July 2009 Archives

Today's image of the day comes from AirSpace user FlyPHANUK, who earlier this month captured this photo of a Duxford Flying Legends CASA Jungmann G-BSAJ, expertly displayed by Anna Walker.

This photo was featured on the contents page of the 21-27 July issue of Flight International. Share your photos on AirSpace for a chance for them to be featured in the magazine.

On 27 July 1949 de Havilland chief test pilot John Cunningham, previously a famed night-fighter pilot, celebrated his birthday by leading his flight-test crew aboard the all-silver prototype DH106, the world's first purpose-built jet airliner, and taking off on its maiden flight.

The de Havilland Ghost-powered DH106 was soon afterwards named Comet.

Here is a cutaway from our collection of the Comet:


To celebrate the Comet's 60th anniversary, we took a look through Flight's archives to find both the major stories and also the smaller details of the world's first jetline.

Note: the referenced date corresponds the material's publishing time


28 July 1949
Roll out of Comet: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1949/1949%20-%201324.html

Flight reporter saw Comet before rollout, commented on its "businesslike appearance", and other impressions:http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1949/1949%20-%201326.html

4 August 1949
"Surprise" first flight: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1949/1949%20-%201356.html

22 December 1949 
Operational characteristics of Comet:http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1949/1949%20-%202017.html
 
27 April 1950 
Water-methanol injection and liquid-fuel rocket motors have been developed to assist the take-off of the de Havilland Comet when fully loaded from tropical or high-altitude runways:
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1950/1950%20-%200799.html

7 September 1951
Flight calls the Comet the "premier example of the pure-jet airliner for arterial routes": http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1951/1951%20-%201739.html
 
9 May 1952 
Coverage of first commerical flight (BOAC service to South Africa's Johannesburg): http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1952/1952%20-%201275.html
  
1 May 1953 
BOAC issued rubber-soled shoes to maintenance workers to keep exterior skin smooth: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%200555.html

BOAC pilot discusses pilot conversion training:http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%200539.html
 
1 May 1953 
Statistics on Comet's first year of service with BOAC (number of miles flown, routes): http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%200549.html
 
1954 
Comment on the Comet's "lustre" decreasing due to crashes, as well as information on crashes: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1954/1954%20-%201481.html
  
3 September 1954 

• Comet 1 built to accommodate 36-40 passengers and weighed 107,000-115,000 lb
• Comet 2 could accommodate 44 passengers at 120,000 lb 
• Comet 2 had 4x Rolls-Royce Avon turbojets, permitted stage lengths of 1750-2200 miles, payload capacity 13,000 lb

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1954/1954%20-%202442.html

12 January 1956 
Information on a Comet's 30,000 mile tour in Asia and Oceania: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200012.html

6 July 1956 
Flight writes that the Comet's economics are similar to piston-engined aircraft: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200883.html
 
1957 
Flight praises the "handsome lines and elegant finish of the Transport Command machines": http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1957/1957%20-%200176.html

1958
Writer argues in thorough analysis that the Comet is still a good aircraft: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/1958-1-%20-%200252.html
   
25 July 1958
First flight of Comet 4, and overivew of what is different about the 4: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/1958-1-%20-%200119.html
 
6 Mar 1959
Information on how Aerolineas Argentinas plans to deploy its new fleet, including the Comet: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%200642.html
 
11 Sep 1959
Assorted Comet comments including that galleys were standarised with the Viscount; description of "ingeniously" folding doors that blocked the rear galley from passengers' site during boarding; and the rear galley could be removed and more seats added if desired: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%202223.html
 
3 June 1965
Obituary of de Havilland, who reportedly only appeared on television once and was at a loss for words when "smart alec" journalist asked a question about the Comet crashes: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1965/1965%20-%201563.html
 
31 Jul 1969
Flight's coverage of Comet's 20th anniversary: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1969/1969%20-%202527.html

1974

• Comet 1 initially cost £275,000 (US$1.1 million); Comet 4 cost £1.2 million
• Comet 1 required 34,000 "manweeks" before first flight and 50,000 "manweeks" before entry into service

 http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1974/1974%20-%200411.html

15 November 1980
Coverage of Comet's final flight: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1980/1980%20-%203431.html

16 September 2008
Comet holds a legacy for fatigue design: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/09/16/315932/europe-works-to-develop-built-in-structural-sensors.html

Happy 60th birthday, Comet!

Today's image of the day comes from the Department of Defense. One of their photographers captured a flight of F-15C Eagles during a total solar eclipse over the island of Okinawa, Japan, July 22, 2009. The eclipse was a rare opportunity for troops to witness this unique event. The F-15C Eagles are assigned to the 44th Fighter Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa.

[With thanks to Flight's The DEW Line.]

One hundred years ago today Louis Blériot became the first person to cross a 'large body of water' in a 'heavier than air' aircraft.

The successful aircraft was the Blériot XI, a replica of which an AirSpace user recently captured.

Blériot flew 22 statute miles (36.6 km) from Les Barraques (near Calais, France) to Dover, England (landing at Northfall Meadow). The trip took 37 minutes. The challenge was backed by a £1,000 prize from the Daily Mail.

Some interesting tidbits from the Flight archive:

Leading dimensions of the XI were: span, 28ft.; chord, 6ft.; length, 25ft.; all-up weight, 715 lb ; wing loading, 3.9 lb/sq.ft. Control was by wing-warping, an orthodox rudder, and "elevating tips" at the tailplane ends. Its 24 h.p. "fan-type" three-cylinder air-cooled Anzani engine had automatic inlet valves and mechanical exhaust valves supplemented by auxiliary exhaust ports. The crossing was made at a speed of about 45 m.p.h., in a wind of variable direction which blew initially at about l0kt, fell light in mid-Channel (where the pilot was out of sight of land to 20kt at Dover).
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1949/1949%20-%201307.html?search=wing%20loading,%203J9%20lb/sq.ft

Going into the competition, Blériot had a large share of naysayers. He entered the competition injured (during a test flight in his VIII craft, a gasoline line broke and left him with a burnt foot). Flight reported that observers "reckoned he was only going to make a short trial flight, and that the wind would prove too much for him."

Bleriot reported in a telegram to the Washington Post that he throttled his engine to 1,200 revolutions per minute, almost the top speed of the engine, to clear telegraph wires at the edge of the cliff near the runway field at Les Barraques. Then he lowered the engine speed to give the XI an average airspeed of approximately 40 miles per hour (64 kilometers per hour) and an altitude of about 250 feet (76 m).

Upon reaching England, Flight reported, "A decidedly worried-looking Customs officer had appeared on the scene, complete with a big batch of official forms. He wanted to make certain Bleriot had not brought any contraband goods across the Channel with him by air, and among the forms the airman was called upon to sign was one to the effect that his 'vessel', of which he was described as the 'master', was free from anything in the nature of infectious disease.

The XI was put on display after its flight and 120,000 people visited it over the course of four days.

On the 40th anniversary of the flight, Flight's Harry Harper poignantly wrote:

Such a great pioneer as Bleriot, though he realized well enough the grim possibilities the air conquest might open up, told me he was confident in his own mind that the ability to travel through the air at speeds impossible by land and sea would, in the end, prove a boon rather than a menace to mankind

40 years ago today Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, completing its historical mission.

Time to celebrate, right?

Unfortunately not.

Out of fear of astronauts bringing "unheard-of" diseases back to Earth, US public authorities imposed a 21-day quarantine on all returning astronauts. They were confined to the "Lunar Receiving Laboratory" in Houston that featured, amongst other novelties, a glass wall so the astronauts could see family members.


From Flight's archive:

So that there can be no possibility of US astronauts returning o m the Moon bringing with them unheard-of diseases which might spread disastrously through mankind, the astronauts spend their first 18 days back on Earth in a hermetically led, super-sterile building called the Lunar Receiving aboratory (see photograph in Flight for December 14, page 1010 ) at the Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas. This building is so designed that no single germ can escape once Apollo astronauts have been sealed inside.

US public health authorities have imposed a 21-day quarantine on astronauts returning from Moon flights, and a special group of doctors, biologists and agricultural experts known as the Inter-agency Back-up Committee on Contamination has been set up to work out foolproof measures to prevent mishap from occurring.

The quarantine period will not be as arduous for the astronauts as it sounds, for the Lunar Receiving Laboratory is equipped to give them all the comforts of a luxurious setting; in one wall is a thick plate-glass window through which astronauts will be able to talk to their wives and children. But every molecule of air leaving the white three-storey bulilding will first be incinerated and passed through ultra-fine filters. All other waste will be stored in leakproof containers for before being strongly disinfected then burned.

Dr Walter Kemmerer, chief of MSC's Biochemical Special-Services Branch, says that "the probability of life existing on the lunar surface is extremely small. The environment there, the temperature, the absence of free water, the radiation--all of these things make us believe that life is unlikely to exist on Moon.

"But we cannot definitely or with absolute certainty say that does not. So we must take precautions."

Today's image of the day comes from the Department of Defense:

U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Christopher Malloy, landing support chief, Combat Logistics Battalion 46, observes as an MV-22 Osprey aircraft hovers above an M777 howitzer during an airlift operation at Landing Zone Sandhill at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., on July 10, 2009.

Water vapour streaks off a 11 Sqn Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon F2 during its display at the 2009 Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford, UK. The aircraft is being flown by 29 Sqn display pilot Flt Lt Scott Loughran.

Photo by Flight's Max Kingsley-Jones via his AirSpace page, where you can share your photos as well. Also see:

Main page -- RIAT
2007 RIAT Photos
2006 RIAT Photos

 

In this week's issue you'll find the 2009 Oshkosh preview and David Learmount's safety analysis for the first half of the year.

At 20.17 GMT Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the Moon's surface. He took this picture of Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, the second man on the Moon.

See how Flight International reported the event...

Flightglobal's Apollo @ 40 page

Flightglobal's coverage from Flight International magazine from last week and from 1969 

Today's image of the day comes via a Boeing press release:

LONG BEACH, Calif., July 14, 2009 - The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today delivered the first Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) C-17 Globemaster III during a ceremony at its final assembly facility in Long Beach, paving the way for the advanced airlifter's historic arrival at Pápa Air Base, Hungary, later this month. The SAC's approach to shared use of the strategic airlifter is regarded as a model for the pooled acquisition and management of defense capabilities.

The SAC group includes 10 NATO nations - Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, United States - and Partnership for Peace members Sweden and Finland. They will share acquisition and operating costs for the eventual fleet of three C-17s over the nearly 30-year agreement.

The first SAC C-17 will arrive at Pápa Air Base just prior to the activation of the Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW) on July 27. Boeing will deliver the two remaining C-17s in September and October.

The SAC's first C-17 bears the number 01 on its nose, symbolizing the first aircraft delivered to the SAC group. Because Hungary is the host nation for the HAW, the airlifter's tail is marked with red, white and green stripes. The air base's name, "PAPA," is painted on a blue background that runs across the vertical stabilizer. The HAW will be operated by multinational crews from the 12 participating nations.

Forty years ago today Apollo 11 was in space, having successfully completed its launch but awaiting its moon landing.

But before Apollo 11 could blast off from the launch pad, it had to be brought there. NASA cameras captured this aerial view of Saturn V SA-506, the space vehicle for the first lunar landing mission, moving down the 3.5 mile crawler way to Launch Complex 39-A.

While retro jets have become the latest airline fad, with Continental and Air France some of the recent additions, Hawaiian Air is going really retro.

To help celebrate the airline's 80th anniversary this November, Hawaiian Air located its first aircraft, a Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker. Its CH-300 first flew 80 years ago and Hawaiian has been working to restore the aircraft to flyable condition. It plans to bring the aircraft home to Oahu in September.

Here are two photos, circa 1929, depicting the original aircraft.

Forty years ago this morning at 9:32 Eastern time in the United States, Apollo 11 lifted off from launch pad 39-A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Its destination? The moon, where a few days later Neil Armstrong became the first person to ever step foot on a planet other than our own.

An Air Force EC-135N plane captured this stunning photograph of Apollo 11 after lift-off. Definitely click on the image for a larger view.

Today's image of the day is of the JetBird Embraer Phenom 100 very light jet. JetBird has 59 of the planes on order.

Air taxi start-up JetBird has taken a step closer to the commercial launch of its pan-European operation in September with the unveiling of its online flight booking system.

Here's this week's cover of Flight International, featuring our special report on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. For more info on the event, head over to our dedicated anniversary page.

The cover is a montage of Flight's Apollo and Saturn V cutaways. Links to the cover articles are below.

Main Feature: The long walk back to the moon
We celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing by assessing the USA's current space ambitions and delving into our archives to look at how we covered the 1969 event.

Destination moon?
The USA's lunar ambitions were surprisingly revived under George Bush, but will President Obama continue funding?

'One small step for man...'
This is how Flight International reported the Moon landing in our 24 July 1969 issue, with original graphics and spacecraft cutaways.

Man stood for the first time on another planet last Monday morning, July 21. An estimated 600m people, the largest-ever live audience to watch any human endeavour, saw on television the bulky figure of the Apollo 11 commander, Neil Armstrong, climb backwards down the aluminum ladder, place his right foot in the spacecraft landing pad, and gingerly step down to the surface of the Moon. Science fiction became fact; the dream of centuries was realised.

• 
  More on Flightglobal celebrating 40 years since the Apollo 11 Moon landing

Additional Cover Articles
Vought takeover triggers tussle for 787 assembly line
Boeing's confirmation of its intent to acquire the South Carolina operations of Vought Aircraft Industries has fired the starting gun for what is expected to be a fierce competition between several US states to house the expansion of 787 production...

Orders slump as output hits new high
First-half data from Airbus and Boeing confirms that the mainline airliner builders have suffered a major collapse in orders and a surge in cancellations, while output has reached record levels...

Royal International Air Tattoo
Anniversaries will provide two of the themes for this year's Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT), to be staged at Royal Air Force base Fairford...

Here you can subscribe to the print edition or digital edition of Flight International.

I was hoping to have yesterday's or today's image be of the Space Shuttle mission STS-127 lifting off, but the launch has been delayed (following earlier delays back in June).

The Saturday launch postponement was due to a lightning strike Friday evening on the launch pad.

Check out this image NASA's cameras captured of the strike:

Last week I asked readers to help identify photos from our archive that we do not know much about. The replies were so helpful I thought I would ask again this week with different photos!

These photos are missing information about what type of aircraft is depicted, the location, or year (or sometimes two or more of those categories).

Here are three. Do you know anything about them? If so, leave a comment or follow the link under the photo and leave a comment there.






Do you have eagle eyes? Why not go through more photos and see if you recognise any others?

I recently received this surprising press release discussing how Emirates' new cabin crew uniform has been rolled out.

"In an industry first, the premium brand airline choose to hand responsibility of the design to its UK based manufacturer, Simon Jersey, rather than a world renowned fashion house; and saved itself millions of pounds in the process."

It's unclear what Emirates' motivation was--save money? get a more practical design?--but it occurs in an era where premium carriers boast of their designers. Singapore Airlines' iconic dress is the work of Pierre Balmain, Korean Air enlisted Gianfranco Ferre, and Air France hired local countryman Christian Lacroix.

On the other end of the scale, Easyjet had its staff collaborate on a new uniform.

Here's Emirates' new uniform:

From the press release:

New Australian chart-up charter carrier Strategic Airlines had its first aircraft, an Airbus A330-200, arrive in Brisbane earlier this week. The arrival was welcomed with a water cannon salute.


From the carrier:

Landing at the Brisbane International Airport at 11:30am EST on Monday 6 July, the
Airbus A330-200 crossed Australian shores sporting the new Strategic livery, for an
entourage of invited special guests and media. This event marked the arrival of the first
aircraft of the inaugural fleet for Australia's newest international charter airline, a positive
development for the Australian aviation industry in the present climate.

Strategic Airlines is subsidiary of Strategic Aviation Group. Strategic Airlines plans to launch in September and two A320s will join its A330. Strategic Airlines plans to be an ACMI charter, providing services for other carriers as well as for corporate, tourist, and leisure companies, it said. Parent company Strategic Aviation provides the majority of services to the Australian Defence Force through an Airbus A330-300 operation, it added.

Today's image is from Airbus and depicts its Aerial Refuelling Boom System (on an A310) making contact with a Portuguese F-16AM--at night! This was conducted as part of the readiness for A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) qualification.

Here's this week's cover of Flight International, featuring our special report on the US NextGen air traffic management system. Links to the cover articles are below.

Main Features
Big changes are taking place in the management of the USA's national airspace system. The country's NextGen initiative is designed to make air traffic control more efficient, safer, and environmentally friendly, from the ramp all the way to final touchdown. We report on how the Federal Aviation Administration is engineering such a revolutionary procedure and look closely at the technologies being used in the process and the benefits they will bring to airlines, airports and passengers.

FAA's new NextGen vector: blue sky thinking; blue collar action
The US Federal Aviation Administration has adopted a pragmatic approach to the future of its national airspace system, based on a desired mid-term outcome that makes the best of technologies already available and gives industry a leading role in showing the way forward, largely through a wide array of demonstration programmes...

New York Kennedy airport trial provides glimpse into the future of airport ground operations
Two pairs of binoculars still sit on the window sill at the Japan Airlines flight operations office overlooking New York Kennedy airport Terminal 1. But Joseph Gutierrez, who began his career at JAL 22 years ago as a dispatcher and is now JAL's director of flight operations at Kennedy, does not need his binoculars any more. In early May JAL became one of three carriers at the airport to begin testing Sensis Aerobahn, a real-time surface position tool...

ITT's NextGen backbone prepares for lifting

Two years after signing a contract to create the surveillance backbone for the next generation air transport system (NextGen), the US Federal Aviation Administration is about to reap early benefits from its $1.8 billion baby. In test programmes about to get under way in at least four locations, avionics makers, aircraft operators and airlines along with the FAA are set to begin experimenting with critical features of the first online network of automatic dependent surveillance...

Why ADS-B?
From the US Federal Aviation Administration's perspective, automatic dependent surveillance - broadcast is meant to reduce dependence on ground-based secondary surveillance radar systems by collecting GPS-derived position reports from ADS-B equipped aircraft at ground stations and sending the information (ADS-B "out"), to air traffic control facilities to be used for air traffic management....

Ground alert
The US Federal Aviation Administration's funding of new automatic dependent surveillance - broadcast tests in the autumn moves management of aircraft in the airport surface environment beyond simple visual awareness to actual alerts of potential runway conflicts. This could create a step change in the approach pilots take to managing airport surface conflict detection....

GE's optimal approach
GE Aviation believes tests it has already conducted with SAS in Stockholm in optimal trajectory descent management are easily adaptable to carriers that now use its flight management system...

Additional Cover Articles
F-22 stealth coatings face legal scrutiny
A pending lawsuit by a Lockheed Martin-trained stealth expert may provide new perspective on concerns about the F-22's low observable, or stealth, systems...

Boeing makes move for Vought's 787 plant
Boeing is poised to take control of a key portion of its 787 supply chain through the acquisition of the Vought Aircraft Industries business in Charleston, South Carolina.

Here you can subscribe to the print edition or digital edition of Flight International.

Today's image of the day depicts an EA-18G Growler from VX-31, also known as the "Dust Devils". The photo was taken by Jamie Hunter of Aviacom for the United States Navy. Dave Majumdar at the Examiner tipped us off and wrote a great analysis of the jet at that link. (Thanks, Dave!)


The shot was taken over the desert terrain of interior California, near the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, where this aircraft is based.

Tomorrow in St. Louis Boeing will host the deliver ceremony of the Royal Australian Air Force's first F/A-18F. Of the 24 F/A-18Fs the RAAF has on order, 12 are slated to be converted to EA-18Gs.

Flightglobal's The DEW Line will be in St. Louis tomorrow to cover the ceremony. There will be more coverage later this week--stay tuned!

This snappily-titled plane has an equally awesome livery. "Miss Demeanour" is a a privately owned Hawker Hunter F.58A.

Airspace user flyer1 submitted these photos taken during the Biggin Hill Airshow.



As always, share your photos for a chance to have them featured as the Image of the Day or on the contents page of Flight International.

Normally on this blog I show images and give a description, but today I've trawled through Flight's collection of unidentified flying objec...err, photos. These photos are missing information about what type of aircraft is depicted, the location, and year.

Here are three. Do you know anything about them? If so, leave a comment or follow the link under the photo.



Do you have eagle eyes? Why not go through more photos?

Check out this slideshow from Computer Weekly featuring the recently-unveiled Solar Impulse (registration HB-SIA), "the world's first aircraft the first aircraft designed to fly around the
clock without using fossil fuel or polluting the planet."

From a post on our Future Proof blog from earlier this year:

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA, the first prototype of a Solar aircraft has a
wingspan of 12m, wing area of 200m2, and weighs 1500kg. It
will fly during the day propelled only by solar energy and will glide
at night using energy stored during the day. The pilot will also wear a
symbiotic garment, which allows him to sleep but wakes him up to make
any necessary flight adjustments.

And from a Flight International report a while back in '07:

With 200m² of solar cells on the wing and horizontal tail, 400kg of lithium-based batteries and four electric motors driving propellers, HB-SIA is intended to make a 36h flight to demonstrate the ability to operate through a complete day-night-day cycle without fuel.

The single-pilot aircraft will take off with its batteries fully charged, climb to 8,500m (28,000ft) during the day under solar power and descend to 1,000m during night under battery power. The goal is to have enough power remaining to begin the cycle again the next day, says Solar Impulse chief executive André Borschberg.

HB-SIA will be powered by four electric motors each producing a maximum of 10hp (7.5kW), but averging only 2.5hp, he says. This will be sufficient for a flying speed of around 45km/h (25kt).

Also see the Solar Impulse website and a great collection of photos, including some taken during construction, here.

This beautiful photo by Doug Monk depicts the Global Express XRS business jet with the BACN payload taking off from Kandahar, Afghanistan last March.

The BACN system uses software to translate incompatible waveforms, such as the airborne Link 16 network and the ground-based enhanced precision location reporting system. Read more...



Thanks, Doug!

Today's image of the day is the user-submitted photo from Rick Croy of a UK Royal Air Force Vickers VC10 tanker, ZA148, on a refueling mission, with the aircraft showing its hoses trailing.

The photo was featured on the contents page of the 30 June-6 July issue of Flight International. For a chance to have your photo featured on the contents page, see http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/photos/default.aspx