F-35 Entering Service For The first Time

Well the time has come. The famed F-35 Lightning II is entering service for the first time in the history of aviation. I say, it's about time. 

Ten F-35's will be deployed at Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMFA-121) based at Yuma, Arizona.

We grow up hearing about it. And  it was a mystery why these aircraft are not yet in service. They were always going through design changes, budget overruns, schedule slips. But as we all know, great things can all be achieved by hard work and it will take time - otherwise everyone would have had it.   

It's been 14 years now. When the news first came out - that they are designing a "Stealth" aircraft that could take off vertically; it was bizarre! 

But when I saw the first vertical take off in Lockheed's website - I said to myself " She was the one".

The threatening condition of the world is filled with terrorism and mindless attacks. People who threatens peace. When a country spend trillions of dollars to fight for peace and serenity, they look out to a machine that can fly invisible and hit hard. Those machines can end war even before it begins. 

With F-35's entering the service we can be glad that elite soldiers will make sure of our peace and serenity. 

Until Next time.

CK  

A380 is 10 Years Old

On 27th April 2005, the super jumbo took off to skies and made history. I was in high school at that time. TV news channel show the take off in the news. It was just such a moment that I wish to go back and see it again.  I still have a photograph of maiden flight in my room. 

Fast forward 10 years, I am fortunate enough to see it in ramp and even fly in it. 

A380 is the flagship plane of Airbus. It was designed for the jumbo jet market, which was being dominated by legendary Boeing 747. With success of A320, it was evident that Airbus could do better with a jumbo jet. It is the final frontier. 

Airbus invested about $15 billion for the design and production of A380 in the early 2000's. They had an plan to sell 1500 planes (almost half of the market). But so far they only sold 317 planes with 167 delivered yet. 

It's not a bad news as such. Aviation business model may contain a break even point of even 30 decades. The bigger the sale is, the greater time it will take. And we are talking about $428 million here. Emirates and other customers were able to purchase the aircraft for a lesser price (about $360 million)  for being the first customers and for large orders.

More than a dozen airlines have ordered the aircraft, with Emirates being the major consumer. 

Forecast from aviation experts predict that  by 2020, Asian markets will grow by multiple percentages and this will have a direct impact on A380 sales. 

With A380 it's a matter of time. 

Remember that this plane was built in a time of great change in airline industry. But that doesn't mean it is only built for that. The engineers in Airbus were smart enough to design the aircraft to evolve and adapt according to the market needs.

That being said, A380 will always be the queen of the skies. 

Until Next time.

CK

Why are airline passengers asked to lift up window shades during takeoff and landing?

"Safety First" as we all know is the mantra for airlines and airliners. The very existence of commercial aviation exists because of people trust in its operational safety. In an industry where rules are written in blood; nothing is left to chance or risks. 

When you take overall flight into consideration, the probability of mishaps are at the time of take-off and landing. Having said that, it is important for airliners to take precaution in all phases of flight. 

Since aircraft is prone to danger while in ground, in the worst case, passengers are to be informed as quickly as possible. What better way to inform them than perceiving it from their own eyes. 

Imagine this scenario, a passenger A in front window seat has his window shades closed while passenger B in back window seat has his window shades open. If a fire breaks out in the engine, passenger B is already aware of the situation and has begun to call for help. But passenger A has no idea what is going on. This lack of information and arising confusion will fill him up with fear causing him to make poor decisions. 

There are plenty of cases where aircraft was saved because passengers identifying some kind of abnormality while the aircraft was taxiing. (Check this out: http://gizmodo.com/passenger-snaps-photo-of-fuel-pouring-out-of-a-dreamlin-1506027806 )

If the window shades are open, passengers really know what is happening and with that clarity of things they can make better decisions. 

It will also help their orientations. Also, at a time of evacuation, rescue personnel can check for any trapped passengers. 

It's better to be in light side than dark. May the force be with you.

Until Next time. 

CK

Fan Wing

This is the cross section of airfoil:

This is the cross-section of fan wing:

Replace the leading edge with a rotating fan along the wing and bhoom!....you have a fan wing.

You see, it's wing having blades layered like a rotating fan as shown below :

What is the use you ask?

Well, with this kind, we don't need an engine. Instead of an engine, we have a motor rotating the "fan" embedded in the wing. Think of the amount of money we can save with taking out the 250kn thrust emitting powerful turbine engines.

Of course that's not the only use.

Since they make the air to work more than a conventional airfoil; the lifting capacity is high. This rotating wing is designed to take heavy weights, just like a C-17. They also can take-off short and land. (a.k.a. STOL)

Patric Peebels developed this concept back in 1997. Soon Fan Wing company was formed. As of today, the company is trying to develop its full scale aircraft. 

I think this can work very well.

Until Next time Pals.

CK

Beacon & Surfair: Fly Unlimited with a monthly subscription

Welcome to the Netflix of the skies. Pay your monthly subscription and fly all you want. No more ticket booking, no more standing in long queue - just get to the airport and fly. 

This is what startups like Beacon and Surf air is doing. I am really impressed by these innovative startups. 

There are commuters in cities - business professionals and such who does flying all the time. Now traditionally they have to spend time booking the ticket, paying money, long queues, small leg space etc. - and they have to do this over and over again in a month.

Now for a monthly fee of $2k, members to fly all they.

With this new idea, which began in 2011, flying can be revolutionized. They are making the taxi service of skies. What we now have is the bus service. 

Check out the videos below:

Until Next time.

CK

Look out for Honda Jet

HA-420 Honda Jet is designed by a brilliant engineer named Michimasa Fujino.Sounding like a character from Japanese anime, he is a very interesting person. He is the president and CEO of Honda Aircraft Company, but  an Aeronautical engineer in heart. He designed and manufactured Honda Jet from scratch. His breakthrough in engine wing mount is what made Honda Jet possible.  He says " My career objective was to create a concept for an airplane, and design and sell it by myself".(Ref. Forbes)

Sellling at $4.5million, HA-420 is one unique jet with its engine wing mount configuration. It also has a distinctive nose design. With top speed of 778kmph (483mph) and service ceiling of 43,000ft - HA-420 flies faster and higher than any other business jet in its class, such as Cessna’s Citation Mustang (391mph) and Embraer’s Phenom 100E (448mph) jets. It is also 15% more fuel efficient.

Honda Aircraft Company is the sister company of Honda, the automobile manufacturer. Three decades ago, in 1986, the visionaries in Honda took a fling with developing a business jet from scratch. They asked Fujino, an engineer in Honda, to look at this proposition. 

Fujino was happy to accept this top secret project/challenge and let himself wander into business aviation space. Soon enough, Fujino was travelling to U.S. to study the culture and it's need for a business jet. It became obvious to Fujino there was indeed a market for small business jet which were quieter, faster, spacier and fuel efficient. 

His idea to mount engines on top of the wing made breakthrough. He was successful in finding an aerodynamic sweet spot for engine wing top mount. This design is against the traditional aerodynamic laws. But Fujino was able to prove that at top speeds this configuration indeed produce more lift. 

This breakthrough when combined with Natural laminar flow airfoil , body and nose - it became the corner stone of the new Honda Jet. There are even carefully designed dents in the nose for best laminar flow. 

After much hardships and overcoming them hardwork; Fujino displayed his creation on July 28, 2005 in AirVenture Oshkosh - an airshow conducted by Experimental Aircraft Association. The aircraft was welcomed with amazement and admiration. 

As of now Honda Aircraft Company has more than 100 orders scheduled to roll out by next year. 

The HA-420 is a perfect example of how innovations can come from very unexpected areas and can make great changes if you let it happen.

Thank You guys for reading. 

Until next time, this is CK signing off.

CK

The SR-71 Blackbird Chronicles

Built and designed in the 1960s, SR-71 Blackbird is still the fastest, most bad-ass air-breathing airplane in the history of aviation. Below given is one of my favorite stories of SR-71, excerpted from internet directly:

As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I’m most often asked is “How fast would that SR-71 fly?”  I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It’s an interesting question, given the aircraft’s proclivity for speed, but  the really isn’t one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it too.  It was common to see 35 miles a minute.

Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it run out to any limits of temperature or speed.  Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own individual high speed that he saw at some point on some mission.  I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way, and max power was in order.  Let’s just say that the plane truly loved speed, and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn’t previously seen.

So it was with great surprise, when, at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked: What was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird.?  This was a first.  After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story I had never shared before, and relayed the following:

I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England, with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain, when we received a radio transmission from home base.  As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 fly-past.  The air cadet commander there was a former blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach.  No problem; we were happy to do it.  After a quick aerial refueling over the North Sea, we proceeded to find the small airfield.

Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat, and began to vector me toward the field.  Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze.

Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure.  Walter told me we were close, and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing.  Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze.  We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from the 325 knots we were at.  With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable.  Walt said we were practically over the field, yet there was nothing in my windscreen.  I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field.  Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower, in order to get a  prime view of the fly-past.  It was a quiet, still day, with no wind and partial gray overcast.  Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us, but, in the overcast and haze, I couldn’t see it.

The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got.  With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing.  I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges.

As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped, and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward.  At this point, we weren’t really flying, but were falling in a slight bank.  Just at the moment, both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was), and the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower.  Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face, as the plane leveled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass.  Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident.  We didn’t say a word for those next 14 minutes.  After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings.  Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 fly-past he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking.  He said that some of the cadets’ hats were blown off, and the sight of the plan-form of the plane in full afterburner, dropping right in front of them, was unbelievable.  Walt and I both understood the concept of breathtaking very well, that morning, and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach.

As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there: We hadn’t spoken a word since the pass.  Finally, Walter looked at me and said, “One hundred fifty-six knots.  What did you see?”  Trying to find my voice, I stammered, “One hundred fifty-two.”  We sat in silence for a moment.  Then Walt said, “Don’t ever do that to me again.!”  And I never did.

A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officers’ club, and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71 fly-past that he had seen one day.  Of course, by now the story included kids falling off the tower, and screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows.  Noticing our Habu patches, as we stood there with lunch trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a thing had occurred.  Walt just shook his head and said, “It was probably just a routine low approach; they’re pretty impressive in that plane”.  Impressive indeed.

Little did I realize, after relaying this experience to my audience that day, that it would become one of the most popular and most requested stories.  It’s ironic that people are interested in how slow the world’s fastest jet can fly.  Regardless of your speed, however, it’s always a  good idea to keep that cross-check up — and keep your Mach up, too. 

Respects! 

CK