The Aviation Blog
Delta Air Lines today unveiled its updated corporate brand – a striking three-dimensional, red “Widget” icon flying across a blue background – that reflects the company’s successful transformation into a highly differentiated, customer-focused airline.
Like posted before besides a new logo and coporate branding, a new livery is unveiled.
Airbus is to showcase its A380 in Tokyo, Sydney and Taipei following its forthcoming visit to the Indian cities of Delhi and Mumbai.
Between 7 and 10 May the A380 will make its Indian debut, visiting a string of carriers including current prospects Jet Airways and Air India. Carcaillet indicates that this is more than a tentative visit. Kingfisher Airlines is Airbus’ only Indian A380 customer, with five A380-800s on firm order.
Carcaillet says that the aircraft will return from India and, following a planned appearance in Paris, will fly to Tokyo in June. From Japan it will fly on to Sydney, returning via Taipei to visit China Airlines.
Airbus chief operating officer for customers John Leahy says: “Over the next 9-12 months several trips around the world are planned to showcase the A380 to difference airlines.”
Source: Flightglobal
A spotter captured the moment when two herons were sucked into a Thomson Fly Boeing 757-200 moments after lift-off from Manchester airport at 9.15 on Sunday morning.
The engine, a Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4, was shut down and the pilot made a successful emergency landing on one engine.
The aircraft, with 221 passengers on board, was heading for Arrecife, Lanzarote, when the birds hit the right hand engine, causing a flameout and repeated puffs of black smoke. The pilot declared an emergency and dumped excess fuel before landing at 1030.
Source: Flightglobal
High Quality Video:
Lower Quality Videos:
Flying a tiny Microlight aircraft across the world through snow and over ocean would test the courage and skills of anyone. However, Miles Hilton-Barber, a blind British adventurer, today has completed an epic 21 700 km flight from London to Sydney in what friends called “a motorbike in the sky”.
“It’s the fulfillment of an amazing dream. I’ve been wanting to do this flight for about four years,” he said.
“I’ve wanted to be a pilot since I was a kid. Now I’m totally blind and I’ve had the privilege of flying more than halfway around the world.”
Hilton-Barber said after a victory pass over Sydney’s sparkling harbour and Opera House in perfect morning weather. “The big thing is not me flying to Australia but thousands of blind children around the world are going to see again through this flight,” told Miles Hilton-Baker to journalists at Sydney’s Bankstown airport. Barber also has a special message to Japan.
Mr Hilton-Barber, who went blind 25 years ago, is hoping the trip will raise $2.5 million for the charity Seeing is Believing, which works for the prevention of blindness in developing countries.
He flew with a sighted co-pilot and uses revolutionary speech output from navigation instruments to steer a course for his customised hang glider-like plane.
He told a Japanese journalist how much he would lost his way without the technology of Japan. “To Japan, hey wonderful, thank you Japan and most of the equipment in my house comes from Japan so I would be lost without your digital technology, top marks for Japan and I love Honda motor cars,” said a cheerful Barber.
The 58-year-old from Derby is the first blind pilot to fly a motorized hanglider more than halfway round the world, crossing 21 countries on a 55-day journey which began at Biggin Hill airfield, near London, on March 7. The father of three passed over Europe, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia, following the route taken by the classic 1919 London to Sydney Air Race. - Reuters
This video is showing the passenger evacuation of the Airbus A380 for certification purposes. For the record, that was 853 passengers and 20 crew members in only 78 seconds, with only 8 of the 16 exits used and in completely darkness! (filmed using infrared cameras) Simply amazing!
On following links you will find impressive pictures of newly constructed Changi Terminal 3. The “forest in an airport” - idea reminds me a little bit of KLIA 
I wonder how long the plants will survive since, unlike KLIA, they are not put into a special greenhouse-like area, but planted directly inside the terminal building.
At first view the roof reminds of 80s architecture, at second view it’s a really stunning idea to simulate sun light floating through forrest trees.
See all photos:
http://www.sqtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1246
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=70216
This is obviously no joke. “The Sun” and “The Register” are reporting, two airline pilots at the controls of separate flights have reported seeing a huge mystery cigar-shaped object “up to a mile wide” hovering off the coast of Alderney (UK).
Captain Ray Bowyer, 50, of local airline Aurigny, spotted a “bright-yellow light” 10 miles west of Alderney at about 3pm during a flight from Southampton while his aircraft was 30 miles from the island at 4,000ft.
He recounted: “It was a very sharp, thin yellow object with a green area. It was 2,000ft up and stationary. I thought it was about 10 miles away, although I later realised it was approximately 40 miles from us. At first, I thought it was the size of a Boeing 737.
“But it must have been much bigger because of how far away it was. It could have been as much as a mile wide.”
Continuing his approach to Guernsey, Bowyer spied a “second identical object further to the west”. He said: “It was exactly the same but looked smaller because it was further away. It was closer to Guernsey. I can’t explain it. At first, I thought it might have been a reflection from a vinery in Guernsey, but that would have disappeared quickly. This was clearly visual for about nine minutes.
“As I got closer to it, it became clear to me that it was tangible. I was in two minds about going towards it to have a closer look but decided against it because of the size of it. I had to think of the safety of the passengers first. I’m certainly not saying that it was something of another world. All I’m saying is that I have never seen anything like it before in all my years of flying.”
Bowyer described his sightings to ATC. Paul Kelly, 31, the duty air traffic controller at the time, said “nothing had appeared on his radar”, but that he’d received a “similar report” from a Blue Islands pilot en route to Jersey at the same time. Kelly explained that as the pilot went past Sark he “described an object behind him to his left”.
He continued: “The description was very similar to Captain Bowyer’s and they described it as being in exactly the same place. But they were looking at it from opposite sides.”
The Blue Islands pilot explained the UFO was 1,550 feet lower than his aircraft, which was at 3,500ft, so “both pilots placed it at the same altitude”, Kelly added.
Regarding the radar blank, Kelly noted: “If the object was stationary, our equipment would not have picked it up because the radar would have screened it out.”
Maybe it was just a giant cloud? 
Sources:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/27/mystery_object/
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2007190499,00.html#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=TheSun:News
What happens if you drive your car behind a Boeing 747? BBC “Top Gear” did an experiment to find out… (Note that they are using only 2 engines)
Watch this cool Blue Angels tribute video!
A Navy Blue Angels F-18A Hornet jet crashed during an air show Saturday, plunging into a neighborhood of small homes and trailers and killing the pilot, LCDR Kevin Davis.
Witnesses said the planes were flying in formation during the show at the Marine Corps Air Station at about 4 p.m. and one dropped below the trees and crashed, sending up clouds of smoke.
Raymond Voegeli, a plumber, was backing out of a driveway when the plane ripped through a grove of pine trees, dousing his truck in flames and debris. He said wreckage hit “plenty of houses and mobile homes.”
The Blue Angels were formed in 1946 to promote public interest in naval aviation. Flying F/A-18s painted navy blue, the team performs nationally at air shows, spring through fall, executing highly synchronized aerial acrobatics that bring the fighters within feet of each other at high speed.
Twenty-four Blue Angel pilots have died in accidents, including the one killed Saturday. In 1999, two were killed when an F/A-18 crashed into a stand of pine trees in Georgia as the team practiced for a show.
Profile of killed pilot: http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/off_06.htm
News sources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/21/AR2007042100834.html?hpid=sec-nations
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/21/blueangels.crash/index.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18248797/
http://www.wsav.com/midatlantic/sav/news.apx.-content-articles-SAV-2007-04-21-0003.html
If you want some new cool aviation wallpapers for your computer desktop, I have a nice link for you.
Henry Lam did some very nice 3d aircraft art. You can find his gallery over there at cardatabase.net/modifiedairlinerphotos
He did:
… and some others
Boeing commisioned BMW to come up with a 787 interior concept for an imaginary mid-thirty Russian tycoon. To be presented at this year’s Aircraft Interiors Show in Hamburg, the result is this very sleek, sophisticated and masculine design that even Roman Abramovich would love.
View all pictures: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/04/17/213328/pictures-bmw-presents-bond-style-787-cabin-concept-for-russian.html
This is a sad day. In Toulouse the last Airbus A300 ever has been built. It’s F4-605R MSN 878 F-WWAT, a freighter for FedEx.
It was shown at Toulouse in primer with a sticker all along the fuselage reading “I’m the youngest of the eldest Airbus Family” with the flags of France, Germany, UK and Spain.
The Airbus A300 was the first aircraft produced by Airbus. The first A300 went to service on March 15 1974. First customers were Lufthansa and Air France.
The last Airbus A300 F4-605R MSN 878 F-WWAT was delivered to FedEx on 12th of July 2007. Over the life of the programme a total of 821 A300/A310 have been ordered and to date there are more than 630 A300s and A310s in service with about 80 operators. Airbus’ long-term fleet support programme will continue to enable their operation until the very last aircraft is retired from service, with half of the current fleet expected still to be in service beyond 2025.
With more than 120 A300s and A310s aircraft currently in service, FedEx is a long-standing operator and the largest customer for these aircraft types.
The Airbus A300, launched in May 1969 and entering service with Air France in May 1974, was the very first wide-body, twin-engine aircraft ever brought to the market. It set totally new standards in the industry. The innovative two-man glass cockpit was implemented on the A310, launched in July 1978 and entering service in April 1983 with Lufthansa and Swissair.
The History: http://www.airbus.com/en/corporate/people/company_evolution/a300/index.html
Read the whole story about the Airbus A300: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A300
Crazy russian pilots anyone? 
I wonder how much pressure/weight the nose leg can handle till it collapse. Try this with an american or european built airplane! Once again it’s shown why russian aircafts are called “flying tanks”
NATO just painted one of their Boeing E-3A Sentry (707-300) in special 25 years anniversary livery. Very nice livery if you ask me 
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