About Howard

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So far Howard has created 205 blog entries.

Capacity Booster

Modern commercial airliners are filled with backups to the backups, all designed to get us to our destination safely and efficiently. There are multiple autopilots and flight control systems, secondary hydraulic and electrical systems and two engines. The pilot and co-pilot are even server different meals, so should one of them come down with food poisoning, there is always a backup. Operators of communications satellites face similar demands in maintaining service, which are compounded by the orbital location of their satellites: over 22,000 miles above the equator.

2023-02-20T20:01:29-08:00August 25th, 2017|
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The Ins and Outs of Airport Runway Design

It’s said that a mile of road can only take you a mile, but a mile of runway can take you anywhere. The taxiway and runway layout of airports may look to be a confusion of concrete, but there’s a method to the striped and lit madness. Major airports with multiple runways can have a riotously complicated taxiway system. Inner and outer taxiways, some one way, some limited by aircraft size and weight, can confuse a pilot unfamiliar with an airport.

2023-02-20T20:01:29-08:00August 23rd, 2017|
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How Vancouver became China’s aviation hub to the West

There are few pop culture icons better known on both sides of the Pacific than Jackie Chan. The action-movie star's work across US and Asian film made him an obvious choice to represent Hong Kong Airlines and fly on the airline's first flight to North America. The Hong Kong-based airline -- as its name suggests -- had its maiden flight to YVR Vancouver International Airport on June 30, its first destination outside of Asia and Australia. The carrier's flight is just the latest inaugural flight to YVR from mainland China and Hong Kong.

2023-02-20T20:01:30-08:00July 26th, 2017|
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Fairey Tale

The history of aviation is littered with aircraft concepts and prototypes that promised to bring point-to-point passenger services to the traveling public. The idea of replacing massive and remote airports with a rooftop or downtown landing pad was, to say the least, inviting. The 1950s were a time of enthusiastic aerospace development and innovation, and one odd-looking aircraft of the era was the Fairey Aviation Company’s Rotodyne. It was designed to meet a short-haul vertical-lift requirement of British European Airways (BEA), an ancestor of today’s British Airways.

2023-04-17T10:07:17-08:00June 21st, 2017|
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Setting the Scene: James Bond’s Role in Setting Travel Trends

Writer Ian Fleming’s Agent 007 burst onto the movie screen in 1962’s Dr. No, in an era when the glamor and cachet of jet travel had permeated the public psyche. Long before social media, the idea of connecting the world through high-speed air travel was popularized by the movies, television and magazines of the time. The rich and famous were featured flying to far-flung destinations in what seemed to be the blink of an eye.

2023-02-20T20:01:30-08:00June 20th, 2017|
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Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame welcomes new inductees

A sell-out crowd celebrated the 2017 inductees to Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame (CAHF) during a gala event at Vancouver International Airport on June 15. Skies was on hand as over 430 people gathered for the 44th annual event. Host Denis Chagnon welcomed the crowd and introduced the four inductees–Erroll Boyd, Robert “Bob” Deluce, Danny Sitnam, and Rogers Eben Smith–each of whom has made significant contributions to Canadian aviation.

2023-02-20T20:01:30-08:00June 16th, 2017|
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4 of the best helicopter sightseeing tours in North America

It's magical. And it's very loud. That moment when a helicopter lifts off is a sweet sensory overload, with turbine engines screaming and the main rotor beating the air into submission just a few feet above your head. But coddled in a good set of noise-canceling headphones or cocooned in a super-soundproofed cabin, you can experience the wonder of rotary-winged flight while marveling at the spectacular views unique to heli-sightseeing.

2023-02-20T20:01:49-08:00May 8th, 2017|
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The “Bandit” Sneaks into YVR – Cathay Pacific Begins A350 Service to Vancouver

Almost 35 years ago, Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) began its international expansion to North America, flying a Boeing 747-200 from Hong Kong (HKG) to Vancouver, BC (YVR). It was the first airline to fly nonstop between the two key Pacific Rim cities, and on Tuesday morning, Cathay Pacific introduced a new aircraft type on the route. The airline’s Airbus A350-900XWB, B-LRI, touched down in the pouring rain just after sunrise, almost an hour ahead of its 8AM scheduled arrival time. I was with the media group, set up on the south ramp for the A350’s expected arrival on YVR’s Rwy 08R. But just a few minutes before landing, the plane’s approach was changed to the north side runway, 08L.

2023-02-20T20:01:49-08:00March 31st, 2017|
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B.C. Government Launches SAR Drone Pilot Project

Last fall, the Government of British Columbia launched a pilot project to evaluate the use of Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) in search and rescue (SAR) operations. The project is being overseen by Emergency Management BC (EMBC), the coordinating and supporting agency that provides the operational funding for specialized resources, to regional SAR organizations. The province’s all-volunteer SAR teams provide an essential and critical service, finding errant hikers and out-of-bounds winter sports enthusiasts throughout BC’s rugged backcountry.

2023-02-20T20:01:50-08:00March 23rd, 2017|
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