Aborted takeoff testing of the 747-8

by Grant Martin on

Comprehensive testing is at the core of any airframe development, and that means modeling and measuring the worst case scenario. Though likely to never happen in practice, engineers need to know how components will perform in an emergency situation — so they test them to their limits.

The aborted takeoff is one such test that Boeing uses to gauge the performance of a vehicle’s braking system and condition thereafter. At full load and under full take off power, a system is tested by suddenly slamming on the brakes with no reverse thrust. How quickly the aircraft stops and the condition of the landing gear is a reflection of how successful the test is.

In the above video you can see the results of a recent test at Boeing on their upcoming 747-8 freighter. In coming to a stop the brakes glow red hot and the landing gear begins to smoke, but that result is actually good — the fully loaded aircraft stops 700 feet short of the target distance, which means safer, more effective breaking.

Whether or not the passengers onboard have wet their pants is another question. You can read more about the test over at Boeing’s website.

Boeing’s 787: Engineering a quieter airplane

by Grant Martin on

It has long been rumored that Boeing‘s new 787 Dreamliner will be the quietest commercial jumbo jet in its class. Take a look at the back of select engine nacelles on the airframe and you can see an obvious difference. That egg crate design is in place for improved acoustic performance, which means a better experience for not only passengers but the people living near airports and flight paths.

Boeing just published a video showing some of the other improvements and the testing that they’re working on. Take a look at the show above.

Video of the Day: SNL jokes about Southwest plane accident

by Mike Barish on

Southwest Airlines has had some troubles recently, including an incident where the roof of one of their planes just, you know, started to tear away from the rest of the aircraft. On this past weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live, Weekend Update welcomed a flight attendant from that damaged flight. Well, it was the talented Kristin Wiig portraying one of the Dallas-based airline’s employees. Seeing as how the plane landed safely and there was only one reported injury (to a flight attendant, though), we see nothing wrong with cracking a few jokes about the situation. Besides, it’s about time we all got to see those oxygen masks put to use.

Was the skit out of bounds? Did you get a laugh out of it? Let us know in the comments.

America’s Meanest Airlines

by Grant Martin on

2011’s Airline Quality Report came out this month, which means that it’s time to distill out the industry leaders in a variety of categories, from on-time departures to lost bags to general happiness among passengers. Reporting on the best of the best is only half as fun as vilifying the worst though, so Yahoo and US News took the liberty of sorting out the worst performers in each category and hanging their decapitated bodies in the public square for everyone to shame. Among the losers this year:

Meanest major carrier: United Airlines
Meanest regional carrier: American Eagle
Most complained about airline: Delta Air Lines
Most likely to be unsafe: Jetblue
Most likely to overcharge for bags: Delta / US Airways / Continental
Most likely to bump you: American Eagle
Most likely to be late: Comair
Most likely to mishandle your bag: American Eagle

Daunting stuff, right? Maybe. Bear in mind, that the AQR samples a limited data set over a limited market, and that the term “worst” doesn’t necessarily mean that service is bad. American Eagle, for example, mishandles 7.15 bags for every thousand that go through its hands. The best carrier? Air Tran at 1.63 per thousand. That’s 1 drop in the bucket versus 1.0002 drops in the bucket.

Our suggestion? If you really want to figure out why each airline performed the worst in its own category then download the AQR yourself and flip through the data. It’s the only way you can get an accurate gauge of quality.

Photo of the day – Tiny airplane in a big blue sky

by Alex Robertson Textor on


Today’s Photo of the Day depicts an incredibly small airplane in a vast blue sky. In addition to forcing a recognition of scale, it’s also a downright delightful and uncanny viewing pleasure to look at such a tiny speck of a plane in an enormous sea of blue. The plane in the image is so small that it almost resembles a radar tracking image. Photographer lucyinthesky withdiamonds snapped this image in Breckenridge, Colorado last week.

Been gazing at the sky lately? Got an image of said sky you’d like to share with the world? Upload it to Flickr’s Gadling group pool and it might just end up as a future Photo of the Day.