flames Archives - usatoday24

the exhibition ended with the plane in flames

March 16, 2026 by usatoday24

If you’ve ever flown within Europe on a short or medium-sized journey, there’s a good chance you’ve spent several hours inside a Airbus A320. This model has become one of the most common aircraft on the continent and is part of the daily landscape of airports and airlines. Today it is difficult to imagine European air transport without it, but there was a time when he A320 was an absolute novelty that was just beginning to be shown to the public. One of those first public flights took place in 1988 and was intended as a demonstration for spectators, press and guests. It was also the first flight with passengers on an Airbus A320. The plane belonged to Air France and was part of the first units of the model. That presentation was to serve to show the new Airbus aircraft in a simple maneuver on a small airfield. What should have been an exhibition ended up becoming one of the most remembered episodes of the early years of the A320. The premiere that went wrong and went down in history The demonstration was part of an aeronautical event held at the Habsheim airfield in eastern France. Air France agreed to participate in the exhibition and took advantage of the occasion to publicly display its new Airbus A320 in the company’s colors. The plan was to perform a flyby at very low altitude on the runway with the landing gear deployed so that attendees could observe the plane before it continued its trajectory. The flight did not depart directly from that small airfield. The plane had taken off from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and subsequently flew to Basel-Mulhouse, where a press conference was held before boarding. According to Aviation Safety Networkwhen the device took off again it had 130 passengers and six crew members on board. Among the occupants were journalists and people who had won a seat on the flight through a lottery. In the cockpit were two commanders with extensive experience within Air France. One of them was heading the company’s training division and the other was involved in the introduction of the A320 into the airline’s fleet. Three minutes after takeoff, with the airfield already in sight, the pilot began the descent which had to place the plane at the altitude planned for the maneuver. However, the decline continued below that level. According to data collected later in the investigation, the plane first passed about 50 feet (about 15.20 meters) and just a few seconds later it descended to about 30 feet (about 9.15 meters) above the ground. At that moment the power was increased to try to overcome the maneuver, but the reaction came too late. At that point, the room for maneuver was minimal. As we can see in a videothe Airbus A320 continued to advance at very low altitude until skim the treetops located at the end of the Habsheim airfield. The accident ended with the plane engulfed in flames in front of those attending the aeronautical event. After the accident, an investigation was opened in which Air France and Airbus participated together with the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile, the BEA, the French body in charge of investigating air accidents. The objective was to accurately reconstruct what happened during the maneuver and determine why the plane had ended up hitting the trees located at the end of the airfield. In its report, the BEA pointed out several factors that, combined, explained the accident. Among them, he mentioned carrying out an overflight at a height lower than that of the obstacles present in the area, a very low speed during the maneuver and the late application of the power needed to start the comeback. According to the investigation, this combination of circumstances left the plane without sufficient margin to regain altitude before reaching the tree line. Commander Michel Asseline rejected part of the investigation’s conclusions. In his defense, he maintained that both he and the other pilot, Pierre Mazières, had only received the flight plan on the morning of the accident. He also stated that the crew did not have maps of the aerodrome or detailed information about the configuration of the flight field where the demonstration was to take place. Asseline also questioned the interpretation of the moment in which the comeback attempt was attempted. According to your version, the fly-by-wire control system of the A320 would have prevented the application of power and lifting the plane with the necessary speed. In addition, he went on to claim that the black box data could have been manipulated and that four seconds were missing from the recording. Despite these allegations, the case ended up going to court. The judicial process ended with several convictions for involuntary manslaughter. Commander Michel Asseline, the first officer, two Air France officials and the president of the flying club that organized the event were found guilty. The case put an end to one of the most controversial episodes of the early years of the Airbus A320. As time went by, the relationship between Air France and the A320 continued to develop normally. According to data from ch-aviationthe airline currently operates about 40 Airbus A320-200. It also previously flew another 61 A320-200 and 13 A320-100, the variant involved in the 1988 accident. Today the A320 remains one of the most common aircraft on short and medium-haul routes within Europe. Images | Wikimedia Commons In Xataka | China has just found a hole in the US’s quietest weapon: an algorithm has hacked its B-2s in Iran

The Mediterranean Sea is in flames

July 1, 2025 by usatoday24

A measurement buoy in front of the island of Dragonera, in Mallorca, has made all alarms jump. The Mediterranean Sea is almost as hot as a removable pool. And the consequences for the weather, the population and the ecosystems of Spain are already being noticed. A sea dyed red. The Dragonera Boya registered 30.55 ºC on the coast of Mallorca on June 30. According to him Meteorologist Duncan Wingenof Meteoredes, it is a historical fact: the Mediterranean had never exceeded 30 ºC at a similar station for a month of June. But the record also extends to other areas of the Balearic Islands, such as the Boya de Maó, in Menorca, which beat its monthly record with a measurement of 29.31 ° C on June 24. The anomalies map Shared by Aemet This Tuesday confirms that the Mediterranean lives an unprecedented heat wave: water is between 5 and more hot than normal for this time of year. An immense dark red spot covers the Balearic coast, and the waters exceed the 26 ° C, with spikes between 28 and 30 ° C, such as that reached in Dragonera. Tropical and super -torment nights. The First consequence of this hot sea It has been a drastic increase in tropical nights (with minimum of 20 ° C) and, worse, of torrid nights (with minimums of 25 ° C). In June, the port of Palma beat its record with 27 tropical nights and 4 torrids. In the Capdepera lighthouse, which had never registered a torrid night in June, they have been five. Heat involves a risk to people’s health, but experts Like the physicist German JJ They warn of a major threat: an extremely warm Mediterranean acts as a fuel for superhourmen. By evaporating more water and transferring more energy to the atmosphere, it enhances the formation of much more virulent storms and with greater capacity to generate large hailas happened in the episode of August 2022. Temperatures registered by the European Sentinel-3 satellite. Image: that An ecosystem on the edge of collapse. This situation is part of a June 2025 that has been the most anomalously warm of the historical series in peninsular Spain, with an average 3.5 ° C temperature above normal. The earth and the sea feed on a vicious circle of heat while, under the surface, there is a silent catastrophe. Accelerated warming is causing the “tropicalization” of the Mediterranean, radically altering its biodiversity. He Institut de Ciències del Mar He has sighted warm waters, such as the parrot fish (previously confined to the south), in the Balearic Islands and Almería. It also warns of early jellyfish proliferation, whose life cycle accelerates by heat. And of the massive death of corals and meadows of Posidonia, a key ecosystem for the health of the Mediterranean. A sick sea and without defenses. Everything indicates that this marine heat wave is not an isolated event. The Mediterranean is heated 20% faster than the world average and suffers endemic problems of overweight, pollution and invasive species. To top it off, the traditional winter, which served as a recovery period, is disappearing, which has left the sea without the ability to regenerate. We pass from one summer to another, more and more intense, without rest. 30 degrees to June 30 in a buoy in Mallorca is much more than a fact. It is the most obvious symptom of a meteorological problem that is already here and that redefines our climate, threatens our ecosystems and forces us to prepare for a new reality of extremes. Image | Aemet In Xataka | “The Mediterranean already has only three stations”: the European Observatory of the drought confirms that winter is dying

half a century later, his flames are going out

June 6, 2025 by usatoday24

In the heart of Karakum deserta vast extension of dune burned by the sun that covers about 70% of Turkmenistanthere is a place that breaks with the monotony of the landscape. There, between sand crests and without asphalting roads, the Darvaza cratera cavity of 70 meters in diameter known as the ‘Hell door‘. Its origin, like many episodes inherited from the Soviet era, is wrapped in contradictory versions and incomplete documents. The most cited theory holds that in 1971 a team of Soviet geologists pierced in search of oil when he found a natural gas bag. The land gave in and several sinks were formed. To avoid a methane leak, they would have decided to set fire to one of them. They thought it would be extinguished in a few days. Half a century later, the flame is still alive. Half a century later, the flame begins to extinguish Now, no version is confirmed. According to the Canadian explorer George Kouounis, First person to explore the crater in 2013not even local geologists agree. Some place training in the sixties and ignition in the eighties. Others talk about a grenade or even neighbors of a nearby town who preferred to light the crater to avoid bad odors or risk of poisoning. There are no public documents of the Soviet era that clarify the event, and the existing records could continue to be confidential. The truth is that, regardless of its origin, the crater has become the main tourist claim of a country that I barely receive 15,000 visitors a year. Every night, the glow of the flames illuminates the sky of the karakum and attracts travelers willing to travel four hours from Asjabad on a double -meaning road and sand roads. Visits have been professionalized: today there are several camps, such as Garagum, with housing in yurts, solar lighting and outdoor dinners next to the edge of the crater. But that fire could go out. In recent years, the Turkmenistan government has shown interest in extinguishing it. This week, During the TESC Environmental Conference held in Ashgabad, Irina Luryeva, director of the Institute for Natural Gas Research, reported concrete progress: previously sealed wells have been reactivated, drilled new to capture the residual gas, and The volume of flames has decreased visibly. The British Capterio company, specialized in satellite data, confirmed that combustion intensity has been reduced more than three times since 2013. Darvaza’s flames, which for decades have symbolized both the power and unpredictability of the country’s energy resources, have begun to diminish. And it is no accident. Turkmenistan, frequently indicated for its lack of transparency and authoritarianismhas begun to move internationally with concrete environmental promises: reduce its methane emissions by 2030. As part of that commitment, the authorities have activated a technical roadmap to contain the gas flow in the area. Images | Richard Mortel (1, 2, 3) CC by 2.0 In Xataka | We invented the asphalt for a simple reason: at the beginning of the 20th century European roads were a dust hell

This is how climate change is making Valencia a match in the middle of a sea in flames

January 28, 2025 by usatoday24

January has the days counted and the Valencian thermometers seem to be in the wrong month. In more than a century and a half of data, a temperature had never been recorded above 26.6 degrees In the city of Turia. Well, yesterday Aemet devices They reached 27.1. AND It is not an isolated fact: We can travel the entire community jumping from weather station to weather station and a surprising amount of them would be for 25 degrees. In Chelva, a couple of days ago, The 30 were touched. But is this weird? The truth is that. Normal, according to the historical series, is that temperatures They should range between 10 degrees during the nights and 16 during the day. Overcoming the 25 is nothing that can be classified as “normal.” But it cannot be said that it is just a meteorological curiosity, it is a much greater problem than only now we begin to understand. What is happening in that Mediterranean area? The seasonal forecasts of Aemet They already drew A warmer winter than normal. I should not miss anyone: 73% of the 2024 days had an average temperature higher than the historical average of reference (and, As they point from the agencythat “the average is already a warm period”). Cold peaks, on the other hand, are increasingly rare. It is almost unimaginable that the Valencian garden suffer a cold wave Like 1956 or January 1891. In the latter, Castellón spent days to -10 degrees and the people of Grau could see one “immense ice belt on the banks of the Mediterranean“ That, today, is science fiction. The world, little by little, has been heating. So it has to do with climate change? In general, attributing weather events to climate change is complicated. Because, deep down, we always talk about probabilities and, although probabilities are never zero, As Aemet explains“In a stable climate it is very likely that these warm days would not have produced.” That’s where climate change enters. And, “due to the form that this data is adjusted to a normal distribution, the increase of 1.5 ° C of the average temperature gives rise to the fact that values before rare or impossible, Now they are probable“ What consequences does all this have? Halfway between the causes and the consequences are The very high temperatures that the sea has. Much higher temperatures than we could imagine just a decade ago and than They have experts intrigued. To all purposes, the Mediterranean is becoming a gigantic battery of energy that “Try the strength of atmospheric phenomena“. It is inevitable to think about THE GREAT DANA OF 2024but The impact Of these new scenarios it goes much further. Does this mean that complicated moments come? Means, above all, that socioclimatic balance in which we were installed it is changing very fast and we do not know for sure where it is directed. That complicates the forecast and hinders management, but emphasizes the need to be prepared. A task in which, as the Dana showed us, everything remains to be done. Image | Aemet In Xataka | Thus, the Mediterranean is agonizing: overexploitation, contamination and now months of a terrible heat wave

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