November 2010 Archives

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 3 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user ilpavone2004 (Mattia Vichi). Mattia's photo depicts Singapore Airlines 777-300ER 9V-SWD departing Milan at sunrise with Monte Rosa in the background.

To help develop the Space Shuttle programme, NASA built a fleet of wingless lifting bodies to study aerodynamics for controlling and landing a re-entry vehicle, depicted below.

All week we're showing images of the Space Shuttle in honour of its pending retirement, which we detail in a special report in this week's Flight International magazine.

Here's an aerial view of Space Shuttle Discovery as she waits for launch to the International Space Station.

After a week's worth of aborted attempts to send the Space Shuttle Discovery on its way to the International Space Station, NASA now says the earliest it will launch is 30 November. But rescheduling a Shuttle launch is no mean feat.

The soonest Discovery can be launched is 4:05 EST on 30 November, NASA says, and the next window will last until 5 December. Read more...

All week we're showing images of the Space Shuttle in honour of its pending retirement, which we detail in a special report in this week's Flight International magazine.

This week Flightglobal publication Flight International looks back at the Space Shuttle in a special report as the craft nears retirement.

Even before the Apollo space programme of the 1960s put a man on the Moon, a fledgling NASA was conceptualising a reusable spacecraft for manned flight. Work on the Space Shuttle began in earnest in the 1970s, with the first of four test flights in 1981, followed by operational missions beginning in 1982. Now, more than 30 years later, the Space Shuttle is tentatively scheduled to be retired from service in 2011 after 135 launches - and countless changes to the way the world sees space, aerospace and the Earth itself. As the programme prepares to close, we look back across its lifespan - at how the spacecraft itself conceived, its contributions to aerospace and what might come next for manned space exploration. We even fly along on the de-orbit and final approach path the orbiter will take on its last trip home.

Contents

• Armchair astronaut: We "fly" in the Space Shuttle simulator
• History: How it was conceived
• Schedule: Waiting for Discovery
• The future: After the Shuttle

The cover photo is a NASA photograph of Space Shuttle Atlantis lifting off from Florida on 14 May on its final mission, STS-132.

Also featured this week are:

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 5 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user apgphoto (Paul Dopson). Paul's photo depicts the Aeromagic Space Shuttle-shaped balloon, which Paul photographed in July 2009 at the Lorraine Mondial Air Balloons held at Chambley in France. Paul says, "This was the morning when 329 balloons took off!"

 

This image shows colourful smoke left behind from fireworks at celebrating the opening of Air Show China 2010, Zhuhai.

More from Zhuhai

Qantas A380 spotted landing after ferry flight into Toulouse yesterday afternoon from Hamburg, where its interior was fitted), prior to its handover in the near future.

Picture credit Andre Fantome

The Airbus A380 looms large in the background, making its presence felt at the static display at Air Show China held in Zhuhai. 

See more pictures, videos, news coverage and blogs and tweets on Flightglobal's Air Show China page

Patience by the flightline at Airbus's assembly plant in Toulouse paid off yesterday for Andre Fantome, who caught this shot of the latest A380 to get it wheels up. Korean Air is scheduled to take delivery of its first superjumbo in May 2011.

Japan's All Nippon Airways has joined rival JAL in having an aircraft painted in a environmental-themed livery.

ANA followed JAL's lead and tinted its tail green. Unlike JAL's livery on a 777, ANA opted for much smaller jet: a Q400.

The carrier says employees have nicknamed the aircraft "Eco Bon" with eco standing for environment and bon for bon voyage. The aircraft will operate on domestic routes for ANA Wings, ANA Group's regional airline that commenced operations on 1 October.

 

An Airbus A380 flew over the Pyramids at the end of a visit to Eypt for the AVEX International Airshow at Sharm El Sheikh International Airport.

Airbus Military has completed the first paratroop drop tests involving its A400M "Grizzly".

"Six freefall paratroopers made jumps from aircraft "Grizzly Three" in separate passes from 6,000ft [1,820m] at the Fonsorbes drop zone near Toulouse on 4 November," Airbus says.

The personnel were drawn from the UK and French armed forces, and from the latter's CEV flight test centre. Two jumped from the A400M's rear cargo ramp, and four from the aircraft's left-hand paratroop door. Continue reading...

Cessna will introduce "not immediately, but in the near future" a new single-engined turboprop that fill a product gap between the company's 235kt (435km/h) piston-powered 400 Corvalis TT and the 340kt Mustang twin-engined very light jet, says president Jack Pelton.

Pelton dropped hints about the new model, rumoured to look like a Mustang (below) with a single turboprop engine at the front, on several occasions at the NBAA annual business aviation convention and exhibition in Atlanta in October. Cessna's current single-engined turboprop offering, the 12-passenger $2 million Caravan, has a maximum cruise speed of 186kt. Continue reading...

Below is a photo of the Airbus A320 final assembly line in Toulouse, France Hamburg, Germany.

The A320 along with Boeing's 737 are due for a decision this year on whether the respective jets should be re-engined. We evaluate the progress and options in this article.

Gulfair is evaluating the Bombardier CSeries, the Embraer E-Jets family, and the Airbus A318 as it looks for aircraft to operate thinner routes with high frequency.

Bombardier is emphasising the runway performance, range and geared powerplant of its 110-seat CSeries CS100 airliner as it strives to triumph in Gulf Air's three-way regional jet order contest.

The proposed order, part of the carrier's strategy to restructure with smaller aircraft types, would be for up to 10 aircraft in the 90- to 110-seat range, says Majali.

Bombardier vice-president of commercial aircraft programmes Ben Boehm says that the airframer "can create an airplane" for Gulf Air, one that deploys "a lightweight business configuration" and could fly "all the way to London City from Bahrain" (see photo below). He adds: "That's a real need that they have." Continue reading...

Today's image of the day depicts a ground worker marshaling Boeing's--and the world's--newest freighter aircraft, the 747-8. The aircraft is part of our focus in this week's article on evaluating the world's largest commercial jets.

Boeing's new 747-8F freighter made its maiden flight on 8 February, with captains Mark Feuerstein and Tom Imrich at the controls. This kicked off a planned 1,600h, three-aircraft flight-test campaign.

Of this, more than 400 flights, covering 1,100h, have been completed. However, as Boeing has put the new jumbo freighter through its paces - including a record 453,600kg (1,000,000lb) take-off for the 747 - technical issues have surfaced. This has prompted time-consuming troubleshooting and resolutions, and pushed first delivery of the freighter to Cargolux from late 2010 to mid-2011 under a delay confirmed in late September. Continue reading...

 

 

Flightglobal content on the incident

Asian Skies Blog: VIDEO: Qantas A380 after emergency landing in Singapore 

AirSpace gallery - Qantas A380 engine failure 

Story: PICTURES & VIDEO: Qantas A380 makes emergency landing after losing engine cowling 

Story: SIA has no plans to ground A380s after Qantas incident

Profiles

Airline: Qantas

Aircraft: Airbus A380

Airport: Singapore Changi Airport 

SF Express operates subsidiary SF Airlines, which has two Boeing 757 PCF (Precision Converted Freighter) aircraft, one of which is seen below. The aircraft was converted by Precision Conversions into a 15-pallet freighter. Precision to date has converted 27 conversions while rival Alcoa-SIE has completed one. There are also 14 and 14.5 pallet conversions available. Read more in our report of how the narrowbody conversion market is recovering...

This week Flightglobal publication Flight International has a special report and assessment on world airliners, including the 787, Sukhoi SuperJet, MS-21, cargo conversions and other jets.

Will Airbus and Boeing bend to pressure to replace popular aircraft in the narrowbody market and fend off challenges from Bombardier's CSeries and China and Russia? Widebody programmes have advanced, while older types have faded and problems remain for ultra-large types. Weak demand is handicapping Ilyushin and Tupolev, but cargo conversion providers are optimistic. Read our report here.

Undoubtedly the aircraft on everyone's mind is the 787 Dreamliner--which possibly faces a new set of delays--and the aircraft's departure from the Farnborough airshow is depicted on the cover. Photo credit to Boeing.

Also featured this week are:

This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 5 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user EnoAeroPics (Ed Nolte). Ed's photo depicts an Apache of the Royal Netherlands Air Force "Apache Solo Display". He took the photo (or "made the photo" as Ed says the Dutch term is) during the air show over Ede heath near Arnhem in the Netherlands on September 18, which took place to commemorate the Battle of Arnhem during operation Market Garden in 1944 and the first flight of a Dutchman in the Netherlands, Jan Hilgers on July 29, 1910. Ed says at that time there was an airfield on Ede heath, but it was soon closed.

Ed adds:

I took the photo from quite a distance, far away from the flightline, because I wanted to test my Canon 70-200 zoom lens (with 1,4 extender). Other photographers stood much closer by and could only take photo's from UNDER the Apache, which did not really produce striking images. I used a high shutter speed (2000-3200) for testing purposes and therefore needed high ISO settings. I found that this produced images that were not always rasor sharp, but had an "artistic" touch about them, as if it were paintings. The father-in-law of a colleague is an aviation painter and he recognised this: he asked me permission  to reproduce some of the photos in paint and of course I agreed immediately!

Editor's note: You--yes, you!--can submit photos to have one featured as our Image of the Week (see below). From now until 1 December you can also submit photos for our front cover competition.

Qantas subsidiary QantasLink unveiled in Sydney today a Bombardier Q400 in a wildlife theme in support of the Taronga Western Plains Zoo and the carrier's commitment to promoting regional tourism. Taronga Zoo is located near Dubbo in New South Wales, approximately 400 km from Sydney.

The Q400, VH-QOW, features images of giraffes, rhinos, and grassland.