Tag: Boeing

Legend & Legacy – The Story of Boeing and Its People

By Robert J. Serling Publisher: St. Martin’s Pres, New York ISBN-0-312-05890-X When we read about Boeing these days, it is more often than not something negative. The new version of the 747 and the Dreamliner delayed, repeatedly it seems and for reasons that make one wonder what is going on in Seattle and Chicago. It… Continue reading Legend & Legacy – The Story of Boeing and Its People

Same time, same place, same level…16

Navigation, the art of getting lost – Part 1 Faultless navigation plays an all important role in the safe operation of aircraft. There are scores of instruments both in the cockpit and on the ground, the purpose of which is to make sure that pilots and controllers are constantly aware of where their airplanes are… Continue reading Same time, same place, same level…16

Same time, same place, samel level…13

VIP – the Very I??? Person Ever wondered what that little red luggage-tag, with “VIP” printed prominently on it, was supposed to signify? Very Idiotic, oh sorry, Important Passenger. There are various ways to earn such distinction and these include flying the same line very, very often or making it to Head of State. The… Continue reading Same time, same place, samel level…13

Delta 767 lands on taxiway in Atlanta

OK, so those Northwest pilots were having a heated argument about company policies (at least that was reported) and they overshot their destination Minneapolis by a cool 150 miles… But what was the crew of the Delta Airlines 767 coming from Rio doing in the early morning of 19 October when they landed on taxiway… Continue reading Delta 767 lands on taxiway in Atlanta

In memoriam Northwest Airlines

    A few years back my business required a lot of travel to and all over the United States. I was a Northwest WorldPerks member and it was of course only natural that I flew via Amsterdam and than on the NWA system in the US. Northwest was the fourth largest airline in America… Continue reading In memoriam Northwest Airlines

A short (unofficial) history of air/ground digital link – 3

Pioneers to the rescue In spite of the positive business case, airspace users were not exactly rushing to equip with air/ground digital link. Because of the slow down of traffic growth in the wake of 9/11, the expected ACARS problems did not materialize and the ATC frequency congestion was also pushed far into the future.… Continue reading A short (unofficial) history of air/ground digital link – 3

What is nanotechnology’s equivalent in air traffic management?

It has been all over the trade press recently. 10 billion extra euros to go into French aeronautics research, the money coming from a planned public bond issue. Some of the fruits of this dough will come in the form of ground and flight demonstrations in the 2011-2014 time-frame and the primary aim of the… Continue reading What is nanotechnology’s equivalent in air traffic management?

A short (unofficial) history of air/ground digital link – 1

Introduction Talking to a group of young controllers the other day I suddenly realized that Controller Pilot Digital Link Communications (CPDLC) and its enabler, air/ground digital link were a kind of given for them… Their centre has either already implemented it or had plans for it and while their opinion diverged on the usefulness of… Continue reading A short (unofficial) history of air/ground digital link – 1

Visiting an office with a view

Familiarization flight with Transavia One of the countless drawbacks of 9/11, a few of you may have realized, is that even for air traffic controllers it has become increasingly difficult to visit a cockpit of an airliner, indeed most of the airlines adopted a closed cockpit door policy. I used to take every opportunity to… Continue reading Visiting an office with a view