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Airline and airport on-time performance measurements from OAG. Also, an update on the impact on aviation of new U.S. policies, a look at notable aviators in honor of Black History Month, air cargo expansion for Amazon Prime Air, aviation news from Super Bowl LI, and Boeing workers in South Carolina prepare to vote on union representation.
Punctuality League 2016 presents airline and airport on-time performance statistics.
Guest
OAG analyst John Grant
OAG aviation analyst John Grant started his career with the airlines, and continued with aviation consultancy services. We discuss the OAG Punctuality Report 2016 published January 2017. This annual report of airline and airport on-time performance is also available as a very useful Interactive Dashboard. The web-based tool allows you to visualize on-time performance, arrival capacity, and arrival frequency data by airline and airport category and region.
John explains how the rapid pace of airline schedule change and the desire for very current information has driven the services that OAG provides. We consider the huge history of data that is available and used by many organizations. While the printed schedules book is still the tool of choice for some, digitization and the desire for immediacy makes other OAG data formats more valuable for many others.
UK-based OAG maintains a huge network of air travel data and provides schedules, analytics, web and mobile flight tracking, articles, and reports.
Aviation News
Trump to meet with airline CEOs on Thursday: White House
President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with airline chief executive officers Thursday February 9, 2017. This continues the President’s series of meetings with the business community.
Former top diplomats, tech giants blast immigration order as court showdown looms
The travel ban is working its way through the judiciary system, and at this time the end result is far from certain.
AOPA: Executive Order Won’t Delay BasicMed
AOPA has updated this story with the latest information that BasicMed is still on track for May 1, 2017.
AOPA Live This Week – February 2, 2017
Benét Wilson is celebrating Black History Month by honoring a different aviator of color every day of the month. Follow her on Twitter as @AvQueenBenet. The Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor hosted a Tuskegee Airmen Hangar Talk to pay tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen and the vital role they played during World War II. Click to see photos of the event.
Colonel Charles McGee, courtesy Pacific Aviation Museum.
Colonel McGee fought in WWII, Korea and Vietnam, and holds a record for one of the highest three-war total of fighter combat missions of any pilot in United States Air Force history. Colonel McGee began his military service as one of the Tuskegee Airmen in the 332nd Fighter Group.
His career in the U.S. Army Air Corps and U.S. Air Force spanned 30 years and three wars, where he flew 409 aerial combat missions. During his military career, Colonel McGee was awarded the Legion of Merit with Cluster, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star and the Air Medal (25 times).
Also honored at the Hangar Talk was WWII Tuskegee Airman Philip Baham. Baham served as a crew chief for the 337th Composite Group at Tuskegee Army Air Field. He is a dedicated volunteer at Pacific Aviation Museum, sharing his story with visitors as a greeter in the lobby of Hangar 37.
Amazon picks Kentucky airport as site for air cargo hub
Amazon announced it is creating a new centralized air hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG) to support its growing fleet of Amazon Prime Air cargo planes. When the hub opens, Amazon expects to create more than 2,000 new jobs engaged in loading, unloading, and sorting packages. In 2016, Amazon entered into agreements with two carriers to lease 40 dedicated cargo airplanes.
The Super Bowl’s Private-Jet Problem
Textron Aviation, Bombardier prep for the big game
Turkish Airlines Makes Powerful Superbowl Statement: Widen Your World
We look at aviation stories from Super Bowl LI, including the large volume of private jets flying in and out for the event, the swarm of Intel drones that accompanied the halftime show, and the Turkish Airlines commercial aired during the game.
Diapers on display as Boeing campaigns against Machinists in S. Carolina vote
Boeing production workers in North Charleston, South Carolina are set to vote February 15, 2017 on union representation by the International Association of Machinists (IAM). The company website https://weareboeingsc.com/ is filled with material intended to influence workers not to vote for union representation by the IAM. The IAM counters with their own page: https://www.facebook.com/boeingworkers/.
The Aviation Minute
Rob Mark comments on the FAA decision to allow the closure of Santa Monica Airport.
Listener Recording
Ruben asks why regulators like the FAA create the rules, but are also the ones that police the rules.
Aircraft wheel thermal fuse plugs
Aircraft wheel thermal fuse plugs. Illustration courtesy AME Voice.
Last episode, listener Sam described how he was on the ground at Dubai airport waiting for a flight to be pushed back, when he heard a loud explosion followed by the sound of hissing air. We suspected the nose wheel tire fuse plug blew. Well, we did a little research on aircraft wheel fusible plugs.
From Airliners.net: “Fusible plugs offer protection from tire blowouts caused by thermal expansion that is generated in the tire under extra hard braking conditions. These fusible plugs are fitted in the tubeless wheel hubs by means of a fusible alloy that melts under excessive heat conditions and allows the plug to be blown out by the tire air pressure. This prevents excessive pressure buildup in the tire by allowing the air to leak away slowly.”
See Aircraft Wheel thermal fuse plugs on the AME Voice blog.
Mentioned
Season 1 of Plane Resurrection is now on Netflix. Each episode follows the transformation of a wreck to a restored airplane, and presents the history of the aircraft. The first season’s episodes cover the P-51 Mustang, Hurricane, Triplane, Stearman, T6 Harvard, and Percival Q6. Must watch!
Credit
Intro music courtesy Brother Love from his Album Of The Year CD. Outtro by Bruno Misonne from The Sound of Flaps.