title: Rose West

text: Knowing Owens's habits of hitchhiking along the A40 between Cinderford and Tewkesbury, the Wests formulated a plan to abduct her for their shared gratification. Fred later admitted that the specific intent of this abduction was the rape and likely murder of Owens, but that his initial incentive was to determine whether his wife would be willing to at least assist him in an abduction. On 6 December 1972, the couple lured Owens into their vehicle with an apology for their conduct and the offer of a lift home. Initially, Owens believed the Wests had been sincere in their apologies to her and obliged, believing she had simply mistaken their earlier intentions. Rose joined her in the back seat, with the explanation she wanted a "girls' chat" as Fred drove.


title: Rose West

text: Shortly thereafter, Rose began to fondle her, as Fred questioned whether she had had sex with her boyfriend that evening. When Owens began to protest, Fred stopped the car, referred to Owens as a "bitch", and punched her into unconsciousness before he and Rose bound and gagged her with a scarf and duct tape. In her subsequent statement to police, Owens stated that, at Cromwell Street, she was given a drugged cup of tea to drink, then again gagged and subjected to a prolonged sexual assault from the Wests. When Owens screamed, Rose again smothered her with a pillow and further restrained her about the neck, and performed cunnilingus on her. Realising the gravity of her situation, Owens ceased resisting their sexual assaults.


title: Rose West

text: The following morning, having noted Owens's screaming when one of his children had knocked on the door of the room in which she was restrained, Fred threatened that he and his wife would keep her locked up in the cellar and allow his "black friends" to abuse her, and that when they had finished, he would bury her body beneath "the paving stones of Gloucester". Fred then claimed he had killed hundreds of young girls, adding that Owens had primarily been brought to the house for "Rose's pleasure". He and Rose then calmly asked Owens whether she would consider returning to work as their nanny. Seeing her escape avenue, Owens agreed, and vacuumed the house to indicate her belief in becoming an extended member of the family. Later that day, Owens escaped from a launderette she and Rose had entered and returned home. Although initially too ashamed to divulge to her mother what had happened, when her mother noted the welts, bruises and exposed subcutaneous tissues on her daughter's body, Owens burst into tears and confided what had happened.


title: Rose West

text: Owens's mother immediately reported her daughter's ordeal to the police, and the Wests were arrested and charged with assault, indecent assault, actual bodily harm, and rape. The case was tried at Gloucester Magistrates Court on 12 January 1973, but by this date, Owens had decided she could not face the ordeal of testifying in court. All charges pertaining to her sexual abuse were dropped, and the Wests agreed to plead guilty to the reduced charges of indecent assault and causing actual bodily harm; each was fined £50, and the couple were allowed to walk free. When Owens heard this news, she attempted suicide.


title: Rose West

text: On 6 August 1992, Fred was arrested after being accused of raping his thirteen-year-old daughter three times, and Rose was arrested for child cruelty. This case against them collapsed on 7 June 1993 when their daughter refused to testify in court. All five of the Wests' younger children were removed from their custody to foster homes. This case brought to light the disappearance of Heather, who had not been seen since 1987 and triggered the major investigation that followed.


title: Rose West

text: After police found human remains and apparent signs of torture at 25 Cromwell Street, Rose, along with Fred, was arrested in February 1994. During her trial, Rose denied murdering any of the victims. Rose told the jury that her husband committed the criminal acts alone, and she denied participating. Rose claimed to have tried to stop one of the sexual assaults her husband committed. Rose continued to profess ignorance of her husband's murderous activities but the circumstantial evidence that mounted against them was considered sufficient to prosecute her for ten murders: those of the young women whose bodies were found at Cromwell Street, and of Charmaine West. Fred was charged with two further murders committed before his association with Rose.


title: Rose West

text: After his arrest in February 1994, Fred confided to his appropriate adult, Janet Leach, that Rose had murdered Shirley Robinson and had assisted in her dismemberment, personally removing Robinson's foetus from the womb in the process. Another body found at Cromwell Street was that of the Wests' daughter, Heather, who was murdered in June 1987 at the age of 16, after being abused by her parents all her life. Her dismembered body was placed under their family's patio. It is said that Heather began to tell her friends about the abuse occurring in her home. Barry, her younger brother, would later describe watching, as a seven-year-old, his mother kick Heather repeatedly in the head until she was no longer moving. The Wests told friends and concerned parties that she had left home to work at a Devonshire holiday village and on one occasion, fabricated a phone call, supposedly from Heather, to allay her siblings' suspicions regarding their sister's disappearance. Fred would even taunt his children when they misbehaved by jokingly stating, "If you don't behave, you'll end up under the patio like Heather." This was the last known murder that the pair committed.


title: Rose West

text: At pretrial proceedings in February, Rose pleaded not guilty to ten charges of murder (the murder of Charmaine West having been added to the original nine after Fred's suicide, and two counts of rape and indecent assault of young girls having been dropped with a view for later resubmission) though her counsel conceded that circumstantial evidence indicated Rose's willingness to subject young girls to sadistic physical and sexual abuse. Her trial at Winchester Crown Court began on 3 October, with Mr Justice Mantell and a jury. An important early decision by the judge was to admit testimony related to the sexual assault of three women by Fred and Rose, accepting the prosecution's argument that it established a pattern of behaviour repeated in the murders.


title: Rose West

text: In his opening statement, prosecutor Brian Leveson portrayed Fred and Rose as sadistic sex-obsessed murderers, terming the bodies discovered at Cromwell Street and Midland Road "secrets more terrible than words can express... [The victims'] last moments on Earth were as objects of the depravity of this woman and her husband". He pointed out that Fred was incarcerated when Charmaine was killed; claimed that Fred and Rose had each learned from their mistake in allowing Caroline Owens to live (they "would never be so trusting again"); and said that the gag on victim Thérèse Siegenthaler evinced a "feminine" toucha scarf tied in a bow. Leveson promised to demonstrate Rose's controlling and sexually sadistic character and her efforts to deflect suspicion about the disappearance of their victims.


title: Rose West

text: Prosecution witnesses included Cromwell Street lodgers; victims' relatives; Rose's mother Daisy and sister Glenys; and surviving victims including Anna Marie West, Kathryn Halliday (a former lover of Fred and Rose), Caroline Owens, and a "Miss A" (who had been sexually assaulted at age 14 by Fred and Rose in 1977, and who described Rose as the more aggressive perpetrator of the two). Neighbours described Charmaine's 1971 disappearance while Fred was imprisoned, and Rose's casual indifference to Heather's disappearance. Rosemary's counsel, Richard Ferguson, tried to discredit prosecution witnesses as either having financially exploited their connection to the case or motivated by grudges. Owens, though admitting to receiving £20,000 for her story, described her extreme survivor's guilt: "I only want to get justice for the girls who didn't make it. I feel like it was my fault."


title: Rose West

text: Ferguson emphasised that Fred, before meeting Rose, had committed at least one murder strikingly similar to those at issue in the present trial, and that the prosecution's case was largely circumstantial. He contended that Rose was unaware of the extent of Fred's sadism and urged the jury to not be prejudiced by her promiscuity and domineering manner.


title: Rose West

text: Against the advice of her counsel, Rose herself testified; her affect sometimes morose and tearful, sometimes upbeat and humorous. She wept while describing herself as a victim of child abuse and rape who naively married a violent and domineering man, but joked about issues such as her "always being pregnant", and laughed while describing one victim's "grandfather glasses". Rose also claimed never to have met six of the victims buried at Cromwell Street, and to recall very little of her assault on Owens. When shown photographs of the victims buried in the cellar and of victim Alison Chambers, and asked by Brian Leveson whether she recognised any of their faces, Rose's face turned bright red and she repeatedly stuttered as she replied, "No, sir."


title: Rose West

text: When questioned as to life at Cromwell Street, Rose claimed she and Fred had lived separate lives, which was inconsistent with the earlier testimony of witnesses who had visited or lodged at their address. In reference to her relationship with her eldest child, Rose admitted her relations with Heather were strained before claiming to the court that her daughter was a lesbian who had physically and psychologically abused her siblings. Despite these allegations, Rose stated she had loved her daughter and held no knowledge of her murder. Further questioned as to the contradictory explanations she and Fred had given as to Heather's disappearance, Rose claimed these discrepancies had stemmed from telephone conversations she had had with Heather after she had left home.


title: Rose West

text: The defence next called a succession of women who claimed to have been attacked or assaulted by a lone male whose physical description matched that of Fred between 1966 and 1975. These seven women each testified they had recognised their attacker as Fred when his photograph appeared in the media in 1994. The intention of this testimony was to illustrate to the jury that Fred was capable of abducting, assaulting or attempting to attack women without Rose, which the prosecution had never disputed. The physical recollections of several of these women varied greatly.


title: Rose West

text: The final witness at Rose's trial was Fred's appointed appropriate adult, Janet Leach, whom the prosecution had called to testify on 7 November, in rebuttal to the tape recordings of Fred's confession which had been played to the court on 3 November and in which he had stressed Rose had "known nothing at all" about any of the murders. Leach testified that through this role, Fred had gradually begun to view her as a confidante, and had confided in her that on the evening prior to his 25 February arrest, he and Rose had formed a pact whereby he would take full responsibility for all the murders, many of which he had privately described to her as being "some of Rose's mistakes". Fred had further divulged that Rose had indeed murdered Charmaine while he had been incarcerated, and had also murdered Robinson. Fred had also confided that he had dismembered the victims, and Rose had participated in the mutilation and dismemberment of Robinson, having personally removed her child from her womb after her death. In reference to the remaining eight murders for which Rose was charged, Leach testified that Fred had confided Rose had "played a major part" in these murders.


title: Rose West

text: Upon cross-examination, Leach did concede to Ferguson she had earlier lied under oath about having sold her story to a national newspaper for £100,000, although she was adamant as to the sincerity of her testimony. While delivering this testimony, Leach collapsed, and the trial was adjourned for six days. She returned to complete her cross-examination on 13 November.


title: Rose West

text: After seven weeks of evidence the judge instructed the jury, emphasising that circumstantial evidence can be sufficient for a finding of guilt, and that if two people take part in a murder the law considers them equally guilty regardless of which of them did the deed. On 21 and 22 November, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts for all ten murders. Terming her crimes "appalling and depraved", Mr Justice Mantell sentenced Rose to life imprisonment, emphasising that she should never be paroled. The Lord Chief Justice later decided that she should spend at least twenty-five years in prison, but in July 1997, Home Secretary Jack Straw subjected Rose to a whole life tariff. This was the second instance of a whole life tariff imposed on a woman in the UK in modern times, the first being serial killer Myra Hindley in 1990.


title: Rose West

text: Initially, Rose was incarcerated at HM Prison Bronzefield in Middlesex as a Category A prisoner; she was later transferred to HM Prison Low Newton in County Durham before, in 2019, being transferred to HM Prison New Hall in West Yorkshire.


title: Rose West

text: Almost immediately after being found guilty, Rose lodged an appeal against her ten murder convictions with the Court of Appeal, claiming that her husband (who had confessed to police during questioning that he had murdered up to thirty people) had committed the murders single-handedly, restating her claims that she had also been victimised by Fred and that she tried to prevent one of the sexual assaults. On 18 March 1996, however, the Court of Appeal refused to consider her application for an appeal to be heard.


title: Rose West

text: In September 2001, Rose announced her intention not to appeal against her convictions, while maintaining her innocence.


title: Rose West

text: According to the 2020 TV documentary "Rose West & Myra Hindley: Their Untold Story with Trevor McDonald", Rose and Myra Hindley "grew close in jail, bonding over their similar crimes, then had an affair, which cooled as they became rivals to be 'prison royalty'."


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The "Advanced Series 300" was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, targeting a 10% cost reduction with more efficient engines and of additional range. Northwest Airlines (NWA) became the first customer with an order for 10 aircraft on October 22, 1985. The first 747-400 was rolled out on January 26, 1988, and made its maiden flight on April 29, 1988. Type certification was received on January 9, 1989, and it entered service with NWA on February 9, 1989.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: It retains the 747 airframe, including the 747-300 stretched upper deck, with winglets. The 747-400 offers a choice of improved turbofans: the Pratt & Whitney PW4000, General Electric CF6-80C2 or Rolls-Royce RB211-524G/H. Its two-crew glass cockpit dispenses with the need for a flight engineer. It typically accommodates 416 passengers in a three-class layout over a range with its maximum takeoff weight (MTOW).


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The first -400M combi was rolled out in June 1989. The -400D Domestic for the Japanese market, without winglets, entered service on October 22, 1991. The -400F cargo variant, without the stretched upper deck, was first delivered in May 1993. With an increased MTOW of , the extended range version entered service in October 2002 as the -400ERF freighter and the -400ER passenger version the following month. Several 747-400 aircraft have undergone freighter conversion or other modifications to serve as transports of heads of state, YAL-1 laser testbed, engine testbed or the "Cosmic Girl" air launcher. The Dreamlifter is an outsize cargo conversion designed to move Dreamliner components.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: With 694 delivered over the course of 20 years from 1989 to 2009, it was the best-selling 747 variant. Its closest competitors were the smaller McDonnell Douglas MD-11 trijet and Airbus A340 quadjet. It has been superseded by the stretched and improved Boeing 747-8, introduced in October 2011. In the late 2010s, older 747-400 passenger aircraft were being phased out by airlines in favor of long-range, wide-body twinjet aircraft, such as the Boeing 777 and Airbus A350.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: Following its introduction in 1969, the Boeing 747 became a major success with airlines and the flying public. As the world's first wide-body jetliner, the 747 had revolutionized air travel, and cemented its manufacturer's dominance in the passenger aircraft market. In 1980, Boeing announced the 747-300, its latest 747 variant featuring greater passenger capacity. This was made possible by making a stretched upper deck (SUD), previously an option on the 747-200, a standard feature. The SUD was almost twice as long as the original 747 upper deck. Besides increased capacity, the 747-300 did not offer any increase in range, nor did it include improvements in flight deck technology or construction materials. At the same time, 747s were becoming more costly to operate due to a number of factors, notably conventional flight control systems, three-person flight crews, and fuel costs.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: In 1982, Boeing introduced a two-crew glass cockpit, new engines, and advanced materials on its 757 and 767 twinjets. At the same time, combined sales of the 747-100, −200, −300, and 747SP models (collectively referred to as the 747 "Classics") exceeded 700, but new orders slowed precipitously. The introduction of the 747-300 did little to stem the decline, and itself faced potential competition from more modern designs. As a result, Boeing began considering a more significant upgrade for its largest passenger jet.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: By early 1984, company officials had identified five development objectives for the latest 747 upgrade: new technologies, an enhanced interior, a range increase, more efficient engines, and a 10 percent reduction in operating cost. In September 1984, Boeing announced development of the newest 747 derivative, the "Advanced Series 300", at the Farnborough Airshow. On October 22, 1985, the type was officially launched when Northwest Airlines became the first 747-400 customer, with an order for 10 aircraft. Cathay Pacific, KLM, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, and British Airways also announced orders several months later, followed by United Airlines, Air France, and Japan Airlines.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: Seven early customers, namely British Airways, Cathay Pacific, KLM, Lufthansa, Northwest, Qantas and Singapore Airlines, formed a consultative group to advise Boeing on the 747-400's design process. While the aircraft was planned as a new-technology upgrade, Boeing originally proposed minimal design changes in order to reduce development cost and retain commonality with existing models. The airline consultative group sought more advanced changes, including a two-crew glass cockpit. As a result of airline input, the 747-400's new digital cockpit design featured cathode-ray tube (CRT) display technologies first employed on the 757 and 767. The autopilot was also changed to that of the 757 and 767; on the 747-400 a software update was added to allow an 'altitude intervention' mode.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400's wingspan was stretched by over the Classic 747 through wingtip extensions. For reduced aerodynamic drag, the wings were fitted with -tall winglets. Despite the added length, the wings were lighter as a result of new aluminum alloys. The horizontal tail was also redesigned to fit a fuel tank, resulting in a range increase, and the rudder travel was increased to 30 degrees. The landing gear was redesigned with larger wheels and carbon brakes. Internal changes further included a restyled cabin with new materials and updated fittings.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: New engines offered on the 747-400 included the Pratt & Whitney PW4056, the General Electric CF6-80C2B1F, and the Rolls-Royce RB211-524G/H. The engines offered lower fuel consumption and greater thrust, along with a full-authority digital engine control (FADEC) which adjusted engine performance for improved efficiency compared with the Classic 747s. A new auxiliary power unit (APU) manufactured by Pratt & Whitney Canada was also selected to provide on-ground power for the 747-400, with a 40 percent reduction in fuel consumption compared to previous APU designs.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: Final assembly of the first 747-400 began at Boeing's Everett factory, the longtime site of 747 production, in September 1987. More than fifty percent of the aircraft was produced by subcontractors, with major structures, engine nacelles, and sub-assemblies supplied by Northrop, and upper deck fuselage frames from Daewoo. All components were integrated during the final assembly process at the Everett factory. The first aircraft, equipped with PW4056 engines, was completed over the winter months of late 1987. On January 26, 1988, the first 747-400 rolled out at the Everett factory, while the first 737-400 rolled out at Boeing's Renton factory on the same day, marking the first double jetliner rollout in the manufacturer's history. By the time of the rollout, the 747-400 program had amassed more than 100 orders.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400 flew for the first time on April 29, 1988, under the command of test pilot James Loesch and co-pilot Kenneth Higgins. The first flight was six weeks behind schedule, owing to subcontractor delays in supplying components, and extra troubleshooting on the aircraft's electronics systems. The maiden flight took off from Paine Field, site of the Everett factory, and landed at Boeing Field, south of Seattle, after an uneventful 2 hours and 26 minutes. The 747-400's flight test program utilized the first four aircraft built, one more than the minimum number necessary to certify the aircraft's three engine options. One test aircraft each was fitted with the CF6-80C2B1F and RB211-524G/H engines, while the other two featured PW4056 engines, with the fourth aircraft serving as a backup. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification was received on January 9, 1989, with Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines, May 18, 1989, with General Electric CF6-80C2s and June 8, 1989, with Rolls-Royce RB211-524Gs.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: As the flight test program proceeded, Boeing encountered problems in the 747-400's production process, leading it to disclose delivery delays of up to one month for the first 20 aircraft built. A primary reason for the delays was the unprecedented complexity of interior configurations offered to airlines, which ranged from lavatory and galley locations to the color shades of cabin warning labels. Coupled with new, relatively inexperienced workers, a lack of veteran technicians, interior configurations needing costly re-work, and teething problems with electronics integration on the advanced flight deck, 747-400 production fell behind schedule. The company managed to resolve early production issues by mid-1989, with the first example airframes of all three engine variants delivered within four months of each other, and overall delays not exceeding several weeks.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The first 747-400 (N661US) was delivered to launch customer Northwest Airlines. This jet became known for an incident on Northwest Flight 85 caused by a rudder hardover. N661US was later sold to Delta Airlines when Northwest merged with it. N661US later became preserved at the Delta Flight Museum. This was the twentieth anniversary of the 747-100's first flight. On May 31, 1989, Singapore Airlines operated the first international service using a 747-400, on a flight from Singapore to London.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: In May 1989, one week before the initial delivery to the 747-400's first European customer, KLM, the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) shocked Boeing by refusing to grant regulatory certification for the aircraft, citing the upper deck cabin floor's resistance to collapse in the event of a sudden decompression. While the manufacturer asserted that the 747-400's cabin floor was no different from the already-certified and in-service 747-300, the JAA maintained that the newer model would have a service life into 2020 and beyond and was thus subject to a newer, more stringent standard which had been updated to reflect the risk of explosive devices. In the days leading up to the first delivery to KLM, negotiations between Boeing, the FAA, and the JAA resulted in a compromise: a temporary operating certificate would be issued for the 747-400, provided that the manufacturer develop a structural retrofit for the aircraft within two years. The last-minute deal allowed KLM and Lufthansa to take delivery of their 747-400s without further delays.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: After the first 747-400 deliveries, Boeing began production on more variants of the aircraft. The first 747-400 Combi, able to carry both passengers and freight, was rolled out in June 1989. The 747-400 Domestic, a short-range variant of the aircraft designed for Japanese intra-island services, first flew on March 18, 1991, and entered service with Japan Airlines on October 22, 1991. A cargo variant, the 747-400F, was first delivered in May 1993 to Cargolux. By the end of the 1990s, Boeing was producing four versions of the 747-400.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The extended range freighter (ERF) entered service in October 2002. The next month, the extended range (ER) passenger version entered service with Qantas, the only airline ever to order the passenger version of the 747-400ER. Qantas initially used the 747-400ER for the Melbourne to Los Angeles and Dallas to Sydney route allowing the completion of the flight with full passenger load and cargo. Prior to the 747-400ER, Qantas would complete such flights by blocking out 'E' zone of the cabin and limiting passenger numbers and cargo. The 747-400ER featured the "Boeing Signature Interior", which was later made available on the 747-400 (either as a retrofit on existing 747-400s or factory installation on new frames).


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400ER also introduced some flight deck enhancements, including liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), which replaced the six cathode ray tube (CRT) displays found on the Boeing 747-400. LCDs later became standard on the 747-400 as well, and could be retrofitted to earlier aircraft. The three standby flight displays found on the 747-400 were also replaced by a single combined LCD, the integrated standby flight display (ISFD), which also became standard on the 747-400 in late 2003.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: In the 2000s, as part of an effort to promote sustainable and alternative fuel development, as well as lower emissions, several 747-400 operators studied the use of oil extracted from the jatropha plant. Air New Zealand carried out the first commercial flight using jatropha oil for fuel; the airline's 747-400 had one engine burning a mix of 50% jatropha oil and 50% jet fuel for two hours during the flight while engineers collected data. Continental Airlines tested jatropha oil in one of its airliners on January 7, 2009. Jatropha is easy to grow, needs little fertilizer or water, and produces an oil-rich plant.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: In 2007, unit cost for the 747-400/-400ER was US$234 or 266.5 million, and for the 747-400F/-400ERF US$238 or 268 million.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: Production of the 747-400 passenger version officially ceased on March 15, 2007. The last four -400s on order were cancelled by Philippine Airlines (which switched to the 777-300ER). The last to order the -400 was China Airlines in November 2002, with the last passenger 747-400 constructed in 2005 and delivered in April of that year. It was the 1358th 747 (MSN33737/B-18215). The last 747-400 was a -400ERF delivered on December 22, 2009, to Kalitta Air.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400's leasing, resale and salvage value has dropped steeply because it is relatively expensive to operate. As most 747-400s are now more than 20 years old, airlines are beginning to replace them. Airlines using the 747-400 have been retiring the model, replacing it with more fuel efficient aircraft. The main appeal of the 747-400 like its predecessors was its range rather than its capacity, and in most cases it has been replaced by wide-body twin-engine aircraft of similar range, such as the Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The change in emphasis from hub and spoke operations to point-to-point flights has also reduced the need for jumbo jets. Airlines such as British Airways and Qantas that plan to maintain the same capacity on routes currently served by 747-400s ordered the Airbus A380 rather than the updated 747-8.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: For example, Delta Air Lines reduced the number of flights it operated from the United States to Narita International Airport that were intended to transfer passengers to other destinations in Asia, switching to twin-engine widebody aircraft operating from an expanded hub at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Total capacity was cut, but load factors improved. In April 2015, Delta announced it would accelerate the retirement of its 747-400s and replace them either with Airbus A330 or Airbus A350 aircraft (both of which are twinjets). Delta could not keep the 747s full without deeply discounting ticket prices; the discounts and increased maintenance required of a four-engine aircraft led to a drag on profits.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: Since the cost of replacing a 747-400 is high (an airline must purchase or lease another wide-body), some operators choose to fly the 747-400 to the conclusion of its accepted useful life and then scrap it. The current parts resale value for this aircraft has been reduced to its engines. When a 26-year-old 747-400 owned by Delta flew through a violent hailstorm, the company indicated it was likely the aircraft would be scrapped. George Dimitroff, head of valuations for FlightGlobal, estimated the aircraft's value before the incident at about $8 million. He noted that this was not the same as its insured value. As discussed in the section on 747-400 converted freighters, there is no longer a viable economic model for converting retired passenger 747-400 aircraft into dedicated freighters, so most retired passenger aircraft will likely be scrapped.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: Several airlines have retired their 747-400s from the trans-pacific market. Remaining operators in 2014 included EVA Air, Qantas, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and United. United's deployment of them also reflected a change in emphasis from Asian hubs to domestic hubs. On January 11, 2017, United announced it would begin phasing out its 747-400s and made its last 747 flight on November 7 that year. Delta Airlines was the last US airline to operate the Boeing 747, retiring the last of the 747-400 fleet it inherited from Northwest Airlines in December 2017. British Airways, the largest passenger 747-400 operator, announced that they will be phasing out their 747-400 fleet in February 2024, British Airways will replace its Boeing 747-400s with the Airbus A350-1000. Lufthansa will be retiring their 747-400 fleet in 2025 as they are being replaced by the Boeing 777x and the Boeing 747-8i. KLM will be retiring their 747-400 Combi and Passenger fleet in 2020 as they are being replaced by the Boeing 777-300ER, the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, and the Airbus A350-900. However, KLM announced it plans to retire its last Boeing 747-400 by January 1, 2021, instead of 2020 due to delivery delays for the new wide-body twin jets.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The global COVID-19 pandemic hastened the retirement of many remaining passenger Boeing 747-400s due to a sharp decline in passenger traffic. For instance, KLM retired its Boeing 747-400 Combi and Passenger fleets in March 2020. Qantas announced the retirement of its 747-400 and 747-400ER fleet by the end of 2020, with the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner taking its place. China Airlines also announced that they will be retiring their remaining four passenger Boeing 747-400s by the end of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (which were delivered between 2004 and 2005, operating on flights within Asia) with the Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 777-300ER taking over all high-volume routes and all Asian International routes. However, China Airlines didn't retire its last passenger Boeing 747-400 until February 2021. British Airways retired its remaining 31 Boeing 747-400s 4 years ahead of the original February 2024 deadline. Virgin Atlantic also retired their remaining leisure fleet 747-400s in May 2020 citing the COVID-19 pandemic - the fleet was due to retire in 2021. As of September, 2021, there were just 42 passenger 747-400 in operation (10 actively flying, 32 in storage) across 10 carriers worldwide. Lufthansa and Air China had plans to resume flying some of their stored aircraft by October, 2021.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400's airframe features extended and lighter wings than the previous 747s, capped by winglets. The winglets result in a 3 percent increase in long-range cruise, improved takeoff performance, and higher cruise altitudes. The extended wingspan also gains an additional leading edge flap section. When unfurnished, the basic 747-400 fuselage is lighter than preceding models, but when fitted out it is heavier and stronger than previous models. The landing gear uses the same configuration as the previous 747s, but with carbon brakes replacing the previous steel ones, and overall weight savings of .


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400's glass cockpit features CRT displays which show flight instrumentation along with engine indication and crew alerting system (EICAS) diagnostics. The flight engineer station on the previous 747s is no longer installed, and the new displays and simplified layout results in a two-thirds reduction of switches, lights, and gauges versus the Classic 747. Other new systems include an advanced Honeywell flight management computer (FMC) which assists pilots in calculating optimal altitudes and routes along with a Rockwell-Collins central maintenance computer (CMC) which automates troubleshooting tasks.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The redesigned 747-400 interior features new cabin sidewalls, heat-resistant phenolic glass and carbon composite paneling, and larger storage bins. An enhanced in-flight entertainment framework, called the Advanced Cabin Entertainment/Service System (ACESS), debuted on the 747-400, which integrates 18-channel audio capability, four-passenger intercom announcement zones, inter-cabin telephones, and passenger lighting into a central system. An eight-bunk overhead crew rest is installed above the aft cabin, while a second crew rest area is located on the upper deck behind the cockpit for flight crew use.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The original variant of the redesigned 747, the 747-400 debuted an increased wingspan, winglets, revised engines, and a glass cockpit which removed the need for a flight engineer. The type also featured the stretched upper deck (SUD) introduced with the 747-300. The passenger model formed the bulk of 747-400s sold, and 442 were built.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: In 1989, the Qantas 747-400 VH-OJA flew non-stop from London Heathrow to Sydney, a distance of , in 20 hours and 9 minutes to set a commercial aircraft world distance record. , this is the fastest heavyweight flight between London and Sydney. This was a delivery flight with no commercial passengers or freight on board. During testing, the first 747-400 built also set a world record for the heaviest airliner takeoff on June 27, 1988, on a flight to simulate heavy-weight stalls. The aircraft had a takeoff weight of , and in order to satisfy Fédération Aéronautique Internationale regulations, climbed to a height of .


title: Boeing 747-400

text: On February 9, 2020, a British Airways Boeing 747-400 broke the New York–London subsonic airliner speed record in 4 hours 56 minutes, pushed by the powerful Jetstream linked to Storm Ciara.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400F (Freighter) is an all freight version of the 747-400. While using the updated systems and wing design of the passenger versions, it features the original short upper deck found on the classic 747s to reduce weight. The 747-400F has a maximum takeoff weight of and a maximum payload of . The -400F can be easily distinguished from the passenger -400 by its shorter upper-deck hump and lack of windows along the main deck.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The model's first flight was on May 4, 1993, and entered service with Cargolux on November 17, 1993. Major customers included Atlas Air, Cargolux, China Airlines, Korean Air, Nippon Cargo Airlines and Singapore Airlines.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400F has a main deck nose door and a mechanized cargo handling system. The nose door swings up so that pallets or containers up to can be loaded straight in on motor-driven rollers. An optional main deck side cargo door (like the 747-400M Combi) allows loading of dimensionally taller cargo modules. A lower deck ("belly") side door allows loading of unit load devices (ULD) up to 163 cm in height. Boeing delivered 126 Boeing 747-400F aircraft with no unfilled orders . The last -400F was delivered to Nippon Cargo Airlines on August 2, 2008.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: A 2008 747-400F value new was $253*0.4round0 million, a 2003 aircraft was leased $400,000 per month in 2019 for a $29 million value while a B747-400BCF was priced at around $10 million.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400M (a passenger/freight or "Combi" variant originally designated as 747-400BC) first flew on June 30, 1989, and entered service with KLM on September 12, 1989. Based on the successful Combi versions of the Classic 747s, the -400M has a large cargo door fitted to the rear of the fuselage for freight loading to the aft main deck cargo hold. A locked partition separates the cargo area from the forward passenger cabin, and the -400M also features additional fire protection, a strengthened main deck floor, a roller-conveyor system, and passenger-to-cargo conversion equipment. The last 747-400M was delivered to KLM on April 10, 2002. Boeing sold 61 747-400M aircraft, which was similar to earlier 747 "Combi" versions (78 747-200M, 21 747-300M).


title: Boeing 747-400

text: KLM is the last 747-400M operator. The Boeing 747-400M was initially planned to be retired by January 1, 2021, however the Boeing 747-400M was instead retired by March 27, 2020, as Air France-KLM announced in early March 2020 to retire all remaining passenger Boeing 747-400s of KLM (including all KLM Boeing 747-400M aircraft) immediately due to reduced air travel demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, although, due to a global shortage in air cargo capacity, three KLM 747-400Ms were temporarily reactivated after just a week to operate cargo-only flights to Asia.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400D (Domestic) is a high-density seating model developed for short-haul, high-volume domestic Japanese flights, serving the same role as the prior Boeing 747-100SR domestic model. This model is capable of seating a maximum of 568 passengers in a two-class configuration or 660 passengers in a single-class configuration.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The -400D lacks the wingtip extensions and winglets included on other variants. Winglets would provide minimal benefits on short-haul routes while adding extra weight and cost. The -400D may be converted to the long-range version if needed. The 747-400D can be distinguished from the otherwise similar-looking 747-300 by the extra windows on the upper deck. These allow for extra seating at the rear of the upper deck, where a galley would normally be situated on longer flights. In total, 19 of the type were built, with the last example delivered to All Nippon Airways on February 11, 1996. This variant was retired when ANA retired its last 747-400D on March 31, 2014.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400ER (Extended Range) was launched on November 28, 2000, following an order by Qantas for six aircraft. The model was commonly referred to as the '910k', signifying its maximum weight achieved via structural modifications and modified landing gear. The 747-400ER included the option of one or two additional body fuel tanks in the forward cargo hold, but Qantas only ordered the single body tank configuration, and no airplanes were delivered with two body fuel tanks. Manufactured by Marshall Aerospace, the tanks utilized metal to metal honeycomb-bonded technology to achieve a high fuel volume-to-dry weight ratio. The tanks featured a double wall and an integrated venting system, and achieved fuel control via a modified Fuel System Management Card (FSMC) which optimized fuel transfer into the Center Wing Tank (CWT) in flight, along with fuel transfer from the Horizontal Stabiliser Tank (HST). The tank was removable using tooling that interfaced with the cargo loading system. Similar technology had been used by Marshall in the development of body fuel tanks for the Boeing 777-200LR and Boeing P-8A Poseidon. Other changes to the 747-400ER included the relocation of oxygen system components and the potable water system tanks and pumps, because the body fuel tanks prevent access to the standard locations.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The first 747-400ER was used as a test flight airplane and painted in Boeing colors, with registration N747ER. Qantas received the first delivery of a 747-400ER registration VH-OEF on October 31, 2002, although it was the second airplane built. The flight test airplane was later refurbished, repainted in standard QANTAS livery, and registered as VH-OEE. Qantas was the only customer for the passenger version of the 747-400ER, chosen by the airline to allow for full loads between Melbourne and Los Angeles, particularly in the western direction. The 747-400ER could fly farther, or carry more payload, than the -400.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: In May 2018, Qantas announced that it would retire the whole of its 747 fleet by 2020, including all 747-400ERs.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400ERF (Extended Range Freighter) is the freight version of the -400ER, launched on April 30, 2001. The 747-400ERF is similar to the 747-400F, except for increased gross weight capability which allows it to carry more payload. Unlike the 747-400ER, no customers ordered the optional body (cargo compartment) fuel tanks which reflects the desire to carry more cargo, not fuel, as the benefit of the improved payload rating. The 747-400ERF has a maximum takeoff weight of and a maximum payload of . It offers cargo airlines the choice of either adding more payload than other 747-400 freighter variants, or adding to the maximum range.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The -400ERF has a range of with maximum payload, about farther than the standard 747-400 freighter, and has a strengthened fuselage, landing gear, and parts of its wing, along with new, larger tires. The first -400ERF was delivered to Air France (via ILFC) on October 17, 2002. Boeing has delivered 40 Boeing 747-400ERFs with no outstanding orders. The new 747-8 Freighter has more payload capacity, but less range than the 747-400ERF when both are at MTOW.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400BCF (Boeing Converted Freighter), formerly known as the 747-400SF (Special Freighter), is a conversion program for standard passenger 747-400s. The project was launched in 2004 with conversions by approved contractors such as HAECO, KAL Aerospace and SIA Engineering Company. The first Boeing 747-400BCF was redelivered to Cathay Pacific Cargo and entered service on December 20, 2005. Cathay retired the 747-400BCF in 2017 after 11 years of service.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400BDSF (BeDek Special Freighter) is another passenger-to-freighter conversion, carried out by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The first 747-400BDSF was redelivered to Air China Cargo in August, 2006. Several Boeing 747-400Ms of EVA Air have been converted as BDSF model after retiring from passenger service.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: Neither the 747-400BCF or the 747-400BDSF has a nose cargo door; freight can only be loaded through the side cargo door.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The demand for converted 747-400 freighters declined in the early 2010s, due to the availability of belly cargo capacity on more efficient passenger wide-body twin jets, and new orders for Boeing 747-8F and 777F freighters. Approximately 79 747-400 aircraft were converted before the programs were terminated; 50 of these converted aircraft were 747-400BCF, with the remaining 29 being 747-400BDSF. Boeing announced the end of their conversion program in 2016, although conversions had ceased years earlier with no orders after 2012. Some converted freighters, that had been retired to desert storage, were returned to active service due to the increase in demand for air cargo capacity in the 2020-2021 COVID era.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: Boeing announced in October 2003 that, because of the amount of time involved with marine shipping, air transport would be the primary method of transporting parts for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Used passenger 747-400 aircraft have been converted into an outsize, "Large Cargo Freighter" (LCF) configuration to ferry sub-assemblies to Everett, Washington for final assembly. The LCF has a bulging fuselage similar to that of the Aero Spacelines Super Guppy or Airbus Beluga cargo aircraft.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The conversion, designed by Boeing engineers from Puget Sound, Moscow and Canoga Park, Cal., and Gamesa Aeronáutica in Spain, was carried out in Taiwan by a subsidiary of the Evergreen Group. Boeing purchased four second-hand aircraft and had them all converted; the fourth and final LCF took its first flight in January 2010.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: Delivery times are as low as one day using the 747 LCF, compared to up to 30 days for deliveries by ship. The LCF can hold three times the volume of a 747-400F freighter and had the largest cargo hold of any aircraft, until it was surpassed by the Airbus BelugaXL. The LCF is not a Boeing production model and has not been offered for sale to any customers. The LCFs are intended for Boeing's exclusive use.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: As of October 2022, there were 269 passenger and cargo aircraft of the -400 variant in service with the majority being freight aircraft. The largest passenger operators were Rossiya Airlines with nine and Lufthansa with eight aircraft. Additionally the largest cargo variant operators are Atlas Air (35), Kalitta Air (24) and China Airlines (17).


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The first hull loss of a 747-400 occurred on November 4, 1993, when China Airlines Flight 605, flying from Taipei to Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport, touched down more than past the runway's displaced threshold during 20-knot (gusting to 38 knots) crosswinds. Combined with the disengagement of auto brakes and retracted speed brakes, manual braking and thrust reversal were not enough to prevent the aircraft from sliding into Victoria Harbour. No one was seriously injured, but the aircraft was written off. The type's second hull loss occurred on October 31, 2000, when Singapore Airlines Flight 006, a 747-400 flying on a Singapore to Los Angeles route via Taipei, rammed into construction equipment while attempting to take off from a closed runway at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. The aircraft caught fire and was destroyed, killing 79 passengers and four crew members. The cause was attributed to the flight crew navigating to the wrong runway.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: The 747-400F has recorded four hull-loss accidents. On September 3, 2010, UPS Airlines Flight 6 from Dubai International Airport to Cologne Bonn Airport, a 747-400F with two crew members on board, crashed roughly 25 minutes after departure. The crew declared an emergency, apparently due to an in-flight fire, and after abandoning one attempt at landing, are unable to see their instruments due to the smoke entering the cockpit and their oxygen masks did not have good filtering of the smoke from the pilot's vision and ran out of oxygen in the attempt to land. The aircraft impacted with the ground at high speed, killing both crew members. The result after the accident was that the fire started with lithium-ion batteries and the FAA decided to limit how powerful can lithium batteries be transported by plane and the powerful ones, more than 160 watt-hours, which per person can carry two. On July 28, 2011, Asiana Airlines Flight 991, a Boeing 747-400F flying from Incheon Airport to Shanghai Pudong Airport, crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Jeju Island, South Korea, after reportedly suffering mechanical problems due to a possible on-board fire. Two crew members on board were killed. National Airlines Flight 102, a 747-400BCF crashed on April 29, 2013 (the 25th anniversary of the type's first flight) at Bagram Air Base Afghanistan killing 7 crew members. The crash was attributed to a cargo shift of military vehicles to the back of the hold during take-off. On January 16, 2017, Turkish Airlines Flight 6491, a 747-400F operated by ACT Airlines, failed to reach the runway on landing in thick fog at Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, crashed into a residential area, and caught fire. 39 people died, including all four crew members, and 35 people on the ground.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: Other incidents involving the 747-400 did not result in irreparable aircraft damage. On December 15, 1989, KLM Flight 867, a 747-400M, en route to Tokyo's Narita International Airport from Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport via Anchorage International Airport, flew through a thick cloud of volcanic ash, causing severe damage to the aircraft and replacement of all four engines. On July 23, 1999, a man killed the pilot of All Nippon Airways Flight 61, a 747-400D bound for New Chitose Airport near Sapporo, Hokkaidō from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda), during an attempted hijacking, and was restrained by other crew members; the aircraft landed safely. On September 23, 1999, Qantas Flight 1, flying from Sydney to London via Bangkok, overran the runway after touching down more than from the threshold during a storm with heavy rain, resulting in aircraft damage and minor passenger injuries. On January 31, 2001, the pilot of Japan Airlines Flight 907, a 747-400D bound for Naha International Airport from Tokyo International Airport, made an emergency dive, narrowly avoiding a collision with a Japan Airlines DC-10-40 due to conflicting instructions from air traffic control; several people on the 747-400 suffered injuries during the evasive manoeuvres and some interior damage was sustained to the aircraft.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: On October 9, 2002, Northwest Airlines Flight 85, traveling from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport to Narita International Airport, made an emergency landing at Anchorage International Airport after a sudden lower rudder hardover. On July 25, 2008, Qantas Flight 30, traveling to Melbourne Airport from Hong Kong International Airport, made an emergency landing at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines with a gaping hole in its lower forward fuselage; no one was hurt, and authorities determined that an exploding emergency oxygen supply bottle was the most likely cause.


title: Boeing 747-400

text: Following the gradual withdrawal of older examples of the type from passenger service from the early-2010's onward, a relatively large number of Boeing 747-400s have entered preservation after being decommissioned.


title: Apulia

text: Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian name Puglia (), is a region of Italy, located in the southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto to the south. The region comprises , and its population is about four million people.


title: Apulia

text: It is bordered by the other Italian regions of Molise to the north, Campania to the west, and Basilicata to the southwest. Its chief town is Bari.


title: Apulia

text: Apulia's coastline is longer than that of any other mainland Italian region. In the north, the Gargano promontory extends out into the Adriatic sea like a 'sperone' ("spur"), while in the south, the Salento peninsula forms the 'tacco' ("heel") of Italy's boot. The highest peak in the region is Monte Cornacchia (1.152 m/3.779 ft above sea level) within the Daunian Mountains, in the north along the Apennines.


title: Apulia

text: Outside national parks in the North and West, most of Apulia and particularly the Salento peninsula is geographically flat with only moderate hills.


title: Apulia

text: The climate is typically Mediterranean with hot, dry and sunny summers and mild and rainy winters. Snowfall, especially on the coast is rare but has occurred as recently as January 2019 (following on from snow in March 2018 and January 2017). Apulia is among the hottest and driest regions of Italy in summer with temperatures sometimes reaching up to and above 40 °C/104 °F in Lecce and Foggia.


title: Apulia

text: The coastal areas, particularly on the Adriatic sea and in the southern Salento peninsula, are frequently exposed to winds of varying strengths and directions, strongly affecting local temperatures and conditions, sometimes within the same day. The Northerly Bora wind from the Adriatic sea can lower temperatures, humidity and moderate summer heat while the Southerly Sirocco wind from North Africa can raise temperatures, humidity and occasionally drop red dust from the Sahara desert. On some days in spring and autumn/fall, it can be warm enough to swim in Gallipoli and Porto Cesareo on the Ionian coast while at the same time, cool winds warrant jackets and jumpers/sweaters in Monopoli and Otranto on the Adriatic coast.


title: Apulia

text: The area that is in between Otranto and Santa Maria di Leuca is part of the Regional Natural Coastal Park of "Costa Otranto - Santa Maria di Leuca e Bosco di Tricase" wanted by the Apulia Region in 2008. This territory has numerous natural and historical attractions such as Ciolo, which is a rocky cove.


title: Apulia

text: Apulia is one of the richest archaeological regions in Italy. It was first colonized by Mycenaean Greeks.


title: Apulia

text: The Greeks referred to the region as Iapygía (whence 'Apulia') owing to the presence of the three main Iapygian tribes that inhabited Apulia during the first millennium B.C. – the Daunians in the North, the Peucetians in the Centre, and the Messapians in the South.


title: Apulia

text: Some parts of the regions were conquered by the Muslim Saracens and the Emirate of Bari was established for a brief period of time by Muhammad Abul Abbas of Sicily.


title: Apulia

text: A number of castles were built in the area by the King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, including Castel del Monte, sometimes called the "Crown of Apulia".


title: Apulia

text: Apulia was an autonomous duchy until 1130 when its duke became king of Sicily. After 1282, when the kingdom lost the island of Sicily itself, Apulia remained part of the remnant Kingdom of Naples (confusingly known also as the Kingdom of Sicily), and remained so until the unification of Italy in 1861. This kingdom was independent under the House of Anjou from 1282 to 1442, then was part of Aragon until 1458, after which it was again independent under a cadet branch of the House of Trastámara until 1501. As a result of the French–Spanish war of 1501–1504, Naples again came under the rule of Aragon and the Spanish Empire from 1504 to 1714. When Barbary pirates of North Africa sacked Vieste in 1554, they took an estimated 7,000 slaves. The coast of Apulia was occupied at times by the Turks and at other times by the Venetians.


title: Apulia

text: The region's contribution to Italy's gross value added was around 4.6% in 2000, while its population was 7% of the total. The per capita GDP is low compared to the national average and represents about 68.1% of the EU average.


title: Apulia

text: The share of gross value added by the agricultural and services sectors was above the national average in 2000. The region has industries specialising in particular areas, including food processing and vehicles in Foggia; footwear and textiles in the Barletta province, and wood and furniture in the Murge area to the west.


title: Apulia

text: Between 2007 and 2013 the economy of Apulia expanded more than that of the rest of southern Italy. Such growth, over several decades, is a severe challenge to the hydrogeological system.


title: Apulia

text: Apulia's thriving economy is articulated into numerous sectors boasting several leading companies, but most of them produce materials or components, not finished goods:


title: Apulia

text: In Taranto there is the largest metallurgical works ILVA Acciaierie di Taranto (8,200 empl.) in Europe with full iron and steel production cycle. It will be sold to Arcelor Mittal.


title: Apulia

text: In Brindisi there is a chemical industrial park with ENI power station, ENI oil refinery, chemical factory, Versalis chemical factory (basic chemistry, intermediates, polyethylene, styrenics and elastomers). LyondellBasell polypropylene plant, Sanofi plant (antibiotics). Other ENI oil refinery is located in Taranto.


title: Apulia

text: The port of Taranto hosts numerous fishing boats. The fleet is mainly made up of about 80 fishing boats, which do not exceed 10 gross tonnage and which practice trawling, while the remaining small-scale fishing boats operate with gillnets. The sea, rich and generous, is populated by dentex and sea bream, grouper, mullet and anchovies, shrimp and squid. Other significant fishing ports are


title: Apulia

text: Today Taranto is the world's largest producer of farmed mussels: with 1,300 employees, around 30,000 tons of mussels are processed per year. Mussel farming has characterized the city's economy for centuries, making the mussel the gastronomic symbol of Taranto. It is said that the first mussel gardens in La Spezia, Pula, Olbia and Chioggia were established by mussel farmers who emigrated from this city. The work place of the Taranto mussel farmers is the boat; every detail of the working method has improved over time.


title: Apulia

text: 10 m long structures made of wood or metal, called "pali" (piles), are attached to the seabed, to which ropes and nets are then attached, on which the mussels are grown. The mussels farmed here are particularly tasty and valued because they grow in a special environment, a mixture of salt seawater and karst freshwater. These special environmental conditions of the seas of Taranto are ideal not only for the mussels, but also for the fish and crustaceans that find food and shelter between the piles. While there are around 18 submarine freshwater springs, called "Citri", in the Mar Piccolo, there is only one large one in the Mar Grande, which is called "Anello di San Cataldo" in honor of the patron saint of the city.


title: Apulia

text: Agriculture plays a prominent economic role in Apulia. It is a mainly intensive and modern agriculture that allows the region to be among the first in Italy for the production of many products:


title: Apulia

text: Vegetable growing (lettuce, artichoke, fennel, cabbage, celery, barattiere, borage, sweet potato, caper, portulaca) and horticulture (kiwis, peaches, orange, clementine, lemon) are also developed.


title: Apulia

text: Vineyards cover in Apulia, which is 1st place among Italian grape-growing regions. But in the production of quality DOC and DOCG wines, Apulia has only ranked 12th of 20 with 297.667 hl. There are four DOCG wines:


title: Apulia

text: There are an estimated 50 to 60 million olive trees in Apulia, and the region accounts for 40% of Italy's olive oil production. There are four specific Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) covering the whole region. Olive varieties include: "Baresane", "Biancolilla", "Brandofino" (Castiglione), "Buscionetto" (Biancolilla), "Carolea", "Cellina di Nardò", "Cerasuola" (Ogliara), "Cerignola" (Bella di Cerignola), "Cima di Bitonto", "Cima di Mola", "Coratina", also grown in Corning, California, a 2018 Gold Medal New York International Olive Oil Competition (NYIOOC) winner, "Frantoio", "Garganica", "La Minuta", "Leccino", "Moresca", "Nocellara Etnea", "Nocellara Messinese", "Ogliarola", "Ogliarola Barese", "Ogliara Messinese", "Ottobratica", "Peranzana", "Rotondella", "Santagatese", "Saracena", "Tonda Iblea", and "Verdello" (subspecies of San Benedetto).


title: Apulia

text: Since 2008–2010, the olive oil industry in Apulia has been under threat from the pathogen "Xylella fastidiosa", a disease that inhibits the trees' uptake of water and nutrients. The epicenter of the epidemic is the south-eastern part of the region.


title: Apulia

text: The region has a good network of roads, but the railway network is less comprehensive, particularly in the south. There are no high-speed lines. The region is crossed northwest to southeast by the A14 highway (Bologna–Taranto), which connects the region capital, Bari, to Taranto, the second most populous city in the region. The A14 also connects Foggia and points further north along the Adriatic coast to: Pescara, Ancona, Rimini and eventually Bologna. The only other highway in the region is the A16 (Naples–Canosa), which crosses the Italian peninsula east–west and links the region with Naples.


title: Apulia

text: There are two international airports, Karol Wojtyla Airport in Bari (IATA: BRI) and Brindisi Airport (IATA: BDS), which serves as the principal logistical hub for the United Nations Global Service Center headquartered in Brindisi. With the approval of a redevelopment project in 2018, the Grottaglie Airfield (IATA: TAR) will host a spaceport for the Italian Space Agency and Virgin Galactic.


title: Apulia

text: Emigration from the region's depressed areas to northern Italy and the rest of Europe was very intense in the years between 1956 and 1971. Subsequently, the trend declined, as economic conditions improved, to the point where there was net immigration in the years between 1982 and 1985. Since 1986 the stagnation in employment has led to a new inversion of the trend, caused by a decrease in immigration.


title: Apulia

text: Since 1 June 2015, former judge and mayor of Bari, Michele Emiliano of the Democratic Party has served as President of the Apulian region.


title: Apulia

text: Important locally produced ingredients include olive oil, artichokes, tomatoes, eggplant, asparagus, and various kinds of seafood. Local specialties include the carosello, a variety of muskmelon which is often consumed when unripe. Apulian Protected designation of origin (PDO) and Protected geographical indication (PGI) products included cheeses, olive oils, fruits and vegetables, and a type of bread.


title: Apulia

text: Typically Apulian pasta shapes are Orecchiette, Cavatelli, and Troccoli. Popular street foods include panzerotti, sgagliozze (Fried Polenta), popizze (small fried balls of pizza dough that are sometimes also called pettule), rustici (puff pastries stuffed with tomatoes, bechamel sauce, mozzarella, and black pepper), the famous pasticiotto (a flaky short bread dough filled with custard), and focaccia barese. A popular snack in Apulia are Taralli.


title: Apulia

text: As with the other regions of Italy, the national language (since 1861) is Italian. However, because of its long and varied history, other historical languages have been used in this region for centuries. The local languages of northern and central Apulia (roughly the provinces of Bari, Barletta-Andria-Trani, and Foggia as well as the northwestern parts of the Province of Taranto) are the Apulian Southern Italo-Romance dialects, including Bari dialect and Tarantino dialect. In the southern region of Salento, an extreme Southern Italo-Romance language, the Salentino dialect is widely spoken. There is also an Italiot Greek language found in Salento called Griko, which is still spoken by a few thousand Griko people in some areas. In addition, a rare daughter language of the Franco-Provençal language called Faetar, is spoken in the mountain villages of Faeto and Celle di San Vito, in the Province of Foggia. It is sometimes classified as a pair of dialects of Franco-Provençal, Faetar and Cellese. The Arbëreshë dialect of the Albanian language has been spoken by a small community since refugees settled there in the 16thcentury.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: In cryptography and computer security, a man-in-the-middle, monster-in-the-middle, machine-in-the-middle, monkey-in-the-middle, meddler-in-the-middle, manipulator-in-the-middle (MITM), person-in-the-middle (PITM) or adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) attack is a cyberattack where the attacker secretly relays and possibly alters the communications between two parties who believe that they are directly communicating with each other, as the attacker has inserted themselves between the two parties. One example of a MITM attack is active eavesdropping, in which the attacker makes independent connections with the victims and relays messages between them to make them believe they are talking directly to each other over a private connection, when in fact the entire conversation is controlled by the attacker. The attacker must be able to intercept all relevant messages passing between the two victims and inject new ones. This is straightforward in many circumstances; for example, an attacker within the reception range of an unencrypted Wi-Fi access point could insert themselves as a man-in-the-middle. As it aims to circumvent mutual authentication, a MITM attack can succeed only when the attacker impersonates each endpoint sufficiently well to satisfy their expectations. Most cryptographic protocols include some form of endpoint authentication specifically to prevent MITM attacks. For example, TLS can authenticate one or both parties using a mutually trusted certificate authority.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: Suppose Alice wishes to communicate with Bob. Meanwhile, Mallory wishes to intercept the conversation to eavesdrop and optionally to deliver a false message to Bob.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: First, Alice asks Bob for his public key. If Bob sends his public key to Alice, but Mallory is able to intercept it, an MITM attack can begin. Mallory sends Alice a forged message that appears to originate from Bob, but instead includes Mallory's public key.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: Alice, believing this public key to be Bob's, encrypts her message with Mallory's key and sends the enciphered message back to Bob. Mallory again intercepts, deciphers the message using her private key, possibly alters it if she wants, and re-enciphers it using the public key she intercepted from Bob when he originally tried to send it to Alice. When Bob receives the newly enciphered message, he believes it came from Alice.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: This example shows the need for Alice and Bob to have some way to ensure that they are truly each using each other's public keys, rather than the public key of an attacker. Otherwise, such attacks are generally possible, in principle, against any message sent using public-key technology. A variety of techniques can help defend against MITM attacks.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: MITM attacks can be prevented or detected by two means: authentication and tamper detection. Authentication provides some degree of certainty that a given message has come from a legitimate source. Tamper detection merely shows evidence that a message may have been altered.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: All cryptographic systems that are secure against MITM attacks provide some method of authentication for messages. Most require an exchange of information (such as public keys) in addition to the message over a secure channel. Such protocols, often using key-agreement protocols, have been developed with different security requirements for the secure channel, though some have attempted to remove the requirement for any secure channel at all.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: A public key infrastructure, such as Transport Layer Security, may harden Transmission Control Protocol against MITM attacks. In such structures, clients and servers exchange certificates which are issued and verified by a trusted third party called a certificate authority (CA). If the original key to authenticate this CA has not been itself the subject of a MITM attack, then the certificates issued by the CA may be used to authenticate the messages sent by the owner of that certificate. Use of mutual authentication, in which both the server and the client validate the other's communication, covers both ends of a MITM attack. If the server or client's identity is not verified or deemed as invalid, the session will end. However, the default behavior of most connections is to only authenticate the server, which means mutual authentication is not always employed and MITM attacks can still occur.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: Attestments, such as verbal communications of a shared value (as in ZRTP), or recorded attestments such as audio/visual recordings of a public key hash are used to ward off MITM attacks, as visual media is much more difficult and time-consuming to imitate than simple data packet communication. However, these methods require a human in the loop in order to successfully initiate the transaction.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: In a corporate environment, successful authentication (as indicated by the browser's green padlock) does not always imply secure connection with the remote server. Corporate security policies might contemplate the addition of custom certificates in workstations' web browsers in order to be able to inspect encrypted traffic. As a consequence, a green padlock does not indicate that the client has successfully authenticated with the remote server but just with the corporate server/proxy used for SSL/TLS inspection.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: HTTP Public Key Pinning (HPKP), sometimes called "certificate pinning," helps prevent a MITM attack in which the certificate authority itself is compromised, by having the server provide a list of "pinned" public key hashes during the first transaction. Subsequent transactions then require one or more of the keys in the list must be used by the server in order to authenticate that transaction.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: DNSSEC extends the DNS protocol to use signatures to authenticate DNS records, preventing simple MITM attacks from directing a client to a malicious IP address.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: Latency examination can potentially detect the attack in certain situations, such as with long calculations that lead into tens of seconds like hash functions. To detect potential attacks, parties check for discrepancies in response times. For example: Say that two parties normally take a certain amount of time to perform a particular transaction. If one transaction, however, were to take an abnormal length of time to reach the other party, this could be indicative of a third party's interference inserting additional latency in the transaction.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: Quantum cryptography, in theory, provides tamper-evidence for transactions through the no-cloning theorem. Protocols based on quantum cryptography typically authenticate part or all of their classical communication with an unconditionally secure authentication scheme. As an example Wegman-Carter authentication.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: Captured network traffic from what is suspected to be an attack can be analyzed in order to determine whether there was an attack and, if so, determine the source of the attack. Important evidence to analyze when performing network forensics on a suspected attack includes:


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: A Stingray phone tracker is a cellular phone surveillance device that mimics a wireless carrier cell tower in order to force all nearby mobile phones and other cellular data devices to connect to it. The tracker relays all communications back and forth between cellular phones and cell towers.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: In 2011, a security breach of the Dutch certificate authority DigiNotar resulted in the fraudulent issuing of certificates. Subsequently, the fraudulent certificates were used to perform MITM attacks.


title: Man-in-the-middle attack

text: In 2013, Nokia's Xpress Browser was revealed to be decrypting HTTPS traffic on Nokia's proxy servers, giving the company clear text access to its customers' encrypted browser traffic. Nokia responded by saying that the content was not stored permanently, and that the company had organizational and technical measures to prevent access to private information.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Zdzisław Beksiński (; 24 February 192921 February 2005) was a Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor, specializing in the field of dystopian surrealism.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Beksiński made his paintings and drawings in what he called either a Baroque or a Gothic manner. His creations were made mainly in two periods. The first period of work is generally considered to contain expressionistic color, with a strong style of "utopian realism" and surreal architecture, like a doomsday scenario. The second period contained more abstract style, with the main features of formalism.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Beksiński was stabbed to death at his Warsaw apartment in February 2005, by a 19-year-old acquaintance from Wołomin, reportedly because he refused to lend him money.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Zdzisław Beksiński was born in Sanok, southern Poland. He studied architecture at Kraków Polytechnic in 1947, finishing his studies in 1952. He returned to Sanok in 1955, working as a construction site supervisor, but found that he did not enjoy it. During this period, he had an interest in montage photography, sculpting, and painting. When he first started sculpting, he often used his construction site materials for his medium. His early photography was a precursor to his later paintings, often depicting peculiar wrinkles, desolate landscapes, and still-life faces on rough surfaces. His paintings often depict anxiety, such as torn doll faces, or faces erased or obscured by bandages wrapped around the portrait. His main focus was on abstract painting, although it seems his works in the 1960s were inspired by surrealism.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Beksiński had no formal training as an artist. He was a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Kraków Polytechnic, receiving an MSc in 1952. His paintings were mainly created using oil paint on hardboard panels that he personally prepared, although he also experimented with acrylic paints. Beksinski listened to classical music while painting.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: An exhibition of Beksiński's works organized by Janusz Bogucki in Warsaw in 1964 was his first major success.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Beksiński undertook painting with a passion, working intensely while listening to classical music. He soon became the leading figure in contemporary Polish art. In the late 1960s, Beksiński entered what he himself called his "fantastic period," which lasted into the mid-1980s. This is his best-known period, during which he created disturbing images, showing a gloomy, surrealistic environment with detailed scenes of death, decay, landscapes filled with skeletons, deformed figures, and deserts. These detailed works were painted with his trademark precision. At the time, Beksiński claimed, "I wish to paint in such a manner as if I were photographing dreams."


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Despite the grim overtones, Beksiński claimed some of his works were misunderstood; in his opinion, they were rather optimistic or even humorous. For the most part, Beksiński was adamant that even he did not know the meaning of his artworks and was uninterested in possible interpretations; in keeping with this notion, he refused to provide titles for any of his drawings or paintings. Before moving to Warsaw in 1977, he destroyed a selection of his works in his own backyard, without leaving any documentation concerning them.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: According to Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro "In the medieval tradition, Beksinski seems to believe art to be a forewarning about the fragility of the flesh––whatever pleasures we know are doomed to perish––thus, his paintings manage to evoke at once the process of decay and the ongoing struggle for life. They hold within them a secret poetry, stained with blood and rust."


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: The 1980s marked a transitory period for Beksiński. During this time, his works became more popular in France due to the endeavors of Piotr Dmochowski, and Beksiński achieved significant popularity in Western Europe, the United States, and Japan. His art, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, focused on monumental or sculpture-like images rendered in a restricted and often subdued colour palette, including a series of crosses. Paintings in this style, which often appear to have been sketched densely in coloured lines, were much less lavish than those of his "fantastic period" but just as powerful. In 1994, Beksiński explained, "I'm going in the direction of a greater simplification of the background, and at the same time a considerable degree of deformation in the figures, which are being painted without what's known as naturalistic light and shadow. What I'm after is for it to be obvious at first sight that this is a painting I made".


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: In the later part of the 1990s, he became interested in computers, the Internet, digital photography and photo manipulation, a medium that he focused on until his death.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Beksiński's wife, Zofia, died in 1998; a year later, on Christmas Eve 1999, his son Tomasz (a popular radio presenter, music journalist and movie translator) committed suicide by drug overdose. Beksiński discovered his son's body. Unable to come to terms with his son's death, he kept an envelope "For Tomek in case I kick the bucket" pinned to his wall.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: On 21 February 2005, Beksiński was found dead in his flat in Warsaw with 17 stab wounds on his body; two of the wounds were determined to have been fatal. Robert Kupiec, the teenage son of his longtime caretaker, and a friend were arrested shortly after the crime. On 9 November 2006 Robert Kupiec was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and his accomplice, Łukasz Kupiec, to 5 years by the court of Warsaw. Before his death, Beksiński had refused to loan Robert Kupiec a few hundred zlotys (approximately US$100).


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Although Beksiński's art was often grim, he himself was known to be a pleasant person who took enjoyment from conversation and had a keen sense of humor. He was modest and somewhat shy, avoiding public events such as the openings of his own exhibitions. He credited music as his main source of inspiration. He claimed not to be much influenced by literature, cinema or the work of other artists, and almost never visited museums or exhibitions.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Beksiński avoided concrete analysis of the content of his work, saying "I don't want to say or convey anything. I just paint what comes to my mind". He was especially dismissive of those who sought or offered simple answers to what his work 'meant'.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: The town of Sanok, Poland, houses a museum dedicated to Beksiński. A Beksiński museum housing 50 paintings and 120 drawings from the Dmochowski collection (who owns the biggest private collection of Beksiński's art), opened in 2006 in the City Art Gallery of Częstochowa, Poland. On 18 May 2012 with the participation of Minister of Regional Development Elżbieta Bieńkowska and others took place ceremonial opening of in the rebuilt wing of the castle. On 19 May 2012, The New Gallery opened for the public.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: A 'Beksiński cross', in the characteristic T-shape frequently employed by the artist, was installed for Burning Man to honour the artist's memory.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: During the years 1963–1965, Beksiński wrote short stories. However, he was unhappy with the results and sealed them away, deciding to hone his skills in painting instead. For half a century, they remained a secret to everyone except the artist's closest friends and family. In 2015, a decade after Beksiński was killed, a collection of his short stories was published. Despite their unfinished and chaotic nature, the literary works of Beksiński are considered an intriguing journey into his past, reminiscent of his later dreamlike paintings; they vary from abstract onirist tales and philosophical self-reflections to metaphorical post-apocalyptic fiction and crime thriller stories. Beksiński's literary period is described as "short and intensive", as he wrote 40 short stories in fewer than two years, experimenting with form and narrative.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Beksiński's works inspired the surrealist imagery in William Mallone's horror film "Parasomnia" (2008).


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: 2016 saw the release of feature film "The Last Family" by Jan P. Matuszyński, a biopic focusing on Beksiński's family life. The film was well-received, scoring 86% on Rotten Tomatoes.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: An unnamed painting made by Beksiński served as the main inspiration for the physical appearance of the strange skeleton found inside the cave in the 2020 film "The Empty Man".


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Black metal artist Leviathan used an untitled 1983 painting as the cover of the compilation album "Verräter" in 2002.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Ukrainian black metal band Blood of Kingu used an untitled painting from 1977 as the cover of their second album "Sun in the House of the Scorpion" in 2010.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: The unblack metal band Antestor used "The Trumpeter" as cover art for their album "Omen" (2012). In a 2013 interview, Antestor explained that they chose "The Trumpeter" because "Our music represents the more broken and monster-like feelings of our humanity, like the apparition in this picture."


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Black metal band Wode from Manchester, UK, used the painting "KS" from 1985 as the cover for their self-titled debut in 2016.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: Psychedelic rock band Samsara Blues Experiment used a painting from 1980 as the cover for their album "Waiting for the Flood" in 2013.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: In 2021 the psychedelic metal band King Buffalo used a painting as cover art for their album "The Burden of Restlessness".


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: "Lust for Darkness" (2018) by Movie Games Lunarium, sees the player character travel through a "perverse land" which, according to the developers, is directly inspired by Beksiński's paintings.


title: Zdzisław Beksiński

text: "Vomitoreum" (2021) by Scrumhead, is an FPS Metroidvania with a focus on atmosphere and horror, inspired by the paintings of Zdzisław Beksiński


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play their home games at Amalie Arena in Downtown Tampa.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning have won three Stanley Cup championships: 2004, 2020, and 2021. They also reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2015 and in 2022. The team is owned by Jeffrey Vinik, and the general manager is Julien BriseBois. Jon Cooper has served as head coach since 2013, and is the longest-tenured active head coach in the NHL.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In the late 1980s, the NHL announced it would expand. Two rival groups from the Tampa Bay Area decided to bid for a franchise: a St. Petersburg-based group fronted by future Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes owners Peter Karmanos and Jim Rutherford, and a Tampa-based group fronted by Phil Esposito and his brother Tony, both members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. One of the Esposito group's key backers, the Pritzker family, backed out a few months before the bid, to be replaced by a consortium of Japanese businesses headed by Kokusai Green, a golf course and resort operator. On paper, it looked like the Karmanos/Rutherford group was better financed, but it wanted to pay only $29 million before starting play. In contrast, the Esposito/Kokusai Green group was one of the few groups willing to pay the full $50 million expansion fee up front. The Esposito group would win the expansion franchise on December 6, 1990, and name the team the Lightning, after Tampa Bay's status as the "Lightning Capital of North America."


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Phil Esposito assigned himself president and general manager, while Tony became chief scout. Terry Crisp, who played for the Philadelphia Flyers when they won two Stanley Cups in the mid-1970s and coached the Calgary Flames to a Stanley Cup in 1989, was tapped as the first head coach. Phil Esposito also hired former teammates from the Boston Bruins of the 1970s, including former linemate Wayne Cashman as an assistant coach and former Bruin trainer John "Frosty" Forristal as the team's trainer. The inaugural team photo has him flanked by Cashman and player Ken Hodge, Jr., son of his other Bruins' linemate.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In 1991, Angus Montagu, 12th Duke of Manchester announced that a company of which he was a director would raise millions of dollars in investments in the Lightning, but his plans were unsuccessful and he was later convicted of wire fraud.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning played their first preseason game in September 1992 against the Minnesota North Stars, and then turned heads later that preseason when Manon Rhéaume became the first woman to play in an NHL game, which also made her the first woman to play in any of the major professional North American sports leagues. She played for the Lightning against the St. Louis Blues, and stopped seven of nine shots.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning played their first regular-season game on October 7, 1992, in Tampa's tiny 11,000-seat Expo Hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds. They surprised the visiting Chicago Blackhawks, winning 7–3 with four goals by little-known Chris Kontos. The team rose to the top of the Campbell Conference's Norris Division within a month, behind Kontos' initial torrid scoring pace and a breakout season by forward Brian Bradley. However, it buckled under the strain of some of the longest road trips in the NHL—their nearest division rival, the Blues, were over away—and finished in last place with a record of 23–54–7 for 53 points. This was, at the time, one of the best-ever showings by an NHL expansion team. Bradley's 42 goals gave Tampa Bay fans optimism for the next season; it would be a team record until the 2006–07 season.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The following season saw the Lightning shift to the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division, as well as move into the Florida Suncoast Dome (a building originally designed for baseball) in St. Petersburg, which was reconfigured for hockey and renamed the "ThunderDome." The team acquired goaltender Daren Puppa, left wing goal scorer Petr Klima, and veteran forward Denis Savard. While Puppa's play resulted in a significant improvement in goals allowed (from 332 to 251), Savard was long past his prime and Klima's scoring was offset by his defensive lapses. The Lightning finished last in the Atlantic Division in 1993–94 with a record of 30–43–11 for 71 points. Another disappointing season followed in the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season with a record of 17–28–3 for 37 points.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In their fourth season, 1995–96, backed by Bradley's team-leading 79 points, second-year forward Alexander Selivanov's 31 goals, and Roman Hamrlik's All-Star year on defense, the Lightning finally qualified for the playoffs, posting a 38–32–12 record for 88 points, ahead of the defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference by a single win. Due to his stellar play in net, Puppa was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy (losing out to Jim Carey of the Washington Capitals). Playing the Philadelphia Flyers, a team seen as a Stanley Cup contender, in the first round, the Lightning split the opening two games in Philadelphia before taking Game 3 in overtime before a ThunderDome crowd of 28,183. This was the largest crowd for an NHL game, a record that stood until the 2003 Heritage Classic in Edmonton; and it still stands today as the largest crowd at a Stanley Cup playoffs game. An injury to Puppa in that game, however, would see the Lightning lose the next three games and the series.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning moved into a new arena in downtown Tampa, the Ice Palace (later the St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa Bay Times Forum and now Amalie Arena) for the 1996–97 season. They had acquired goal-scorer Dino Ciccarelli from the Detroit Red Wings during the 1996 off-season, and he did not disappoint, scoring 35 goals while Chris Gratton notched another 30 goals. The team appeared destined for another playoff appearance, but suffered a devastating rash of injuries. Puppa developed back trouble that kept him out of all but six games during the season; he would only play a total of 50 games from 1996 until his retirement in 2000. Bradley also lost time to a series of concussions that would limit him to a total of 49 games from 1996 until his retirement in December 1999. Center John Cullen developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and missed the last 12 games of the 1996–97 season; he would eventually be forced to retire in 1999. Decimated by these ailments, the Lightning narrowly missed the playoffs. They would not tally as much as 60 points again for five years.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Most of the Lightning's early stars were gone by the 1998–99 season due to free agency and a series of ill-advised trades. Crisp was fired 11 games into the 1997–98 season and replaced by Jacques Demers. Though Demers had presided over the resurgence of the Detroit Red Wings in the 1980s and helmed a Stanley Cup run with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, he was unable to change the team's fortunes and the Lightning ended up losing 55 games. That team's .268 winning percentage is still the worst in franchise history.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: By most accounts, the Lightning's plunge to the bottom of the NHL was due to inattentive ownership by Kokusai Green. Rumors abounded as early as the team's second season that the Lightning were on the brink of bankruptcy and that the team was part of a money laundering scheme for the yakuza (Japanese crime families). Its scouting operation consisted of Tony Esposito and several satellite dishes. The Internal Revenue Service investigated the team in 1994 and 1995, and nearly threatened to put a tax lien on the franchise for $750,000 in back taxes. The situation led longtime NHL broadcaster and writer Stan Fischler to call the Lightning a "skating vaudeville show."


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Even in their first playoff season, the team was awash in red ink and Kokusai Green was looking to sell the team; however its asking price of $230 million for the team and the lease with the Ice Palace deterred buyers. A possible sale was further hampered by the team's murky ownership structure; many team officials (including Crisp) did not know who really owned the team. Kokusai Green's owner, Takashi Okubo, had never met with the Espositos or with NHL officials in person prior to being awarded the Lightning franchise, and never watched his team play during his seven years as owner.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Nearly all of Kokusai Green's investment in the team and the Ice Palace came in the form of loans, leaving the team constantly short of cash. At least one prospective buyer pulled out after expressing doubts that Okubo even existed. In fact, the first time anyone connected with the Lightning or the NHL even saw Okubo was in the spring of 1998. Esposito was forced into several trades just to keep the team above water. The team's financial situation was a considerable concern to NHL officials; rumors surfaced that the NHL was seriously considering taking control of the team if Okubo failed to find a buyer by the summer of 1998.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: "Forbes" wrote an article in late 1997 calling the Lightning a financial nightmare, with a debt equal to 236% of its value, the highest of any major North American sports franchise. Even though the Ice Palace was built for hockey and the Lightning were the only major tenant, "Forbes" called the team's deal with the arena a lemon since it would not result in much revenue for 30 years. It was also behind on paying state sales taxes and federal payroll taxes.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Finally, in 1998, Kokusai Green found a buyer. Although William Davidson, longtime owner of the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), was thought to be the frontrunner, the buyer turned out to be insurance tycoon and motivational speaker Art Williams, who previously owned the Birmingham Barracudas of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The team was $102 million in debt at the time the sale closed. Williams knew very little about hockey, but was very visible and outspoken, and immediately pumped an additional $6 million into the team's payroll. He also cleared most of the debt from the Kokusai Green era. After taking control, Williams publicly assured the Espositos that their jobs were safe, only to fire them two games into the 1998–99 season. He then gave Demers complete control of hockey operations as both coach and general manager. The Lightning drafted Vincent Lecavalier first overall in 1998, a player who would be a cornerstone of the team for years to come.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Williams was widely seen as being in over his head. Early in the 1998–99 season, the Lightning lost ten games in a row, all but ending any chance of making the playoffs. They ended up losing 54 games that year, more than the expansion Nashville Predators.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: By the spring of 1999, Williams had seen enough. He had not attended a game in some time because "this team broke my heart". He lost $20 million in the 1998–99 season alone, as much money in one year as he had estimated he could have reasonably lost in five years. Williams sold the team for $115 million—$2 million less than he had paid for the team a year earlier—to Detroit Pistons owner William Davidson, who had almost bought the team a year earlier. Along with the sale, the Lightning acquired a new top minor league affiliate; Davidson also owned the Detroit Vipers of the now-defunct International Hockey League.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Davidson remained in Detroit, but appointed Tom Wilson as team president to handle day-to-day management of the team. Wilson immediately fired Demers, who despite his best efforts (and fatherly attitude toward Lecavalier) was unable to overcome the damage from the Kokusai Green ownership. Wilson persuaded Ottawa Senators general manager (and former Vipers GM) Rick Dudley to take over as the Lightning's new general manager; Dudley, in turn, brought Vipers coach Steve Ludzik in as the team's new head coach. Wilson, Dudley and Ludzik had helped make the Vipers one of the premier minor league hockey franchises, having won a Turner Cup in only their third season in Detroit (the team had originally been based in Salt Lake City).


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: However, as had been the case with Demers, the damage from the last few seasons under Kokusai Green was too much for Ludzik to overcome. Even with a wholesale transfer of talent from Detroit to Tampa (a move that eventually doomed the Vipers, which folded along with the IHL in 2001), the Lightning lost 54 games in 1999–2000 and 52 in 2000–01, becoming the first team in NHL history to post four straight 50-loss seasons. The lone bright spots in those years were the blossoming of Lecavalier and Brad Richards into NHL stars. Ludzik was replaced in early 2001 by career NHL assistant John Tortorella. The March 5 trade deadline offered another glimmer of hope when the team acquired hold-out goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin from the Phoenix Coyotes for three players and a draft pick.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The 2001–02 season, Tortorella's first full year behind the bench, saw some improvement. Martin St. Louis was having a breakout season when he broke his leg in game number 47 and was lost for the remainder of the season. Khabibulin recorded a shut out at the NHL All-Star Game but was not named its MVP, by all accounts due to the game's voting protocol. By mid-February, the Lightning were well out of playoff contention and were sinking under a rash of injuries. Dudley, who had guaranteed a playoff berth before the season, was fired and replaced by his assistant, Jay Feaster. Still the Lightning showed some signs of life, earning more than 60 points for the first time since 1997. Tortorella stripped Lecavalier of the captaincy due to contract negotiations that had made the young center miss the start of the season.