Entries from April 2010 ↓

Problems with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s far-flung supply chain are now causing parts shortages that have translated into an early delay in the airliner’s production. The company has announced that Dreamliners number 23 and 24 will be held up for about 24 days as it attempts to resolve production or delivery problems at a small number of the program’s many, often distant, small parts suppliers. Boeing did not indicate that the interruption would result in any short term layoffs. There are currently 866 of the jets on order and Boeing was, until this interruption, answering that with two finished Dreamliners per month even as flight testing continues. The manufacturer didn’t name names, but last year bought Vought Aircraft Industries in Charleston, S.C., after that supplier failed to meet the 787 program’s demands. The Wall Street Journal reported that the former Vought facility and a Dreamliner parts supplier in Italy have been involved in recent supply chain kinks.

A video available on Vimeo.com shows the visual representation of air traffic over Europe as it is affected by and recovers from flight restrictions imposed in the wake Iceland’s April volcano eruption. The video covers, in 54 seconds, the six day span from April 16 to April 21 as the region dealt with a traveling volcanic ash cloud overhead. It does have a few gaps in coverage due to lack of data from France and over the Atlantic. But the imagery creates clear visual contrasts between the virtual shut down of activity on the 16th and its slow resumption thereafter that, by one analyst’s account, helped cause the disruption of eight percent of global trade. As the region’s activity begins to ramp up to its roughly 25,000 flight per day norm it’s also easy to see the relative inactivity as days turn to night. Video after the jump…

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense in general aviation.

It will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to not fly into a storm, life isn’t always fair, and maybe it was pilot error. Common Sense lived by simple, sound principals, including “follow the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance practices” and “the pilot is in charge.”

Its health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Those who filed lawsuits because engines quit when they ran out of fuel and airplanes actually require maintenance only worsened its condition.

Common Sense lost ground when people moved next to busy airports and then sued because airplanes kept flying near their properties.

Read more…

===> Posted on April 29, 2010 by Ben Visser. No comments. © GAN 2010