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Boeing Statement Regarding USDA-FAA Partnership on Aviation Biofuels

CHICAGO, Oct. 21 Boeing Vice President, Environment and Aviation Policy, Billy M Glover, issued the following statement in the wake of today’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Aviation Administration that the two agencies have agreed to work together to bring sustainable biofuels into production for the aviation industry.

“Today’s announcement is welcome news for the commercial aviation industry, which sees sustainable biofuels as a key element of its plan to lower its carbon emissions. Through test flights with a number of our customers, we have proven that fuels made from plant matter and algae can power jet aircraft safely and efficiently, and we look forward in the months ahead to the approval of these fuels for commercial use. The challenge then will be to prime the production pump, and bring biofuels to an attractive price point for airlines.

Boeing is currently working with the USDA and the Air Transport Association on the Farm-to-Fly initiative, which seeks to encourage the production of sustainable aviation biofuels through U.S. agricultural policy. The USDA-FAA partnership will further help in that regard. We applaud their efforts and look forward to working with them to commercialize biofuels that can help the aviation industry meet its aggressive carbon reduction goals.”

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    Boeing Begins Certification Testing on 737 Performance Improvements

    SEATTLE, Nov. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — A Boeing (NYSE: BA) Next-Generation 737-800 in the new United Airlines livery successfully completed its first test flight late last week, signifying the start of certification for a package of 737 performance improvements. Testing and certification will continue through April 2011. Aerodynamic and engine changes included in the package will reduce fuel consumption by 2 percent. Boeing is phasing the changes into production mid-2011 through early 2012.

    One percent of the savings comes from reducing resistance as air flows around the airplane. The upper and lower anti-collision lights change from round to a more aerodynamic, elongated teardrop shape. Wheel-well fairings are re-contoured to smooth the air flow near the main landing gear. A redesign of the environmental control system, exhaust vent and streamlined wing slat and spoiler trailing edges round out the aerodynamic changes.

    CFM is introducing the new CFM56-7BE engine enhancement program to coincide with Boeing’s airframe changes. Low- and high-pressure turbine modifications will result in a 1 percent reduction in fuel consumption. In addition, Boeing is optimizing the engine’s primary nozzle and plug. Together, the changes result in cooler-running engines that may provide up to 4 percent lower maintenance costs.

    Watch video of the first certification test flight and learn how engineers came up with the design improvements here: http://bit.ly/a8T9oM.

    Boeing’s continuous efforts to improve the Next-Generation 737 family have resulted in an accumulated 5 percent gain in fuel efficiency since the first airplane was delivered in 1998. The new improvements will give operators an airplane that is 7 percent more efficient than the first Next-Generation 737s delivered.

    In late October, Boeing delivered its first two Next-Generation 737-800s with the new Boeing Sky Interior. The interior features new cove lighting and curving architecture that create a more open feel in the cabin. Updated sidewalls and window reveals add a modern feel, and larger stowage bins enable passengers to store more luggage while giving them more headroom. Deliveries to new operators continue each month.

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    Bumpy Brazil Air Leaves American Airlines Flight All Shook up


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Terry Wade

    What: American Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from Recife, Brazil to Miami,FL
    Where: Brazil
    When: Jan 22nd 2012
    Who: 136 passengers, 9 crew
    Why: A couple of hours into the flight, the crew ran into some turbulence.

    It was severe turbulence that according to passengers “felt like the floor fell out from under,” and which knocked around a couple of flight attendants. A number of unseat-belted people hit the ceiling, including a flight attendant who actually knocked a hole in the ceiling before her trolley landed on her. (I presume she’s one of the five who went to the hospital.) Those trolleys look heavy.

    The extent of injuries was not released, but it was apparently not severe enough that they had to scramble to divert to somewhere in the Brazilian bush.

    One of the passengers happened to be an ER doctor, and he administered first aid. A number of the uninjured were said to be hysterical.

    Miami-Dade Fire Department and Airport Fire and Rescue were on the scene. In Miami, five flight attendants went straight into ambulances and one was treated at the airport.

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    GPO LAUNCHES FACEBOOK PAGE

    11news09GPO LAUNCHES FACEBOOK PAGE
    WASHINGTON—The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) has launched a Facebook page in an effort to continue to use social media as way of increasing transparency and engage with the public on the workings of this critically important agency of our Government. GPO’s Facebook page will feature announcements, press releases, agency job listings, photos, videos and a link to the award- winning Government Book Talk blog. GPO joins the White House, National Archives & Records Administration, Library of Congress and other Federal agencies on Facebook. GPO also utilizes other social media tools, such as Twitter and YouTube, to interact with Federal agencies, the library community and the public.
    Link to GPO’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/US?Government?Printing? Office/162592897126454?v=wall
    GPO maintains a Facebook account to share information with the public about agency activities. Please review all polices under the information section on the page. All official information can be found and verified through the agency’s official Web site: www.gpo.gov.
    With 2,300 employees, GPO is the Federal Government’s primary resource for producing, procuring, cataloging, indexing, authenticating, disseminating, and preserving the official information products of the U.S. Government in digital and tangible forms. GPO is responsible for the production and distribution of information products and services for all three branches of the Federal Government, including U.S. passports for the Department of State as well as the official publications of Congress, the White House, and other Federal agencies. In addition to publication sales, GPO provides for permanent public access to Federal Government information at no charge through GPO’s Federal Digital System (www.fdsys.gov) and through partnerships with approximately 1,220 libraries nationwide participating in the Federal Depository Library Program.

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    Delta Emergency Landing In Ontario

    What: Delta Airlines Boeing 757-200 en route from Atlanta GA to Ontario CA
    Where: Ontario
    When: Jun 23rd 2009
    Who: 190 passengers
    Why: Forty minutes before landing, the Boeing’s right engine ingested ice from the fuselage and started vibrating. The crew shut down the right engine, descended to a lower altitude and flew on the left engine successfully to Ontario.

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  • Mexican Interjet to Install Mechtronix A320 Level D Simulator

    Fast Expanding Airlines Continue to Adopt Mechtronix Train@Home Business Model

    MONTREAL, Dec. 6, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Mechtronix Systems Inc., an MWC company, a world leading manufacturer of Flight Simulation Training Devices (FSTD), today announced that Mexican Interjet is opening a brand new training facility in Toluca, equipped with an A320 FFS X™ to train their pilots at their operations base. This will be Interjet’s first FFS and the first A320 full motion simulator to be installed in Mexico in twelve years. Interjet’s pilots will have unlimited access to the device at their home base of operation in Toluca; optimizing crew coverage while lowering training costs by reducing time off the line and travel expenses. The state-of-the-art unit provides an easier access to training and enables Interjet to perform 100% of initial and recurrent training at their base of operations. It will be evaluated by the Mexican Aviation Authorities, Direccion General de Aviacion Civil, following FAA 14 CFR Part 60 standard for Level D.

    “Our current A320 fleet of 22 plus the 12 to come justify having our own training center. Now we can cut drastically our crews training costs and enhance productivity. Other A320 operators in the region can also benefit from our state-of-the art facility and Toluca’s convenient location. We selected Mechtronix after a careful examination of FSTD manufacturers. We’re delighted with their professionalism, product quality and technical skills demonstrated throughout the different stages of the project and today,” said Jose Luis Garza, Interjet CEO.

    “We are thankful for the trust granted to Mechtronix by the very senior management of Interjet; and installing an A320 FFS X™ in Mexico is another achievement from Mechtronix as it adds up to our Airbus references worldwide and strengthens our presence in this dynamic part of the world,” explained Mechtronix President Xavier Herve. “Our Train@Home business model allows growing airlines’ pilots to train at operations home base in ground-breaking simulation technology at a reasonable cost. Interjet’s fast growing fleet of 22 A320 aircraft justified the investment in a Level D FFS and with such innovative equipment, Interjet will offer top-quality A320 flight training, thus contributing to the further raising of training standards in Mexico. It was a real pleasure working together on this project and we trust Interjet will be highly satisfied with their new simulator.”

    The A320 FFS X™, a highly cost-effective and easy-to-operate platform, enables the airline to save time and money. Built to Airbus standard 1.6, the A320 unit offers the highest Level D fidelity together with an electric motion system and a collimated visual system that comes with a library of specifically customized airports including Mexican cities to which the airline provides service — Mexico, Toluca, Monterrey, among others.

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    Boeing and IBM Research Pilot Experimental Air Traffic Management Initiatives

    ARMONK, N.Y., Dec. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Boeing (NYSE: BA) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that they have successfully completed a pilot research project designed to show how officials from multiple organizations can have more timely, consistent and complete information to resolve fast-changing or unpredictable aviation events.

    The quicker availability of better information potentially can help authorities make more informed decisions to protect passenger and national security when airspace anomalies are detected, such as when an aircraft is found to be traveling off course. The project has demonstrated that advances in software can accelerate and orchestrate the flow of information from sensors and networks on a nationwide scale.

    To better assess and manage these events, officials have been striving to implement “network centric operations” — the quick exchange of information from a variety of electronic sources — to gain better “situational awareness” of the many aspects of an aviation event. These situations require the sharing of updated and detailed information about temporary or ongoing airspace restrictions, flight plans, reports about weather and natural phenomena such as volcanoes, radar and beacon tracks, or the track of an aircraft sent to investigate an unfolding, midair event.
    The Boeing-IBM project involves the research and development of new technology to overcome the technical challenge of assembling and delivering such a variety of information at a moment’s notice. The team has applied “Responsive, Reliable and Real-Time” (R3) Messaging, which can help ensure that complex data gathered from distributed sensors — located on aircraft, radar and other ground locations — can arrive at a specific time and in a sequence. Additional software can then correlate and analyze the information efficiently.

    “One can well think of the R3 Messaging technology as a kind of mail carrier, train conductor, telephone switchboard operator and traffic police officer, all rolled into one, synchronizing nationwide — or even worldwide — logistics,” said Paul Giangarra, an IBM Distinguished Engineer who linked IBM’s messaging technology with Boeing’s business needs. “It moves information gathered from sensors in a secure, predictable manner.”

    Added IBM Researcher Dr. Hui Lei, who managed the project team: “R3 Messaging exploits novel techniques to discover routing paths and schedule message deliveries with remarkable dependability. It is quite useful for moving critical and time-sensitive information between the physical and digital worlds. By integrating those two spheres, it makes it easier to make better and smarter decisions.”

    The project was part of IBM Research’s First-of-a-Kind Program, leveraging internal research and development performed by Boeing Research & Technology’s Advanced Air Traffic Management group. The program pairs IBM researchers with clients to explore how emerging technologies can solve real-world business problems.

    “R3 messaging is directly applicable to the work we do in aviation information management,” said Paul Comitz, Boeing Advanced ATM chief architect, System-Wide Information Management. “It provides capabilities that we need.”

    Enterprise messaging technology, and the ability to manage a barrage of large amounts of data, has existed for some time. But until now, it has only been able to ensure the routine delivery, at an unspecified time, of electronic information within a self-contained computer network. Using new, patent-pending algorithms, IBM computer science researchers have now taken it further: For the first time, messaging technology ensures the synchronization of rapidly changing business events on a massive scale, with the ability to handle diverse and complicated systems.

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