deicer

https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/stories/2023-01-could-the-humble-dragonfly-help-pilots-during-flight When safety is concerned, continuous improvement is the name of the game. At Airbus, we are constantly looking to different sources of inspiration to find proactive solutions that can enhance safety and improve performance. And what better to be inspired by than the wonderful, natural world? Biologically-inspired engineering – or biomimicry – has led us to many of our creative solutions, from our “sharklet” wing-tip design that reduces drag, to our fello’fly demonstrator that mimics the formation flying of snow geese for improved performance. Our latest demonstrator to use biomimicry is DragonFly, inspired by – you guessed it – the dragonfly. A dragonfly has phenomenal vision, the ability to see in 360°, and can recognise landmarks, which in turn help it to define its territorial boundaries. The systems we are developing and testing are similarly designed to review and identify features in the landscape that enable the aircraft to “see” and safely manoeuvre within its surroundings. These innovations can offer an additional layer of safety for aircraft, particularly in the context of emergency operations. In the unlikely situation where a crew is unable to control the aircraft, DragonFly can redirect the flight to the nearest appropriate airport and facilitate a safe landing. So how does it work? DragonFly could be a game-changer when it comes to derisking emergency operations. Its focus is on three key areas, each one drawing on a combination of data captured during flight and a vast corpus of flight information to promote automated yet intelligent decision making. DragonFly offers a solution to help ensure safe flight and landing. If the crew are unable to control the aircraft, the onboard function detects the issue and automatically selects the most suitable airport to redirect the aircraft towards. But of course flight paths and external factors are complex and changing. A dragonfly scans its surroundings and adapts its journey accordingly. Our DragonFly demonstrator does much the same thing, taking into account external factors such as flight zones, terrain and weather conditions as it chooses where to land. But unlike a regular dragonfly, our DragonFly also benefits from a constant channel of communication between the aircraft and both Air Traffic Control and the Operations Control Centre of the airline to ensure a safe and coordinated approach.

Well, this is one big step closer.... https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-01-airbus-tests-new-technologies-to-enhance-pilot-assistance Airbus tests new technologies to enhance pilot assistance Toulouse, 12 January 2023 – Airbus UpNext, a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus, has started testing new, on ground and in-flight, pilot assistance technologies on an A350-1000 test aircraft. Known as DragonFly, the technologies being demonstrated include automated emergency diversion in cruise, automatic landing and taxi assistance and are aimed at evaluating the feasibility and pertinence of further exploring autonomous flight systems in support of safer and more efficient operations. “These tests are one of several steps in the methodical research of technologies to further enhance operations and improve safety,” said Isabelle Lacaze, Head of DragonFly demonstrator, Airbus UpNext. “Inspired by biomimicry, the systems being tested have been designed to identify features in the landscape that enable an aircraft to “see” and safely manoeuver autonomously within its surroundings, in the same way that dragonflies are known to have the ability to recognise landmarks.” During the flight test campaign, the technologies were able to assist pilots in-flight, managing a simulated incapacitated crew member event, and during landing and taxiing operations. Taking into account external factors such as flight zones, terrain and weather conditions, the aircraft was able to generate a new flight trajectory plan and communicate with both Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the airline Operations Control Centre. Airbus UpNext has also explored features for taxi assistance, which were tested in real-time conditions at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport. The technology provides the crew with audio alerts in reaction to obstacles, assisted speed control, and guidance to the runway using a dedicated airport map. In addition to these capabilities, Airbus UpNext is launching a project to prepare the next generation of computer vision-based algorithms to advance landing and taxi assistance. These tests were made possible through cooperation with Airbus subsidiaries and external partners including Cobham, Collins Aerospace, Honeywell, Onera and Thales. DragonFly was partially funded by the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) as part of the French Stimulus plan, which is part of the European Plan, Next Generation EU, and the France 2030 plan.

Better take an umbrella if you go out tonight https://spacenews.com/defunct-nasa-satellite-to-reenter/ Defunct NASA satellite to reenter by Jeff Foust — January 7, 2023 WASHINGTON — A defunct NASA satellite, launched nearly four decades ago, is predicted to reenter late Jan. 8 with a very small risk to people on the ground. NASA said Jan. 6 that the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) satellite, launched in 1984 and shut down in 2005, will reenter Jan. 8. At the time, NASA estimated a reentry at 6:40 p.m. Eastern, plus or minus 17 hours, based on data from the U.S. Space Force. The Space Force’s Space Track service updated that prediction late Jan. 6, with a new reentry time of 11:25 p.m. Eastern plus or minus 10 hours. The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies estimated a reentry at 10:49 p.m. Eastern plus or minus 13 hours, based on data as of early Jan. 6. Most of the 2,450-kilogram satellite will burn up on reentry, NASA said in its statement, but some components will likely survive and reach the surface. The odds that debris would harm anyone on the ground is 1 in 9,400, the agency estimated.

This incident is reported to have happened in 2016, video released recently. Incident: United B737 at New York on Aug 20th 2016, wing tip strike on go around (avherald.com)

NASA purchases B777 to replace aging DC8. https://airwaysmag.com/nasa-boeing-777/ DALLAS — The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been flying its very own DC-8 jetliner as part of its flying observatory missions ever since 1985, but as the antique bird possesses far too many problems today, a replacement is well underway: a Boeing 777. The newly added, almost 20-year-old widebody is a Boeing 777-200ER (MSN 32892), which formerly flew for Japan Airlines (JA) and bore registration JA704J. Under NASA, the Triple Seven wears a new American registration N744LG. The aircraft was stored in Victorville (VCV) from July 2020 up until December 15, 2022, when the twinjet made its way out of southern California to Langley (AFB) in Virginia. NASA’s Antique Quad Jet The NASA DC-8-72 is a four-engine jet that has been heavily modified to aid the agency’s science mission. Built in 1969, the DC-8 was only acquired by NASA fifteen years later and is currently housed at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center facility in Palmdale, California. According to NASA, it has a range of 5,400 nautical miles and can fly at altitudes ranging from 1000 to 42,000 feet for up to 12 hours. The space agency also states that the data gathered from the aircraft at altitude and through remote sensing have been used for studies in archaeology, ecology, geography, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, volcanology, atmospheric chemistry, cryospheric science, soil science, and biology. Four types of missions are flown with the DC-8: sensor development, satellite sensor verification, space vehicle launch or re-entry telemetry data retrieval, optical tracking, and basic research studies of Earth’s surface and atmosphere. Big Jet, Big Modifications As stated on Scramble.nl, according to NASA’s FY23 budget documents, the Boeing 777 was acquired in their FY22 budget for under USD 30 million. Prior to its entry into active mission flying, it will undergo several modifications at NASA’s Langley Research Center and it is also unknown when exactly it could replace the DC-8. According to Scramble, the modifications and testing would take several years.

https://www.facebook.com/swapa737/posts/623662599761123 Voices From The Line: Larry Lonero What happened to Southwest Airlines? I’ve been a pilot for Southwest Airlines for over 35 years. I’ve given my heart and soul to Southwest Airlines during those years. And quite honestly Southwest Airlines has given its heart and soul to me and my family. Many of you have asked what caused this epic meltdown. Unfortunately, the frontline employees have been watching this meltdown coming like a slow motion train wreck for sometime. And we’ve been begging our leadership to make much needed changes in order to avoid it. What happened yesterday started two decades ago. Herb Kelleher was the brilliant CEO of SWA until 2004. He was a very operationally oriented leader. Herb spent lots of time on the front line. He always had his pulse on the day to day operation and the people who ran it. That philosophy flowed down through the ranks of leadership to the front line managers. We were a tight operation from top to bottom. We had tools, leadership and employee buy in. Everything that was needed to run a first class operation. When Herb retired in 2004 Gary Kelly became the new CEO. Gary was an accountant by education and his style leading Southwest Airlines became more focused on finances and less on operations. He did not spend much time on the front lines. He didn’t engage front line employees much. When the CEO doesn’t get out in the trenches the neither do the lower levels of leadership. Gary named another accountant to be Chief Operating Officer (the person responsible for day to day operations). The new COO had little or no operational background. This trickled down through the lower levels of leadership, as well. They all disengaged the operation, disengaged the employees and focused more on Return on Investment, stock buybacks and Wall Street. This approach worked for Gary’s first 8 years because we were still riding the strong wave that Herb had built. But as time went on the operation began to deteriorate. There was little investment in upgrading technology (after all, how do you measure the return on investing in infrastructure?) or the tools we needed to operate efficiently and consistently. As the frontline employees began to see the deterioration in our operation we began to warn our leadership. We educated them, we informed them and we made suggestions to them. But to no avail. The focus was on finances not operations. As we saw more and more deterioration in our operation our asks turned to pleas. Our pleas turned to dire warnings. But they went unheeded. After all, the stock price was up so what could be wrong? We were a motivated, willing and proud employee group wanting to serve our customers and uphold the tradition of our beloved airline, the airline we built and the airline that the traveling public grew to cheer for and luv. But we were watching in frustration and disbelief as our once amazing airline was becoming a house of cards. A half dozen small scale meltdowns occurred during the mid to late 2010’s. With each mini meltdown Leadership continued to ignore the pleas and warnings of the employees in the trenches. We were still operating with 1990’s technology. We didn’t have the tools we needed on the line to operate the sophisticated and large airline we had become. We could see that the wheels were about ready to fall off the bus. But no one in leadership would heed our pleas. When COVID happened SWA scaled back considerably (as did all of the airlines) for about two years. This helped conceal the serious problems in technology, infrastructure and staffing that were occurring and being ignored. But as we ramped back up the lack of attention to the operation was waiting to show its ugly head. Gary Kelly retired as CEO in early 2022. Bob Jordan was named CEO. He was a more operationally oriented leader. He replaced our Chief Operating Officer with a very smart man and they announced their priority would be to upgrade our airline’s technology and provide the frontline employees the operational tools we needed to care for our customers and employees. Finally, someone acknowledged the elephant in the room. But two decades of neglect takes several years to overcome. And, unfortunately to our horror, our house of cards came tumbling down this week as a routine winter storm broke our 1990’s operating system. The frontline employees were ready and on station. We were properly staffed. We were at the airports. Hell, we were ON the airplanes. But our antiquated software systems failed coupled with a decades old system of having to manage 20,000 frontline employees by phone calls. No automation had been developed to run this sophisticated machine. We had a routine winter storm across the Midwest last Thursday. A larger than normal number flights were cancelled as a result. But what should have been one minor inconvenient day of travel turned into this nightmare. After all, American, United, Delta and the other airlines operated with only minor flight disruptions. The two decades of neglect by SWA leadership caused the airline to lose track of all its crews. ALL of us. We were there. With our customers. At the jet. Ready to go. But there was no way to assign us. To confirm us. To release us to fly the flight. And we watched as our customers got stranded without their luggage missing their Christmas holiday. I believe that our new CEO Bob Jordan inherited a MESS. This meltdown was not his failure but the failure of those before him. I believe he has the right priorities. But it will take time to right this ship. A few years at a minimum. Old leaders need to be replaced. Operationally oriented managers need to be brought in. I hope and pray Bob can execute on his promises to fix our once proud airline. Time will tell. It’s been a punch in the gut for us frontline employees. We care for the traveling public. We have spent our entire careers serving you. Safely. Efficiently. With luv and pride. We are horrified. We are sorry. We are sorry for the chaos, inconvenience and frustration our airline caused you. We are angry. We are embarrassed. We are sad. Like you, the traveling public, we have been let down by our own leaders. Herb once said the the biggest threat to Southwest Airlines will come from within. Not from other airlines. What a visionary he was. I miss Herb now more than ever.

They knew it was coming. It's a result of letting accountants run the show rather than operational people. Happened at Boeing too. https://www.buzzsprout.com/469237/11677386-12-7-casey-murray-looking-ahead

While I can agree with your point of view, there is one flaw in the logic. After just short of 4 decades in the airline biz, this is my observation, what you didn't acknowledge is that every years operations include the first Christmas, the first Easter, the first March break, the first summer break, etc. The same mistakes are made every year with the same excuses made every year. No changes are made with regards to preparation or execution. The only constant is what you said. Customers have short memories and can be bought with paltry discounts.

By admitting that their systems are out of date, it only leads one to think that they also lead to the problems with the 737 Max program when they pressured Boeing to keep cockpit commonality with their older models.

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/faa-addresses-dual-engine-shutdown-of-a220-pw-engines FAA addresses dual-engine shutdown of A220 P&W engines Following a dual-engine shutdown on an aircraft with Pratt & Whitney 1500G power plants – used exclusively for the Airbus A220 family – the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD) to prevent the shutdown from happening again. The AD, which is a final rulemaking, was published on December 27, 2022, with an effective date of January 31, 2023. The dual-engine shutdown occurred as the aircraft landed, compromising the braking capability of the narrow-body aircraft, as the crew lost engine power and the ability to control hydraulic systems. The FAA did not specify when the event occurred. However, the Aviation Safety Network depicts an incident when an AirBaltic Airbus A220-300, registered as YL-AAQ, suffered a dual-engine shutdown as it landed at Copenhagen Airport (CPH) in July 2021. According to the FAA, following an investigation into the matter, it determined that “the sequence of the auto-throttle increasing throttle to maintain Mach number, immediately followed by pilot command to decrease throttle to idle, caused a transient disagreement between actual and commanded thrust”. As a result, the disagreement triggered a thrust control malfunction (TCM) detection logic and the aircraft shut down both engines as soon as wheel sensors detected that the aircraft had physically landed on the runway. To prevent such a situation from occurring in the future/again, operators will have to remove certain electronic engine control (EEC) full authority digital engine control (FADEC) software versions and replace them with updated software. “This software update makes corrective improvements to the TCM logic, including revised criteria for triggering the TCM logic and establishing criteria that permit the TCM logic to unlatch during flight,” concluded the FAA. Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) was the only party to comment on the directive, wholeheartedly agreeing with the change. The government agency estimated the software update would take two hours at a cost of $170 per aircraft. Since the AD affects 147 engines that are equipped on aircraft that are registered in the US, the FAA estimated the total cost for operators in the country to be $24,990.

Not snowing as bad as predicted at YYZ currently. However the winds are gusty. Traffic flowing 'relatively' smoothly... https://www.flightradar24.com/43.81,-79.43/9#

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/worlds-first-boeing-747-8-bbj-scrapped-in-us-after-just-30-flight-hours World’s first Boeing 747-8 BBJ scrapped in US after just 30 flight hours

https://generalaviationnews.com/2022/12/14/11-bladed-propeller-in-the-works/ 11-bladed propeller in the works Germany-based MT-Propeller has an 11-blade propeller in the works, testing it on a Piper PA31T1 with Pratt & Whitney PT6A-135 turbine engines. The world’s first 11-bladed propeller recently “took the sky with an impressive noise and sound signature,” company officials said. “The very promising results in static thrust, 15% increase over the standard certified 5-bladed propeller, and the jet-noise signature showed…what could be possible in the propeller developments,” company officials added. The propeller system, combined with a low RPM power supply from a turbine or an electric engine, opens new possibilities for performance, efficiency, and noise, MT-Propeller officials noted.

Sofia retired! https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-sofia-to-fly-low-altitude-flight-over-local-area