Recently in Technical solutions Category

Today and tomorrow the participants in Europe's Green Regional Aircraft (GRA) programme are in Caserta, Italy to get the technical activity underway. Briefly, GRA is one of the six strands of the all-important Clean Sky research programme. That in turn is the pan-European research effort aimed at helping industry achieve the continent's environmental targets in aviation. GRA accounts for €174 million of Clean Sky's €1.6 billion over seven years.

Student journalists learn early on that the word 'first' is a dangerous one to throw about casually, but anyway...Solazyme of San Francisco is claiming "to have produced the world's first microbial-derived jet fuel". The fuel is derived from algae and Solazyme says it passes the ASTM D1655 standard for aviation turbine fuel.

I don't know them personally, but they do seem to have had some success in raising reasonably serious money, and at least some biofuel watchers are suggesting they're closer to producing something usable on an industrial scale than anyone else. More opinions and info welcome.

Marion Blakey is next up - she's now the CEO of the US Aerospace Industries Association and also chairman of the International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations. She also used to run the US FAA you'll recall. Unsurprisingly she believes technology is going to be important.

She quotes American aviation hero Eddie Rickenbacker saying: "Aviation is proof that we can achieve the impossible." (Which may be handy in the case of the environment). And draws analogies with the original blue-sky thinkers - the Wright Brothers.

"The need for experimentation is even more crucial," she declares. She points approvingly to UPS' work at Louisville, Kentucky using ADS-B and continuous descent approaches to slash approach emissions by 34% and cut noise below 6,000ft by 30%.

This is the start of something of a theme for the day - air traffic management and operational techniques are clearly offering the best hopes for near-term environmental gains.