Delta 747 Makes Emergency Landing on Midway Island

A Delta Air Lines 747 with nearly 380 passengers and crew made an emergency stop at the Midway Atoll wildlife refuge part of the way between Hawaii and Japan after the plane developed a crack in the cockpit windshield.

The Delta flight was heading from Honolulu to Osaka Thursday when pilots noticed the crack and landed at the former military base about 1,300 miles northwest of Oahu at about 5:40 p.m. Midway is home to about 1 million Laysan albatross seabirds.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs the refuge, said Friday that Delta kept the passengers on board until a second 747 arrived from Japan to fly the passengers to Osaka. The replacement plane left about 5 a.m. Friday, just before light and before the seabirds began to fly.

With the condition of its windshield, the 747 could not wait until dark to land, which would have been safer because the birds are less active.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials say the plane struck two birds when it landed, one of which damaged the aircraft's wing flap.

"Bird strikes are always unfortunate and sad, but we are grateful the plane landed safety and everyone is okay," Refuge Manager Sue Schulmeister said of the landing. "It's a good thing Midway is here when needed for these types of situations."

Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is part of the co-managed Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which extends some 1,200 miles northwest from the main Hawaiian Islands.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials are expected to release video and pictures.

How You Can Watch the Lunar Eclipse

Tonight's lunar eclipse will be visible from parts of South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia late this morning, but you can still watch from North America.

Starting at 11 a.m. PDT, Google will live stream the eclipse on the company’s official YouTube channel. The broadcast will wrap up around 3 p.m.

If simply watching the lunar eclipse isn’t enough for you, you can watch live at Slooh’s website, where the feed will be accompanied by ongoing commentary from astronomers and experts.

Flights Canceled in South Pacific

The fallout from the volcanic ash cloud spreading over south-east Australia has widened with Qantas, Jetstar and Tiger cancelling all flights in and out of Adelaide. Jetstar has also cancelled all of today's flights in and out of Tasmania and flights to and from New Zealand.

While most of the ash plume is south of the Australian mainland, some is hovering eight to 11 kilometres above Tasmania, Adelaide and New Zealand and is not forecast to move significantly for the next 24 hours.

Virgin Australia CEO Sean Donohue says their decision to continue flying is based on safety assessments and not marketing.

Blue Angels Remain Grounded for Safety Review

The precision flying team, the Blue Angels have canceled their headline performance at an upcoming midwest air show as they continue a safety review.

The Navy's air demonstration team announced Saturday it won't perform at the annual Rockford AirFest in June. The team is in a "safety stand-down" after flying too close to the ground during a maneuver at an air show in May.

Navy Commander Dave Koss is voluntarily leaving the team soon after some of its jets flew at a lower altitude than allowed at a Virginia air show last weekend.


Two military air demonstration teams and the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team are still scheduled to perform at the Rockford AirFest. The event will be held June 4-5 at the Chicago Rockford International Airport.

The Blue Angels also cancelled an appearance at the Evansville Freedom Festival Airshow in Indiana on June 11-12.

Koss announced his departure four days after the team said it was going on an indefinite safety stand-down because of the error.

Four of the six F/A-18 Hornets flew below their specified altitude in a diamond formation at the Lynchburg, VA., show. All six aircraft landed safely about three-fourths of the way through the scheduled performance without damage to the planes or injury to the pilots. The exact altitude they violated has not been released.

Iceland Closes Main Airport Following Eruption

Iceland closed its main international airport Sunday after the country's most active volcano, Grimsvotn, sent ash and smoke 20 kilometres into the air.

Ash was expected to spread over Iceland over several hours, shutting Keflavik and other airports on the island.

However, the plume was not heading toward Europe, Iceland's Meteorological Office said. The ash was instead blowing west toward Greenland.

The Grimsvotn volcano, which lies under the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier, began erupting Saturday for the first time since 2004.

But officials say it is unlikey to have the same impact as last spring's eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which forced the closure of a large section of European airspace.

Officials closed the continent's air space for five days in April 2010, fearing the ash could damage jet engines. Some 10 million travellers were stranded.