Passenger Airplanes of the Future

Boeing dream plane
cNASA/The Boeing Co.

Check out The Huffington Post on Yahoo! News on the designs of next-generation commercial airplanes. They are as fanciful as they are futuristic but the good news about them is that three giant aircraft manufacturers are actually serious building these concepts, each with a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA. Lockheed Martin, The Boeing Company and Northrop Grumman are doing research and will test their own design this year, with the following mission profile from NASA:

- quiet, energy-efficient aircraft

- to fly up to Mach 0.85

- with a range of 7,000 miles, and

- can carry payload of about 50,000 to 100,000 lbs 

But don't get too excited yet. NASA expects these futuristic concepts to be ready around 2025.

A380 superjumbo flies again

A380 flies again
cAssociated Press

After being grounded for three weeks, the A380 flew again. A Qantas A380 took to the skies on Saturday, November 27, after a midair engine explosion forced the airline to ground its A380s for safety checks. In fact, Qantas replaced 16 of the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines in its four A380s. Two other airlines,  Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa, also conducted safety checks on their A380s which have Trent 900 engines.  

The blowout incident of November 4 was the most serious one involving the A380. Investigation showed that oil leaked out and caught fire, heated the surrounding area which caused parts to disintegrate. The explosion caused flying metal parts to cut the hydraulic and engine control lines in the wing. This in turn caused the loss of control of a second engine, loss of some braking power and fuel leaks. Fortunately, the pilots managed to land the plane safely back to Singapore. Modifications are now being performed by Qantas on the engines of its A380s while two A380s are now back in service.

Meanwhile, Qantas suspended A380 service from its longest-haul flights, from Australia direct to Los Angeles. In these flights, the A380 load more fuel than on other flights. The airline is testing whether extra thrust for takeoff is creating too much stress for the engines. But the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines are certified for takeoff at those higher thrust settings. However, Qantas is conducting its own tests.

Here's the report from Yahoo! News by the Associated Press.

Who's Who in Philippine Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering?

Here is a post I would like to see being participated by all Filipino graduates, not only of Aeronautical Engineering but also of Aerospace Engineering, who have worked their way up the ladder, filling important positions in the firms, agencies or companies they are working with. I place no strict criteria here for one to be able to be included in the list, except as stated above. I don't restrict the list to registered Aeronautical Engineers only, for I know there are graduates of Aerospace Engineering out there who are doing great; likewise, I would like to include those graduates of Aeronautical Engineering who are unregistered, as long as they meet the minimum criteria.

I welcome any suggestions you would send in, to improve the list. The entry would be the name of the person and his personal background, educational attainment, employment history, trainings and seminars attended, and achievement in the field of Philippine Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering, if there's any, or any contribution which makes this whole world worth living for.

So let us start. And the first on the list will be...hmmm, the one who suggests this.

B787 Dreamliner, almost there

B787 Dreamliner: you're almost there
fWikipedia

How I wished the Dreamliner to be delivered before the end of this year. But the news is that its initial delivery to All Nippon Airways (ANA) has been pushed back to February 2011. The plane is already three years behind schedule.

The reason is that ZA002, one of six B787 test aircraft, caught an electrical fire on board, filling the aft cabin with smoke, during approach to Laredo, Texas Tuesday, November 9, in its 6-hour test flight. As a result, the aircraft lost primary electrical power but backup systems performed as expected, including the deployment of ram air turbine (RAT).

Upon initial inspection, Boeing found out that a power control panel in the aft electronics bay has to be replaced. During the time of the incident, the technical team was monitoring the nitrogen generation system (NGS) but they do not suspect it as the cause of the fire.

Updates from Boeing stated that it was the P100 electrical panel that led to a fire involving an insulation blanket. Fortunately, the fire self-extinguished once the fault in the panel had cleared. The P100 panel is the power distribution center of power coming from the left engine. In case of failure, backup systems will activate.

The Dreamliner was launched in April 2004 and test flight began in December 2009. It has suffered delays due to various problems, such as the international production of parts by suppliers and the aircraft stabilizers. However, the fire incident is the most serious since flight testing began.

Boeing claims that the Dreamliner would be able to make a 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption as compared to similar airplanes, like the B767. This is one of the main selling points of the aircraft, together with composite essentially making 50% of the aircraft by weight and 80% by volume. Todate, it has 847 orders by 56 customers valued at 147 billion dollars. The aircraft had become the fastest-selling wide-body airliner in history.

The aircraft is powered either by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 and General Electric GEnx engines. Click this link for the latest update in Wikipedia.

The Making of the Defiant 300

Aeroscope Dec 2003

Here's another article I wrote, published in the Aeroscope Magazine in December 2003. It's about a little bit of history of the Defiant 300, how it was made and who the different companies and agencies that contributed to the making of the aircraft.

Henan Airlines crash update

Henan Airlines is based in Henan Province, China and its former name is Kunpeng Airlines, renamed just earlier this year. It flies smaller regional jets to places in north and northeast China. The plane involved in the crash of August 16 was an Embraer-made E-190 jet. It burst into flames as it hit the ground, killing 43 people, near Lindu airport on the outskirts of Yichun, a city in Heilongjiang Province.

Statements from the survivors revealed that there was severe turbulence as the plane made its approach. Several strong jolts struck the plane, causing luggage to fall down from overhead bins. When the plane stopped, as stated by a survivor, they were unable to open the emergency exits but he was able to ran away from the burning crash through a hole in the wall of a cabin near the first row of seats.

Conviasa Airlines crash

Here's another airplane crash, this time in Venezuela involving an ATR-42-300 turboprop. The plane was operated by Conviasa Airlines, carrying 47 passengers during the time of the crash, which occurred on Monday, September 13. Fortunately, 36 survived as the plane hit the ground in Puerto Ordaz, on the Orinoco River, in Bolivar state. The flight originated from the Venezuelan Caribbean resort island of Margarita.

The pilot was able to radio air traffic control stating that they were having technical difficulties and early reports stated that the pilot seemed to have lost control of the plane before it hit the ground where it broke into two and caught fire.

ATR-42-300s are manufactured by the consortium of EADS and Alenia, based in Toulouse, France. The company employs around 850 people and is considered a leader in the 50-75 seater turboprop market. Conviasa Airlines is a state-owned company which flies to several destinations, like Tehran, Damascus, Buenos Aires and to places in the Caribbean.