Tag: FlightBlogger Archive

Sir Richard Branson, the founder and Chairman of the Virgin Group, has never made a secret of his desire to spread the Virgin brand.

Four airlines are linked to the Virgin brand: Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Blue, Virgin Nigeria and Virgin America. Australia’s Virgin Blue is actually a collection of three additional airlines: Pacific Blue, Polynesian Blue and the new V Australia.

Because of foreign ownership rules, these airlines are independent entities united by brand only. There is no common frequent flyer program across all the airlines, no ability to book tickets across airlines and no codeshares.

Separate from one another, the airlines of the Virgin brand have significantly penetrated regional markets in Africa and Oceania. Following closely behind, Virgin America, though off to a rocky start, is expanding domestic service in the US. Virgin Atlantic, now almost a quarter century old, has a global network serving 34 cities on six continents.

Maps generated by the
Great Circle Mapper –
copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

The haircut!

Before

During

After

DONATE to this great cause!

Back to aviation tomorrow morning, I promise.

Well, after yesterday’s appearance on TV, many have commented that I have what can only be politely described as a ‘fro. Others, like myself, describe it as a massive brillo pad that needs to go. Which brings me to my next point.

Buzzing for Change was founded in 2003 by a close friend of mine, Judah Ferst, who lost his mom to cancer when he was 16.

Every April for the last five years Buzzing for Change has raised money for a charity called Special Love. Special Love is a camp that gives kids fighting their battle with cancer a normal summertime experience. The great thing about B4C is that not only do we raise money, but we buzz our heads in solidarity with, and in memory of, those who have battled or are still battling cancer.

Buzzing for Change has raised over $75,000 in the last five years and hundreds of men and women have been sponsored to buzz their heads or donate their hair for Locks of Love.

Every year, like Judah, I buzz in memory of my dad who lost his battle with brain cancer thirteen years ago.

During my years in college I was known to dye my hair bright orange as a shameless publicity stunt in the week before Buzzing.

So this Sunday that mass of hair is going away. It’s time to take that weight off my shoulders once again.

If you happen to be in the DC area on Sunday please come and buzz, volunteer, or donate! I’d love to see you there!

The event is on Kogan Plaza (H st. between 21st and 22nd) in Washington, DC at The George Washington University from 12-4pm on Sunday, April 13.

I’d greatly appreciate your sponsorship when I buzz on Sunday. You can donate securely through Pay Pal and the Buzzing for Change website. Any amount is greatly appreciated. When you donate, make sure to select GWU under program and put ‘Jon Ostrower’ under the Participant First and Last Name.

Thank you all so much! And not to worry, there will be before and after pictures next week.

Hey all, if you’ve got CNN International, this blogger will be on at 7 PM ET tonight to discuss aviation safety and the American Airlines MD-80 grounding this week.

The evidence:

Nervous? You bet I was.

Boeing Release:
First Boeing 777 Freighter Enters Final Assembly

Boeing commenced the final body join just last Friday in Building 40-25. Boeing built 777s in 2007 at a rate of almost 7 per month. This is Boeing’s lean moving assembly line hard at work.

Next stop, Everett flight line…

I’ll be covering the day’s developments on the 787 program live from this thread. Like I did last time, this page will feature liveblogged coverage of the conference call on the morning of April 9 (11 AM ET, 8 AM PT, 1500 GMT) so please feel free to leave your thoughts on the latest 787 news. I’ll be live blogging the call, but it won’t be a running synopsis.

For a point of reference, below is an image depicting the rough locations of the four airframes currently being assembled in Everett. The image is accurate as of April 9, 2008.

Original Image Courtesy of Boeing
Created by FlightBlogger to reflect current status

See previous assembly status from December 10, 2007

UPDATE 10:28 AM 4/10: Industry reaction: Spirit Aerosystems, ANA, JAL, QANTAS/Jetstar, Air New Zealand, Northwest, TUI

UPDATE 3:11 PM: Synopsis of the call is now found below the fold. Special thanks to NYC777 for doing an amazing job putting that together. Also, Boeing’s stock us up over 4% and was above 5% at points during the trading day.

UPDATE 12:52 PM: Just wrapped up a podcast on the delay.

UPDATE 12:00 PM: Call concluded.

UPDATE 11:41 AM: Shanahan says time between power on and first flight is 4 months. This should put first flight sometime in October. Though first flight could happen anywhere between September 1-December 31.

UPDATE 11:37 AM: Shanahan: All flight test aircraft will be flying by 1Q09. (This is going to be a rapid fire start up for the flight test program)

UPDATE 11:33 AM: Center wing box issue: “finite element modeling error” – 200 clips and brackets and 500 fasteners to strengthen the wingbox.

UPDATE 11:21 AM: Incomplete work reduced by 75% between Airplane 3 and Airplane 1. 787 wing will be, “taken to the point of destruction” by the end of the quarter on fatigue test frame. Production rate 10 per month by 2012 (16 per month was discussed at one point) ZY997 moves out at the end of April and Airplane 3 final assembly begins around the same time.

UPDATE 11:13 AM: Shanahan: Power on moved from April to June. Airplane 3 will have full interior for testing. Systems at, “near full functionality in labs.” Systems being installed in Airplane 1. Two months lost due to wiring and wing box fixes.

UPDATE 11:06 AM: Call now underway. Carson: “More conservative approach to milestones the way to go.” “Our actions, not our words that will get this airplane in the air.”

UPDATE 9:19 AM: Complete Boeing release.

Key Points:
– Before June 30: 787 static and fatigue airframes will move to their testing; Dreamliner 3 and 4 will enter final assembly; hardware airworthiness qualifications will be complete; and power on will be achieved.
– First Flight 4Q08
– Entry into service 3Q09
– 25 deliveries planned in 2009
– 787-9 delayed until early 2012, previously scheduled for end of 2010. 787-3 will be second variant, no timeline specified.

UPDATE 9:05 AM: BREAKING – Boeing has announced 787 first flight will take place in the 4th quarter of 2008 and first delivery in the 3rd quarter of 2009.

UPDATE 3:10 AM: The Times of London is reporting that, “Boeing is expected to announce today that its 787 Dreamliner has been delayed by 18 months.” Based on this estimate, entry in to service appears slated for around November 2009.

The Times also anticipates that, “Boeing is also thought to be ready to postpone or even scrap one of the three variants of the aircraft to enable its engineers to focus on solving existing problems. The likely victim will the 787-3, a high passenger density model designed for the Japanese market.”

UPDATE 2:07 AM: Scott Hamilton’s pre-analysis of the update call is a must read.

FlightBlogger Feature Part II of IV. All images are copyright of FlightBlogger unless otherwise specified. Read Part I – Ground School.

The sun was getting low on the horizon on this notably cold February evening. The wind, which had been quite gusty during the day, was beginning to calm down as dusk arrived. Our aircraft, a Gulfstream G450 registered as N922H was still flying when we arrived at the at the Landmark Aviation terminal at Washington Dulles International Airport. A joint Honeywell and Gulfstream team had spent the afternoon demonstrating the Synthetic Vision-Primary Flight Display for members of the media. Ours was the final demonstration of the day following a crew from the CBS Evening News.

Boeing Executives to Provide Update About 787 Dreamliner Program
Monday April 7, 1:55 pm ET

CHICAGO, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Boeing (NYSE: BA – News) will webcast a 787 Dreamliner briefing on Wednesday, April 9, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Carson and Vice President/General Manager, 787 Program, Pat Shanahan will discuss progress to date on the new commercial airplane.

FlightBlogger will be covering the call live. Part two of the Gulfstream/Honeywell feature will be released later today so Wednesday can be devoted to the update.

Update 3:19 PM: Seattle PI is reporting that sources tell the newspaper an additional 6 month delay or longer is being announced.

The first Boeing 777F began final body join as the all-new long range freighter moves closer to taking to the skies later this quarter.

Sources familiar with the 777 program tell FlightBlogger that the body join process got underway today.

During the final body join, the forward, center and aft sections of the 777F fuselage will be mated together. The wings are attached to the center fuselage section, which is made up of Section 44 and the center wing box. Wing installation occurs before the 777 fuselage sections are mated to one another after they complete systems installation.

Installation of the cargo doors was completed as a part of the systems installation process.

Following the completion of the final body join, final assembly of the 777F is expected to begin along the moving production line later next week. The moving assembly line, which was launched in November 2006, moves at a speed of 1.6 inches per minute.

According to a source close to the 777 program, the first 777F is expected to make its first appearance on the Everett flight line around the middle of this month.

The second test flight 777F is expected to enter final body join in June.

Air France/KLM, launch customer for the 777F, is expected to receive its first of five freighters by the end of the year.

Image Credit The Boeing Company

FlightBlogger Feature Part I of IV. All images are copyright of FlightBlogger unless otherwise specified.

On the evening of February 11, 2008, three of my colleagues from Flight and I were invited by Gulfstream and Honeywell to participate in an in-flight demonstration of the next generation in aviation situational awareness. The Synthetic Vision-Primary Flight Display (SV-PFD), which is part of the Integrated Primary Flight Display (IPFD) from Honeywell, received FAA certification on Gulfstream jets just two weeks before.

The system, which provides a forward three-dimensional terrain model, is now available on the Gulfstream G350, G450, G500 and G550 business jets. If you happen to already own one of these four types of Gulfstream aircraft, an upgrade will run you about $300,000. The SV-PFD also joins the Enhanced Vision System, certified in 2001, which displays an infrared view ahead of the aircraft.

Image Credit Gulfstream

Before we get underway, it’s important to see the Gulfstream flight deck architecture as a whole.