Enter the age of the personal jet. A private plane like no other… On opening day of Oshkosh, Eclipse Aviation introduced a 4 place, single engine private rocket ship called the Eclipse Concept Jet or ECJ for short.

This thing is cool. It’s sexy. I wish I could post a pic of it here for you to see; Unfortunately I don’t have the clearance but I will put a link to it right here. Go and check this thing out- It’s that sexy. It’s look is different- It grabs you. It makes you look longer. And no, Eclipse is not paying me for writing any of this. I want one… REAL BAD. Are you getting my point?

The basic design does raise a question. But before sharing that with you, let me try to describe this unique creation in words. Imagine a space craft, no not the ones like on Star Trek. I’m talking about the X-Wing Star Fighter from Star Wars. It looks that good, and the part that reaches out and grabs you the hardest is the tail. Yes, the tail. It’s a dual fin, sort of like an F-18 fighter, but better. And yes, I said better. This tail sails, like the sails on a ship. The tail(s) literally sweep back and grab the air behind you. Up front is the human part and it’s sort of egg shape that swoops up and away from the nose only to drop sharply back down into the tail section. There is one jet engine, mounted on a pod between the tail feathers.

And so that leads me to my question. When looking at the head on only profile on the manufacturer’s website, you see about half of the engine can peaking up over the canopy. This makes me question air disruption, but not that much. Not as much as when the aircraft pitches up or down, or slightly less questionable as when it’s in a sustained climb. How much is the airflow disrupted during these phases of flight? And is this an issue at all???

Now, I’m sure Eclipse has already looked at this a million times and I’m sure that the airplane wouldn’t have been designed this way if it was an issue. But.. still but. Just call it a simple curiosity then on my part, alright???

Overall, it really looks like Eclipse scored a winner with this airplane. If I had the money, I’d be calling them instead of writing this piece. And check out these numbers:

Concept to flight in six months
Max cruise speed of 345 knots
Service ceiling of 41000 feet
1250 nautical mile range
Stall speed of 61 knots. Yes, 61 knots
186 gallons of fuel

So, where do I sign up? Dreams… dreams…
~Capt’n Chris

Filed under: Editorials | |

Scaled Composites is no longer as we know it… Or is it? Will Burt Rutan stay with the company he founded and continue to be it’s matriarch and lead imagineer??? Or not?

These are all questions I have since reading today that Northrop Grumman bought the remainder of what it didn’t already own in Scaled Composites. Ever since Scaled entered the space race and victoriously presented actual space travel as a viable possibility for anyone with $200,000 in hand (slightly down from $20 million the Russians were charging), it became readily apparent that the Rutan company and it’s value also sky-rocketed into space, right along side SpaceShip One.

Enter Northrop-Grumman. The defense contractor already owned 40% of Scaled prior to this latest deal. It realized the full potential for the global impact that Scaled had created with it’s space program- They did it. They actually did it. And by God a sixty-something insurance salesman by the name of Mike Melvill was a the controls even.

Anyone could have seen the value in Scaled; But I don’t think everyone could have thought that Burt would have sold, at least not now. He’s sold in the past, but only to reacquire the business. After all, it was his baby… It is his baby.

So will Rutan stay around now that Northrop is the new 100% owner? My guess is most certainly. For Burt Rutan, this deal most likely still allows him to participate in what he loves the most while allowing him to ease into semi-retirement.

Sounds like a good deal to me.
~Capt’n Chris

Filed under: Editorials | |

In the most recent round of government and industry talks late last week about who should pay for the proposed revamping of the US Air Traffic Control System, it looks like General Aviation (GA) may have finally got a break. It all centers around new taxes primarily for airline passengers, versus the introduction of completely all new user fees for GA. Under the proposed new rules, there would be a fixed departure tax per passenger, plus a per passenger tax based on distance traveled.

No one in the GA community was happy with the airlines attempt to spread their costs out through user fees to GA, especially Mom and Dad when they take the Bonanza out for a day of recreational flying. It’s not the Bonanza that’s usually on approach to Chicago’s O’Hare airport, so why should Mom and Dad be required to pay a fee that would go towards maintaining such a big, massive airport, which is primarily served by the airlines and not Mom and Pop in their Bonanza, no less? Even according to FedEx Chairman Frederick W. Smith, peak scheduling at 25 or 30 major airports around the country is what drives delays and the volatility of the air traffic control system.

On the other hand the airline’s argument for spreading their costs out was based around the term known as a “blip”, or what an air traffic controller sees on his screen when there’s an aircraft in his sector of the sky. Whether it’s a Boeing 777 or a small GA aircraft, there’s a return or “blip” on the screen representing the aircraft, no matter what it is. The airlines would just say “A blip is a blip…”

So, another plane in the sky, another potential candidate the airlines could share their costs with, since Mom and Pop would be getting the same basic services from ATC, even if they weren’t going into Chicago.

But we’re talking about an air traffic control system that primarily came about and developed into it’s current state in order to handle the needs of the airlines in the first place. The crux of the issue here is that the FAA is facing a $4 billion dollar plus short fall in the next five years in it’s plan to modernize this current system we have in place, which it says it needs to do in order to bring itself into this century technologically (something the author has no beef with BTW). This will also be required in order to handle the projected increased growth of commercial aviation here in the US at the same time.

Either way, something needs to be done. After last week, it looks as if instead of user fees, new taxes may be imposed on general aviation (another bad idea) but even more possibly on the airline passengers themselves… with the additional possibility that the airlines might see a tax decrease as well- something the Aircraft Owners and Pilot’s Association is not happy about either.

~Capt’n Chris

Filed under: Editorials | |

Hey all~
I will be releasing The PlaneMadness Podcast Episodes 9 and 10 concurrently next week. Episode 9 is made up of cool and interesting facts that you may or may not have already heard about the DreamLiner- I dug pretty deep though!
Episode 10 is just jam packed with all kinds of kudo aviation stuff that’s cool and interesting and I know you’ll appreciate it too~ A ton of relevant news stories, a piece on Southwest treating their employees right (again), 2 awesome aviation related photo essay sites, and 5 killer videos!

Other (exciting) news: I’m in the process of perfecting a system where I can script the podcasts from my trips and record them when I return home again. Hopefully with this new level of efficiency, I can and will turn out podcasts on a more frequent basis. At the same time, I will be killing time on my overnights (yey) while saving precious time when I’m at home (yey, again and again).

Oh, and last, (but not least): Please Check out my new About Page…

Take Care
~ Capt’n Chris

Filed under: Site News | |

Press release RoboSwift June 27th, 2007

Micro airplane will fly and observe like a swift

Aerospace engineering students at TU Delft, together with the Department of Experimental Zoology of Wageningen University designed the RoboSwift. RoboSwift is a micro airplane fitted with movable wings, inspired by the common swift, one of nature’s most efficient flyers. The micro airplane will have unprecedented wing characteristics; the wing geometry as well as the wing surface area can be adjusted continuously. This makes RoboSwift more maneuverable and efficient. Resembling the common swift, RoboSwift will be able to go undetected while using its three micro cameras to perform surveillance on vehicles and people on the ground. Furthermore, it can be employed to observe swifts in flight, thus enabling new biological research.

The RoboSwift team presented the design last Friday on the yearly Design Synthesis symposium at TU Delft. The team will build the high-tech micro airplane this summer; it is expected to fly in January 2008. The student team will build three RoboSwifts to participate in March 2008 in the First American-Asian Micro Air Vehicle competition in India.

‘MORPHING’
RoboSwift will have a span of 50 cm span and 80 grams weight. It can follow a group of swifts up to 20 minutes and perform ground surveillance up to one hour thanks to its lithium-polymer batteries that power the electromotor, which drives a propeller. The propeller folds back during gliding to minimize air drag.

The unique morphing-wing design features are taken from the swift. Morphing means the wings can be swept back in flight by folding feathers over each other, thus changing the wing shape and reducing the wing surface area. RoboSwift also steers by morphing its wings. Doing so, the micro airplane can perform optimally, flying efficiently and highly maneuverable at very high and very low speeds, just like the swift.

RoboSwift carries three onboard micro cameras: two mounted on the wing to look forward and one in the belly looking downward (indicated by the green cones). By means of a head mounted display projecting the camera images the pilot can look through RoboSwift’s cameras from the ground.

RoboSwift can sweep its wings back and forth, changing the shape and the surface area. By doing so the airplane can fly more efficiently and more agilely than fixed-wing aircraft. The airplane is powered by means of a special propeller that folds during gliding to minimize air drag.

The students found out that using only four feathers, much less than the bird uses, already provides the wing with sufficient morphing capacity; this feature makes actual production of the design feasible. Steering RoboSwift is done by asymmetrically morphing the wings. Sweeping one wing back further than the other creates a difference in lift on the wings that can be used to change the direction.

EFFICIENT
The team based the project on research performed by its tutor ir. David Lentink, who published a study into the swift’s flight characteristics in this year’s April issue of Nature see [1]. During its life, a common swift flies a distance that goes up to five times the distance to the Moon and back. Lentink c.s. found the swift is such an able flyer because it continuously adjusts (‘morphs’) its wings to the prevailing flight conditions to fly more efficient and more maneuverable. Airplanes can do a lot, but so far they do not fly nearly as good as birds in terms of performance and efficiency. In a ‘standard’ civil aircraft, the wings are held a fixed position with respect to the fuselage during the full length of the flight. This is inefficient because flight conditions change in different flight phases. With their variable wings, birds can deal with the different conditions encountered during flight, thus reducing the power required to do so.

RoboSwift steers by sweeping back one wing more than the other. The difference in wing position allows RoboSwift to make very sharp turns.

Although a few military aircraft, such as the F14 Tomcat and the English-German Tornado, are equipped with so-called swing wings, none of these aircraft significantly reduces the surface area of the wing, thus missing out on the benefits made possible by morphing. Also, these aircraft do not steer by means of the variable wing shape.

Website Link

Filed under: TidBits | |

Did I just read what I think I just read???

Police Allege Mesa Airlines Pilot Stole iPod At Security Checkpoint - ANN

Teen Arrested After Snorting Cocaine On Tray Table During Flight - ANN

Body Found in Airplane Nose Gear - Time

I think the Moon is a little closer to the Earth, scientists haven’t discovered that fact yet, and the increased gravitational pull is having an effect on the judgement cortex of the brain, in certain individuals -

Filed under: TidBits | |

Hi all,

Well I’ve been working my but off, back after being off for two weeks. I was able to get a lot done around the house, albeit with a nasty sinus infection over week one; I don’t know if I mentioned that I’m putting in our backyard on my own, but that’s another story.. This trip I’m on has taken me all over the west/mid-western US and now I’m up in Canada… We’ve been hit with an especially busy thunderstorm period on this trip and it’s created delays and a heavy additional work load- Not fun.

But I’ve got a great crew and besides that what more could a Captain ask for???
(Maybe just clear skies but I guess in life, like in flying, clear skies are just not a guarantee).

I plan on getting Episode #9 out ASAP.. Problem is that I work a 4 gone / 2 home schedule for the rest of this month, so as it is, life on my days at home is going to be busy enough !!!

Anyway, I’m looking forward to telling you all about the cool things I’ve researched on the DreamLiner, which I think you’ll find as interesting as I did.

Fly Safe
~Capt’n Chris

Filed under: From Work | |

Flying Can Mean Going Nowhere Fast - CBSNews.Com

Or so she wrote. Aye…. Not good for our industry. Especially not good for us front liners either- The gate agents, flight attendants, and us pilots. Irritated passengers are almost as bad as thunderstorms sometimes!

I remember one time recently Denver International Airport (KDEN) completely shut down for a fast moving line of rapidly developing, unforecasted storms.. We diverted to Colorado Springs, along with over 40 other airliners. Well as you can imagine Colorado Springs (KCOS) was inundated with airplanes, with some airlines diverting there who didn’t even serve that airport! Airplanes were parked on the taxiways, ramps, and remote parking; eventually KCOS itself shut down because there wasn’t anywhere to park airplanes anymore. None of the local airline staffs were prepared to deal with that many aircraft at once; consequently, airplanes sat, and sat and sat… In our case, 4 hours, the shortest- Obviously the folks in the back weren’t happy, nor was I. We couldn’t let anyone off because there were no gates. Let me explain that in a little more detail…

We were parked in the middle of 10 acres of concrete and we could not move because there were other airplanes all around us; any gates already had previous flights in them, served by the airlines that serve KCOS. There’s 6 station personnel working 24 airplanes in our area; and the weather was getting worse as the afternoon dragged on: Pouring rain, wind gusts are in excess of 30 knots; and lightening in the area by the end of the afternoon. When there’s lightening in the area all ramp personnel have to get inside for their own safety anyway. So I couldn’t walk all the passengers across the ramp to the terminal as I was venturing to think- for that and other reasons, as much as I wanted to.

In order to help out and make personal contact with the passengers as opposed to just a periodic, unconnected voice over the PA, I decided to jump into the action and started helping out with the beverage and snack service. I also comped drinks for the entire airplane. It was nice to individually talk to my passengers and I know they appreciated it too. I also think that seeing me back there helping out was concrete proof for them that we were in fact stuck and as a crew we were trying to make the best of it. That was about all I could do that day, when up against the big picture.

And the big picture is one of much more complicated factors, but in the end here are some of the big parts, but not necessarily in this order, as they relate to us front liners:

• Pilots & flight attendants working longer hours / Crew resources stretched too thin
• Fewer gate personnel who are working longer hours
• Fewer maintenance personnel who are working longer hours
• Fewer ramp personnel who are working longer hours
• Everyone working for less money, and/or with the same cost of living increases as 5-10 years ago, in spite of increases in inflation

Complicated, and worsened by:

• Stronger and more severe weather patterns
• A higher demand for air travel from the flying public
• Fewer & more compacted flights which are almost always overbooked; intentionally in a lot of cases

Notice I didn’t mention general aviation once as a culprit for the national airline delay debacle. For the airline’s part, it’s an industry that, in order to survive, did what it knows to do best in hard times- Cut back, cut back, and cut back… Trim the farm- Lean out in the hard times post 9/11. I can only think of 2 airlines that did not use that card to it’s fullest- Southwest and SkyWest, to the much needed benefit of their employees.

See:
Southwest braces for turbulence as it turns 30 - Reuters.Com

But now we’re back to profitability- all but slightly compared to pre-9/11 levels, but as an industry, for the most part, we are. So the airlines are going to have to beef up resources and start spending money again or eventually Congress will act- Any industry can only take so many negatives in the public eye before the government is forced to intervene.

And the end of the summer may bring any news of what (if anything) is going to change on the scale of this

BIG PICTURE.

Filed under: Editorials | |