I love this video. Sure, the idea of seeing an entire flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Paris (CDG) is one thing, but to see it done like this and with the northern lights? Yes northern lights which there are no words to describe. This is one rad airline video you must watch.
The creator, Nate Bolt, created a very cool set up (which you can see at the end of the video) on the Airbus A340 Boeing 747-400. He took a photo about once every two minutes and set it to a very catchy song. That added up to a whopping 2459 photos over the 5,576 miles. Cheers to Air France for allowing Nate to take the photos and thanks to Nate for creating the video.
UPDATE: Chris K (in the comments) is correct. This is a Boeing 747-400, not an Airbus A340 as I first thought. The engine gives it away. Although Air France does fly the A340 and B747-400 on their SFO-CDG route.
Yesterday, Virgin America and American Airlines showed off their new Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Aiport (SFO) to select guests. It was a preview for what passengers should expect when the terminal opens to all passengers starting on April 14th.
The $388 million 640,000 square foot terminal makes a wonderful new home for both airlines and is energy efficient to boot. At the time of opening, the terminal will be LEED Gold-certified and will be the only gold-certified terminal in the US. LEED, which stands for “Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design,” is an official green building certification program spearheaded by the US Green Building Council. Locations are given 0-100 points and can either earn, certified, silver, gold or platinum status depending on environmentally friendly they become.
So what makes Terminal 2 so green?
* Use of natural light, which is always good
* Modern ventilation using 20% less energy
* Reclaimed water reuse program
* Water stations to fill your own water bottles
* Serving of local and organic food
* Recycled 90% of construction and demolition materials from the new terminal project
* Preferred parking is given to hybrid cars
* Use of green materials when building
One half of the terminal houses Virgin American with seven gates and on the other half is American Airlines that also houses seven. Then there is also a common gate in between. Of course, the gates are not the best part of the terminal. In the center is a large seating area with unique clear chairs, with table bases that have old images of the airport, which are pretty slick.
Some very comfy seating in the new terminal.
On the Virgin America side, they have living-room themed, high-end seating. For those who have laptops, you will find roomy counter space with plenty of outlets. Add that SFO has free Wi-Fi, there is no worry if you arrive to the airport too early. ’œWe’re proud to unveil a new home that similarly reinvents the travel experience for the modern flier ’“ and that also reflects the innovative, forward-looking spirit of our San Francisco home,’said David Cush, President and Chief Executive Officer of Virgin America.
American Airlines has a wonderful San Fransisco-theme Admirals club, which I will be covering in more detail in a future blog.
The only down side to the terminal, is I kind of like Virgin America being housed in the international terminal, because when I fly them, I get to see all the big birds from around the world. However, for the majority of people that fly, they probably are not going to care too much about that. The city, the airport and both airlines are very proud of this new terminal — and rightfully so. Next time you are going to be at SFO, give yourself a little extra time and check out the new Terminal 2.
United Airlines new Retro Livery. Photo by United.
United Airlines new Retro Livery. Photo by United.
United Airlines new Retro Livery. Photo by United.
United Airlines Retro Livery. Photo by Eric Dunetz
United Retro Livery celebration in Chicago. Photo by Eric Dunetz
United Airlines Retro Livery. Photo by Eric Dunetz
Click on photos for larger.
Today, United Airlines revealed their retro “Friend Ship” livery on an Airbus A320 (N475UA) at Chicaco’s O’Hare International Airport.
Hundreds of United employees showed up to celebrate not only the new retro livery, but also United’s 85th birthday.
United can trace its roots back to 1926 when they carried mail under the “Varney Air Service” name. Then the airline was purchased by William Boeing and merged with his other ventures as “United Aircraft and Transport Corporation.” In 1928, several airlines were combined as “United Air Lines.” Since then, the airline has successfully grown and had many different liveries.
Take a guess. What airport is this Boeing 747 landing at? Click for larger. Photo from Google Maps
You might be an airline nerd if you go searching on Google maps for satellite shots of airlines landing or taking off. I know I have done it more than one time.
This one was emailed to me by reader Ron T and I couldn’t tell which airport this was, even though I should have.
So I pass it on to you — what airport is this? And a little easier, what kind of plane if that. Click the image for a larger version.
Paine Field already sees aircraft from Southwest, Alaska Airlines and Allegiant coming in for maintenance work. Why not for passengers?
The fight for Seattle to get a second airport up north has been dragging on longer than many have expected. For those of you who do not live in the Seattle area, Allegiant and Horizon Airlines started to look into the possibility of flying out of Paine Field, which is located in Everett, WA. Talking to Horizon, Allegiant, Boeing and the airport recently, they all say there are currently no updates for the addition of commercial flights.
There are a lot of positives about adding commerical flights to Paine Field, but there are a lot of people who are fighting hard to “save our community”. Wait, what?
Since 1992 a group, called Save Our Community, has come together and tried to stop commerical aviation at Paine Field. Their main goal is to preserve, “the quality of life in this primarily residential area of Puget Sound.”
Now, I feel they do have a few good points. If the traffic at Paine Field is increased, this could cause issues for Boeing and possibly make them look to move their main factory to other parts of the country. Of course, no one would want that to happen.
However, I don’t think allowing commercial flights would cause Boeing to leave and there is surely a happy medium that could be reached. Adding commercial flights at Paine Field would create many new jobs in the Everett area with the need for additional hotels, increase in tourism and the hiring of airline workers.
Personally, I think the arguement that the quality of life for everyone around the airport would deteriate is just hogwash. During public forums in the Everett, WA area back in January 2010, many people felt that the Paine Field area would become dirty, filled with porn and crime, forcing people to leave. Many complained that they bought homes around an airport and are upset about the idea of increased flights. For me, many people seemed to be quite selfish about the matter.
I live in the flight path of Paine Field and bought my house fully well knowing that. Sure, I am a bit different since I actually enjoy aircraft flying over my house, but people shouldn’t assume to buy a house around a very large airport and not expect planes to fly over. People have complained that adding MD-80 and Q400 flights would be a huge nuisance, which is odd, since we already have Boeing 747’s and even the Dreamlifter, which are much bigger and louder, flying overhead. Not to mention the Boeing 737s that fly in all the time to get maintenance work done. Would adding a few smaller planes really make our lives that much worse? I feel the possibility of commercial flights coming out of Paine Field should be driven by market demand and not private citizens fearful for the value of their homes.
The Save Our Community website states that people who run Paine Field, “are going all out to declare war against the community by working to bring in air service to Paine Field.” Really? War? If people in the community come together and create a demand for air travel in and out of Paine Field, why shouldn’t airlines meet that demand? No airline is going to start flights to a new destination without expecting to make profit. It is not like airport and airline officials are getting together just to make your life worse. In fact, starting commercial traffic to Paine Field will make more people’s lives better.
Competition is a beautiful thing. If airlines are able to fly out of Paine Field, it will cause competition for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport down south and for Bellingham International Airport up north. This means that not only will the airlines be competing for your business, but so will the airports.
Yes, some people will have to make some sacrifices, but we have to look at the greater good for our community. Could my house value drop if there is an increase of flights. Sure. Am I willing for that to happen for the greater good of the community — of course. What do you think? Would adding commercial flights at an airport that normally doesn’t have them, but could handle them be a good or bad thing?
