What’s that old airport saying? There are only two kinds of pilots, #1 are those who have already had a GEAR UP LANDING and #2 are those who eventually will. (There can be a #3). I hope that isn’t true because my personal airplane, a Cessna 210, has gear that goes up and down. Besides the embarrassment of the event, it also sounds expensive.
After months of delays and massive cost overruns the largest airliner ever built, the Airbus A380 completed its maiden commercial flight Thursday. Singapore Airline's completed the seven-hour and seven minute-long flight from Singapore to Sydney while 455 passengers enjoyed champagne and caviar.
After 18 months of delays and billions of dollars in cost overruns the first Airbus A380 landed in Singapore on Wednesday, just one week before the maiden commercial flight of the biggest passenger airliner ever built.
Many times when we have a major air show that includes all those crowd pleasing demonstration flights, it seems that we can also expect an accident, usually with fatalities included. We also lose aircraft that were built to be disposable and would be if not purchased by those with deep pockets. These big powerful machines were built to haul firepower directly to the enemy and wipe them out. The success rate of the aircraft involved along with the bravery of those with very little training became an unbeatable combination during WWII and several other military actions. If the truth were known, we could not have come out as the winner in these conflicts without this combination of man and machine. It is now these same machines that are used to entertain the air show crowds.
With approximately 15,000 people in attendance the Boeing Corporation unveiled their new 787 Dreamliner. The 787 Dreamliner Premiere was broadcast live in nine different languages via satellite to more than 45 countries featuring journalist and best-selling author Tom Brokaw as the master of ceremonies for the event.
With astronomical cost associated with learning to fly and purchasing aircraft the ranks of new pilots was declining annually. Primarily driven by organizations like the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) the Sport Pilot License was created. With restrictions applied to the sport pilot the cost of training was reduced. The advent of the Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) opened the floodgates with over 30 manufacturers producing new aircraft at under $100,000. So what is a Light Sport Aircraft (LSA)?
When we first started this series on the new Airbus 380 we speculated that this massive project might be another Concorde disaster. Although the Concorde was on the leading edge, a combination of factors just didn’t make the aircraft viable and only a handful of aircraft were sold. Forty years latter Airbus is facing a similar disaster. What seemed like a normal design, certification, and flight test program started hitting road blocks by the summer of 2006 and kept getting worse every day. With more and more airlines cancelling orders and costs soaring out of control we can only guess what the future holds.
