This year was the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War but in the following episode (51º South: Pigs Will Fly and Penguins Too) from documentary 51º South, pilot Troyd Bowles describes what its like to fly for The Falkland Islands Government Air Service (FIGAS) which provides non-scheduled air services throughout the Falkland Islands. FIGAS is a vital lifeline for the islanders and especially for the rural farmers in the archipelago who use the airline to bring in vital supplies. And while Troyd has flown everything from penguins to reindeer, he says his worst passengers are piglets as their smell can be difficult to stand while flying and tends to linger long after they have disembarked!
The best 2012 Farnborough Air Show PR videos: Airbus or Boeing?
Both the Airbus and Boeing PR teams have gone all out to cover their activity at the 2012 Farnborough Air Show with videos offering highlights for each day of the show. However and as you can see from the following videos, the PR teams of both Airbus and Boeing took radically different approaches to get their respective messages across with Airbus daily highlight videos having no commentary and just plenty of great aircraft videos set to music while Boeing’s daily highlight videos sound like a commercial intended for Wall Street analysts:
Day One at the 2012 Farnborough Air Show
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP89bIwFAMU&w=480]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKydeOcQZ9Q&w=480]
Day Two at the 2012 Farnborough Air Show
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIzlTu6ltDM&w=480]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BBxWO9MZa0&w=480]
Day Three at the 2012 Farnborough Air Show
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqgUKiWm8c0&w=480]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPqO9Jdo_Lw&w=480]
Day Four at the 2012 Farnborough Air Show
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pylVH3MloF8&w=480]
I should mention there are plenty of dry Airbus videos on their YouTube channel as well as on the Boeing YouTube channel. Nevertheless, who do you think should win an award for having the best or most effective 2012 Farnborough Air Show PR videos, Airbus or Boeing? Feel free to tell us in the comments section below…
Get ready for British robotic pilots
If you think British aviation innovation is a thing of the past, think again. Richard Gray, the Science Correspondent for The Telegraph, has written an interesting article about his experiences as the one of the first members of the public to fly aboard an aircraft with a robotic pilot that’s part of a UK government and industry initiative. The aircraft is being tested in British airspace to see how well the robotic pilots can detect and avoid another small aircraft that’s flown towards it on a collision course.
Thanks to on board cameras, the robotic pilot system is able to pick up fast jets, parachutists and even birds. It can then quickly calculate the course these threats are on and determine the chances for a collision.
Richard wrote that during five or six simulations, the robotic pilot was able to bank the aircraft gently to avoid having a collision. In fact, the closest the aircraft came to having one was 1,200 feet.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail recently had an article about BAE System’s Mantis fighter jet that will be able to fly on its own for 24 hours with neither a cockpit nor a pilot on board.
Flight tests are set for next year and if everything goes according to plan, it could mean the end of British fighter pilots along with conventional aircraft like the F-35. In other words, too much British aviation innovation is a bad thing!
Highlights from the 2012 Royal International Air Tattoo
Last weekend, RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire hosted the 2012 Royal International Air Tattoo, the world’s biggest military air show which also celebrated its 41st year. This is Gloucestershire has a couple of slideshows of pictures from this year’s Air Tatoo while the BBC had noted that 150,000 visitors had attended it last year.
Meanwhile, AINonline pointed out that approximately 250 military aircraft from 25 countries along with air chiefs from more than 40 countries were in attendence this year while 20 aerospace firms had also taken up hospitality suites. Some of the aircraft and no doubt many of the attendees are now at Farnborough International Airshow.
If you missed this year’s Air Tattoo, a quick search of YouTube reveals a number of videos plus there is the RIATOfficial’s channel. Below are a couple of professionally made videos of the event:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd4P87CtGnQ&w=480]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkbUZVAovSM&w=480]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tkEBPYedzM&w=480]
British Airways’ 2012 London Olympic games advertisement
Hat tip to Devesh Agarwal for finding and posting on his Bangalore Aviation blog this advertisement from British Airways that was created in support of the 2012 London Olympic games. In addition, the second video explains the idea behind the advertisement:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6VzhDE1Wso&w=480]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elp2cabTkU0&w=480]
A closer look at the Solar Impulse
Last Tuesday, Bertrand Piccard, a 54-year-old Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist, completed a 19-hour flight from Madrid to Morocco in his solar-powered Solar Impulse. The transcontinental flight was intended to be a warm-up flight for a round-the-world tour in 2014.
The Solar Impulse is truly solar as it has 12,000 solar cells in the wings to turn four electrical motors. That also means that the Solar Impulse has a wingspan the size of a Boeing 747 but it weighs about the same as a family car. Moreover, the aircraft flies around 45 kilometers (28 miles) per hour at an altitude where oxygen and temperatures that can drop as low as minus 29 degrees Celsius (minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit) – meaning an oxygen mask is needed in order to breath.
Naturally, the Solar Impulse team has put together a few videos to show how their aircraft works and the following ones are worth noting:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JM2DWkqGp8&w=480]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCqiSuTY2lA&w=480]