Congo DC-9 Crash Pictures

These are a couple photos I found of the Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 crash in Congo. It has been reported that up to 6 of the 85 people on board survived and several others could have have been in harms way when the DC-9 crashed into a crowded market area near the airport.

On a side note, last week European officials banned Hewa Bora Airways from flying into the 27-nation union over safety concerns. The International Air Transport Association reports that the aircraft accident rate is six times higher than the rest of the world.

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50-year old Aerocar...now with FADEC (for real)

From the folks over at AVweb comes this video of Ed Sweeney's Molt Taylor AEROCAR that is now flying with Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) similar to what you'd find in a Boeing or Airbus commercial jetliner. Instead of ripping it up with a jet engine though, Sweeney is running an O-360 which cruises his aerocar at a breakneck 100 mph in the air and a burning 56 mph on the ground. Vvvrroooooomm. Sweeney claims much better fuel consumption and engine handling with the FADEC. Video was taken by AVweb at Sun-n-Fun 2008.



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Magic Dragon Space Capsule

We have found some details on the UK's first commercially designed and built manned space capsule that was delivered to Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in 2005, but never flew. SpaceX had grand plans to launch it on top of its Falcon 5 rocket.

Up to this point, this has been a rather secret operation and no actual pictures were ever seen of this smaller capsule, referred to as the Magic Dragon. The MD was to designed for a three-day journey to take crew or cargo to the International Space Station and also act as an ISS emergency return vehicle. Since 2005, SpaceX has replaced its Falcon 5 rocket with the Falcon 9.

As you can imagine, the designer, Andy Elson, ran into some difficulties when it came down to getting dimensions for the ISS common berthing module (CBM) as it is not exactly information NASA is just putting on a ISS informational pamphlet or in History Channel documentary. Also, another reason it never got off the ground is because SpaceX decided it wanted a seven person capacity capsule rather than the MD's three person capacity.

The MD has been redesigned, as you can see below, and now has the desired seven person capacity. After a couple test flights in 2009, it is scheduled for launch and docking with the ISS in 2010. Also, it is just referred to as the "Dragon" now. Don't screw it up.


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What the new Delta/Northwest will look like

We're not likely to hit too much on the Delta and Northwest merger announced last night here at PointNiner, but I did want to submit this picture I found on Modified Airliner Photos a few weeks ago of what the new airline could look like. By the way, the Delta names stays and the Northwest name disappears. The amateur artist did a nice job with this 787 to combine the best of the two. He took the famous Delta widget and made it the point in the Northwest compass. Who knows if this is what they'll end up doing though, but it would be nice to retain some heritage from both airlines in the new livery.



The above picture from Flightblogger does a nice job of showing you what the two airline's current fleets look like. It will be interesting to see what stays and what goes. Dear Delta, please axe the Diesel-9s.

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Whale Ship

The FAA has accepted the big beautiful Aeroscraft Aeros ML866 for certification. The aircraft is classified not as an airship, dirigible, helicopter, or airplane (or UFO), but rather as a "buoyancy assisted air vehicle." Don't get too excited because its first flight is at least 3 years away, which really means 4-5 years if we account for traditional delays, especially given the unique nature of this "aircraft." But you can start saving because I can't imagine it will the your average $300 airfare to Chicago.

The ML866 is a 3000+ mile range, 210-feet-long, 5,000-square-feet cruise liner of the skies. It boasts a top speed of 138mph (not too bad for what it is) and the ability to hover, take-off and land vertically, complete autonomy from airports, not to mention incredible aerial views. Aeroscraft will not say who their potential customers are, but they were generous enough to provide the pictures and a video.

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Another Larger Person Forced to Buy Second Seat

An Arab man recently booked a Dubai-Zurich-Dubai flight via Belgrade at the European airline's office in Dubai. He had no problems boarding the aircraft from Dubai, but the passenger next to him complained that he was not comfortable. The complaining passenger was moved to business class (I'm going to do this next time I fly regardless of the size of the person next to me).

Then the poo hit the proverbial fan. On the way back from Zurich, this passenger was asked to pay an extra $381USD (1400 Dirham) to buy an adjoining seat in accordance with the airline's policy, because his weight exceeded the set limit for passengers. He was denied boarding until he paid. The big man noted that he caused no inconvenience to the passenger next to him on this flight and informed the pilots and flight attendants of this.

He then asked if the airline would reimburse him the extra amount and, naturally, the airline said negatory as it was against "their religion policy." After a complaint was filed with the Consumer Protection Department the airline and a long battle regarding the airlines policy on said big people, the money was refunded.

Comment with your thoughts on any airlines second seat policy. I would tell the man to stick with Emirates and get a shower.

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Live ATC Feeds from United States

Before I get a lame vote, listen up, this is a link to almost 200 ATC (air traffic control) feeds from all over the United States. And they work. Why do I even bother with this? Well I know that its pretty sweet to sit there in your seat on a United Airlines jet and listen to the pilots talking to Center and whenever I would try and find a good site that had links to ATC feeds at home, 8 times out of 10 the links wouldn't work. This site so far has good links and they tell you if they are down. You can also click on "listen" and it will automatically put the feed into iTunes so you don't have to always go back to the site to listen to your favorite feed(s).

Just go check it out. You can find your favorite controller...over at OMA we have Crystal Ball and I'm not joking. LiveATC.net

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Caterer Dies After Falling from Qantas 747

Sadly a 63 year old female catering employee fell from a Qantas 747-400 over the weekend. From what I've learned, she fell from the lower deck height and died at the scene. The accident occurred yesterday in Australia at 8:15am (AEST).

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A-10 gear up landing pictures

This incident actually happened almost 3 weeks ago, but this is the first time I've seen any pictures of it. An A-10 Warthog from Moody AFB performed this belly landing at Edwards AFB on March 25 after the pilot declared an in-flight emergency during a Green Flag sortie out of Nellis AFB (that's a lot of AFBs). The pilot was unharmed, but the aircraft and the runway have some issues to work out.

Note how they have the right main chocked. Where's it going to go? And what happened to the gun barrels?




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Weekend Edition: D.C. warbird flyover makes for some sweet air to air shots

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO



A rare sight was available this last Thursday if you were in the Washington D.C. area when 3 historic warbirds made flyovers at some area landmarks. The flight included a B-17 Flying Fortress, a P-51 Mustang, and P-40 Warhawk and was organized by the American Air Museum in Duxford, England on behalf of US Airmen who lost their lives flying out of Britain during WWII. The flight of three originated from Andrews AFB and made low passes at Reagan Airport and the new Air Force Memorial near the Pentagon. It's cool to see the three sitting on the same ramp as Air Force 1. The video has some nice footage from the ground and the air, if you like that kind of thing.


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Air Force drone washes up on shore, big deal for locals

Here's a video of an Air Force targeting drone that washed up on shore recently at Fort Morgan, Alabama. It seems to have caused quite a stir for the local yocals. No comment from the Air Force. Nice security though, huh?

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Bloodbath 2008: Chapter 11 doesn't quite kill Frontier...yet

Unlike the other victims of Bloodbath 2008, Frontier Airlines has decided to try and stay afloat after it filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last night by not shutting down operations. The AP writes that Frontier said "its filing … came after an unexpected attempt by its principal credit card processor to start withholding significant proceeds from the sale of Frontier tickets, which threatened to hurt Frontier's liquidity." The airline's CEO is confident that while under Chapter 11 protection, they will be able to find additional financing and enhance their liquidity. I hope they didn't throw out all of those "pre-approved" credit card offers. They may need one.

Frontier is the first airline in the last several weeks with severe financial difficulties not to stop operating unlike those other quiters. They'll keep chugging along like everything is normal, for now. But for how long can they stay above water? I'm willing to take bets on this one.

Oh yeah, earlier this week I predicted that Frontier would be the next to go down. They haven't quite gone down, but I was pretty close in that prediction.

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787 engine test-bed aircraft strikes taxiway sign at Boeing Field

The Boeing 747-200 that Rolls Royce is using as an engine test-bed was involved in a little accident today at Boeing Field in Seattle, WA. The aircraft, N787RR, is currently testing the Trent 1000 engine which is one of two options that will power the Boeing 787. According to the preliminary FAA report, the 747 struck a taxiway directional sign with an egine cowling while taxiing and damaged the cowling. No report if it was the Trent 1000 engine that was damaged, but judging by the picture, it's obviously the closest thing to the ground hanging off the wings (hint, it's the big one). As if the 787 program didn't have enough problems right now.

Photo: Charles Conklin, care of Airliners.net

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What a Wrecked $1.2 Billion B-2 Looks Like

Remember that B-2 (Spirit of Kansas) that crashed in Guam back on February 24, 2008? Well this is the aftermath. A nice 1.2 billion dollar piece of metal. A tragedy to see such a beauty all burned up.

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Teddy Bear RC Pilot video hits new levels of cuteness, pointlessness

This video from Cue Air shows you what you can accomplish with an RC airplane, a teddy bear, and a couple of tiny cameras. Check out how the bear moves his head and the control yoke. Nice loops too. These guys have way too much time on their hands. Of course, I guess so do I if all I do is look this kind of crap up all day.

Not sure if this from the people who brought us the Tiddy Bear.

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Urinals On Board Airbus A380

The Airbus A380 will soon be an even more unique aircraft as it will be fitted with space saving military-style male urinals.

Speaking at the Aircraft Interiors Expo 2008 in Hamburg, Arndt Schoenemann, managing director of Dasell Cabin Interiors let loose that it would be providing two separate urinal/washroom units for use alongside convention lavatories. He did not tell us, however, which A380 customer will be getting the military-style urinals. If I had to guess, I would say Emirates was getting the urinals to go along with their expensive golden showers.

Why don't we just give all the males the Little John and females the Little John tank with the Lady J adapter and call it good.

Please note there is a metal handle above the urinal for those moments when you are caught mid-stream in a bit of light chop or worse turbulence.

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Launch Customer Upset Over 787 Delays

Boeing 787 launch customer All Nippon Airways (ANA) upset with Boeing over the latest delays to the new aircraft program and is complaining publicly that it has yet to receive a blessed delivery schedule.

As you may know, and if you read the blog yesterday you would (and if you did not, shame on you), Boeing announced a third major delay to the 787 development program, which will now push first deliveries back to the third quarter of 2009. ANA was originally due to have received the first 787 next month.

ANA is (still) to be the first operator of the 787 and gave a great boost to the program with its 50 firm orders for the 787, split between the 787-8 and the short-haul version 787-3. To make matters worse, Boeing has told both ANA and Japan Airlines (JAL), the only airlines to order the short haul -3, that this version is delayed even more than the initial -8 and the stretched -9.

Both airlines expected to receive their first -3s in 2010, but Boeing has put the kabash on this and informed them it will be the second version to be produced. The stretched -9 will now be the first version and its first delivery is scheduled to take place in 2012, rather than 2010.

JAL has 35 787s on order plus 20 options, however, it has not revealed what its split will be between the -3 and -8.

Boeing has a storm a-brewin' and they'd better not screw up anymore.

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Video: P-51 Mustang crashes in textbook accident

This is by far the best step-by-step video of an aircraft accident that I've seen in a long time. After a landing gear failure at the RAAF Base Williams, Point Cook, Victoria, Australia, this WWII Mustang brings it in with the CFA firefighters ready to roll. Very well produced, with excellent footage and analysis.

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Southwest Laptop Areas Get USB Power

The friendly people over at Southwest Airlines have added USB power ports at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. Now you can charge your phone, other USB junk, or you could bust out your USB powered pole dancer. At least you will have a charged phone before your out-of-inspection SWA 737 has structural problems.

Cessna 152 Crash at Gillespie Field

A student pilot crashed a Cessna 152 last week at Gillespie Field in El Cajon. You can see the pictures below. Apparently it was the student pilot's second solo (so he probably had between 10-15 hours flight time) and while practicing his controlled crashes touch and gos.

The C152s gear collapsed and the prop struck the pavement, which sparked the fire. Somehow the pilot, in his 20s, was not hurt in the accident.

This would be classified as a flight instructors worst nightmare. I used to let my students solo and I would go hide in the hangar and just listen.


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Bloodbath 2008 - International Edition: Oasis Hong Kong bites it

Oasis Hong Kong called it quits today by suspending all flight operations and liquidating their assets as the result of plaguing financial difficulties and the inability to find new financiers. The low-cost/long-haul carrier based out of, you guessed it, Hong Kong, flew a tiny fleet of gigantic aircraft between its base and London Gatwick and Vancouver. Oasis Hong Kong operated a fleet of five 747-400s in what I thought was one of the coolest liveries out there. They had high hopes of adding additional aircraft and additional destinations to Australia, Europe and the US, but the investors never quite got on board. I guess US carriers aren't the only ones feeling the pinch. Oh well, so long baby.



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Lufthansa lightning strike picture

This is a nice picture of lightning strike damage to a Lufthansa 737 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The aircraft had just taken off from Sofia to Frankfurt on Saturday April 5th when lightning struck the horizontal stabilizer. The flight crew elected to RTB and rightly so. That's a nice little chunk missing there. Engineers are working on getting the 21-year old aircraft airworthy again. Nothing a little 100 mph tape could fix, right?

Photo: BGSpotters.net

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Boeing Revises 787 First Flight and Delivery Plans

Yes, it's official the 787 program has come upon another delay as Boeing is trying to let us down easy by adding slack in their delivery schedule to avoid any other delays. PointNiner brought you this information weeks ago when a "large purchaser" of the 787 reported upcoming delays due to retrofits of the center wingbox.

To put it in Boeing's terms: the first flight has been rescheduled because of slower than anticipated completion of work that came from all over via the Dreamhauler into Boeing's final assembly line, unanticipated rework (wingbox), and the addition of margins into the testing schedule.

The new (revised) delivery schedule is based on a more conservative production plan developed with all of the 787 partners. Boeing now expects to have a first flight of Airplane #1 in the fourth quarter 2008 (instead of the second quarter 2008), with a first delivery planned for the third quarter 2009 (instead of the first quarter 2009). That schedule now targets approximately 25 deliveries in 2009.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the 787 and Boeing aircraft, however, what has happened here is simply this: Boeing used to have balls and they have lost them. They have lost their way.

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Woman's dog gets squished by Delta

WARNING: THIS STORY IS NOT FOR ANIMAL LOVERS, SQUEAMISH, OR THE FAINT OF HEART. An Auburn, New Hampshire woman was on her way to Logan Airport in Boston on Saturday to pick up a new puppy, when she received a call from Delta Air Lines that the pooch had been accidentally crushed to death in Atlanta. Her new $800 West Highland Terrier was being shipped by the airline from a breeder in Arkansas when the accident took place at the dog's connecting city of Atlanta. That's where a ramp rat placed the dogs crate on the apron next to a vehicle being used to load an airplane. The vehicle somehow moved, and well, I think you get the idea from the picture. The puppy's would be owner wants Delta to hold the ramper responsible and wants the airline to review its animal handling policies stating. "I just don't want this puppy to die in vain." Delta is investigating the incident.

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BA bans Naomi Campbell in a slap to unattractive black female British supermodels everywhere

Supermodel Naomi Campbell has been officially banned from flying on British Airways according to Reuters a week after she was accused of assaulting a police officer and removed from a flight at Heathrow Airport. The spoiled 37 year old was released on bond and was hoping for an amicable solution to the dispute. A spokeswoman for Campbell was quoted as saying, "Naomi has been flying with British Airways for nearly 30 years and has been a good customer." I'm sure she was a good customer, when she was 7 years old. Apparently the entire dispute was the result of Campbell's baggage being misplaced in the fiasco that is now Terminal 5 at Heathrow. Actually, I think this is the first good thing to come out of T5.

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Expedition 17 launches on hope, 1960s Soviet technology

The crew of Expedition 17 lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan this morning headed for the International Space Station on board their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft to start their 6 month stay in space. Expedition 17 is carrying two Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonauts and one Korean female astronaut as part of the Korean Astronaut Program. Among other things, she'll be bringing an experiment of 1,000 fruit flies to the ISS, so it will be easy to identify whose fault it is when flies start turning up all over the place on the station. The TMA-12 spacecraft will return the Korean astronaut and two Expedition 16 astronauts to Earth next week. I'm glad to see the Soyuz rocket and Soyuz spacecraft still chuggin along after 40 years of dedicated service. Take that, America and your fancy new Orion spacecraft!

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Lancair Evolution Public Debut

This video shows the Lancair Evolution in its public debut. Pretty cool bird. See PointNiner's previous article on the Lanair Evolutions first flight here.

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Cessna Citation Mustang First Biz Jet to Get SVT

Cessna announced today that its Citation Mustang will be receiving the Garmin G1000 based Synthetic Vision Technology. This will make the Mustang the first business jet to be equipped to handle the new cool tech.

In other news, so long as you have flown a successful flight on Flight Simulator X, Cessna wants you to be a test pilot.

Click here for more information on the Synthetic Vision Technology.

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FAA inspection manager gets "reassigned" after SWA faux pas

The FAA has "reassigned" one of its regional inspection managers according to USA Today, following a rather embarrassing set of testimonies last week in front of a congressional panel on airline maintenance compliance oversight. Thomas Stuckey, former FAA Southwestern Regional Chief of Inspectors, was accused of being too lenient when it came to airline inspections due to his cozy relationships with the airlines. This led to the debacle with Southwest Airline's uninspected 737s and the now hefty $10.2 million fine for the airline (which is like chump change to Southwest). What's funny is that Stuckey was given "unspecified new duties" a mere 4 days after the hearing. I'm going to assume that "unspecified new duties" means he is in one of the following capacities now:

1. Wiping vulture poop off of the glideslope tower at the Death Valley Airport
2. Manning a VOR station in Nome, Alaska
3. Cleaning the men's restroom at the NY TRACON (as seen in the picture)

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Diamond Aircraft Readies Synthetic Vision

Diamond Aircraft has installed Garmin's G1000-based Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT), and it will be unveiled at Sun 'n Fun today. Garmin announced the system had been certified on yesterday and apparently did not want to waste any time showing it off.

A Diamond DA40 with the system installed will be on display at the announcement. It will be offered on all new aircraft from Diamond as an option for just under $10,000, a fraction of the price when compared to SVT on a business jet.The system provides a 3D depiction of terrain and hazards on the PFD with water, land, and sky. If it senses a hazard, it tells you that you are going to die colors the terrain in the appropriate colors and obstacles grow larger as they get closer. Air traffic is also depicted and the SVT system produces highway in the sky "rectangles" to fly through.

So now flying on an SVT display is no different than trying to accomplish an achievement on Flight Simulator X or Star Fox. Now we will have more non-instrument rated private pilot flying through the soup because they think they can play video games. Great.



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