Tag Archives: Atlantic Ocean

Long Odds Search for Black Boxes

Now that searchers have found some floating remnants of Air France 447 in the Atlantic 430 miles (700 kilometers) north of the Fernando de Noronha islands, the hard work of trying to locate the Airbus’ “black boxes” – the Flight … Continue reading →

Tagged Adam Air Flight 574, Air France, Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, Cockpit voice recorder, Fernando de Noronha, Flight Data Recorder, USNS Mary Sears

A Dark, Stormy Night over the Atlantic

So what happened to Air France Flight 447? It is early and speculation at this juncture is often wildly wrong. And remember, there are usually several factors that conspire to bring an airliner down. But here is what we do … Continue reading →

Tagged Air France, Air France Flight, Airbus A330, Aircraft, AirFrance, American Airlines, Atlantic Ocean, Aviation, Aviation accidents and incidents, Charles de Gaulle, Fixed-wing aircraft, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Transportation, Wake turbulence

O'Brien BLOG »

Science for Sale »

posted March 13, 2013 by Miles O'Brien

HINKLEY, Calif. – We all love a neat, tidy Hollywood ending to a David and Goliath story. Sadly, in the real world, they are hard to come by. More often than not, the little guy might win a battle, but Goliath prevails over the long haul — winning the war.

Before I went to Hinkley, I did, of course, watch the movie once again. As it turns out Erin Brockovich is accurate in many respects.

You might remember the woman who gets a big check at the end of the movie after the down-on-her-luck, crusading legal assistant has brought a giant utility to its knees for polluting the groundwater beneath the tiny desert town half way between L.A. and Las Vegas.

In the movie, she was known as Donna Jensen (and played by Marg Helgenberger). There is no real-life Donna Jensen — the details of her story are a composite of several real-life travails.

But Roberta Walker was the main inspiration. Naturally, it was not long after I met her that I asked her what she thought of the movie.

Read the rest of the post and see the video story here.

About Miles

Miles O’Brien is a veteran freelance broadcast and web journalist who focuses on science, technology & aerospace.

He is the Science Correspondent for PBS NewsHour, and a regular correspondent for the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE and the National Science Foundation Science Nation series.

For nearly seventeen of his thirty years in the news business, he worked for CNN as the Science and Space Correspondent and the anchor of various programs, including American Morning.

Full bio & publicity photos »