General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Snow problems at Heathrow being used as opportunity to lobby for another runway
Around 2 inches of snow at Heathrow has caused many cancellations and delays to flights. Meanwhile, three inches of snow at Gatwick has not caused any significant disturbance. And Gatwick only has one runway. Heathrow claims that poor visibility conditions mean more separation distance has to be allowed for planes, and thus imply that they could do better with more runways. It seems the snow is being used as an opportunity to stress how difficult it is for the airport to operate at over 98% of capacity. However, much of the problem appears to be internal organisation within Heathrow, rather than any lack of runway space. Heathrow Airport has spent £36m on its Winter Resilience Programme since 2010 and now has 130 snow-clearing vehicles and equipment. But this does not appear to have been very effective. Gatwick spent £8 million on "snow kit", the airport's snow-clearing capacity is now on a par with icy Oslo, and say its snow-clearing equipment now comprises 98 vehicles, up from the 47 it had in 2011. Gatwick said the 50 cancellations it had made were all due to disruption at other airports. So don't be taken in by Heathrow using this as "proof" it needs to expand.
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Blog by John Stewart on Heathrow: “It’s the Politics, Stupid”
In a new blog, John Stewart writes that it will be the politics - not economics, noise or climate change –-that will determine where, if anywhere, new runways will be built. Many politicians now understand this. Willie Walsh of BA understands it. But it appears that those still backing a 3rd - even a 4th - runway at Heathrow have not fully understood the extent of the political opposition. Across London almost three quarters of a million Londoners are affected by aircraft noise already. The extent of the opposition there would be, on noise grounds alone, if another runway affected hundreds of thousands more Londoners, would be immense. That coalition that fought the 3rd runway plans is merely dormant, and it would come back - more confident than before with even more opposition. It has provided inspiration to campaigners across Europe – from Munich to Siena – who are now seeing off their runway proposals. The reality is that this opposition would make another Heathrow runway politically undeliverable.
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Boeing 787: Dreamliner’s lithium ion batteries probed
Lithium-ion batteries used in the 787are central to the design of a plane which is billed as being lighter and 20% more fuel efficient than earlier generations of jet. This type of battery has an unusually high energy density, so units can be smaller and thus lighter for a given amount of power than traditional batteries. All planes have batteries, but the Dreamliner needs especially powerful ones because its control systems are driven entirely by electrical signals in place of the hydraulic controls. Boeing is not the only aircraft maker to use lithium batteries - there is one such battery on the Airbus A380 but the Dreamliner features these batteries on a much more extensive scale than other recent planes. Lithium ion batteries can be prone to "thermal runaway". Once the battery reaches a certain temperature, it can start self-heating with potentially disastrous results. The units are also seen as especially vulnerable to problems and leaks of battery fluid. Once the problems start, the fluid is prone to ignite. Boeing has bet its future on the success of the 787 and needs to sell 1,000 to break even.
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More random ideas for hub location. Two separate sites in Oxfordshire. Anyone else want to toss in an idea?
The Progressive Aviation Group (PAG) [ must be a joke - no mention of them on the internet anywhere, and they have no website] has suggested two possible sites to the Airports Commission, which is currently investigating how the UK should expand its aviation capacity. Their two sites are the military base, RAF Croughton, which some 14 miles or so north of central Oxford; and the Steventon area, which is a mile or so south west of Abingdon, and some 9 miles south west of central Oxford. David Cameron's constituency is Witney, which is a few miles west of Oxford, so very much in the firing line of either of these proposals. The Progressive Aviation Group, if it exists, give no details of their plans other than the location, but it is said they are submitting their ideas to the Airports Commission.
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More BA routes from Heathrow …. to key business destinations …. Palma and Ibiza
Anyone reading the statements from Heathrow about the capacity crisis and how there is a need for more flights to the emerging markets might be puzzled by recent news from British Airways. Back in February 2012 Willie Walsh said he planned to expand IAG into lucrative emerging markets, such as Latin America and he hoped to use the extra Heathrow take-off and landing-slots from BMI to accelerate growth into emerging markets. But BA has now announced that it is putting on new flights from Heathrow to Palma (Majorca) from March, and to Ibiza. These are in addition to Mexico and Alicante, as well as Bologna and Marseilles announced earlier. There are also new flights to Leeds Bradford (and a mention of links for business connnections) and a new flight to Chengdu in China, announced earlier, as well as Almaty (Kazakhstan), Dublin, and Seoul among others, where there is likely to be a business component. It is hard to believe there is much business benefit from weekend flights to Alicante or Palma or Ibiza.
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Dreamliner first commercial aircraft to use Lithium ion batteries, with their overheating risk
It’s not yet clear whether the problems in the 787s originated with the batteries themselves. Faults in the electronic controls have been implicated in other lithium-ion battery fires. According to reports, inspectors found liquid leaking from the 787’s batteries after the forced landing in Japan. The battery was also discolored, but it wasn’t clear if it had caught fire. Lithium-ion batteries have been known to cause fires in cell phones, laptops, and electric vehicles. But such problems are rare, and usually result from damage to the battery—such as piercing or overcharging—or problems with the manufacturing process that introduce flaws in the cells. According to the website of the company that supplied the Dreamliner batteries, these use lithium cobalt oxide electrodes. These are known for high-energy storage capacity, but other battery chemistries, such as lithium iron phosphate, are more resistant to overheating. Because of safety concerns, many electric vehicle makers have shifted to alternative chemistries, sacrificing some energy storage capacity. The Dreamliner is the first commercial aircraft to use lithium ion batteries.
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Is the Dreamliner becoming a nightmare? All Dreamliners grounded on battery safety concerns
After initially Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways grounded their Dreamliners on safety grounds, amid concerns that lithium ion batteries on the planes are unsafe and in danger of thermal runaway The FAA followed yesterday, meaning the Dreamliners of United Airlines were grounded. Then the authorities in China and India also grounded their Dreamliners, as have the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Now all are grounded. The risk of fire from the lithium batteries needs to be resolved. They Dreamliner has been billed as the future of air travel, offering passengers bigger windows, more space, and the ability to travel longer distances in one trip. Suggestions by Boeing that these are easy-to-fix faults clearly raises the question why were they not discovered and fixed before the plane went into commercial service in October 2011. There is growing concern of the impact of the grounding on Boeing's order book, which currently contains some 800 Dreamliners scheduled for production and delivery over the next decade. And costly compensation claims. Grounding aircraft on this scale over safety concerns is rare. The last time the FAA ordered a general grounding of an aircraft model was in 1979.
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London helicopter crash: Two die in Vauxhall crane accident. Thirteen injured
An Augusta 109 Helicopter has clipped a crane on top of the very tall blocks of flats, The Tower, One St George Wharf, very close to Vauxhall at 8am during the rush hour. It then crashed to the ground, killing the pilot and one person on the ground. Others on the ground were injured and cars set on fire. Several passers-by escaped though were fery close to the fire, and the parts of falling crane. Police said it was understood the helicopter was on a scheduled flight from Redhill in Surrey to Elstree in Hertfordshire. A spokesman for London Heliport at Battersea said the pilot had requested to divert and land there due to bad weather as there was dense fog. Helicopters are required to be at 1,000 feet over London, and those with only one engine have to fly along prescribed routes. The top of the crane was of the order of 700 - 800 feet high. Questions have been asked in the past about the wisdom of flying so many helicopters over the centre of London, on safety grounds. This may now trigger public debate.
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Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airlines ground their Boeing 787 Dreamliners after fire causes another emergency
Japan's two main airlines have grounded their 24 Dreamliners after one was forced to make an emergency landing because of battery problems. Yesterday an ANA plane was forced to land shortly after take-off when smoke was detected in one of the electrical compartments, where lithium batteries are used for auxiliary power. The source of the fire is not yet known, but is likely to be the batteries, which are well known for their tendency to thermal runaway. In recent weeks, Dreamliners have suffered issues including fuel leaks, a cracked cockpit window, brake problems and an electrical fire.he source of the smoke is not yet known. Last week, the US FAA started a joint review with Boeing of the design, manufacturing and assembly of the Dreamliner. On Tuesday, Japanese authorities said they would conduct an inquiry after two successive fuel leaks on a different 787s. There are a total of 49 Dreamliners in use worldwide. The 787 is not the only aircraft to use Lithium Ion battery packs. The Airbus A380 uses a smaller number. And the upcoming Airbus A350 will use a much larger number.
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Boris Johnson orders £3 million feasibility study on London mega-hub airport – Thames estuary or Stansted
Boris has ordered a feasibility study costing £3 million to be carried out, to see whether Stansted could cope if developed. A super high speed rail link cutting journey times to London to 25 minutes would also be built to support its growth - in Boris's plan. He proposed the study in December and then in January published the criteria for his submission to the Airports Commission on the matter. These criteria include economic, infrastructure, airspace , surface access, environment (it gets a mention) and deliverability. The mayor’s transport adviser, Daniel Moylan, who will lead the feasibility study, said their initial analysis would mean looking in greater detail at 3 possible locations: inner Thames estuary, outer estuary and Stansted. The consultation on the criteria will run until February 8th. In typical Boris fashion, he says such a huge hub airport would solve the UK's aviation problems for 500 years. Difficult to take any of it seriously, especially after Boris's recent climate sceptic pronouncements - he is not a believer in anthropogenic climate change, and backs Piers Corbyn.