AIRBUS VISIONARY PROJECT – TRANSPARENT AIRLINER

Posté le 16 juin 2011 de Toni G.

Airbus has just unveiled a revolutionary concept through images of a transparent airliner design.

This aircraft of the future will use the latest technology – bionic structure; blended airframe; enhanced laminar flow and noise reduction; blended V-tail; biomorphing seats; leading-edge relaxation systems; human body thermal recycling; dramatic panoramic view; round of golf; etc.

Airbus will showcase their project called Concept Cabin during the Paris Air Show, at Le Bourget Airport. A movie – Airbus Future of Flight – will also be shown in a 360° planetarium at the Musee de l’Air et de l’Espace from 20 to 26 June 2011. Watch what travelling by plane could be… 40 years ahead:

Special thanks to Thierry HERMAS – Aeronautical English teacher at the French Air Force Academy (EOAA, Salon de Provence) – who passed the video link on. Thank you very much indeed.

Pilots landing in Russia – 30 of them blinded by laser pens!

Posté le 16 juin 2011 de Toni G.

Pilot laser pen blinding on increase in Russia – watchdog

12:48 08/06/2011 Russian air transport regulator Rosaviatsiya noted on Wednesday an increase in cases of pilots being blinded by laser pens during landing at Russian airports, with 30 such incidents registered this year.>>

Other news of the day

Airlines extra fees in 2010: $22 billion!

Posté le 2 juin 2011 de Toni G.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the American carriers have made a lot of money thanks to add-fees – $22 billion in 2010.

For instance, Matt McCall, the president of Penn Financial Group reports in the following video that he had to « pay 50 dollars for 4 inches » exceeding the standard luggage size the night before.

Most people pay such add-fees as they do not want to change bags in the very last minutes. It depends on the airlines – as in the video – but the fee for overweight carry-on bags can be twice as expensive. Some passengers are willing to pay add-on fees if needed.

However some other passengers may not have time to perform the luggage change required, and they pay add-on fees just before departure. So they pay, and the airlines rake the add-on fees revenue which is to increase even further:

Solid-as-a-rock A380 aircraft struck… by lightning!

Posté le 22 mai 2011 de Toni G.

It is not uncommon for aircraft to be struck by lightning but this super heavy Emirates Airbus A380 got hit by a jagged bolt of lightning right over the pilot’s seats.

A huge amount of electric energy must have passed through the airframe of the aircraft during its approach at London Heathrow last week. Amazingly the commercial aircraft escaped damage, and nobody was hurt.

Is it any wonder this airplane may sustain such a stress in a clap of thunder? The size and the nature of the A380 airframe seems to be the right solution to such hazards. Thanks to its thick metal structure, the plane behaved as a perfect Faraday cage:

Cold weather DC3 cargo aircraft flights to Antarctica

Posté le 20 mai 2011 de Toni G.

The Canadian Kenn Borek Ltd. DC-3 you can see below has been modified to perform landing on ice strips with skis. This aircraft, as well as another DC-3T – a Basler BT-67 – carry out Antartica Logistics and Expeditions (ALE) flights. Therefore they have been upgraded to sustain take off, flight, and landing at very low temperatures. Please, listen to Philippe Cousteau: