Boeing recently released to press that they had closed more deals with India than whole US in last 50 years. The recent purchase of 10 C-17 Globemaster cost $4.1 billion dollars.
Indian Air Force has been purchasing Chinook, Apache, P-8 Poseidon, 737 and C-17 for its fleet.
With Boeing decision to set up manufacturing facility in India, it is clear that Boeing is cementing its relationships with India.
Indian Air Force fighter aircraft are mainly from Russian aviation giants. With the current scenario, a time may come when Boeing can sell it's fighter aircraft to India.
Indian Air force has specific needs for its combat support. It has long been understood that investments should be made to state of the art support systems because it is the foundation on which national security is ensured.
Boeing being the major supplier for the combat has more to do than just plain selling. Boeing had deployed a team in India years before to understand the needs of Indian Military. Being a sub-continent, India has many threats that had to be handled simultaneously.
A highly integrated system is necessary for this kind of job and Boeing modified it's system accordingly.
After years of studying and computing solution, Boeing is having its fruits now.
Knowing the customers and satisfying them is good business.
That is the color of black box a.k.a Flight Data Recorder (FDR).
Black box is designed to survive large impact and resist fire. And it comes in orange.
It's orange because it was the only color that made the box pretty.
I'm kidding of-course. Since the purpose of the black box is to record flight data to be analysed after a crash; it has to stand out from the rest of debris.
Why should it stand out from "debris" ?
Have a taste of reality, can you recognize any small equipment from the pic below:
This is just one part of the aircraft. Depending on the crash debris can be in worse conditions. Maybe in a dark jungle. Or deep under ocean.
Every debris will have many shattered pieces jumbled all over up and burned. If the black box was indeed black in color, it would be tenacious job for the investigators to find black box. They would have to go through each and every piece to find the FDR.
And they have to find it fast. In fact, after survivors, finding the black box is the priority. They have to know what caused the crash. If the reason has something to do with aircraft model itself, they can ask airlines all around the world to ground the aircraft until the issue is solved. Only black box may have the answer to what happened to the flight , that could possibly stop similar tragedies in future.
Isn't it bizarre to think that when you are flying, there is a system that records the flight data, so that in the event of a crash, they will know why it happened? Such is the dedication to safety in aviation industry. And still my mom says it's too dangerous to fly.
So the color of black box is orange, Then why is it named "black"? Isn't it easy to call it "orange box"?
Well, it is a a common term used in computing and engineering (especially electronics).
A black box is a device which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs, without any knowledge of its internal workings. It's implementation is "opaque" (black). (Ref:Wikipedia)
What it means is that implementing a black box does not effect any other systems. It's like a photograph that takes the moment and stores it. Doesn't know what it is or why it is. Even if it's taken away, none other systems are effected.
Aviation industry values technical functionality of a system rather than it's aesthetics. It's what's inside that matters not the outside look.
With that thought in mind, I thank you guys for reading.
Lightsabers are the fictional energy weapons used in Star Wars universe. Those laser swords are insanely awesome. I am hoping to hold one in this technology-marvel era.
With that being said, US Air Force is funding for a laser weapons system that is to be mounted on the AC-130 "GhostRider" that can neutralize threats using energy beams by 2020. Hell Ya Air Force!
The tender is being initiated by Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). The requirement is to have a system that weigh less than 2,286 kg (5,000 lbs) and occupy a space no greater than one gun position on the latest AC-130J "Ghostrider" gunship. (Ref: Flightglobal)
The surprising fact is that the development for this project began in 1970's - by Soviet / Russian Air Force.
An Ilyushin Il-76MD aircraft was modified to develop airborne laser technology with small success.The program was re-activated in 2009, and is currently under development.
In American soil, the origins began from Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. It was basically a low powered laser laboratory to explore the potential of laser weapons. It made very less impact.
The real change came with a retired Air India 747-200 aircraft. This aircraft was acquired by US Air Force for the development of airborne laser system in 1996. By 2001, it was re-named to Boeing YAL-1.
This project was being handled by major weapons developer; together. Boeing Defense, Space & Security provides the aircraft, the management team and the systems integration processes. Northrop Grumman was supplying the chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL), and Lockheed Martinwas supplying the nose turret and the fire control system. (Ref: Wikipedia).
It was basically a flying laser. It was very primitive. After $5 billion dollars and a decade later, the Air Force cancelled the project. They concluded that it was too costly to operate and inefficient.
It may be costly with airliner aircraft operating at 40,000ft. But with the rise of unmanned aerial vehicles, the operating cost can be brought down.
One of the major expense was with the COIL itself which used chemicals which needed physical reloading of oxygen iodine. Now the systems are electric based where energy is derived from fuel.
When unmanned aerial vehicle system and electric laser technology is integrated, a new frontier for laser based weapons become possible.
With Boeing Yal- 1, the weapons developers - having gathered a ton of data and learning a lot along the way - began to develop systems of their own.
Lockheed Martin developed ATHENA (Advanced Test High Energy Asset).
Boeing Developed range of Laser systems under Directed Energy. Here is a video from Boeing:
This technology has its fair share of history. Like every great technological advancement, it took time, talent and sweat to make it happen.
Air Force always were the pioneers at great technologies. Military funding has done many improvements even in our daily life.
Titanium is a material being used in aviation industry. It's quite common now. SR-71 Blackbird made it happen.
Composite Materials play a great role in making aircraft efficient. They are quite common now. B-2 Spirit made it happen.
In 20 years we will be saying, " Lightsabers are common now. Boeing Yal-1 made it happen".
With internet of things (IoT) on the rise, commercial aircraft manufactures are begging to tap into that market.
With IoT, physical objects are able to communicate with each other. As a passenger, this allow personal flying experience.
The architecture of this system is so vast in aviation that designers are bewildered with where to start.
Companies like Boeing and Airbus have always been trying to get more personal with passenger comfort.
Airliners are particularly interested in how they can give better flying experience to their passengers. Boeing 787 come with various lighting scheme as per passenger mood and comfort. Airliners like Virgin Atlantic have gone far enough to get personalized bar in aircraft - so as to satisfy its customers.
World as we know it now is going for personalization. Everything comes with various features and benefits in order to make sure that the customers get to choose accordingly. Look around for the millions of mobile apps. Look around for the millions of food joints. Look around for millions of customization services and products.
World is going for long tail model. So will commercial aviation. Commercial aviation is in the verge of evolving into something more than just flying from point A to point B.
With that warm thought in mind, this is CK signing off and you're reading theaviationbusiness.com.
It's the second week of the month. Today it's design tactics used in aircraft.
I will discuss about vortex generators. Vortex generators are simple but powerful devices. It's nothing but coin sized metal piece fixed at specific points on the wing.
Next time when you go on a trip, try yo find one these on the wings :
These tin metal pieces are called Vortex generators. They induce vortex to increase the energy of the stream flow. In simple terms, they make the air to work more.
How does that work? Well, you see the Winglets at the end of the wing tip (AA.com is written on it) - the vortex generator does the exact same thing - in a smaller scale.
Usually there are groups of it kept in a certain pattern. It's astonishing that how such small implementation can make big difference.
Mainly these are used to increase the stall speed, to attain maximum take off weight and reduce noise.
Great part about this implementation is that; there are companies that provide vortex generators. When you have a specific requirement like minimum take off speed or maximum take off weight; these additions come in great hand.
Check out this article from boldmethod.com for more : http://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/aerodynamics/vortex-generators/
"Oh, that's just a jet producing smoke as an indicator for other planes" - one of my dear colleague (senior engineer for airport special ancillary system) explained as a matter of fact. That's the most bizarre statement of my entire life.
First of all lets make something clear - it's not smoke. It's pure ice. Yes, very very small droplets of ice. And this phenomenon or behavior is not even aviation related. It is just moisture getting cooled to ice.
It is the exact same principal as you blow out cold breath; just like the dude in the picture below:
Random Dude
You see the water droplets in our mouth are exhaled with carbon dioxide. The water droplets are instantly cooled down to ice crystals which are so small that they have negligible mass and thus float in the air.
But we are talking about watching aircraft marking its territory in summer season. I am writing from Saudi Arabia, one of the hottest place on the planet. We see the same phenomena here.
Well, it is because of the height. As the height increases the temperature decreases. Ever saw Mount Everest in bright sunny day? Mount Everest will always have ice on it because it is situated 8,848 m from sea level. Aircraft cruise nearly at 10,000m from sea level.
The turbofan engine of commercial aircraft produces thrust at an exuberant rate. It contains water vapour which is cooled to ice crystals. By the way this "smoke" is scientifically called as "Contrails".
How it works.
So its all about temperature. This is also the same reason why we cannot see contrails in ground. Although, in cold countries we can see it in the ground:
Contrails viewed in the ground.
Also notice the gap between the engine and contrail. The water vapour will take some time to cool down. It's not instantaneous. This is the reason why you cannot see it when you are are flying.
When it comes to military jet aircraft, they don't want to show you their contrails. Think about it, what is the use of 5th generation stealth aircraft if its contrails can be seen. They have special anti-contrail methods.
That being said, I think contrails are really cool. It reminds us how awesome aircraft really are and the stuff they can do.
Aviation Awesomeness
I hope this article has been useful and informative. We welcome your valuable comments and suggestion.
It really is a sight of beauty when an Emirates A380 takes-off from runway 16R/34L. I see it everyday for the last one year and each time when I see it, I forget about everything else.
Hi there, thank you for reading the article. My name is CK (a.k.a. Chan) . I am an Aeronautical Engineer currently working in deploying aviation systems around the world.
Airplanes have been a part of my life from a very young age. When I was in high school I went to middle east for vacation. My family took an apartment near an airport, very close to the runway. I could see aircraft coming to land very close . I would get so excited and be like "Whoa!! Mom Look at that!!". I would spend hours watching the jumbo jets landing and taking off. That was the time of my life when I decided to know more about aviation.
I took aeronautical engineering as my majors in college and guys, it was the best decision ever.
The purpose of this blog is to provide infotainment for all and especially Aviation Enthusiasts. I believe a blog like this one will stand as a tribute to aviation industry. It is my deepest desire to contribute to the internet aviation something my own.
At the end of the day, its all about you. There is no value in my articles if you don't find it interesting. So let me know what you would like to read about. This is your blog. Let me know your thoughts.
