An Opportunity We Should not Miss!
On 20/01/2012, in The future is now, by steve
I was talking to an old time, well respected colleague the other day discussing his view that instead of forcing the industry to implement yet another expensive capability, full use should be made of what was already there… Once the benefits start to accrue, airspace users would be much more inclined to take the extra steps and accept the costs associated with the extra functionality (assuming of course that there was a business case for it). This discussion was in the context of basic PBN and the addition or not of things like Constant Radius Turns in en-route airspace.
Although I have always preferred a more all-out approach, his pragmatic views make perfect sense and is also something airline bean-counters are likely to accept more readily. Investing in speculative functionality when the existing stuff sits idle most of the time is difficult to justify. Of course focusing mainly on use-what-is-already-there-first will not speed up progress but will make the simpler things happen with a higher degree of probability. Aim for too much, and nothing happens. I hate to admit it, but he is right…
Having given credit where credit is due, my incorrigible drive for wanting the whole thing kept chewing my soul. There was something here that we could turn to our advantage. But what was it exactly?
Then I remembered… The thousands of A320NEOs and Boeing 737MAXs. Airlines have ordered these more fuel efficient versions of the old favorites to basically replace a large part of their fleets almost overnight. Now if only those new babies could come with all kinds of goodies fitted right from the start…
What are we talking about? From an air traffic management perspective, there are three items that I would have on my wish list: air/ground digital link and CPDLC, ADS-B in and out and a full set of PBN capabilities.
I can almost hear opponents shouting: with those new versions not due for another three years or so, what technology should the manufacturers use for ADS-B for instance? Stay with Mode S Extended Squitter or go for something else? But what? Would it not be better to wait until the technology debate settles? We have of course heard this in the past. Waiting is equivalent to doing nothing and missing the boat. We have also seen that in the past… and suffer the consequences in the present day.
No Sire, this time we should be smarter.
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Airbus, Sharklets and a Lawsuit
On 30/12/2011, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
Perhaps you too have been wondering when you saw Boeing 737s and 757s sprouting winglets: why was the Airbus 320 family stuck with the old-fashioned wingtip fences? Winglets have been shown to bring substantial (up to 5 %) reduction in fuel burn and the Aviation Partners, Inc. (API) blended winglet design, patented in 1994, have been around for many years.
Why was Airbus resisting?
I have talked to airline people who have had experience with specifying aircraft they were going to buy from both Boeing and Airbus. If I say they had a very low opinion of the European manufacturer’s relationship with customers, I am not even coming close to what they said. Remember the story of the A350? Had it not been for a few very vocal customers practically beating Airbus on the head, the folks in Toulouse would have not deviated from their original, rather outdated, ideas.
One can only surmise but it is probably true to say that with the 320 selling like hot cakes, Airbus simply did not much care. Why spend money and effort on improving something when it was being bought as it was, without fancy new appendages like winglets? It is interesting that Airbus customers were not banging the door about this… may be they had but there was nobody home. In any case, when the API winglets were tried on a JetBlue Airways A320, the 5 % fuel saving was actually demonstrated. By not adopting winglets much earlier, Airbus caused its customers to lose a lot of money quite unnecessarily.
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Direct Routes and Wind Updates – Boeing Tools to Improve Flight Efficiency
On 12/12/2011, in The future is now, by steve
For air traffic controllers, giving a “direct” to a flight is a good feeling. They have, after all, probably shortened the track to be flown and this saves fuel. A good thing, right? Well, yes and no.
In the legacy environment where aircraft are made to fly routes that are usually much longer than they need to be, a direct is almost always a welcome intervention. In the upcoming SESAR and NextGen 4D trajectory environment, a direct might be seen as a distortion of the carefully crafted business trajectory. The aircraft arrives early, impacting other trajectories and upsetting the balance that had been worked out to provide maximum efficiency.
Of course the SESAR/NextGen 4D environment is some way off and in the meantime Boeing is providing two new tools that go a long way towards optimizing the way aircraft fly. The beauty of it all is that these tools do not require extra hardware on the aircraft using them. Any reasonably modern aircraft can play.
So, what is Direct Route?
This is an application that is managed by Boeing InFlight Optimization Services and which is able to figure out how to optimize the trajectory of individual flights.
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The Boeing 787, more than just a new aircraft in the sky
On 07/12/2011, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
With the long awaited new 787 finally in the hands of launch customer All Nippon Airways, an 89 month run for the manufacturer has come to the end but it does not mean that they are looking to slow down in Chicago and Seattle. Two stretched versions, the 787-9 and the 787-10 are on the horizon and ramping up the production of the current model -8 is a challenge unto itself.
821 net orders for the type speaks for itself. Curiously, Airbus continues to hold that composite materials are suitable for wings and secondary structures but not for fuselage sections. They will build the A350XWB with this in mind… Well, time will tell but I do not think Boeing is a company that would get something like this wrong.
In any case, the 787 is an innovator in more ways than just its composite fuselage.
It has an interesting heritage, a kind of virtual family that never flew yet had a huge impact on what the 787 has become and what its competitors will look like (Airbus comments notwithstanding).
Back in the times when the Boeing 747-400 was still the undisputed Queen of the skies, Airbus came with the idea of building something even bigger. As the A380 slowly took shape, Boeing was faced with a dilemma. Should they compete with the new large transport head on or come with something not quite so big but so innovative that it took at least part of the limelight off from Airbus’ new baby?
The answer was not easy for two reasons: Boeing did honestly believe that there was no market for two aircraft types the size of the A380 and hence little chance of a competing line ever breaking even; if however they opted for a smaller product, they would need to avoid competing with their own best selling aircraft, the 777.
For a time, they felt that airlines might be attracted to a new aircraft that would beat everyone else by flying faster than anyone else. Not supersonic but coming close… The result of this thinking was the Sonic Cruiser, a concept that arrived at the worst possible time in terms of shifting airline preferences. It was the beginning of the times when fuel efficiency rose to the top of everybody’s agenda leaving higher speed off the wish-list (if indeed it had ever been there).
Boeing quickly dropped the Sonic Cruiser and redefined its offering, this time focusing on fuel efficiency. The 7 Efficient 7 was sketched out by engineers and soon renamed the 787 by the marketing folks.
It was clear from the start that the 787 must be something special.
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A Classic with Winglets
On 02/12/2011, in The lighter side, by heading370
Brussels Airlines, Belgium’s main carrier operates an interesting mixed fleet out of Europe’s capital. It is one of the few European companies that fly a winglet version of the Boeing 737 Classic, the 300 series. Airliner World has been invited to see how they fly.
Brussels Airlines rose from the ashes of Sabena after its bankruptcy in 2001. The new company was first set up with the trading name SN Brussels Airlines (SNBA), based on the former Sabena subsidiary Delta Air Transport (DAT). SNBA later merged with Virgin Express and the name was changed to Brussels Airlines. Brussels Airlines is currently part owned by Lufthansa and a member of the Star Alliance. Today the airline operates 32 Avro Jets (a mix of BAe 146-s, AVRO RJ85-s and 100-s), 4 Airbus A319-s, 5 Airbus 330-300-s serving the African destinations and 5 Boeing 737-300-s and 4 400 series, inherited from Virgin Express.
Our contributor joined a flight from Brussels to Naples that was operated by OO-LTM one of the Aviation Partners winglet equipped Boeing 737-300. This interesting project started in 2005 when Virgin Express was contacted by Aviation Partners – Boeing to propose the winglets for the company’s B737-300 Classics. Virgin Express made a historical decision since up to then no other operators retrofitted the type, only New Generation B737-s were equipped. Time has proven that the decision was right as the winglets bring remarkable benefits in daily operations. Using winglets result in an average 5 % fuel saving but also enhance aircraft performance: because of the reduced drag, less thrust is needed for the same take-off performance. This is particularly useful at very noise-sensitive airports like Brussels. In practice this meant that the company could de-rate the CFM56 engines at 20 kN, making take-off-s much quieter and also extending the lifespan of the engines.
Today all but one of the B737-300-s are equipped. (The exception, OO-VEN is modified with 2° drooped flaps as are all the 400-s because the winglet modification was not possible on this 300 and not available yet for the 400 series.)
Our aircraft OO-LTM (c/n 25070) was delivered in 1991 to another Belgian company, TEA Trans European Airlines then it was taken over later by EuroBelgian Airlines. From 1996 it has been flying in Virgin Express colours and finally from 2007 – following the merger with SNBA – adopted Brussels Airlines’ logo.
I met the crew of the flight Captain Frank De Paepe and First Officer Gregory Claes at Zaventem National airport in Brussels. The cockpit crew was supplemented by three cabin crew, Ms Brigitte Favaretto, Ms Agnes Mier and Mr Constantinos Triantafyllos. On this Saturday, the aircraft which is able to carry 142 passengers was about half full.
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Island hopping with Travel Service
On 18/11/2011, in The lighter side, by heading370
Summer months are of crucial importance for all airlines but they are even more so for those in the charter business. Airliner World was happy to accept the invitation of one of those charter companies, Travel Service Hungary – an affiliate of its owner Travel Service A.S. – to check how their operations are conducted from their Budapest base.
The Czech company was founded in 1997 and became one of the fastest growing Central European charter operators. In 2008 the company transported 2.8 million passengers using a fleet of 18 aircraft. The company has 2 Boeing B737-500, 12 B737-800 (of which OK-TVJ and OK-TVK were delivered brand new), 2 Airbus A320 and two B737-800 on wet lease. They have been present in Hungary since 2001 and operate about 32 medium and long haul flights a week from Hungary while employing 21 full time pilots at that base.
On a beautiful Sunday morning in July at Budapest-Ferihegy (ICAO:LHBP, IATA: BUD) Terminal 2B I met one of the airline’s young captains Peter Buliczka and his crew getting ready for an interesting trip. The flight’s first stop will be at Heraklion, Nikos Kazantzakis airport (ICAO: LGIR, IATA: HER) Crete then we will fly on to Rhodes (Rodos) Diagoras (ICAO: LGRP IATA: RHO) before heading back to Budapest. Some time ago the airline would have operated two separate flights to these two destinations, but because of the falling demand this summer travel agencies struggled to fill these flights every week.
Captain Buliczka introduced me to the entire crew: the captain will be assisted by First Officer Attila Lanc in the cockpit, while in the cabin the usual crew of four will be supplemented by two young trainee flight assistant colleagues under the supervision of Purser Zoltan Koltai.
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Landing Gear Problems – Seen from the Cockpit
On 03/11/2011, in Life around runways, by phil
“It’s too much to say I am a national hero, I am absolutely sure that any one of our pilots could have landed the plane and the result would have been the same because we train for situations like this on simulators”, So said Captain Wrona after the wheels-up landing of the LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767 at Warsaw. And he is absolutely right. No pilot I have ever known has wanted to be a hero; he or she just wants a quiet life and to do a good professional job, as do our ATC colleagues.
As a counter view to the previous article giving the view from the Control Tower, I would like to say a few words about how this incident would have been seen from the cockpit.
I have never operated ETOPS aircraft and so will not comment on the wisdom or otherwise of continuing across the Atlantic with one of the hydraulic systems out of action. I operated Boeing 747s where we had the luxury of having 4 engines and 4 hydraulic systems. But what I would like to comment on is how one handles a wheels-up landing and some of the decisions that would have had to be made by the flight crew.
The first thing is that no-one would have expected the alternate gear lowering system to fail. This consists of a simple electrical system which releases the uplocks so that gravity and aerodynamic loads will effect a free fall of all the undercarriage legs. The failure of this system would only have become apparent during the initial approach when the crew were ready to lower the gear. At this point there would probably have been sufficient fuel on board for somewhere between 1 and 2 hours flying time. Thus there was time to assess the situation, to consult the airline’s maintenance department, try a number of other methods of lowering the gear, to burn off fuel so as to reduce the landing weight and minimise the residual fuel in the tanks, and to prepare for an emergency landing and subsequent evacuation.
No-one wants to have to deal with an emergency of any sort, but these things are a fact of life and are trained for on the simulator. Most (all) aircraft manufacturers recommend, in these situations, landing with all available gears extended.
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Landing Gear Problems – Seen from the Tower
On 02/11/2011, in Life around runways, by steve
Next to the engines, the most complicated single system on retractable-gear aircraft is arguably the landing gear. Not only is it required to sustain huge static and dynamic loads, it must also be able to fold sufficiently to be tucked away in a compartment that would make anyone claustrophobic. Luckily, the landing gear is also one of the most reliable parts of an aircraft. This is as it should be since, as the saying goes, you can land an aircraft without its gear down… but only once.
Last Tuesday, the pilots of a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767 rose to the occasion and landed their 767 in Warsaw with the gear up following discovery of a hydraulic system failure that prevented the gear from being extended. After its long flight from Newark, the plane came to rest on its belly but still on the runway with nobody hurt. A bit of luck and great airmanship were in perfect harmony here.
The 767 has short “legs” meaning that the travel of the struts on landing is relatively short and so the damping is correspondingly hard. If you have flown in a 767, you will probably have noticed that it is rare indeed that she arrives back on terra firma in a landing that you would call a “greaser” in old air force parlance. But what the passengers experienced on this landing in Warsaw was the mother of all “hard landings”.
Of course an aircraft coming in to land without gears is something that makes hearts race not only on board but also in the air traffic control units handling the flight. Of them all, perhaps the tower is the most concerned. After all, they will witness in real time and with their own eyes how the landing turns out in the end.
I have memories of two such incidents from many years ago, both involving TU-134s operated by Malev Hungarian Airlines.
The first incident concerned uncertainty about the nose wheel being properly locked in its lowered position. At first it all looked like a normal approach until the pilot radioed the tower as they were descending on the ILS glide-slope that there was a problem with the landing gear and that they wanted to perform a missed approach and go into the holding to investigate. As they whistled over the runway climbing back into the sky, the landing gear appeared to be down but there was no way to ascertain that it was also locked in place. This was one of the older model TU-134s with the glass nose and we all thought of the navigator whose seat is down there in the nose… if the nose wheel folds when it touches down, his seat would be hot… literally.
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Space taxis? Boeing will build them in Florida
On 31/10/2011, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
Space Florida is an agency backed by the State of Florida established to advance space related business in the State, now that the retirement of the space shuttle fleet has left many major facilities unused. Boeing Co. has announced that they have reached an agreement with Space Florida to lease the old Orbiter Processing Hangar Bay 3 at the Kennedy Space Centre in Central Florida. The purpose? To build 7-seat space taxis, no less.
NASA is currently sponsoring four companies to build space vehicles that can be used to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The name space-taxi is an apt designation as the vehicles will in all likelihood be operated by commercial companies with the service being used by NASA and other customers on a rent-a-ride basis.
This is of course completely in line with the plans of the Kennedy Space Centre which wants to develop a state of the art spaceport that will be able to support NASA missions as well as serve the needs of commercial customers in the US and abroad.
Just an interesting aside… there was a time when the space shuttle was seen as the pinnacle of space travel technology and now, only a few decades later, state of the art means something totally different. Something that is not even in the same direction of development. Of course a lot have been learned from the shuttle development and many materials that are commonplace now in our homes were first used on the shuttle… But still, as a vehicle concept, it has proven a dead end.
Boeing’s taxis, called the CST (Crew Space Transportation)-100, is a 7 seat capsule that will be carried into space on an Atlas 5 rocket. Have we not seen something like that before?
In any case, you will have to wait until 2016 before you can whistle up a space-taxi.
Technologists vs. Economists
On 21/10/2011, in Managers' corner, by steve
It is not a secret that some people considered Boeing’s decision to forego the New Small Aircraft and follow Airbus’ lead in re-engining their existing product a poor one and something that will delay the appearance of a really novel aircraft by a decade if not more. I must confess that I am one of those who would have loved to see the two airframers rush to bring the single-aisle of the future to market.
Commenting on the same subject in a recent issue of Aviation Week, Richard Aboulafia , VP for analysis at the Teal Group, while approving the Boeing decision, divided the world in two groups of people. There are the Technologists and the Economists.
For Technologists, “aviation is a technology driven business, with new equipment stimulating demand and therefore creating its own market”. Economists on the other hand “view technology as a means to an end: profit”. He also points out that most airlines and aircraft companies are run by Economists.
Reading this very interesting article, I stopped to do some soul searching. Which camp did I really belong to?
Some years ago, still as an assistant director infrastructure at IATA, I was called to hold afternoon-length sessions for ATC supervisors at EUROCONTROL’s school in Luxemburg with the aim of outlining to them what the airline industry wanted from air traffic management in the future. I usually started out shocking them by the statement: airlines were just a business and air traffic management must behave in a way that facilitates that business. By proxy, ATC was just a part of a complicated business environment.
I have also often argued for having a business case for just about everything… New channel spacing? Business case. Air/ground digital link services? Business case. Mode S Enhanced Surveillance? No, I did not want that even if there was a business case (there never has been, not a credible one anyway).
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737MAX, Boeing’s answer to the A320NEO
On 30/09/2011, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
There is a real feeding frenzy around the future Airbus 320NEO (New Engine Option) with some 1200 orders and commitments having been booked by the manufacturer, almost double of what they expected. Boeing’s answer is the 737MAX and this old/new aircraft is also selling like hot cakes.
So how did we get from the NSA and 737NE to the 737MAX?
Airlines have been urging Airbus and Boeing for some time to come up with a replacement for the 320 and 737 families. The airlines had pretty clear ideas about what they wanted and this focused mainly on fuel efficiency and environmental sustainability. For the manufacturers however the task was anything but simple.
Quite apart from the fact that both the legacy 320 and the 737 new generation are selling very well (and hence there not being much of a motivation for the airframers to spend money on a replacement), there was the very clear engineering question: how could such a new aircraft be built so that it would be technologically future proof for the next 30-40 years? A shorter life-span would simply not make economic sense. Keep in mind that Boeing is introducing the 737MAX almost 50 years after the original 737 was launched.
Although a lot of innovation has gone into types like the 787 and A350, they are still traditional design that fall short of what we could call aircraft of the future.
Providing the quantum leap in fuel efficiency desired by the airlines would require even better new materials, aerodynamics and engines, very little of which was mature enough to go on a real aircraft.
Boeing was talking about the NSA, the New Small Aircraft as the follow up to the 737 even while Airbus was looking into re-engining the 320, a kind of half-way house that would bring efficiencies without the huge cost of developing a completely new aircraft.
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Paper or plastic?
On 22/09/2011, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
Shopping in grocery stores across the US you are likely to hear this question at check out from the guy whose task it is to place your purchases in your preferred kind of bag (plastic or paper..?). In a way, airframe manufacturers are asking a similar question: plastic or aluminum? The implications are tremendous.
Composite materials have been used in aircraft for several years now, mainly in secondary structures of relatively limited size. Composites are best known for their strength, light weight, resistance to corrosion and difficulty to repair. When Boeing decided to build the 787, they set out to create something truly revolutionary not so much in terms of aerodynamics but in terms of systems and materials. A new, largely electric architecture (replacing bulky hydraulics) was combined with a fuselage built almost entirely of composite materials.
Not to be outdone, Airbus redesigned its A350 project, also giving composites a greater role. There are however fundamental differences in the structures being used by the two manufacturers. While Boeing is building the fuselage from composite barrel sections, Airbus has opted for a more conservative solution, placing composite panels on a frame made of aluminum alloy.
While the A350 is still to see the light of day, the 787 is approaching first delivery to ANA in Japan… after a delay of several years. Only a small part of this delay is directly attributable to the composite construction but there are some important lessons to be learned nevertheless.
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No new 737 from Boeing. The 737NE is coming instead
On 26/08/2011, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
When Airbus announced the decision to re-engine the A320 family, as opposed to building an all-new replacement, everyone was looking at Boeing to see how the American giant would respond. Managers and engineers mulled over the issue in Seattle and Chicago while Airbus booked a hefty 1000 orders for the 320NEO (New Engine Option).
Initially it looked like Boeing would meet the challenge head-on and build a completely new 737, the NSA (New Small Airplane) using a lot of composite parts and adopting the 787’s all-electric architecture. In fact, Chairman/CEO James McNerney actually hinted in a speech that for Boeing only the NSA was an appropriate response to Airbus’ re-engined 320 family.
While Boeing could take comfort in the fact that orders for the 320NEO came mainly from existing Airbus operators and no long-established Boeing customers had deserted to the enemy, uncertainty grew over Boeing’s ability to design and manufacture the NSA with service entry around 2015 (when the 320NEO will hit the market). Although the technology that would make the NSA ultra competitive in terms of operating costs is in fact available, bringing it all together is seen as requiring a length of time that is simply not available in view of the Airbus offering’s timing. Boeing’s customers have also signaled that after the initial enthusiasm for a new, advanced aircraft they would prefer to have something earlier even if it was less of jump towards the future.
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If you have to crash…
On 23/08/2011, in Safety is no accident, by steve
When some 500 personnel of the Canadian Armed Forces set out on their yearly training exercise that included conducting a rescue of survivors from a simulated airliner crash site, little did they suspect that within a few hours they would be doing this very thing for real.
First Air Flight 6560, a Boeing 737-200 was flying from Yellowknife to Resolute Bay with 15 people on board, including four crew, when it hit a small hill in increment weather. 12 people, including all the crew, were killed in the accident.
Personnel of the Canadian Forces participating in the annual Arctic military exercise Operation Nanook were immediately called in to conduct rescue operations. Their nearness was key to saving the survivors. Experts in the area agreed that the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre AFB Trenton would probably not be able to send a team this far North as quickly in normal circumstances.
In any case, the crash has highlighted the need to look into how response times to remote locations can be shortened, officials said.
The Arctic aviation community is a tightly knit family and the crash has hit everyone in the business. First Air provides scheduled passenger and cargo service between 25 northern communities with connections to Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal and Ottawa. The airline began in 1946 as Bradley Air Services, offering charter, surveying, passenger and cargo flights across northern Canada.
The Arctic is a very tough environment for pilots. While they perform essential services flying supplies and personnel in and out of those remote communities, the infrastructure is anything but ideal. Things are only made worth by weather. When the air gets warm in the summer, water in the lakes remains cold and air passing over a lake cools suddenly, creating fog that rolls over the place. Resolute Bay is near such a body of water and fog is a frequent visitor as a result.
In spite of the challenging environment, flying in the High-North of Canada has been remarkably safe, a testimony to the dedication of the men and women operating there.
A Canadian soldier watches a CH-146 Griffon Helicopter return from the crash site.
Wouldn’t you love to know…
On 19/08/2011, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
Did you ever wonder where the new car you just ordered was being built and even more, when the wonderful process of parts coming together to grow into an automobile, your automobile, started. Not to the hour but at least to the day.
I guess if you order a Rolls-Royce or some other exclusive car, they might be able and willing to tell you.
Your other option is to buy a spanking new 787 Dreamliner. Especially if you are the first to take delivery of the new jet in North America, you will know exactly when your new baby enters the gestation period.
On 17 August, United Continental Holdings announced that the first of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft has entered the assembly phase at Boeing’s facility in Everett, Wash. In early 2012, United will be the first North American carrier to take delivery of the aircraft, marking the first of 50 Dreamliners for the airline.
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Air France and Hungarian water-melons
On 13/07/2011, in Viewpoint, by steve
While Hungarians are being urged by their Minister of Agriculture to buy a few extra pieces of water-melons, thereby helping local growers, French politicians under the leadership of right-wing MP Bernard Carayon are proclaiming: “Air France is Airbus, not Boeing”. Excuse me?
Of course this incredible folly is a direct retaliation for the US Air Force’s decision to source their tanker aircraft from Boeing and not Airbus. At stake now is Air France-KLM’s fleet renewal involving the purchase or leasing of scores of long and medium range aircraft, a multi-billion euro investment decision.
I very much doubt that either Air France-KLM or Airbus is pleased by this ham-handed and totally uncalled-for political interference which, like all such interferences whether they concern water-melons or aircraft, ultimately will only hurt those it was supposed to help.
One can only hope that the French initiative will stop at being grand-standing and will not in any way influence the airline group’s purchasing decisions. Should this not be the case, the French MPs will have given an extra trump card into the hands of those who had opposed sourcing such a strategic asset as the US Air Force tanker fleet from a company under the thumb of a country known to have its own peculiar way of doing things.
In a post back in February this year, we commented: “I tend to agree with those who have said right from the start that a strategic asset like the tankers for the US Air Force should not come from anywhere else but the US. While from a commercial or even operational point of view an Airbus product may have its merits, having such a strategic asset being dependent on a foreign government (however friendly… ) is not a good idea.”
If (and I stress this is still a big if) Air France-KLM is “encouraged” by the French to buy Airbus rather than Boeing it would be easy to picture what might have happened if the US Air Force equipped with Airbus tankers and then found itself in a conflict somewhere in the world not to the taste of some French parliamentarians…
The French MPs should take the example of the Hungarians and if they feelt this urge to meddle, stay with water-melons.
A personal reflection on the AF447 accident
On 01/07/2011, in Safety is no accident, by phil
I write from the perspective of a long retired pilot who only flew on old fashioned round dial types (Britannias, VC10s, 707s and 747s). This does not mean that I decry the modern Airbus and Boeing systems – far from it, I think the Airbus philosophy has made a great contribution to air safety.
The views that follow are drawn from my own personal experience, from reading the BEA’s (Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses) reports and from sifting through various aviation websites. This article is an attempt to discuss in layman’s language what may have happened on AF447 over the South Atlantic in 2009, to explain some of the complications involved, and to pose a number of questions. Those of you with long memories will remember the DH Comet accidents in the 1950s and how the lessons learned improved the structural integrity of all subsequent civil aircraft. When the full story of the AF447 is finally revealed, I hope this accident may act as a catalyst for changes to the way regulators, airlines and pilots conduct training on advanced highly automated aircraft.
The aviation industry has a very good safety record. We learn from every accident and incident. Therefore, if procedures and training are improved as an outcome of this tragic accident and safety is further improved as a result, those 228 people will not have died in vain.
At this point it is right to emphasise that speculation in the absence of facts is of little use. However, in the light of the reports below, certain conclusions can be drawn. But even more important they raise questions that it is hoped will soon be answered.
The BEA has issued three interim reports. The first, issued soon after the accident, discusses the pitot tubes and gives the information on how they function and how they are connected to the flight system.
The second, issued 30 Nov 2009, describes how pitot tubes are certified and the previous experiences of icing on pitot tubes manufactured by Thales and Goodrich.
The third (an update issued 27 May 2011) gives some information from the FDR and CVR regarding the last moments of the flight.
The crew were all qualified and experienced on type. The captain had a total of 10,988 flying hours, with 1,474 on type. The senior co-pilot had the necessary licence endorsements to act as a replacement for the captain during his rest period, and had a total of 6,547 flying hours, with 4,479 on type. The more junior co-pilot had a total of 2,936 flying hours, with 809 on type.
Weather Considerations
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From leather to electronic – the evolution of the flight bag
On 27/05/2011, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
This article was written using in part material kindly provided by Mr. Dave Allen
The gems in my collection
Among my travel gear accumulated over the years, I have two items that are really iconic and which are both on the way out. They are two leather flight bags, one from Jeppesen in the traditional shape and form that pilots have hauled with them for decades. The other is a flight bag created for Finnair in the 70’s and it has a peculiar shape, with the top narrower than the bottom. This bag was designed to fit between the pilots’ seat and the wall of the cockpit on the DC-8’s then flown extensively by the Finish carrier. The bag was a gift from one of their pilots who doubled as an IFALPA representative in some of the meetings we attended together. Although the Finnair bag shows its age, it is probably indestructible and will stay with me for many more years.
Pilots carried flight bags filled with charts and operating manuals, circular slide rules, headsets and other stuff, often representing a load item of 40 pounds or more. It was easy to recognize a pilot even if he or she was not wearing their stripes, the flight bag was a dead giveaway.
The utility, and possibly the aura, of this roomy but otherwise simple device was not lost on travel gear manufacturers and a flight bag shaped case is no longer an almost certain guarantee that its hauler is an aircraft driver.
But no problem, leather is being replaced by electronics and the traditional flight bag is slowly but surely giving way to the EFB or Electronic Flight Bag.
What is an EFB?
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Amsterdam’s SARA – an important step towards the future
On 16/05/2011, in The future is now, by steve
If you read the current SESAR documentation, you cannot fail to notice one of the more serious misunderstandings that still prevail in the project. In SESAR terminology, ATM progress goes from time-based operations to trajectory based operations (TBO) and then to performance based operations. This reveals the, oft bemoaned, confusion between TBO and performance based operations. Under PBO we will still be using the TBO paradigm… But never mind, that will be the subject of another article.
This time round I would like to introduce to you a new development, a true time-based operations gem that goes under the name SARA (Speed and Route Advisor) and which will be implemented in the Amsterdam FIR starting in 2012 with the functionality expanding stepwise in the following period.
So what is SARA and what does it do?
One of the big capacity guzzler in busy TMAs is the unpredictability and instability of the arriving stream of aircraft. The numerous conflicts require constant radar vectors and radio traffic, resulting in high workload for both pilots and controllers as well as often inefficient trajectories. Developing an effective arrival management system is a real challenge.
The objective of SARA is to give advice on speed and/or routing to (Upper) Area Controllers in order to achieve the planned arrival time(s) of the aircraft over fixes (and implicitly via the Inbound Planning (IBP) function over the runway threshold).
Click here to read the full article
Incredible story – or is it?
On 23/03/2011, in Shop floor talk, by steve
Imagine an American opening his daily paper and finding an article about Boeing Commercial Airplanes that ran something like this.
“It was announced to-day that Boeing’s VP for Customers was leaving the company even before its CEO and COO are to swap places later this year as called for by the agreement between the State of Washington and the State of Illinois. The place swapping is taking place for purely political reasons since both men have performed in their current positions to the satisfaction of shareholders and employees alike. The departure of VP Customers is especially painful for a company which had to survive the departure of two CEOs within a hundred days in 2006. It was the now departing VeePee who kept the company’s customers from giving up on them…
As if this politically motivated change of guard was not enough, Chrysler, one of the aircraft maker’s biggest shareholders has indicated that they want to get rid of their part in the company. The automaker has the same share in Boeing as the US government. The rest is held by a consortium of banks and the State of New Mexico. But, to add insult to injury, the banks also want to sell and this would leave the US government the biggest shareholder, something that will never be accepted by New Mexico. Not surprisingly, the Democrats and the Republicans are divided over the issue with the Republicans not exactly charmed by the idea of the government owning even part of an aircraft maker.”
Without a doubt, the guy reading this would call his broker and sell his shares in the Boeing Company…
Do you think this nightmare scenario could ever come to pass in the United States? No, I do not think so either.
And in Europe? What did you say? No? Wrong!
Replace Boeing by Airbus, The US Government with the France, Chrysler with Daimler and the political agreement as being between Germany and France… and forget about New Mexico. The rest is true. It is happening as you read this. It is happening because of the peculiar company Airbus still is. Compared to Boeing, Airbus is still very much a political football and their decisions are heavily influenced by the power plays of the big European states.
In the circumstances it is a wonder that they manage to build such great airplanes…
Interesting people, unusual flight plans…
On 11/03/2011, in Interesting people, by steve
David Allen – Raised in an aviation family in an aviation town
Dave was Chief Engineer, Crew Information Systems at Boeing
What were you dreaming of becoming when you were a kid?
I was raised in an aviation family in an aviation town. I was born and raised for 16 years in Wichita, Kansas. My father was an Industrial Engineer for Boeing, one uncle was a factory manager for Boeing in Philadelphia (previously a P-40 pilot during WWII), another uncle was a Boeing purchasing agent, and another uncle was a B-25 mechanic during WWI. So, I was raised listening to how airplanes were built at the dinner table. I remember going to the Wichita airport when I was around 10 to see my dad off on a trip to Seattle. I got to meet Bill Allen in the airport. So I have always been around aviation whilst growing up. We moved to Seattle for 10 months while my father worked on the TFX program (became the F-111, which Boeing lost). In 1968, we moved to Seattle where he became Director of Industrial Engineering for the new 737.
I digress some here. As I was growing up, my mother always brought up a complaint about one trip my father took right after my little sister was born. He was sent to Seattle for one week. That turned into two weeks, and slowing turned into 6 weeks. I listened to this many times over the years. A couple of years ago, after my mother brought it up again, my Dad asked me if I knew what he did during that time. He was sent up to do an analysis of the Renton plant to figure out how they would build the 737. After a week, he told the VP that there was not enough factory floor space to build the 737. That caused a great panic and he brought some other folks from Wichita. They figured out how to build the fuselage in Wichita and send it by train to Renton. They developed the complete plan and gained approval in that six weeks. Pretty amazing.
However, like most kids, I had no real career plans other than going to college.
If it was not aviation, what moved you to become part of the aviation family?
Click here to read the full article
737 successor is coming!
On 16/02/2011, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
Although officially Boeing maintains that they are still only evaluating their options concerning the future of the 737 (re-engining versus an all new aircraft), CEO Jim McNerney, speaking at the Cowen and Company Aerospace and Defense Conference in New York, basically confirmed that they will build an all new narrowbody to counter Airbus’s A320NEO.
Well, what did you expect? Boeing thinks that their loyal customers will wait for the new plane to come out around 2020, shunning the Airbus offering which will automatically become obsolete the moment Airbus decides to build an A320 replacement some time after the NEO has been put on the market.
CEOs are not given to proclaiming things without a basis and Mr. McNerney’s words that “it is not a done deal yet but they have a strong bias towards a new design” do mean more than just a tentative plan. Bet they will do it?
Airbus and Boeing have been facing down each other for some time now over this issue, with the likes of Bombardier and Embrear watching anxiously. Their future in the non-regional aircraft market will be affected in a big way depending on what the big boys decide.
Click here to read the full article
Do you really understand – Trajectory based operations (TBO)?
On 04/02/2011, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
There is a misconception in some air traffic management circles that trajectory based operations is simply business as usual except that the current, notoriously imprecise ground generated trajectories are replaced by more accurate, 4 D trajectories and that is all there is to it. Some will add that parts of this 4D trajectory might be sourced from the FMS or an airspace user ground system… While there is truth in all this, TBO is much more. Much much more and significantly, if the other aspects of TBO are not considered, the potential for benefits inherent in TBO is reduced significantly.
So, what is trajectory based operations?
First and foremost we must look at the basis of the existing operation. Air traffic management has grown historically along an airspace based paradigm. Airspace as such was a given so it stood to reason that early ATM experts set out to define airspace volumes which they thought would best fit the traffic they expected and established air traffic control units to fit the task foreseen in those volumes. When aircraft arrived, they were obliged to fly within the confines of the defined airspace and if their needs differed from that envisaged, the aircraft trajectory was bent to fit the picture. Of course this is a bit of an oversimplification but to this day, ATM is being done on this basis.
The end-to-end trajectory played almost no role in this game. To illustrate the point, juts consider that until recently the Central Flow Management Unit calculated expected sector loads on the basis of a trajectory the vertical dimension of which was famously inaccurate while ground ATC systems generated their own trajectories for their own airspace and these often did not tie up with the trajectory dreamed up by the neighboring unit. All this time however scores of experts everywhere worked furiously on airspace design and organization… Only a blind person could fail to see that this legacy, airspace based paradigm had to go if the volume and efficiency demands of increasing traffic were to be met.
Things were not helped at all by the fact that controllers were handing flights as if they were born just outside their sector boundary and went into the big blue yonder when they exited their sector. In other words, they only ever looked at a small part of the trajectory with little regard to what was or was not happening further downstream. Conflict free handover was the almost the only aim.
Because of the way airspace was used in the past, popular ATM wisdom came up with the notion that airspace was a scarce resource and it had to be organized better to save the day. This notion was a dangerous one because for a long time it did divert attention and effort from looking at the real problem. Trajectories…
Click here to read the full article
Freight dogging with TNT Airways
On 26/01/2011, in The lighter side, by heading370
Sure they can…!
A large majority of Air Traffic Controllers are usually busier during the day than during a nightshift. There are however a few radiotelephony callsigns which are always associated with night operations. One such call sigh is “Quality”, the official ICAO callsign of TNT Airways which sounds familiar to all ATCO-s on night duties. Our contributor Heading370 travelled to Liege Airport in Belgium to join the crew of TAY47R to find out how a typical short haul cargo flight is operated by the company.
TNT opened their European hub at Liege Airport in Belgium in 1998. They had several reasons to choose this airport. The company was looking for a location in the vicinity of the Paris-Amsterdam-Frankfurt-London area with excellent road connectivity and the future opportunities for expansion combined with unlimited number of night flights at an uncongested airport. That’s exactly what Liege was able to offer and made it a number one choice for the company. TNT Airways, the airline of the group has been created in 2000 and now operates a fleet of 42 aircraft. Every night an average of 40 aircraft serve 63 airports in 26 European countries from the Liege hub. The company also operates flights to New York JFK 5 times a week and flies to Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong three times a week. TNT Airways employs about 500 people in Liege including 250 pilots.
TTNT Airways’ fleet consists of 4 Boeing B747-400ERF (payload 117 tons), 2 Airbus A300B4-200F (payload 43 tons, operated by Air Atlanta), 5 Boeing 757-200SF (payload 25 tons – operated by Icelandair and Gestair), 12 Boeing B737-300SF including 2 QC (payload 17 tons), and 19 British Aerospace BAE146-200/300 including 2 QC (payload 12 tons).
Using the QC models the company can offer passenger charters as well besides its usual cargo operations.
Click here to read the full article
Airfield expansion and renewal – Maximizing benefits while minimizing costs the key
On 21/01/2011, in Life around runways, by steve
Jeffrey Gagnon, a speaker at the Airfield Engineering and Asset Management Conference, talks to Bryan Camoens on the issues airfields are facing across the globe, as well as the challenges and solutions for airfield expansion and renewal projects.
Bryan Camoens:
What are some of the issues that airfields are facing across the globe?
Jeffrey Gagnon:
Airports have to become “greener” currently and in the future by using “green” technology in both existing and future development of both vertical and horizontal work. The issues of sustainability and sustainable practices in both design and construction and the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) all fall under the umbrella of “Green” technology. Another issue which will be quickly effecting airfield pavements is the increase in aircraft tire pressures of future aircraft and those aircraft about to enter into the commercial fleets from Boeing and Airbus, in-particular the B-787 and A-350 where tire pressure are increasing from 218 psi to over 250 psi. Industry is unsure how these new aircraft will affect the life of the current pavements in place at numerous airfields and if current mix designs for asphalt pavement are sufficient for these new aircraft.
The other issue these new aircraft are affecting is the ICAO load rating system of Pavement Classification Number (PCN) and whether this classification system should be reviewed and revised to meet the future needs of the aircraft manufactures and airport authorities (owners).
Click here to read the full article
Airfield Engineering Asset Maintenance – A sector report
On 17/01/2011, in Life around runways, by steve
This article was compiled by Bryan Camoens and Ed Haines for the Airfield Engineering and Asset Maintenance 2011 Conference. You can contact Bryan here. To visit the conference web-site, click here.
Airport engineers, operational and maintenance heads are working under extremely challenging operational scheduling and cost constraints. In addition new, larger aircraft types and higher traffic levels require these personnel to plan significant extension and refurbishment of their airfield assets to ensure their airport is not left behind.
The need for runway expansions, upgrades and refurbishments is increasing the demands made on your airfield maintenance plans and strategies. At the same time, the windows of opportunity for carrying out this work whilst maintaining operational efficiency are becoming more limited.
This research paper will touch on the issues, challenges and probable outcomes we may begin to see on the Airfield Engineering landscape.
Click here to read the full article
Encouraging news from the SWIM front
On 07/01/2011, in SWIM, by steve
System Wide Information Management (SWIM) is one of the mainstays of both SESAR and NextGen. It has been known for some time now that a lot of the shortcomings in air traffic management (ATM) are directly or indirectly related to poor management and limited or non-existent sharing of the sea of information actually available at the various partners. SWIM will enable and encourage information sharing resulting in vastly improved ATM decisions based on a common picture of the ATM environment. You can read more about the SWIM concept here.
In the United States, Boeing and IBM have just finished a small project to demonstrate that it is in fact possible to provide timely and consistent information across organizational boundaries that can help improve decisions that become necessary when unforeseen events occur. They have in fact shown that SWIM type information sharing is feasible and useful.
In crisis situations the sharing of up to the minute flight data (including surveillance data), information on restrictions, weather and facility availability is particularly important if decisions are to be timely and effective.
Click here to read the full article
Boeing 757 runway excursion at Jackson Hole, Wyoming
On 31/12/2010, in Safety is no accident, by steve
At 11.38 am Mountain Time on 29 December 2010, an American Airlines Boeing 757 overran the 6300 feet asphalt Runway 19 at Jackson Hole airport in Wyoming, USA. The aircraft came to rest about 350 feet beyond the runway end but there was no damage to the aircraft and no injuries among the 181 passengers and crew on board. It was snowing at the time of the incident and the runway overran area was covered by hard-packed snow, something that will have played a role in the no-damage outcome of this event.
An interesting detail… When news of the incident was first published on the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network, there was also a link to a video made by one of the passengers. Later this video was removed… I wonder why?
Anyway, here is the link to the detailed incident description and the (missing) video.
By the way, Jackson Hole has special relevance to BluSky Services.
Click here to read the full article
The Airbus NEO is coming
On 22/12/2010, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
It is definite now, the Airbus 320 family will get new engines, proper winglets and other enhancements so that it may stand on its own in the face of competition from, among others, the Bombardier CSeries and the Boeing 737NG.
NEO stands for New Engine Option and one of the new engines will of course be a variant of the P&W Geared Turbofan (GTF). This is good news for Pratt as riding on the Airbus band wagon will probably take away some of the reservations airlines seem to harbour in respect of the new turbofan architecture.
Analysts differ on the likely impact Airbus’ decision will have on the CSeries, a new aircraft proposal that has so far been less then spectacularly successful. Some believe the NEO Airbus will be replacing larger single-aisle aircraft and therefore will not eat significantly into Bombardier’s market. Others tend to view the CSeries as a dead duck.
Click here to read the full article
Watch your water drains!
On 16/12/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
Many years ago while working in Paris I bought a Peugeot 305… Do not laugh, I said it was many years ago and what looks to-day like a hopelessly boxy vehicle was a nice new model from the Lion back then. My Dad was worried about the 305’s Latin origins… in his eyes only German workmanship was worth your hard earned cash. I had no such reservations about French cars and in any case, with the diplomatic discount and all, the price was irresistible.
After several thousand miles of faithful service, I noticed in the middle of a really nasty thunderstorm that there was water dripping inside the car into the foot-well of the front passenger. Water coming from below is bad news, it indicates that your chassis is corroded but water dripping from higher up is even worse… that water can find its way into the car’s electrics and then anything can happen. I took the car to a friendly local garage and upon hearing my story, the mechanic on hand produced a foot long, hard wire of some kind and opened the bonnet. He then stuck the wire into a hole partially hidden by the plastic trim and moved it up and down vigorously. He then closed the bonnet and assured me that there would be no more water… he also gave me the wire and suggested that I clean the hole regularly. Apparently the 305’s water-drains were prone to blockage and all you needed to prevent trouble was the little piece of wire which I was the proud owner of now. I remember thinking on the way back to the ICAO office how lucky it was that aircraft were being built better… this could never happen on a 747. I was wrong!
Click here to read the full article
Brussels – CDM airport daylight hours only??
On 13/12/2010, in CDM, by steve
Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) is a vital element of the new air traffic management paradigm (you can read more about CDM in Roger-Wilco’s CDM category). Some airports in Europe are leading CDM implementation, among them Brussels. One would expect that operations at a CDM airport do not have to contend any more with such basic problems as waiting at a gate with no operator for the airbridge… Arrive late in the evening at Brussels and CDM airport or not, you will be treated to this kind of legacy problem.
Last Friday though they have given us a taste of the good old times, before CDM…
SN 2908 from Vienna was not only on time for its 23.10 arrival but it was actually some 15 minutes early. Landing on 25L the plane taxied to a remote position beyond the satellite terminal (see sketch below) where Brussels Airlines parks their aircraft for their week-end rest. Passengers were happy. 15 minutes may not be such a big gain in time but getting home 15 minutes earlier on a Friday night is a nice thing for everyone.
The plane came to a halt, engines fell silent and the doors… remained closed. Five minutes later the captain announced that we were a bit early and the stairs and bus were not yet available. It was then that some passengers started to ask the age old question, the one that started CDM as a concept more than two decades ago: do they not know it when a plane arrives early?????
Click here to read the full article
Screwing up the boarding process the Brussels Airlines way
On 11/12/2010, in On the go..., by steve
It is so much fun flying these days! Getting to the airport, struggling through security, navigating the intricate web of shops and eateries while waiting for the gate to be posted are just the small pleasures you get for the exorbitant service fees you are charged over and above the “cheap” airline ticket.
But fly Brussels Airlines from their home base in Brussels and you are treated to some extra fun. And not one either. On every trip if you are lucky (read more about this here and here).
On the morning of 7 December 2010 the scene at the gate allocated to SN flight 2901 was quite normal. Passengers to Vienna were gathering and the two gate agents (one male one female) were busy getting ready for the boarding process.
Of course one hidden mine was already there, firmly embedded in SN operations. In case you are not aware of this, Brussels Airlines flies a collection of Avro RJ (85 and 100)/Bae 146-200 and Boeing 737s on their European network. Flights to Vienna see both the 737s and the others and of course the boarding process of the 737 is (or should be) different from that of the much smaller RJs. SN seems to use the same procedure for both and in particular, they have the famous priority entry, reserved for business class and B Flex Economy+ passengers who are boarded first… The only problem is, business and the B Flex sections are in the first part of the cabin and the priority boarders create a mighty traffic jam in the aisle while they stow their gear. When the rest of the herd arrives, they are blocked from reaching the back of the plane, a situation that results in a messy scene and creates a totally unnecessary delay in completing the process. If only they would first call the last few rows like so many other airlines do…
But this morning they did one better, earning one of the employees (of SN???) the less than endearing title “asshole” from most of the English-speaking passengers on the flight. Here is what happened.
Click here to read the full article
The TITAN project – one year down the road
On 06/12/2010, in TITAN, by steve
I have always wondered whether passengers notice the organized chaos that characterizes aircraft at the gate, getting ready for its next trip. Whether it is a 737 operated by a low-cost carrier getting turned around in as little as 20 minutes or a 747 heading to the other side of the world and readied for departure in less than 90 minutes, the picture is much the same: a lot of machines, a lot of people, a lot of activities which magically all terminate all of a sudden as if on command and the aircraft is ready to go!
This is the turnaround process, one of the most critical phases of a flight. Yes, strange as it may sound, an aircraft on the ground being serviced for its next flight faces many organizational and technical hurdles, the handling of which introduces a degree of unpredictability seldom if ever encountered in actual flight.
Mess up the turnaround process and an immediate delay ensues which can throw the whole schedule of that particular airframe out of whack for the rest of the day. The nightmare of all airlines.
Of course what we see around the aircraft is only part of the show. Inside the terminal scores or hundreds of passengers will be streaming towards their gate and some will stop to shop, some to eat, others just to gape… in any case, their on time arrival at the gate is anything but certain. Another potential source of departure delay…
Click here to read the full article
Inside a jet engine
On 24/11/2010, in Safety is no accident, by phil
If, like me, you are wondering what goes on inside a jet engine the site below from Rolls Royce might help. As a pilot I merely used the thing, in my case four Rolls Royce RB211-524s on a Boeing 747-200 and very good they were too.
I also had a flight engineer who helped by ensuring that I didn’t do anything too stupid! Nowadays though, with FMS and FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) the computers do it all. One no longer has to set the power manually, while making small adjustments to ensuring that neither the N1, N2, N3 nor EGT limits were exceeded.
Click here to read the full article
Jeppesen Honors Miracle on the Hudson Pilots with a One-of-a-Kind Commemorative Chart and Binder Set
On 08/11/2010, in The lighter side, by steve
For more than 75 years Jeppesen has made it possible for pilots and their passengers to safely and efficiently reach their destinations. Today this pioneering spirit continues as Jeppesen delivers essential information and optimization solutions to improve the efficiency of air, sea and rail operations around the globe. Jeppesen is a subsidiary of Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, a unit of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Jeppesen not long ago presented “Miracle on the Hudson” pilots captain Chesley Sullenberger and first-officer Jeffrey Skiles with a specially designed approach chart and engraved Jeppesen chart binders to commemorate the remarkable ditching of US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009.
Entitled “Hudson Miracle APCH,” the one-of-a-kind chart includes several light-hearted notations that honor the famous water landing that saved the lives of 155 passengers and crew on board the flight disabled by bird strikes. In the “briefing strip” section of the chart, instructions include: “After water landing, oversee evacuation of ALL SOULS from airplane. Float via HUDSON RIVER to RESCUE point. Once everyone is SAFE aboard rescue boats, secure passenger list and double check cabin. Captain is last to exit. Give THANKS.”
The chart documents the historic five minute flight with a unique graphic, beginning with departure from LaGuardia Airport, followed by a “Cooked Goose Transition” point and “Hudson River Approach,” which is then followed by “Splash” and “Rescue” points on the water. The humorous chart also salutes the career achievements of the crew of flight 1549, including Sullenberger, Skiles, and veteran flight attendants Sheila Dail, Donna Dent and Doreen Welsh.
Along with the commemorative chart, the pilots were presented with a special Jeppesen chart binder, engraved with the famous fortune cookie advice kept in Sullenberger’s flight bag: “A delay is better than a disaster.” The items were presented by Mark Van Tine, Jeppesen president and CEO, during the 2010 Gathering of Eagles fundraiser dinner and auction held during the EAA AirVenture fly-in and air show in Oshkosh, Wisc. The EAA Young Eagles event raises funds and awareness for youth involvement in aviation.
You can read about the history of Jeppesen here.
To visit the Jeppesen web site, click here.
WorldFlight: driving virtual airspace to the max
On 02/11/2010, in Simulator world, by hoppie
On a sunny, crisp Sunday morning in Melbourne, Australia in the late 1990s, Matt Sheil raised the gear of his light twin and called Departure. With little traffic, he received clearance direct Sydney, his home town. Matt pointed the nose to the North-East, engaged the autopilot, and looked where he had put his newspaper.
Ten seconds later, he dropped the paper and stared at the GPS. What the hell was he doing? Sitting here in his own airplane, reading the newspaper, having himself transported home like cattle… why did he actually own an airplane and did not just book a seat on an airliner? The next morning, he sold off the aircraft, and decided that he would take ten years to build a credible, semi-professional simulator, to get the fun part of flying back into his life.
By the year 2000, the simulator actually was flyable and Matt decided to organise a small event to get some operation going. The aircraft simulated was a Boeing 747-400, so an around-the-world series of flights seemed the right way to go. A skeleton crew was assembled, and on November 5, 2000, Worldflight took to the skies, raising money for the Royal Flying Doctor’s Service.
John Davis, sim owner, and myself, software engineer, flying the Coventry 747-400
Over the years, Worldflight has grown to an annual event with a large share of followers. By now, up to nine full-size flight decks join the group, augmented by dozens of desktop simulators flown by people all over the world. All aircraft are linked into a virtual airspace provided by one of the virtual ATC networks, VATSIM. They can see each other out of the window, register all on TCAS when so equipped, and create a buzz of traffic that is quite a handful for the controllers.
Click here to read the full article
New engines for old favorites?
On 21/10/2010, in The aircraft we fly, by steve
There used to be a time when the big aircraft makers were churning out new types with astounding regularity. In the wide-body arena, there was a choice between the Tri-Star from Lockheed, the DC-10 from McDonnell Douglas and of course the 747 from Boeing. Narrow-bodies also came in a nice variety from the DC-9 through the MD-80 and the 727 to the 737. But let’s not forget that in those days a few legacy, long-range narrow-bodies were still plying the skies, just think of the DC-8 and the Boeing 707. Airbus joined the fray at the top end with the A300 which was a short-to-medium range wide-body and the first twin-engine wide-body as such. That was in 1971…
One thing was sure. Each new type brought something revolutionary, some novelty for which the airlines wanted to buy them. Safety and efficiency increased, noise decreased, passenger comfort improved…
In the meantime, the world went through a number of oil crises, stock market crashes, deregulation, 9/11 and the birth of low cost carriers and the market for narrow-body, short-to-medium range aircraft altered radically. The result? Only two types, the Boeing 737 and the Airbus 320 family survived and these days if you travel chances are you will find yourself in one of those, no matter where you are in the world.
Not that those types have not evolved over the years. In particular, the Boeing 737 had several versions with the biggest improvements coming with the New Generation (NG) series. But the 320 also improved if in less visible ways.
In spite of the improvements, the basic design of both the 737 and the 320 family has stayed much the same to this day.
When the 737 started sprouting winglets, bringing fuel efficiency improvements in the low single digits, the discussion was already going on: should the manufacturers design new aircraft to replace the existing types or should they think about re-engining the existing ones?
Click here to read the full article
Take off from wrong intermediate position – report now available
On 18/10/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary.
The UK AAIB has recently published its final report into the incident at St Kitts on 26 September 2009, when a Boeing 777-200 unintentionally began and completed take off from a different intermediate position on the departure runway than the one intended. The aircraft just succeeded in becoming airborne before the end of the paved surface was reached.
Read more about this incident here.
Read the full report here.
Aircraft guy saving Ford. The key? Shared information!
On 07/10/2010, in SWIM, by steve
I remember clearly how surprised I was to read a while back that Boeing’s Alan Mulally, after 37 years with the aircraft maker, went to head up the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. While still with Boeing, Alan gave the impression that he was an aircraft guy through and through and in fact he kept Boeing straight and level by innovative management techniques and by embracing all kinds of new production solutions that improved quality and efficiency across the board.
Come to think of it, it makes sense for Ford to want him. As Alan recently put it in an interview with Time magazine: What does it take for America to compete in the global marketplace? He also gave the answer: you start by making the best products in the world.
Well, coming from Boeing he can certainly claim to know a thing or two about making the best aircraft in the world.
One of the things he did at Ford was to dismantle the old structures that had successfully prevented much needed reform in the past. This did not go without a fight and a lot of old hands were complaining bitterly but by insisting on full and accurate information from all corners of the enterprise and sharing this information across the management matrix he had created, he essentially neutralized those power centers that assumed their power from hoarding information and withholding it from other parts of the company. This way the local fiefdoms were no longer the holders of real power, it went to where it belongs, the top of the company.
Click here to read the full article
Serious loss of separation in the vicinity of London City July 2009 – Final report now available
On 06/10/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
On 9 Sep 2010 the UK AAIB published the final report on the serious incident that occurred on 27 July 2009 over London. A Cessna 525 departing from London City came into close proximity on an almost reciprocal heading with a Boeing 777 descending to land at London Heathrow. The actual minimum distance between the aircraft was approximately 0.5 nm laterally and estimated at between 100 ft and 200 ft vertically.
Read more about the incident here.
The full AAIB report is available here.
