Cuba plane crash: 110 dead as investigators recover flight’black box

The fiery crash of an ageing passenger jet close to Havana’s main airport killed 110 people while three survivors remain gravily in the hospital, making it the Caribean island’s deadliest air disaster in nearly 30 years. The weather was rainy at the airport at the time of the accident and some people could hear a strange noise and saw the plane with an engine on fire. Among the dead are 20 clergy members of an evangelical church, the Mexican pilots and the cabin crew.

Adapted from Independent Online, May 25.

PRESSURE

Jeremy Berke

Commercial airplane cabins are generally pressurized to an equivalent of 6,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, in an effort to maintain a healthy oxygen level for both the passengers and the flight crew. When a passenger jet is flying at a cruising altitude of over 36,000 feet, the pressure outside the cabin is_____________ than inside the pressurized cabin. Air pressure has a tendency to equalize, moving from areas of high pressure to low pressure to achieve equilibrium. When a hole rips open on a plane, the suction resulting from the pressure difference between the cabin and the sky could pull nearby people or objects outside. Depending on the size of the hole, such accidents could either create just enough force to shuffle papers around, or, pull a full-size human out of the plane. Survival is unlikely for anyone fully sucked out into the sky.

While in-flight incidents are extremely rare, if you want to survive a crash, research suggests the best place to sit is in a middle seat toward the back of the plane.

http://www.businessinsider.com/

Choose the best alternative to have the text completed correctly.

Hawaii’ volcano

Caleb Jones and Andrey Mac Aroy

Kilawea began erupting more than two weeks ago. It has burned dozens of homes, forced people to escape ______ smoke and fire and led officials to distribute face masks to protect against ash particles. Lava flying ______ the air from cracks in the earth can weigh as much as a refrigerator and even small pieces can be lethal. The lava streamed ______ a highway and flowed ______ the ocean. That sent hydrochloric acid with fine glass particles into the air, a process that can lead to lung demage and eye and skin irritation. The highway was closed in some places, and residents in the area have been evacuated.

Adapted from http://apnews.com; May 20, 2018.

St Marteen: tourist killed by jet blast at caribean airport

A tourist has been killed after being knocked over by jet blast at an airport famous for its dangerous runway. The woman was watching a plane take off at Princess Juliana Airport on the island of St. Marteen when the blast of a Boeing 737 knocked her over. The tourist was standing by the fence at the end of the runway, watching the plane takes off when she fell and had head injuries. She was taken to hospital, where she died. The airport is one of the most dangerous in the world due to the location of its runway with a public beach at one end, and a mountain at the other. Between the beach and the airport there is a public road. Despite warning signs and requests from the airport to stay away from the runway they don’t obey and stay by the fence to feel the blast from planes as they take off.

Adapted from The Independent Online; July 13, 2017.