The rise and fall of an alien industrial spy
On 11/08/2010, in Environment - Without hot air, by cleo
As soon as teleporting was perfected for the military in a far corner of the galaxy, the first assignment for the new system was to send an agent to Earth to check out the source of incessant radio noise and strange video images alternately showing humans killing each other or pairing in strange ways often involving acrobatics that the far off aliens could not fathom. Mr. Fa’reye’s (a name quite impossible to pronounce for Earthlings) was selected as the agent for the mission. He was instructed to observe and provide a comprehensive report.
When Mr. Fa’reye’s arrived in Earth orbit, he was amazed to discover the incredible amount of junk that was floating around… his teleport capsule needed all of its computing power to dodge the obstacles. His first scan showed what he discovered were parliaments where people apparently went to discuss things which were subsequently mostly ignored by most other people. A lot of talk was about the environment and it seemed this was a subject that could actually make many of the two legged creatures in the parliaments quite passionate. They seemed to be saving their planet from some future catastrophe… They did not seem to realize that it was already happening. But, sure enough, they voted to spend a lot of money on future projects with doubtful outcome while very little if anything was being spent on mitigating the damage already being caused by their changing climate.
To Mr. Fa’reye’s’ amazement, people were also being duped by something they seemed to call hybrid cars which, apparently, they thought were not producing any harmful emissions. Power stations belching smoke as they produced the electricity for charging those hybrids were usually out of site and the people buying those cars did not seem to connect the smoke with their “emission free” vehicles.
On his last scan, he spotted a company making airplanes and what he discovered there was truly incredible on a world that seemed to be so hung up on protecting their environment.
Click here to read the full article
NTSB publishes final report on 2009 Hudson river ditching
On 18/06/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary.
The NTSB has published the final report into the Jan 2009 ditching of an A320 onto the Hudson River, NY, following loss of thrust in both engines caused by multiple bird strikes. The report makes numerous safety recommendations.
You can read the full report here.
Smooth cruise – The WizzAir experience
On 17/06/2010, in The lighter side, by heading370
Editor’s note: This article dates from 2007. We are now an economic crisis later but the essence of the story is still the same. What is more, WizzAir, operating 30 aircraft, is still with us and hopefully will remain for a long time to come.
WizzAir, the largest low fare – low cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe launched operations in May 2004. They concentrate primarily on the lucrative markets of the newest EU member states where air travel is going through some really dynamic expansion. This policy has lead to the opening of routes to Eindhoven for example. The company operates these flights from Budapest, Hungary and Katowice in Poland. The author, who is an Air Traffic Controller at the Maastricht Upper Area Control Center (MUAC) was happy to join the crew of the Eindhoven-Budapest-Eindhoven flights at the end of March.
On the ramp at EHEH
Eindhoven is still a relatively quiet airport where the atmosphere is quite relaxed and hassle-free. It is shared by civil and military users the biggest operator – apart from the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (The Royal Air Force of the Netherlands) – is Ryanair. Also Transavia and a few Turkish charter companies fly there regularly and on a typical day the airport handles about 20 arrivals.
After some really helpful co-ordination with the company’s operations control, crew rostering section and the Head of Training, Captain Gabor Lezsovits, I was ready to board HA-LPD, (c/s number 1902) an Airbus A320-200 that operated as WZZ228B.
Click here to read the full article
Your project delayed? Come join the club!
On 15/06/2010, in NextGen, by steve
It must be horrible to be the project manager of major aircraft programs these days. Look at the Airbus A380, the A400M, the Boeing 787 or the 747-8. They were all delayed by several years and the reasons were often quite pedestrian (like incompatible software or strength calculation errors). It will fall on the Airbus A350 to improve the record but in view of what has almost become the routine now, it would be a miracle of the 350 flew on time.
But air traffic control systems are faring little better. Which was the last really new ATC system in Europe that was delivered and put into operational use on the date originally stipulated? And now, a delay to ERAM is here to set the trend forth.
Under the En-Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) program, the FAA is replacing the computer network for air traffic control facilities that manage traffic in the upper airspace. Modernizing this network is critical to allowing the FAA to continue managing air traffic effectively. It is also an essential component of NextGen , the FAA’s next generation air traffic control system.
Click here to read the full article
Flying AIRE – the pilot’s view
On 30/04/2010, in Environment - Without hot air, by eric
AIRE (Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions) is a joint initiative between the European Commission and the FAA. It is the green component of the SESAR programme. In 2009, 1,152 flight trials in operational conditions were carried out on the European side.
Claude Godel was the Pilot in Command of the first complete green transatlantic flight, operated by Air France on 6 April from Paris-Charles de Gaulle to Miami.
Captain Godel and part of his crew on the green transatlantic flight
In a first reaction after this green flight, Captain Godel describes it from a pilot’s perspective, “The AIRE flight is the almost perfect flight for a pilot. On a normal flight you never know how you will be incorporated in the traffic but you are sure that you will fly level at non optimal altitudes, have to beg ATC for better speed, better lateral track. In one word, you spend your time in negotiating or accepting non optimal compromises. The AIRE flight needs more pre-flight preparation but, once off-block, the pilot can expect to fly the best track from end to end, at the best speed and the best altitude. Isn’t that the pilot’s dream?”
He further describes the principle of green flights as a virtuous circle as an optimised flight path leads to shorter flight time, less fuel burn and CO2 emissions which in return reduces costs and leaves fewer place for contingencies. The pilot can thus satisfy the aspirations of modern passengers and himself finds new pleasure and satisfaction in his job.
During the approximately nine hours flight, enhanced green procedures were used to improve the aircraft’s energy efficiency. These procedures, applied at each flight stage and coordinated among all project participants, reduce fuel consumption (and hence carbon dioxide emissions) throughout the flight, from taxiing at Paris-Charles de Gaulle to arrival on the parking stand in Miami. Air France estimates that applying these optimisations to all Air France long-haul flights to and from North America, would result in a cut of CO2 emissions by 135,000 metric tons per year, with fuel savings of 43,000 metric tons.
For more information on AIRE, click here.
This article is reprinted with the kind permission of the author, Eric Platteau, Senior Communication & Public Affairs Specialist at the SESAR Joint Undertaking.
Is it nice to work for an airline?
On 20/04/2010, in Viewpoint, by steve
When I started my life in aviation, air traffic control was part of the corporate structure of the local airline, Malev. A bit like having the police department integrated into the taxi company and with no less interesting situations that arose when the owner airline was not given the priority they desired.
So, yes I have worked for an airline and it was not bad. We were even entitled to free travel and this was being granted long after IATA had decided that controllers were not really worthy of the privilege.
Good. But all that was long ago and we are now interested in what it is to be working for an airline today.
Around February each year, Fortune magazine publishes an article describing the 100 best companies to work for. I browsed the list with interest. Google is number 4, Cisco number 16, Intel 99 and Colgate-Palmolive 100. So, who are the first 3? Are there any airlines up there? Nope! Other than FEDEX at the 90th position, there is no airline or even aircraft manufacturer mentioned at all.
Click here to read the full article
Anniversary – Airbus A380 first flight
On 08/04/2010, in Anniversaries, by steve
5 year anniversary on 27 April 2005
After many decades of being the biggest passenger aircraft on the planet, the 747 had to cede its unique position to the Airbus A380 who took to the air for the first time at 10:28:23 on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse Blagnac Airport, Airbus’ home base.
First flight...
Development of the A380 was not without its problems but then which big aircraft program is these days?
The A380 has been in regular revenue service with several airlines for some time now and the very wide set of contrails and clearly recognizable sound of its engines has become a normal part of the day for those living around Brussels. Most A380s coming back from London pass over the Brussels area. At first their passage was reason to grab binoculars but not any more. They are just another aircraft, only a bit bigger…
The 380 entered service at around the time the aviation industry was passing through the biggest depression it had ever seen. It is not a good time by any measure to introduce a new aircraft type… But with some of her operators climbing again and 380 flights being full her creators can look towards the future with confidence.
Happy anniversary!
Aircraft based tools in the fight against runway incursions
On 06/04/2010, in Life around runways, by steve
Aircraft-based airport surface traffic indications and alerting systems
This is an edited version of the presentation made at the recent ESAVS 2010 conference by Doug Arbuckle of the FAA. Coauthors of the paper were David E. Gray of FAA, Peter Moertl of Mitre Corporation and Jim Duke of SAIC. You can download the original text of their paper here and the slides here.
Introduction
As discussed before, runway incursions and collisions is a major area of concern world-wide. There are on average more than two runway incursion events per day in Europe alone and the situation in the United States is similarly serious. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has on its most wanted list a system to “give immediate warnings of probable collisions/incursions directly to cockpit flight crews.”
In our previous two articles we covered the visual tools for preventing runway incursions (RWSL and FAROS) and the communications related causes of runway incursions. In this third article we will look into aircraft based airport surface traffic indications and alerting systems being developed in the US as a further line of defense against runway incursions.
The background
As you may be aware, in the US two different data links have been adopted for ADS-B: 1090 MHz Extended Squitter (1090 ES) and the 978 MHz Universal Access Transceiver (UAT). Given that the international community has agreed to the use of the 1090 ES link, most air transport and international business aircraft are expected to equip with this link; the UAT link is expected to be primarily used by general aviation aircraft whose operations are confined to the US. The US is implementing uplink services on both links. One such uplink broadcast service is Traffic Information Service-Broadcast (TIS-B). TIS-B derives traffic information from one or more ground-based surveillance sources and uplinks this traffic information to ADS-B-equipped aircraft, enabling them to receive position reports about non-ADS-B-equipped aircraft; this service supports the transition period to full ADS-B equipage in the NAS. ADS-R is another uplink broadcast service which rebroadcasts ADS-B messages received from aircraft on one link to nearby aircraft broadcasting on the other link, making it possible for all ADS-B-equipped aircraft to receive the information being transmitted on the other link.
Click here to read the full article
The communications related aspects of runway incursions
On 31/03/2010, in Life around runways, by steve
More than two incursions a day…
Few other incidents return with the grim and persistent regularity of runway incursions. A lot of effort by all concerned has resulted in a reduction of the total number of incidents but there are still, on average, more than two runway incursions in Europe per day. Clearly, there remains a lot of work to be done.
But what exactly is a runway incursion? According to the definition provided by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) a runway incursion is “Any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take-off of aircraft.”
Of course the words “incorrect presence” cover a wide range of possibilities from part of an aircraft sticking into the protected area to a vehicle or aircraft being entirely in the path of an aircraft landing or taking off. The dangers need no explaining… The reasons why highly trained professionals like pilots and controllers and less well trained but still “aerodrome aware” vehicle drivers make mistakes leading to runway incursions provide a telling story with roots in human psychology, engineering, traffic design, information technology and one may dare to say, on occasion Murphy’s law.
Click here to read the full article
A kid in the tower, a pilot without license and other things
On 08/03/2010, in Viewpoint, by steve
The unprecedented success of the air transport industry is due mainly to the spectacular improvements in safety booked overt the years. True, the convenience of being able to travel to the other end of Europe for a meeting and back the same day count for a lot, but without the safety factor, few passengers would accept the hassle of endless security queues and legroom appropriate for the shortest 10 % of the population only.
The exemplary safety record is the result of constant vigilance, safety management systems and the responsible attitudes of those working with or around aircraft.
Any disturbance that could negatively affect safety or even the perception of safety would be a disaster to the industry on a scale that would dwarf the effects of the recent financial meltdown in the world.
In a well running system complacency is one of the biggest dangers while it is also one of the most basic treats of the human character. Fighting complacency must be one of the most important items in any safety manager’s kit.
Recently however we seem to be seeing signs of a disturbing trend.
Click here to read the full article
747
On 25/02/2010, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Joe Sutter with Jay Spenser
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-088241-9
For some time now we could read a lot about the development problems afflicting the latest big aircraft types. Just think of the Airbus A380, the 787 or the A400M military transport. Proud projects yet they started life with what appears to be more than their share of setbacks. Perhaps it is now the time to read something about the 747, the “Queen of the Skies”, the aircraft on which at one time Boeing had bet the future of the whole company… Was her birth any smoother?
There is no better guide to lead you through those exciting years than Joe Sutter, one of the most celebrated engineers of the twentieth century and the person who had spearheaded the design and construction of the 747.
747 size aircraft are commonplace today but when Boeing started building the first 747, it was bigger than anything ever built before and needed the world’s largest workshop just to be put together. Everything about the 747 was big including the larger than life personalities who were involved in or influenced this magnificent project.
It was far from smooth sailing and tensions between people as well as technological challenges all added up to make the project leader’s life difficult.
But Joe Sutter and his brilliant team of engineers carried on, never faltering, never doubting, pushing and pulling and even performing the odd miracle when that was called for.
If you think the 380 or the 787 had problems, what about reading that the third 747 in the flight test program actually crashed in Renton two weeks before the FAA was scheduled to certify the 747? Ok, it was pilot error and there was little damage but still… As it turned out, the FAA was actually very impressed by the crashworthiness of the aircraft and the incident had no adverse effect on certification.
With so much in Seattle hanging on Boeing’s future, the Sutters’ friends kept bugging Nancy Sutter, Joe’s wife, whether she believed her husband knew what he was doing… When the 747 first flew on February 9, 1969 Nancy was standing near the runway’s edge at the calculated unstick point, rewarded for all her patience with the best view of this historic event.
After reading this book, you will see big aircraft in a totally different light. Highly recommended.
Order your copy here.
Is there a lesson for SESAR in the A400M?
On 24/02/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by pbn
In case you do not know, the A400M is the military transport Europe has been trying to put together for a few years now and which has recently managed to get airborne. In body anyway because the future of its spirit is far from assured. Why the military needed a new propeller driven heavy transport when they had Boeing’s C-17 already up and running is something of a puzzle… I guess someone somewhere must have thought a big collaborative project like this would be good for European industry.
The Airbus Military A400M
Well, they were absolutely right. The A400M project, beset by delays, incredible cost overruns and government meddling on an unprecedented scale, has shown all the weaknesses current European co-operation can master when States set their minds to it. True, this time the scenery was provided by the military but many of the parties involved have a civilian “face” also, so the outcome is of general interest.
Click here to read the full article
A taxiway will do… KLM 737 takes-off from Taxiway B in Amsterdam
On 16/02/2010, in Life around runways, by steve
PH-BDP in Warsaw
I do have a trip scheduled to Warsaw… what I pity I was not on KL1369 two days ago! As I said in another article, I am one of the few air travelers who does check the life west (under your seat you know), follows the safety briefing and confirms the nearest exit (may be behind you). I also follow the taxi operation, trying to figure out which runway we would be using…
What a wonderful discovery it would have been to see the 737 line up on a taxiway and take off from there without further ado!
That is exactly what PH-BDP did two days ago around half past eight in the evening in what appears to have been darkness but otherwise good visibility.
Click here to read the full article
I was a passenger on the A380
On 14/01/2010, in The lighter side, by andrase
Although Singapore Airlines is expecting to welcome its one millionth A380 customer in February (just 15 months after the inaugural flight), it is still not every day that you get to meet someone who has enjoyed this new travel experience. Our contributor Andrase is such a person and he sent us this report.
Let me share my experience of A380 travel by Singapore Airlines. SIA was the first airline scheduling daily service between London and Singapore using the 380.
At the beginning of November I travelled between that city pair and was lucky enough to be booked on the gigantic, biggest ever passenger airplane, the A380.
I was so excited when I walked through the checking gate and got my boarding pass. When I made the online booking earlier, I selected the upper deck. I was placed in the last section, just in front of the galley and the staircase, right behind the emergency exit to gain extra legroom. And extra legroom there was! Even if I had 2 meter or 3 meter long legs, I would have had no problem stretching them out straight ahead…
Click here to read the full article
Boeing 787 Dreamliner takes to the air
On 16/12/2009, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
Late by 28 months but finally in the air! 15 December 2009 will no doubt be a memorable day for Boeing and the whole industry for that matter: the 787 has finally taken to the air, its maiden flight hopefully bringing an end to the series of problems the program had to contend with over the past two and half years.
Of course when you set out to follow a revolutionary path, problems are expected. The point is: how far are you able to foresee the problems and how quickly you can react to them, foreseen or not.
The 787 is nothing if not revolutionary and in more ways than one too. Its composite structures built as complete fuselage barrels (as opposed to the more traditional approach of the Airbus A350XWB which uses ribs and composite panels) is a huge challenge, something that has never been tried on this scale. Then the degree of outsourcing Boeing has elected to use is also unique (and asking for trouble if you listen to union leaders in Seattle).
Click here to read the full article
Legend & Legacy – The Story of Boeing and Its People
On 02/12/2009, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Robert J. Serling
Publisher: St. Martin’s Pres, New York
ISBN-0-312-05890-X
When we read about Boeing these days, it is more often than not something negative. The new version of the 747 and the Dreamliner delayed, repeatedly it seems and for reasons that make one wonder what is going on in Seattle and Chicago. It is easy to forget that with the Dreamliner they are working in uncharted territory where surprises are not that unusual, even with the best of planning.
It is about time you dropped the daily paper and read a book about Boeing the company and Boeing, the people who have built this icon of aviation. Robert J. Serling created a masterpiece, taking you behind the scenes with humor, objectivity and abundant anecdotes. Published in 1991, the book talks about a Boeing that is yet to endure the effects of 9/11 and the latest economic crisis but when we read that the company once went seventeen months without selling a single plane on the domestic market and almost went bankrupt, one cannot but wonder. Has anything really changed?
Industrial history books can be dry and a bore. Not Legend & Legacy which reads like a novel except that it feels real from the first page to the very last and even when you read about incredible characters and incredible deeds that helped win WWII and conquered the commercial skies.
What about the salesman who almost traded a used 727 for 12 million bucks worth of underwear or the test pilot who barrel-rolled a prototype jetliner representing one-quarter of the company’s net worth… He felt the stunt would help sell the plane!
You will read about the conception, gestation and birth of the legendary 747 which will forever wear the crown of very big
airplanes even if it was overtaken by new types like the Airbus A380.
This is a compelling, fascinating journey from William Boeing’s Red Barn to the 777 shown through the hearts and eyes of the people on all levels who are and will always be the essence of the Boeing Company.
Pick up a copy and expect to miss even your favorite football game!
Competence counts
On 07/11/2009, in Viewpoint, by phil
Listening to the interview with Capt. Sully Sullenburger who successfully ditched his Airbus A320 in the Hudson River after multiple bird-strikes knocked out its engines, I was impressed by his calm, considered and authoritative manner. He is a first class ambassador for airmen throughout the industry. I think I might buy his book.
While recognising that he and his crew did an excellent job ditching in the Hudson, I would still like to think that most
competent crews would have performed equally well. The problem is that we normally never hear of the first class jobs done day in day out by many crews that avoid an accident. They achieve this either through good judgement which avoids anything happening at all. Or by well applied skill so that only those within the profession ever hear about the event. It is only the incidents which become obvious to the media or which turn into accidents that are noticed by the general public.
But what I find really disturbing is what seems to be the general erosion of the standing of the professional airman as described by Sully. We will be in danger of not getting enough good recruits, and if the accountants press too far, not training them well enough. What that will do for aviation safety must be of great concern to us all.
The birth of an Airbus 380
On 07/11/2009, in Picture stories, by steve
Building any aircraft is always a fascinating process that leaves a lasting impression on those who have the good fortune of being able to witness it. Building a remarkable machine like the Airbus 380 magnifies the element of wonder by virtue of its own incredible dimensions.
In the distant past, aircraft factories were exactly that. Places where aircraft were made. These days an Airbus or a Boeing plant is an assembly operation, putting together the diverse parts manufactured to incredibly precise tolerances elsewhere. The parts travel by air, barge and semi-trailers, creating transport logistics problems all their own. But in the end, the miracle never fails to happen: a new aircraft emerges, ready to take to the air.
In the slide series you can download from here courtesy of Airbus, they have assembled the gestation process of the first Airbus 380 showing moments of the prenatal life of this oversized baby most of us have probably never seen before. The birth of a child is always a wonder. The birth of an aircraft is a very close second…
Note: We gratefully acknowledge the copyright of all photographers and authors involved.
Wake turbulence gone with the wind – the CREDOS project
On 03/11/2009, in Life around runways, by steve
The problem of vortices
There are two kinds of dangerous phenomena behind large aircraft. Jet wash and wingtip vortices. These are the most important components of what is commonly referred to as “wake turbulence”. The intensity of this turbulence depends on a number of factors, among them the mass of the aircraft concerned. Jet-wash is simply the rapidly moving air expelled from a jet engine. While it is extremely turbulent, it dissipates quickly in both time and space.
Wingtip vortices on the other hand are much more stable and can remain in the air longer after the passage of an aircraft. Wingtip vortices represent the primary and most dangerous component of wake turbulence.
The hazards of wake turbulence are particularly significant during the landing and take-off phases of flight. Aircraft are in a configuration that creates the strongest vortices while they are also flying at a low speed and low altitude. This leaves little margin for recovery in the event of flying into wake turbulence.
In daily operations the risk of encountering wake turbulence on approach or take-off and initial climb out is mitigated by increasing the spacing between lighter aircraft and a preceding heavier one. The time or distance based minima prescribed to ensure this spacing (the so called wake turbulence separation minima) are static and are based on a worst case assumption of the persistence time of the vortices. While this practice ensures safety, it also reduces the actual throughput of runways below what would otherwise be achievable.
Click here to read the full article
A short (unofficial) history of air/ground digital link – 3
On 24/10/2009, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
Pioneers to the rescue
In spite of the positive business case, airspace users were not exactly rushing to equip with air/ground digital link. Because of the slow down of traffic growth in the wake of 9/11, the expected ACARS problems did not materialize and the ATC frequency congestion was also pushed far into the future. In other industries, such a period of respite might have been used to prepare for the times when business recovery would once again make air//ground digital link essential. But that is not how aviation works. With the immediate threat receding and even some of the big carriers fighting for survival, enthusiasm for investing in things that would generate benefits only many years down the road cooled.
Of course for the planners of the ATM system this was a situation that spelled trouble for later. The frequency congestion problems were not a mirage even if for the time being those problems slipped into the future. The need to put together a comprehensive kit of capacity enablers had not become less important, only the urgency had changed somewhat. For LINK2000+ the big question was: how to jump start equipage? The question was not self serving at all. If Maastricht UAC controllers did not get digital link equipped aircraft to work with, it would be impossible to build and maintain proficiency and to shake down the system in real operational circumstances.
Click here to read the full article
What is nanotechnology’s equivalent in air traffic management?
On 17/10/2009, in Viewpoint, by steve
It has been all over the trade press recently. 10 billion extra euros to go into French aeronautics research, the money coming from a planned public bond issue. Some of the fruits of this dough will come in the form of ground and flight demonstrations in the 2011-2014 time-frame and the primary aim of the effort is to meet the threat to Europe’s lead in the narrow-body aircraft area. Those new Chinese and Russian (not to mention Canadian) designs are being taken seriously and for good reason. Replacements for the A320 family and of course the 737 will be needed and probably sooner than later if Europe and the US wants to remain big players.
The line-up of planned demos is impressive. Replacing hydraulics with electrics, 15 % improvement in the performance of existing turbofan technologies, improved rotorcraft, and blended winglets… Airframes with nanostructure enhanced materials and intelligent skin and even new cockpits to mate up with SESAR and NextGen are also on the Agenda. All very good and timely.
Click here to read the full article
Performance Based Navigation Workshop, Budapest 17-18 November 2009 – Reminder
On 13/10/2009, in Events, by steve
BluSky Services is organising a Performance Based Navigation (PBN) workshop, to be held in Budapest, Hungary on 17-18 November 2009. The event will be hosted by HungaroControl and will take place at their premises.
Participation in the workshop is free.
As is well known, both IATA and CANSO have expressed their support for PBN and this important evolutionary step is also part of ICAO’s ATM strategy.
Participants at the workshop will learn about the ICAO PBN concept and how it relates to Performance Based Navigation (RNP) and technologies like ADS-B, MLAT and GNSS landing systems.
The list of presenters include ICAO, IATA, Honeywell, ERA Corporation, APAC, Quo Vadis/Airbus and ZEBRAFISH International.
Interest from all areas of ATM is substantial. Register now to ensure your place at this unique event!
For more details, the Agenda and registration, click here
To learn more about BluSky Services, click here
A short (unofficial) history of air/ground digital link – 1
On 12/10/2009, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
Introduction
Talking to a group of young controllers the other day I suddenly realized that Controller Pilot Digital Link Communications (CPDLC) and its enabler, air/ground digital link were a kind of given for them… Their centre has either already implemented it or had plans for it and while their opinion diverged on the usefulness of the thing, they certainly did not consider it as anything exciting. In a way this is good. The more everyday air/ground digital link becomes, the more we can consider having cleared a major hurdle in implementing an important capacity enabler.
But not being familiar with the history of a particular development reduces our ability to understand its shortcomings and its future potential.
With this article I would like to put on the table a few, sometimes amusing, sometimes incredible, details from the last 15 years of so about air/ground digital link development in the hope that it will be provide some insight into what is after all a very exciting development in air traffic management.
The story will not be comprehensive; it is only a summary and is based mainly on my recollections. I was pretty close to the fire but possibly for that very reason I may have seen things in a light that was colored differently from the actual reality. If you have better information, do comment on my version of the tale.
Click here to read the full article
We need pro-active safety
On 10/10/2009, in Viewpoint, by steve
After two aircraft collided over Zagreb on 10 September 1976, authorities in the region started to scramble, speeding up the introduction of more modern ATC equipment. The Uberlingen mid-air in 2002 highlighted several shortcomings in pilot training as well as ATC practices. Then we jump to 2009 and a crash near Buffalo in the US reveals not only that the captain of that flight had withheld important information from the airline about his previous performance shortcomings but also that the crew was operating in a fatigued state that would normally be too much for driving a car let alone flying an aircraft. A few months later, an Air France Airbus 330 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and even without the flight data recorders, authorities point to a possible failure of the Pitot tubes on the aircraft (and an apparent failure to heed earlier warning signs from other aircraft) and possible training shortcomings limiting the crew’s ability to deal with an extremely complicated situation.
What is going on here? Mind you, the airlines and air traffic services providers involved in these incidents have safety policies and practices that meet the industry expectations. Yet, somehow those policies and practices were undercut with disastrous consequences.
Click here to read the full article
Bio is in…
On 17/09/2009, in Environment - Without hot air, by steve
One of the, perhaps not unexpected, results of the current world economic crisis is the explosive growth of corporate social responsibility. Part of this is in response to the growing demand of the general population to move from unchecked consumerism and predatory capitalism to a more sustainable and socially more equitable form of market economy. Protecting the environment while working on this change is a natural.
Corporations are responding because they have discovered that a more socially responsible attitude brings not only new sources of investment but also increased customer loyalty. Of course this is nothing new. Benjamin Franklin was on the same track when he was popularizing the idea of doing well by doing good… and that was quite some years before Lehman Brothers et al.
For some reason, air transportation has been a popular target of environmentalists and politicians alike who tend to attack the industry for being environmental morons who are also socially irresponsible. Since it is not really realistic (even for environmentalists and politicians) to suggest that airlines offer bicycles to their customers instead of aircraft seats, the elegant and simple solution of capping air traffic growth is being put forward instead by some.
Click here to read the full article
Fast trains and airplanes in China
On 27/08/2009, in Viewpoint, by steve
When we say High Speed Train, we tend to think of France and Japan first and foremost. We also know that there is a kind of love-hate relationship between those fast train companies and the airlines. Love is in the air, or rather on the tracks, when some Thalys trains run with an Air France flight number between Brussels and Paris Charles De Gaulle airport or when several of Germany’s ICE trains carry a LH number… But when trains take passengers away from certain flights instead of feeding the airline network, love changes to hate…
Xinhua photo
The competition war between air and high speed rail travel is being fought in several areas, some of which make the playing field anything but level. City centre to city centre or airport to airport, the nightmares of airport security and the lack of it on the trains, public money in the infrastructure against full cost recovery for the airlines… No one has figured out yet how best to make these two great forms of transport live with each other.
In 2009, China is investing 50 billion US dollars in the construction of the world’s biggest high speed train network. What are the airlines in China thinking?
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