A New Hope for American Airline Travel

So, it's been like, what, a year since I've been here.  True, I could have done more work to keep this blog up to date, to inform about what's going on with the aviation world, and even could have been posting about my own FLIGHT LESSONS, but, seriously folks, not much has come to my attention as being something great.  Something profound.  Something that reinvigorates my love for the number one crazy, unexplainable passion I have for aviation.  Maybe it's the economy bogging down on the industry.  Or maybe it's how little I personally care about the bigger presence of unmanned aircraft.  In the end, I've been quite uninspired... until I saw this:

Not only are they redesigning the interiors of their Transcontinental aircraft's interior to FINALLY have PTV's in economy and given business class a bump up from a silly big seat with a little more recline room, they've installed a first class with LIE FLAT BEDS!!  And, that's just for DOMESTIC travel!  I nearly flipped.  Along with their newly designed 777-300's with a full bar, mood lighting and freakin' SWIVELING first class chairs (practically an office my dear loaded, business friends and first class hopefuls), they finally have started to break the disgusting stereotype of American airliners being the worst for international travel.  And, these 777's are coming THIS winter!  I.  Am.  Absolutely.  Blown.  Away.

But seriously folks, why am I so excited about this?  Why did my head explode while jumping frantically around the room?  Has my interests become so low to allow some corporate hype to inhibit my soul freely?  I argue... No!  Absolutely not my dear friends!  Why?  Well, for some unfortunate news first.

American Airlines Parent Files for Bankruptcy - NY Times

Since November of last year, American Airlines has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and has been struggling to pull themselves together.  And, true, they are planning some big reductions and are planning layoffs, but what else is a company to do in a time of crises but to make big decisions in hopes to continue their business into the future?  Sure it will cost them to make these planes and it is quite a risk while trying to keep everyone employed, but what if this works?  What if they make a profit by finally making a decent product that compares with and even challenges quality giants like Singapore and Emirates?  What if they begin creating a report and respect from passengers around the globe?  And, what if the other American airliners follow suit?  It's a change that has been desperately needed in American aviation and I'm willing to hope, even bet, that this will change the way we do commercial aviation in America.  And, who knows, maybe they'll even make the airport experience something to be, well, experienced.  

Welcome to the 21st Century: Are We All Going to Space?

If you've paid a little attention to space travel in the last few years, you might have noticed a space craft called SpaceShip One.  A civilian made spacecraft, it's assisted by an aircraft to take it above 30,000 feet to launch the next millionaire off into the nether-worlds of space.  Basically, this:

Just in case, SpaceShipOne is docked under the mother ship, White Knight; the plane behind it, although being a tight Beechcraft Starship, has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.  With that said, this aeronautical contraption won the X Prize of $10 million for successfully making it to space.  And, to be honest, there's little I personally have to complain about this.  Man made another step forward, I'll clap and cheer like the next guy.  That was until I recently found this on BBC news:

To me, this says, "We did it!  We found the resources to take over space flight as we know it!"  Is this bad?  Nah.  But, this does mean that we have some potentially competitive opportunities in the near future for space flight.  Personally, like any business venture, I'm slightly worried.  Affordable opportunities may mean bad service or potentially dangerous situations.  In other words, look forward to space travel ten years down the line... if you can afford it.

So, does this mean we will soon be able to travel in space as civilians?  Yup!  But, does this mean that space travel will always be expensive?  Well, for now, I sure hope it will be!  We have a lot to learn and the more money put into this venture, the more we as a society will be able to take it seriously.  Until then, it will be interesting to see how big our imaginations will get as time goes on.  I mean, this friggen thing will be the biggest plane in the world, who's sole purpose is to launch whole rockets into space.  Watch your butt, Jetsons.

So, a friend of mine casually reminded me that lately I've been quite the slacker when it comes to posts.  Who's to say I'm not?  Did I let you down?  If I did, than all power to you.  I'm a lazy (insert whatever words you wish) loser.  I just got hired for a new job and can't think of much else.  With that, here's a video to trip out on:

"Made in China" Takes On A Whole New Meaning

For years, commercial aircraft has mainly been dominated in the Western world by Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, and recently Embraer.  There are other companies, such as Tupolev and Antonov, but you only see these planes in Russia, other countries formally under the Soviet Union, and other poorer countries.  So, would there ever be a chance for a country outside of the Western world that could become a potential competitor?  If you would have asked me about a month ago, I would have never imagined any other country would be given a chance.  So, when I watched a video on flightglobal.com that went over all of the highlights of the Paris Air Show, you can imagined how surprised I was.

Yes, it's a little corny and even a little awkward at the end (sigh...), but they do mention one thing that blew me away:  Ryanair and COMAC are teaming forces to create a 200 person airliner.  A chinese company is going to make an airliner for a Western company?!  And, just in case you need a little more evidence, here's Ryanair's formal announcement on their website:

http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-and-comac-commercial-aircraft-corp-of-china-sign-c-919-mou-in-paris

Now, if you've ever flown on Ryanair, this may make a little sense.  I only had one experience with them, flying from Paris to Stockholm, but all you really need is one flight to live what can be argued to be an adventure.

At Beauvais Airport (notice how the stepladder is installed into the aircraft to load passengers quickly and virtually anywhere)

A few years back, my brother and I were touring Europe and wanted to visit our relatives in Sweden for the first time.  From Paris, we had to take the subway to a bus station outside of the city, and then took a bus for 45 minutes... just to get to the airport called Beauvais, which exclusively caters to low cost airlines.  Our plane arrived and as people were exiting the craft, they announced that we were to start boarding the plane.  After some controlled chaos, we finally got in our seats and noticed that we were surrounded by advertisements for Ryanair, the airline we were flying on...  As we lined up on the runway, I also noticed the farmers working with hay almost next to the plane.  Finally, we landed at Skavsta airport, which is in Nykoping, about 66 miles outside of Stockholm.

As bizarre as that experience was, it only cost my brother and I $30 total.  For everything.  Not a penny more.  So, when Ryanair and China's COMAC make an announcement that they're going to work together, it doesn't seem so bizarre in the end.

So, is this a good idea to bring this type of competition into the mix?  My answer, I don't know for sure.  Although opinion can differ when it comes to Ryanair, it's safe to say that it is a very unique airline that has certain customers they cater to.  So, if there's a dependable and cheaper aircraft out there, who's to say that it's that big of a deal?  Plus, if you're worried about the competition between COMAC and the other players, I'm not sure how big of a deal it will play.  It will depend on the low cost market and where they want to go.  This could prove to be an issue if airlines like Air Asia, a low cost career based in Southeast Asia, would want some new C-919's.  When it comes down to it, with a changing market you need to have solutions that mold with the current demand; all Ryanair seems to be doing is taking a risk that will help them progress.  In the end, I'm mostly interested in what will happen in the future, and hope that it progresses better air travel... kind of like how I feel all the time :D

Negative Space: A Brief Look at NASA's Recent Spending Cuts

Yes, I know, this post is not about regular airplane shenanigans, but to me if it flies, it flies.  So here it goes; an extraterrestrial post, where no "A Plane Blog" has gone before...


Recently, I went on to my favorite airplane news site flightglobal.com to look up some stories on the recent Paris Air Show, held at the end of last June. I instead found some surprising yet unfortunately unsurprising news: the United States House Appropriations Committee approved for a $1.9 billion spending cut for NASA.  Here's the article posted on Flight Global's site:


http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/07/06/359215/us-house-appropriations-cuts-nasa-budget.html



Although this will affect a number of areas at NASA, it will mainly affect these three areas:


1. NASA science - $431 million
2. Exploration - $152 million
3. Operations - $1.4 billion


You may be wondering how this affects NASA on the whole... which is exactly what I wondered as well.  Being a plane nut, I also love and heavily admire space programs world wide, but unfortunately don't pay much attention to what's currently going on with them.  Without delving to much into the problem, one specific program that will be affected is the James Webb Space Telescope program, the replacement for the aging Hubble Space Telescope.  

On NASA's website, it says that this telescope "will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy".  Now, I'm not sure if the program will be completely cut, but DAMN, that's kind of important, right?  This is a plausible and safe way to continue to search into the great beyond, like we did when we searched our own planet in search of new discoveries.  We have the brain power, lets use it!  However, there may be some support behind the termination of the project.

Originally, the JWST was scheduled to launch sometime in 2014, when the project was announced in 2007.  Back then, the economy was a little better and the idea of replacing the Hubble with a much more powerful telescope was very appealing.  However, it was announced last month that it would not be able to be launched until maybe 2017, most likely 2018... and it's price tag was raised to $6.8 billion, which raised concerns throughout the NASA community worried that other programs would financially suffer if they couldn't control their latest endeavor.  Well, as projected, a draft was made and the cuts are real, laying to waste another great idea.

Is this going to kill NASA's drive to explore the our existence by understanding the cosmos more clearly?  Absolutely not!  It's their job, damn it.  But, with the economy as it is and various political pressures all over, the exact path is undetermined.  However, there is one exciting and historical moment that's going to hopefully happen tomorrow: the last shuttle launch.

Here's a recent picture of Atlantis, the last space shuttle to leave the planet Earth (epic!).  First, I'm super bummed I can't make it... however, it could be delayed due to recent thunderstorms (should have launched them in California!).  Whether or not I may blow good money to see the launch if it's delayed, it's both sad that the program is ending and is a proud moment, having served NASA for almost 30 years.  In most major airlines, there's not a chance you see a plane in their fleet flying for nearly as long, and this hard-ass flying machine goes frequently and only to freakin' space!  

In the end, I'm 100% positive that will continue to explore, and, who knows, maybe we'll all get a chance to fly into the unknown ourselves.  So, I have no clear answer for you, but I do have a clip for you to watch.  In case you're not familiar, this is the famous ending of Bill Hick's stand up routine that I find to be moving and provocative... and pertinent to the topic at hand :D

Yes, like outer space, this clip is a little out there and is easily seen as being unrealistic, but it doesn't hurt to wonder about the possibilities we possess and how to use them to further ourselves and our understand of why we're here and what to do with the time we have.  Because, in the end, we'll continue to look up at the stars and wonder for years and years to come.

A Tip of the Iceberg: Will the Boeing 787 Sink or Float?

About a year ago I went to an Aviation doctor to get medically certified to fly planes.  We talked about how Boeing was one of our favorite manufacturers, and as a result the 787 happen to come up in conversation.  Not only did this come up because Boeing's new plane is the 787, but my examiner actually invested money towards the new plane.  At the time, I laughed a little and joke about its delays, which, as you can imagine, was a little awkward. But, really, why in the hell would I laugh about such a thing?  Not only is this man determining my future as a pilot, has the same passion for airplanes, and has been involved with aviation for years, but I also laughed at Boeing's new plane; a company that for over a century has made great quality aircraft and serves as America's contribution towards civil aviation against Europe's strong competitor Airbus.  Well, here's one of the newest 787's off the lot:

This is an Air India 787 currently being made.  And, by the way, Air India is not the launch consumer.  It was ANA (All Nippon Airways) that wanted this plane to be built... back on April 26th, 2004!  If you're confused, don't worry, because this is bizarre even for plane lovers alike.  So, where's the snag?  What's going on with this project in the first place?  Why haven't they been flying all these years?  It seems that in our day and age we have the ability to bang out planes like none other.  To better understand what's going on, we need to understand why this plane is being built in the first place.

True, this plane was designed to kill some of Boeing's old planes such as the 757, 767, and even the jumbo 747.  However, a key point to remember is if they're trying to kill the 747, more than likely they're trying to kill their previous bird: the Boeing 777 (which is slowly killing the 747).  If you don't already know, the 777 is a VERY successful aircraft and was the first to be fully tested using computers before it ever flew.  When the 777 was made, huge steps in technology were made that allowed us to create better methods of aircraft design and helped manufacturers to safely test new aircraft.  So, why the hell get rid of all these planes including the 777?  Simple:

1. Airlines want a new, state-of-the-art plane to use less fuel to get the job done.

Boeing's answer:  several models of a new plane made of 80% composite material; the 787.  At a glance, this was a tight idea.  Instead of a metal box, airlines would use something close to a paper plane to perform at the same level.  So, why is there a big issue?  One word: Delamination.

First off, do not be terrified when you see this picture.  What this is is an example of what happens when composite materials fails under pressure.  This is something that Boeing has known for quite some time.  However, this is the reason why you haven't flown on a 787.  The main complaint stemmed from how the body and wing of the 787 were stressed under various flying conditions.  To give a better picture, when a truck is made, the cab (where you sit) and the bed (where you put everything else) are separate.  Manufacturer's essentially weld them together.  It's the same principal with the body (where you sit) and wing (how you fly).  The area connecting the two was weak and threw Boeing engineers for a loop.  This scared them because composite materials, as opposed to various forms of metal, possess one scary attribute:

1. Composite materials do not visibly show signs of cracks or fatigue.

80% of your plane does not tell you what's going on... Yes, scream and freak out as much as you want, but Boeing wouldn't put a product out that they weren't making money on, so the 787 should be safe.  However, you may find me on any other type of plane before you see me on a 787.  

So, final words from me?  As I would tell any person afraid to fly, don't worry.  Airlines wouldn't have humans fly and run planes if they knew planes were death traps.  Plus, airliners fly on the money passengers give them.  So, if I had to fly on a 787, I'd be grateful to fly on a new plane and would probably enjoy it.  Would it be my first choice?  Well, as I think of that doctor who invested in it, I'm not sure if I'd put my money down on such a proposition.  

In Plane Detail, Number 1: The Fokker Series 28, 70 and 100

Part of the reason I started this blog was to get people from outside of the realm of airplane freaks to understand just a little more of why us plane enthusiasts love these hunks of metal so much.  So, for this installment, I decided to take a look at one of my favorite airliners.

For your enjoyment, this here is a Fokker F28-4000, the most successful in the F28 series.  Why I picked this one specifically is because it's a very personal aircraft to me.  From '92 to '95 I lived in Balikpapen, Indonesia, due to my Dad worked for an oil company called Unocal (now extinct...).  If, by God's holy grace, you actually know of this town, you know it's only there because of oil.  There was nothing close to what you would find on a normal daily basis available in the town we lived in.  Mac and cheese, when I finally had it in my grasp, was like gold in that part of the world.  Our nearest escape to what I had grown up with was in the neighboring city/country of Singapore... which was ONLY available to us by this plane and airline specifically.  To us, it was our life boat back to civilization...

So, enough romantic bull crap from me, let's talk about the airplane itself!  Now, compared to other planes built back in the day, it did not stand out against the competition as being flashy or a hot comodity. It first flew only a month after the first flight of the Boeing 737 on May 9th, 1967.  The model number was F28-1000 and it could carry about 60-65 people.  It had a simple design and was made to transport smaller amounts of people on short-haul trips numerous times.  

Now, I could go on about what happened next and specifications and blah blah blah... but, I want to highlight two very important facts about this plane that in researching it made quite an impact on me.

First, the model, although changing it's name a few times, has been around forever.

May 1st, 1968

April 17th, 2011

True, it has changed over the years to keep up with modern specification (i.e. fly-by-wire, glass or computer cockpits, more efficient engines, etc.), but the style has had very little change.  It has kept it's goal of efficient, short-haul flights for decades and continues to be used.  The only argument I could think of is that the Boeing 737, as mentioned before, also has been around for just as long.  This brings me to my second point:  it has had a wide range of various airlines that have used this same airplane.  Here are two interesting examples to show you side by side:

Not to delve to much into politics, but I think it's a little remarkable that both these airlines have owned/still own this type of aircraft.  And, to go back to the top, not only did Pelita Air Services own this type of plane, but nearly every single Indonesian airline at one point owned this aircraft... which brings up an interesting point.  Aside from the range of countries using this aircraft,  mechanical and safety standards are starkly different in each country.  America being high, Iran mediocre, and Indonesia being one of the worst on the market (with almost all Indonesian airliners currently blacklisted by the European Union...).  To me, the dependability and strength of this airplane places it firmly in aviation history as a significant contribution to airline travel.

With this, it's also good to note that the B737 is also all over the globe...sigh...  As a Fokker enthusiast (please, minds out of the gutter for just a moment), this takes me down another notch, as both the two points I have presented have been ousted by the B737.  So, what does that mean?  Well, to me, the Fokker F28 in all of it's variants (F28, 70, 100) is a seriously underrated airplane.  At least in the United States, there's little knowledge of this aircraft's existence when it deserves all the recognition it can get.  I guess that's why I wanted to write this blog post after I saw this picture:

When I found this picture, it reminded me of the times I flew to and from Singapore years and years ago, when everything was a dream and my vantage point came from a mix of reality and my own imagination.  This plane will always be on my thoughts...

So, was this entire post about my own personal obsession about this plane and, well, nothing else?  Kind of... but, I would like to point out that there are many planes out there, past and present, that are unsung heros in the aviation world being constantly overlooked.  Hopefully, I can bring to light some of these great planes in my "In Plane Detail" series.  If not, I guess I go back to ranting :D