Asian Skies

Branson serves as flight attendant for a day

2013-05-13T01:40:42Z

Sir Richard Branson honoured his bet to serve as an AirAsia X cabin crew, by donning the low-cost carrier's red uniform - which includes a skirt - aboard a charity flight on 12 May.

The founder of Virgin Group had his legs publicly shaved at a cocktail event the evening before the flight, which operated from Perth to Kuala Lumpur, says AirAsia.

Branson and Fernandes wagered a bet on which one of their Formula One racing teams would finish in the best position in the 2010 Formula One Grand Prix season, with the loser to serve as a female cabin crew aboard the winner's airline.

Fernandes' team finished two spots ahead of Branson's team in the final rankings.

"This has been a real first for me but I have enjoyed the experience and I have nothing but respect for what our fabulous flight attendants do every day to keep us safe," says Branson.

AirAsia X will donate proceeds from the charity flight, including inflight sales and duty free merchandise, to Australian charity Starlight Children Foundation. It estimates that it will raise over Australian dollar (A$) 200,000 ($199,800) for the Foundation.

A brief ceremony also took place at the low-cost carrier terminal in Kuala Lumpur, where Branson was awarded the AirAsia cabin crew graduation certification along with the airline's crew uniform and shoes.

AirAsia X's chief executive Azran Osman-Rani also posted a video of Branson performing the inflight safety demonstration on YouTube.

Pictures credit to: AirAsia.

Video credit to: AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman-Rani

VIDEO: view of Avalon from KC-30A taking off

2013-03-05T06:49:27Z

Last week at the Avalon air show I had a unique opportunity to fly aboard the RAAF's new KC-30A while it conducted the air-to-air refuelling of two F/A-18C aircraft. I was super busy at the show, so only now do I have the chance to post my photos and a video of the trip.

Riding the KC-30A (AKA Airbus Military A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport) is, well, like flying in an airline. Aside from the lack of IFE, the interior is identical to that used by Qantas in its A330s.

Immediately below is a video of the takeoff that gives a good perspective of the Avalon show: static park, chalets, and the C-17 used in the flying display. Just below this is a clip blogger Mike Yeo (@thebaseleg) put together that shows the refuelling itself. He also wrote a great blog entry about the trip.

"That's right, Ice Man. I am dangerous."

2013-01-28T07:00:57Z

During lunch last week my colleague @runwaycontact and I were standing around Changi Business Park waiting for some passport photos to be developed - just part of the significant waiting required for attending Aero India.

We noticed a trailer for the 2012 South Korean movie Soar into the Sun playing outside a video shop. Although I've become used to inaccurate depictions of military equipment - aircraft especially - over the years, this video really takes the cake.

That said, I'd love to see a T-50 - or any jet, for that matter - do a last minute tail stand in the middle of a city, blowing women's skirts all over the place. I've also never seen a jet's afterburners shred an office building's windows. That would be a neat trick at an air show.

And if the fighter action is no enough, the film also appears to offer good dialogue:

Officer 1: Why did you accept such a troublemaker?

Officer 2: Because he's too good.

Hmmm, what 1980s film could have inspired those lines?

COOL PHOTOS: Satellite images of Xian Y-20

2013-01-07T02:58:40Z

Satellite imagery firm GeoEye has produced an image of what appears to be the Xian Y-20 strategic transport at China's Yanlian air base.

The image shows the aircraft situated on the base's runway 06 L, surrounded by what appear to be support vehicles and personnel. The resolution is sufficient to discern the aircraft's yellow prototype colour scheme, its twin-tail, and four engines.

GeoEye says the image was taken using the company's GeoEye-1 satellite.

Last week, Beijing actually confirmed that it is working on the Y-20, a big surprise given that they are normally tight lipped about this sort of thing.

I must admit that these images really gave me a boost on what it the first working Monday of the year. With luck, GeoEye will one day send some photos of J-20 happenings at Chengdu and of the Liaoning at sea with several aircraft aboard.

Kingfisher lounge at DEL a symbol for carrier's condition

2013-01-02T06:52:09Z

I recently happened upon Kingfisher's first class lounge in New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. Though the carrier seems adamant about resuming service at some point, its abandoned lounge presents a gloomy, run down prospect.

I swear: I didn't steal the missing letters for souvenirs.

Cool chairs. Will there be a liquidation sale?

Any chance of a free Kingfisher beer?

Hope springs eternal.

Malaysia Airlines' retro livery

2012-12-13T05:48:12Z

A walk down memory lane for those who can remember Malaysia Airlines' original livery, first launched on 1 October 1972.

The livery was recently painted on a Boeing 737-800 to commemorate the airline's 40th anniversary. Notice the moon kite logo in bold red, as well as the words Malaysian Airline System. The flag carrier, which is due to join Oneworld in February, is now calling this its "Retro Livery".

Starting today, the aircraft is also put on services to Jakarta and Bangkok.

Credit: Malaysia Airlines

A shot of the current livery:

Credit: Boeing

Airshow China

2012-11-19T08:34:34Z

The Flightglobal team put out three editions of the Interactive Flight Daily News at Airshow China in Zhuhai last week:

http://cde.cerosmedia.com/Zhuhai_2012_Day1/1C50a34400ca1b6012.cde

http://cde.cerosmedia.com/iFDN_Zhuhai_Day2/1H50a486c2844f8012.cde

http://cde.cerosmedia.com/1A50a5c68477ea4012.cde

I spent most of my three days at the show following the Chinese's C919 narrowbody and ARJ21 regional jet programmes.

Below are some pictures I snapped, but do check out our IFDNs for some great photo spreads.

Here are some shots of the ARJ21 regional jet. This is test aircraft 103, which to be honest, is looking a little worn out from all the flying it's been doing since 2008. The ARJ21 programme has been around for 10 years now. It took its first flight in 2008 and is now still working on getting certification.

I also had the chance to speak with the ARJ21 chief designer Chen Yong and C919 chief designer Wu Guang Hui.

There was also a high BPR turbofan engine mockup that was getting a lot of attention from the local media because it's been touted as the CJ1000 mockup. The CJ1000, which is still being designed, will be the alternative engine for the C919.

Also some general snaps below including the first Chinese-built A320 and the IL-76 aircraft.

The Chinese dream.

2012-11-08T02:16:12Z

I had a pleasant surprise on a recent trip to Shanghai when told that Comac would be happy to bring me on a tour of its facilities.

"The only way you'll understand our company is to see for yourself what we're doing," says the official who has kindly agreed to spend his Sunday with me.

Comac was set up in 2008 with key businesses drawn from state-owned conglomerate AVIC. This followed a 2007 government decision to develop China's first large commercial aircraft.

Being a four-year-old firm however means that besides having to handle the development of its aircraft programmes, Comac also has the added pressure of making sure it has the necessary infrastructure to support the programmes.

Our first stop was to the Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute where construction was just completed in July. This is where the engineering design of the aircraft programmes will take place.

I was also shown the Final Assembly Center, where the assembly of the C919 will take place. This 4,000 acre site is near Shanghai's Pudong International Airport.

Since the groundbreaking ceremony in 2010, 600 workers from five different construction firms have been working feverishly to get the site ready in time to help the C919 meet its 2014 first flight target.

While the focus is now on getting the narrowbody assembly centre up and running, Comac has also set aside land on the site for a twin-aisle aircraft component and assembly facility.

Pointing to the construction, the official also emphasized that at this point it's "unrealistic" to compare Comac with Boeing and Airbus. For one, Comac doesn't even have the infrastructure required up and running. China being a relative rookie in this field, also lacks aviation talent.

There is however an energy among the Comac employees I interacted with which is hard to ignore. Many of them have been with the company since day one and shares its vision of getting a Chinese built aircraft flying. China may not be an aerospace superpower now, but those who know China know better than to bet against it.

PICTURES: Changi finally gets in on the 787 act

2012-10-16T03:48:16Z

Singapore's Changi Airport is normally on top of the game, but it has endured a frustrating wait for its first Boeing 787 commercial flight.

That ended on Sunday when Japan Airlines (JAL) started operating the 787-8 to Singapore on the Tokyo Narita-Singapore route.

A loud round of applause broke out when the 787 finally landed around 17:00h local time, and there were smiles all around from the Changi airport and JAL executives who were waiting at Terminal 1 for the aircraft.

The carrier will initially operate the 787s three times a week on services from Narita and Tokyo's Haneda airport, before increasing that to twice daily from Narita and daily from Haneda on 28 October.

Credit: Japan Airlines

Flightglobal also got a tour of the aircraft in Singapore. The in-flight product was impressive, and this will also be rolled out on 13 of the airline's Boeing 777-300ERs that will be used on its long-haul services.

And the excited Japan Airlines executives were all dressed up for the occasion, including one who wore her 787 pendant just for the occasion. Here's to seeing more 787s here in Singapore over the coming months!

Credit: Siva Govindasamy/Flightglobal

PICTURES: RAAF 'Haul-a-herc' event raises money for Special Olympics

2012-10-16T02:40:30Z

Received a cool email earlier today from the RAAF. They recently held a charity event to raise money for the Special Olympics where 20 teams of 20 people hauled a Lockheed Martin C-130J over 10m.

The objective was to pull the 40-tonne aircraft 10m in the fastest time possible.

The quickest time of 11.68s was recorded by a team from RAAF Richmond in the heats, but the ultimate winner were riot cops from the New South Wales Police. They won the championship trophy with a time of 12.42s.

I'd be curious to see them haul the Boeing C-17. This monster has an empty weight of 128.1 tonnes.

Must read: Chinese Aerospace Power, Emerging Maritime Roles

2012-10-05T03:14:41Z

For readers with a more than passing interest in Asia Pacific military affairs, Chinese Aerospace Power, Emerging Maritime Roles is the book for you. Edited by China defence experts Andrew Erickson and Lyle Goldstein, the book is a series of essays and papers about China's capabilities and possible intentions in regard to the use of air and space assets in a war off its coast. It also spells out the implications of this for the US air force and US navy.

The book is divided into five sections:

1) Chinese Aerospace Development, Emerging Maritime Roles

2) Chinese ISR and counter-ISR

3) Contrasting strategies: protecting bastions or projecting power?

4) Maritime strike: air-launched cruise missiles

5) Maritime strike: ballistic missiles

6) Maritime implications of Chinese Aerospace Power

What's not to like?

For those who think China would be a pushover for the USA, the book provides sobering reading. In the event of a conflict, China is gearing up to fight intense, high-technology conflicts close to its shores. The crux of China's strategy would be to reduce enemy air bases in the region with ballistic and cruise missiles.

In regard to American warships, the much touted DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile would not necessarily be used to sink ships, but possibly shower them with sub munitions. A rain of bomblets falling upon an aircraft carrier's deck would create havoc and certainly result in a mission kill. One of the writers in the book says the test of such a system - presumably against a fast moving ship far out at sea - would be a public relations coup similar to China's test of an anti-satellite missile in 2007.

Even if the DF-21D does not prove as effective as advertised, firing off volleys of ballistic missiles toward the general vicinity of American carrier battle groups would force AEGIS escorts to expend valuable anti-ballistic missiles. Eventually the magazine capacity of these warships would be exhausted, again resulting in a mission kill for the carrier group.

Chinese Aerospace Power also discusses areas of weakness. China appears to have a long way to go before it can mount successful joint forces attacks, say involving ballistic missiles and air-launched cruise missiles striking an enemy base simultaneously. For long range strikes, there is also some question about the speed of its sensor-to-shooter abilities: i.e. it may identify a target, but does it have the command and control structure to shoot quickly enough? China also has a long, long way to go in key areas such as long range anti-submarine warfare, airborne early warning & control, and air-to-air refuelling.

Nonetheless, this a timely and well written book that puts issues around China's airpower in useful perspective.

PICTURES: Thai Airways unveils its Airbus A380 interiors

2012-09-27T08:42:54Z

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Thai's A380 will have a 3 class configuration: 12 in first, 60 in business and 435 in economy.

The aircraft will first operate on one of its daily services on the Bangkok-Hong Kong and Bangkok-Singapore routes from 6 October to 14 December.

On 15 December, the aircraft will then be deployed on a daily Bangkok-Frankfurt service.

It also expects to receive its second and third A380 this year. The airline has six A380s on order.

Related links:

VIDEO: Skipper of China's first carrier speaks

2012-09-27T02:15:29Z

It's been a big few weeks for China, with the emergence of a new fighter (J-21? J-31? F-60?) and this week's christening of the Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier. It's a good sign they didn't name it Shi Lang after the historic admiral who invaded Taiwan in 1683. Of course, they could always call their next (and certainly more capable) aircraft carrier after this grand individual.

The big question, of course, is when the Liaoning will commence flight tests. In the below Youtube interview with the ship's captain I listened carefully for a first flight date, but he kept mum on this. I guess the reporter was under orders not to ask. For my part, I would have pressed him hard on this.

With luck Beijing will give the commencement of flight ops the same heavy coverage given to the christening. Perhaps Hu Jintao or Wen Jiaobao will fly out to the ship to watch Su-33s performing arrested landings and ramp-assisted take offs.

Though the Liaoning will never be as capable as a US carrier, it sounds like it will be more fun. Buried in an article entitled "Q&A about aircraft carrier "Liaoning Ship"" on the defence ministry web site, I found this paragraph about the crew's R&R options:

"The aircraft carrier "Liaoning ship" has messes, supermarket, post office, laundry rooms, gym, rubbish disposal stations and so on. Even the bars have both the noisy type and the quiet type. Therefore, the life is relatively convenient on board."

Sadly, the US Navy has no bars - either noisy or quiet - on any of its ships. This extends back to 1914 and secretary of the navy Josephus Daniels, a rabid abolitionist.

How cool would it be to stand on the bridge of the Liaoning, beer in hand, observing Su-33s? Wow.

A visit to Airbus Tianjin

2012-09-14T02:36:42Z

Two weeks ago I spent some time in China, conducting interviews for a bunch of features I'll be working on for the Airshow China preshow report.

One of my stops in the country was in Tianjin - to check out Airbus's first A320 final assembly line outside of Europe. My trip coincided with a planned ceremony for the completion of the 100th A320 assembled in China. The aircraft went to flag carrier Air China.

A large pool of local media attended the event together with a small group of us foreign journalists. It seems Airbus has strong political support for its project in China since China premier Wen Jiabao and Germany chancellor Angela Merkel were both present. This is actually the premier's third visit to Airbus' Tianjin facility - the first when the assembly centre was officially opened, and the second when it delivered its first assembled aircraft.

At the ceremony it was also announced that Airbus will be extending the life of its Tianjin line to beyond its 2016 agreement. A day before, ICBC Leasing also gave the airframer its first A320neo deal in the country with its order for 20neos and 30 of the current type.

After the ceremony, besides being able to steal some shots of the two political figures, I also had the chance to do a quick interview with Airbus China president Laurence Barron.

We were also given a quick tour of the final assembly line by the outfit's general manager Jean-Luc Charles. I've never been to Airbus' Hamburg facility, but was told that the Tianjin one looks just like it.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Enjoy!

PICTURES: Cockpit pics of Chinese JH-7s on the deck

2012-08-21T03:06:42Z

Came across some cool shots on my favorite Chinese web site (China Defense Mashup) of Xian JH-7 fighter bombers on the deck snapped by a People's Liberation Army Navy pilot.

In the book I'm now reading - Chinese Aerospace Power: Evolving Maritime Roles - one of the contributors talks about PLAN pilot training as the role of PLAN air assets evolve. In the past, PLAN aircraft were mainly tasked with defending naval bases and ports, but a major emphasis is now placed on using aircraft to hit naval targets far out at sea.

As such, one key area of pilot training is low altitude ingress tactics coupled with precision munitions. Apparently Chinese military thinkers were impressed by Argentina's effective use of such tactics against the technologically superior Royal Navy during the Falklands war of 1982.