As of this afternoon a video on YouTube that is the latest safety video has been viewed 350,000 times. Huh? A safety video? Isn’t this what most people avoid watching on the airplane? Delta has even blogged about the making of the video and the press it has garnered.
Joe Dion from Fly With Me interviewed the star of the video on his most recent podcast.
Delta Airlines’ latest safety video has been getting a lot of hits on Youtube, and “Deltalina” is the reason. I talk with Chris Babb, the creator of the video, and with Katherine “Kat” Lee, the flight attendant who is featured in the video. Kat has gotten the nickname “Deltalina” because she looks like Angelina Jolie.
Airbus and Shell Oil announced a test flight was completed recently with one of the four engines operating on an alternate fuel.
The alternative fuel used on the test flight was gas to liquid (GTL), which looks like kerosene, but is clear coloured. It is a natural gas, which has been cleaned and has undergone the Fischer-Tropsch process - the conversion of synthesis gas to liquid fuel.
The goal of these experiments is to find both cheaper and “greener” fuels. While they announced the test was a success, no mention was made of how much cheaper or how much greener the fuel is than conventional jet fuel. Airlines and by extension airplane manufacturers are getting increasing pressure from the public to reduce their carbon emissions and lower ticket prices driven up in part by the rise in fuel costs.
There have been a number of stories about the new Boeing 797 aircraft.
Boeing is preparing a 1000 passenger jet that could reshape the Air travel industry for the next 100 years.The radical Blended Wing design has been developed by Boeing in cooperation with the NASA Langley Research Centre.The mammoth plane will have a wing span of 265 feet compared to the 747’s 211 feet, and is designed to fit within the newly created terminals used for the 555 seat Airbus A380, which is 262 feet wide.The new 797 is in direct response to the Airbus A380 which has racked up 159 orders, but has not yet flown any passengers.Boeing decide to kill its 747X stretched super jumbo in 2003 after little interest was shown by airline companies, but has continued to develop the ultimate Airbus crusher 797 for years at its Phantom Works
research facility in Long Beach, Calif.
It is a very cool looking aircraft. Sadly, according to Boeing’s Blog it’s just not true.
Yes, too good to be true, indeed, Walter. Someone was having a bit of fun with PhotoShop perhaps. Boeing is not planning to build a 1,000 passenger commercial airplane dubbed the “797,” based on the blended wing body (BWB) concept or any other futuristic concept. It’s certainly not in our commercial market forecast, which goes out for 20 years. We think the commercial airplane market favors point-to-point routes, and we’re developing the 787 as the perfect match to help meet that demand.
Effective January 1, 2008, the following rules apply to the spare lithium batteries you carry with you in case the battery in a device runs low:
Spare batteries are the batteries you carry separately from the devices they power. When batteries are installed in a device, they are not considered spare batteries.
You may not pack a spare lithium battery in your checked baggage
You may bring spare lithium batteries with you in carry-on baggage – see our spare battery tips and how-to sections to find out how to pack spare batteries safely!
Even though we recommend carrying your devices with you in carry-on baggage as well, if you must bring one in checked baggage, you may check it with the batteries installed.
The following quantity limits apply to both your spare and installed batteries. The limits are expressed in grams of “equivalent lithium content.” 8 grams of equivalent lithium content is approximately 100 watt-hours. 25 grams is approximately 300 watt-hours:
Under the new rules, you can bring batteries with up to 8-gram equivalent lithium content. All lithium ion batteries in cell phones are below 8 gram equivalent lithium content. Nearly all laptop computers also are below this quantity threshold.
You can also bring up to two spare batteries with an aggregate equivalent lithium content of up to 25 grams, in addition to any batteries that fall below the 8-gram threshold. Examples of two types of lithium ion batteries with equivalent lithium content over 8 grams but below 25 are shown below.
For a lithium metal battery, whether installed in a device or carried as a spare, the limit on lithium content is 2 grams of lithium metal per battery.
Almost all consumer-type lithium metal batteries are below 2 grams of lithium metal. But if you are unsure, contact the manufacturer!
An article in The Age will be scary reading for the nervous flyers out there.
A flight in the US had to be diverted to Houston after a passenger tried to open an emergency door.
The woman was unable to open the door on the American Airlines flight from Orlando, Florida, to Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas, and no one was injured in the incident late Saturday.
The passenger was detained by local authorities in Houston, said Charley Wilson, a spokesman for Fort Worth-based American.
But if that makes you nervous you should make sure to read the companion article at Galdling.com:
Ever wonder what happens when you open the exit door while you’re in the air? I know that the thought has crossed my mind once or twice while I was sitting in the exit-row seat.
Well, you can’t. You’ll notice that emergency exit and cabin doors open in-ward, meaning the air pressure from inside of the plane is going to be pushing hard out on the door at 30,000 feet. Meaning it’s going to be near impossible for you to pull the door open. That and you’re going to make the crew really mad at you.
Apparently, a woman on an American Airlines flight headed for Dallas yesterday didn’t realize this and had to be subded by the crew until they could divert to Houston. The Age reports that after landing in Houston, six passengers got off (because it was their final destination) and the rest of the plane went on their merry way to Dallas.
It’s nice to know that not any nutjob can open an emergency exit at altitude and suck us all out of the plane, isn’t it?
Charlie Furnas was the first passenger on a fixed wing aircraft in 1908 when he took a flight on the Wright Brothers plane. (The Wright Brothers never flew together because they promised their father they would not). Almost 100 years later a the Airbus A380 took its first commercial flight today with somewhat more space for passengers.
The commercial flight for an A380 is a Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Sydney, Australia. The flight is configured to have 471 passengers. The passengers for this particular flight bought their tickets on an eBay auction. According to ForImmediateRelease.Net:
On board today’s flight are many of the successful bidders, as well as representatives of the world media. Some interesting facts:
• The youngest customer is a 10 month-old boy from Singapore
• The oldest is a 91 year-old man, also from Singapore, travelling with his
family. His son bought the Singapore Airlines Suites ticket for him in the charity auction;
• Mr Julian Hayward bought the first Suite on the flight, paying US$100,380
for him and a friend to travel from Singapore to Sydney;
• Among passengers is Mr Thomas Lee, from California, who was a passenger on
the world’s first Boeing 747 commercial flight between New York and London in 1970.
• Also travelling is Ms Isabelle Chu, a travel agent from Perth, who is
flying in both directions on the A380. Ms Chu flew in both directions on the first Singapore Airlines A340-500 flights between Singapore and Los Angeles, and Singapore and New York, non-stop in 2004, with just time for shower between flights. This time, she will enjoy an overnight stopover in Sydney.
• The passengers represent 35 different nationalities, with the largest group
being Australians (28%), then Singaporeans (14%), then Britons (11%) and Americans (8%). Those who have come furthest for the first flight are 4 Norwegians.
• The most common first name of passengers is David, with 11.
• The ratio of male to female passengers on board is 7:3.
The A380 could be good news for travelers as it could lower rates on certain routes, but think how many crying babies you could fit on board.
