March 2009 Archives

This video has been out for a week or so but for those who haven't seen it yet it is certainly worth a watch; especially in this April Fools' week:


Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport

A customer helpline that calls a hat store in Stuttgart, a security form that asks whether you have renounced your god, it's a beautiful Kafkaesque scenario from the always funny Onion website.

Contained within Ryanair's rah-rah about Allgau Airport, its new German gateway at Memmingen, is evidence that Michael O'Leary graduated magna cum laude from the Kiev taxi drivers' school of distance measurement.

The press blurb for the new Ryanair destination - which it smugly labels 'Munich West' - reads as follows:

This surprised certain persons at a somewhat larger airport (think of it as Memmingen East), who felt this figure of 75km was a bit on the generous side.

Sure enough, a brief cartographical consultation shows that the straight-line distance between Allgau and Munich city centre is 100km, and more like 115km if you're less concerned about travel-as-the-crow-flies than boredom-as-the-bus-drives.

Oddly the latest version of the press statement, tucked away on Ryanair's website, contains the accurate figure but it must have slipped the airline's mind to issue a correction after the papers had already run with its earlier 'fact'.

In case you haven't heard Ryanair employs a hostess, Edita Schindlerova, 22, who is also appears on X-rated websites posing as "Edita Bente".

The UK's national daily newspaper The Sun reported that Edita, who works from the airline's base in Stansted, Essex, "admitted colleagues rumbled her secret."

Edita posed for Ryanair's 2009 calendar wearing silver high heels and a purple bikini.

• Ryanair's 2008 calendar on the same theme
• Editor's blog: Sex sells (traffic) and yet more Ryanair nonsense
• Top 10 Most Blatant Uses of Sex for an Aviation-related Marketing Purpose

Here's a great video of a charismatic flight attendant rapping to passengers and making their day. I found this by following FlightView on Twitter.

Why not follow me on Twitter? and others at Flightglobal...

We've had a great response to our recent Concorde competition which recognised the 40th anniversary of Concorde's first flight. Over 200 entries were counted, with plenty of you correctly identifying Panair do Brasil - the former Brazilian flag-carrier - as the airline which tried to lay claim to the first deliveries of the supersonic aircraft, based on a previous option for Sud Aviation Super Caravelles.

Congratulations to our five winners, who are listed below:

• Csaba Bali
• Lynsey Graham
• David Sweet
• Solange Thomas
• Joanna Smith
  

They will each receive a copy of the newly-released book Concorde: A Photographic History by Jonathan Falconer - with special thanks to Haynes Publishing Group.

As to that disputed Panair do Brasil claim, Flight International wrote in July 1963 that Sud Aviation was "cautiously contesting" its attempt to be first in the queue, arguing that Concorde was a very different aircraft from the Super Caravelle. Concorde never flew in Panair's colours, of course, and the rest is well-documented history.

Travolution on Twitter alerted me to this fact so it called for some investigation. This is what I found on Dallas News Aviation Biz Blog:

Air France yesterday invited Flightglobal over to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to demonstrate its automated boarding pass service called Smartboarding for its frequent Flyers who fly from Paris to Amsterdam launched today.

Passengers who register will get a card which contains information using biometric technology such as encrypted fingerprints, radio frequency identification (RFID) and thermal printing.

Here's a video that explains how Smartboarding works.

More security articles in the Fligth Archives 2004 -

• Plans for biometrics takes a back seat
• Interest in biometrics soars
• IATA define biometrics system
• Aviation insecurity 

Flight International reader Bob Cooper stumbled upon an article that refers to an Aeroflot TU-124 that ditched into the River Neva in October 1963.

He notes similarities to the recent US Airways A320 ditching incident into New York's Hudson River.

David Learmount, Flight's safety and operations editor wrote a blog post following the US Airways A320 incident to explain how ditching should be done.

In the post he says that ditchings are commonplace, although they rarely involve large modern jet airliners and he lists the jet ditchings that had taken place in the last ten years.

Mr Cooper noted, as an aside that there "is also a good photo of the new hangar in the construction stage for the BUA VC-10. This Hangar was pulled down last year, that's progress for you."

Concorde 001, registered F-WSST, first took off from Toulouse on this day 40 years ago at 3.40pm. The supersonic aircraft was flown by Andre Turcat, left the ground at 3.40pm and climbed to 10,000ft.

 

Picture credit - Rex Features

Take a look at the bulk of issue 6 March 1969 in the Flight pdf archive dedicated to Concorde, including an article on the technology used, the aircraft structure, fuel system, aerodynamics, flight testing, payload accommodation and aircraft data, a cutaway drawing and an airline pilot's view.

In the 13 March issue of Flight we published a poem of Concorde's first flight by Robert Gordon plus more pictures of the aircraft in the air. 

To celebrate Concrode's first flight 40th anniversary we have five copies of the a new book of the aircraft's photographic history to give away.

Concorde cutaway

.

 

UPDATED - This competition is now closed, check our latest post for the answers and the winning 5.

Today is the 40th anniversary of Concorde's first flight and to celebrate we have 5 copies of the new book; Concorde: A Photographic History to give away.


To win a copy, simply email your answer to this probing question:

Which airline cheekily claimed to be first in the order queue for Concorde by suggesting its earlier tentative options on Sud Aviation Super Caravelles should remain valid after the proposed supersonic jet became part of the Concorde project?

The closing date for this competition will be the 15th March and the 5 winners will be selected at random from the winning answers and contacted on the week beginning the 16th.

The momentous first flight of the Concorde was covered by Flight International at the time and can be found in our extensive online archives. There is also a piece in the "on this day" series by the BBC.


We have created a gallery for all you Concorde fans to upload your favourite images of the magnificent Concorde and an area for you to share your memories of this icon of 20th century design.

Radio communications between Denver tower control and emergency response units following the runway excursion by a Continental Airlines Boeing 737-500, 20 December 2008.

Listen here

 

Denver TWR: Continental 1404, wind 270 at 27. Turn right heading 020, runway 34R, cleared for take-off.

 

COA1404: Heading 020, cleared for take-off, runway 34R, Continental 1404.

 

TWR: SkyWest 5973 affirmative, 127.05.

 

SKW5973: 127.05, SkyWest 5973, good day.

 

UNIDENTIFIED: Tower it looks like you had a plane go off of 34R on the left side.

 

TWR: Say that again?

 

UNIDENTIFIED: It looked like an aircraft went off 34R on the left side.

 

TWR: Continental 1404, Denver tower.

 

UNIDENTIFIED: He's off the runway.

 

TWR: Solution 623, turn right and exit the runway.

 

BJS623: All right, we'll exit the runway, Solution 623.

 

FFT811: Frontier 811 aborting take-off, we'll turn off at Delta 3.

 

TWR: Frontier 811 turn right, next intersection, and contact ground 127.5.

 

FFT811: Point five, roger.

 

TWR: Continental 1404, Denver tower.

 

UNIDENTIFIED: Looks like fire over there.

 

TWR: Any ops vehicle on Denver tower, any ops vehicle?

 

OPS9: Ah, Ops 9's on frequency.

 

TWR: Ops 9, just had an aircraft departure off 34R, exited the runway at Whiskey Charlie, appears to be on fire immediately adjacent to the fire-house - red alert.

 

OPS9: Ops 9 copy.

 

TWR: Ops 9 appear to be north of Whiskey Charlie, and west of runway 34R, adjacent to the fire-house.

 

TWR: Ops 9, traffic's coming out of the station going the wrong way. They need to go eastbound out of the fire-house.

 

OPS9: Nine copy.

 

TWR: Any rescue vehicles on frequency?

 

OPS7: Tower, seven's on, go.

 

TWR: Ops 7, Denver tower, are you with me?

 

OPS7: Seven's on tower, go ahead.

 

TWR: Ops 7, west of runway 34R, immediately north of Whiskey Charlie, immediately east of the fire-house, on fire, in the ditch, off the runway.

 

OPS7: Seven copies all.

 

TWR: Ops 7, we're going to show runway 34R closed at this time. All of your equipment can cross 34R.

 

OPS7: Affirmative, 34R's closed. Thank you.

 

OPS7: Red lead, red chief from Ops 7, 34R is closed. Cross the runway, you have immediate access to the aircraft, 16L/34R is closed.

 

TWR: And Ops 7 it appears your truck is going southbound on 34R. Is that what they want to do, away from the aircraft?

 

OPS7: I'll turn them around tower. I'll turn them around.

 

TWR: Yeah, he was stopped by Whiskey Charlie, it looked like he was going right at it. It's north of Whiskey Charlie, I can see the glow north of Whiskey Charlie and west of 34R.

 

OPS7: Seven copy, thanks.

 

UNIDENTIFIED: Come on, guys.

 

TWR: OK, everybody that's on 34R needs to go northbound. It's immediately adjacent to the fire-house. It's on Whiskey Charlie.

 

TWR: And Ops 7 if you get just immediately west of 34R and just north of Whiskey Charlie you'll see the glow coming out, I can see the flames right now.

 

OPS7: I have it tower, I have it, I have the glow. Can we confirm the aircraft type?

 

TWR: It's a Boeing 737.

 

OPS7: 737, Ops 7 copies.

 

TWR: 737, 500-series. Continental.

 

TWR: Delta 9632, Denver tower, you ready to go?

 

DAL9632: Yes, sir.

 

TWR: Delta 9632, winds 280, 27. Fly heading 260, runway 25, cleared for take-off.

 

DAL9632: Cleared for take-off 25, fly heading 260, Delta 9632.

 

TWR: And everybody waiting at 34L, give me just a couple of minutes to make sure all the equipment is well clear of the runway and then we'll get you going. And Solution 623 and Frontier 444, return to ground frequency on 127.5, she's going to take you to another runway.

 

BJS623: Sure, point seven five, Solution 623.