexistence is a great inspiration for all involved in the struggle for human rights.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu

If love is the first inspiration of a social revolutionary, as has sometimes been said, no one better exemplified that idea than Dr. Rajani Thiranagama. Love for her people and her newly independent nation, and empathy for the oppressed of Sri Lanka—including women and the poor—led her to risk her middle-class life to join the struggle for equality and justice for all. Love led her to marry across ethnic and class lines. In the face of a brutal government crackdown on her Tamil people, love led her to help the guerrilla Tamil Tigers, the only force seemingly able to defend the people. When she realized the Tigers were more a murderous gang than a revolutionary force, love led her, publicly and dangerously, to break with them. Love then led her from a fulfilling professional life in exile back to her hometown of Jaffna and civil war, where her human-rights advocacy made her a target for everyone with a gun. She was killed on Sept. 21, 1989 at the age of 35.

As beautifully portrayed in Canadian filmmaker Helene Klodawsky’s No More Tears Sister, kicking off the 19th season of public television’s P.O.V. series, Rajani Thiranagama’s life is emblematic of generations of post-colonial leftist revolutionaries whose hopes for a future that combined national sovereignty with progressive ideas of equality and justice have been dashed by civil war—often between religious and ethnic groups, and often between repressive governments and criminal rebel gangs.

The National Film Board of Canada production No More Tears Sister has its national broadcast premiere on the groundbreaking P.O.V. series on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 at 10 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.) American television’s longest-running independent documentary series, P.O.V. is public television’s premier showcase for point-of-view, nonfiction films.

Speaking out for the first time in the 15 years since Rajani Thiranagama’s assassination, those who knew her best tell about the person she was and the sequence of events that led to her murder. Especially moving are the memories of Rajani’s older sister, Nirmala Rajasingam, with whom she shared a happy childhood, a political awakening, and a lifelong dedication to fighting injustice; and her husband, Dayapala Thiranagama, who was everything a middle-class Tamil family might reject—a Sinhalese radical student from an impoverished rural background. Also included are the recollections of Rajani’s younger sisters, Vasuki and Sumathy; her parents; her daughters, Narmada and Sharika; and fellow human-rights activists who came out of hiding to tell her story. The film rounds out its portrayal with rare archival footage, personal photographs, and re-enactments in which Rajani is portrayed by daughter Sharika Thiranagama. The film is narrated by Michael Ondaatje, esteemed author of The English Patient and Anil’s Ghost.

It is the testimony of Nirmala and Dayapala, along with Rajani’s own voice in the form of her letters, that creates the dramatic core of the film. Nirmala, a well-known Sri Lankan activist in her own right, still cries for her sister, for their shared dreams, and for their war-torn country. Dayapala is the student revolutionary from the countryside who fell in love with Rajani and never expected, after failed insurrections, imprisonment, torture, and exile, to be the one to survive and to care for their two daughters. Nirmala and Dayapala’s grief for Rajani is as palpable as their grief for the war-torn island once thought as close to paradise as any place any on earth.

Sri Lanka

, formerly known as Ceylon, was one of the longest-colonized countries of South Asia, occupied for significant periods by the Portuguese, then the Dutch and lastly the British. Ceylon was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country made up of Burgers, Tamils, Muslims and Buddhist Sinhalese. Under British rule, these groups had to compete for political representation and economic advantages. Ordinary Sinhalese, the majority ethnic community, felt that the minorities—Tamils and Muslims—were sheltered and privileged at their expense. Once independence came in 1948, elections swept ultra-nationalist Sinhalese politicians into power and a dramatic reversal of fortune began. The Sinhalese wanted to reassert their culture, language, schools, and religion. As the majority, they voted to replace English with Sinhalese as the country’s only official language. The Tamil minority, on the other hand, wanted a federal system of government, with more local autonomy in the main Tamil-populated areas. They also wanted official recognition of their language.

Born in 1954, only six years after Ceylon’s independence, Rajani followed the elder (by two years) Nirmala through childhood dreams of starting an orphanage for the poor to self-education with revolutionary western and anti-colonial writings. When Nirmala returned from the United States, where a scholarship had landed her in the middle of the anti-war ’60s, the sisters’ activism took a more radical turn. Only 22, Rajani was a strikingly unusual figure, a woman and a medical student who was also a left-wing activist and a leader of the student Christian movement. Like Nirmala, she advocated social and political equality for all Sri Lankans, regardless of ethnicity or religion. The sisters even looked into starting collective farms in the vicinity of Jaffna. Later, it was Nirmala who induced Rajani, by then a doctor, to help the Tamil Tigers as the only available way of resisting the extremist Sinhalese central government. When Nirmala was jailed, Rajani was thrust into prominence, leading the campaign for her sister’s release, which brought her into further contact with the Tigers. Rajani then became deeply committed to fighting for the right of self-determination for Tamil communities, a cause which the southern Sri Lankan Left had neglected in the Tamil areas.

Dayapala shared the sisters’ commitment to a revolutionary universalism that transcended ethnic and religious divisions. By the time he met Rajani, he’d already participated in a disastrous 1971 anti-government insurrection by unemployed youths, mostly Sinhalese, under the banner of a “People’s Liberation Army,” which left 25,000 dead. Dayapala was thrown into prison and tortured. Between bouts of prison, exile, and underground work in Sri Lanka, Dayapala never wavered in his commitment to a non-sectarian vision of social justice. But even as government repression drove more and more Tamil intellectuals into the arms of the Tigers, he warned the sisters to stay away, not only for ideological reasons but because he knew the Tigers never let anyone leave their ranks.

Nirmala faced the truth when she joined Tiger exiles in south India and found the leaders would not allow any literacy or political education of their young troops. Not long after, Rajani confronted the truth while speaking to Tamil refugees in London, where she worked as an anatomy professor and had become the virtual spokesperson for the Tiger organization in Europe. Both Nirmala and Rajani had the courage to break with the Tigers—considered a virtual death sentence, just as Dayapala had warned.

The sisters also had the courage to confront the moral crisis presented by their failed association with the Tigers, and by the defeat of non-sectarian revolution in Sri Lanka. For Rajani, the search for the truth and a way to act on it led her back to Jaffna, where she opposed all the men with guns and helped organize the underground University Teachers for Human Rights, which works to document human-rights abuses and to protect the most vulnerable victims. Given the conditions under which Rajani lived and worked, a late letter predicting her own death (“One day some gun will silence me, and it will not be held by an outsider but by a son born in the womb of this very society…”) hardly seems melodramatic. Rajani seemed to have lived more than one lifetime of struggle when a bullet, undoubtedly fired by a Tiger gunman, brought her down in the prime of her life.

No More Tears Sister is a riveting story of love, revolution, and treachery that explores the price of truth amidst militarized and authoritarian governments on one side, and rebel groups more driven by gangster principles than ideological beliefs on the other. Rajani Thiranagama was a woman of great courage as well as ideals, and her tragic fate exposes the internal forces tearing at many nations today.

“In making No More Tears Sister, I wanted to understand how ethnic conflict and nationalist struggles impact women, be they victims, fighters or peacemakers,” says director Helene Klodawsky. “Rajani Thiranagama was part of a generation of young political activists in post-colonial countries around the world whose idealism continues to be ruthlessly thwarted by narrow nationalist agendas.

“I knew that creating a portrait of a slain human-rights activist would be no easy feat,” she continues, “especially given the fact that there were no surviving archives, few photos, and, due to security concerns, no access to filming in Jaffna where Rajani lived and worked. Most of her friends, former students and colleagues were far too fearful to speak about her on camera. Luckily, Rajani’s older sister and husband were willing to come on board, joined by Rajani’s younger sisters, parents, daughters and fellow activists, some still living underground. Cinematically, I wanted No More Tears Sister to reflect the passion and beauty of Rajani’s ideals. Together with my talented team,
I aimed at making a film that is political, feminist, and aesthetic.

“As a daughter of Holocaust and concentration camp survivors, I am drawn to individuals who, in spite of their very personal encounters with brutality, are committed to bringing light into our world,” Klodawsky concludes. “Rajani and her family give hope that the struggle for human rights and justice will never be vanquished.”

No More Tears Sister is a National Film Board of Canada production.

About the filmmaker:

Helene Klodawsky

Director/Writer

Helene Klodawsky has been writing and directing social, political and art documentaries for 20 years. Her films have been screened and televised around the world and have won more than 25 awards. She has received honors from the Chicago, San Francisco, Jerusalem and Mannheim International Film Festivals, Hot Docs, and the Academy of Canadian Cinema. Her documentary credits include Painted Landscapes of the Times (1986), Motherland (1994), What If (1999) and Undying Love (2002). Klodawsky is currently working on Family Motel, a feature-length alternative drama about a group of homeless families and refugees in Toronto thrown together in an old motel along a busy suburban highway, and ‘Til We Drop, a feature documentary about malls, shopping, and the “malling of the planet.” She is a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and Queen's University in Canada.

Credits:

Director/Writer: Helene Klodawsky

Executive Producer: Sally Bochner

Producer: Pierre Lapointe

Cinematographer: François Dagenais

Editor: Patricia Tassinari

Music: Bertrand Chénier

Running Time: 56:46

Awards & Festivals:

· World Premiere, Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival, Toronto, 2005 – Audience Pick Award

· Amnesty International Film Festival, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2006

· Amnesty International Film Festival, Vancouver, 2005

· Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, London, 2006

· Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, New York, 2005

· Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival, U.S., 2005-2006

· Tri Continental Film Festival, India, 2006

· Tri Continental Film Festival, South Africa, 2005

U.S.

Premiere, Seattle International Film Festival, 2005

· Hamptons International Film Festival, 2005

· San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival, 2005

· Vermont International Film Festival, 2005

· Columbus International Film and Video Festival, 2005

· FILMI South Asian Film Festival, Toronto, 2005

· International Festival of Cinema and Human Rights, Barcelona, 2005

· Calgary International Film Festival, Canada, 2005

· Global Visions Documentary Festival, Edmonton, Canada, 2005

· Banff World Television Festival, Alberta, Canada, 2005

· Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal, Canada, 2005

· Guelph International Film Festival, Guelph, Canada, 2005