Tag Archives: Jetstar

AirplaneGeeks 270 – Understanding Air France 447

Air France A330-200 F-GZCP lands at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport by Pawel Kierzkowski.

Guest Bill Palmer is an A330 captain for a major international airline, and author of “Understanding Air France 447,” available in paperback and as an eBook.

Bill was a member the A330 development team introducing the airplane to his airline’s fleet, and was lead author and editor for the airline’s A330 systems manual. He’s also written many A330 training publications, served as an airplane and simulator instructor, check airman, and designated examiner.

Bill is an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University graduate, holds a BS in Aeronautical Science, and an ATP with type ratings in A320, A330, B757/767, B777, DC10, and commercial glider and flight engineer-turbojet ratings.

We talk about the facts of the Air France 447 accident, including the events in the cockpit, the difficulty locating the flight recorders, and the messages sent from the maintenance computer.

Bill describes “automation addiction,” a tired flight crew, and the “startle factor” at play here. We talk about high altitude stall training, practice with the flight director automation turned off, and of course lessons learned and changes that resulted from the investigation.

You can get Understanding Air France 447 in paperback or as an eBook through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, the Apple bookstore, and at the book’s companion website: UnderstandingAF447.com. Bill’s personal blog is Trend Vector and you can follow him on Twitter as @wfpalmer.

Photo credit: Air France A330-200 F-GZCP lands at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport by Pawel Kierzkowski.

The Week’s Aviation News:

1957 Vickers Armstrong V745D Viscount

1957 Vickers Armstrong V745D “Viscount” Serial 233 N7471 of the Mid Atlantic Air Museum (www.MAAM.org)

David Vanderhoof’s Aircraft of the Week: The Vickers Viscount, reported by listener Ray Williams.

Jetstar 787-8

Jetstar 787-8, VH-VKA, on short final for runway 34 at Melbourne on October 9th (Image by Steven Pam – www.smartshots.com.au )

In this week’s Australia Desk:

Steve and Grant were on hand at Melbourne International Airport for this report as Jetstar’s first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, VH-VKA (c/n 36227), arrived at the end of her delivery flight from the USA.  Although not the first Dreamliner to operate commercially in Australia (that honour went to Air India), VKA is the first of type on the Australian civil aircraft register and the first of 14 being delivered to Jetstar over the next two years.  Qantas will also be taking delivery of 787-9 aircraft in coming years. 

The aircraft touched down smoothly on runway 34, despite very high winds, and was welcomed with a traditional water cannon salute before making its way to the Qantas Maintenance Centre for a more formal ceremony with Qantas and Jetstar management, local and federal politicians, and a large group of staff in attendance.

In this report, we speak to Jetstar Australia/New Zealand CEO David Hall about his vision for the this new aircraft type, and the process the airline went through to have it certified for Australian commercial use.

See also:

AGA-33

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

Pieter Johnson talks to Francois De Watteville, a design engineer who created the AGA-33 and presented it to the Paris Air Show. Francois is not an aircraft designer but turned his hand to aircraft design for the purposes of creating an airliner after travelling regularly across the Atlantic, that was efficient. Find out why and how you may be able to help prove the concept.

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 149 – Loads of Listener Mail

Stephen Tornblom, Chino Airport
Photo by Stephen Tornblom from his birthday trip to Chino Airport.

We talk with Milford Shirley from FlightTime Radio about their live broadcast at the upcoming Become a Pilot Family Day and Fly-In, June 18, 2011 at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center next to Dulles International Airport. Max, Rob, Dan, and David plan to join in the show along with some other aviation podcasters.

The week’s aviation news:

Steve Visscher and Grant McHerron from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast provide their Australia Desk Report. Follow the podcast on Twitter at @pcdu, Steve at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment, Pieter Johnson gets an update from David Cenciotti on Operation Odessy Dawn in Libya, what it was like to break an international aviation story to the world, and how to track those “untraceable” black ops flights. Be sure to see David Cenciotti’s Website and follow him on Twitter at @cencio4. On Twitter, Pieter is @Nascothornet.

We spend a lot of time this episode talking about some of the great listener mail we’ve received. Click these links for more information:

Blue Angels’ almost crash: the risk of Controlled Flight Into Terrain during formation aerobatics – David Cenciotti’s blog post and video.

On 100 low lead aviation fuel: 100 Octane Unleaded Aviation Fuel – A Website dedicated to the distribution of information about the fuel crisis facing users of piston engines in General Aviation, and the promotion of an unleaded 100 octane fuel. Flying G100UL: Yeah, It Works.

On the new Pan Am TV show: ABC 2011 Fall TV Premiere: Pan Am and Pan Am, ABC Show, To Explore 1960s Flying Culture (VIDEO).

N709DN Takeoff, a 777-200/LR test flight video.

The Jetstar war on pilots.

Possible federal aid cuts could jeopardize air service in small communities.

Texas House passes bill banning TSA airport groping and Senate stirs pot with TSA groping bill, sanctuary cities.

Brunswick International Fly-In.

From Dan W. concerning air ambulance operations:

Barnstorming, the movie.

Michael O’Leary on Spanish fines:
Texto íntegro de la carta: cortesía con el ministro pero ultimátum en negrita and the Google translation:
Full text of the letter: courtesy to the minister but bold ultimatum.

On the NTSB publication of final report on the Gol 1907 accident: Command of Aeronautics, General Staff of the Aeronautics, Final Report, A-00X/CENIPA/2008 [PDF].

United Reinstates, Quickly Withdraws, 9/11 Flight Numbers.

Boeing KC-135: The Ultimate Caffeine Delivery Machine

DC area museum ideas:

Ryanair To Ground 80 Aircraft Next Winter.

F-35A may need mods to fix range shortfall.

Whew, that was a lot of listener mail!

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 134 – Lots of Listener Mail

Photo submitted by Errol Cavit

Pieter Johnson, our Geek in Europe and producer of our Across the Pond segment, joins us in this listener mail episode. That’s right, pretty much nothing but listener mail. Oh, and the Australia Desk Report by Steve and Grant from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast.

Photo submitted by Thomas Eklund

Some of the links mentioned:

Photo submitted by David Apkarian

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 100 – The First Hundred

To celebrate the first hundred episodes, Rob, Max, David, and Dan are joined by founding co-host Courtney Miller. We discuss the week’s aviation news and reminisce a bit about the first hundred Airplane Geeks episodes. That plus This Week in Aviation and the Australia Desk report.

The news:

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 42 – Evan Sparks Talks Aviation Policy

armrest

Evan Sparks joins The Geeks this week as we talk aviation policy.  There’ s quite a bit of emails and we finally get our listener voicemail up.  Of course, as usual there’s the news:

Max’s pick of the week is e-Go Aeroplanes.

The Airplane Geeks are now on Twitter! You can follow us @AirplaneGeeks.

Make sure to sign up for our new newsletter, “Airplane Geeks Week in Aviation.”
We’ll be bringing you these show notes, as well as some of the week’s news we didn’t have time to cover.
You can sign up at AirplaneGeeks.com.

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

If you have a question or a comment for the Airplane Geeks, you
can send it to thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com.

You can also leave us voice mail at (812) 757-4252. If you have
a question or comment you’d like mentioned on the podcast, this is the best
way to go about it.