Taking off While Melbourne Australia’s airport at Tullamarine might not glow with the aviation heritage of, say, NY–La Guardia or Paris-Le Bourget, it’s still a good index for the world’s ever-expanding demand for aviation connections. And, as recent stats from YMML show, global aviation is definitely not shrinking. Flights, city pairs, available seats and airline fleets are all growing astronomically. At the beginning of June … Continue reading Movement area
With the first-ever Boeing 727 (727-22, serial N7001U, c/n 18293/1) making its last-ever flight from restoration at Paine Field to a permanent home at the Museum of Flight, now seems like a fitting time to look back at one of the coolest airliners ever built. I recently read a presentation called Web Design: The First 100 Years, which proposed that most of what we … Continue reading 727 departures
Feature image: A British Airways Speedbird departs LHR for a glorious sky. (Simon Allardice | flickr.com CC BY 2.0) Skyfaring. A Journey with a Pilot. by Mark Vanhoenacker Published by Chatto & Windus, London, 2015 ISBN 10: 0701188669 / ISBN 13: 978-0701188665 They are all too rare – those timeless books that not only describe flight perfectly, but also convey all the beauty, poetry, wonder … Continue reading Skyfaring
airscape doesn’t usually ‘do’ livery photos, but then it’s not that often you see one so, er, not-usual. This is 787-9 Dreamliner ZK-NZE in Air New Zealand’s ‘All Black’ livery. Air New Zealand was launch customer for the 787-9 and this was their first airframe. Incidentally, the ‘all black’ and silver fern are both recognised New Zealand motifs, while the ‘koru’ on the tail … Continue reading Black Beauty
An avweb flash entitled Smaller Aircraft Tails Possible caught my eye back on December 5th. It linked to a story from CalTech, called Sweeping Surfaces for Greener Planes – relating how researchers at that eminent institution hope to reduce tail sizes (and weight, and drag, and fuel consumption) by using active flow control air to supplement the authority of a smaller rudder at low airspeeds. Changing the … Continue reading Airline futures
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