July 2011 Archives

Flightglobal is now in the voting phase for the Flightglobal Achievement Awards, our third annual search for the most admired individuals in aviation and aerospace.

This is your chance to vote for your heroes of the past 12 months in these four categories ― Leader of the Year, Aviator of the Year and Innovator of the Year and for Lifetime Achievement. 

Thanks to Flightglobal users' nominations for the great and the good in the aviation sphere we have been able to draw up a shortlist of potential 2011 winners.

Voting in the four categories closes on 19th September 2011 and winners will be announced at an event during the Dubai Air Show.

Vote now!

 

The Hawker Hunter (Mk. 3) celebrated its 60th anniversary since the first flight on 20 July.

The painting above by Flight Artist Tim Bicheno-Brown, depicts Hunter WB188, piloted by Neville Duke, establishing the world airspeed record on 7 Sept 1953, who achieved a speed of 727.63mph (1,171.01km/h) in level flight, over a set distance along the south coast of England.

This aircraft is now displayed at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, West Sussex.  

Flightglobal may well have reported about the first flight of the Hawker Hunter in the magazine at the time but I've not been able to find it in any of the pages. Any help in finding the link to the article where Flight recorded the first flight of the Hawker Hunter will be welcomed. 

General arrangement diagram:

 

 

When Tom Stuker (right) touches down in Chicago today on United Airlines flight 942 from Los Angeles, he will have flown 10 million miles on United, become the carrier's--and possibly world's--first known person to achieve that status.

The Chicago-based automotive sales consultant joined the carrier's Mileage Plus frequent flyer programme in 1982 and since then has flown approximately 5,962 flights on United. That includes over 200 roundtrips to Australia, 30 to Asia, and 70 to Hawaii. Stuker, United's most frequent passenger has also touched down in every state in America.

To equal Stuker's 10 million miles, a passenger could fly around the world 400 times, fly to the moon and back 20 times (more trips than any astronaut has ever completed), or for a more local offering, fly between United's hubs in Chicago and Houston 5,400 times.

Stuker's statistics means he averages 29,000 miles a month, so he naturally has his travel routine down pat.

"I can recommend what food and wine to order and which movies to watch," he said. "I'm like the Siskel and Ebert of the plane because I have already seen every one of them," he says.

But he has not mastered travel to his liking. "I don't sleep as much as I'd like," Stuker said. "But I have found that the quiet and solitude allow me to be my most creative. During long flights, I've come up with some of my most innovative business ideas."

Stuker also made a cameo on an episode of "Seinfeld" thanks to his jetsetting. (Psst! Anyone know which episode, exactly?)

Stuker will be greeted in Chicago by family, friends, United executives, and importantly United employees he has got to known.

"While flying those 10 million miles, I have collected just as many great memories, smiles, experiences and new relationships along the way," Stuker said. "The thousands of people at United have made my travels wonderful experiences."

United has not disclosed what cabin Stuker travels in, any new perk, or if he is a member of the airline's invitation-only Global Services offering that provides service beyond the carrier's top-tier frequent flyer level.

United Continental Holdings chief executive Jeff Smisek did have this to say: "We deeply appreciate [Stuker's] loyalty to our airline and look forward to serving him as he flies his next 10 million miles."

What is it like to be an uber frequent flyer? Have a look at this short 2009 documentary.

Today brings the final Space Shuttle launch of Atlantis for mission STS-135, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida - weather permitting.

Atlantis will, says NASA, carry the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module to deliver more than 3.5 tonnes (8,000lb) of supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station.

It will also fly a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing spacecraft, and return a failed ammonia pump module.

This launch is significant because at the completion of this mission, the shuttle programme will be retired in accordance with the directives President George W. Bush issued within "The Vision for Space Exploration".

The shuttle's successor was to have been Project Constellation with its Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles and Orion Spacecraft. But last year, the Obama administration asked Congress to instead endorse a scaled-back plan heavy reliant on the private sector.

Related links:

Nov 2010 - Space Shuttle special: One big step

Nov 2010 - Retrospective: No rallying cry as Space Shuttle programme launched

Nov 2010 - Space Shuttle special: Waiting for Discovery

To mark final Space Shuttle launch, Flightglobal has trawled the archive for highlights from the 30-year programme.  Here are bullet points and links that point up its landmark events:

Space Shuttle Enterprise
• It was built to perform test flights in the atmosphere.
• Construction of Enterprise began on 4 June 1974, and was completed on 17 September 1976.
• Enterprise was used for flight tests in 1977. Scientists wanted to test how the shuttle could be transported atop a Boeing 747. They also performed three manned test flights with the Shuttle still joined to the Boeing, and another five tests of the Shuttle flying without engines like a glider.
• It never flew in space.
• Its first flight was a taxi test on 15 February 1977. And its last, free flight was completed on 26 October 1977.

Space Shuttle Columbia
• It was the first spacecraft to fly into outer space, conducting its maiden voyage between between 12 and 14 April 1981. 
• It embarked on 28 missions into space.
• Its last flight commenced on 16 January 2003 and just over two weeks later, on 1 February, it broke up on re-entry, killing all seven crew members.

Space Shuttle Discovery
• Discovery was the third Space Shuttle deployed by NASA and was to fly more missions than any orbiter. It is named after UK research ship RRS Discovery. It spent 365 days in space.
• Its first flight was between 30 August and 5 September 1984.
• In 1988 the USA used Discovery for its first space mission since the loss of Challenger. 
• On 11 October 2000 Disovery was used in the 100th Space Shuttle mission.
• Discovery was used in both research and International Space Station assembly missions. It also carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, and was the only orbiter to take other parts of the telescope to space. Discovery was the first operational shuttle to be retired, followed by Endeavour. It exited service on 9 March 2011.
• It flew 39 successful missions over 27 years of service.

Space Shuttle Challenger
• Challenger was the second Space Shuttle used by NASA to fly into outer space. The shuttle broke up 73 seconds after take-off from Cape Canaveral on 28 January 1986. All seven astronauts onboard were killed. The crash occured because a rubber tube called an o-ring failed to expand to fill a gap in one of the booster rockets, due to cold weather. Read Flight's comment following the crash. 
• The first mission for the Challenger was on 4 April 1983.
• Challenger's longest flight spanned eight days, five hours, 23 minutes and 33 seconds, and was also the first mission to carry two women. It commenced on 30 October 1985.
• NASA's first Shuttle launch at night involved the Challenger and was successful.
 
Space Shuttle Atlantis
• Is the last active Space Shuttle orbiter.
• Its first flight took place between 3 and 7 October 1985.
• Atlantis's second mission was a busy one...
• In May 2009 Atlantis flew a seven-member crew to the Hubble Space Telescope for a servicing mission.

Space Shuttle Endeavour
• Its first flight was between 7 and 16 May 1992.
• Its last mission was in May 2011.
• In 1998 the Endeavour was assigned to its first mission to the International Space Station and in November in orbit assembly of the International Space Station would begin. 

Related articles

• Space Shuttle dedicated page
• NASA puts chances of favourable launch weather at 30%
• Apollo 40th anniversary

 

This blog post was researched and the links collated by two work experience students from local schools. Thanks to Aaron Bossey and Chris Kerrigan

A Gloster Meteor T7 trainer returned this week to its home at Coventry airport to be put on show along with numerous other aircrafts the airbase has.

Before its move to Coventry the aircraft underwent a more than 10 year re-build project, which cost over £500,000.

The iconic Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies first operational jet. Complete with a stylish design this twin-engined jet fighter had a length of 13.59 m, a wingspan of 11.32m as well as including 4 × 20 mm British Hispano cannons and rockets.

The aircraft type recently celebrated its 70th anniversary of its first flight.

Cutaway of the Gloster Meteor

This blog post was written by Aaron Bossey during a week of work experience with Flightglobal.

 

 

 

Enter this caption competition to win a copy of The 100 Greatest Women in Aviation by Liz Moscrop and Sanjay Rampal, which includes profiles of the first woman to have a pilot's licence, Elise Raymonde Deroche, Amelia Earhart, Nancy Bird Walton and Amy Johnston.

What is going on in this picture? Post your caption in the comment box.

More on Women in Aviation: 

• PICTURES: Women in aviation gallery on AirSpace 
• PICTURES TO PURCHASE: Women in aviation gallery
• VIDEOS: Women in Aviation - The ATA girl and the display pilot

 

Amid the crying babies, business men potentiall running late for their meetings and families waiting to go on holiday, people at Manchester airport had their feathers ruffled at a delay caused by a flamingo on runway 2.

Ringo, the bird, was first spotted on Sunday night. A wildlife dispersion team was called in to scare Ringo off with loud music and flares, but he didn't seem to be bothered by it.

Staff thought they had scared him off because he was nowhere to be seen. Ringo managed to outsmart them by turning up out of the blue on Monday morning forcing one of the runways to close for five hours.

It is not clear where the flamingo flew in from.

By Aaron Bossey, who completed a week of work experience at Flightglobal

Women of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) recently took part in a seminar about Women and their role in aviation during the Second World War and shared their stories of flying Spitfires and other aircraft.

These women were not allowed to take part in combat, but were granted aircraft ferrying duties. They ferried new and refitted aircraft to RAF bases ready for fighter pilots to fly them on to continue the war against German attacks during the Battle of Britain.

Flightglobal caught up with ATA Spitfire first officer Molly Rose at the Royal Aeronautical Society in central London where she talked about how her early interest in flying led her to become one of the women Spitfire pilots who did so much to protect and defend the airports and other military services during the Second World War.

Now meet Carolyn Grace in the video below, who flies the Grace Spitfire, registered ML407, at air shows and other events.

In this video Carolyn discusses what it's like to display the Spitfire, how it handles. She says: "The Spitfire will not tolerate hamfisted flying."