September 2007 Archives

In this week's issue of Flight International (28 September - 1 October) the apparent whistle blowing ex-Boeing engineer's claims of crashworthiness issues with carbon fibre composites became a page six leading This Week story and the whole leader comment page was devoted to the argument. You may well ask, where was Flight, why wasn't the magazine dealing with this issue sometime ago, perhaps when Boeing first spoke of a new airliner with a structure that was 50% composite?

A special kind of scrutiny was applied to the European Aviation Safety Agency last week.

On 27 September the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) imported five of the top executives from EASA, seated them behind a long desk facing a packed hall of industry people, allowed them a few words each to update the audience on current issues they face, and then opened the session for about two hours of questions.

This doesn't normally happen to the senior executives in European agencies. So why EASA? And why did the agency's big five - executive director Patrick Goudou, communications head Daniel Holtgen, quality and standardisation director Francesco Banal, certification director Norbert Lohl and deputy head of flight standards Eric Sivel - agree to undergo this public grilling?

Do you know your Riga from your Katowice? Then test your knowledge on this new game from Lufthansa!

The big news in the office this morning is the announcement from BA, who have chosen both Airbus and Boeing as their fleet options for the replacement of 34 of the BA's long haul fleet.

I have been alerted to this fun site and it is clear to me after seeing this video of a flying lawn mower that some people will adapt almost anything to flight.

A couple of months ago Flight wrote about camel spider that fatally distracted a military pilot in an F-16 fighter aircraft while in Afghanistan. Ben Mutzabaugh's Today in the Sky Blog has highlighted how an airline passenger was stung by a scorpion during a flight from San Jose, Costa Rica, to Madrid.

Here at the blogathon we have been talking about the stranger names and acronyms that dictate each industry? My personal favourite for aviation has to be a grommet,although all day I have been explaining to people that it isn't a dog in the animation, but that beautiful little invention that help link bolts together ( I know, really sexy stuff).

A big thank you for our colleague at Travolution for this one, who found this wonderful gadget that allows you to mercilessly attack your colleagues that don't offer to make the next tea round.

There is an interesting post on our forums that discusses a discussion about safety logs that occurred on a BBC Radio 4 programme on Saturday.

Fred Bruggeman, representing Aircraft Engineers International (AEI), voiced his concern that pilots that do not immediately log their technical issues until the last leg of their rota, thus increasing the potential of incorrect data or even worse no data whatsoever.

It would be interesting to note whether any other engineers or pilots have any other similar experiences.

Flight's technical and space reporter takes one small step, and one giant leap orbiting the blogosphere as he launches his own blog today.

It seems that David Field on the Airline Business blog isn't a fan of certain corporate airline blogs!!!!

The Airbus’ A380 MSN009 test aircraft, powered by the new Engine Alliance GP7000 engines will embark on a series of four tours as part of its technical route proving.
Flightglobal.com will have some more information on destinations shortly....

There seems to be a spate of incidents at the moment, none more spectacular than this crash from California over the weekend:

It's taken a month to remove the damaged Swiss International Air Lines BAE Systems Avro RJ100 from the runway at London City airport after a heavy landing on 18 August.

Have you ever wondered what journalists do when grouped together in the same room? Do they just fight like banshees over the latest press release, or hug their Blackberries for the latest inspirational gossip? Well neither in fact, as today we are uniting in aid of the blogging world.

To set the scene a little, journalists within our parent company Reed Business are uniting to produce a day of blogging wonderment, both for charitable causes and to highlight the latest stories from aviation and beyond.

So stick around and we will show you what's going on in the world...well a tiny bit of it anyway.

Here is a video of a US Marine Corps Boeing H-46 Sea Knight bursting into flames as it takes off from an aircraft carrier.

Edna, star of the US Air Transport Association’s advertising campaign about funding for the FAA's next generation (NextGen) air traffic control system, likes to wear big wigs, but says she does not support subsidizing bigwigs - in this case, corporate or private aircraft, which the ATA says do not a pay their fair share for using ATC. Edna is the one on the left, with ATA president and CEO James May.

(Posted on behalf of Washington DC-based Flight reporter Megan Kuhn, who took the photo with her iPhone...)

Boeing is not in the business of enforcing a crash on any of its aircraft but with the Boeing 787 soon to fly (mid November/mid-December) it needs to undergo a series of tests to see how the airframe performs in a crash landing compared to aluminium airframes.
Randy's Journal, a blog written by Randy Tinseth is vice president, marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle, has an interesting post entitled "Testing, testing" about how the 787 has been subjected to a suspended steel plate being rammed into the fuselage section.

Since yesterday's tragic air crash in Phuket, it has been difficult to come to any firm conclusions about what actually happened.

As news and video of the aftermath came through it became clear that weather conditions played their part, but as our Safety and Operations Editor David Learmount states in his video review of the incident, no firm conclusions can be drawn until the flight recorder information is downloaded.

Whatever the outcome, a tragedy like this is hard to grasp.

Men in motion get lost because men on the move won't ask for directions, or so the saying goes.

With Rockwell Collins' new ParaNew GPS however, males, at least those hanging on a parachute, will be able to find their way without ever asking.

The avionics maker says the new system, which consists of a miniature flight management system and GPS receiver integrated into a helmet with a small Head-Up display, will help with situational awareness and allow the parachuter to find the right landing zone. Failing that, he'll be able to plop down at a proper alternate.

Ever eager to find new and interesting videos, I discovered this little gem of a radio controlled aircraft flying over NASA's US Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.

There seems to be a growing trend among airlines to refer to their passengers (a word that seems perfectly adequate) as the more grandiose 'guests'; an odd trend that makes customers sound like they are entering a hotel rather than a jet.

In promoting Virgin Blue's Embraer 170 jets, CEO Brett Godfrey talks from a "guest point of view". He says:

"We (Virgin Blue) cannot wait to introduce the aircraft to Virgin Blue guests in the coming months"

Now, I am all for marketing speak to sell an experience, but does the word "passengers" suffice?

Or maybe soon airlines will start calling First and Business Class guests and Economy as cattle!!!

There are times when working in the Flight office can seem like The Weakest Link quiz show; each journalist trying to outscore the other with their aviation know-how!

Nothing gets an aviation journalist going like discussing of aircraft gone by. With this in mind, and because we know how much people love to reminisce, we have created an area designated to the Mecca of all things historical, the aviation museum.

So apparently it ends, and Aviation Week's Aerospace Daily is reporting that NASA has finally ended its contract with Rocketplane-Kistler after a troubled process that never saw the company come up with the financing. This leaves SpaceX, which has been doing fairly well itself in meeting its milestones, in the running for the commercial supply of crew and cargo for the International Space Station (ISS).

Dr Pui-Ho of Parker Aerospace takes the stand.

The good Doctor continues on the theme of China’s expanding aviation market.

By 2027, he estimates, that Chinese passenger numbers will grow to five and a half times its current size, with the average yearly growth being around the 8-9% mark.

With all of this served by a 3000-strong commercial carrier fleet.

This in turn will lead to MRO activity taking off in around 10 years time as the Chinese fleet ages.

He also points out the busy regional jet activity which is positioning itself to take advantage of this staggering growth.

The current regional jet players in the region are Embraer and Airbus (with final assembly lines) along with AVIC and Mitsubishi (both developing new regional jets).

Chen Jin (VP of AVIC Commercial Aircraft Company) takes the stand.

Chen’s here to talk about the ARJ21, China’s first indigenous airliner pitched at both domestic and international markets.

He starts. Before regional jet aircraft appeared on the market, the 50-100 seaters weren’t in demand in the region.

So what changed?

Day three at the Asian Aerospace Congress.

Today Flight International’s inimitable Murdo Morrison is our host and tells us that the topic of the day is aerospace technology.

In this session were concentrating on what Asia Pacific will require from Western partners to support the regions ambitions to build a major aerospace manufacturing base.

He introduces the panel which includes Chen Jin (VP of AVIC Commercial Aircraft Company), and Dr Pui-Ho (Director of the ARJ21 programme).

Peter Negline from low cost outfit Tiger Airlines is here to talk about the challenges for new airline business models.

He expands on the benefits of Low cost carriers to local economies:

• Tourism increase
• Cross border exchange
• Economy boost
• Job creation
• Growth in second homes
• Family travel reunions

Steve Miller, chief exec of Oasis Hong Kong Airlines (only 10 months old), takes the stand and immediately begins to entertain.

He starts with a joke:.

A guy is holidaying in New Zealand, driving about the Islands in an SUV.

He comes to a sheep farm and stops when he sees the farmer.

He calls the farmer over and says: “Farmer, if I tell you how many sheep you’ve got, can I take one for myself?”

“Erm, ok,” says the farmer.

“1572,” replies the man instantly.

“Amazing,” says the farmer. “Well, I guess you can take a sheep then.”

So the man loads one animal into the back of his SUV and turns back to the farmer to say good bye.

“Wait a second,” says the farmer. “Now it’s my turn. If I can tell you what profession you are can I have my sheep back?”

Jaime Bautista President of Philippine Airlines talks of the company’s troubled past.

At the end of March 1999, the company posted losses of nearly $262 million, with that being the sixth year in a row of negative financials, totalling close to $6 billion of losses in six years.

However in 1999 they broke the downwards spiral.

How?

Over on the Airline Business blog, Editor Mark Pilling reports on Tony Tyler's stint at the podium ...

As the Asian Aerospace 2007 International Expo and Congress gets off to a start here in Hong Kong, we'll be blogging from the event and congress hall on what the great and the good have to say.

First up Flight's own Head of Strategy, Kevin O'Toole, welcomes the audience with the message that AA07 is a new event focussed on the commercial air transport industry.

This new direction, says Kevin, is fitting given that the Asia Pacific region is now the world's fastest growing market within the commercial air transport sector.

In fact, he quotes, that one third of all widebodies are now based out of the region, and more impressively the Asia Pacific region now accounts for one third of all civil aircraft orders (Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and Bombardier).