(Source: CNN)

We have all heard numerous stories about the bad treatment meted out to passengers by the airline staff and airline managements around the country. Among many such stories, one recent incident got a lot of scrutiny and prompted Government action.   On August 8, Continent ExpressJet 21816 enroute to Minneapolis from Houston,  with 47 passengers onboard was left waiting for clearance overnight on a tarmac in Rochester, Minnesota.

As the hours — going on six of them — passed, he said the air in the ExpressJet for Continental Airlines cabin grew rank. The two babies on board cried. The toilet filled and stopped flushing. No food was served and the puddle-jumper seats made sleep, for him, impossible. All the while, the airport was visible from the plane.

The much-publicized story of Flight 2816, diverted to Rochester because of bad weather while en route to Minneapolis from Houston, Texas, has brought to the forefront a growing demand to institute passenger rights.

Advocacy groups are fielding calls, gathering momentum and preparing for a September 22 hearing in Washington. One organization recently bought cable television ad time hoping to reach President Obama on his vacation and earn his support, just as a bill to protect fliers from such incidents heads to the Senate floor.

Since the Rochester incident, there have been other tarmac strandings. Passengers on a Sun Country Airlines flight were trapped for about six hours on August 21 while at JFK International Airport in New York. That prompted the airline’s CEO to announce last week a four-hour maximum deadline for tarmac sittings, Minnesota’s Star Tribune reported. The first “massive tarmac stranding” to spark outcries and stir up calls for legislation came in January 1999, said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition. That was when about 3,500 passengers were trapped during a snowstorm for up to 13 hours on Michigan’s Detroit Metro Airport tarmacs, he said.

The 2007 Valentine’s Day crisis involving JetBlue flights, which included strandings of up to 10 hours at JFK International, in Mitchell’s opinion eventually cost the then-CEO his job.  A couple of months before that mess, Kate Hanni was one of the passengers caught up in a December 2006 storm fallout in Texas that left her and her family on an Austin, Texas, tarmac for more than nine hours.

“People miss funerals, weddings, cruise ships, business meetings — it has an impact on their lives,” said Hanni, whose outrage about that air travel experience pushed her create FlyersRights.org.

“And it’s not just a customer service issue,” she continued, mentioning overflowing toilets and people with diabetes or other medical conditions. “It’s about safety, dignity and well-being.”

In late July, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee passed the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act, which includes the Airline Passengers Bill of Rights, first written in 2007 by Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-California, and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. The FAA reauthorization bill will next move to the Senate for consideration.

Calling attention to the frustrations of flying is what Hanni, 49, is all about. If someone phones while trapped on a tarmac, she’ll start ringing the airline and airport managers, demanding help. If the response she gets is insufficient, she threatens and is poised to call media. Since the Rochester incident earlier this month, she said she’s been interviewed more than 50 times.

In June, 278 airplanes sat on tarmacs for more than three hours, according to a consumer report released by the DOT. The department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows that 42 of the June flights sat on tarmacs for four hours or more.

Click here to read the entire article.

TransportGooru Musings: If you are one of the poor souls who was stuck for hours inside a metal tube, sign the petition and join teh crusaders in the fight for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights (via flyersrights.org) .
http://www.petitiononline.com/airline/petition.html

(Source: NAVTEQ via Autoblog)

According to a new study, GPS-systems with real-time traffic info can save American drivers four days a year of being stuck in grizzly traffic snarls. As promising as it sounds, this particular study should be viewed with a little bit of skepticism because it was sponsored by navigation systems data-provider NAVTEQ.  Here are some of the study details (as published in the NavTeq press release).

The results are from a three pronged studies conducted in two metropolitan areas of Germany – Dusseldorf and Munich — which evaluated drivers without a navigation system, drivers with a navigation system, and drivers with a navigation system that included real-time traffic. Previous studies in this field focused more on “getting lost” scenarios versus the benefits to drivers of navigation system use during the course of their normal driving habits.

The study revealed that the drivers using traffic enabled navigation devices experienced dramatic time savings, spending 18% less time driving on an average trip versus drivers without navigation. If applied over the course of a year, a driver who does not currently use a navigation device would save themselves 4 days of driving each year if they had a traffic-enabled navigation system. Additionally, the findings show that drivers with real-time traffic experience reductions in distance traveled as well as increase fuel efficiency which would lead to a decrease in CO2 emissions per driver of .79 metric tons, or 21% less than a driver without a navigation system.

These results not only point to the positive impact on German drivers, they can be projected to other countries as well, for example*:

• UK drivers with traffic enabled navigation would save 2.5 days per year and drop their CO2 emissions by 20%
• US drivers with traffic enabled navigation would save 4 days per year and lower their CO2 emissions by 21%

Click here to read the entire press release.

(Sources contributing to this hybrid report: Washington Post; Business Week; Bloomberg)

Boeing Co. said Thursday its long-delayed 787 jetliner will be ready for its maiden test flight by year’s end and its first delivery in the fourth quarter next year.

The initial flight of the next-generation plane, built for fuel efficiency with lightweight carbon composite parts, was originally slated for the fall of 2007. But production problems delayed the passenger jet five times and first deliveries are more than two years behind their original schedule.

After so many false starts, airline customers have grown irritated and analysts skeptical of the company’s timetables for the 787. Billions of dollars in penalties and expenses are expected from the delays, and they’ve hurt the Chicago company’s credibility.

Boeing postponed the new composite-plastic plane for the fifth time June 23, saying no new schedule could be given until it decided how to reinforce sections where the wings join the body after tests revealed unexpected stresses. Boeing has lost about half its market value since the 787’s first delay in October 2007, hurt by parts shortages, defects, redesigns and incomplete work from vendors. Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney has said the company let down customers on its most successful sales campaign ever.

With the 787, Boeing has taken a new approach to building airplanes, relying on overseas suppliers to build huge sections of the plane that are later assembled at the company’s commercial aircraft plant near Seattle.

But ill-fitting parts and other problems have hampered production. The latest delay came in June, when the company said it needed to reinforce areas close to where the wings and fuselage join.

There are 850 of the jets on order even after airlines canceled 73 this year. Boeing is using lightweight composites, instead of aluminum, and more electrical power to increase fuel efficiency on the Dreamliner. The planes have an average price of $178 million.

Boeing also pushed back its production plans today, saying it will ramp up to building 10 Dreamliners a month in late 2013 rather than 2012. The 787-9 version will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2013, executives said on the call. Chief Financial Officer James Bell said in July he was reviewing whether the setbacks had pushed costs above expected revenue in a certain block of sales, which would produce a reach-forward loss.

Engineers are completing the design for the reinforcements of sections along the top of the wing and will begin installing the parts within the next few weeks, Boeing said.

The company and some analysts say the 787 will eventually will prove a financial and technological success.   But Wall Street remains skeptical. The company’s stock price jumped the most since December in New York trading after saying it still expects the 787 Dreamliner program to be profitable following a $2.5 billion third-quarter charge for the delayed plane.  Boeing rose $3.30, or 6.9 percent, to $51.12 at 10:18 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares earlier climbed 9.3 percent, the biggest intraday jump since Dec. 8.

The 787 is Boeing’s first all-new jetliner since the 777, which airlines began flying in 1995.

(Source: USA Today)

A marked decrease in airline travel has made this summer the smoothest in years for fliers accustomed to lengthy delays and snarled traffic.  Overall, it has been a remarkably pleasant summer season for air travelers, who had gotten used to big delays this time of year.

The aviation system is suffering significantly fewer delays than the past two years, according to government data and aviation experts. The lengthiest delays — which cause people to miss connecting flights and trigger the most havoc — are down even more steeply. In May, June and July, delays longer than two hours dropped by more than 25% compared with 2008 and 2007, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The nation’s aviation system is still far from immune to thunderstorms, congestion and unexpected problems: Several jets in recent months were stranded on the ground for hours, prompting angry complaints by passengers. New York’s three airports, which remain more clogged than average, continue to drag down performance across the country, the data show.

Overall, traffic at large airports is down 9% this year compared with last, according to the FAA. Airline restructuring in recent years has been so drastic that airports such as Pittsburgh and St. Louis have seen traffic drop by as much as two-thirds, turning them into veritable airport ghost towns amid the economic downturn. Here are some interesting highlights from the USA Today article.

• There has also been a 9 percent decreaes in overall traffic at large airports, thanks to the high prices of fuel last year and the economic downturn. That trend is expected to continue through Labor Day, when approximately 3.5 percent fewer people are expected to fly compared to last year.
• Cincinnati, which had more than 500,000 arrivals and departures in 2003, is on pace for fewer than 200,000 this year.
• Of the nation’s busiest 31 airports, only two have not improved through June this year compared with a year earlier, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, one of the few airports that has not seen a significant decline in flights, and Newark Liberty International, plagued by that region’s congestion, saw slight increases in delays, according to the data.
• The biggest improvement in on-time performance occurred at O’Hare. Last year through June, only 61% of flights arrived on time at O’Hare. This year, 78% arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival times.

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source articles contributing to this hybrid report: Business Week, CNN, Star Tribune)

A Continental Express pilot tried fervently to get her passengers into the Rochester, Minn., airport on Aug. 8 after being diverted from Minneapolis-St. Paul because of bad weather, according to federal transportation officials. The request was denied by Mesaba Aviation, a unit of Delta Air Lines (DAL), the 47 passengers were stuck on the small regional jet for more than six hours.

Mesaba, based in Eagan, Minnesota and owned by Delta Air Lines, was the only carrier able to assist Continental Flight 2816, which was on its way from Houston, Texas, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, when it was diverted because of strong thunderstorms, LaHood said. The flight’s 47 passengers described crying babies, overflowing toilets and cramped conditions.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said a representative of Mesaba Airlines improperly refused requests by the plane’s captain and crew to let passengers off the plane. They remained stuck on the tarmac in Rochester on August 8 from 12:38 a.m. to about 6 a.m. with nothing but pretzels to eat, LaHood said.

“We have determined that the Express Jet crew was not at fault. In fact, the flight crew repeatedly tried to get permission to deplane the passengers at the airport or obtain a bus for them,” U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in an Aug. 21 statement. “The local representative of Mesaba Airlines improperly refused the requests of the captain to let her passengers off the plane. The representative incorrectly said that the airport was closed to passengers for security reasons, which led to this nightmare for those stuck on the plane.”

“There was a complete lack of common sense here,” LaHood said in a written statement. “It’s no wonder the flying public is so angry and frustrated.”

In audiotapes released by the Transportation Department, the unnamed captain of the aircraft can be heard pleading with an airline dispatcher to find a way to get the passengers off the plane. According to transcripts of transmissions from the cockpit released Friday, the pilot grew frustrated during the course of what she called a “ridiculous” ordeal, in which passengers on the nearly full plane had virtually nothing to eat, and the toilet and babies on board began to smell.

ExpressJet has posted audio files of conversations between the company and airport officials about how to resolve the problem. “There’s nobody willing to do anything,” an ExpressJet official tells the pilot in one phone call. “We have to do something… I just want to get people off the plane if we can’t fly,” the unidentified captain responds. In a later call, the pilot notes that “they’ve had lawsuits about this kind of stuff.”

“I just can’t sit here any longer,” she radioed to ExpressJet dispatchers in Houston. “… There’s no food, and [the passengers are] just getting really unhappy. … We’re stuck here with no lavs, no nothing. … There are lawsuits about this kind of stuff.”

According to a Department of Transportation preliminary report, Mesaba’s representative refused to help passengers off of the plane, incorrectly saying the airport was closed to passengers for security reasons.

The government is also soliciting public comment on whether it ought to mandate a limit on how long people may be left on planes during extended tarmac delays. A final rule from DOT is expected this fall, and the Continental Express-Mesaba imbroglio will figure into the decision, the agency says.

Mesaba is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest Airlines, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.

“Mesaba respectfully disagrees with the DOT’s preliminary findings as they are incongruent with our initial internal review of the incident,” CEO John Spanjers said in a written statement. “Because Continental Express Flight 2816 diverted to an airport where they have no ground handling service, Mesaba offered assistance as a courtesy during this delay.

Delta CEO Richard Anderson said in a statement Friday that he has contacted Continental Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner to “ensure we fully understand the facts of this unfortunate incident. Delta is working with Mesaba to conduct an internal investigation, continue our full cooperation with the DOT and share all the facts with Continental.”

TransportGooru Musings: Amidst this rabid finger pointing exercise, the poor passengers are the ones who are left begging for justice at this juncture! Glad that USDOT is taking a serious look at this issue. MESABA AIRLINES = BIG FAIL!

(Source: BBC, TMC Net, US Infrastructure)

For the first time in more than a quarter-century, a new space vehicle stands ready in NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building. The Ares I-X rocket, its simulated crew module and launch abort system are assembled on a mobile launch platform at Kennedy in preparation for launch this fall.  Ares I rocket is a key component of Nasa’s next-generation space transportation system.

Image Courtesy: NASA

“More than three years of hard work with the NASA and contractor team has brought us to this historic moment,” said Bob Ess, Ares I-X mission manager. “This flight test is a critical step in continuing our design process for the Ares vehicle and the first flight for the Constellation Program.” The Ares I-X is wired with more than 700 sensors to gather data during the two-and-a-half minute flight test. The launch will provide NASA an early opportunity to test and prove hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I crew launch vehicle. The data collected during the launch will allow NASA to gather critical data during ascent of the integrated Orion spacecraft and the Ares I rocket.

The Ares I rocket will be used to launch the Orion capsule, the next man-controlled space craft destined to take over from the Space Shuttle.

The craft was finished a few days ago with the final elements being constructed on the 13 August; them being the stacking of the simulated crew module and launch abort system on the mobile launcher platform. Below is the presser from NASA on this topic (courtesy of PRnewswire.com).

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — For the first time in more than a quarter-century a new space vehicle stands ready in NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building. The Ares I-X rocket, its simulated crew module and launch abort system are assembled on a mobile launch platform at Kennedy in preparation for launch this fall.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO)

The final segments of the Ares I-X were stacked on Aug. 13, completing the 327-foot launch vehicle and providing the first look at the finished rocket’s distinctive shape. The Ares I-X flight test is targeted for Oct. 31.

“More than three years of hard work with the NASA and contractor team has brought us to this historic moment,” said Bob Ess, Ares I-X mission manager. “This flight test is a critical step in continuing our design process for the Ares vehicle and the first flight for the Constellation Program.”

The Ares I-X is wired with more than 700 sensors to gather data during the two-and-a-half minute flight test. The launch will provide NASA an early opportunity to test and prove hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I crew launch vehicle. The data collected during the launch will allow NASA to gather critical data during ascent of the integrated Orion spacecraft and the Ares I rocket.

Now that the Ares I-X is assembled, numerous evaluations will be run on all the rocket systems, including complex instruments that will constantly measure the vehicle’s movements as it launches and the first stage separates. The evaluations include a process called “modal testing,” which will shake the stack slightly to test stiffness of the rocket, including the pinned and bolted joints.

Video B-roll of the Ares I-X will be available on NASA Television’s Video File feed. For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

To follow Ares I-X processing on Twitter, visit:

http://twitter.com/NASA_Ares_I_X

For more information about the Ares I-X and NASA’s next-generation spacecraft, visit.

http://www.nasa.gov/ares

Foreword: TransportGooru is thankful to Mr. Glenn Havinoviski, a great supporter and an occasional editorial contributor (See Glenn’s Career profile below) for this review.  Recently, Glenn traveled from Washington, DC to San Antonio for a business event.  Enroute , he was updating his LinkedIn.com status message which read “Glenn is attending the ITE meeting in San Antonio this week! And typing this while enjoying inflight wi-fi (free for now)…..”  In a few minutes of this update, I wrote to him asking if he would like to write a review of this in-flight service and he gladly agreed and offered to send his review upon return.  As promised, Glenn promptly sent his input and TransprtGooru is glad to share that with all of you.  Upon reading, please register your comments so that Glenn will get to know what you all thought of his review.

Review by: Glenn Havinoviski

Delta has been redeeming themselves lately with their competitive fares (compared to United) out of Washington Dulles Airport, an advantage slightly tarnished by the chronic delays and crowding at their hub in Atlanta. They are now entering the 21st Century thanks to their embracing of Internet access.

THE HISTORY

Wi-fi in the sky is not new. About 5 years ago, Lufthansa tried mid-air Internet access with the Connexion service by Boeing on 66 of its 80 long-range jets, on occasion even handing out one-hour-free cards at the gate in Frankfurt or on the plane. Of course, on an 8-hour flight, that only gets you so far. I recall it was about $18 per flight if you wanted it the whole time. The service, which worked well the times I used it, died about 3 years after it started, given Boeing could not make it profitable thanks to the cost of maintaining their magic satellites as well as the half-ton of equipment on each plane with the service. (It didn’t help that the US airlines were not in the wi-fi game at that point to help amortize those satellite costs.) Connexion was pretty fast for downloads (3 MBps) but uploads (at 128 kbps) were somewhat slow. Not having in-seat power on Lufty was a minus as well.

THE AIRLINES MOVE FORWARD

Fast forward to 2009. Airlines have discovered the concept of supply and demand (at the expense of the casual flyer), and now suddenly have resources even in today’s sickly economy.

Aircell offers the GoGo wireless service on American, Delta, Airtran and Virgin America using a network of ground stations instead of satellites (meaning other services are needed for overseas flights), and 1 TB servers on each plane with relatively low cost wiring and antennas throughout the craft. Gogo is a much more compact solution than Connexion. Aircell claims they can equip a plane overnight with all the GoGo equipment.

Airtran and Virgin America have it on all their planes, American is ramping up to include the service on most planes and Delta promises to put it on 300 domestic aircraft by the end of the year. Stingy United will offer GoGo only on its premium JFK-LAX and JFK-SFO services.

As for other services, Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue are trying out free wi-fi on a handful of planes. US Airways is a no-show in the Wi-Fi derby. In the meantime, Lufthansa is firing up its old Connexion infrastructure (including the satellites) with the help of T-Mobile.

MY EXPERIENCE

Delta’s service is $9.95 (flights < 3 hours) and $12.95 (flights > 3 hrs), but if you happen to be transferring in Atlanta, perky college-age guys and gals clad in black with GoGo Wireless duffel bags will hand you one or two cards inviting you to try it out for free for a day of travel (they expire 9/30). Three of the four Delta flights I was on had the wi-fi. All of those planes were MD-88’s. The one plane that didn’t was a 757 (which inexplicably had a video on board explaining how to use the non-existent wi-fi service on that plane).

On my trip to San Antonio, I changed in Atlanta and promptly received my freebie card from the perky co-ed. I used the service on the ATL-SAT leg and will report on it below. On the way back, they had the service but I didn’t have the freebie card and didn’t feel like paying $12.95, considering I had finished with the ITE meeting and pretty much took care of my emails with my iPhone while on the ground. At Atlanta a pair of freshly scrubbed college kids in Gogo black gave me two cards, which I’ve saved for future use (between now and 9/30 when they expire), given the lack of Wi-fi on the 757 which served the last leg of the trip, from ATL to IAD.

THE REVIEW

GOOD: I didn’t have to upload anything, so I couldn’t tell how slow that might be (as before, uploads are much slower than downloads). But I was able to handle emails, grab stuff off the web, and do a few electronic payments. Really just like my home network. Of course having it for free was whipped cream on my strawberry cheesecake.

BAD: MD-88’s do not carry power connections. As my battery on my Dell lasts for 5 hours, not a biggie. Unfortunately, as with every service you start from scratch with, you launch Internet Explorer and get taken to a welcome screen to GoGo, which in turn makes you go-go through 2-3 pages of info you have to fill out (name, email, the usual assorted data as well as credit card if you are paying to use the service, discount code if you have a card, and of course the disclaimer at the end you have to acknowledge). Also bad is that it’s not on every plane yet.

I did not tsubscribe to the wifi on my iPhone though, although it was a strong, accessible signal – it would have been another sign-up.

Overall though – kudos to the airlines for utilizing services which have lightened up on the on-board infrastructure for domestic travel. As long as they keep Skype and voice-based cellular service off planes, I’ll be a happy camper. Technology is good.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

About Glenn Havinoviski: Glenn is an Associate VP

, Transportation Systems at Iteris in Sterling, VA and is a registered PE.   Until recently, he was an Associate Vice President and ITS Group Director for HNTB Corporation in the Arlington, Virginia office. His 27 years of experience (25 in consulting, 2 in the public sector) include serving as both a practice builder and a practice leader, providing project management and technical leadership for ITS and traffic management projects in the US and abroad.Glenn N. Havinoviski, PE joined Iteris in Sterling, VA on July 6 as Associate VP, Transportation Systems, after serving as Associate Vice President and ITS Group Director for HNTB Corporation in the Arlington, Virginia office. His 27 years of experience (25 in consulting, 2 in the public sector) include serving as both a practice builder and a practice leader, providing project management and technical leadership for ITS and traffic management projects in the US and abroad.

(Source: Reuters via Yahoo, Times of India)

Shah Rukh Khan, 43, one of India’s best known actors, was enroute to Chicago for a parade to mark the Indian independence day on Saturday when he was pulled aside at Newark airport Friday, he said. The Indian Bollywood star said he felt angry and humiliated after he was detained and questioned at a U.S. airport, sparking an uproar in India among his fans.

“I was really hassled perhaps because of my name being Khan. These guys just wouldn’t let me through,” he said in a text message to reporters in India.

After a couple of hours’ interrogation, he was allowed to make a call, he said, and he got in touch with the Indian consulate who vouched for him and secured his release.

“Absolutely uncalled for, I think. I felt angry and humiliated,” said Khan, who had just finished a month-long shoot in the United States for his upcoming film “My Name is Khan,” which is about a Muslim man’s experience with racial profiling.

SRK, as the actor star is known by his popular acronym, was asked to indeed step aside for a ”secondary inspection” at Newark’s ironically named (in this context) Liberty International airport on Friday en route to an event to celebrate India’s Independence Day in Chicago, President Barack Obama’s hometown. But that was only after a ”primary inspection.”

A ”secondary inspection” is when the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer manning the immigration counter asks a visitor (or even a US citizen) to move to a separate area for questioning if he cannot initially verify the visitor’s information or does not have all of the required documentation, so as to not hold up the rest of the queue.

Indian and US officials rushed into damage control mode after word came in from Khan’s family that that the actor had been ”detained” and Khan’s vast fan base went ballistic. Timothy Roemer, the new US ambassador in New Delhi whose first week on the job it is, said he was trying to ascertain what exactly had happened at Liberty, and that Shah Rukh Khan was a global icon whose film were much loved even by Americans and he was always welcome in the US.

But Khan, from all accounts, doesn’t feel so welcome and says he will review his plans to visit the US again. In a slew of media interviews after the incident, he said his papers were in order, it seemed to be a case of religious profiling, and the incident was a ”little embarrassing” for an entertainer of his stature.

The incident comes days after a US government panel, gratuitously in the eyes of many Indians, panned New Delhi for its “inadequate protection of religious minorities,” even as the US President and Secretary of State lavished praise on Indian democracy on the occasion of the country’s Independence Day on August 15. It also comes on the heels of the flap over security procedures former President APJ Abdul Kalam has been subjected to in violation of protocol.

But there is an American side to the story too. US officials who have spoken to this correspondent on the subject in the past feel that some Indian visitors are needlessly huffy about routine security procedures, and there is a broad cultural mismatch or misunderstanding between the two countries in their view of rules and authority. India, one official said, has too much of a ”VIP culture” that gives some people a false sense of privilege and entitlement that does not sit well in a world of ever increasing security threats. Even minor delays and inconveniences are exaggerated and conflated into major protocol breaches by some Indians.

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: Flight Global & eweek.com)

Promising the fastest Wi-Fi in the sky, Row 44’s satellite-based airline broadband service wins operating approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

In a move that could usher in a new era for airborne communications the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has green-lighted Row 44’s application to operate an aeronautical mobile-satellite service (AMSS) in the conventional Ku-band segment.

The award, being heralded by Row 44 as “a major victory”, comes one month after Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines urged the FCC to finally approve the California-based firm’s application, which had come under persistent fire from would-be rival ViaSat.

Alaska and Southwest are trialing Row 44’s high-speed broadband system on a total five Boeing 737s. Their ability to expand the service fleet-wide hinged upon the approval of Row 44’s application.

As recently as 29 July, ViaSat asked the FCC to refrain from granting authority to Row 44. But Row 44 persevered, learning this week that it had received the crucial operating license from the FCC.

The license, together with the license already granted to Row 44 in Canada and a ‘right to operate’ agreement in Mexico, allows Row 44 to provide uninterrupted airborne Internet service throughout the North American continent, and brings it ever closer to providing near global coverage.

The FCC ruling states :

With this Order, we grant blanket authority to Row 44, Inc. (Row 44) for domestic operation of up to 1,000 technically identical transmit/receive aircraft earth stations in the Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Service (AMSS). The aircraft earth stations will operate in the conventional Ku-band, transmitting in 14.05-14.47 GHz and receiving in 11.7-12.2 GHz. We also grant Row 44 a waiver of the U.S. Table of Frequency Allocations (Table of Allocations) to permit its operations in the 11.7-12.2 GHz band. These earth stations will be used to communicate via leased transponders on three geostationary satellites: Horizon 1 at 127º W.L., operated by Intelsat LLC; and AMC-2 at 101º W.L. and AMC-9 at 83º W.L., operated by SES Americom, Inc. Today’s grant will allow Row 44 to provide two-way, in-flight broadband services to passengers and flight crews aboard commercial airliners and private aircraft. We believe that implementation of Row 44’s AMSS system, pursuant to this authorization, will enhance competition in an important sector of the mobile telecommunications market in the United States.

Row 44 holds the distinction of being the first Ku-band-based connectivity service provider to operate in the commercial sector following the late 2006 demise of Connexion by Boeing.

The Row 44 system provides downlink data rates averaging 30M bps and 620K bps maximum in the uplink direction. Along with providing broadband for passengers, Row 44’s technology also provides airlines a broadband link for operational data. The system weighs less than 150 pounds.

Aircell, Row 44’s competitor in providing airline Wi-Fi, uses ground-to-airplane technology. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin America are using Aircell technology on selected flights and AirTrans plans to deploy broadband Internet access using Aircell on every flight across its entire fleet of Boeing 737 and 717 aircraft.

Row 44’s major system components include a low-profile antenna mounted to the top of the fuselage. Four compact line-replaceable units are installed above the cabin headlining just below the antenna: a server management unit, a high power amplifier, an antenna control unit and a modem data unit. To distribute a Wi-Fi signal, one or more wireless access units are placed in the airplane cabin.

Row 44 claims its satellite-based system provides the fastest Wi-Fi in the air. The system is supported by the global infrastructure of Hughes Network Systems. “No longer will an airline be forced to accept an unattractive compromise between the performance it can offer and the service price it must charge,” Row 44’s CEO John Guidon said.

While North American regulators do not currently permit in-flight mobile phone calls or SMS text messaging, the Row 44 system will support these services, notes Row 44. It says it intends to offer these services to airline customers throughout the world, wherever such activities are permitted and requested by airlines.

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: Flight Global & USAF – WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE)

The US Air Force Research Laboratory is making final preparations for a four-flight scramjet test programme that it hopes will prove that achieving hypersonic thrust is more than “just luck”.

Image Courtesy: USAF - WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE. Staff Sgt. Jonathan Young with the 412th Maintenance Group prepares to upload the X-51A WaveRider hypersonic flight test vehicle to a B-52 for fit testing at Edwards Air Force Base on July 17. Two B-52 flights, one captive carriage and one dress rehearsal, are planned this fall prior to the X-51's first hypersonic scramjet flight over the Pacific Ocean scheduled in December. The Air Force Research Laboratory, DARPA, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and Boeing are partnering on the X-51A technology demonstrator program. (Air Force photo by Chad Bellay)

First flight of the expendable X-51A vehicle is set for December, with three subsequent 300s flights to follow at four- to six-week intervals, barring failures. The flights will examine scramjet performance in acceleration from Mach 4 to M6 after launch from the wing of a Boeing B-52H.

The $246.5 million, six-year programme is a year behind schedule, but carries high hopes for the hypersonics community. USAF X-51A programme manager Charlie Brink told the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ 45th Joint Propulsion Conference in Denver: “We want more flight success to show [achieving hypersonic thrust] isn’t just luck. There is no plan for a follow-on programme [to X-51A]. It is a question of when not if, but [the hypersonics community] have to be successful.”

Image Courtesy: USAF - WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE. The X-51A WaveRider hypersonic flight test vehicle was uploaded to an Air Force Flight Test Center B-52 for fit testing at Edwards Air Force Base on July 17. Two B-52 flights, one captive carriage and one dress rehearsal, are planned this fall prior to the X-51's first hypersonic scramjet flight over the Pacific Ocean scheduled in December. The Air Force Research Laboratory, DARPA, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and Boeing are partnering on the X-51A technology demonstrator program. (Air Force photo by Chad Bellay)

During the flight test, currently planned Dec. 2, the Air Force Flight Test Center’s B-52 will carry the X-51A to 50,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean then release it. A solid rocket booster from an Army tactical missile system then will ignite and accelerate the X-51 to about Mach 4.5. Then, the supersonic combustion ramjet propulsion system will propel the vehicle for five minutes to more than Mach 6. Hypersonic combustion generates intense heat so routing of the engine’s own JP-7 fuel will help keep the engine at the desired operating temperature.

Engineers expect a great deal will be learned about hypersonic flight during the nearly 300 seconds under scramjet power. The longest-ever previous scramjet test, lasted only about 10 seconds, Brink said. As the engine ignites it will initially burn a mix of ethylene and JP-7 before switching exclusively to JP-7 fuel.

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