torsdag 28. februar 2013

USA på kanten av stupet... igjen

 
I morgen ettermiddag norsk tid, er skjebnetimen for USA. Dersom det ikke blir enighet i Det Hvite Hus, blir budsjettkuttene iverksatt. Alle amerikanere vil merke det, ikke minst de reisende samt ansatte i forsvaret og leverandører til deres virksomhet.
EC175 tours the US
Sjekk den dårligste videoen på lenge her: http://tinyurl.com/bo82rf4
Publisert 26. feb. 2013
After a short flight from Alliance, the EC175 stopped by American Eurocopter's facilities in Grand Prairie, Texas, where employees got an up-close and personal visit with the machine as it was on static display on the tarmac. They were able to appreciate the interior and ask questions to the pilots before the EC175 continues on the next step of its US journey.
Stay tuned to http://ec175.eurocopter.com/ to follow us.

B787 - Beklagelse fra Boeing


Boeing apologizes for Dreamliner fiasco

@CNNMoneyFebruary 28, 2013: 9:48 AM ET

The Dreamliner grounding has caused disruption to Japanese airline schedules
LONDON (CNNMoney)

Boeing has apologized to Japan's leading airlines for the grounding of its revolutionary Dreamliner jet last month.

Raymond Conner, head of the commercial aircraft division at Boeing (BA, Fortune 500), said the incidents that led to the grounding of the entire fleet of Dreamliner 787 planes were "deeply regretful".
"On behalf of the Boeing Company and the 170,000 people which I represent today, I want first to apologize for the fact that we've had two incidents with our two very precious customers, ANA and JAL," he told reporters in Tokyo.
Between them, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines operate nearly half the 50 Dreamliners delivered to customers so far.
- See more at: http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/28/news/companies/boeing-dreamliner-apology/index.html?iid=HP_LN&hpt=hp_t3#sthash.gwT8UUQ2.dpuf

Popemocopter

 
Paven på sin siste helikoptertur i offisielt ærend, på vei til sitt nye bosed i Castel Gondolfo. Fotograf ukjent.

F-35 - Tenk på et tall.......

 
F-35 Cost Per Flying Hour: A Tale of Two NumbersPosted byAmy Butler10:06 AM on Feb 28, 2013
The newest disagreement between the Pentagon and F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin is over the stealthy, single-engine fighter’s estimate cost per flying hour.
CPFH is the sort of standard unit of measure to determine how much it will cost to own an aircraft and use it for its intended purpose. And, for the F-35, it is a critical number as customers estimate how many aircraft they can afford – a number dependent upon the estimated price to operate them.
But, as with the unit cost debates of years ago (remember the Pentagon’s per-unit cost versus Lockheed’s “unit recurring flyaway?) the discussion is not simple.
So, there are two numbers.
In January, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said that his staff and Lockheed Martin were working to come up with a single cost-per-flying-hour figure for the F-35A. The company’s view of the ownership cost differed from that of the Air Force, he said. “It was characterized in a different way, a different format.” Air Force and company officials declined to release the numbers, because they say they are not finalized. Nor have they answered the question of how different the numbers are. The final number is slated for release in the annual selected acquisition report, which will come out in April.
At issue, Welsh says, is getting an “apples to apples” comparison between the estimated F-35A cost and the price of operating legacy aircraft, such as the F-16 and A-10, that it will replace. This is useful for the service to estimate whether and – if so – how much more money is needed to use F-35s than legacy aircraft or if procurement numbers need to be cut to reduce ownership cost.
Lt. Gen. Burt Field, Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and program, said at this month’s Air Force Association conference in Orlando that he assumes the F-35 is going to be a “little more expensive” than the F-35 to operate. This contradicts the marketing promise of Lockheed Martin. Company officials promised that customers could operate the new aircraft more cheaply than legacy fleets across their life.
Lockheed Martin’s CPFH cost estimate is different than the Air Force’s because the latter includes some items that the company omits. The company – in trying to have a true “apples to apples” comparison – did not include the cost of operating the electro-optical targeting system, for example, or the information technology systems used to support aircraft operations, this industry source says.
This is because the F-16 cost-per-flying-hour figure lacks data on the cost of operating its targeting pods and computer systems. Also skewing the numbers is that the Air Force’s legacy aircraft flying hour accounts are not fully funded, so the cost is below what an optimal value would be. With the F-35 estimate, the service assumes full funding for the accounts.
This is a “work in progress … We agree the cost per flying hour will exceed that of the F-16,” the industry source says, adding that the company expects the anticipated total lifetime cost will be below that of legacy aircraft.
Though the concept of an “apples to apples” goal is a noble one – and useful for customers looking to replace an old fleet, it is a bit of a false argument. If the F-35 cannot operate without the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) -- which supports part supply, mission planning and aircraft diagnostics – at some point the cost of it needs to be articulated for customers. Perhaps the CPFH number isn’t the right place, but operators are going to want to know what the true price of operating and maintaining their aircraft will be – information technology, targeting systems and all.
Once again, industry officials are arguing that the current “system” at the Pentagon – the one that accounts for developing, buying and operating aircraft – is not well suited to account for the attributes of the tri-service, multinational F-35 program. And, this may well be a valid point. In the case of the F-35, its advanced avionics, targeting systems and situational awareness aids are embedded in the aircraft and, thus, the Air Force includes them in the price. With the F-16 or A-10, though, the aircraft have been upgraded with new capabilities – radios, targeting pods, etc. – that have over time been paid for by other programs (typically – the right radio or targeting pod program). So, the bean counters at the Pentagon don’t necessarily “charge” the aircraft program for these items.
But, while the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin work to hash out an equitable solution to the CPFH conundrum, the issue of a total ownership cost should not be forgotten. Perhaps computers and targeting pods don’t belong in a CPFH line item, but they do need to be exposed and understood for customers – or they run the risk of buying a hot sports car they can only afford to take out on weekends.

UAV - Global Hawk erstattes av U2


Ja, dette står å lese i nest siste AW&ST.

Why Global Hawk Block 40 May Be Killed

By Amy Butler
Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology

February 25, 2013
Credit: Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman
Amy Butler Washington
The Global Hawk was once the U.S. Air Force's procurement darling, a premier unmanned air system primed to take over or augment key intelligence-collecting missions for the service. Now, however, after more than 10 years of addressing urgent needs in recent wars, service leaders may terminate the Northrop Grumman aircraft.
Top Air Force officials have quietly agreed that the Block 40 version of the UAS could be offered up as a bill-payer in the forthcoming fiscal 2014 budget, according to multiple defense officials.
A kill of the Block 40, which has yet to see operational use, would be the latest blow to the service's relationship with Northrop Grumman. The pair struggled for years—sometimes with Air Force officials publicly admonishing the company—to fund, develop and test the highly ambitious and high-flying UAS. Its cancellation must be approved by Air Force leaders, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and, eventually, Congress.
The Block 40 review comes only a year after the service proposed prematurely shelving the new Block 30 Global Hawks; that plan is still on hold as Congress has directed that they continue operating through the end of next year.
The 2014 budget request will not likely reach Congress until next month, so there is time for Northrop to intensify its already aggressive lobbying campaign to save the Block 30 and—now—its cousin (AW&ST Feb. 6, 2012, p. 34). The former was designed to collect electro-optical and infrared images as well as signals intelligence, while the latter is outfitted with the 1.5 X 4-ft. Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor designed to track moving ground targets and relay data about them to soldiers.
The Air Force and Northrop Grumman have both declined to discuss the decision, saying it is premature to address the 2014 budget plan.
Together, the two variants were linchpins of a potential transformation in the Air Force high-altitude intelligence-collection mission, which since the 1950s has been handled by pilots flying the temperamental U-2.

VTOL - DARPA


  • High-Speed VTOL -- DARPA Tries ... Again
    Posted byGraham Warwick1:09 PM on Feb 27, 2013
    DARPA does not want bidders for its new VTOL X-Plane program to "just revisit old concepts" for vertical take-off and landing that combine the high-speed performance of fixed-wing aircraft with the low-speed agility of helicopters.
    A look at the American Helicopter Society's wonderful V/STOL Wheel (of fortune or of shame, take your pick) shows how hard that could be, as it lists no fewer than 45 different concepts that have been tried, of which only three can be considered successes -- the Hawker Harrier, Yakovlev Yak-38 and Bell Boeing V-22 (four if you include the Lockheed Martin F-35, but I won't go there).
    VTOL X-Plane program manager Ashish Bagai says DARPA has seen "a few isolated and novel approaches" that might work, but he acknowledges the answer could lie in "more astute integration" of concepts that have been tried before.



    All graphics: DARPA
    A clue might be found in Bagai's background. Before he joined DARPA, he was principal engineer at Sikorsky, responsible for aerodynamic design of the rotor blades on the X2 Technology Demonstrator. The X2, and follow-on S-97 Raider, are essentially the "astute integration" of technologies first flown in the 1980s in the Sikorsky XH-59 Advanced Blade Concept demonstrator.
    The XH-59 achieved 263 kt, but needed four engines and four hands to fly and vibrated like a jackhammer. The X2 demonstrator exceeded 260 kt on one engine, with one pilot and vibration levels no worse than a Black Hawk at 150 kt. That feat was achieved through the synergistic integration (sorry!) of rigid rotors, propulsor, fly-by-wire controls, active vibration control and other technologies.
    Bagai sees similar potential to improve the integration of other concepts tried before, but discarded. "The V/STOL wheel of fortune offers a lot of insight into what was done in the past, and examples of concepts that were reinvigorated," he says. "There is a lot of technology available to advance previous concepts." He cites new design tools and subsystem technologies and "the potential for far more hybridization".



    The 52-month, $130 million VTOL X-Plane program to build an experimental aircraft that, compared to a conventional helicopter, is able to: fly faster (300kt or more), hover more efficiently (75% or better), cruise more efficiently (lift/drag ratio of 10 or better) and carry a useful load of 40% or more of gross weight. The X-plane itself is to be a reasonable size -- 10,000-12,000lb gross weight, or the size of Sikorsky's S-97 Raider -- so that it can be reliably scaled to the objective vehicle (a tricky thing with rotorcraft).
    Bagai has some other objectives. "This is an aggressive program," he says. "We cannot afford to get bogged down. We will not suffer non-A teams. We want small teams of personalities, with outstanding leadership." Perhaps his thinking is influenced by DARPA's checkered history with high-speed VTOL.
    Remember the Sikorsky X-Wing circulation-control rotor concept, cancelled in 1988 before it flew? Or the Boeing X-50A Dragonfly canard rotor/wing stopped-rotor concept, cancelled in 2006 after both subscale unmanned demonstrators crashed? Or the Groen Heliplane gyroplane, with tipjet-driven rotor, cancelled in 2008 after encountering problems with tipjet noise?
    Better luck this time, DARPA

USAF - KC-135 i Boneyard


  • USAF Retires 'First Operational' KC-135R .... Again
    Posted byNigel Howarth6:20 AM on Feb 27, 2013
    The U.S. Air Force announced on Feb. 22 that it had retired the "first operational KC-135R" from service, when tail number 61-0312 arrived at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ. However, Aviation Week Intelligence Network's Fleet database records KC-135R tail number 60-0319 arriving for storage on Jun. 20, 2012. It's unclear therefore why the folks at Altus proclaimed this month's arrival as the "first".
    In the 1980s and 1990s the USAF re-engined over 400 tankers with more powerful and efficient CFM-56 engines, designated KC-135R or KC-135T. These are now the only KC-135s in the fleet and are expected to soldier on for many years yet.
    Often referred to as the "boneyard", the vast desert storage location at Davis-Monthan holds almost 4,000 US military aircraft, mainly for parts, but also for future re-activation or sales to domestic and foreign government agencies. Pictured are some older model KC-135s never to fly again, but still a valuable source of parts for the large active fleet.


    Photo: Nigel Howarth

F-35 - F135 motoren


Pratt Rules Out Worst-Case Cause For F-35 Blade Crack

By Reuters
February 27, 2013
Pratt & Whitney is 99% sure the fan blade problem that grounded the Pentagon’s 51 new F-35 fighter jets was not caused by high-cycle fatigue, which could force a costly design change, according to two sources familiar with an investigation by the enginemaker.
Company engineers have concluded that a 0.6 inch-long (1.5 cm) crack found on a turbine blade in the engine of an F-35 jet at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida was almost certainly caused by lesser issues, such as high heat exposure or a manufacturing problem, that would be easier to solve, the sources said.
“They’re 99% sure that it’s not the worst-case scenario of high-cycle fatigue,” said one of the sources.
Flights of the single-engine, single-seat F-35 fighter could resume as early as this week if the Pentagon accepts the findings of Pratt, a unit of United Technologies Corp, after additional tests to be done Wednesday, said one of the sources, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The Pentagon announced the grounding of all F-35 warplanes on Friday after an inspection revealed a crack on a turbine blade in the Pratt-built jet engine of an F-35 jet being tested at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
It was the second engine-related grounding in two months of the $396 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter built by Lockheed Martin Corp, the Pentagon’s largest weapons program.

B787 Japan


In Japan, idled Dreamliner pilots lose pay, but want plane to be safe


A Japan Airlines aircraft (above) approaches for landing as an All Nippon Airways' Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner plane parks on the tarmac at Haneda Airport in Tokyo February 4, 2013.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Their smart uniforms are mothballed, their income has fallen and some are getting under their wives' feet at home.

The grounding of Boeing Co's global fleet of 787 Dreamliner passenger jets due to undiagnosed battery problems is taking its toll on the hundreds of pilots specially trained to fly the high-tech, fuel efficient plane.

In Japan, the 350 or so pilots at All Nippon Airways Co ANA.L (9202.T) and Japan Airlines Co Ltd JAL.L (9201.T), which operate around half the 50 Dreamliners in service, have been kicking their heels at home since the planes were idled in mid-January - an enforced rest period that is beginning to grate.

"For the first two weeks after the grounding, the 787 was in my dreams. It's the first time I haven't flown for this long," one ANA Dreamliner captain told Reuters. He asked not to be named as he was not authorised to talk to the media. "It's like I'm rehearsing for retirement. My family teases me, saying I'm unemployed."




ANA puts Dreamliner fleet architect in charge of airline business



An All Nippon Airways' (ANA) Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner plane is seen at Haneda airport in Tokyo January 29, 2013.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's All Nippon Airways (9202.T) said it will switch to a holding company structure, putting Osamu Shinobe, the main architect of its strategy to put the Boeing Co (BA.N) Dreamliner at the centre of its fleet planning, in charge of the airline business from April.

The management reshuffle comes as the airline juggles its schedules and cancels flights with its 17 Dreamliners parked at airports in Japan until U.S. and Japanese regulators allow the aircraft to fly again.



Without planes to fly, the pilots - who have up to three months intensive training for the 787 - expect their monthly pay to fall by as much as 30 percent. They have mostly been assigned "blank" days - an industry term for pilots who are not on duty, staff at the airlines said. ANA has told its Dreamliner pilots they will undergo simulator refresher training next month, the pilot said.

VTOL


Taking off
Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) craft, such as the V-22 Osprey, are valued by the military for their ability to land anywhere and fly relatively quickly. (Copyright: USAF)
The US military’s advanced concepts wing wants an ambitious, high-speed vertical take-off and landing aircraft. But can it succeed where others have failed?

Imagine an aircraft that combines a helicopter’s ability to takeoff and land from almost anywhere, with the speed and range of a fixed wing aircraft. That’s precisely what aviation enthusiasts have dreamed of building for well over 50 years. In fact, so many efforts have been made to get a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft off the ground that even advocates of the concept often refer to the “wheel of misfortune,” a diagram that depicts the dozens of mostly failed concepts.
Many never got off the blackboard, and only three have ever been flown operationally by the military – the main customer for these vehicles.
But now, the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is taking another spin at the “wheel”. This week, the agency announced a new X-plane program, which will seek to build a prototype aircraft to demonstrate a better VTOL design. That means more than just brushing off old ideas: the agency is hoping for an entirely fresh approach.
"Strapping rockets onto the back of a helicopter is not the type of approach we're looking for,” Ashish Bagai, Darpa program manager said in a statement announcing the new programme. “The engineering community is familiar with the numerous attempts in the past that have not worked. This time, rather than tweaking past designs, we are looking for true cross-pollinations of designs and technologies from the fixed-wing and rotary-wing worlds.”
Indeed, the Pentagon agency is seeking what it calls the “elegant confluence” of different engineering designs and approaches to a VTOL aircraft.
There are, as the wheel shows, numerous to choose from. VTOL concepts over the years have included various ingenious solutions for powering and lifting these craft including tilt-rotor aircraft, tilt-wing, vectored thrust, tilt prop and tilt jets, just to name a few. A few have even been used operationally, such as the US military’s tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey; the iconic Harrier, which relies on vectored thrust to control its movements; and the Soviet Yak-38, another vectored thrust machine. But many more never got anywhere near the battlefield, such as a class of aircraft that stood on their tails – like rockets – for lift-off (These impractical designs included the Lockheed XFV-1 and the Convair XFY-1 Pogo.)

‘Art of the possible’
The traditional problem with VTOL aircraft has been the tremendous complexity involved in having to transition from horizontal flight to vertical flight. Many of the schemes, which combine rotors and wings, or involve tilting some component of the aircraft, make for technically elaborate designs that are often impractical to operate and fly.
That Darpa would try to tackle the VTOL problem, even after so many failures, is not surprising. It has long been the tradition of the agency to tackle significant engineering challenges, such as robotics and hypersonics, multiple times until something works. Moreover, the appeal of a VTOL aircraft is simple: helicopters offer the unique ability to take-off and land without an airstrip, providing the military with access to places where fixed-wing aircraft can’t land, while fixed-wing aircraft offer greater speed and range.
The question, now, however, is whether Darpa can come up with anything new. And on that point, not everyone is optimistic.
“The number one problem in the aeronautical sense, with VTOL, is you’re trying to have it all, and in aviation, everything is a tradeoff,” says Roger Connor, curator at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. “This is really, really hard to do, this is harder than rocket science in a lot of ways,” says Connor. “You’re trying to do something that is counterintuitive, and it’s not obvious that you’re going to have success.”

B767 kan bli erstatningen for B787 hos Norwegian



  • Fra Aftenposten den 25. februar:
    Det er denne flytypen som Norwegian vurderer å leie inn som
    erstatning for drømmeflyet Boeing 787.
    Flyet på bildet tilhører japanske All Nippon Airways.
    FOTO: Koji Sasahara/NTB Scanpix

    Dette kan bli erstatningen for Norwegians 
    drømmefly
    Tekniske feil har satt Boeing 787 Dreamliner på bakken midlertidig.
    Publisert 25 februar 2013 12:41Oppdatert 25 februar 2013 13:48
    Norwegian ser nå på muligheten til å leie to Boeing 767 300 ER for
     å erstatte Boeing787 Dreamliner på langdistanserutene fra Oslo og
    Stockholm.Informasjonssjef Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen i Norwegian
    vurderer å lease to fly frem til Boeing 787 er på vingene.








Sandaker-Nielsen sier at de ennå ikke har inngått endelig avtale hverken med selskap eller hvor lenge de ønsker å leie flyene.
Som kjent er det nye drømmeflyet til Boeing satt på bakken på grunn av problemer med batteriene om bord. Det er blitt antydet at flyet som Norwegian har bestilt to av, ikke kommer på vingene før mot slutten av året.


Flyselskap prøver ny metode for å tjene ekstra penger.
Det er en gammel traver i internasjonal luftfart Norwegian vurderer ål leie som erstatning for sine to drømmefly. Boeing 767 har vært i produksjon i over 30 år og meningen var at hypermoderne 787 skulle erstatte nettopp flytypen Norwegian kommer til å leie.
Boeing 767 har to motorer og ble satt i produksjon i 1982. Siden den gang har Boeing-fabrikken produsert og solgt nærmere 1000 fly av denne typen. Flyet er fortsatt i produksjon.
Boeing er laget i syv versjoner og modellen Norwegian har plukket ut har betegnelsen 300 ER. Det betyr i praksis at det er den nest største versjonen med ekstra stor rekkevidde.
En rekke store internasjonale selskaper benytter Boeing 767 på sine langruter. Det gjelder blant andre gigantene American Airlines og Delta, samt de to store japanske Japan Airlines og All Nippon Airways.
SAS hadde i sin tid 18 Boeing 767. SAS brukte Boeing 767 på rutene mellom Skandinavia og USA, Bangkok og Tokyo. For norske pakketurister er flytypen også kjent for reisende med Tuifly Nordic. Også Braathens SAFE hadde Boeing 767 i flyparken en kort periode.

Fra luftfartskonferansen

Friske fraspark på Luftfartskonferansen i Bodø

Det manglet ikke friske fraspark da SAS, Norwegian og Ryanair la fram sine visjoner og spådommer for framtidens luftfart under Luftfartstilsynets årlige konferanse i Bodø.
Mens SAS ennå har tro på nettverkselskapenes framtid og at det er et marked for å tilby forretningsreisende det lille ekstra, står Norwegian og Ryanair fast på at framtiden til europeisk luftfart tilhører lavprisselskapene med sine punkt til punkt-reiser. Men alle tre selskapene syntes å være enige om én ting: At luftfartsavgiftene på Avinors lufthavner gjør det vanskelig å drive butikk i Norge. Salgs- og markedsdirektøren i SAS, Eivind Roald, hevdet at Oslo Lufthavn Gardermoen har de høyeste luftfartsavgiftene i Skandinavia. Men Avinors konsernsjef, Dag Falk-Petersen mener dette er en påstand han ikke kjenner seg igjen i.

- Bare Helsinki slår oss Dag Falk-Petersen i Bodø 2013 (ingress)-SAS bruker én av flere avgifter for å illustrere det de mener er et høyt avgiftsnivå, men totalt sett er det bare Helsinki av de skandinaviske hovedflyplassene som tilbyr bedre betingelser på avgiftssiden. Oslo lufthavn liggere lavere enn både Stockholm og København (se illustrasjon), sier Falk-Petersen.Tabell avgifter (ingress)

Han understreker at luftfartsavgiftene, som fastsettes av Samferdselsdepartementet, faktisk har gått ned med 2-300 millioner kroner i året de siste to årene.

-Privatiser lufthavnene Ryanairs profilerte leder, Michael O’Leary gikk lenger enn SAS, og mente avgiftene måtte bringes ned mot null, samtidig som lufthavnene måtte privatiseres. Om det skjer, skulle eksempelvis Ryanair bringe Bodø-væringene til Barcelona for 79 kroner. Hva skulle så lufthavnene leve av? Kommersielle inntekter fra salg og parkering på lufthavnene, ifølge O’Leary.

Samfunnsoppdrag Avinors konsernsjef avviser at kommersielle inntekter alene vil være nok til å løse samfunnsoppdraget Avinor har i oppdrag å ivareta.

-Vi har et samfunnsoppdrag som innebærer at vi skal levere gode og sikre luftfartstjenester til hele landet. Det innebærer at vi har ansvar for lufthavner med varierende grad av lønnsomhet. Noen få ville klart seg på egne bein, men det store flertallet er avhengig av tilskudd. Samtidig vet vi hvor viktig det norske lufthavnnettet er for norsk næringsliv og utviklingen i distriktene. Luftfarten knytter landet sammen, og har en rolle langt ut over det å fly turister til syden, sier Falk-Petersen.

Alle flyselskap velkommen Konsernsjefen understreker at Avinor ønsker alle flyselskap velkommen til selskapets lufthavner, men at kostnadene ved å drive disse må dekkes inn.

-Det skjer både ved en takstregulativ som Samferdselsdepartementet fastsetter – og ved kommersielle inntekter. Ellers har vi en god dialog med flyselskapene om de utfordringene bransjen står overfor. Og Avinor må selvfølgelig gjøre sin del – og ta ansvar for å levere effektive tjenester i den verdikjeden selskapet vårt inngår i.

FoF 2013

Sjekk datoer, program og priser på flyoperativtforum.no

onsdag 27. februar 2013

S-92A til Norsk Helikopterservice - Skal stasjoneres i Aberdeen


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Avincis Uncovers NHS-Operated Sikorsky S-92

Avincis Group subsidiary Norsk Helikopterservice (NHS) officially took the wraps off its new Sikorsky S-92 on Wednesday at the company’s base near Stavanger, Norway. The helicopter—the first S-92 under a 16-aircraft order—will initially serve in Aberdeen in the UK assisting sister company Bond Offshore Helicopters, before returning to Stavanger by the end of 2013.

Putin talte til den russiske forsvarsledelsen i dag

Foto: The Voice of Russia
 
Han sa at Russland må rustes opp og moderniseres for å stå i mot USAs styrkeoppbygging. Han advarte også mot militarisering av nordområdene.

Fra The Voice of Russia:
He said that by 2020 70% of the country’s current arsenal will be replaced with cutting-edge precision weaponry.
He also said he hopes Russian military officers will become role models for the young.

Flykollisjon på bakken i mars, 2012


SAS har skylden for kollisjonen, slår Havarikommisjonen fast. Foto: NTB scanpix

SAS skyld i kollisjon med Norwegian

Havarikommisjonen anbefaler SAS å gjennomføre en risikovurdering etter en flykollisjon på Gardermoen i mars i fjor.
Havarikommisjonen la onsdag fram rapporten om hva som skjedde da et SAS-fly med 170 passasjerer og et Norwegian-fly med 141 passasjerer om bord kolliderte ved en gate på Gardermoen 29. mars.

Rollebytte

Flygerne i SAS-flyet drev intern opplæring om bord og hadde derfor byttet roller. Opplæringen innebar et rollebytte, og en kapteinskandidat hadde dermed kapteinsrollen, mens fartøysjefen hadde styrmannsrollen i tillegg til instruktørrollen og ansvaret som formell fartøysjef.
Flygerne hadde sin tredje og siste dag av opplæringen, og fartøysjefen medga selv at han hadde fått redusert søvn og var sliten.

Havarikommisjonen legger vekt på dette, og mener opplæringen var en merbelastning for SAS-flygerne.
– Havarikommisjonen finner det sannsynlig at uvante roller har hatt betydning i denne hendelsen, skriver kommisjonen i sin rapport og anbefaler derfor selskapet å gjennomføre en risikovurdering.

SAS skyld i ulykken

Det var torsdag ettermiddag før påske, en av årets største utfartsdager på Gardermoen, at Norwegian-flyet takset inn for å parkere samtidig som SAS-flyet var i ferd med å bli skjøvet ut fra gate. Norwegian-flyets venstre vingespiss ble revet av da flyene kolliderte, og SAS-flyets høyderor på begge sider ble skadet. Ingen personer kom til skade i kollisjonen.

Rapporten slår fast at besetningen i SAS-flyet ikke hadde innhentet klarering fra kontrolltårnet for å begynne utskyvingen. Flyarbeiderne på bakken hadde koblet til traktoren for å skyve flyet ut fra gate, og de fikk klarsignal fra flygerne. Flygerne mente de hadde fått klarsignal fra flygeleder, noe de ikke hadde. Dermed var det ingen som verken visste om eller la merke til Norwegian-flyet som kom kjørende like bak.
- See more at: http://www.abcnyheter.no/nyheter/2013/02/27/sas-skyld-i-kollisjon-med-norwegian#sthash.DOXDTpRt.dpuf

Ryanair 2


Ryanair: – Det er hårreisende dyrt å fly i Norge

Michael O'Leary - ryanair (Foto: Martin Steinholt/NRK)

Michael O'Leary var i godt humør da han landet på Bodø lufthavn onsdag. Det mangler ikke på planer, men iren mener Avinors avgifter er et problem.
Foto: Martin Steinholt/NRK
I dag landet Ryanair-sjef Michael O'Leary i Bodø med en klar beskjed. – Vi vil utvide tilbudet i Norge, men Avinors avgifter hindrer oss.
  • Ryanair ble startet i 1985 av familien Ryan. Firmaet hadde da en aksjekapital på 1£ og 25 ansatte.
  • Det første året fløy de 5.000 passasjerer.
  • I 2000 var det tallet økt til over 7.000.000.
  • Fem år senere hadde de fraktet 30.946.000.
  • I 2007 fraktet Ryanair 42.500.000.
  • Flyselskapet er Europas største lavprisselskap med base i 32 land.
  • De har 190 nye Boeing 737-800 fly i sin flåte, med en bestilling på ytterligere 102 bestilt.

Dette er Avinor

  • Driver 46 lufthavner i Norge
  • Derav 12 i samarbeid med Forsvaret
  • Virksomheten omfatter også kontrolltårn, kontrollsentraler og teknisk infrastruktur for flynavigasjon.
  • Avinor ble opprettet som aksjeselskap, heleid av staten, 1. januar 2003
  • Hovedkontoret ligger i Oslo
  • Avinor omfatter ikke Moss Lufthavn Rygge og Sandefjord Lufthavn Torp
På Bodø lufthavn landet O'Leary i sitt private Boeing 737–800. Der skal han delta på Luftfartskonferansen 2013 som har temaet: «Flysikkerhet og lønnsomhet i et globalt marked».
Det var knyttet stor spenning til hva O'Leary ville si på konferansen. Tidligere i år sa han at Ryanair håper å fly innenriksruter i Norge i løpet av tre år.
Det ønsket gjentok O'Leary da NRK møtte ham på Bodø lufthavn i dag. Men for at det skal skje krever den kontroversielle lavpriskongen kutt i avgiftene på Avinors flyplasser.
– Problemet er at Avinors flyplasser er for dyre, og det hindrer utviklingen på de regionale flyplassene, sier O'Leary til NRK.no.
Slik situasjonen er nå er det hårreisende dyrt å fly innenriks i Norge, fortsetter han.

– Vil utvide i hele Norge

Til konferansen i Bodø har O'Leary med seg en rekke spørsmål til Avinor.
– Hvorfor samarbeider dere ikke med Europas største lavprisselskap? Hvorfor flyr bare høykostnadsselskaper som SAS og Norwegian til nordnorske flyplasser? Her er det store inntekter som reiselivet går glipp av, mener O'Leary.
– Hvilke flyplasser vil være aktuelle for Ryanair?
– Samtlige regionale flyplasser i Norge er aktuelle for oss. Men planene ligger på is inntil Avinor gjør noe med avgiftene. Vi utvider over hele Europa, men det kan vi ikke gjøre i Norge fordi Avinors flyplasser ikke kan konkurrere.

Gode venner?

I Bodø møtte Ryanair-sjefen administrerende direktør Dag Falk-Petersen i Avinor. De så ut som to gode venner og de poserte villig for NRKs fotograf. Men de er rykende uenig.
– Det O'Leary påstår er helt urimelig, og det er klassisk at han opptrer på den måten, sier Falk-Petersen.
– Vi har relativt sett lave avgifter i Norge, og de går nedover. I løpet av de siste to årene har vi senket avgiftene med 300 millioner kroner, fortsetter han.

(artikkelen fortsetter under)

Michael O'Leary og Dag Falk-Petersen (Foto: Martin Steinholt/NRK)Michael O'Leary og Dag Falk-Petersen poserte villig for NRK, men de er rykende uenig om flyplassavgiftene i Norge.
Foto: Martin Steinholt/NRK

Vil utvide tilbudet kraftig

Ryanair flyr allerede til Rygge og Torp, flyplasser som ikke er eid av Avinor. O'Leary vil at hele Norge skal ha det samme tilbudet.
– Jeg vil at folk i Nord-Norge skal kunne fly til byer som Barcelona, London og Dublin uten å måtte bytte fly i København eller Oslo, sier han.
Han mener reiselivet lider at avgiftsnivået.
– Det er jo sånn i dag at det er mange som vil fly til Nord-Norge, men de har ikke råd fordi prisene er for høye.
– Vi kunne flydd fra regionale flyplasser i Norge for en tiendedel av kostnadene til SAS og Norwegian, fortsetter O'Leary.

Ryanair 1


Et fly fra Ryanair letter fra Rygge flyplass.
Et fly fra Ryanair letter fra Rygge flyplass. Foto: Gunnar Lier

Ryanair får ikke overta Aer Lingus

Selskapet vil anke vedtaket.
Publisert: 27.02.2013 - 13:43 Oppdatert: 27.02.2013 - 13:44
EU-kommisjonen har for tredje gang blokkert Ryanairs forsøk på å overta det irske flyselskapet Aer Lingus.

Ballongflyging - Egypt


No safety briefing on balloon flight - photographer (Egypt)

An American photographer who was nearby when a hot air balloon exploded in Egypt on Tuesday, says his flight had no safety briefing and flights were cancelled the day before.


The scene soon after take-off, with the balloon that later exploded, shown at top.

Christopher Michel heard the explosion which killed 19 people as the balloon he was in, was coming in to land at Luxor.

The company operating the balloon said a gas cylinder appears to have caught fire and exploded 300 metres above the ground. It was one of several making a dawn flight,

Mr Michel said his flight was cancelled the day before because of an argument between airport officials and balloon owners.

He told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme the operators were still disorganised the second day, but they were able to fly.

Luxor is on the banks of the River Nile and has long been a popular tourist destination. It is home to some of Egypt's most famous ancient ruins.

Tourists go to Luxor to visit the temples and the tombs of the Valley of the Kings.

In 2009, 13 foreign tourists were injured when their hot air balloon hit a phone mast and crashed

B787 - Usikkert når Boeing får starte testing


FAA Mulls Decision on 787 Tests


By ANDY PASZTOR

(WSJ) - Federal regulators have been working to give Boeing Co. BA +0.82%the green light for airborne tests of proposed lithium-ion battery fixes for its 787 Dreamliner as early as next week, though the actual test flights aren't likely to come that quickly, according to people familiar with the details.

The people said Boeing has told some airline customers that if testing is conducted in early March, the grounded jets could resume carrying passengers in a matter of weeks, perhaps even by the end of the month.

A final decision on the timing of the permission hasn't been made and must be reviewed and approved by senior Transportation Department officials, including Secretary Ray LaHood. Once Boeing gets the green light, it could take some time to organize details of the test flights.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said "reports that we are close to allowing 787 test flights are completely inaccurate."

Boeing, among other things, is counting on the fact that the Federal Aviation Administration's technical experts have supported the proposed changes, these people said.

Boeing didn't have any immediate comment.

Boeing's aggressive timetable for resuming regular flights could be upset if the FAA has any major questions or concerns about the battery enhancements before or after the test flights. Some industry officials project the Dreamliner won't be able to resume commercial service until April or later in the year.

An early March approval for test flights, however, would indicate the FAA is prepared to sign off on Boeing's package of proposed fixes before an international probe pinpoints a specific root cause that led to burning batteries last month aboard a pair of 787s operated by Japanese carriers. Mr. LaHood has been leery of approving the fixes without a definitive cause, according to one person briefed on the matter. The battery incidents prompted the FAA to ground U.S. 787s on Jan. 16, causing similar moves by regulators world-wide.

Boeing's proposals are geared toward ensuring that even if another battery starts to dangerously overheat, the situation won't turn into a crisis. The proposals emphasize changes to the guts of the plane's lithium-ion batteries along with a new protective fireproof container, according to people familiar with the details.

The metal "containment box" would be intended to ensure that flames and toxic chemicals automatically will be vented outside the aircraft, preventing damage to nearby wiring or structures. Boeing also envisions redesigning the power packs to keep internal battery cells from moving around or spreading heat or flames, as well as changes aimed at keeping closer track of battery conditions.

Globus II radaren i Vardø oppgraderes

Foto: Wikipedia
 
Dette er en amerikansk radar bemannet med norsk personell. Reaksjoner fra russerne forventes. Fra Wikipedia sakser jeg:
Den russiske generalen Leonid Ivasjov sa på Dagsrevyen sommeren 2000 at Russland har programmert taktiske atomvåpen til å angripe Vardøradaren. Det samme mente den uavhengige russiske forsvarseksperten Pavel Felgenhauer, nå skribent for Novaia Gazeta: – Denne radaren sees på som en stor strategisk trussel. (Dagbladet 8.6.07)

Spirit of Performance Award

                                                                Foto: Stavanger Aftenblad
 
I mars 2012 var det en ukontrollert utblåsning på gassplatformen Elgin Well Head i britisk sektor. Rune Nåden Dyrstad og hans besetning var stasjonert på Ekofisk feltet, var ute på en treningstur da de ble bedt om å assistere i evakueringen av totalt 238 personer. Runes besetning besto av styrmann Bjørn Knutson, redningsmann Martin Jonson og heisoperatør Olav Fedje. De reddet alene 109 personer. Denne prisen ble utdelt som en anerkjennelse til hele SAR opplegget som ConocoPhillips har offshore på Ekofisk feltet. Rune ble trukket ut for å delta på prisutdeleingen i Houston og skriver på facebook:

SPIRIT of Performance Awards 2013
ConocoPhillips hadde laget i stand en fantastisk Spirit of Awards fest for 30 vinnere i Houston Texas. Festen ble holdt på Union Station dawntown Houston. Programmet bestod av en Reception på en times tid der vi hilse på alle i den øverste ledelsen. Deretter middag for så å ha prisutdeling en times tid senere. Prisutdeling var nesten som en Grammyutdeling og skulle ønsket at jeg hadde hatt hele crewet med meg som hadde fått vært med på denne opplevelsen.


Gratulerer!

UAV - Phantom Eye flyr igjen


Boeing Phantom Eye Completes 2nd Flight



Boeing‘s liquid hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye unmanned aircraft system completed its second flight Feb. 25, demonstrating capabilities that will allow it to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions for up to four days without refuelling.
During the flight, at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Phantom Eye climbed above an altitude of 8,000 feet and remained aloft for 66 minutes at a cruising speed of 62 knots before landing. The aircraft exceeded what it achieved last year during its first flight when it flew at an altitude of 4,080 feet and remained aloft for 28 minutes.
“Today’s combination of geopolitical and economic issues makes Phantom Eye’s capabilities, affordability and flexibility very attractive to our global customers,” said Darryl Davis, Boeing Phantom Works president. “No other system holds the promise of offering on-demand, persistent ISR and communications to any region in the world, rapidly responding to natural disasters and national security issues.”
- See more at: http://www.uasvision.com/2013/02/27/boeing-phantom-eye-completes-2nd-flight/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=b134cc7f66-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN#sthash.g8eP5sCR.dpuf

UAV - Snart allemannseie


Sky high thinking: Could we all soon own a drone?

Parrot AR drone 

Drones are becoming cheap enough for hobbyists to own
Drones - or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - could soon be whizzing across our airspace on all sorts of civil and commercial missions.
Rapid advances in camera, sensing, aeronautics, battery and autopilot navigation technologies have helped make UAVs affordable, easy-to-operate and increasingly reliable for individuals, civil authorities and businesses alike.

Small, vertical take-off or landing (VTOL) multi-propeller helicopters equipped with hi-tech equipment are already saving big business millions of pounds.
John Moreland, spokesman for the UAV Systems Association, the UK's main industry body, with about 140 members, told the BBC: "Hundreds of these UAVs are being used commercially these days, typically flying below 400ft (120m) and with a range of about 500m (0.3 miles).
"Most are engaged in aerial photography and 3D surveying, but applications are expanding all the time."
For example, UAVs are being used to carry out aerial inspections of oil refinery flare stacks, fuel tanks, power lines and pipelines.
With their ability to access difficult and dangerous areas, they can provide high-definition video, infrared and still images in live situations without the need for shutting down plants and erecting expensive scaffolding. This saves time and money.
Global export Livingston-based Cyberhawk, a company that specialises in aerial inspections for companies such as Shell, Total, Statoil and ExxonMobil, saved one of its clients £4.6m last year after its UAVs were able to inspect a drilling derrick while it was still operational

UAV - Sense and avoid 2

Briefing Offers Glimpse of FAA's UAS Concept of Operations
AINonline
February 26, 2013, 2:20 PM
Unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operators in the U.S. would have to file and fly instrument flight plans and equip their aircraft for position reporting with transponders and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast Out (ADS-B Out) transmissions based on GPS. A pilot-in-command would be limited to controlling one aircraft, and autonomous flights would be prohibited under a concept of operations the Federal Aviation Administration is developing to introduce UAS in unrestricted airspace.
Edgar Waggoner, who represents NASA on an FAA advisory rulemaking committee (ARC) looking into UAS airspace integration, described the major guidance documents that federal agencies are developing during a February 26 meeting of the NASA Advisory Council UAS Subcommittee. The ARC reviewed and made recommendations to the FAA on a 2010 version of the concept of operations, which Waggoner described as “a very powerful document” with 14 “governing assumptions.”
In addition to filing IFR flight plans and equipping aircraft for ADS-B Out—regardless of the ADS-B mandate for manned aircraft by 2020, civil UAS operators would need airworthiness certification of their aircraft, according to Waggoner’s description of the concept of operations. There would be no new classes or types of airspace dedicated to UAS, and separation minimums applied in controlled airspace would also apply to unmanned aircraft. The UAS pilot-in-command would communicate with ATC using standard phraseology. The concept of operations is a “2018-2020” vision of the FAA’s, Waggoner said. It does not address line-of-sight operations by small UAS weighing less than 55 pounds, which will be the subject of a separate rulemaking.

tirsdag 26. februar 2013

Mobilbruk - Ikke smart når du er på jobb


Pilot Taxiing at JFK Strikes Lights While on Cell Phone


By: Phil Derner Jr.

Gonna take more than a bucket of prop wash to get that out!

Gonna take more than a bucket of prop wash to get that out!
A small charter aircraft taxiing to depart at JFK International Airport received damage after hitting ground lights on Thursday evening, according to information received by NYCAviation.
While taxiing across the active Runway 31R on taxiway Echo, the Swearingen SA226-AT Merlin IV’s propellers struck runway edge lighting. The incident led to partial loss of the propeller blades, and as one might, expect, some flying blade fragments wound up creating some small dents on the aircraft’s fuselage. The runway was closed for two hours as a result.



The pilot is reported to have been operating his cell phone at the same time, leading to a loss of situational awareness. The FAA is investigating the incident.
There were no injuries reported as a result.



Supertur til USA med Erik Tandberg

Foto: Per Gram
Jeg kan bare si at dette høres veldig spennende ut:
Fly Oslo - San Francisco- Phoenix - Washington, D.C. - Oslo
Følgende steder skal besøkes:
  • NASA Ames Research Center
  • SETI-institute
  • Mount Wilson Observatory ved Pasadena
  • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasdena
  • SpaceX i Hawthorne
  • Sea Launch og evt. QE2 i Long Beach
  • Los angeles Science Center (Edeavour)
  • Mount Palomar Observatory ved San Diego
  • MCAS Miramar Airshow
  • Bigelow Aerospace i Las Vegas
  • Hoover Dam
  • Barringer Meteor Crater
  • Lowell Observatory
  • US Geological Survey (avd. for planetgeologi)
  • Goddard Space Flight Center
  • Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum
  • Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Museum i Virginia
Pris oppgis til kr. 23 255,- dersom du bor i to-manns rom Kr- 26 650,- for enkeltrom. Turen varer fra 28. september til 13. oktober.
Sjekk thoskaue@online.no eller mbratfo@online.no for program og detaljer. Først til mølla...... Påmelding snarest og senest 31. mars 2013.

SAS` bonuspoeng diskriminerer meg

 
Det er ikke noen god følelse at SAS ved å innføre bonuspoeng for forretningskunder, diskriminerer meg som pensjonist. Alle eller ingen!

Diamond USA i trouble


Diamond Lays Off Most Staff, Suspends D-JET


Diamond Aircraft's North American manufacturing operations have been effectively suspended and work on the D-Jet personal jet halted as the company restructures its London, Ontario, Canada operations. In a brief statement, Diamond Canada CEO Peter Maurer said the company will reorganize but in the meantime most of its staff has been laid off at the London plant.

Dreamliner - Air India i drømmeland?


Air India wants Dreamliner back in air in April


Air India, which grounded six Boeing-made 787 Dreamliners on January 16 after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) directive to suspend all flights of the aircraft pending completion of a safety review related to battery malfunctions, is hopeful that things will settle down by April and the aircraft would take wings once again.

"Air India engineers are of the view that the Dreamliner should be back in air sometime in April,'' Air India chairman and managing director Rohit Nandan said.

Helikopterdust


Copter caper costs pilot his aircraft


The federal government is confiscating William Stokely's helicopter as part of a plea deal reached earlier this month.

Homeland Security agents arrested the Tulsa ad man and seasonal resident of Forest Highlands, an exclusive gated community south of Flagstaff, at the Flagstaff Airport last summer.

Prosecutors say that he falsified the tail number of his aircraft to stop authorities from catching on that he was flying without a pilot's license, according to U.S. District Court documents. He had lost the license for buzzing Flagstaff homes.

The guilty plea caps an odd saga that started when Stokely was spotted filling up gas cans at the Winslow airport and then caching them in remote areas around Flagstaff and northern Arizona.

In October 2011, the Flagstaff Homeland Security office started an investigation into the suspicious behavior.

Fuglefaren er der .........


Aircraft of Turkish Airlines hit flock of birds



An aircraft of Turkish Airlines (Türk Hava Yolları), carrying out Istanbul-Ankara flight, hit a flock of birds, the Sabah newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Engine of the aircraft was damaged as a result, due to which it had to return back to Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

It is reported that none of 110 passengers of the flight injured. They all departed for Ankara by another flight.

F-22 - Mystiske plager


Air Force to Stealth Fighter Pilots: Get Used to Coughing Fits



An F-22 takes off on a training flight last month.

The Air Force has some bad news for the pilots of its F-22 Raptor stealth fighters: Your planes are going to make you feel crappy and there's not much anyone can do about it. And the message to the maintainers of the radar-evading jet is even more depressing. Any illness they feel from working around the Raptor is apparently all in their heads, according to the Air Force.

Those admissions, buried in newly released Congressional records, represent the latest twist in the years-long saga of the F-22s faulty oxygen system, which since at least 2008 has been choking pilots, leading to confusion, memory loss and blackouts - combined known as hypoxia - that may have contributed to at least one fatal crash. Ground crews have also reported growing sick while working around F-22s whose engines are running.

The Air Force claims its has a handle on the in-flight blackouts. All 180 or so F-22s are having faulty filters removed and new backup oxygen generators installed. There have also been changes to the G-suits pilots wear. But the Air Force says the alterations won't do anything to fix the so-called "Raptor cough," a chronic condition afflicting almost all F-22 pilots.

The coughing - which, to be clear, is a totally separate issue from hypoxia - is due to a condition known as "acceleration atelectasis," Maj. Gen. Charles Lyon, who headed the Air Force's Raptor investigation, wrote in response to questions submitted following a September testimony before a House subcommittee. "Acceleration atelectasis results from pilots breathing high concentrations of oxygen (above 60 percent) while wearing anti-G trousers, and exposure to G-forces," Lyon explained.

Maj. Jeremy Gordon, a Virginia Raptor flier who blew the whistle on the Air Force last year, described a typical room full of F-22 pilots where "the vast majority will be coughing a lot of the time." One Air Force widow claimed her F-22 pilot husband's coughing contributed to his suicide.

The coughing, Lyon continued, results from the closure of the lungs' alveoli as oxygen-rich air is absorbed, leaving insufficient gas such as nitrogen behind to keep the alveoli open. "The normal physiologic response to re-open the alveoli is to cough," Lyon wrote adding that an F-22 feeds its pilot higher concentrations of oxygen compared to other jets. Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis told ABC News that the Raptor's extreme performance - flying higher and faster than most planes - could also exacerbate the cough.

EVA AIR - Skummel take off Schiphol

 

They've had various slogans since their launch in 1989. The two I like best are: "Fly EVA Air and Feel the Difference" and "Just relax, your home is in the air". Both seem to fit the picture rather nicely.

AMAZING PHOTO OF A 747 TAKING OFF FROM AMSTERDAM
 
EVA AIR BOEING 747-45EM TAKING OFF FROM RUNWAY 36L AT SCHIPHOL, AMSTERDAM ..
THE GREAT TIMING AND ANGLE JUST MAKES THIS SHOT, AND THE SIZE OF THE 747, LOOK SURREAL.
The distance to the fence was 145 meters (475ft)...
I wonder if anyone computed the take-off distance prior to the trip?
This is an amazing picture of a disaster that didn't happen.
From the looks of this 747, a couple more pieces of carry-on luggage, AND THEY MIGHT NOT HAVE CLEARED THE FENCE!
 
Min agent i Florida skriver:
 Hei Per,

Flott bilde, men det en optisk illusjon skapt av telelinse, avstand til RWY osv. Her er en del andre bilder fra stort sett samme sted:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47874803@N00/galleries/72157626358598594/#photo_4242114714

36L er vel 3600 m lang så en 747 har lift-off omtrent 1000 m før enden.

UAV - Sense and Avoid forskning


Engineers Present Unmanned Aircraft Sense-And-Avoid Flight Test Results at Avionics Europe Forum

It is not easier to certify avionics on unmanned aircraft systems than on manned aircraft, affirms Dr. Emanuel Braemer, Head of Technology, Aerosystems Division, ESG Elektroniksystem-und Logistik-GmbH in Germany.
Just because a human is not in danger, given that an unmanned aircraft carries neither pilots nor passengers, the certification of unmanned aircraft avionics and systems is not easier than the certification process associated with manned platforms, Braemer explained during his talk in the Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS, UAV, RPAS) session at Avionics Europe in Munich. “The reason is the certification authorities come from a manned aircraft background,” he mentions.
Engineers from Cranfield University, ESG, and Rockwell Collins presented the latest research-and-development and flight testing results to an audience of aerospace engineers, systems integrators, and executives at the Avionics Europe 2013 conference today.
“Avionics systems remain complex,” Braemer says. “The performance of today’s system architectures won’t keep pace with the increasing complexity of modern avionic systems. The increasing computing power, combined with concurrently decreasing costs, allows the integration of applications on generalized hardware resources being similarly used on civil and military aircraft.”
Research efforts are underway to define the safety thresholds and develop policies, procedures, and systems that would make routine UAS access to airspace a reality, admits Roberto Sabatini of Cranfield University. “Securing a sense and avoid (SAA) capability is a paramount need.”
To that end, Cranfield researchers are working on an SAA system that generates 3D maneuvers for avoidance, generates safe and efficient (green) trajectories, and complies with established requirements using relatively low-cost and low-weight/volume sensors, Sabatini explains.
Top-level SAA functions include:
  • Detect – determine the presence of objects that may represent a collision hazard
  • Track – estimate position and velocity of detected objects based on different surveillance methods/reports
  • Evaluate – determine risk of collision
  • Prioritise – collision risk threshold
  • Declare – Boolean decision-making process
  • Determine action – avoidance trajectories generation
  • Command – avoidance trajectory communication
  • Execute – manoeuvre execution, history function, return to path