April 2010 Archives

The Florida one, the latest multicoloured wonder of an aircraft from Southwest Airlines, showcases how vibrant the airline industry can be by showcasing its funky new livery in under 3 minutes:

One thing is for sure; Florida One is definitely unique. I am not sure even the artist could reproduce that.

Words: Georgia Ray

You know its not your day when your expensive balloon launch goes walkabout in the outback:

 

Read more from ABC News

Here is UK company Reaction Engines' animation of its A2 hypersonic airliner concept that would fly at Mach 5.

Below is a still from the video....

Reaction Engines'  designed the A2 for the European Union's European Space Agency managed Long-Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies, or LAPCAT, project.

The dust is settling (excuse the pun) on last week's ash cloud story and despite some airspace still being affected by the continuing ash in the air, it is clear that two main issues will stay with the industry for longer. Namely, who should pay compensation to the passengers of these flights and were governments too cautious in waiting so long before letting aircraft back in the air.

David Learmount on his blog  explained the difficulties in judging a "safe concentration level" of ash particles in the air but also the dangers to the engine of flying too early:

The first problem with making decisions about whether - or not - to fly in the volcanic ash cloud over Europe, is the lack of scientific data about the effects on aircraft of this type of very fine atmospheric ash, in this concentration.
How much, if any, volcanic dust can an aeroplane fly through safely, and without causing progressive degradation that will gradually make its engines inefficient and uneconomic?
The second problem is that, apart from the volcano's core plume, which can be seen by satellite, aviation authorities have no active means of tracking the movement of the dispersing ash, which covers a wide area.
The position of the dispersing ash can only be calculated using mathematical models, which are turning out to be fairly accurate, but not sufficiently accurate to enable aircraft to be tactically directed to safe sky sectors.

Issues of safety should always be judged cautiously but were we too cautious? Join the aviation forum debate on whether, in your opinion. "Were governments too cautious in dealing with the ash cloud problem?"

The Flightglobal poll asks the question that many airline CEOs are thinking, who should pay for compensating passengers? Should airlines be ready to address the unpredictability of this and any situation. Or is a situation like this just too unpredictable and infrequent to contemplate seriously? Join the aviation forum debate on. "Should airlines foot the bill for compensating passengers?"

Additional writing from Georgia Ray

Kanellos Kanellopoulos unintentionally recreated the mythical Greek story of Daedalus and Icarus, whose wings of feathers and wax melted in the sun's heat.

The MIT Daedalus was created by the staff and students of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, their target to break the distance (of 74 miles) world record in a man-powered aircraft.

However, in a test flight Kanellopoulos came across a similar problem as Daedalus and Icarus; the Rogers dry lake over which the test flight was taken, had been heated intensely by the sun, causing turbulants which the MIT Daedalus had not been built for.

The Daedalus 87 crashed as the fuselage hit the ground, for the MIT Daedalus 87 and Daedalus and Icarus, the sun was their un-doing.

After the crash, the team decided to reinvent the pedal-powered aircraft, and created the Daedalus 88, which is still in use today.

More on the Daedalus

The archive article was published 23 April 1988.

Reporting by Georgia Ray. 

 

Witty and with-it marketing campaigns are usually the domain of a handful of carriers known for their flair, and are frequently LCCs. (I'm thinking the bet between Sir Richard Branson and Tony Fernandes where the loser dresses up as a flight attendant, or anything Ryanair related.)

But Lufthansa has shown it too can partake in the fun--and see its efforts go viral.

If you haven't heard the back story, last month Apple employee Gray Powell lost in a German bar in California a demo version of what's purported to be the next iPhone. Said iPhone wound up in the hands of technology blog Gizmodo, who blew the lid on the story this week and pinpointed Powell as the unfortunate soul who lost it.

Enter Lufthansa. On Twitter the carrier asked, "If you can help us get in touch with Gray Powell, we'd like to fly him to Munich". They weren't joking. In an open letter to Powell, Nicola C. Lange, the Director for Marketing & Customer Relations in the Americas wrote (full letter at the top):

We also noted with great interest your passion for German beer and culture. We thought you could use a break soon -- and therefore would like to offer you complimentary Business Class transportation to Munich, where you can literally pick up where you last left off. Upon arrival in Munich, feel free to check out our new Bavarian Beer Garden Business Lounge, and experience the best Germany has to offer.

Lufthansa is slyly plugging its new Bavarian Beer Garden Business Lounge, but the campaign is working, with the letter going viral across the internet.

Many would think of Lufthansa as a poised legacy carrier keeping its distance, but its letter shows it realises the power of social media. Its letter follows on the footsteps of Virgin America who announced via Twitter it would start services to Toronto, Boeing who recently started using Twitter, and AirAsia who have found they are able to cut down on marketing by promoting sales to their Facebook fans.

Today's been a busy old day in the Flightglobal team. Here's a list of some of the highlights from this developing story:

• Volcanic ash: who says flying's not safe?
  
• ASH CLOUD: European airlines ponder compensation call
• ASH CLOUD LIVE: IATA furious at 'theoretical' basis for airspace closures
• ASH CLOUD LIVE: ATC services eye 20 April for re-opening airspace
  
• CASE STUDY: When volcanic ash brought down a 747
• ASH CLOUD: Volcanic dust costing BA £20m daily
• ASH CLOUD: No engine degradation on BA 747 test-flight
• ASH CLOUD: Charter brokers prepare for travel eruption as volcanic ash threat subsides
• ASH CLOUD: Finland to allow some flights today
• ASH CLOUD: UK MoD suspends 'airbridge' operation with Afghanistan
• ASH CLOUD: The dangers from ash
• ASH CLOUD: European airlines ponder compensation call
• ASH CLOUD: economic impact bigger than 9/11: IATA

You can continue to follow the latest on Twitter at #ashtag.

Data from around 06:30 today (15 April) shows a virtual absence of aircraft in the northern UK as a result of restrictions on air traffic.

A big thank you to the Planeplotter and John Locker for this great graphic highlighting the quietness above.

Many saw the flood gates opening with Ryanair's announcement that it wants to charge passengers to use the lavatory and Spirit's announcement to charge for some carry-on bags.

But now some important people and groups are saying no to those plans.

Taking aim at Spirit, legislation was introduced to the US Senate that would prohibit airlines from charging for carry-on luggage.

And taking aim at Ryanair, Boeing (the manufacturer of Ryanair's all-737 fleet) said it would not take replace lavatories with seats due to concerns if the aircraft could be safely evacuated. Thankfully--or not--Ryanair believes that unlike Spirit, it won't have regulatory problems with its penny-pinching plan.

But these actions raise questions. Could Ryanair prove to Boeing it can safely evacuate a 737 with seats instead of some loos? Should the government regulate airline fees?

An ash cloud originating from a volcano beneath the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southwest Iceland is currently causing havoc in northern European airspace.

Here are some images from this unusual environmental event:

Spiky parliamentary questions put to the Polish defence minister Bogdan Klich two years ago heap another shovelful of irony onto the Tu-154 crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski.

 

On 12 August 2008 the Tu-154 was scheduled to fly Kaczynski and a high-ranking delegation from Warsaw to Ganja via Simferopol. Kaczynski put in a late request to fly instead to Georgia, newly at war with Russia over South Ossetia, which the aircraft's captain, Grzegorz Pietruczuk, denied on the grounds of safety concerns.

 

Pietruczuk received a decoration for his sense of responsibility towards the president, and other members of the high-ranking delegation on board.

 

Archives from Poland's parliament, the Sejm, show that Law & Justice party member Przemyslaw Gosiewski subsequently asked the defence minister whether a pilot had the right to refuse an order from a superior in the armed forces. He also demanded to know whether, by awarding the medal, the minister intended to show that "insubordination, cowardice and disobedience" would be rewarded in future.

 

In a detailed response defence minister Klich said that Pietruczuk had "acted properly" by exercising his position of command. Klich pointed out that failure to obtain last-minute consent for an amended flight path risked the aircraft being "treated as an intruder", and added: "The Tu-154 aircraft is not designed to operate in armed conflict zones."

 

Investigators probing the loss of the Tu-154 at Smolensk have yet to determine why the pilots opted to pursue an apparently hazardous approach rather than accept a safer alternative. None of the conclusions will matter to parliamentarian Gosiewski who - having questioned the courage and discipline of crews that take such decisions - was among the 96 victims of the crash.

Barely two months, Biman's new livery could be scrapped and replaced with its previous one, the Daily Star reports. Apparently "the new livery does not represent Bangladesh well", the paper reports.

Bangladesh's cabinet made the decision 30 March and is now awaiting Biman's board to agree. Biman is the state-owned carrier of Bangladesh.

The most contentious issue appears to be the new version of the Balaka crane, Biman's logo. On the old livery (now the new new livery) the Balaka was featured prominently on the tail whereas on the new (now old) livery an abstract version is depicted.

The new livery also dropped red and green cheatlines in favour of an all-white fuselage. Additionally the old livery had "BIMAN BANGLADESH" in block capital letters while the new livery had a giant "bangladesh" in a wavy font. The livery was inaugurated on February 3 by none other than Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The Daily Star reports four aircraft have the new livery while eight have the previous livery.

Our AirSpace photographer Allan captured Biman's B777-200 in the new livery and has also made a mock-up of what it will look like in the old livery:

25 August issue in 1993 Flight reported that the BD-10, a supersonic kit-built private jet-aircraft is being developed for a role as an unmanned military target drone. A two-seat aircraft resembled a miniature McDonnell Douglas F-15, and was touted as having international potential as a subsonic and supersonic target drone.

Read more about the BD-10...

Flight International introduced the idea of the Cessna Skyhook back in 1985. Writer Karen Walker suggested that it looked "like something out of a science fiction movie--a giant crane that snatches aircraft out of the sky and tucks them into undercover hangars".

She reported that sceptics say the idea of SkyHook is  far-fetched, but British Aerospace argues differently. Two men in particular, BAe test pilot Heinz Frick and SkyHook project manager Diggy Mottram, were convinced of the SkyHook's potential.

Walker wrote: "They are the men behind its design and they are pushing its advantages, not least the added flexibility it could give to an already versatile aircraft such as the Sea Harrier."

More on the Cessna Skyhook...

Brazil's defence ministry has issued a navigation advisory to shipping, detailing the search region occupied by the vessels hunting the wreckage of Air France flight AF447: 

 

NOROESTE DO ARQUIPELAGO SAO PEDRO E SAO PAULO -

NAVIO ANNE CANDIES - CASCO PRETO SUPERESTRUTURA BRANCA E
NAVIO SEABED WORKER - CASCO AZUL SUPERESTRUTURA BRANCA

REALIZANDO BUSCA AOS DESTROÇOS DA AERONAVE AF447

PERIODO: 01/ABR A 01/MAI

AREA INTERDITADA A NAVEGACAO ENTRE OS

PARALELOS: 03-48.00N 03-00.00N

E MERIDIANOS:030-22.00W 031-09.00W

RECOMENDA-SE CAUTELA.
CANCELAR ESTE AVISO 020359 UTC MAI 2010.

 

 

It states that, to the northwest of the St Peter and St Paul archipelago, the two vessels engaged in the search - the Anne Candies and the Seabed Worker - are conducting operations between the longitudes 30°22' and 31°09'W and latitudes 03°00' and 03°48'N.

 

These points define an approximate square, some 47nm (87km) on each side, north of the last known position (LKP) and flightpath of AF447. It contains a rectangular region calculated by the French investigation authority Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses to be the most probable site of the wreckage, given the meteorological conditions and state of the ocean currents.