Tag Archives: Embraer

487 Build an Airport then Take it Down

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:45:04 — 48.1MB)

Our guest is the president and founder of Flying Eyes, a maker of eyewear for pilots and others, who also happens to be involved in setting up the airport each year at Burning Man, then taking it all down. In the news, we look at the impact of a U.S. Government shutdown on aviation, TSA formally ending the unloved Large Aircraft Security Program, the carrier with the most legroom, Boeing’s overtures to Embraer, the Emirates A380 order, and new support animal rules at Delta. Also, our Main(e) Man Micah looks back at Apollo 1 and how it shaped NASA.

Guest

Dean Siracusa

Dean Siracusa

Dean Siracusa is the president and founder of Flying Eyes, and an SEL/IFR rated pilot with more than 2,200 hours. Dean owned and flew a rare Meyers 200, and he operates the Meyers Aircraft Owners Association website.

Dean is involved in building Black Rock City Municipal Airport (88NV) each year for the annual Burning Man event in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. After the temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance is taken down, the airport is likewise removed and the desert returned to its natural state. Burning Man 2018 takes place August 26 – September 3.

In 2012, Dean designed, engineered, patented, and began manufacturing Flying Eyes eyewear. He realized the need for specialty sunglasses that are comfortable with helmets and aviation-style headsets. He also created Eyes That Fly, where you can locate eye doctors near you who are also pilots and thus understand the unique needs of pilots.

Flying Eyes eyewear

Flying Eyes eyewear

Dean is a bit of a serial entrepreneur and founded the Transtock, Inc. stock photo agency that specializes in transportation imagery. He also founded Siracusa Productions to create images and commercials primarily for the automotive industry, including manufacturers such as Toyota, Lexus, Volkswagen, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and many others.

Dean received a bachelor’s degree from the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. While a student, Dean worked at Road & Track Magazine, later becoming the magazine’s sole staff photographer traveling the world shooting prestigious brands.

The Impact of a Government Shutdown on Aviation

We look at the impact on aviation of a U.S. Government shutdown due to the lack of a funding bill. We find the government functions that keep operating and those that shut down:

Aviation News

A Decade Later, TSA Officially Drops LASP

In 2008, the TSA issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) for the Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP). The proposed security program that would have required security threat assessments for aircraft weighing more than 12,500 pounds.

The Airline with the Most Legroom Is This Little-Known Carrier

The Mexican low-cost carrier Interjet provides 34 inches of seat pitch across all its planes. By contrast, the average economy seat pitch on American, Delta, and United is 30 to 31 inches.

Boeing Seeks Embraer Control, With Defense Safeguards

Exclusive: Boeing willing to preserve Brazil’s ‘golden share’ in Embraer deal

Competition Begins for Production Site of Boeing’s NMA

The Brazilian government does not want to see complete control of Embraer move out of the country, and especially wants to retain it’s “golden share,” which gives the government veto power over certain decisions. Reportedly, Boeing is looking at sourcing engineering work and possibly production in Brazil. For a history of past Boeing interest in Embraer by Dominic Gates, see Boeing’s bid to buy Embraer could see Brazilian engineers work on the 797

Airbus Has Won Its Game of A380 Chicken with Emirates

Last week we commented on a statement from COO John Leahy that if Airbus couldn’t work out a deal with Emirates, the company would have to shut down the A380 program. Well, Airbus and Emirates have done a deal for 20 firm and 16 option superjumbo jets valued at $16B at list price.

British Airways in Talks Over New A380 Order

“Informed sources” have told Bloomberg news that British Airways talking with Airbus about the purchase of new A380-800s to use for high-demand flights at London Heathrow.

Delta reins in emotional support animals with new guidelines

With everything from comfort turkeys and gliding possums known as sugar gliders, to snakes and spiders being used as emotional support animals, Delta is taking a stand with new rules that require additional documentation. Report by Mary Kirby at Runwaygirl Network.

The Fire, or Apollo 1 – The Predicted Disaster

Our Main(e) Man Micah takes a look back at “The Fire” in Apollo 1 and how it shaped NASA.

Apollo 1

Apollo 1

Mentioned

Photo by Max Trescott.

Photo by Max Trescott.

Brian and Carlos offer a short debrief following the celebration of the 200th episode of the Plane Talking UK podcast.

Over the Poles 2018

Anderson Aviation Services Inc.

Canadian Aviator

Sturm Friederike – Grandiose Pilotenleistung am Airport Düsseldorf bei bis zu 110 km/h Seitenwind

After leading electric car adoption, Norway now aims to lead electric flight

Credit

Intro music courtesy Brother Love from his Album Of The Year CD. Outtro by Bruno Misonne from The Sound of Flaps.

446 Reliability Centered Maintenance for Aviation

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:34:04 — 43.1MB)

Learn about what Reliability Centered Maintenance means for aviation from a well-known A&P/IA and the CEO of Savvy Aviation. In the news, first flights of the Boeing 787-10, the Airbus A319neo, the Antonov An-132D, and the Embraer E195-E2. Also, the Fairness for Pilots Act, important news for Continental engine owners, some talk about restarting the F-22 line, and an update from Airbus on an electric airplane.

Guest

Savvy Aviator CEO Mike Busch on Reliability Centered Maintenance

Savvy Aviator CEO Mike Busch

Mike Busch is the CEO of Savvy Aviation and a co-founder of AVweb. Mike is one of the best-known A&P/IAs in general aviation and he writes the monthly “Savvy Maintenance” column in AOPA Pilot magazine. He also hosts free monthly EAA-sponsored maintenance webinars. Mike was honored as “National Aviation Maintenance Technician of the Year” for 2008, he’s been a pilot and aircraft owner for 50 years with 7,500+ hours logged, and is a CFIA/I/ME.

Mike explains the origins of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and how it grew to be used by commercial, business and military aviation, but hasn’t fully trickled down to small general aviation.

RCM is an optimal maintenance program that differs from the old, traditional maintenance approach that follows the assumption that components start out reliable and become less so over time. RCM is a data-driven engineering method that assesses each aircraft component for possible functional failures, failure modes, failure effects and consequences. It then creates a maintenance plan that can even allow a component to run to failure. The result is lower maintenance costs and increased reliability.

Find many aviation maintenance resources at SavvyAviation.com, follow @SavvyAviator on Twitter, and like them on Facebook. See also:

Aviation News

IndiGo is Flying Their A320 NEOS at lower Altitudes over Engine Issues

Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is requiring a borescope test for Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines at 1000 flight hours instead of the usual 1500. Meanwhile, IndiGo Airlines has set at a maximum altitude of 30,000 feet for its A320neos. All this is due to problems with the engine combustion chambers and an oil seal.

Video: Pratt & Whitney PW1000G PurePower Engine How It Works

Boeing 787-10 completes first flight in Charleston

First Flight of Airbus A319neo Finishes Hours Ahead of 787-10

Antonov completes first flight of An-132D

Embraer E195-E2 achieves first flight ahead of schedule

A number of first flights recently took place: The Boeing 787-10, the Airbus A319neo, the Antonov An-132D multi-purpose twin-engine turboprop, and the Embraer E195-E2 E-Jet.

Fairness for Pilots Act introduced

The Pilot’s Bill of Rights was signed into law in 2012. Now U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) wants to broaden protections for general aviation pilots with the Fairness for Pilots Act.

Trump’s Secaf Pick Hints F-35 May Get New Rival—F-22

“President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Air Force wants the service to look at Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor as a possible alternative to the F-35…”

Important News for Continental 520/550 Owners

An extremely costly AD may be in the works.

Airbus abandons E-Fan as electric tech moves on

Airbus will not be producing the electric E-Fan two-seater training aircraft because the technology has advanced so much in the past three years. However, Airbus is considering an E-FAN X with another order of magnitude jump in electric power.

The Airplane of the Week

The favorite airplane of David’s father was the P-61 Black Widow.

David and his father

David and his father

P-61 Black Widow

P-61 Black Widow

Mentioned

Fabulous Farnborough Airshow Photographs by Mary B. Lyons.

Aviation Hackathon #SkyHack – Open to college students 18 years of age or older, October 13-15, 2017.

Video: The Boneyard

Explaining the East/West Asymmetry of Jet Lag

Newest Bath Iron Works ship named after Korean War hero

Update: Our listener Utah Patrick wrote us with the following:

“Like Max, I was touched by the story related in the current episode about Thomas Hudner and Jesse Brown. So much so that I decided to dig a bit deeper into the story. Turns out Hudner received the Medal of Honor for his efforts to rescue his wingman. The part about leaving Brown’s body behind bothered me. I understand the reasoning but I wondered if it had ever been recovered.

“Turns out Brown’s body and his aircraft were napalmed to keep them out of enemy hands. However, figuring something was left behind, attempts have been made to retrieve remains including one attempt 63 years later by (and this really surprised me) Thomas Hudner himself.”

Patrick provided two articles that provide more details: U.S. veteran in North Korea to find remains of fellow aviator and Six Decades Later, a Second Rescue Attempt.

Listener Mick's new neighborhood

Listener Mick’s new neighborhood.

Credit

Intro music courtesy Brother Love from his Album Of The Year CD. Outtro by Bruno Misonne from The Sound of Flaps.

AirplaneGeeks 377 Flight Simulation on the PC

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:33:50 — 43.0MB)

Airbus A319 Czech Airlines OK-MEK

An enthusiast talks about PC flight simulation, Dubai Air Show 2015 debrief, flight training with the Cirrus Aircraft SR22 at Emirates, antitrust lawsuit blocks United’s plan to purchase slots, and bag fees increase at low cost carriers.

Guest

Guest Nicolas Jackson talks about PC-based flight simulators. We learn that you can create the flight simulation experience you want – from flying a GA airplane in the pattern around your local airfield, to a transcontinental commercial flight.

We talk about alternatives to Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX), such as Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D® simulation software and X-Plane from Laminar Research. Nicolas recommends the Steam edition of FSX distributed by Dovetail Games for new simmers. He also tells us about VATSIM.net, an international online flying network, and broadcasting on Twitch.tv, a live streaming video platform and community for gamers.

Nicolas Jackson

Nicolas Jackson

Nicolas Jackson fell in love with aviation at the age of 10 when he got his first ride in a GA aircraft. Five minutes at the stick and he was hooked. Soon after that first flight, he bought Sierra Pro Pilot 99. He later switched to Microsoft Flight Simulator starting with FS98 and running all the way to FSX. He started flying on the international online flying network VATSIM with complex airliner add-ons in 2006, and hasn’t looked back since. Nicolas currently flies a variety of FSX aircraft and co-hosts the Unicom Podcast as part of The IFlySimX Team.   

 

Resources for flight simulation:

News

Boeing, Mostly Booked Until 2020, Comes Up Empty at Dubai Air Show

The Airbus A350 and A320 family, as well as the Boeing 787 and 737, are sold out to 2020 and beyond. Airlines and leasing companies have no incentive to purchase more airplanes.

OPINION: Dubai air show sees lack of commercial sales from Middle East

Bombardier unveils launch customer for CS300 airliner

airBaltic becomes the launch customer for the CSeries CS300 airliner when it takes delivery in the latter part of 2016. The Latvian flag carrier has orders for 13 firm and 7 options for the 160 passenger CS300.

Bombardier said it has 603 orders and commitments for the CS300 and CS100, 243 of which are firm orders. Also, Bombardier said it was nearing completion of the CS100 flight test program and was “on track” for certification of the airplane by Transport Canada this year. CSeries flight test vehicles took more than 1,000 flights during testing.

DUBAI: SuperJet confirms March delivery and winglets for CityJet

CityJet plans to take delivery of the 98-seat Sukhoi Superjet 100 in March 2016. The Irish regional airline is negotiating for 15 Superjets with 10 options.

DUBAI: Embraer details plan for E2 test fleet

Embraer plans to build six test aircraft as part of the E2 E-Jet re-engining program: four of the E190-E2 variant and two of the E195-E2. Both E195-E2s and three of the E190-E2s would be ready by end of 2016, with the fourth following in 2017. The Pratt & Whitney PW1900G will power the planes, and Dutch lessor AerCap will be the launch customer for the 97-seat E190-E2.

DUBAI: USAF secretary to redouble efforts on sluggish FMS process

US Air Force secretary Deborah Lee James says industry and regional partners voiced complaints that the approval process for US foreign military sales is slow.

Military spend outshines orders at Dubai Airshow

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force bought two Saab Global 6000 long-range surveillance aircraft, and will upgrade two existing Saab 340 jets. Lebanon will purchase six Embraer Super Tucano aircraft for basic missions and training. Boeing says five customers are interested in its Maritime Surveillance Aircraft, a long-range spying plane. Lockheed Martin was awarded a $262.8 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to service Saudi Arabia’s F-15 sniper targeting system.

Emirates Airline Selects Cirrus Aircraft SR22 for Flight Training Academy Fleet

Emirates Flight Training Academy is going to use a fleet of twenty-two Cirrus SR22 aircraft for its flight training program.

U.S. Tries to Block United’s Acquiring More Slots at Newark

United Continental Holdings Inc. wants to buy 24 slots at Newark Liberty International Airport, from Delta Air Lines Inc. The U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the sale.

Justice Department antitrust chief Bill Baer says, “Allowing United to acquire even more slots at Newark would fortify United’s monopoly position and weaken the ability of other airlines to compete. That would leave the 35 million air passengers who fly in and out of Newark every year holding the bag.”

Frontier, Spirit Airlines raise bag fees for holidays

Last year, ultra low cost carrier Spirit Airlines began increased bag fees for the holidays, and they are doing the same this year. Frontier Airlines is also increasing their bag fees, but not just for the holidays. Frontier says they’ll charge a higher fee during the college spring break season, and during the summer travel season, from June 9 through Aug. 16.

Senator blasts airlines for holiday bag-fee boost; Frontier chief strikes back

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s transportation committee sent letters to major airline CEOs asking them not to raise bag fees. Nelson wrote, “These increased surcharges fly in the face of declining fuel costs and appear focused on increasing profitability on the backs of American families,”

Airplane of the Week

Dassault Rafale

Dassault Rafale

This week David looks at the tip of the spear for the Armee de L’Air, the Dassault Rafale.

Across the Pond

Vueling

Pieter welcomes back Diego López-Salazar from Aeropodcast to talk about his recent visit to Airbus and their Innovation Day presentations. They talk about some of the non-flying innovations Airbus is creating that may well find uses in other industries, such as Airbus Glasses, waste compactors, and paper cable ties. Pieter and Diego also get a short discussion in on the latest British Airways news, that IAG owned Vueling boss Alex Cruz is to become Chairman and Chief Executive of British Airways.

Follow the Spanish-language Aeropodcast on Twitter and Facebook.

Mentioned

Terrafugia founder Carl Dietrich appears in the movie “Back in Time,” a documentary tribute to the Back to the Future movie series. The film is available on Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes, with tour dates running through November 24th. (The Terrafugia segment starts at 1:13:30 if you want to skip straight to it.)

Connie’s 60th Birthday Start Up

25 Things You Didn’t Know About Air Force One

New Routes Mean More Noise for Some Homes Near Airports

Credit

Post photo Airbus A319 Czech Airlines OK-MEK courtesy aerosoft.

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 254 – Simple Flight

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (43.5MB)

A350XWB First Flight

At Simple Flight, Al and Marc produce a aviation radio show that goes live Sunday nights from 8:00pm to 10:00pm Central Time (U.S.) You can also listen to the audio archive anytime, or subscribe as a podcast in iTunes. Since the Simple Flight show is live, Al and Marc get a lot of listener interaction in real time.

The website offers other content for pilots, including an aviation blog, aviation photography, flight instruction. We talk about the live show, the next great flying club – delivering new pilots to aviation, and even Rod Rakic’s new Open Airplane project.

Find the guys and the site on Twitter as: @Al_H2Oloo (clever, eh?), @mepner, and @SimpleFlightNet.

The week’s aviation news:

David Vanderhoof’s Aircraft of the Week is Sue’s Bird, the Piper PA-24 Comanche.

Embraer KC-390

In this week’s Australia Desk:

Winter weather has been causing trouble in for flights Australia’s south east this week, especially with fog causing many diversions. Mid week, two B737s, one Qantas & one Virgin Australia, diverted to the rural city of Mildura in Victoria; an airport normally accustomed to regional turboprop aircraft, and one that lacks an ILS. As the fog began to envelop Mildura as well, the Virgin 737, after two missed approaches, declared a fuel emergency and landed in what has been described as below minima for the airport. This has lead to an ATSB investigation which is due to report by March 2014.

Virgin Australia flight makes emergency landing in Victoria

Low fuel diversion involving Boeing 737-8FE, VH-YIR, Mildura Airport, Victoria on 18 June 2013

RAAF KC-30A tankers now operational and recently participated in Exercise Aces North, the culmination of the Fighter Combat Instructor course, in the skies over the Northern Territory.

KC-30As participate in Aces North

GippsAero rolls out GA8 Airvan number 200

Australia’s entrant in the Airbus Fly Your Ideas contest, from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, places second overall. A great result!

Melbourne’s RMIT comes second in Airbus Fly Your Ideas global competition

Grant talks about his balloon flying over the weekend with PCDU team member, Kathy Mexted

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu. Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124. Australia Desk archives can be found at www.australiadesk.net.

Mentioned:

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 173 – Jamie Dodson Knows Nick Grant

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Nick Grant adventures by Jamie Dodson

Guest Jamie Dodson, is author of the Nick Grant adventure novel series, including Flying Boats & Spies, and China Clipper. Jamie is a Technology Protection Officer for the Security and Intelligence Division, US Army, Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC), Intelligence Division. He has over 30 years of experience in Intelligence Operations for the US Military. He’s served with Special Operations, Army Aviation, Airborne Infantry, and Military Police and has worked operations all over the world.

The week’s aviation news:

In this week’s Australia Desk report: Grant assumes high office, Virgin Australia introduces business class, Qantas announces A380s on the Sydney – Hong Kong route, Strategic Airlines re-brands as Air Australia, 3rd KC30A tanker enters RAAF service, they hijack Grill The Geeks!

Find the boys down under at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu. Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124.

This week on Across the Pond, Pieter welcomes back Gareth Stringer and Tim Robinson as they continue their conversation from last week and talk about the new proposed Register in the Channel Islands and the good friends at Ryanair. Find Gareth at www.globalaviationresource.com and Tim at www.aerosociety.com.

Mentioned in the episode:

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Episode 126 – Another Aboulafia Adventure

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Airbus A320neo

Richard Aboulafia, Vice President, Analysis from Teal Group joins the Geeks to talk aviation. Benet Wilson, editor from AviationWeek, fills in for Rob.

We have the aviation news from the past week and David’s This Week in Aviation history segment. Steve and Grant update us on the Qantas A380 in their Australia Desk Report, and Pieter Johnson talkes with an airline pilot and past AGP guest Karlene Pettit about flying in Europe in his Across the Pond segment.

The week’s aviation news:

Mentions:

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Episode 70 – A Trio of Pro Journalists

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PiperJet

This week we’re joined by a trio of aviation journalists to talk about the recent NBAA Convention: Jon Ostrower, the Flightblogger from Flight Global, Randy Padfield, the Editor-in-Chief at Aviation International News, and Benet Wilson, Online Managing Editor for Business Aviation at Aviation Week.

Also, Airplane Geeks Historian David Vanderhoof provides This Week in Aviation, Steve Visscher and Grant McHerron from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast have their Australia Desk report, and Court has another Wiskey Tango Foxtrot look at aviation.

Some NBAA news highlights:

Links from David’s This Week in Aviation:

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave us voice mail at (361) GEEKS01.

This episode’s opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. Visit his site at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Episode 27 – Talking Airplanes with Richard Aboulafia

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Embraer Phenom 100

Richard Aboulafia, an industry analyst and VP of analysis at Teal Group, joins The Geeks this week as we talk airplanes.  It turns out that Richard is not only very knowledgeable about the aviation industry, but he’s also very funny.  We spend almost the entire hour talking with him about the news:

Airlines’ on-time performance improves in Oct.

Invest in Aviation Infrastructure, Groups Tell Congress; Relatively Small Investments Could Yield Big Local Returns

Analysts see worrying trend in airport incursions

Embraer Phenom Wins Brazilian Certification

Bombardier to bring CSeries 110 to market first

ANA Mulling Seeking Compensation On Boeing 787 Delay

Airbus and Boeing plan loans for buyers

AIA dailyLead Special Report: Looking forward to 2009

Max’s pick of the week is a double shock with Aircraft Nicknames and Aviation Alias.  Both sites offer the endearing and sometimes humorous nick-names we give our aircraft.

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Brother Love is responsible for this episode’s opening and closing
music, and you can visit his site at brotherloverocks.com.

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