Latest blog posts

PICTURE: Black Cab - a reusable flyback first stage

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:35 GMT

credit: Rick Newlands / caption: like SpaceShipOne and Two Black cab would have a feathering function

Carrying expendable second and third stages Black Cab would reach an apogee of about 250km (155miles) after coasting following main engine cut off, having released its payload once its indicated air speed had dropped to 40kt (74km/h). Black Cab would have been air launched at about 50,000ft (15,250m) but could make a parachute landing into the sea after a hypersonic glide re-entry at about Mach 6. Depending on its proximity to an air field the vehicle could also make an autonomous return

Newlands' British nanosat launcher presentation that includes data on Black Cab can be downloaded here. Designed for a presentation given at the 2009 UK Space Conference Newlands has since been contracted to undertake an analysis of expendable and reusable options for LauncherOne

Israel industry tour Day 1: Remember the Lavi

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:40 GMT

TEL AVIV -- It's probably unfair to start my Israeli tour diary with the Lavi. It's a bit like finding a way to shoehorn Darleen Druyun's name into the beginning of a Boeing tanker article.

But there it was as I walked into the factory next door to Ben Gurion International Airport for the Lahav division of Israel Aerospace Industries. Parked behind a long line of refurbishment projects -- including two MiG-21s for an African customer, an Mi-17 and an Israeli F-16 -- was the last surviving remnant of the Lavi program cancelled in 1986. Pictured below is the B3 technology demonstrator.

The Israeli Air Force cancelled Lavi in 1987, spelling the end for IAI's future as a combat aircraft manufacturer. Asking company employees about the Lavi even today is not considered being polite.

But it's arguable that IAI ultimately benefited from Lavi's demise (although many believe China's Chengdu J-10 bears a striking resemblance to the Israeli technology -- you be the judge).

IAI's skilled engineers were free (or forced, depending on your perspective) to focus on their literally pioneering (ha! get it?) work on unmanned aerial vehicles, a market that exploded within a decade after the Lavi died.

UAVs might even become IAI's route back into the combat aircraft business. If the Israeli Air Force already operates an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), the public is not aware of it. But the capability to produce such an aircraft certainly fits within the skill-set of IAI's workforce.

If a UCAV ever does roll out from the IAI hangar, shall we call it the Lavi II?

Does Aircell get an average six users per flight?

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:18 GMT

Aircell has never released usage stats for its Gogo in-flight Internet system. Yet, in a statement last week, Aircell CEO Ron LeMay came awfully close to giving away the goods. In so doing, he has lit a fire of speculation in the IFEC industry.

Two IFEC insiders, located on opposite sides of the world and from opposite sides of the IFEC industry (and whom we'll call Chap 1 and Chap 2) have each concluded that Aircell is getting about six users per flight.

Here's how they get that figure.

Says Chap 1:

Aircell claims it served its one millionth customer in October, and that users are fast approaching 100,000/week.

Sounds impressive, doesn't it?

In reality it is 14,286 users/day. Divide it on the 623 aircraft out there with Gogo and you get 23 daily users.

Since they probably fly 4 segments/day, you get 6 users/flight!

So obviously there is not much change in usage from what we have known since before and not more usage than Connexion by Boeing had in 2006.

In a completely separate exercise, Chap 2 hands us the following chart (click on it to make it bigger):

So what does this mean? "Well, combine this with Row 44 saying they are getting 4% and hoping to grow this to 12%, it matches perfectly with the numbers above. Then add on Google wanting it to be free in airports and you nailed it. People are just not going to pay," says Chap 2.

Okay, we've been talking about this for some time now. Folks love in-flight Wi-Fi (I can pull up another Twitter stream if you need proof) but they don't seem willing to pay. So lets venture into the world of complete and utter speculation about Aircell's costs and when it might be able to pay those off.

It could be a useful exercise and may provide a ray of hope for the pay-for-service model albeit with an important caveat. But again, this is the world of speculation!

Says Chap 1:

"If we assume that Aircell has been giving away the installations at $100 000 each, the cost for them to date has been $62.3 million. Add the cost for the spectrum ($33 million) and the cost for the base stations (just guessing $50,000/each x 100) you have another $5 million for a grand total of $97.3 million that needs to be paid.

If we assume 100,000 users/ week, all paying $10 for the service (yes, I know they give a lot of it away for free) they would be generating roughly $1 million/week.

With an annual salary cost for maybe 200 people assuming they all make $60000/ year (not sure if that is a reasonable assumption, but might work as an average) their cost to the last year has been $12 million.

So unless they have any other CAPEX or costs that we have missed out, and no cost for running the network and their facilities, they should be able to pay off their capital cost in two to three years.

ASSUMING THAT THEY DON'T GIVE ANY REVENUE TO THE AIRLINES!

Many thanks to our two chaps for their insight. I think Aircell may still have a few tricks up its sleeve. More on that later.

In the meantime, US legacy carriers finally have got something to boast about - they are the first sizable group from the same geographical region to offer in-flight Internet to passengers.

Their customer service may be abyssal, their ancillary fees a pain, and their seemingly nonchalant attitude an embarrassment to mankind, but legacies are trying to keep you connected. Nice one, chaps!

A330-200F Courier Area Layout

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:35 GMT

Here is the layout of the courier area on the new A330-200F.

In other A330-200F news:

Airbus is on track to deliver the first A330-200 Freighter to launch customer Etihad Crystal Cargo next summer following the first flight of the development aircraft earlier this month.

The A330-200F took to the air on 5 November. This aircraft (MSN 1004), which is Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered, will fly the 180h flight-test programme. The first aircraft for Etihad (MSN 1032), which is Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered, is in build and will be used for final checks ahead of delivery in August. Read more...

(Source: Airbus)

Will the A400M fly, then?

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:48 GMT

The A400M's first all-engine, on-wing engine-run

Now here's a real aeroplane. It has propellers.

And yes, it will fly because we need this machine. At present there's no military airlifter between the C-130 and the C-17 unless you are in the USAF. The maiden flight is programmed some time before the end of the year. But, if it doesn't meet that deadline, patience!

At Toulouse a few months ago I "flew" one of the test simulators for it.

A400M fixed-base simulators, wired up to the "Iron Bird "

test rig for the new aircraft

For an ex Herc driver like me, getting your head around this machine takes some doing, and I'm not there yet. It's a sidestick aircraft (which I have. no probs with), and FBW, but flight envelope protection is invisible. You wanna do a barrel roll? Feel free.

I didn't do a barrel roll, but I did roll 110deg into a mock evasive descent manoeuvre (much good may it have done me in real life).

But just like the A400M's Europrop International TP400-D6 engines - which have been giving problems that have extended the programme's spectacular delays - especially the FADECs, its avionics suite and mission systems need some work yet.

Also, the sims need a lot of shaking down before they deliver. But the engines are the most powerful turboprops the Western world has ever attempted, and the avionics are incredibly ambitious.

Problems? Surprise, surprise! Remember how long the C-130J took to shake down? And that was just a simple Herc with digital avionics and upgraded engines/prop systems.

Since when did military procurement go smoothly?

Anyway, the delays associated with this programme have enabled the "Iron Bird" systems mockup of the A400M to go through many more cycles than it would otherwise have achieved before first flight.

The picture of the "bird" is below. Just so you understand what you are seeing, it's the complete hydraulic, electrical and control surface actuator rig that represents the systems on the real A400M, laid out in a hangar and powered. Imagine the layout you see as being the aeroplane flying in a direction that's laterally 2 o'clock compared with your view of the scene. The wings are against the far wall, and they continue around the corners for lack of lateral space to get all the systems in. The red objects are the control surfaces (spoilers etc), weighted to represent real inertia. The walkway down the centre is the rig for the hydraulics/electrics that follow the fuselage line, and on the left, high up, is the horizontal stabiliser with the screw-jack acuator ahead of its leading edge, and the red units representing the elevators where the trailing edge would be.

It may be rigged to one of the fixed base simulators, but the systems and control surfaces are constantly being flexed as well just to test their durability.

South Africa may have cancelled its A400M orders, but unless they have changed their defence strategy (quite probable) they'll be back. If you need an airlifter in the A400M size/performance category, there's no alternative on the horizon.

Bombardier Challenger 850: Leveraged Luxury

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:22 GMT

Economy of scale for business jets takes on new dimensions when the subject is Bombardier's Challenger 850 executive jet, a forward fit 14-passenger version of the venerable 50-seat CRJ200 regional jet.

Along with a couple dozen "corporatised" CRJs completed before Bombardier launched the formal Challenger 850 programme in 2005, the 55 "official" 850s share manufacturer and PMA parts, service centres, mechanic expertise, an already-trained pilot pool and other money-saving elements with about 1,000 CRJ200s and CRJ100s still in service around the world. Read more...

(Photo: Bombardier)

easyJet Withdraws In-Flight Magazine After Holocaust Photo Shoot

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:07 GMT

AirSpace User APGphoto

As reported by the New Statesman, easyJet is withdrawing its in-flight magazine easyJet Traveller for the month.

The latest issue of the in-flight magazine featured two unsanctioned photographs of models posing in designer clothes among the famous concrete blocks of the "Field of Stelae", Germany's foremost memorial to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide.

The magazine did not seek permission from the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which only became aware that the photographs existed when contacted by the New Statesman yesterday.
In a statement, the Memorial's director, Uwe Neumärker, said it "grants permissions only to projects which are related to the memorial, the Holocaust or some aspect of commemoration."
"The Foundation Memorial does not support commercial shoots, and fashion photography is considered to fall into this category."

EasyJet outsources its in-flight magazine to publisher Ink, which boasts it publishes "more inflight magazines for more airlines than any other publisher in the world". It also publishes the in-flight magazine for AirTran, Gulf Air, and Jetstar, amongst others.

Ignoring lapses of oversight at many levels, the more curious question is: what was the photographer thinking having a photo shoot at the memorial?