(Recycled) Video: This My Friends, Is How You Land An Airliner! (Must See!)

(yep, full screen is a very good idea)

This is a recycled post originally from January 24, 2011...
it's just way too good not to share again!

 Sometimes you get the feeling that airline pilots are just bus drivers with little passion for the wonder of flight and the intricate relationship between man and machine when the bonds of gravity are broken. But then you see a video like this one that screams as loud as possible: I Love To Fly! Wow.

 First, thanx to youtuber 1970sPlaneSpotter for being at the right place at the right time, and for capturing it beautifully. But mostly, I tip my hat to whoever had their hand on the stick and throttles for this landing. I have several observations to share - see if you agree. First is the fact that they nearly perfectly arrested the rate of descent without having to hunt for where the runway is. In reality, it's not all that hard to reduce the rate of sink to a trickle, but to do it pretty much exactly when and where you want (as in close the the approach end of the runway) is actually rather difficult. But if you look closely, the point of touchdown is not very far down the runway at all. In fact, by my estimation, the point of touchdown was perfectly placed... not too close the the approach end, risking winding up short, and not too far down the runway so as to have wasted valuable rollout room.

Video screenshot from an excellent video of a perfect landing... Bravo!

 Ok, the point of touchdown is excellent. Then, watch how long the tires take to spool up to speed. That's your first clue it's an ultra soft touchdown, but it's followed immediately by your second clue - the front axle on the bogie doesn't come slamming down like usual, in fact, the airplane rides along on just the rear axles for a crazy long time! This is when you notice two things, the airplane is still flying, but it's also on the ground, and the rate of sink is slowed to a crawl. Wow. Again.

 Then as the camera pans the rollout, we get a close-up view of the nose gear. Here's the next interesting point: the nose is being held very high off the ground. Is this a "look at me, I'm cooler than you" 'show-off' move? I don't think so. Well, ok, technically all of this landing is yelling out that this pilot is cooler than me or you... but in reality, the nose appears to be held high as a very effective form of aerodynamic braking. Take all that big wing at a nice high angle of attack and then drag it down the runway at 130 mph and see how much drag it produces. Big, fat buckets of drag! Then, as the rest of the airplane comes back into view, you can see the elevator deflection, which by the time the nose wheels makes contact with the runway, appears to be at full deflection, or very near it. All the aerodynamic braking available was tapped into.

 So what we have here is the passengers arriving at their destination without knowing it because the touchdown was so soft... and then, due to the aerodynamic braking and the loads of runway ahead of us to use for gentle deceleration, nobody was doubled over in their seat from heavy braking and reverse thrust, which is often accompanied by some bobbing and a tad of weaving. Nope, instead, this big hunk of airplane gently strolled rather quietly, smoothly, and very straight down the runway. Now that's how you thank the passengers for flying with you today! Bravo for being easy on the airplane, and easy on the people. That's the way it should be done.

 One last point. Truth is, you can't always apply this collection of techniques when landing 350,000 pounds of airplane. Crosswinds, gusty or turbulent air, or a variety of other factors can demand that you use other tools from the pilots bag of tricks, but when the conditions are right, wow, this is how you land an airliner : )

Like this post? Tell your friends... use the 'share' or 'email' article links below - thanx : ) 

Why Oshkosh Matters (With CoolPix Marathon - 19 Hi-Res Images)

(click pic for hi-res)  Ray Hegy's El Chuparosa at Oshkosh 1970 (see original post)

 Oshkosh 2013 is fast approaching (July 29 - Aug 4), and I'm as excited as ever to be planning to attend. I was there in 1970 (as a 9 year old) when the very first Oshkosh took place at Wittman Field in beautiful Wisconsin. The annual EAA fly-in and convention was held in Rockford Illinois prior to Oshkosh and I was even at the last one of those in 1969. I've missed a handful of the events over the years, but I've attended well over 30 of them since that picture above of Ray Hegy's El Chuparosa was taken.

 Oshkosh has changed a lot over the years, but in the ways that really matter, it hasn't really changed at all. It's still people (lots and lots of people) who are in love with aviation gathering together to share that love with each other. It's goodness, discipline, ingenuity, and achievement all rolled into a week of learning, sharing, and enjoying. There's just nothing else like it... no other tool we have that does so much good for the world of general and sport aviation. That's why I believe that Oshkosh truly matters.

 I'm well aware that many people have frustrations at times with the EAA and the way Oshkosh is run, and while I've had the same kinds of frustrations going back even into the 1970's, I'm as convinced as ever that the EAA ultimately does a huge amount of good for those of us who love to fly. I can't imagine any other organization (or new group of people) who could, or would do better (or even as well) at fostering a genuine love for flying. So I hope you'll join me in being a big supporter of what Oshkosh does for us all... come to Oshkosh this year and be amazed, entertained, educated, and impressed. But please don't come expecting Oshkosh to do all that TO you, instead, come to Oshkosh and BE PART OF that process. Give, and share, and receive too. It's the human interactions that truly make Oshkosh the beautiful thing that it is.

 To celebrate some of the great avgeekery of Oshkosh, here's an extensive collection of CoolPix images I've captured since 2009 to get you primed and ready for the world's greatest aviation event. I hope you enjoy! Oh, and you might notice that I never ever call the event A**V******, it's Oshkosh to me and always will be. I look forward to the day when that ad agency concocted word is dropped from the EAA vocabulary. And hey, maybe they should go back to a logo that looks more like tho old one too : )

(click pic for hi-res)  Pitcairn Autogiro at Oshkosh 2009  (see original post)

(click pic for hi-res)  Airbus A380 preparing to depart Oshkosh 2009  (see original post)

Click to read more ...

Video: A330 Rejected Takeoff Due To Engine Failure - Very Well Handled

 I've posted several of the great airliner videos from Simon Lowe in the past (like this amazing must-see video of a truly perfect A330 landing) but this one captured yesterday of a Thomas Cook Airbus A330 at Manchester Airport in the UK is very different. The takeoff was rejected due to what appears to be a complete engine failure after quite a bit of acceleration, and Simon was recording the takeoff looking right down the runway.

 I'm all about the details in situations like this, so I am fascinated to watch and re-watch a video like this to understand what is happening. What really stands out to me in this incident is how quickly and properly the pilot in control reacted.

 Immediately after the engine fails you can see the nose of the aircraft begin to swing to its right due to the asymmetrical thrust. You then see rapid application of full left rudder to bring the nose back around followed just a second later by reverse thrust and braking. In the span of just four seconds, the engine failed, the airplane begin to deviate from a straight line and it was brought back to the runway centerline with reverse thrust and braking fully applied... all in complete control! What an excellent example of emergency training being put to use in the real world! I'll add tho that it isn't always just training that works in these situations - it appears that this pilot was both well prepared mentally to deal with an emergency and possessed a natural ability to react very quickly. An impressive display all around.

 The A330 was leaving Manchester headed for the Dominican Republic with about 325 passengers onboard. After the rejected takeoff the A330 was taken back to the terminal where the passengers got off the airplane and the airline was able to get a replacement aircraft in place and on the way about 4 hours later.

Video screenshot just after the engine failed with full left rudder already applied

Video: Airbus A350 XWB Is In The Air! (First Flight 6-14-13)

 Airbus has put the A350 XWB into the sky for the first time today... and in fact, if you're checking out this post before 8:00am EDT on Friday 6-14-13 then it's probably still on its first flight! This initial test flight is expected to last around 4 hours.

 You can see the first liftoff by skipping ahead to the 1:01:20 mark in the video above which is also a live youtube broadcast if you're catching this during the time of the flight.

 At approximately 10:00am local time in Toulouse France (4:00am EDT) the Airbus A350 XWB left the ground on its maiden flight, and as the picture below shows, it's looking confident and comfortable in the sky. Congratulations to all who have worked so hard to get this composite twin-aisle airliner into the air!

Airbus A350 XWB just after first flight liftoff in Toulouse France on June 14, 2013

Video: Airbus A350 XWB Roll Out (Plus Composite Airliner Beauty Poll)

(vote in the composite airliner beauty poll at the bottom of the post)
 

  About a week ago Airbus rolled out the all new A350 XWB fresh from the paint shop looking like an airplane that's ready to fly before long. It appears that is indeed the case as they have indicated that the first flight will take place this summer, tho most likely not before the 50th anniversary Paris Air Show which runs June 17-23, 2013. Airbus didn't present the A350 with a big bash, instead it was a simple display of the aircraft with employees as seen in the photo below.

(click pic to enlarge) Roll out of the Airbus A350 XWB with employees  (photo: Airbus)

 The A350 looks just like it should given the market it's intended for, but it's interesting to me that so much of the basic design was driven by both the revolutions displayed in Boeing's 787 and by serious push from airlines and airline industry people demanding that Airbus respond directly (meaning an all-new aircraft) to Boeing's quantum leap in airliner design and function. I'd say Airbus was dragged kicking and screaming into the A350 program, but ultimately they have an airplane that will likely compete very well against the 787. I have no doubt that both aircraft will be very successful and that the people involved in designing and building these modern airliners have so very much to proud of.

(click pic to enlarge) A350 on May 13, 2013 - fresh out of the paint shop (photo: Airbus)

 I figured today was a good to share the video and pix of the A350 roll out since today is the day that United will put the 787 back into service after the lithium-ion battery issue. Ethiopian Airlines actually resumed 787 service way back on April 27, 2013 and Japan's ANA is expected to resume 787 service on June 1. The Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350 will be battling it out for fleet dominance in the next 10 years+, and once the A350 flies and its performance figures become known, it'll be interesting to speculate which will ultimately dominate. Of course there's more to airliner success than just performance numbers... overall operating costs, reliability, and even passenger response all factor in.

(click pic to enlarge)  United 787 in Flight: UAL 787 resumes today May 20, 2013

 In the end, overall beauty probably won't have much if any impact on which of these aircraft is the most successful, but it's still something I'm very interested in... so I thought a little composite airliner beauty poll was a good idea. Based only only on the look of the aircraft, which do you think is the prettier airliner?

UPDATE: (5.20.13 1:43pm)  While I think the A350 looks nice, I admit that I find the 787 to be truly beautiful. If you doubt my opinion, watch this video: Mesmerizing HD Video Of The 787 Dreamliner In Flight (N787EX) - I'll do a follow up poll when we get a great video like that of the A350 to compare with : )

CoolPix: Airbus A350 XWB Roll Out... Well, Sorta

(click pic for hi-res) First flyable Airbus A350 airframe on 12-4-12  (photo: Airbus)

 Well, it wasn't an official roll out, but it was the first time a flight-capable Airbus A350 XWB airframe was structurally all there and looking mostly like an airplane. The airframe labeled 'MSN1' is shown riding on its wheels for the first time on a short trip from the main assembly hall (Station 40) to the indoor ground test station (Station 30) at the recently inaugurated 'Roger Béteille' A350 XWB Final Assembly Line in Toulouse, France.

 The A350 XWB (Extra Wide Body) has had an interesting journey from the point of original concept to what you see here sitting on wheels. Of course every airliner has a rather incredible journey from idea to completed machine, but the early A350 concept was ignored or even put down by potential customers a little more than usual. In the end, Airbus finally agreed that they really needed a full clean-sheet airplane (rather than a hybrid of a mostly A330 fuselage with new wings, tail and engines) to compete with what Boeing had turned into a reality with the 787. I think competition is good... and this time around it sure seems that Boeing's courage to pioneer a composite airframe really set the course for the direction of the industry.

 As an American, I'll freely admit that I'm very pro-Boeing. That doesn't mean I'm anti Airbus, but I do struggle at times to find a warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart for some of the Airbus DNA. So you can imagine I am a bit pleased to see that 2012 looks to be on track to be the first year since 2003 that Boeing will deliver more new airliners to the market than Airbus will. The numbers thru November were: Boeing with 537 and Airbus with 516. And with 787 deliveries ramping up and the the rather amazing increase in 777 production from 7 aircraft per month up to 8.3, 2013 might also see Boeing come out on top.

Illustration of the mostly-composite Airbus A350 XWB in flight  (source: Airbus)

 As an avgeek with a pretty extensive childhood history around the airline industry there's no doubt that seeing the A350 on its gear for the first time is quite exciting. The amount of thought, engineering, and labor required to get a project this far along is simply staggering. You'd have to be crazy not to respect it. And with over 550 orders on the books, the A350 is well on its way to being a successful program. I hope it is successful... I just hope the 787 is even more of a success : )

 With that in mind I thought I'd share a few observations about the A350, as compared to the 787, including some that are rather superficial. The A350 comes in with 53% of its airframe being constructed from composite materials while the Boeing 787 is right at 50%. The number for the 787 might actually go up a little as they are working aggressively to trim the overweight problems of the early production aircraft, and increased use of composite materials might be the key to getting the Dreamliner to hit its original weight targets.

 The A350 has a fuselage designed and built more like an aluminum aircraft with panels of composite material attached to a composite frame. The 787 has the fuselage sections built barrel style (wound around a form) which Boeing suggests reduces fasteners significantly and overall weight. Interestingly, the center fuselage section for the A350 is built by Spirit Aerosystems in Kinston, North Carolina. Spirit also produces the forward fuselage section on the 787 at their Wichita facility.

 The 787 pioneered the shift away from using engine bleed-air to run a number of subsystems and instead has turned to using electrical power, but the A350 is continuing the use of bleed-air. It'll sure be interesting to see how these two methods impact efficiency... as will the overall performance figures for the two aircraft with their significantly different approaches to creating a very efficient airliner. But that comparison is still a way off as the A350 isn't expected to be ready for first flight any earlier than mid year 2013. I think we all know how these first-flight targets go, so I wouldn't hold your breath on that one!

 One other major difference is that the A350 continues with the Airbus side-stick controller while the 787 has a floor mounted center control column. I know there are loads of Airbussers out there that love the side stick, but I have a pretty long list of reasons why I feel the the center control column is vastly superior in the cockpit of an airliner. According to this poll I put up a while back, I'm not the only one: Poll: Airliners, Side Stick Controller Or Center Control Column?

 Lastly, my superficial comparo definitely gives the nod to the 787. There's a grace and beauty in the lines of the Dreamliner that I'm just not seeing in the A350. Maybe that'll change when we see a fully completed airframe (with paint) flying formation with an A380, but somehow I don't think it will. The 787's smooth contour from the nose up thru the windshield, with no deviation in the shape, is truly beautiful. You might be tempted to think the A350 has a similar nose shape but it appears there really is a shape interruption at the windshield. And then those 787 wings, wow - they are truly magnificent, especially with the lack of winglets. Once the A350 is done I'll put a poll up to see which one YOU think looks better : )

 Oh, one more thing: click the pic below to check out an official Airbus 360 panoramic view of the A350 cockpit, including those pesky side-stick controllers : /

Click the pic to check out an Airbus A350 cockpit 360 panoramic view!

Video: 'Must See' Perfect Landing! (A330 Airliner In HD)

 I don't usually repost a video like this, but this is such an incredible example of both excellent videography and perfect piloting skills that I just couldn't help myself. I was looking for a 'perfect landing' video to post today but this one is still so much better than anything else out there that I'm putting it up once again. It's also been almost two years since I originally posted it as: Video: This My Friends, Is How You Land An Airliner! so I figure it's really 'new' to most of y'all. And, since I had a pretty detailed description of this stunning display of side-stick aviaosity, I'm including all that again too. Be sure to watch this video in HD and fullscreen for the maximum affect... and I suggest at least six times thru to really soak up all the awesomeness : )

(originally posted Jan 24, 2011)
 Sometimes you get the feeling that airline pilots are just bus drivers with little passion for the wonder of flight and the intricate relationship between man and machine when the bonds of gravity are broken. But then you see a video like this one that screams as loud as possible: I Love To Fly! Wow.

 First, thanx to youtuber 1970sPlaneSpotter for being at the right place at the right time, and for capturing it beautifully. But mostly, I tip my hat to whoever had their hand on the stick and throttles for this landing. I have several observations to share - see if you agree. First is the fact that they nearly perfectly arrested the rate of descent without having to hunt for where the runway is. In reality, it's not all that hard to reduce the rate of sink to a trickle, but to do it pretty much exactly when and where you want (as in close the the approach end of the runway) is actually rather difficult. But if you look closely, the point of touchdown is not very far down the runway at all. In fact, by my estimation, the point of touchdown was perfectly placed... not too close the the approach end, risking winding up short, and not too far down the runway so as to have wasted valuable rollout room.

Screenshot: A truly perfect A330 landing captured perfectly by 1970sPlaneSpotter

 Ok, the point of touchdown is excellent. Then, watch how long the tires take to spool up to speed. That's your first clue it's an ultra soft touchdown, but it's followed immediately by your second clue - the front axle on the bogie doesn't come slamming down like usual, in fact, the airplane rides along on just the rear axles for a crazy long time! This is when you notice two things, the airplane is still flying, but it's also on the ground, and the rate of sink is slowed to a crawl. Wow. Again.

 Then as the camera pans the rollout, we get a close-up view of the nose gear. Here's the next interesting point: the nose is being held very high off the ground. Is this a "look at me, I'm cooler than you" 'show-off' move? I don't think so. Well, ok, technically all of this landing is yelling out that this pilot is cooler than me or you... but in reality, the nose appears to be held high as a very effective form of aerodynamic braking. Take all that big wing at a nice high angle of attack and then drag it down the runway at 130 mph and see how much drag it produces. Big, fat buckets of drag! Then, as the rest of the airplane comes back into view, you can see the elevator deflection, which by the time the nose wheels makes contact with the runway, appears to be at full deflection, or very near it. All the aerodynamic braking available was tapped into.

 So what we have here is the passengers arriving at their destination without knowing it because the touchdown was so soft... and then, due to the aerodynamic braking and the loads of runway ahead of us to use for gentle deceleration, nobody was doubled over in their seat from heavy braking and reverse thrust, which is often accompanied by some bobbing and a tad of weaving. Nope, instead, this big hunk of airplane gently strolled rather quietly, smoothly, and very straight down the runway. Now that's how you thank the passengers for flying with you today! Bravo for being easy on the airplane, and easy on the people. That's the way it should be done.

 One last point. Truth is, you can't always apply this collection of techniques when landing 350,000 pounds of airplane. Crosswinds, gusty or turbulent air, or a variety of other factors can demand that you use other tools from the pilots bag of tricks, but when the conditions are right, wow, this is how you land an airliner : )

HD Video: London Heathrow Arrival Time Lapse - Busy Bees!

 I just found the youtube channel for Cargospotter and I'm loving it already! This recent video is a great place to you start as well... it's a wide variety of airliners on approach to London Heathrow done in a really entertaining time lapse - 17x faster than real time. It's perfectly framed and a lot of fun to watch as these busy bees flit their way into an orderly line. And that 747 approach at about 1:30 is the best argument yet for the idea that you should never text and fly! (seriously, what was the deal there?)

 I recommend you watch it in HD too ((hit play, then pause and select the 'gear' icon to change the video setting, then go fullscreen!) - then just sit back and enjoy the show : )

Video screenshot: you gotta see this 747's approach at about 1:30 - what the heck?

Video: Nearly 14' Wingspan RC Airbus A400M - With Paratroopers!

 
 This amazing and very large (1:10 scale) Airbus A400M RC model has been around for a while but there's so dang much cool stuff on the interwebs these days that sometimes it takes a while to find the must-see items. With a nearly 14 foot wingspan, a little over 90 pounds, and with 18 servos operated by two people with two radios, this is one complex RC model. And, as this video shows, it has video cameras mounted in the cockpit(!), under the belly, in the tail, and one pointed out the back of the cargo area. That last one is especially cool since it gives us the chance to see the cargo doors open from the inside while in flight, and then we get to see some little paratroopers exit the aircraft! (doors opens at the 3:10 mark)

 The model is from France and took 6 years to build. In addition to being large and complex, this A400M appears to be a great flyer. You even get a bit of a scale-like sound out of it at times given that it has some pretty massive electric power. The flight props in the video are just two bladed but the Facebook picture gallery from Millenium Modélisme in France shows the scale 8-bladers that are also fitted. I'm assuming they are static display only... but wouldn't it be awesome if they had airworthy super screws for this thing!

Video screenshot of the huge and awesome RC A400M in flight

 You can learn a bit more from this Millenium Modélisme blog post , otherwise there doesn't seem to be a lot of additional info on the model to be found. Hopefully we'll see more great videos of this amazing beast in the future!

Poll: Airliners, Side Stick Controller Or Center Control Column?

Center control column in the Boeing 787 cockpit

 This can be a very heated debate, but I don't ask the question to get people yelling, I'm just curious to see what kind of response I'll get here. I've had a strong opinion on this for years but I'm only now beginning to do some research on the philosophies of design & function that drive the decision. There's an even bigger question to be addressed in the debate; whether the two control input devices should always move in unison (I absolutely believe they should), but for now I thought I'd just see if there's a strong leaning one way or the other on what and where the controller is.

 I admit that I'm somewhat out of the experience loop here. I don't have any experience flying airliners (unless you count my insanely cool opportunity to make 2 takeoffs and landings in a full motion 747 simulator when I was 10 years old - thanx dad!) - and I'm not directly connected to the aerospace industry where these kinds of discussions take place. But still, I have a real passion for what really works the best overall in the design and function process, and I have some strong feelings that one of these two options is actually superior to the other when installed in the cockpit of an airliner. This Popular Mechanics story on the cockpit communication and actions in the Air France 447 tragedy point to some of what makes me feel this way.

Side stick controllers in the Airbus A380 cockpit
 

 I'd really like to open up some form of effective discussion on the issue but I haven't figured out yet how we could do that... especially since the overriding goal is to be 'effective' rather than just have passionate shouting matches. In an effort to get the ball rolling, here's a simple poll to see how some of you are thinking. And please feel free to leave some comments on this subject - I love to get a discussion of some sort moving forward. Lastly, while I have a great fondness for the concept of the side stick controller (especially in certain situations), I ultimately fall on the side of a center control column for airliners.

(trying some new poll software - I hope it works well)