October 2010 Archives

Read how a crocodile caused an aircraft crash. In Learmount's Blog, he writes that the sole surviving passenger has told accident investigators he saw a passenger had brought a small crocodile on board in a bag, and it escaped into the cabin as the aircraft was approaching the airport. The survivor described how passengers rushed forward to escape the reptile, and the aircraft nosed down and crashed.

Flightglobal has launched Atlas, a new realtime aircraft tracking service overlaying aircraft/airline flight data onto Google Maps to provide a flight tracking service. Over the coming weeks and months Atlas will have new features and enhancements. Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

FlightBlogger reports that Greenpoint Technologies, which is already supplying the SkyLoft overhead space utilization (OSU) on Boeing's 747-8I VIP, has dreamed up an addition to the new jumbo that looks as though it has come straight out of a James Bond Film. The firm has designed an internal elevator that exits on the outside of the aircraft! Not surprisingly it's called the SkyLift. Greenpoint is in talks with two customers about the product.

Don't forget to enter your images for the front cover competition where you could have your photo on the end of year issue of Flight International magazine. Take a look at previous entries from the various categories.

For the fourth year running, we are offering you the fantastic opportunity to have your best image adorn the front cover of world-renowned Flight International magazine.

The winner will not only have their image feature on the magazine's front cover, but they will also receive a framed copy of that front cover together with a cheque for £100.

Here are some instructions showing you how to upload your images to AirSpace...

The Flightglobal team headed off to Atlanta, Georgia last week to cover NBAA 2010 and uploaded plenty of videos, and wildly tweeted the news and gossip from the show.

Look out for an impromptu interview with Gene Cernan who talked to Mary Kirby about the technologies available on Bombardier aircraft and his travels to the Moon of course.

Also check out the new cabin mock up of the Cessna Citation Ten as it's now branded instead of the Roman numeral it used.

Watch a range of inflight connectivity systems demonstrations of - many include integrating the Apple iPad into the frame as technology continues to improve to make the life of a business traveller simpler.

See the interactive daily magazine,iFlight, which has lots of news of new aircraft programmes, plus more videos, twitter, static and halls coverage and hundreds of images of business aircraft. Other highlights include a flight demonstration of a Sikorsky X2 from the DEW line blog, a Turkish Airlines advertisement featuring Manchester United and Wayne Rooney, plus the story of a flight attendant who pretended a dog was a baby to avoid pet travel fees.

According to a free commuter newspaper Concorde will settle on a jetty on the Thames next to the London Eye, London's famous ferris wheel and landmark on the South Bank.

The Concorde aircraft, codenamed Alpha Bravo, which made its last flight between New York and London on 15 August 2000, weeks after the crash of an Air France Concorde outside Paris, may soon be atop a double deck concourse with a river boat landing stage underneath housing an exhibition about the iconic aircraft.

See a video of the Red Arrows pilot riding on 125cc Vespa scooters. The stunt was conducted to raise money for five charities by riding from Land's End to John O'Groats.

Flightglobal has launching the 2010 Flight International front cover photographic competition. The winning image will appear on the front cover of the last issue of this year's magazine.

There were almost 1,000 competition entries last year. The categories will be Sleek Jets, Big Birds, Old Flyers, General Stars. Send your entries in before the November deadline.

AirSpace user Davidgaughan has uploaded an impressive gallery of images of aircraft flying displays from a range of air shows including this image of a colourful Hawker Hunter from the Al Ain air show in the United Arab Emirates.  

Search for the Twitter trending topic #SMairlines to follow the thread of discussion from Airline Business and SimpliFlying's recent Social Media for Airlines conference in London. Delegate @avaltat from Eurocontrol, among many others shared their experiences of how social media has worked for their organisations.

British Airways has repainted one of its Boeing 757-200s in a retro livery, dating back 27 years, to mark the retirement of the type from its fleet this month.

The livery matches that used by the airline when the 757 entered service and features the single brand 'British' and 'speedbird' logo on the forward fuselage, and the familiar Union flag design on the fin.

India's first US-built military transport made its debut flight, with the Lockheed Martin C-130J. The first of six stretched-fuselage Hercules on order for the Indian air force, aircraft KC-3801 will be followed by two more examples getting airborne "within the next few weeks", Lockheed says.

And AirSpace user Nigel McDonough has uploaded this colourful image of an aircraft he describes as a: "Nice old Antonov An2 at Popham".