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aircraft posts
Boeing's 787: Engineering a quieter airplane
Apr 27th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
It has long been rumored that Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner will be the quietest commercial jumbo jet in its class. Take a look at the back of select engine nacelles on the airframe and you can see an obvious difference. That egg crate design is in place for improved acoustic performance, which means a better experience for not only passengers but the people living near airports and flight ...
Cockpit Chronicles: Airline de-icing
Feb 23rd, 2011 at 9:00AM: Not only does the frosty precipitation add weight to an aircraft, but it also disrupts the flow of air over the wings and tail and can cause an accident if the circumstances are just right. The FAA and NASA have gone through great lengths to teach pilots about the adverse effects that snow and ice can have on an airplane.
But the most important lesson pilots learned from was from the infamous ...Breaking: United grounds all Boeing 757 aircraft
Feb 15th, 2011 at 10:00PM: If you were scheduled on a United 757 earlier today and are wondering why it was canceled, we now know why. According to the Wall St. Journal, the airline is in the process of grounding its entire fleet in order to perform maintenance checks to air data computers that were modified earlier this year.
According to Gadling's resident pilot Kent Wien:
There are two air data computers on every ...Breaking: Boeing plans new aiplane -- 797?
Feb 10th, 2011 at 1:00PM: Jon Ostrower over at Flight Blogger has some interesting gossip for us from the airplane world: Boeing's CEO Jim McNerney was quoted earlier this week as saying that the manufacturer is looking into new airframes above and beyond the 787.
From Ostrower's blog, McNerney says [bolding by Ostrower]:
"We're gonna do a new airplane. We're not done evaluating this whole situation yet, but our ...Air New Zealand's new 777-300ER; punching above their weight
Jan 20th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Prior to arriving in Seattle, I was completely oblivious to the events surrounding a Boeing airplane delivery.
I suppose in the back of my mind, I knew that all airplanes had to come from somewhere; but it might as well have been a mystical factory in the clouds that teleports sparkling new craft to a freshly vacated gate. I never gave consideration to the fact that after months of piecing ...Gulfstream's $500 million expansion of Savannah, GA headquarters to create 1,000 jobs
Nov 15th, 2010 at 4:30PM:
According to many pundits, the so-called recession that gripped the world in 2009 is far from "over," but we've been noticing steady signs of recovery in the travel industry over the course of 2010. While consumers and businesspeople alike are still pinching pennies and thinking twice as hard about where their funds are going, more and more bodies are moving about, particularly by plane. ...GadlingTV's Travel Talk 012: Trains, planes, & mergers! Behind the scenes at Southwest Airlines, Gowalla & Gadling in Austin + a brand new GIVEAWAY!!
May 5th, 2010 at 5:30PM:
GadlingTV's Travel Talk, episode 12 – Click above to watch video after the jump
Well, we've been bouncing around the country this week and have got a great show to prove it! From Dallas, Texas to Austin, Texas and finally Portland, Oregon - we'll take you behind the scenes at Love Field Airport and the operational headquarters of Southwest Airlines!
In the news this week: United ...NASA unveils design for personal aircraft
Jan 22nd, 2010 at 8:00AM: It's 2010. Admit it, we all thought we'd be cruising around in flying cars and have personal jetpacks by now. Instead, we're still stuck on the ground, tethered to the Earth by gravity, while dreaming about zipping through the clouds like George Jetson.
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Earlier this ...Bio jet-fuel: fact or fiction?
Oct 15th, 2009 at 3:00PM: The new trend among all sorts of green energies is in bio-fuels, those combustible fluids made from renewable sources such as switch grass, corn or soybeans. They're all over the place in the automotive industry, millions of cars burning E38, offering flex fuel options and touting their eco consciousness. It should only follow that the airline industry jumped on the wagon. But how valid is the ...Icon A5 personal aircraft puts us one step closer to the Jetsons
Sep 26th, 2009 at 8:00AM: Ever dream of strolling out to the garage, sliding inside your own personal aircraft, rolling down the driveway, and flying off to some exotic place? If so, then you're in luck, as Icon Aircraft is working towards making this dream a reality with their Icon A5 airplane. The two passenger A5 is just 22 feet in length and comes with wings that fold up for easier storage. It can carry a load of ...United reduces cost of mileage tickets
Jul 16th, 2009 at 3:00PM: Amidst all of the increased fees and reduced services plaguing the airlines these days, it's refreshing to actually see a change that goes the customers' way. Albeit temporarily, United just reduced the number of frequent flyer miles necessary to book a free ticket on the airline. Reductions range from 20. Domestic travel, for example, has been reduced from 25K miles to 20K miles, while a ticket ...Solar powered plane to circle the globe
Jul 4th, 2009 at 11:00AM: While Boeing and Airbus scramble to make larger, more luxurious planes, others are pushing the envelope in different directions, attempting to find ways to make them more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Take the Solar Impulse for instance. This plane is setting the bar high, with a plan to circumnavigate the globe completely under solar power. The Solar Impulse is the brain child ...The top 5 myths about getting upgraded
Jun 1st, 2009 at 9:30AM: Business class. The promised land in the front of the aircraft with wider seats, free drinks, meals and checked bags. Who wouldn't want to take the opportunity for a free upgrade once in a while? Yes, it is possible to purchase a coach ticket, work the system and get upgraded to the front of the airplane. Is it easy? No. Is there an inexpensive shortcut? Not really. Contrary to many empowering ...As we stop flying, the boneyard becomes more crowded
Mar 16th, 2009 at 11:30AM: It is no secret that air travel is in a downwards spiral. The industry always manages to find excuses, it could be the crappy economy, high fuel prices, or a general sense of panic that is keeping people from flying. And when air traffic drops, so does the demand for many of the planes operated by the airlines. When a route could once be served by a 747, low traffic may now demand a smaller ...So long, Northwest 747's
Jan 14th, 2009 at 4:30PM: The end of an airline is upon us. While there are still a few wrinkles in th merger between Delta and Northwest Airlines to iron out, things are pretty much set in stone when they start repainting aircraft. To start, Delta, a carrier that has never had the 747 jumbo jet in its livery, will be usurping Northwest's aircraft and putting them on long haul routes. You can see the whole process of ...
Wheelchair on plane explodes on landing
Sep 24th, 2008 at 11:00AM: Having the battery of an electronic item you take on board a flight, short-circuit and then burst into flames, doesn't even come to your mind when you think about plane accidents. Earlier this month, a wheelchair stored in the hold of a Boeing 727-200 First Choice flight carrying 229 passengers, let out blue sparks while being offloaded from the plane. The minute it was placed on a vehicle to be ...To save weight, airline removes life vests
Aug 25th, 2008 at 8:00AM: In an attempt to cut as much weight as possible from their aircraft, Jazz Airlines, a subsidiary of Air Canada, recently decided to pull all life vests from their aircraft. Now, in the unlikely event of a water landing, passengers will be advised to use their floating seat cushions for buoyancy. Will this affect the safety of the passengers? Well, purely from the flotation standpoint, life vests ...How much does an airplane diversion cost?
Aug 19th, 2008 at 9:30AM: Lately we've been reading tons of stories about unruly passengers getting intoxicated on aircraft, making a ruckus and causing flights to make emergency landings. Whether they got tanked and tried to open the emergency exit mid-flight, drank too much in first class and ran around naked or struck a flight attendant with a bottle of vodka, drunken passengers have been all over the place this summer, ...Emirates A380 arrives in New York!
Aug 3rd, 2008 at 12:00PM:
Dubai's Emirates Airlines made its inaugural Airbus A380 flight into New York's John F Kennedy airport this past Friday, on what will now become America's first regularly scheduled service with the the new two story jumbo jet.
Gadling was on hand to capture some sweet photos in and around the aircraft, as well as through a press conference detailing the coming Emirates events.
The airline ...How much are those Heathrow landing slots worth?
Jul 16th, 2008 at 2:30PM: Now that Open Skies is in full effect, carriers left and right are scrambling to take advantage of all of the sweet landing slots in the EU's congested airports. Case in point, London's Heathrow Airport. Most travelers flying into the United Kingdom prefer landing at Heathrow because of better connections and proximity to London via the Tube. But landing slots at LHR are all full, so whenever one ...
