Category Airbus

The Empirical Skeptic and Hacker

Version 10 – July 2016 Viewers of  Air Crash Investigators program have asked me many questions including: Why didn’t we evacuate the A380 immediately after stopping on the runway in Singapore? What are my views about the Malaysian MH370 incident? My answers centre around how I gather, judge, store and use data. Empirical Skeptic I am […]

Air Crash Investigation S13E10 – Qantas 32: Titanic In The Sky

There has been a lot of recent interest in the production entitled “Air Crash Investigation S13E10 – Qantas 32: Titanic In The Sky”.     This program has been broadcast on the National Geographic channel.  Closing Statement At the time of my interview, our story was planned to be the final episode (ever) in the Air […]

Torches

Flying IS the sport of kings.   Guiding 500 passengers and manipulating $400m worth of the highest technology through congested airspace to the other side of the planet is a privilege that few experience. I’ve just returned from a great flight over the weekend from Sydney to Los Angeles.   I took the photo above […]

Royal Aeronautical Society

Stop Press – Thursday 28 November The evening was a great success with my son Alexander and I meeting over 120 engineering students and 180 RAeS members. Everyone was especially pleased to met and hear Carolyn and Derwyn Jones, passengers on the QF32 flight who also addressed the audience.   Their daughter Nia Jones joined […]

Bio-Mimicry of Shaking Dogs

See also QF32 Biomimicry Richard Hammond’s Miracles Of Nature Biomimicry You don’t have to be a dog lover to be awe struck by this video of dog shaking themselves dry. These seemingly simply movements generate up to 70 G accelerations that “centrifuge” the hair 70% dry in just a few seconds. Why is the QF32 […]

A350 – First (High) Flight

Update – 12 April 2013 In the spirit of under-promising and over-delivering, my recent article of the 4th June forecast the A350 to be airborne within a month. So it is EXCELLENT NEWS TODAY that Airbus confirmed that the A350 XWB first flight is planned for this Friday, 14th June. Conditions permitting, the A350 XWB […]

QF32 Back Story – Rolls Royce Trent 900 – Request for Questions

I have been researching Rolls-Royce engines for decades.     I have studied the engine’s “workshop manuals”.   I visited the Rolls-Royce production and engineering facilities in Derby, UK just two weeks before my QF32 event. Yesterday I toured the Sin$700 m Rolls-Royce Seletar Campus in Singapore.   This is the first production facility for […]

QF32 Back Story – Cold Weather Operations and Christmas

Everyone has different thoughts over Christmas. I am currently sitting in cold London contemplating winter. The shortest day, or Winter solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere on about 21 December.   This is the day of the maximum Earth’s cooling rate, though the actual Earth’s temperature lags the “lapse rate” by about one month – […]

Back Story QF32 p 345 – A380 (Route) Specifications

A380 (Route) Specifications WARNING:  This is a very technical posting! Writes Mike Farmery (a friend)  from the UK:  I would appreciate it if you could help me with some information.   I am giving a talk at a local school very soon called ‘The Chemistry of Flying’. I would like to start it off with a […]

Welcome to the Big Jets Book discussion

I am writing a book about big jets My definition of the big jets are those bigger than the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320.  Large corporate jets (Gulfstream and Cessna) are also included. For aspiring aviators who are pursuing a career flying Big Jets and for commercial aviation pilots, The Big Jets book provides an […]