Swiss Airbus 340: The Making of the San Francisco Livery

A video showing the making of the A-340 with "flower power" livery. Swiss Airlines used this plane to inaugurate the San Francisco to Zurich route June 2, 2010.

United Picks Up San Francisco - St.Louis Route

United Airlines announced Thursday it will pick up operations between San Francisco and St. Louis (STL). The new once-daily flight begins February 11, 2010, operated by an Airbus 319 aircraft.

Last month, American announced huge forthcoming cuts at STL to destinations across the country, including to SFO. The AA timetable no longer shows nonstop service between SFO and STL beyond April 5, 2010.

Remote-Controlled Airbus 330 Evening Exhibition Show

Now this truly looks like hours...err, days of nonstop fun. In this video a remote-controlled Airbus 330 performing a touch-and-go, then later in the movie performs another landing and slowly proceeds back to the crowds for a photo shoot. The careful attention to detail, such as the lighting and engine sounds are incredible and bring life to the plane. Other videos around YouTube include RC Airbus 380, A340 and other popular "birds." Enjoy - and thanks Jason for forwarding this.

Why Chesley Sullenberger III May be the Last of His Kind

Guest Contribution
New York Magazine

By landing his Airbus A-320 in the Hudson River without a single loss of life, Captain Chesley Sullenberger might have officially brought the golden age of the heroic pilot to a close, as automation takes much of the actual flying out of the job and the piloting ranks are filled with fewer Air Force veterans. As one longtime pilot says, “Twenty-five years ago, we were a step below astronauts. Now we’re a step above bus drivers. And the bus drivers have a better pension.”

Sully has been in the business long enough to witness firsthand the domestication of the airline pilot. In the early days, pilots were largely uneducated farm boys or blue-collar kids who left home to become barnstormers. Some might never have spent a minute in flight school or read a flying manual. But as commercial air travel began rapidly expanding, the airlines embraced the image of the heroic captain, the distinguished man in uniform you can trust with your life. The industry paid top dollar for a new generation of service-academy-educated aviators, many of whom had been through Vietnam. This was Sully’s generation. By the seventies, as many as 80 percent of commercial-airline pilots had served in the military. “When Sully first got hired,” says Keith Hagy, the director of engineering and air safety for the Air Line Pilots Association, the pilots’ union, “he probably made a pile of money.”

The airlines liked military pilots, in part, because “the government had done all that work for them,” says Don Skiados, who has worked closely with pilots for 40 years as a past chairman of the Aviation Accreditation Board International. The military had already tested the pilots’ psychological abilities, emotional traits, knowledge base, reaction time, and ability to make judgments. The only downside of the military background was that the pilots were, by necessity, trained to be risk-takers. “The approach to the mission is that this is war,” says Bob Ober, who worked as a pilot for Pan Am for 25 years and Delta for 10. “We gotta go. It doesn’t matter if certain things are inoperative, we’re gonna take some risks.”

Since that time, pilot culture has done almost a 180. The maverick pilot has given way to the professional—the captain who knows how to put aside his ego and not take unnecessary risks. The change began when the military started downsizing after Vietnam and its talent pool dried up. The pilots of the military made room for a generation of pilots largely educated in flight schools offering four-year degree programs. Candidates racked up flight hours on small commuter planes over Albuquerque and Toledo, not in fighter jets.

The planes also began to change. Where a Vietnam-era pilot could fly more or less by stick and rudder, today’s pilots fly primarily by computer. Sully, for instance, was flying the Airbus 320. On older aircraft, a pilot pulls back on a wheel attached to cables that literally pull the plane up. On an Airbus 320, he pulls back a joystick that sends a signal to the computer’s auto-throttle. If he’s doing it wrong, the computer often corrects him, thrusting if he doesn’t do it soon enough, never stalling if he pulls back too hard. Takeoff has preprogrammed speeds; the pilot just moves a lever into a notch. Practically everything about the Airbus assumes the human factor to be the most dangerous thing about the flight. Incredibly, you can go on autopilot from as low as 100 feet in the air. Although some pilots worry about overreliance on technology and the distractions it can cause, most like a tricked-out plane. Still, there’s no getting around the fact that automation has taken control away from pilots. It’s the same with regard to air-traffic controllers and airline operations. Pilots used to have to navigate themselves; now it’s all done with GPS systems. Pilots used to have more discretion over takeoff times and maintenance decisions; now they’re frequently overruled.

Read on at http://nymag.com/news/features/53788/

Passenger Jet Makes Historic Landing in...Antarctica

A passenger jet has made a historic landing on a new blue ice runway in Australia's Antarctic territory and regular flights are expected to start within a week, officials said Wednesday.

But trips on the Airbus A319 to the Wilkins Runway will be for scientists and research staff only, with no plans to open the airlink to tourists, project manager Charlton Clark told AFP


Full Story from AFP

The Airbus 380, wrapping up its short publicity gig at SFO will be heading to France this afternoon. When the A380 departs, they plan to maneuver in the vicinity of the City of San Francisco near Aquatic Park (230-3pm), utilizing the Fleet Week Airshow area for approximately 30 minutes before leaving. They will have a chase aircraft taking photos of them. The location and altitudes of the maneuvers may cause some public inquiries, as this area is not usually flown over at low altitudes by large aircraft. San Francisco Tower has coordinated the operations with the airport public relations and noise abatement offices.

Airbus 380 SuperJumbo to land at SFO later this morning

The brand-spankin' new 525 passenger Airbus 380 aircraft has been making appearances around the world the past couple months, and San Francisco is the next stop. At 9:40 Tuesday morning, the SuperJumbo will make history by touching down at SFO. Hundreds of media and invite-only guests for the event will also be treated to viewing SFO's new triple passenger loading bridge.

History about to unfold: Airbus 380 flies in October

The grand mamma/pappa (you can choose the gender) of planes will soon be put into service for everyone to enjoy. This will truly be an amazing moment in aviation history. The Airbus-380 will begin flying passengers by the end of October.

First though, Singapore Airlines will auction off their inaugural flight to some lucky folks through eBay. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to charity organizations.

More information can be found here.

Which plane picture hasn't been altered?

OK, a break in the news to test your airplane and photoshop skills out. Which of these 4 plane pix has NOT been altered and is in fact a true flying machine? Answer below.























Source: IndianSpencer

(keep going....answer below)


Answer: all of them have been photoshoped. See IndianSpencer's blog for more pics

First Airbus 380 Flight to be sold to charity
Singapore Airlines, the first commercial airliner to fly the long awaited double-decker Jumbo Airbus 380 airplane is auctioning off seats for their first flight scheduled for October 2007. Money raised will be donated to charity organizations.

Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Officer, Chew Choon Seng says "the first commercial A380 flight will be a moment in aviation history. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, on an aircraft that will mark a new chapter in air travel"
Click here for more information or to place a bid

September 11, 2006 NEWSLETTER

Good day and good night to all. Here is the latest INflightOUT newsletter. Note the new address i'm sending it from; to reduce the spam-o-grams into my personal account where these newsletters were previously dispatched from. As always, muchas gracias amigos for the positive feedback and offerings related to this newsletter. It's a pleasure to make it for ya. Feel free to forward to friends. -Mike

150 easy American Airlines miles for watching a 2 minute video clip on Bose Noise-Cancelling headphones.

Mileage News
Next month United begins charging $50/$75 fees for travelers redeeming United miles within 14 and 7 days of departure date. This may be to encourage last minute travelers to buy the more expensive (last minute) fares rather than using miles. Fee not applicable to 1K's and up. Similar fees are charged by other airlines as well. United continues however to allow free changes to award tickets - should your travel needs require it. A huge plus for the United mileage plus program.

American Airlines Short Hops allow for a 10,000 mile reduction when redeeming miles for flights of 750 miles or less. Valid through February 2007.
Example, SFO-LOS ANGELES or SANTA ANA or NEW YORK-BOSTON, CHICAGO OR MONTREAL, Canada ( normally requires 25,000 miles to redeem, but under this promotion is only 15,000 miles. Similar to the United promo running through 2006.


Double Southwest Airlines RapidReward credits for college students up to age 23 (not us old folk still in college) who sign up for RR program. Forward this deal to a young'un you might know. =)

$50 off now Orbitz.com Hotel bookings + another bonus later. Good coupon!
Book a hotel or hotel + flight package for 3+ nights by October 8, 2006 and receive $50 off instantly when you use SAVENOW promotion code. Good for travel by December 31, 2006.

Airbus' 380 SuperJumbo went on it's first test flight - with passengers last week. The Jumbo jet now expected to be released in 2007 will permit cabin seating up to 555 people!
No U.S-based airline has signed on to purchase one of these giants yet, but San Francisco International is one of only a few U.S airports equipped to handle this hunk'a machinery should foreign airlines choose a San Francisco routing.

HOT Fare Deals as of Monday Night
SAN FRANCISCO to
Los Angeles $49 each way FRONTIER AIRLINES
London $503 round trip (taxes included!) DELTA AIRLINES November, December - about $100 more for February, March 2007
Pittsburgh PA $185 round trip (taxes included) AMERICAN AIRLINES Through March

OAKLAND to
Santa Ana/Orange County $98 round trip (taxes included) ALASKA AIRLINES through mid October
Burbank, LAX, San Diego $49 fun fares each way SOUTHWEST AIRLINES (may need to book by midnight tonight)
(example: fly to LOS ANGELES for New Years celebrations)

INTERISLAND Hawai'i flights as low as $29 each way on Hawaiian, Aloha and Go Airlines through 2006. An amazingly inexpensive fare. Tickets to be purchased by 9-12-06.

Pretty decent Hawai'i air+hotel packages from NorthwestAirlines Vacations from $335/person (double occ) for a few weeks in October and November.

Historically speaking, the months of October and November generate some rock-bottom fare deals throughout Western Europe (ie: <$450). Be patient, but also keep checking websites like farecompare.com for limited-time fare drops.

Travel Tip: When traveling outside of the U.S, it's a good idea to make a photocopies of your passport and leave with a trusted friend and bring a copy with you - seperate from your actual passport. This reduces the potential for a vacation-gone bad. Some have suggested scanning your passport and emailing a copy of yourself so you have an electronic copy available as well.


"What to do when bumped from a flight" (When your flight is cancelled) NY Times article


"A traveler must have the back of an ass to bear all,
a tongue like the tail of a dog to flatter all,
the mouth of a hog to eat what is set before him,
the ear of a merchant to hear all and say nothing."
Thomas Nashe