Samedan / Engadin airport near St Moritz, canton Graubuenden (photo: wikipedia)
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Samedan Airport, just 5 km from the resort of St Moritz in canton Graubuenden, will have stricter rules for pilots landing their small planes there after a series of accidents in recent years, including a deadly one Sunday 19 December.
Two men flying in from Zagreb were killed and their plane destroyed at Bever, near the airport, during a difficult landing. Two planes, one from Warsaw and the other from Vienna, crashed in February 2010 after hitting snowbanks near the airstrip, with no injuries in one of the accidents but two deaths and one person injured in the other.
Swiss federal civil aviation (OFAC) authorities say pilots planning to land at Samedan, also known as Engadin Airport, will be given permission only if they have been on an initiation flight to familiarize them with the special conditions at the airport. Samedan sits at 1,707 metres altitude and is the highest airport in Europe. It is nestled among mountains with several high peaks, and landing there is more complicated than in an airport on the plains, OFAC officials note. The pre-flight training requirement goes into effect at the start of the new year.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has confirmed that many pilots in China lack the required training to fly the planes they fly, but it points out that media reports on this fail to mention that no new cases have been found in the past two years. Media reports on the problem followed an investigation into a fatal aircrash 24 August in northeastern China that killed 42 people. The CAAC says an investigation in 2008 into airline pilots’ experience showed that almost 200 pilots did not have the requisite training. Most are flying again after remedial training, according to the CAAC.
China’s domestic air travel has boomed in recent years, and the demand for pilots with it. In 2006 Chinese airlines carried 160 million passengers. Foreign pilots are not allowed to fly in China and the gap has been filled by former military pilots whose experience is more easily concealed.
Links to other sites: BusinessWeek, Xinhua
The Swiss national team
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss football team is down one man due to injury. The Swiss football federation announced Christoph Spycher’s knee injury is preventing him from playing at the World Cup.
Spycher had planned to retire after the world championship but his injury is forcing him into early retirement.
The defender will be replaced by Ludovic Magnin who is recuperating from a broken hand. According to the Swiss coach, Magnin will wear a cast during training camp which begins on 25 May.
Switzerland will play Costa Rica on 1 June in Sion, and Italy in Geneva on 5 June as part of its pre-World Cup training.
Medtronic in Tolochenaz, Switzerland
Tolochenaz, canton Vaud (Switzerland) – Medical device maker Medtronic has reported fiscal year third quarter (period ending 29 January 2010) revenue of $3.851 billion, a 10 percent increase over third quarter revenue reported a year earlier, the company said Tuesday 23 February. Revenue from outside the US rose by 22 percent in the same period compared to the previous year and accounted for 42 percent of the total.
Medtronic’s head office for Europe and Asia is in Tolochenaz, which is also home to its European training centre.
The company employs 950 people in Switzerland.
Elderly people in the United States are increasingly coming out of retirement to look for work because of the recession. The need to pay for housing, medical bills and even food is forcing older workers back into the labour market, according to a study by the non-governmental organization Experience Works. Almost half of the 2,000 low-income survey participants over 55 years old need to work to keep their homes, the study says. Experience Works is the “nation’s largest nonprofit provider of community service, training and employment opportunities for older workers,” according to Reuters.
The news agency reports US Department of Labor data as showing that in August 2009 two million people over the age of 55 were looking for work, an increase of 69 percent over August 2008. US News reports a glimmer of hope, however, in noting that the unemployment rate for workers over 55 decreased slightly from June 2009 to July. Unemployment figures do not include people out of the work force, for example retired people, who have decided to look for jobs again. US Bureau of Labor Statistics spotlight on older workers, July 2008
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government is offering a hand to dog owners who need to find trainers for themselves and their pets, by listing online at www.monanimaljenprendssoin.ch some 400 qualified trainers, listed by region. A new law that went into effect in September 2008 requires future dog owners to pass theory and practical courses, under approved trainers. A transition period gives owners until 2010 to complete their training. The law affects anyone who has bought a dog since 1 September 2008.
STEP is a practical approach to raising children, used for over 30 years in North America, and internationally in four languages. The focus is on learning new parenting skills to achieve several objectives: understand the goals of your child’s misbehaviour, encourage your child and yourself, listen and talk with your child, give choices and set appropriate limits, develop meaningful consequences, help children cooperate. Telephone +41 22 361 6958 or contact Sarah.Keyser@stepinfo.ch for workshop details. Next series starts in January 2009.
