The GEnx-1B engine, that is used on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Image from GE.
This story was written by Steve Csonka, Director Environmental Strategy & ecomagination, GE Aviation for AirlineReporter.com.
As you may have inferred from Dale Carlson’s comments in an earlier blog post, many of us at GE Aviation are excited about our roles. I have been passionate about aviation since my teenage years when I took up general aviation flying ’“ learning my ’œstick and rudder’ skills in a Cessna 172 while living in the panhandle of West Virginia. I’˜ve spent 27 years in the commercial aviation industry with airlines and with GE Aviation, and in my current role, I am focused on improving the sustainability of aviation so future generations can experience the same passion.
The value of the aviation enterprise is interwoven into the fabric of our worldwide society ’“ providing fast, safe, and dependable transportation of people and goods. In fact, it is estimated that aviation is currently responsible for more than $2.2 trillion in global economic impact, or 3.5% of total worldwide gross domestic product.
However, we recognize that with our successes come additional challenges ’“noise around airports, local air quality emissions, greenhouse gases, and inflation of customer operating costs with rising fuel costs. The good news is that we continue to make progress in tackling these challenges using advanced technology. At GE, we call these efforts ecomagination ’“ striving to deliver operating and environmental performance with technology. At GE Aviation, our sustainability efforts align with industry goals and focus on three pillars of improvement: operations, infrastructure, and technology.
For operational improvement, GE Aviation offers services that help customers make flight routes more efficient, schedule engine maintenance and ’œClearCore’ engine washing, and decide how much fuel to load on planes for peak operating performance. Every one of these procedures is critical for saving fuel and, in turn, costs and emissions.
On the infrastructure side, GE Aviation is looking beyond making efficient engines and is working with customers and regulatory authorities to make efficient flight paths. Stay tuned for more on this from GE Aviation’s Steve Fulton!
For the technology pillar, my colleague Dale explained in his guest post how GE Aviation researches and develops new, efficient technology. Whether it is the GEnx on the 787 and 747-8 (which just entered service), or CFM’s LEAP engine for the next generation single aisle transcontinental aircraft, GE’s technology enables our customers to burn less fuel, shrink the noise footprint around airports, and dramatically lower NOx emissions.
One innovation I’m excited to talk about is drop-in, renewable Jet fuel that, once commercialized, will enable the industry to achieve up to 80% reductions in net carbon emissions versus petroleum based fuel. The industry is also looking for alternative fuel sources that use a range of raw or waste materials that do not need to compete with food production or land use. So far, the industry has identified two pathways for the production of renewable Jet fuels, and is in the process of evaluating and validating at least five more.
Can you imagine a world where fuel comes from the waste stream and other biomass? I can. GE Aviation was one of the first companies, along with CFM, to test a biofuel-powered engine in flight. At last year’s Paris Air Show, GE Aviation showed an engine that was powered by 15 percent biofuel, and we will continue to discuss our biofuel-powered engines at this year’s Farnborough Air Show. Watch a video about our most recent renewable Jet fueled demonstration flights below, which, along with several other commercial flights, flew into Rio de Janeiro during the recent Rio+20 activities in June:
Renewable fuel development is occurring around the world, and we expect commercial production to commence over the next 2 years.
With all these innovations in operations, infrastructure and aircraft technology (including biofuels), I believe we have ample opportunity and reason to be passionate about the future of aviation. Stop by GE Aviation’s exhibit at the Farnborough Air Show this week to explore more of our sustainable tech: Booth #7, Hall 4.
California Pacific Airlines has a pretty slick livery on their E-170. Photo from the airlines Facebook.
If the livery of California Pacific Airlines doesn’t look familiar to you, that is probably because the airline is not operational yet.
California Pacific Airlines was founded in 2009 and they plan to start revenue flights by the end of 2012. Earlier this week, their first of four Embraer E-170se, was brought to their homebase at McClellan-Palomar Airport (CLD).
CLD is located in Carlsbad, CA, just north of San Diego. They plan to fly to Oakland, Sacramento, and San Jose, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta.
The airline will have their aircraft configured in a two class lay-out with a total of 72 seats on the inside and an impressive livery on the outside. Their original livery plan was not as nice as this one and with the shades of blue and the wave on the tail, I really like what they ended up with.
Additional Photos of California Pacific Airlines Livery:
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A Boeing 787 Dreamliner, in Qatar Airways livery, arrives to London this week. Image from Boeing.
I am very excited, because I will be heading to London this weekend to attend the Farnborough Airshow for the first time. Each year, Paris and Farnborough take turns hosting this amazing airshow and I hope to share the experience with you folks.
It is normally during this airshow that Boeing and Airbus announce orders for additional aircraft. Although the A320neo and 737 MAX will be popular, I am really hoping for some 747-8 Intercontinental and Airbus A350 order announcements.
You better believe, I will be sharing what is going down via my Twitter and Facebook accounts. I also hope to get a few blogs up next week as well. And yes, I actually plan to take a day to check out London (oddly, I have never been), although it might be difficult to get me away from the airplanes.
Air New Zealand’s Premium Economy.
Per usual, getting there will be half of the fun. I will be taking Air New Zealand’s flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to London (LHR). I will be reviewing their premium products and flying over there in Premium Economy and on the way back flying in Business Premier.
Right now, they are one of their 777-300s scheduled to do the route tomorrow, which offers the newest product. I hope it stays that way because the 777-200 still has the older Premium Economy, which is not bad, but I much more prefer the 2-2-2 layout to the new product versus the 3-3-3 on the -200.
Previously, I had the opportunity to fly from Paine Field to Los Angeles on Air New Zealand’s first Boeing 777-300ER in Business Premier, but since it was a special media flight, I wasn’t able to get the whole experience — plus the flight was very short. I am looking forward to trying both products on the long haul and check out their new safety video in person.
Saturday June 30th was going to be a truly epic day for Seattle. Not just for the avgeeks amongst us but also for the spacegeeks, tourists, residents and anyone else you can think of. With the shut down of the Shuttle Space program all of the original shuttles, training pieces etc were being farmed out to museums across the country. Smithsonian was doing a swap with the Intrepid for a real shuttle, it made the news with the fly in shown world wide as a 747 piggy backed the shuttle to Dulles.
However, the Museum of Flight here in Seattle had also tried to get a shuttle, but there bids were unsuccessful. They were not able to get a real shuttle, however they did not come out of it empty handed. What they ended up managing to acquire was the Shuttle trainer. This full size mock up of the shuttle was used by the astronauts as their training piece and also used as a test bed for any upgrades that were made to the shuttle fleet.
Even though it was not going to be a real shuttle, this was going to be just as good, you could get into this, touch it, feel it, see how things really worked. But the main thing is, how do you get a full size shuttle trainer (that can’t sit on top of a 747 like the real thing) from the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, across to the other side of the country to the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
The Super Guppy sits next to NASA’s chase plane outside the Museum of Flight. Photos by Malcolm Muir / AirlineReporter.com
Bring on the NASA Super Guppy. The last one left in existence that can still fly, is operated by NASA. So why not bring it on over to Seattle with the first of the pieces of the trainer; the Crew Compartment. The Super Guppy was originally designed to haul around pieces of oversized cargo and is based on an old Boeing Stratocruiser with Turboprop engines (the same used in the early C130 Hercules models) and having the iconic bulbous nose. NASA acquired it from the European Space Agency in the 1990s so it still has a fitting role in the Space industry.
The Super Guppy was scheduled to bring in the first piece to Boeing Field, where it could park right next to the Museum of Flight, unload and they could just deliver the first of 3 large sections directly to the new purpose built facility. However the weather was making things just a little bit difficult. The clouds threatened all morning and there was a weather delay.
By the time I arrived at the museum the crowds were pumping. Soundwave, the Seattle Sounders Official Band, were putting on a good performance for the crowd to keep everyone entertained. There was a good variety of people and the museum Caf and shop were doing a roaring trade. I, on the other hand, was on the way to hit up the best viewing spot possible (turns out it was directly above some fellow avgeeks).
Soon enough after a dozen false alarms thanks to an oversized Banner/Flag being towed around Seattle, the Super Guppy came around for her low pass.
The Museum of Flight’s DC-2 waits to welcome the Guppy. Photo by Malcolm Muir / AirlineReporter.com
She was brilliant and shiny. You could see her coming from a mile away as the smoke belched out from the turboprops (just like they do on those old engines) and with a chase plane for photos or escort (not sure which).
Eventually she came back in for her landing and it was a graceful touch down, with a bare puff of smoke as the wheels touched the tarmac. She taxied almost the full length of the runway directly up to the parking lot in front of the museum. Here is where the fun really started for the ground crews.
The crew that the flew the aircraft were met by someone dressed in an EVA Space Suit and off into the crowd they went. The crew that flew the Guppy were in a fully fledged astronauts suit as well and many kids wanted their photo with the crew and the ’œSpaceman’.
With the time for me running short I started to head off, but not before watching the ground crew try to squeeze the Guppy into the parking bay. It was a tight fit with a 48ft undercarriage width and a 50ft Wide Taxiway, things had to be perfect. It took a good 15 minutes or more just to move it a few feet (probably longer as when I left at the 15 minute mark they were still at it).
A truly epic way to start the summer off here in Seattle, a rare aircraft, a small amount of Avgeek and the beginning of what will I am sure be an amazing exhibit for the Museum of Flight when it opens in late 2012.
