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A400M Extremely High Bank Angle Turn

I am admittedly biased to American manufacturers when it comes to military aircraft, but when I saw this picture on the Airbus website I had to share it.  This image comes from a demonstration flight that the A400M did at the Paris Airshow from one of their press releases.  That kind of banking is just downright ridiculous in a cargo aircraft.  As a C-130 navigator I spend most of my time standing which would clearly not be possible in such a maneuver.

This is some serious bank angle for any cargo aircraft.   © Airbus S.AS 2013 Photo by S. Ramadier

This is some serious bank angle for any cargo aircraft.
© Airbus S.AS 2013
Photo by S. Ramadier

June 24, 2013 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

Ender’s Game Trailer Released

I know this isn’t exactly breaking news, but I just had to share it because I am so excited.  Ender’s Game is one of those books that I could read over and over again.  It takes my mind to so many different places, and makes me take a whole new look at things I thought I understood.

As a flyer it also gave me a new perception of working in three dimensions, and working as part of a crew.  There are all kinds of insights in the book that have even been taught in military training courses.

The movie looks absolutely awesome and I am thrilled about their casting choices.  I have waited a long, long time for this movie, and I hope it meets my expectations.  So enjoy this little Friday treat.

Are there other flying/space books you would like to see made into movies?

 

June 20, 2013 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

The Do-It-Yourself Space Program…For Real

The launch barge Sputnik where all of the magic takes place.  It's no Cape Canaveral, but it gets the job done.

The launch barge Sputnik where all of the magic takes place. It’s no Cape Canaveral, but it gets the job done.

There aren’t many people in this world that haven’t at least dreamt about going to space at some time in their lives.  It is one of those things that tickles the imagination so much that most of us view it as being completely impossible.  For most of us, it probably is.  But, there are some opportunities out there.

For those of you that happen to have an extra $200,000 lying around, there is always the Virgin Galactic route.  As I understand it, they will bring space travel to pretty much anyone willing to pony up the money.  However,

for those people who can’t afford it, or who are willingly to do a whole lot of work for it, there may be another option.

There are a couple of guys in Copenhagen, Denmark who are planning to launch themselves into space.  There names are Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen, and they dreamed about going into space their whole lives.  The closest they got in the corporate world was when Kristian was working as a contractor for NASA.  So they did what any normal person would do, they started their own space program, Copenhagen Suborbitals.

The Nautilus submarine pushes the launch pad out to the launch site.  Not exactly the giant NASA crawlers, but very cool.

The Nautilus submarine pushes the launch pad out to the launch site. Not exactly the giant NASA crawlers, but very cool.

You could spend hours learning about these amazing guys from their blog on Wired.com, from their official launch site, or even from a great interview that my friend Nate McIntyre did with these crazy Danes.  But, what is really amazing about these guys is how they are going about it.

The are using crowdfunding to generate revenue, which has already led to about half a million dollars in donations.  It comes back to the idea that small contributions from large numbers of people can lead to a substantial amount of money.  As impressive as that is, I am even more impressed by the fact that they are doing everything open source.

They are opening up all of their technology and research to anyone who wants to use it.  They strongly encourage other people to outright copy them.  See these guys aren’t interested in making money, they just really want to go to space, and help other people to do the same.  They are everything that is great about dreamers who are also doers.

They have already performed a number of launches with varying degrees of success with their next launch set for this Sunday June 23,

A future test rocket in production.

A future test rocket in production.

if the weather holds out.  The launch will be live streamed on oooojoooo.com starting at around 6 PM Pacific Time, June 22nd/8 AM Copenhagen Time, June 23rd.

If you could go into space on a DIY spaceship, would you do it?

The ability to do anything you can dream of is the real wonder of this story, so what other kinds of experimental things would you like to build or explore?

I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

House Appropriations Subcommittee Approves $140 Million for Contract Towers

The contract towers look like they will be getting funding for at least another year.  The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation approved $140 million intended to help fund these vital towers through the next fiscal year once the current stopgap measure expires later this year.

I don’t claim to know much about the way government works, though to be totally honest I’m not sure the people in government really know how it works either, but I really don’t understand why this whole tower issue has become such a problem.  I agree that there are some of these towers that need to be closed because they just don’t have the traffic to support a tower, but many of these towers provide critical support to larger airports.

It is clear that many of these politicians have no idea how the National Air Traffic System works.  It is not just the tower at one airport that affects its traffic.  Every tower in the area affects every other tower’s operation.  You start eliminating some of these towers, and they will see how adversely impacted the entire system will be.

The measure still has to get through the full House and the Senate, so lets hope that somehow they will get past the politics and make this funding a reality.

June 19, 2013 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

C-130 Lands Unarrested on an Aircraft Carrier

As awesome as it is to watch beautifully produced videos of aircraft in HD, sometimes it is nice to watch some of the old grainy videos from a long time ago.

I got this video from my dad when I found out I was being assigned to the C-130.  It is a pretty incredible video of a USMC KC-130F landing on the USS Forrestal aircraft carrier, and took place in November and October of 1963.

They performed 29 touch-and-gos, 21 unarrested full-stop landings, and 21 unassisted takeoffs.  Weighing 85,000 pounds it performed a full-stop landing in only 267 feet.  With a maximum load on take-off it used only 745 feet.

These tests proved that the KC-130F could take off with 25,000 pounds of cargo, transport it 2,500 miles and land safely on the carrier.  Our modern jets can do some amazing things, but this stuff is just crazy.  I could keep going, but I’d rather you just enjoy the video below.

All information quoted above comes from the video itself.

June 6, 2013 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

Does United’s Biofuel Purchase From AltAir Fuels Make a Difference?

Biofuels are another one of the hot topics in aviation right now which makes sense since fuel has become one of the biggest costs for airlines to operate.  The problem is that they are too expensive to refine, and they just aren’t processed in the quantities that make it cost-effective for the airlines.

That being said, strides are being made in biofuels, and while they may never replace petroleum-based diesel fuel, their development can make a huge difference across the industry.  As evidence of this, United Airlines just signed an agreement to buy 15 million gallons of biofuel from AltAir Fuels.

The fuel will be used on flights out of LAX starting in 2014 and is expected to create a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.  While 15 million gallons is a drop in the bucket for United, it is certainly a large drop.  What may be the most interesting aspect of the purchase agreement is that they will be buying the fuel at a price that is competitive with traditional jet fuel.

If airlines are able to purchase these fuels at a competitive price, while reducing emissions, and getting to say they are environmentally friendly, then why wouldn’t they?

One of the other great things about this purchase is that AltAir is taking over an idle area of a diesel refinery.  So now that area can get retrofitted and provide a valuable resource to the aviation industry.

Do you think biofuels provide a legitimate alternative to traditional jet fuels, or is it just not possible to produce them in the quantities necessary to support the industry?  Does this purchase by United mean anything in the grand scheme of things, or is it just a small drop in the bucket?

June 4, 2013 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

All Boeing 787 Airlines Have Aircraft Back in Service

LN86 owned by LOT Polish Airlines performed many of the flight tests while the 787 was grounded around the world.

LN86 owned by LOT Polish Airlines performed many of the flight tests while the 787 was grounded around the world.

On January 16th of this year all 50 of the delivered Boeing 787 Dreamliners was grounded by the FAA and other regulators due to a couple of battery fires that occurred within days of each other.  After much drama, and a ridiculous amount of work by engineers from Boeing and their partners, all of the Dreamliners have been retrofitted with the necessary repairs, and all of the airlines have officially put them back in service.

Just to give you an idea of what’s going on, below you will find a list of the airlines currently operating the 787 and when they went back into service.

Ethiopian Airlines

Number of 787s delivered: 4 (6 more on order)

Returned to service: April 27

Ethiopian was the first airline to put the 787 back into service after a little more than three months.

 

Qatar Airways provides the only 787 service to England currently.

Qatar Airways provides the only 787 service to England currently.

Qatar Airways

Number of 787s delivered: 5 (25 more on order)

Returned to service: May 16

Qatar Airways was the first, and currently the only, carrier to offer service on the 787 to England, but with Thomson Air receiving their first 787 over the weekend, and British Airways having their first three come off the line recently, it will have some competition soon in England.

Air India

Number of 787s delivered: 6 (21 more on order)

Returned to service: May 15

Air India resumed domestic service May 15 and followed that up with international service on May 22.

United Airlines

Number of 787s delivered: 6 ( 44 more on order)

Returned to service: May 20

United is the first US based carrier to take delivery of the 787.  Airchive.com wrote a great piece about the United return to service including lots of good background information and tons of pictures.

All Nippon Airways (ANA)

Number of 787s delivered: 19 (47 more on order)

Returned to service: June 1

ANA was the launch customer for the 787, currently has the most delivered, and also has the most on order.  They obviously have a lot on the line with the 787 and are probably more happy than anyone to have them back in the air.  You can find the full description of where and when they will be back in service on their website.

LAN Airlines

Number of 787s delivered: 3 (23 more on order)

Returned to service: June 1

LAN was the only airline that I couldn’t find a specific release saying they had returned to service, but they did finish certification on May 15, and announced they would resume on June 1 so I see no reason why it would not have happened.

 

The first JAL 787 to resume service from San Diego departs to the waves of its ground crew.  Photo by Howard Lipin / U-T San Diego

The first JAL 787 to resume service from San Diego departs to the waves of its ground crew. Photo by Howard Lipin / U-T San Diego

Japan Airlines (JAL)

Number of 787s delivered: 8 (37 more on order)

Returned to service: June 1

JAL was one of four airlines to resume service June 1.  However, they experienced some sort of issue with an air pressure sensor in the battery area the very next day.  It appears to be a minor problem that will be easily fixed.  Let’s hope for Boeing’s sake that it is just a small issue with no real repercussions.

LOT Polish Airlines

Number of 787s delivered: 3 (5 more on order)

Returned to service: June 1

LOT resumed service with their flight between Warsaw and JFK.  They also just took delivery of their third 787, LN 86 which was one of the aircraft that did a ton of work getting the 787 fix certified as well as numerous other tests while the 787 was grounded.

It is great to see all of these airlines back in service, as well as two new airlines that received their first 787s this last week.  Thomson Airlines actually took delivery of their first two 787s which are set to start service July 8, and China Southern Airlines received their first 787 that they plan to put into service June 6.

June 2, 2013 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.