The first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental coming out of the Boeing hangar.
Are you ready? The first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental is scheduled to fly tomorrow, Sunday March 20th at 10am PST.
Yesterday the 747-8I completed its high-speed taxi tests and according to Boeing, it “performed well” and they are confident the aircraft is ready for first flight on Sunday.
The 747-8I is scheduled to take off at 10am PST from Paine Field (KPAE). It will then have a five hour flight before landing at Boeing Field (KBFI) at about 3pm PST. Again, all these times are subject to change due to weather and delays.
If you are in the local area, I hope you can make it out to see this orange beauty either take off or land. If you are unable to, you have quite a few options for watching the events:
* Follow @AirlineReporter, @FlightBlogger, @BoeingAirplanes, @PIBoeing on Twitter (omg what is Twitter?)
* Follow #7478FF hashtag on Twitter
* Boeing will have a live feed of the take off starting at 9:45am PST
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Azul’s new ATR 72-600 (PR-AZV) in pink livery
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The pink livery looks great contrasted to the blue sky.
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The pink liveried ATR 72-600 (PR-AZV) over the mountains
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Azul’s new ATR 72-600 (PR-AZV)
Click any photo for larger version
The word “azul” in Portuguese means “Blue.” This is odd for two reasons. First, this special livery is pink and the airline was created by David Neeleman, who was the founder and former CEO of jetBlue.
The airline started service in December of 2008 and has a fleet of 28 aircraft, consisting of Embraer 190s, Embraer 195s and a few ATR 72-600s. They fly to 30 destinations with more than 200 flights be day.
In the next few months, they will be taking delivery of 20 new ATR 72-600s and recently, ATR delivered a pretty-in-pink aircraft to Azul to help promote breast cancer awareness. In a recent ATR press release, they state, “On its fuselage, the aircraft will promote FEMAMA, a Brazilian non-profit organization dedicated to fighting the disease. In addition, ATR and its suppliers involved in the organization of the delivery of the aircraft will contribute funds for the Toulouse Cancer Campus.”
Although pink is not my favorite color, I think it looks good with Azul’s livery and actually I think the pink makes the plane pop a bit more than their standard blue livery.
Cockpit of an Airbus A320
What does the cockpit of the future look like? New technology? Fewer pilots? Maybe no pilots? I don’t know if people will ever be ready for no human to have some sort of control over their airplane, but maybe they will be ok letting computers take over a bit more.
Recently, Airbus has taken another step towards airplane automation. Now, when two airplanes get too close, the Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) will sound an alarm, the pilot will check out the situation and make needed adjustments. Many times, the system can provide false alarms or pilots can over-react to the alarm. Aibus’ new system will automatically adjust a plane’s altitude to avoid a collision. This will reduce false alarms and increase safety. For those that feel pilots should have more control — no worries. They are able to shut off the automated system and fly manually if they need to.
To see some quotes from Airbus and see what Boeing thinks, check out my story on AOL Travel News.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner line inside the Boeing Factory. Here are 787s for Air India, JAL and China Southern.
During the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental event, invited guests were allowed into factory to not only take a look at the Boeing 747-8I and 747-8F, but also the Boeing 777 Worldliner and Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
This is a huge treat, since Boeing normally doesn’t allow people to take photos inside the factory, but this time, cameras were allowed and I had a hard time cutting over 300 photos down to just 26.
I already posted photos being on the factory floor with the 747-8, but now it is time to share some photos of the 787 and 777. Unfortunately, we still weren’t allowed down on the factory floor with the 787, but we were able to get up close and personal with the 777 line.
VIEW ALL 26 PHOTOS OF THE 777 AND 787 LINES
An American Airlines MD-80.
I love the self-service kiosks at airports. I was one of the first people to use them when they came out and I am still a huge fan today.
One of the most annoying issues is printing out my boarding pass and then waiting for someone to come over and give me my bag-tag. Sometimes I can end up waiting longer for my tag than I took actually checking in. American Airlines is trying to change the game by allowing passengers to print off their own bag tags.
Already at 35 airports around the world, passengers can print off their own luggage tag, but that hasn’t been the case in the US. American is giving this a six month test in Austin, TX to see how it goes. Your ID still needs to be checked, and an agent needs to watch the conveyor belt to make sure only authorized bags make their way on board, but this should be able to speed up the check-in process.
Some passengers and airline employees are not happy. Passengers feel this is a step backward with customer service and employees are afraid about keeping their job. I think it boils down to the cost of a ticket. Airlines need to get creative to be competitive and if this is a way to speed things up and save a few dollars on a ticket, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it being used more in the future. Delta and Alaska Airlines have already shown some interest and I imagine that others are keeping a close eye on how this goes.
What do you think? Is this the future or a lame-duck idea?
To learn more about this program, check out the story I posted on AOL Travel News.
Image: John Rogers
