Next-Gen Sims
The designers of flight simulators are masters of illusion. Whether it’s a procedures trainer or an “I-can’t-believe-these-visuals,” full-motion helicopter simulator, a session in a sim can stimulate, or even overwhelm the senses.
Bombardier Intros Atmosphère Cabin & New Q400 Seating Configuration at Aero Perspectives Event
Bombardier’s Atmosphère cabin interior, which will launch on the CRJ series in 2018, was introduced at the airframer’s Aero Perspective media event in Mirabel, Quebec, today. Other announcements included a new 82-seat configuration for the Q400 turboprop and updates on C Series operations.
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.
Wired Up
Passengers are unlikely to be unaware of the complexity of the aircraft systems that are hidden from view. After all, their onboard interactions are limited to aircraft seats, flight attendants and in-flight entertainment systems. Like a human nervous system, an aircraft’s wiring carries signals and information critical to the safe operation of the airplane. Carlisle IT, W.L. Gore and AeroFlite are a few of the companies that design and manufacture “the nerves.” Connecting everything from the fly-by-wire flight control systems to the coffeemaker in the galley, miles of wires, thousands of connectors, and tens of thousands of support brackets have to be cut, bundled, tested and installed.
The Shape Of Things To Come
Imagine that your ink-jet printer has gone wonky. It’s sitting on your desk, running its print head back and forth for hours, continually printing one word. Once the unruly piece of technology is under control, you manage to pull out the paper. You can see, and feel, that the word “ROTOR” has been built up from the paper’s surface. If you scrape it off, the word will sit on your desk, like a paperweight. That’s the essence of 3D printing.
Digital Dreamliners
Earlier this year at the Paris Air Show, Boeing test pilots put a 787-9 through its paces in a spectacular aerial demonstration. The new Dreamliner was decked out in the blue and gold livery of Vietnam Airlines, but the people attending the airshow weren’t the only ones to see the amazing maneuverability of the latest version of the 787. Prior to the show, when the pilots practiced their routine at the Moses Lake WA’s airport, Boeing had a high-definition video of the session shot and produced.
Build Your Own Dreamliner
At Mock Air, APEX’s unofficial carrier, we’re all about the #PaxEx. At least we would be, if we were an actual airline with real aircraft. But one can never be too prepared, so we recently spent a morning at Boeing’s “Dreamliner Gallery,” to think about fitting out the interiors of our fictional fleet of 787s. The 54,000 square foot facility has been open for eight years, and was a “paradigm shift in our interaction with our customers,” says Dan Olson, Dreamliner Gallery Manager.
How Can a Glider Climb to the Edge of Space?
It all starts with the winter weather in Antarctica. Glider pilots around the world regularly climb to altitudes above 20,000, or even 30,000 feet, flying in the strong lift found in mountain wave conditions. But for Perlan 2 to reach 90,000 feet, the pilots will need to jump into an express elevator in the Andes, romantically named the Stratospheric Polar Night Jet.
Lofty Ambitions
Making its debut at EAA AirVenture 2015 is a new aircraft that’s destined to shatter records. The Airbus Perlan Mission II will use a little-known meteorological phenomenon called the Stratospheric Polar Night Jet, to reach and fly at 90,000 feet – piloted, winged and sustained flight at over 27,400m. Perlan 2 will fly higher than the Lockheed U-2 or SR-71, but it is not an exotically-shaped or scramjet-powered superplane. It is a glider.
Active Sidesticks: A New Way to Fly
Pilots flying the upcoming Gulfstream G500 and G600 business jets will control their planes with an advanced version of the ubiquitous side-stick. In the first civil-aircraft installation of the technology, BAE Systems’ “Active Inceptor System,” not only provides pilots with tactile feedback, but the pilot’s and co-pilot’s sticks will be electronically coupled. The stick movements made by one pilot, or the autopilot, will be seen and felt by the other.