The Aviation Thread [Contains Lots of Awesome Pictures]

marcos_eirik said:
Google Streetview of an Emirates A380 (Push "B" for the upper deck)
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Leadfoot866 said:
:lol:

Impressive aircraft...ugly as sin, but impressive nonetheless.
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.. and in other A380 news:

British Airways Completes its First A380 Passenger Service - Airports International

British Airways completed its first A380 passenger service this morning (Friday August 2) when, BA902 arrived at Frankfurt having took-off from Heathrow at 07:14.

BA?s first Airbus A380 was delivered to Heathrow on July 4 and has since been involved in an intensive work-up programme, allowing pilots and cabin crew to gain experience on the new type.

After a two-week spell based at Manston Airport, Kent, which ended on July 29, the aircraft has visited Cardiff, Stansted, Gatwick and Shannon.

A second LHR-FRA-LHR rotation is planned for the afternoon.
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.. which I saw land around lunchtime. A first for me, then immediately followed by another A380, this one an Emirates.

With regards to separation, it didn't seem like 5 minutes to me.

:think:

EDIT:

A thought, I expect the flights had a lot of empty seats and I wonder if anyone got upgraded to First class. (Normaly business & Cattle class only.)
 
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Great Moments in Travel History ? August 2013 - FBT

FBT said:
By Jesse Sokolow on 1 August 2013

On August 1, 1997, the Boeing Company merged with McDonnell Douglas Corp. The combined company kept the Boeing name.

On August 2, 1909, the U. S. Army purchased its first airplane, the Wright Flyer, from the Wright brothers for $30,000. The price included a $5,000 bonus because the airplane exceeded the Army?s speed requirement of 40 miles per hour (64 kilometers per hour).

On August 2, 1999, the Boeing 757-300 made its first flight. The aircraft is the largest single-aisle twinjet ever built.

On August 3, 1975, a Royal Air Maroc flight crashed into a mountain on the way to Agadir Inezgane Airport in Morocco, killing all 188 passengers and crew. The incident remains the deadliest ever to involve a Boeing 707.

On August 8, 2006, Boeing rolled out the new 737-900ER airplane at its Renton, Washington facility. Lion Air was the aircraft?s launch customer.

Boeing began major assembly on the first 747-8 Freighter on August 9, 2008. The aircraft made its maiden flight on February 8, 2010.

The last of the famous Douglas Skymasters to be built, DC-4 number 1,242, was delivered by Douglas Aircraft to South African Airways on August 11, 1947.

On August 13, 1940, a major airplane crash occurred near Canberra, Australia. All ten people onboard the RAAF Lockheed Hudson bomber were killed in the crash, including three members of the Australian Cabinet and the Chief of the General Staff.

The first airmail delivered at sea came via the Aeromarine flying boat when it dropped a bag of mail on the deck of White Star Line?s Adriatic on August 14, 1919.

On August 14, 2008, Boeing completed the first Boeing Business Jet 3. The aircraft is based on a Next-Generation 737-900ER airplane.

Pan American World Airways took delivery of the country?s first commercial jet airliner, a Boeing 707-120, on August 15, 1958, four months ahead of schedule. It began service in October of that year on a trans-Atlantic route.

On August 18, 1934, Jeannette and Jean Piccard flew the ?Century of Progress? balloon from Dearborn, Michigan to an altitude of 57,579 feet (17,550 meters), setting an altitude record for female balloonists that would hold for three decades. Jeannette Piccard was the first licensed female balloon pilot and the first woman to fly into the stratosphere.

On August 20, 1935, Boeing test pilot Les Tower flew the Model 299 aircraft nonstop from Seattle, Washington, to Dayton, Ohio, and established an unofficial record of flying 2,100 miles (3,379 kilometers) at an average speed of 232 miles per hour (373 kilometers per hour).

A new Air Force One, a modified Boeing 747-200B, was delivered to the Air Force and President George H.W. Bush on August 23, 1990. The aircraft is still in operation.

The 767-400ER rolled out of the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington on August 26, 1999. The aircraft is the first Boeing wide-body jet resulting from two fuselage stretches.

Glenn Hammond Curtiss became the first American to claim the recognized absolute speed record at the world?s first air meet, the Grande Semaine d?Aviation in Reims, France, on August 23, 1909. He flew his Reims Racer biplane 43.385 miles per hour.

The second deadliest air show incident in history, the Ramstein air show disaster, took place in West Germany, on August 28, 1988. Sixty-seven spectators and three pilots died when aircraft of the Italian Air Force display team collided during their performance.

The Douglas DC-10, the first ?jumbo jet? from Douglas, made its first flight on August 29, 1970. The aircraft is a three-engine widebody jet that can carry up to 380 passengers.

The recognized absolute speed record holder, Glenn Curtiss, established a record for longest flight over water on August 31, 1910, when he completed a course from Euclid beach in Cleveland, Ohio, to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. Curtiss flew his biplane over Lake Erie parallel to the shore, and completed the trip in about one hour and fifteen minutes.

Boeing began production of the 757 on August 31, 1978. The aircraft has a two-crew member glass cockpit, turbofan engines, and a supercritical wing design. A total of 1,049 of the aircraft have been ordered and delivered.
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Museum Tries To Save The Plant Where Rosie Riveted

The historic Michigan factory where the iconic Rosie the Riveter and thousands of other women built B-24 bombers during World War II could face the wrecking ball two months from now.

A modest nonprofit is trying to raise enough money to salvage some of the massive plant, which Ford sold to General Motors after the war. The Yankee Air Museum figures the factory is the perfect place to start anew, after a devastating fire destroyed its collections in 2004.

The huge hangar doors on the old Willow Run assembly plant are majestic in proportion. Thirty-two feet tall and 150 feet wide; the doors were built big so that finished B-24 bombers could roll out of the factory, then tested on the site's airport runway, before going to war.

"What's remarkable to me," says Grant Trigger, cleanup manager for GM's former properties in Michigan, "is this is more reliable than my garage door. Built by engineers with slide rules in 1942, and it still works today."

Inside the dark factory, an intense smell of dampness and oil rises from the floor, which is still littered with old equipment and castoff work gloves.

For decades, the former Ford bomber plant turned out cars for GM. But with GM's bankruptcy came a trust fund to find new developers to sites like this. The iconic place where Rosie flexed her muscles during World War II seemed fated for demolition.

"The size of the space, which was phenomenal at the time, is simply too big for today's manufacturing facilities," Trigger says. "There's 83 acres under one roof."

That translates to nearly 5 million square feet, or the size of a huge housing subdivision. Surely someone would want at least a little piece of that history. Enter the Yankee Air Museum.

Located about a mile away, this nonprofit, with an annual budget of $2 million and a paid staff of six, had a big collection of aviation history exhibits and historic airplanes, some of which still flew.

"We had a hanger full of artifacts," says Ray Hunter, chairman of the museum's board. "We had WWII uniforms, we had a women in aviation [collection], we had a WWI collection. We had a tremendous collection, and it all went up in fire. It all went up in the fire."

The museum went to work almost immediately to rebuild. The flyable craft, luckily, were saved. Helmets and uniforms and aviation artifacts poured in from around the country. Today, the airplanes are off-site, but the museum is up and running again in a smaller space.

Rosie's former factory ? at least 180,000 square feet of it, including the hangar doors ? would allow the Yankee Air Museum to get its planes and exhibits under one, historic roof. But it will cost about $8 million to build new walls when the rest of the site is torn down, and to bring in new plumbing, heat and water.

It'll be worth it, says Mike Montgomery, a consultant for the effort. Montgomery says it's not just about saving something for aviation buffs.

"There was an integrated, unionized plant where men and women both worked in manufacturing jobs doing equal pay for equal work in the 1940s, when that was absolutely not the norm in American industry," he says.

GM donated $2 million to the effort, but the Yankee Air Museum still needs to raise $3.5 million. Museum staff can see the factory from their site. So, if they don't raise the money in time, they'd be watching the demolition from there.
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I'm starting to appreciate (relatively) small airports and airliners - came home on a UA 757 (from EWR to FRA) last Sunday/Monday and it was miles better than I had imagined it would be. My expectation was for it to be cramped and claustrophobic, but the seat pitch seems to be the same as on the 777 and compared to the vast cave that the cabin of a wide-body airliner is, the 757 was downright cozy.

As for small airports, the one that has "converted" me is London City. Plane door to DLR platform in 15 minutes is easily possible (with checked luggage) and the whole experience is so pleasant that I cannot find good reasons to prefer Heathrow - apart from price, but even that difference isn't always noticeable.
 
Well, a 757 isn't exactly small to be honest - it's a step up from the 737, which in turn is a step up from regional jets, CRJ and the like. Those can be really called "small" and "cozy" in comparison.

Agreed on the airports though - Frankfurt is nice and all, but god I hate it when I have a flight with LH or someone else from Star Alliance and have to walk miles to get to my gate at the very end of area A. Also, too many people everywhere.
 
My most recent flight was from Dortmund to Luton an back. Dortmund was great with its ridiculously low traffic - everything goes smooth, no queues nowhere except directly at the gate. Luton, in contrast, was absolutely terrible. I waited longer in front of immigration than I spent in the air beforehand.
 
leviathan said:
Well, a 757 isn't exactly small to be honest
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That's why I said "relatively". ;-) It certainly is smaller than everything else that airlines send across the pond; apart from that AC A319.

leviathan said:
regional jets, CRJ and the like. Those can be really called "small" and "cozy" in comparison.
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I consider those sardine cans. The E-jets are brilliant, but ERJs and CRJs? Rather less so.

leviathan said:
Agreed on the airports though - Frankfurt is nice and all, but god I hate it when I have a flight with LH or someone else from Star Alliance and have to walk miles to get to my gate at the very end of area A. Also, too many people everywhere.
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Yup, I'm lucky I hardly ever have to connect there. The two or three times I did weren't pleasant.

DanRoM said:
My most recent flight was from Dortmund to Luton an back. Dortmund was great with its ridiculously low traffic - everything goes smooth, no queues nowhere except directly at the gate. Luton, in contrast, was absolutely terrible. I waited longer in front of immigration than I spent in the air beforehand.
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And on top of that, if your destination was London, you still had a decent bit of travel ahead of you. :p
 
DanRoM said:
It wasn't. I was on my way to Wales, so Luton was almost as good as Heathrow.
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Luton Airport and the surrounding area was a mess, last I was there.
Heatrow Airport central area T1/2/3 is an ongoing mess and/or construction site.

Holiday in Wales, did you look at Bristol or Cardiff airports as an alternative?

:smile:
 
Nowhere flies to Cardiff anymore sadly. The welsh government recently bought it and are investing heavily to try and get it going again.
 
Heathrow said:
A thought, I expect the flights had a lot of empty seats and I wonder if anyone got upgraded to First class. (Normaly business & Cattle class only.)
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I've heard from some FRA spotters, who were waiting for the BA A380 that they use it to train flight attendants during these short flights from London to Frankfurt until the end of August. But I also heard, that they don't take more people with them than on the regular planes (A320??) because in case there is something wrong during these test flights, they don't have to rebook hundreds of people.
 
Taken from this website - http://www.messybeast.com/dragonqueen/ground-crew.htm

Apologies if this has been posted before.

After every flight, pilots fill out a form called a gripe sheet, which conveys to the mechanics and other ground crew any problems encountered with the aircraft during the flight that need repair or correction. The mechanics/ground crew read and correct the problem, and then respond in writing on the lower half of the form what remedial action was taken. The pilot reviews the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of humour. Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems as submitted by pilots and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers.

(P = the problem logged by the pilot.)
(S = the solution and action taken by the engineers or ground crew.)

P: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tyre.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: The autopilot doesn't.
S: IT DOES NOW.

P: Autopilot tends to drop a wing when fuel imbalance reaches 500 pounds.
S: Flight manual limits maximum fuel imbalance to 300 pounds.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Pilot's clock inoperative.
S: Wound clock.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: 3 roaches in cabin.
S: 1 roach killed, 1 wounded, 1 got away.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Unfamiliar noise coming from #2 engine.
S: Engine run for four hours. Noise now familiar.

P: Noise coming from #2 engine. Sounds like man with little hammer.
S: Took little hammer away from man in #2 engine.

P: Whining noise coming from #2 engine compartment.
S: Returned little hammer to man in #2 engine.

P: Whining sound heard on #2 engine shutdown.
S: Pilot removed from aircraft.

P: No. 2 propeller seeping prop fluid.
S: No. 2 propeller seepage normal. Nos. 1, 3 and 4 propellers lack normal seepage.

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're there for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Funny sounds from behind instrument panel.
S: Installed non-funny sounds.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to "straighten up, fly right, and be serious".

P: #2 ADF needle runs wild.
S: Caught and tamed #2 ADF needle.

P: Turn-and-slip indicator ball stuck in centre during turns.
S: Congratulations. You have just made your first co-ordinated turn.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Seat cushion in 13F smells rotten.
S: Fresh seat cushion on order.

P: Flight attendant cold at altitude.
S: Ground checks OK.

P: Weather radar went ape!
S: Opened radar, let out ape, cleaned up mess.

And this one from a pilot instructor who ejected from a military trainer aircraft:
P: Reason for emergency eject: Landing gear would not retract
S: Aircraft had fixed landing gear. Aircraft written off.

Aerospace engineer Adam Leech submitted the following joke "gripes" after a couple of occasions in which RAF Harriers had ditched into the sea or the River Yeo.

P: Indication of moisture in intake.
S: That's because you ditched in the sea again.

P: Electrical shorting in controls due to moisture ingress.
S: That's because you ditched in the sea again.

P: Tendency for canopy to mist up.
S: That's because you ditched in the sea again.

P: Numerous water leaks from fuselage.
S: That's because you ditched in the sea again.
 
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idk said:
I've heard from some FRA spotters, who were waiting for the BA A380 that they use it to train flight attendants during these short flights from London to Frankfurt until the end of August. But I also heard, that they don't take more people with them than on the regular planes (A320??) because in case there is something wrong during these test flights, they don't have to rebook hundreds of people.
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Yeah, that sounds correct. The normal service would be on an A32? and the number of seat places would stay the same, despite the A380's extra capacity.

BA do have the opportunity of upgrading pax to Business class or even First, so the crew can test the galley / drink / IFE services equipment and procedures.

* * *

This is a professionally made, beautiful video of a LH A380 performing a visual approach at KSFO on 28R. It is the pilot / cockpit views, plus areas of interest shown & labeled.

Pilot's View: Airbus A380 approach and landing at San Francisco.(Pilots Eye TV)

(It is 15 minutes long, but worth a look.)

:cool:
 
Jon said:
LULZ
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I saw that over a decade ago but perhaps only half of them. Long enough to enjoy them all again.

:+1:
 
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