Boeing 787 airplane ZA001 outside the final assembly hall in Everett, WA
If you have been following the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, you have probably been pretty frustrated with the delays. I always love the day when a new airliner is able to come out of the hanger, taxi out, and fly. Boeing says the Dreamliner is on target (well the newest target) to start deliveries in the first quarter of 2010. This sounds of good news, but deliveries were supposed to start in May 2008.
They have had delays from parts, production “glitches” and of course that 2-month strike. Then add to all of that the global economic downturn and people flying less, creating a smaller demand for new aircraft like the 787. Although the demand might be smaller, Boeing still has 878 orders from 57 different customers.
Aeroflot-Nord Boeing 737. Image: Osdu
Last September an Aeroflot-Nord Boeing 737-500 crashed and killed all 88 on board. The final report released today shows that the pilot lost “spatial orientation”, banking the plane on its left wing, causing rapid decent into the ground.
It seems the pilot had been overworked, drinking alcohol, and not trained well on the Boeing’s altitude indicator as he should. All Boeing 737 flights have been suspended until additional training can be had by the pilots.
After the crash Aeroflot severed links with Aeroflot-Nord and required they remove all the company branding — probably a very smart move considering what happened.
American Airline's Boeing 767 Tail
If you will be flying on an American Airlines 767-300, you might have quite a few empty seats around you. It seems American installed additional business-class seats on 58 767-300’s and now there aren’t enough life vests for all the passengers.
American states that no one was ever in danger since they also have life rafts aboard (personally, not as assuring if you are on a plane going down into water and all those around you have life vests on and you don’t).
Source: Chicago Tribune Image: Van-Murph
Jatropha
Boeing is working to allow their jets to run off a bio fuel made from algae. Of course we all like the idea of fuel that isn’t as bad for the environment, but one of the benefits of this type of fuel is that jatropha (the image above and where the fuel is made from) is a nonfood plant (at least for us humans).
E85 Ethanol fuel has seen the ramifications of using a food plant where the prices rise dramatically as the price of corn rose.
Currently Continental Airlines is working on flying one engine of a 737-800 on a fuel mixture.
This looks promising. Goldman Sachs recently stated that, “Jatropha curcas as one of the best candidates for future biodiesel production.”
Source: KOMO Image: TheLandScaper
That's a green Boeing
The on-going strike at Boeing is surely having an adverse affect on its commercial airline divison.
Boeing went from delivering 36 planes per month during August and July down to 12 in September and only 5 in October.
The end is in sight, since the 27,000 striking workers approved a new four-year contract this last Saturday.
This, of course will cause another set back for the already much delayed Boeing 787. This coupled with the hurting economy will most likely have a negative impact on airlines as well.
Source: KOMONews Image: Individuo