August 2010 Archives

Several members of the Flightglobal team flocked to cover the AUVSI show in Denver, Colorado and John Croft added some great behind the scenes images of the halls being set up before the show began.

A Spitfire and a Hurricane provided the soundtrack to an actor reading the famous speech by the then prime minister Winston Churchill on 20 August to commemorate 70 years since the Battle of Britain and the image of the two iconic aircraft graced the Image of the Day blog.

FlightBlogger charts the flight testing progress of ZA002, the second Boeing 787 test aircraft, as it flies up the coast of Canada at 36,000ft bound for the North Pole to spend a day evaluating a myriad of navigation systems. It flew for more than 14 hours, breaking the record held by ZA004 at 12h 30min.

See a fun "rugby" themed safety video by Air New Zealand which might just get passengers (or members of the team) to pay attention to the sometimes dry instructions before a flight.

Mary Kirby on Runway Girl writes about an alternative seating arrangement: "Thromby Air, a faux carrier that charges passengers by the pound (of flesh) has an innovative new idea for high-density seating. Forget about Ryanair's O'Leary and his stand-up seating proposal. Why not try Tetris instead?" she writes, and adds an interesting illustration to the post.

Boeing has been working with four partners to come up with innovative designs on future aircraft which could prove to be the shape of things to come.

Read more on how "a hybrid propulsion concept similar to the engine-battery pairings increasingly seen in passenger cars could be aviation's answer to the fuel burn and emissions dilemma."

In a Flight International blog post, click on a link through to an approach graph compiled by someone with a sense of humour, showing the ditching of the US Airways A320 into the River Hudson approach.

FlightBlogger reports that Microsoft is back with a new version of its 28-year old flight simluator. He writes: "[The simulator] is reinventing itself as Flight for the new version of the venerable software," but wonders if the version will be compatible with his Mac. He also suspects that Microsoft program's new branding was inspired by Flight International.

There are a lot of images on AirSpace from the recent International Balloon Fiesta held in Bristol, UK, by prolific AirSpace user apgphoto.

 

Have a look at the pictures of Honda's conforming prototype for its seven-seat light jet, which is to perform its first flight in November.

The aircraft recently completed power-on tests and the manufacturer is now focussing on the integration of avionics and other electrical systems.

See a blog post by Runway Girl with images of the Continental Airlines Boeing 787 mock-up.

The airline unveiled a sneak preview of its new aircraft interior at the 2010 National Business Travel Association (NBTA) International Convention & Expo.

The airline says the mock-up offers "a glimpse of what's ahead for air travel in the future" and includes some of the carrier's regular BusinessFirst seats with Panasonic Avionics in-flight entertainment.

The carrier has ordered 25 787s with deliveries beginning in the third quarter of 2011.

You can't fail to raise a smile when you see a short video of a good humoured pillow fight among passengers and a flight attendant on a Lufthansa aircraft while the attendant hands out pillows to passengers before takeoff.

 

Take a look at Flightglobal's video page to see the most popular videos from Farnborough including the first ever touchdown on UK soil by Boeing's new aircraft, the 787, and some of the best video stories from this year so far.

There's a great video of a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 being stripped of it's current livery and painted in the new scheme. The video lasts just over a minute and is made up of sped up footage of the transformation.

The US Air Force released images of the wreckage of a Boeing C-17 strategic transport which crashed at Elmendorf AFB in Alaska in July in a wooded area inside the base perimeter, shortly after taking off on a local training mission. It was destroyed during the impact and a resulting fire.

The air force says a safety investigation board team will examine the factors behind the accident.

See a great image uploaded by an AirSpace user showing an aerial view from a Zeppelin over San Francisco International Airport.