The 787 grounding has now been in place for a month and it looks like Boeing faces months more. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has indicated that it will be weeks before it identifies the causes of the thermal runaway in the 787’s lithium-ion-batteries. Boeing conducted a second test flight of the 787 from Seattle’s Boeing field across Washington state last Monday for an hour and 29 minutes. The flight was uneventful. Boeing advised that the flight data is being analysed but did not release any details. Boeing is basically guaranteed not to be able to…
American -US Merger
While, I know its pretty much inevitable, I am not a fan of this $11 billion merger. We know that: Merger will be completed by October, 2013 American will be the world’s biggest airline It will have two per cent more air traffic than United Airlines AA will have 6,700 flights to 336 locations in 56 countries The airline will have 1000 planes The new workforce will be close to 100,000 AMR creditors will own 72% of the combined airline and US Airways the other 28% of the ownership The American Airlines name will…
Know Your Tipping
There is a story (some say apocryphal) of my Great Aunt who embarked on a big trip in the 1950s. She being careful counted out every taxi fare and restaurant meal to the exact penny. When confronted by a burly taxi driver who said ” hey lady don’t they tip in your country, she turned on her heel and said “no”. Tipping can be incredibly traumatic for travelers because customs and amounts vary greatly. On a tour in the USA, our Grand Canyon tour guide chastised loudly a group of Scandinavian tourists for hopping off the bus without…
787 Update- one flies, would you fly it?
Boeing have suggested some battery design changes that it believes will reduce the fire risk by increasing the separation between cells in the lithium-ion batteries to reduce heat or fire spreading within the batteries. This fix would allow the 50 grounded jets to fly again while the company looks for a longer term fix. Boeing’s certification tests put the chances of smoke from a 787 battery at one in every 10 million flight hours. Deborah Hersman, head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said: “The 787 fleet has accumulated less than 100,000 flight hours yet there…
Poorly Maintained Red Wings Wingless
Red Wings was founded in 1999 as VARZ-400. It aimed to be a discount airline. It became Airlines 400 in 2001 and then adopted their current name Red Wings in 2007. The airline owned ten Tupolev TI 204-100B, passenger jets capable of flying 210 passengers. On December 29, 2012, one of their planes crashed in Moscow overshooting the runway and ending up on a highway. killing five crew. Faulty brakes were found to be the cause. This was the second overshoot for the carrier. The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsiya held a series of unscheduled operational and maintenance inspections of Red…
The T shirt that stopped a plane (almost)
The 1987 Film: The Princess Bride is considered to be one of the funniest films ever made. It is number 50 on Bravo’s “100 Funniest Movies,” and 46th on Channel 4’s Fifty Greatest Comedy Films list. It is regarded as a cult film by millions around the world who have seen it multiple times. The film contains many memorable lines. One of which is oft repeated: “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die”. This phrase has been nominated by the AFI as one of the world’s most memorable movie quotes ever No one gave that information to…
787 still grounded
It has now been over a week since the 787 flew. For the eight carriers that have the 787 in service, another week of no revenue from the plane. The National Transportation Safety Board investigators have not yet found the reason for the January 7 fire at Boston airport. U.S. safety investigators ruled out last Sunday that the cause came from was excess voltage and expanded their investigation to look at the battery’s charger and the jet’s auxiliary power unit. One of the most chilling learnings for me was that Securaplane, the company that makes the charger suffered millions…
Olt Express Halts
In December 2012, after losing two international contracts, OLT Express Germany announced major cuts to its network, staffing and fleet as part of a reorganisation. It ceased all operations on 27 January 2013 after talks with its Dutch owner Panta Holdings about a reorganisation plan failed. The company filed for bankruptcy on January 29. Panta Holdings also owns Denim Airways and the leasing company Mass Lease. OLT Express was founded in 1958. It took over part of the insolvent Cirrus Airlines last year. Bremen, Germany was its main base with flights to Dresden, Saarbrücken, Münster / Osnabrück and Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden – and a…
Paris Unplugged
Paris unplugged is a Blog featuring photographs of Paris through time. There are pictures of Pl d Bastille, Place de la Republique and Moulin Rouge through history, images of metro stations line by line, snapshots of the World Expos, maps of the Metro over its development and glimpses of Parisian shopping, fashion, culture and art all frozen in pictures. There are also pictures of buildings planned or imagined for Paris but never built. It is a fascinating and enjoyable wander through this amazing city.
Astronaut Tweets Flood Pics
The northern state of Queensland in Australia is having some of the most devastating floods ever (while the fires in the southern part are equally devastating!). A Canadian astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield took photos of the floods while passing over central Queensland in the International Space Station. The 54-year-old shared the pictures via Twitter. This is an image of the floods roaring through Bundaberg. The other pics are here.
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