Iceland issues aviation alert after eruption

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland authorities say there's been a small fissure eruption near Bardarbunga volcano, but no volcanic ash has been detected by the radar system.

The eruption took place early Friday morning in the Holuhraun lava field, north of Dyngjujökull glacier, Iceland's Meteorological Office said.

It says the aviation alert code has been changed to red, the highest level, but any ash produced has so far been minimal and all airports in Iceland are open. Icelandic Air Traffic Control has closed down the airspace from the ground up to 18,000 feet (5,486 meters).

In 2010, Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano erupted and sparked a week of international aviation chaos, with thousands of flights canceled. Aviation officials closed Europe's air space for five days, fearing that volcanic ash could harm jet engines.

The world’s most frequent flyer

Tom Stuker has taken the term "frequent flyer" to completely new heights this year, logging just over 1.000.000 miles in 2012 all on United, all in first class. Generally, he has travelled over 10 million miles. The 59-year-old Chicago native and New Jersey resident says he's flown a total of 13 million miles, much of that in his capacity as an independent consultant and sales trainer for automobile dealerships around the world.

The average age of a commercial aircraft

The lifespan of an airliner is not truly measured in time. Instead, it is counted based on pressurization cycles. Each time an aircraft is pressurized during a flight its fuselage is subjected to stress. The "lifespan" of an aircraft is reached when there are certain  metal fatigues and cracks which may pose danger. The "service life of 20 years" is generally expressed by approximate figures of 51,000 flight hours and 75,000 pressurization cycles for most aircraft. If an aircraft is used on long haul routes it experiences relatively few pressurization cycles in its "life" and can remain airworthy far beyond 20 years.

Only 5% of the world’s population have ever been on an airplane

Though the aviation sector is growing rapidly, according to the statistics only 5% of the world's population has ever flown on an airplane. Many people, especially from the underdeveloped regions, have never ever been in an aircraft and it is not likely that they will have an opportunity to fly in all of their lives. However, at the same time a small minority of the world's population fly very regularly.

The speed of a Boeing 747

Boeing 747 is not only one of the world's most recognizable aircraft, and the first wide-body ever produced. Another fascinating fact about this aircraft is that the maximum speed of a Boeing 747 is 955 km/h.

The world’s busiest commercial airport

The busiest commercial airport in the world is the Hartsfield- Jackson Airport (ATL) in Atlanta,  with more than 970.000 airplane movements a year. Based on its passenger traffic this airport has been the busiest from  1998, and by the number of landings and take-offs - since 2005. The Hartsfield–Jackson has held its ranking as the world's busiest airport in 2012, too, both in terms of the number of passengers and the number of flights. In the year alone it was visited by95 million passengers (more than 260,000 passengers daily).

Each engine on a Boeing 747 weighs almost 9,500 pounds

Another interesting fact about a Boeing 747 concerns its engine weight. This aircraft is one of the most popular and beautiful airliners in the sky. A Boeing 747 is made up of six million parts and one of them is its engine which weighs almost 9,500 pounds (4,300 kg) and costs about 8 million USD.

More than 80% of the population is afraid of flying

Acrophobia is defined as a fear of heights. Unlike a specific phobia like aerophobia - fear of flying -and other specific phobias, acrophobia can cause a person to fear a variety of things related to being far from the ground. Depending on the severity of the phobia, an acrophobic person may equally fear being on a high floor of a building or simply climbing a ladder.

A Boeing 747 is made up of six million parts

Boeing 747 is the most well known  wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transportation aircraft frequently referred to as the Queen of the Skies or the Jumbo Jet. This airplane is famed because it was the first huge body aircraft ever produced. A Boeing 747 is made up of six million parts which are made to be all controlled by a few pilots sitting up front with switches and buttons under their fingertips.

Aviation Time Lapse !!! Must watch !!

Fly non-stop for five years! Insane!! - Solar-Powered Drone

Fly non-stop for five years! Insane!! - Solar-Powered Drone

Though many people immediately associate unmanned drones with military use or some kind of dubious espionage activity, but they have incredible potential to be used in a wide variety of peaceful and scientific applications. In addition to delivering supplies to disaster-stricken areas, drones could be used to gather information about things like weather and wildlife.

Titan Aerospace is currently developing a drone named Solara 50 that is being hailed as an “atmospheric satellite” and has quite a lot to offer in terms of gathering scientific data. The drone will fly at an altitude of over 19,000 meters (65,000 feet) where there is little air traffic and above most weather that could impede its travels. Flying at that height will also give it unobstructed access to the sun, which will power the 3,000 solar cells that cover its 50-meter-long (164 feet) wings. The solar cells will also charge lithium ion batteries stored inside the wing so it can fly at night, which means that this drone can fly uninterrupted for up to 5 years all while producing zero emissions.

The body of the drone is durable carbon fiber, and the 5-kilowatt electric motor will allow the aircraft to cruise at about 96 km/h (60 mph). Though the aircraft itself weighs only 160 kg (350 lbs), it will be able to carry 32 kg (70 lbs) worth of payload up into the stratosphere.

Solara 50 is completely self-piloted; able to take off, cruise, and land on its own. It will function much the same way as a satellite, though it will cost much less to launch. From the air, it would be able to track developing storms, migrating wildlife, vegetation patterns, and it would also have data communications capabilities; a feature that has caught the eye of the social media giant, Facebook.




Facebook would use the drones to bring the internet to the 5 billion people around the globe who aren’t online as part of the Internet.org initiative. They are interested in acquiring Titan Aerospace for an estimated $60 million. If it goes through, Facebook will launch 11,000 units to start, which would be used to connect rural regions in Africa to the rest of the world. This is a similar—yet more sophisticated—concept as Google’s Project Loon, which had the same internet connectivity goals in mind though it utilized weather balloons instead of precision-guided drones.

If Facebook does acquire Titan Aerospace and all of its drone technology, all of the units produced will be used to further Internet.org’s goals.

Here's an interesting look at how a Boeing 777 communicates

How does winglets work?

There are many factors which influence the amount of aerodynamic drag which a body generates. Drag depends on the shape, size, and inclination, of the object, and on flow conditions of the air passing the object. For a three dimensional wing, there is an additional component of drag, called induced drag, or drag due to lift. On modern airliners, the wing tips are often bent up to form winglets. Winglets were wind tunnel tested and computer analyzed by Richard Whitcomb of the NASA Langley Research Center in the mid 1970's.

Induced drag is a three dimensional effect related to the wing tips; induced drag is a wing tip effect. So if the wing tip represents only a small fraction of the total wing area, the induced drag will be small. Long thin wings have low induced drag. Wings with an elliptical planform also have lower induced drag than rectangular wings. For many years, wing designers have attempted to reduce the induced drag component by special shaping of the wing tips. The Wright Brothers used curved trailing edges on their rectangular wings based on wind tunnel results. The outstanding aerodynamic performance of the British Spitfire of World War II is partially attributable to its elliptic shaped wing which gave the aircraft a very low amount of induced drag.

The idea behind the winglet is to reduce the strength of the tip vortex and therefore cause the flow across the wing to be more two-dimensional. Flight tests at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center have found a 6.5% reduction in the fuel use of a Boeing 707 type airliner when using winglets. Winglets must be carefully integrated into the total wing design, which explains why many different winglet designs appear on various airliners.

For a wing, the total drag coefficient, Cd is equal to the base drag coefficient at zero lift Cdo plus the induced drag coefficient Cdi.

Cd = Cdo + Cdi

The drag coefficient in this equation uses the wing area for the reference area. Otherwise, we could not add it to the square of the lift coefficient, which is also based on the wing area

Egyptian pilot landing a plane only with front-wheel!! Must Watch !!!!

Aerial Refuelling Boom Sytems (ARBS)- - Airbus A330 MRTT

Guess the Cockpit?

What material is an airplane made of?
a.-Iron
b.-Aluminium
c.-Plastic
d.-Milo

Comment your answer 

Pilots aren't the real hero !!! ATCs are the one who poke them from the back !! Always salute them because they make your journey safe and comfortable !!!

Inside the gear well of a Boeing 737

High above and All Alone in the Night - Time-lapse footage of the Earth as seen from the ISS

F-35B - Taking STOVL to a New Level

Main Landing Gear Test - Model Boeing 777-300ER

But first let me take a #selfie !!! pilot version !!

Airbus A350 XWB Cockpit at EADS Pavilion

Boeing C-17 Globemaster III - Elephant Walk

Giant Planes comparison ! ➊.Antonov An-225 ➋.Airbus A380-800 ➌.Boeing 747-400

Hatz off !!!

The biggy mama VS pinny pom!!

Gorgeous photo of an A340 breaking through the clouds

Airbus E-Fan Aircraft And The Big Mamma Airbus A-380-800

Boeing 737 Vs Airbus A320 !

High Pitch Airbus A380 Takeoff from Zürich

True that!

The making of Emirates' 50th Airbus A380 | Timelapse | Emirates

Only those who take risk of going higher can see how higher they can go!

The Future by Airbus: Diversity in Flight

Check out this great shot of the A330 back in 1997

The future is here (The Future of Airplanes Could Be a Windowless Jet)

The Future of Airplanes Could Be a Windowless Jet

An exterior view of the Ixion windowless jet. (Photo: Technicon Design)



Cameras on the wings display a panoramic view on the interior screens. (Photo: Technicon Design)





Who needs windows with a view like this? (Photo: Technicon Design)

The Future of Airplanes Could Be a Windowless Jet

Would you fly in a windowless plane? It sounds like a claustrophobic nightmare, but it’s not what you think.

Instead of windows, designers from Technicon Design used flexible screens to cover the walls and ceilings of the cabin in their windowless jet concept. Those screens can display panoramic exterior views in real time using fuselage and wing mounted cameras. Essentially, you can see outside without actually seeing outside.

This feat in aviation is named the Ixion windowless jet, and it was unveiled by Technicon at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) show. “I challenged the team to break out of conventional thinking with regards to a business jet exterior and interior,” said Gareth Davies, design director at the Technicon Design Studio in France. “Whilst defining the concept sketches for the exterior, I asked the rest of the team to start thinking about interior concepts and what we could do differently.”

And, boy, did they do something differently. In addition to displaying the current exterior environment, the screens can also be programmed to show any scenery you’d like. So as you fly, you can adjust the theme and mood to feel as if you’re in a rainforest, in Paris, or even in space. The technology also allows for onscreen display, meaning that in-flight video conferencing would be possible as well.


The jet uses existing or very near future technology, so you won’t be seeing it on runways for a bit longer. Still, this futuristic concept makes you think of what can come next. Anyone up for a windowless car?

The new Airbus A350

The A350 XWB offers Extra space with the overhead stowage space for 2 roller-bags per passenger in business class.

The new Airbus A350

The A350 has carbon fibre fuselage and wings and sets new standards in terms of passenger experience, operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Rolls Royce next gen engine.

List of the busiest airports in Asia

2011 Statistics (Full-year preliminary)

Rank	Country	Airport	City	IATA/ICAO Code	Total passengers	Change
1.	People's Republic of China	Beijing Capital International Airport	Beijing	PEK/ZBAA	77,403,668	4.7%
2.	Japan	Haneda Airport	Tokyo	HND/RJTT	62,263,025	2.9%
3.	Hong Kong	Hong Kong International Airport	Hong Kong	HKG/VHHH	53,314,213	5.9%
4.	Indonesia	Soekarno–Hatta International Airport	Jakarta	CGK/WIII	52,446,618	19.3%
5.	United Arab Emirates	Dubai International Airport	Dubai	DXB/OMDB	50,977,960	8.1%
6.	Thailand	Suvarnabhumi Airport	Bangkok	BKK/VTBS	47,910,744	12.0%
7.	Singapore	Singapore Changi Airport	Singapore	SIN/WSSS	46,543,845	10.7%
8.	People's Republic of China	Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport	Guangzhou	CAN/ZGGG	45,040,340	9.0%
9.	People's Republic of China	Shanghai Pudong International Airport	Shanghai	PVG/ZSPD	41,450,211	2.6%
10.	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur International Airport	Kuala Lumpur	KUL/WMKK	37,670,586	10.5%

Terminal 3 Air Control Tower(Beijing Capital International Airport)

True!!!

World's largest airlines(By number of destinations)

Rank	Airline	Destinations
1	United Airlines	369
2	American Airlines	340
3	Delta Air Lines	333
4	Turkish Airlines	254
5	Lufthansa	218
6	China Eastern Airlines	211
7	British Airways	197
8	Air France	194
9	China Southern Airlines	193
10	Air Canada	181

                            Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-900ER