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Article source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-29/indonesia-says-lion-air-jet-lost-contact-on-way-to-pangkalpinang
Aerospace giant Boeing’s share price dropped nearly 7 percent Monday after one of its newest planes careened into the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia with 189 people on board.
The new Boeing 737 Max 8 was operated by Lion Air, the Indonesian budget airline that has emerged as an important international customer at a time when the Chicago-based company is hoping to expand its sales in Southeast Asia.
Lion Air had only recently been cleared to fly to the European Union. As one of the largest budget airlines in Southeast Asia, it is considered a key player in a fast-growing market for commercial air travel.
With an investigation into the cause of the crash in its earliest phases, it is not known whether the crash was caused by mechanical problems, human error or something else. According to news reports, Lion Air Group chief executive Edward Sirait said Monday that the plane had a technical issue on a previous flight but that it had been resolved “according to
Article source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/10/29/boeing-stock-plunges-after-its-plane-goes-down-indonesia/
Brightly colored molecular models line two walls of Yet-Ming Chiang’s office at MIT. Chiang, a materials science professor and serial battery entrepreneur, has spent much of his career studying how slightly different arrangements of those sticks and spheres add up to radically different outcomes in energy storage.
But he and his colleagues are taking a different approach to reach their next goal, altering not the composition of the batteries but the alignment of the compounds within them. By applying magnetic forces to straighten the tortuous path that lithium ions navigate through the electrodes, the scientists believe, they could significantly boost the rate at which the device discharges electricity.
That shot of power could open up a use that has long eluded batteries: meeting the huge demands of a passenger aircraft at liftoff. If it works as hoped, it would enable regional commuter flights that don’t burn fuel or produce direct climate emissions.
Chiang has partnered with battery scientist Venkat Viswanathan, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon, on the research project. Together they’re working with engineers at 24M, the lithium-ion battery manufacturer Chiang cofounded in 2010, and Zunum Aero, an aircraft startup based in Bothell, Washington, to develop and test prototype batteries specifically designed for the needs of an advanced hybrid plane.
Eliminating greenhouse-gas emissions from airplanes is one of the hardest challenges in the climate puzzle. Air travel accounts for around 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions and is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse-gas pollution.
But
Article source: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612351/top-battery-scientists-have-a-plan-to-electrify-flight-and-slash-airline-emissions/
Constantly smiling, known for helping a friend, and most often seen flying a radio-controlled plane; that’s Chuck Hocking. With a variety of interests, skills, and qualities, his No. 1 hobby is building and flying radio controlled (RC) model airplanes.
At age 91, he’s found that his golden years are the perfect time to fuel his passion. Since childhood, Hocking has been into model airplanes. He’s built many over the years. He had a fulfilling career as an AV coordinator and industrial arts teacher at Oconomowoc High School, but he’s always been surrounded by technology.
After retirement, his interest in planes and mechanics led him to the flying field north of Oconomowoc. He’d spend time watching people fly RC planes, and it was then, about 25 years ago, that his interest was reignited. He was intrigued by the setup of the RC field, which is adjacent to a larger airport with a grass landing strip and north-south runway. With a grin, he refers to it as “Oconomowoc International, one of the best places to spend time.”
Each time he’d go to watch he’d chat with those flying their RC planes. He’d ask questions, learn more about this or that, and marvel at the flights. Eventually, someone said, “Jeez, Chuck, why don’t you just quit asking so many questions and join the club already?” And so
Article source: https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/lake-country/2018/10/30/dousman-man-enjoys-radio-controlled-planes-91/1818855002/
Zadar (Photo: Ivo Biocina/Croatian National Tourist Board)
By Josipa Zekanovic
The prestigious tourist destination of Zadar now becomes also a very important spot on the map for aircraft education. Foreign and domestic pilots will learn how to operate flights on planes worth 5 million euros.
Starting next year there is a chance to sign up at the Zadar Aviation Center and attend an educational programme to become a civilian airplane pilot.
According to the latest statistics, there is a deficit in professional airplane pilots and with this programme, Croatia is set to be a magnet for all students worldwide. The education concept will definitely be on an international level, instructors will provide lessons and practice in the English language. All instructors are highly educated and skilled, also their aircraft experience plays a huge role in this programme.
The Zadar Aviation Center first opened last year and now the process of issuing necessary infrastructure licenses for this project are in place. The centre’s founders purchased 2200 m2 of construction land in Zemunik Gornji near Zadar and will construct an educational and practice facility there.
Zadar Aviation Center (Photo: Josipa Zekanovic)
The concept is supported by companies in Oman who will send students from the Middle East to Zadar to attend the programme.
Besides a flight programme, IT and advertising and sales in the aircraft world
Article source: https://www.croatiaweek.com/civilian-pilot-school-opening-in-zadar/
DJI’s AirWorks bills itself as much more than a showcase of drone industry insight. The event also mentioned it would provide attendees with the opportunity to connect with people who are actually using drone technology to improve operational efficiencies in real, practical ways. In an airport hangar at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, we got a look at one of those practical applications that could change expectations around how airplanes across the country are inspected.
At an American Airlines hangar, teams and executives from both American Airlines and DJI showcased how the new DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise could be used to inspect an airplane in order to identify potential damage or other issues that need the attention of technicians. This proof of concept inspection showed off what it would mean for those technicians to get this information in real-time while also creating a model that could eventually be fully automated.
American Airlines technicians currently use an aerial lift to inspect airplanes in a process that takes three people many hours to complete. It’s also time that the plane has to remain on the ground and can cause or lead to delays and canceled flights, which can be an especially frustrating cost when the inspection finds nothing wrong with the airplane. Using a drone to find and identify potential issues could cut that time in half and allow technicians to address these issues in a much quicker manner.
The team is planning to use known issues to create classifiers that will
Article source: https://www.expouav.com/news/latest/inspecting-airplane-dji-mavic-2-enterprise/
Edward Sirait, chief executive of Lion Air Group, told Reuters: “We don’t dare to say what the facts are, or are not, yet.
“We are also confused about the why, since it was a new plane.”
The plane had had a technical problem on a previous flight, he said, but it had been resolved “according to procedure”.
The crash is the first to be reported involving the widely sold Boeing 737 MAX, an updated, more fuel-efficient version of the manufacturer’s workhorse single-aisle jet.
Lion Air, which is the largest low-cost airline in Indonesia, said its pilot and co-pilot together were very experienced and had accumulated 11,000 hours of flying time.
Article source: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/739275/Lion-Air-plane-crash-Boeing-737-latest-updates-Jakarta-Pangkal-Pinang-Indonesia
