April 2011 Archives

If you haven't seen the latest Flight International Environment Special Report, here are links to all the features we covered.

Any ideas for issues to tackle in upcoming reports are always welcome.

Cultural pursuit: Algae holds strong potential for aviation but is still years away 

Algae down under: Qantas hopes algae will play a part in its sustainable fuel strategy

Pioneering research: Argentinian algae company confident its jet fuel will be ready soon

Joining up the dots: Single European Sky starts to show signs of progress

FAB Partnerships: European air navigation service providers work as a team to aid SES progress

In defence of biofuel: US Air Force moves closer to greening its fleet

Chicken fat may not sound as pleasant as camelina or jatropha but it could soon end up being elevated from the deep fat fryer at KFC to aircraft fuel tanks.

NASA recently tested renewable biofuel made from chicken and beef tallow in one of the four engines of a DC-8, and has reported positive results.

Ground tests conducted by NASA found that black carbon emissions from chicken fat fuel were 90% less at idle and 60% less at take-off thrust than standard jet fuel.

Scientists plan to spend the next few months analysing the results and drawing up conclusions.

Hopefully the jet fuel-producing chickens of the future will be free range and organic.

Airline industry lobbying group FlyingMatters, which was formed to put forward the industry's message on the impact of aviation on the environment, has reportedly disbanded.

According to reports, four key members of the group - British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, BAA and Manchester Airports Group - have left to form their own gang, er I mean lobbying group, which will focus on the economic benefits of flying.

To be honest, I'd forgotten FlyingMatters existed so I'm not desperately upset.

Covering the various announcements coming out at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg puts me in mind of the phrase "two steps forward, one step back" when looking at them from an environmental perspective.

While the seat manufacturers are extolling the virtues of their new lightweight aircraft seats and their ability to help reduce aircraft fuel burn, along comes Korean Air with the announcement that it's removing the space for 13 passengers and replacing them with a duty free shop. An actual, proper shop, with fully-stocked display units [sighs and shakes head].

While undoubtedly a great gimmick in the "yeah, but look what we're putting on our A380s" competition - so far we've heard about on-board showers and private suites - this latest example of something that can be done perfectly well on the ground being moved above the clouds to create a wow factor does seem to stick two fingers up at the whole cramming on more passengers and reducing weight to cut fuel burn ethos.

Does this cancel out all the hard work that's going into reducing aircraft weight?