January 2011 Archives

My colleague John Croft, who writes the great As the Cro(ft) Flies blog, has just forwarded me an NTSB report which details a tragic incident in which an agricultural pilot was killed when his light aircraft hit a meteorological tower that was gathering data for the future development of a wind farm.

I mention this because we recently ran a feature (also written by John) on the potential dangers to aviation of renewable energy projects such as wind farms. And this appears to be a case in point.

For further details on the incident, here's a link to the full NTSB report. 

The met tower in question was lower than the US FAA threshold, yet according to the National Agricultural Aviation Association these towers are "nearly invisible under some atmospheric conditions".

I'm by no means an expert on this, but would it really be that difficult to make these towers a bit more visible? Just a thought.

The EU's Clean Sky initiative made further progress this week with Dassault Aviation performing a test flight to evaluate the potential use of fuel-saving laminar wings on large business jets.

The test was performed using a Falcon 7X as part of the "Smart Fixed Wing Aircraft" technology demonstrator under the Clean Sky programme.

Dassault is still evaluating the results of the test flight, but appears positive. On a larger scale, the smart laminar wing is scheduled to be flight tested on a modified Airbus A340-300 in 2014.

For more on the Clean Sky initiative and how it's progressing, take a look at our recent feature which should tell you everything you need to know.

And for more on the laminar wing portion, see here.

Mexican low-cost carrier Interjet is aiming to conduct a biofuel-powered demo flight between Toulouse and Paris to coincide with this year's Paris air show.

I learned this by talking to Interjet CEO Jose Luis Garza after a press conference in Venice earlier this week to announce its order for some Sukhoi Superjet 100s.

The flight will be powered by a 50/50 blend of Jatropha and traditional kerosene.

Interjet had planned to conduct a biofuel demo flight early last year using a CFM International CFM56-powered Airbus A320, but this was delayed because Arizona-based Global Seawater failed to supply the required amounts of  salicornia.

Garza tells me he is getting involved with the demo flight because "we want to show the world that it's possible" and he is keen to highlight that the Yucatan region of Mexico is capable of producing significant amounts of jatropha.

According to this report in the UK's Guardian newspaper, Australia's Qantas Airways is to follow British Airways' lead and team up with US bioenergy firm Solena to build a facility that turns household waste into jet fuel.

I spoke with BA's manager of environmental affairs at last year's Farnborough air show and found out some more details about the Solena/BA project in East London.

It now looks as though Qantas plans to follow suit, with The Guardian reporting that the carrier will later this month unveil plans to build the world's second plant to produce jet fuel from waste (the BA one being the first).

For more on how optimism appears to be growing over the use of biofuels in aviation, take a look at this more detailed piece I penned during Farnborough.

The list of airlines signing up to alternative fuel trials and investing in biofuel production facilities is growing, and I'm thinking it might be a good time to put together a feature for the next Flight International Environment Special Report.

Any tips, contacts, ideas that you'd like to see included, please drop me a line.

Argentina-based microalgae producer Biocombustibles del Chubut (Bc) is claiming that it could eventually sell algae-derived jet fuel for €800 ($1,038) per tonne.

To put this into context, according to IATA's jet fuel monitor, the cost of one metric tonne of kerosene as of 31 December was $837.

Here are some pictures illustrating what goes on at Bc's plant in Puerto Madryn:

Bc's test lab for BioJet A1 fuel uses an old engine which has been transformed into a "Bioflex" turbine:

A routine test of biomass growth:

An example of a "blind pond", where algae can be cultivated without sunlight:

But before you get too excited, Bc points out that "the industrialisation of algae farming for fuel production is still at the very beginning", and it has "yet to be demonstrated that the industrial production is both ecologically and economically viable".

Still, nice to see some figures emerging.

Scrapped airliners are providing both a challenge to those seeking to find ways to avoid dumping aircraft interiors in landfill sites and an opportunity to companies that are coming up with innovative ways of reusing the materials.

The cover story of this week's Flight International takes a detailed look at the solutions being sought to reduce the amount of aircraft waste that goes to landfill.

It contains some pretty cool pics of airliners in various stages of disassembly.

While doing the research for this feature, I also came across some interesting ways of giving new life to old airliners.

For more on how engine inlet cowls are finding new leases of life as office reception desks and other such gems, take a look at this.

To read the other features in our latest Environment Special Report, including an in-depth update on the EU's Clean Sky project, click here.