But that’s the reality of flying these days, you didn’t score that $199 flight without making some sacrifices.

So just remember that for you it’s a temporary descent into hell. But for the flight attendants helping you out, it’s their everyday reality.

Perhaps you wonder how to make their job a bit less painful? Here’s a list of the things that flight attendants really wish passengers would stop doing.

• Leaving rubbish in the pocket on the back of the seat

“We walk up and down the aisle throughout the flight with a trash bag to collect trash.” — Abbie Unger, flight attendant, author and founder of the Flight Attendant Career Connection.

• Taking ages to decide what you want to drink. And having bad timing

“You’ve seen me walking down the aisle with the drink cart for 20 minutes already.” — Facebook user Corinne Spring from the Flight Attendant Career Connection.

• “There is nothing more irritating than when a passenger comes straight onto the plane and asks for a soft drink. I’m like, ‘Seriously?’” — Nick Stracener, a flight attendant with American.

• Being a space hog

“My head literally just exploded. #TheSenseofEntitlement.” — Shawn Kathleen, who runs the blog PassengerShaming said of the below photo showing items such as heels and a hat taking up precious overhead space.

• Poking or grabbing me

“Please don’t touch, poke, or tug on a flight attendant. You could say ‘ma’am’ or ‘sir’. You can say ‘miss,’ ‘excuse me,’ ‘pardon me’ — or just wait until I make eye contact with you. But please don’t touch my rear end again!” — Abbie Unger.

• Blocking the aisle

“Attention all passengers: Stop. Doing. This.” — Shawn Kathleen said of the photo below showing passengers sharing earphones across the aisle.

• Making yourself at home, including clipping your nails and walking to the bathroom barefoot

“It’s just so gross. And people in first class are even worse — they think it’s their house.” — Nick Stracener.

“We are always reminding people to put their shoes on because the wetness on the floor is not water.” — Sydney Pearl, author and creator of the website Diary of a Pissed Off Flight Attendant.

• Using the toilet when the plane is about to land — or meals are being served

“My main pet peeve is when people get on the plane and immediately go to the bathroom all the way in the back.” — an anonymous flight attendant told theNYPost.

• Hanging out in or near the galley

“I came out of the galley and she scared the crap out of me!!” — Shawn Kathleen said on spotting the woman in the photo below in such a strange place, and position.

What’s she doing there? Picture: PassengerShaming.com Source: Facebook

Source….www.news.com.au

Natarajan

Nostalgia: APJ Abdul Kalam with Dinesh Keskar during his 2009 visit to Boeing’s Seattle plant – PICTURE COURTESY: BOEING

The sudden demise of former President APJ Abdul Kalam on July 27, left people mourning in India. Over 12,000km away in Seattle too, a pall of gloom descend on Boeing’s manufacturing plant, where the former President had charmed and impressed the employees during his visit in 2009. Later Dinesh Keskar, Senior Vice-President, Asia-Pacific and India, Boeing Aeroplanes called Kalam “a friend of a lot of people, including Boeing.”

During the 2009 visit, the former President had shown an interest in meeting Joe Sutter, the man who designed the double-decker aircraft, the Boeing 747, which is popularly known as the Jumbo Jet. “The former President knew of him (Sutter) and wanted to meet him,” recalls Keskar.

The 2009 visit to the Seattle plant was Kalam’s first to the Boeing’s manufacturing facility. The 88-year-old Sutter, often called the Father of the 747, was there. The two had a 20-minute meeting which Keskar too attended. “The former President wondered how Sutter had come up with the idea of the upper deck. Kalam also asked Sutter about the support he had in designing the Boeing 747,” Keskar recalled. Perhaps Kalam, who was involved with the Light Combat Aircraft project, was hoping to replicate the same in India. The Missile Man also gave a lecture to an audience that included scientists and top technologists during the Seattle visit. Kalam, however, was not just interested in the Jumbo Jet. During his visit he also got a first-hand feel of the first Boeing 787 aircraft, the long-range, wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner . The 787 aircraft that Kalam saw in Seattle was the first of the 27 aircraft that are joining the Air India fleet.

Kalam was impressed with the aircraft, particularly its wings. The crystal model of an aeroplane that Boeing presented Kalam to commemorate the visit is still displayed in Delhi.

Bengaluru days

Bengaluru days

Kalam’s relationship with Boeing did not end at Seattle. He also visited the Boeing research centre in Bengaluru. Keskar says that the former President spent over three hours talking to the 15 people present, inquiring about their work. Many of the people were picked from the National Aeronautics Lab, where Kalam was the Chairman of the organisation’s research council.

It was during this visit that Kalam said that one of the things Boeing must do is to get India into the aeroplane market. “He was obviously very interested in getting Boeing to do something in India in terms of building an aeroplane in India. We are still working on smaller pieces of that. We have not gone to the stage of the aeroplane but that was his vision,” Keskar added.

Source…ASHWINI PHADNIS   ….www.thehindubusinessline.com

Natarajan

North Korea’s Koryo Air has been named the world’s worst airline again for the fourth year running by Skytrax, which holds the annual World Airline Awards. It is the only airline listed by Skytrax to receive a lowly one-star rating out of a possible five, due to its Soviet-era planes, rudimentary safety belts, and questionable safety.

Koryo Air has been named the world’s worst airline again for the fourth year running by Skytrax, which holds the annual World Airline Awards for best airline in the world.

It is the only airline listed by Skytrax to receive a lowly one-star rating out of a possible five, due to its Soviet-era planes, rudimentary safety belts, and questionable safety.

Smoke billows out from a plane that caught fire in Las Vegas | ASSOCIATED PRESS

British airways passengers have been ridiculed for walking away from a burning plane, with many people holding their carry-on suitcases, handbags and other items. One passenger was even spotted carrying a pair of thongs.

The London-bound plane was evacuated on the runway in Las Vegas. All 157 passengers escaped with only 14 being treated for minor injuries.

But social media quickly erupted into harsh criticism, as photos surfaced of passengers leaving the plane, clutching their belongings. Hundreds of people used Twitter to accuse the passengers of putting other lives at risk, and valuing their possessions more than their own lives.

British Airways policy is that passengers leave hand luggage behind in the event of an emergency.

The FAA in the US (Federal Aviation Administration), which sets the rules for flying, clearly advises passengers to always leave carry-on items where you left them — under the seat or in the overhead locker.

‘Retrieving personal items may impede the safe evacuation of passengers,’ states FAA guidance.

Lachlan Burnet, from Wendy Wu Tours, catches more than 50 planes a year. He told The Huffington Post Australia it doesn’t matter how many times people watch the flight safety instructions, in the event of an actual emergency, human behaviour is unpredictable.

“There’s a good reason why ladies are asked to remove high heels before attempting to slide down the plane’s evacuation slide, yet some of these British Airways passengers risked lives by sliding down the slide grasping luggage. If they’d damaged the slide, they’d put other passengers lives at risk,” Burnet said.

“I always keep valuables in my pockets: passport, keys, mobile, ID. That way if you’re in an emergency you can escape quickly, rest assured you have what you need to survive with your basic valuables. Your cabin bag can easily be replaced.”

According to experts, you have just 90 seconds to get off a plane once it’s on fire. FAA surveys have shown that passengers greatly underestimate how quickly a fire can spread and destroy an airplane, with many people bizarrely thinking they have about half an hour to get off a burning plane.

But the reality is that you’ve got one and a half minutes before flames burn through the plane’s fuselage and destroy everything.

Source….www.huffingtonpost.com.au

Natarajan

You know you don’t want a layover, but did you know there’s a difference between nonstop and direct flights? No? Well you should if you want your nonstop flight to actually be nonstop.

If you want to get where you’re going as fast as possible, book a nonstop flight.

These flights take off at your departure city and land at your destination without any stops. However, these are usually also the most expensive flights.

Direct flights, despite the name, will also take you from your departure city to your destination, but will make a stop elsewhere in between.

Some people might get off the flight during this stop, others may get on, but a direct flight does not count as a connecting one as it will have you staying put on the plane. Direct flights, unless otherwise specified, will not have you leaving the plane, unless a plane change is required, though this will usually be noted somewhere, so check the fine print. These flights will be cheaper than nonstop flights, though usually still more expensive than connecting ones.

Despite having a stop, direct flights are called “direct” because their flight numbers do not change (even if the plane does). Connecting flights will always have two (or more) different flight numbers. Think of direct flights as buses: they still take you from A to B without huge detours, but will have an extra stop on the way. Occasionally direct flights will even have more than one stop, so always be sure to check before booking a direct flight. These kinds of flights can also be referred to as “through” flights, especially if they involve a plane change.

Another thing to know about direct flights is that frequent flier mileage is often based on the direct flight’s numbers, not the specific legs of the flight. In other words, you may not earn the extra miles flown.

Travel search engines rank nonstop flights highest, followed by direct flights over connecting flights, as those are viewed as more convenient for passengers since you don’t have to move. Airlines have direct, or through flights, to appear higher up in searches, as the single flight number makes those flights appear to be a direct, or even nonstop, thus competing with better flights.

So next time you’re looking to book a flight, make sure to pay attention to the flight details.

Source…www.businessinsider.com

Natarajan

Bye guys. A plane takes off beyond a remotely controlled control tower.

Introducing the world’s loneliest airport.

In an era where pilot error is the leading cause of commercial airline accidents, a Swedish airport is testing an unmanned control tower.

And Australia may soon follow suit.

The commercial planes landing at the remote Ornskoldsvik Airport are instead watched by cameras, guided in by controllers viewing the video at another airport nearly 150 kilometres away.

Ornskoldsvik is the first airport in the world to use such technology.

Others in Europe are testing the idea, as is one airport in the United States.

While the majority of the world’s airports will, for some time, still have controllers on site, experts say unmanned towers are coming.

They’ll likely first go into use at small and medium airports, but eventually even the world’s largest airports could see an array of cameras mounted on a pole replacing their concrete control towers.

The companies building these remote systems say their technology is cheaper and better than traditional towers.

There is a lot of good camera technology that can do things that the human eye can’t,” says Pat Urbanek, of Searidge Technologies, “We understand that video is not real life, out the window. It’s a different way of surveying.”

Cameras spread out around an airport eliminate blind spots and give controllers more-detailed views. Infra-red can supplement images in rain, fog or snow and other cameras can include thermal sensors to see if animals stray onto the runway at the last second.

None of those features are — yet — in the Swedish airport because of regulatory hurdles.

Ornskoldsvik Airport is a vital lifeline for residents who want to get to Stockholm and the rest of the world. But with just 80,000 annual passengers, it can’t justify the cost of a fulltime control staff — about $175,000 a year in salary, benefits and taxes for each of six controllers.

In April, after a year and a half of testing a system designed by Saab, all the controllers left Ornskoldsvik.

Now, a 24-metre tall mast housing 14 high-definition cameras sends the signal back to the controllers, stationed at Sunvsal Airport. No jobs have been eliminated but ultimately such systems will allow tiny airports to pool controllers.

Old habits are hard to break. Despite the ability to zoom in, controllers instinctively grab their binoculars to get a closer look at images on the 55-inch TV screens. And two microphones were added to the airfield at Ornskoldsvik to pipe in the sounds of planes.

“Without the sound, the air traffic controllers felt very lost,” says Anders Carp, head of traffic management for Saab.

The cameras are housed in a glass bubble. High pressure air flows over the windows, keeping them clear of insects, rain and snow. The system has been tested for severe temperatures: 22 degrees below zero and, at the other extreme, a sizzling 122 degrees.

Niclas Gustavsson, head of commercial development for LFV Group, the air navigation operator at 26 Swedish airports, says digital cameras offer numerous possibilities for improving safety.

Computers can compare every picture to the one a second before. If something changes — such as birds or deer crossing the runway — alerts are issued.

“Maybe, eventually there will be no towers built at all,” says Gustavsson.

Saab is currently testing — and seeking regulatory approval — for remote systems in Norway and Australia and has contracts to develop the technology for another Swedish airport and two in Ireland.

Competitor Searidge is working on a remote tower for the main airport in Budapest, Hungary. That airport serves 8.5 million passengers annually and, within two years, controllers could be stationed a few miles from the airport.

Now, Saab is bringing some aspects of this technology to the United States.

Leesburg Executive Airport in Virginia is a relatively busy airport with 300 daily takeoffs and landings.

Just a few kilometres from Dulles International Airport, Leesburg does not have its own control tower. A regional air traffic control centre clears private jets into the airspace and then pilots use an established radio frequency to negotiate the landing and takeoff order. That often leads to delays.

Saab has built a system for Leesburg and has just started a three-month test with the Federal Aviation Administration.

FAA controllers will, at first, familiarise themselves with the technology and just observe the planes operating as they already do today.

If the FAA approves, the next phase would be to start clearing planes onto taxiways and to take off and land.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association says it is participating in the testing.

Towers for large commercial airports are expensive. They need elevators, air conditioning and heating, fire suppression systems plus room for all the controllers.

A new tower in Oakland, California that opened in 2013 cost $51 million. Towers at smaller airports are cheaper.

Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport opened a new one in February at a cost of $15.4 million. Saab won’t detail the cost of its system except to say it is “significantly less.” There is no need for a tower and elevator.

The companies see a giant market: The vast majority of US commercial airports — 315 of 506 — have control towers. However, only 198 of the 2,825 general aviation airports have manned towers.

source….www.news.com.au

Natarajan

How good would travelling to Europe in less than 14 hours be?

Club Concorde, a group of ex-pilots, airline executives, engineers and Concorde enthusiasts have unveiled their plan to have the legendary jet back in the air by 2019.

It has been nearly 12 years since Concorde took its last flight, with the final journey occurring on October 24th, 2003.

Although they need a little maintenance, these fully-functional planes are scattered across the globe in aviation museums and science centres.

The particular plane Club Concorde is after is located at Le Bourget airport in Paris, which they want to buy and restore for around $250 million.

Once the restorations are complete, Club Concorde wants to use the iconic plane at air shows, corporate events and for private charters. At this stage, there are no plans to resume commercial flights.

Flying at Supersonic speeds, a Concorde could fly between London and New York in a little less than three hours. In Comparison, a regular commercial flight can take around seven hours. However not many people got to experience this speed in its years in the sky. Due to limited seating capacity in the planes, ticket prices for regular economy seats were often around the same price as a first-class ticket in a standard airliner.

The Concorde’s 27 year life came to an end in 2003 following severe financial problems. A crash in 2000 which led to the death of all on-board passengers and crew, high maintenance costs and lack of customers after 9/11 was reported as the main reason for its downfall.

Despite the fact that we will most likely never see another commercial Concorde, companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin and even NASA are working on ways to have commercially available supersonic airliners in the air again by 2030.

Source….www.news.com.au

Natarajan

Seatbelts and airbags in cars save passengers lives. Parachutes save people who, for a variety of reasons, exit a plane in mid-flight. So why aren’t parachutes provided to passengers on commercial airline flights, in case of emergencies?

Because they almost certainly would not save anyone’s life.

Parachuting Basics

When your average daredevil skydives for fun, the plane is typically travelling at between 80 and 110 mph when the skydiver jumps. Tandem and accelerated free fall (AFF) jumps occur between 10,000 and 13,000 feet, while static jumps can be as low as 3,500 feet.

Student divers choosing the easiest, tandem jump, where the newbie is physically and securely attached to an experienced instructor, are still required to undergo “a half hour of basic ground instruction.”

Braver neophytes who wish to fly untethered will have to endure:

Four to five hours of intense ground instruction, including learning body flight maneuvers and hand signals that instructors use to coach the student as they fly alongside.

For an AFF jump, although not harnessed together, freshman flyers are accompanied by two instructors who “hold onto the student’s harness until” it’s deployed.

Those who choose a static line jump also have to take four + hours of training prior to the jump, although the parachute is deployed as the rookie flyer leaves the aircraft.

When skydivers leave a plane, they do it alone or in small groups. When successive groups will be jumping, they try to keep separated by anywhere between 500 and 1500 feet; this is often accomplished by waiting until the preceding group is “back under the tail to 45 degrees behind the airplane” or several seconds in between groups.

Experienced skydivers can make even riskier jumps, although when descents begin at higher than 15,000 feet, “the risk of hypoxia and being significantly affected by altitude” increases dramatically and divers are less able “to make effective safe decisions at critical times.” Therefore, divers who jump from 15,000 feet or higher carry supplemental oxygen.

Further, each parachute weighs around 40 pounds and the equipment is expensive. To be fully outfitted with “rig, main, reserve, ADD, altimeter, jumpsuit, helmet [and] goggles” can run between $5,900 and $9,000.

Commercial Airplane Basics

Perhaps the most popular commercial jetliner is the Boeing 737 family. Its 737-800 can carry nearly 200 people (including the crew).

Although speeds can vary slightly, the 737-800 travels at approximately 600 mph when at its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. Cruising altitudes are assigned by air traffic controllers and are usually up to 39,000 feet, except for longer flights that may fly higher.

Individual Parachutes Won’t Improve Passenger Safety

Doing the math . . .

Passenger Training

Since four hours of training just to board a plane is unrealistic, passengers would have to read and execute detailed skydiving instructions including how to properly strap the chute on in order to benefit from the parachute. Not everyone is good at following detailed, technical instructions even when time and stress aren’t a factor.  In a situation where the plane is going down and one has only a moment to get the parachute properly strapped on (likely while keeping an oxygen mask firmly attached and perhaps also needing to keep the seat belt on to keep from being thrown about in the cabin), it’s unlikely most would be able to even get this far.

Every Man for Himself

Unless passengers wanted to fly suited up and tethered for a static jump, parachuting from a commercial airplane will be an AFF jump; however, unlike the conditions that students get – training and trained instructors to assist, commercial passengers will just have to learn as they go.

In addition, they will have to keep calm and proceed in an orderly fashion, which will require most to patiently wait their turn to exit. This is not likely to happen.

Parachuting Equipment is Bulky

Adding just parachutes (not counting helmets, altimeters, etc.) for each passenger would add another 8,000 pounds or so to the flight’s weight. In addition, that equipment would take up space, that is already at a premium.

Parachuting Only Makes Sense if Something Happens in Mid-Flight

The only feasible time for people to jump from the plane is while it’s cruising. However, most fatal airline accidents occur on airplanes during takeoff and landing.

Consider that between 2003 and 2012, only 9% of all fatal accidents on commercial flights, seven total, occurred while the plane was cruising; moreover, at least one of those accidents happened as a result of wind shear or thunderstorm. This is a situation where parachuting is extremely dangerous even if you’re an expert.

So even if parachuting were feasible from a jetliner, the conditions in which parachutes could theoretically save lives are almost never apparent in fatal commercial accidents. But even if they were, it still wouldn’t be a good idea.

Jetliners Cruise Very High and Very Fast

At 35,000 feet (three times higher than a typical jump) every passenger would need high altitude equipment (HALO) that includes an oxygen tank, mask and regulator, flight suit, ballistic helmet and altimeter just to manage the thin air. Or they could just pass out from hypoxia and wake up later, hopefully when the parachute automatically deployed at under 15,000-20,000 feet.

Of course, none of this would matter since the plane is moving so fast (600 mph), and it is so large, that many passengers would almost certainly smash into it and suffer debilitating if not fatal injuries.

Whole Plane Parachutes May Save Lives

There is hope, however. Over the past few years, many small planes have been equipped with whole-plane parachutes that slow the craft’s descent. As of late 2013, the largest planes equipped with these safety devices carry five people, but plans are in the works for putting them on larger crafts. As one manufacturer said, “There is no doubt that big commercial airlines of the future will be equipped with some kind of parachute recovery system.”

Bonus Airplane Crash Survival Tips:

• Sit in the back with the cool kids. According to several studies, “passengers near the tail of the plane are about 40 percent more likely to survive a crash than those in the first few rows up front.”  The other advantage is that most passengers choose not to sit in the back.  So unless the plane is full, you might get the row of seats to yourself.
• However, other research into surviving plane crashes indicated that “those [passengers] who sat more than six rows from an exit were found to be far less likely to survive.” So if the plane doesn’t have a rear exit, that’s something to be factored in.
• If you do happen to fall out of a plane at 35,000 feet (without a parachute), Popular Mechanics has some advice on how to survive the fall:  “The concept you’ll be most interested in is terminal velocity. As gravity pulls you toward earth, you go faster. But . . . you [also] create drag . . . . and [eventually] acceleration stops. Depending on your size and weight, and [other] factors . . . your speed at that moment will be about 120 mph [this takes about 1,500 feet. At about 22,000 feet] You sputter into consciousness [hypoxia had knocked you out from shortly after you exited the plane]. . . . Take aim . . . . Glass hurts, but it gives. So does grass. Haystacks and bushes . . . and trees aren’t bad, though they tend to skewer. Snow? Absolutely. . . . Contrary to popular belief, water is an awful choice [to cushion the fall]. . . . With the target in mind, the next consideration is body position. To slow your descent. . . spread your arms and legs, present your chest to the ground, and arch your back and head upward. . . . Relax. This is not your landing pose. . . . . [To land, assume] the classic sky diver’s landing stance – feet together, heels up, flexed knees and hips.”

• According to the Geneva-based Aircraft Crashes Record Office, between 1940 and 2008 there were 157 people who fell out of planes during a crash and without a parachute and lived to tell about it. A full 42 of those falls occurred at heights over 10,000 feet! One such incident involved a British Tail-gunner whose plane was shot down in 1944 during WWII. He fell over 18,000 feet without a parachute. His fall was broken by pine trees and soft snow.  After his “landing” he found himself completely fine, except for a sprained leg.  Things didn’t initially improve for him as he was quickly captured by the Germans. Apparently the Germans were more impressed by his near death experience than his nationality, because they released him the following May after having given him a certificate commemorating his fall and subsequent survival.

Source….www.today i foundout .com

Natarajan

Whether airlines want to save space, lighten their load or speed up boarding times, engineers have come up with dozens of solutions — and not all of them seem comfortable.

The latest seat design from US-based Molon Labe Designs claims it has the one-row-fits-all solution for airlines looking to save big money on fuel costs and make the boarding process more efficient.

The Side-Slip features a typical three-seat per row configuration, but, with the simple push of a button, the aisle seat glides over the middle seat creating a wider aisle — from the standard 19 inches to 41 inches.

“I was travelling a lot, and I was always running late and just wanted to get off the plane faster,” Hank Scott, founder and CEO of Molon Labe Designs and inventor of the Side-Slip seat, told the Denver Post.

“I just started thinking about it, and ideas popped into my head … Now the line won’t stop. Just get out of the way and let people walk around you.”

Side-Slip’s seat configuration not only features an adjustable aisle seat, but the middle seat is a roomier 20 inches wide. The aisle and window seats are 18 inches wide, in line with industry averages.

The flexible seats are being targeted at lower-cost airlines making multiple trips per day, usually less than three hours. Some carriers have cited turnaround time as a major obstacle to staying on schedule.

Scott believes with more an efficient boarding and deplaning process, the Slip-Seat configuration could save these airlines big money in the long run.

The US trade organisation Airlines for America estimates that every minute a plane sits docked at a gate with the engine running costs about $US81-100 ($115-143) in fuel and associated costs.

The Slip-Slide team conducted boarding efficiency trials with their aisle seats using the “sit anywhere” boarding method favoured by some airlines, and block boarding used by most carriers, with impressive results.

When the sliding seats are fully folded up, boarding efficiency is improved by 4.5 minutes during random boarding and a full 6.7 minutes — or 33 per cent — for blocking boarding. If an airline performs 1,000 turnarounds a day, 6.7 minutes amounts to nearly $957,000 saved per day — about $350 million a year.

“If you can offer a product that makes the airlines save fuel and increase revenue, and also makes the passengers more comfortable and less stressed — it’s a win-win,” said Scott.

Side-Slip debuted their seats last week to hundreds of airline executives at the annual World Low Cost Airlines Congress in London. They are currently undergoing the Federal Aviation Administration’s certification process.

This story originally appeared on Fox News.

Source……www.news.com.au

Natarajan

The new terminal at the Chandigarh international airport in Mohali, inaugurated recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the first airport in the country that is ‘totally green’, and can potentially change the way airports are built in the country henceforth.

Spread over 53,000 sq. m, the brand new terminal at the Chandigarh airport has been designed around the green building concept, right from the start. The terminal will handle both domestic as well as international flights.

The use of environment-friendly green technologies make this airport one of its kind, not only in India, but also in the world.

Airports all across the world cannot dazzle and amaze travelers without their huge displays of artificial lights — which add on to their maintenance and running costs, not to speak of environmental degradation. But this Chandigarh airport terminal is different. No artificial lights would be required to illuminate it during the daytime.

The terminal has achieved a 4-star GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) rating.

A transparent façade is the defining motif of this airport terminal. The glass that has been used on the façade is low-heat gain glass. This automatically reduces the need for a large amount of air conditioning, which is a bane associated with the glass-based architectural structures that have started mushrooming and dominating urban and emerging landscapes all over the country. Also, the air-conditioning is guided by the principal of thermodynamics, that is, if the sensors sense body heat, the air-conditioning starts working in that zone; otherwise it gravitates to a sleep mode.

Energy efficiency, in fact, has been another guiding motif in the construction of the airport.

The rooftop of the terminal has a 200KW solar plant which is enough to meet the major power needs of the building. Forty percent of the airport is illuminated with LEDs and the air-conditioning is fired by chiller efficient machines. There is also a lawn which has been laid out right inside the terminal.

Built by Larsen and Toubro (L&T), the terminal sets a new sustainability benchmark with green technologies like 55 lakh fly ash bricks, cavity walls, double insulated roofing, energy efficient chillers, and a sensor-based plumbing system to save water. Such an extensive use of fly ash bricks in a civil structure could serve as a shot in the arm for the progressive deployment of fly ash bricks in construction. And this can go a long way in indirectly serving the cause of the environment. Fly Ash bricks are made of fly ash, lime, gypsum and sand. Hence, the more we shift to fly ash, the less we use of the top layer of soil to make conventional bricks.

Besides, the airport has a sewage treatment plant with a capacity of 600 KLD, which is based on environment-friendly extended aeration technology.

Thus all the treated water will be reused for flushing and gardening. This idea of re-cycling water is again a major step forward towards environmental sustainability. –

While Punjab wishes to name it after Shaheed Bhagat Singh and append the name Mohali at the end, Haryana wishes to call it just Chandigarh airport. But, no matter what is finally decided, the new airport is a matter of pride not only for Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir, states that it will likely benefit, but for the whole country.

Photo Credits: Vikram Singh

Source….Nalin Rai in http://www.thebetterindia.com

Natarajan

Air India is planning to launch a direct flight between New Delhi and San Francisco in December. The thrice-a-week flight, which will cover the distance in 16 hours, will be the first direct flight between India and the US west coast.

On the San Francisco route, Air India will use its three Boeing 777-200LR aircraft.

Sources said the airline had already secured slots at the San Francisco airport and was planning for a December launch. “It will be a Delhi-San Francisco flight and we are working on hub-and-spoke connections,” said a senior airline executive.

Earlier, the airline was considering a Bengaluru-Delhi-San Francisco flight, deploying a Boeing 777 aircraft on the entire route.

Currently, Air India operates daily non-stop flights to Chicago and New York (from New Delhi) and Newark (from Mumbai). The Mumbai-Newark flight, which takes 16 hours, is the longest flight from India as of now.

On the New Delhi-San Francisco route, Air India will compete with major airlines from Europe, the Gulf countries and East Asia. As of early 2014, about 600 passengers travelled daily between Delhi and San Francisco (one-way); all opted for flights that went via another location, according to Delhi International Airport Ltd data.

Air India has three Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, with 238 seats (eight first class; 35 business class and 195 economy class). Currently, these flights are sparingly used on routes to Saudi Arabia. These are among the 68 Boeing planes it ordered in 2005 for long-haul routes. In 2013, Air India sold five planes in this category to Etihad for $68 million. It had said retaining the fuel-guzzling aircraft would have aggravated losses.

Initially, the airline plans to offer a three-class service to San Francisco. The Air India management is also considering reconfiguring its Boeing 777-200LRs through the next few months, doing away with the first class and increasing the economy class seats. In the past, the airline has found it difficult to sell eight first-class seats on the route and occupancy in the premium segment has been poor.

With domestic jet fuel prices down 41 per cent year-on-year, Air India is likely to keep its operating costs down. And, rising passenger demand is likely to boost yields.

Bengaluru and Delhi are the top source markets for San Francisco flights. Air India’s marketing efforts will be weak if passengers from Bengaluru have to change aircraft in Delhi. Also, rival airlines offer daily connections to San Francisco,” said Devesh Agarwal, editor of Bangalore Aviation, an aviation blog.

In the past, other Indian airlines, too, have explored connectivity with the US west coast. Air India operated flights to Los Angeles through Frankfurt, while Jet Airways briefly flew to San Francisco via Shanghai. Though Kingfisher Airlines considered starting a Bengaluru-San Francisco flight, the plan didn’t take off.
LONGEST FLIGHT ROUTES

• Dubai – Panama City: 13,821 km; 17 hrs 35 mins (Emirates)
• Dallas – Sydney: 13,802km; 16 hrs 50 mins (Qantas)
• Atlanta – Johannesburg: 13,573 km; 16 hrs 40 mins ( Delta)

Note : Emirates proposes to launch a Panama City flight in February 2016; Route planning is automated and routes chosen by airlines vary daily, based on en route wind conditions and the temperature and weather

Source…..www.Aneesh Phadnis ….in  www.business-standard.com and http://www.malaymailonline.com

Natarajan

When Dr. Guru heard that a child on-board a flight that he was in, was suffering an asthma attack, he quickly made an inhaler out of a plastic bottle. The makeshift instrument gave the much needed relief to the child in no time.

When a 2-year-old child suffered an asthma attack during a flight, thousands of feet in the air, his parents didn’t know what to do since they had accidentally packed his medication in their check-in luggage.

The inhaler available in the flight was for adults, and wasn’t of much use.

It could have been an extremely long and painful journey for the child, had it not been for a fellow passenger who quickly created a makeshift inhaler and saved his life. –

The fellow passenger, on the Air Canada flight from Spain to the US, was Dr. Khurshid Guru – Director of Robotic Surgery at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York.

When he found out that the child needed immediate medical intervention, he got together a plastic water bottle, a cup, some tape and an oxygen tank to make an inhaler.

He basically converted an inhaler for adults into a paediatric nebuliser, a machine meant to deliver asthma medication by turning it into mist which can then be inhaled through a face mask or mouthpiece.

He attached the adult inhaler to a hole in the bottle and added an oxygen mask through another opening he had made, so that the child could inhale both simultaneously. To make the instrument more convenient, Dr. Guru took a plastic cup and created a hole in it. He then mounted the cup on top of the bottle so that it could be held against the kid’s mouth and nose.

He asked the parents to keep the cup against the child’s mouth for some time, and half an hour later, his oxygen level was back to normal.

Dr. Guru said that it is a wakeup call for all the families to keep such medical instruments with them at all times as you never know when the need might arise. The doctor has worked on several high-tech robots to treat patients in the past. –

All pics: Twitter

Source….Shreya Pareek

natarajan

From the environment-friendly Chandigarh airport to the modern Delhi metro, from extraordinary solar projects to stellar freeways and tunnels, here is a list of 14 engineering marvels in India that have set a benchmark for other infrastructure projects to follow.

India has a great heritage in architecture and design. And, since independence, the country has made major advances in engineering too. Be it a tunnel in the treacherous mountains or the amazing metros that connect lakhs of commuters everyday, our talented countrymen have designed and executed some amazing projects that deserve to be recognized and applauded.

Here are 14 amazing infrastructural projects in India that make us super proud.

1. World-Class, Eco-Friendly Airports

Picture Source

Cochin airport created news when it became India’s first airport to run on solar power in August 2015. The airport has photovoltaic (PV) panels laid across 45 acres near the cargo complex. The airport can avail 50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity per day through these panels which is sufficient for all its functions. This has technically made the airport “absolutely power neutral.” The implementation of this 12MWp solar power project cost Rs. 62 crore and took six months to complete. It has been set up by Bosch Ltd., Bangalore, and has a capacity to produce 18 million units of power annually. Read more about it here.

The recently constructed Chandigarh international airport at Mohali is the first airport in the country that is ‘totally green’. Spread over 53,000 sq. m, the airport has used environment-friendly green technologies that makes it one-of-its-kind, not only in India, but also in the world. The airport is constructed in a way that no artificial lights would be required to illuminate it during the daytime. It also has a transparent façade with low heat-gain glass which reduces the need for a large amount of air conditioning. The rooftop of the terminal has a 200KW solar plant which is enough to meet the major power needs of the building. Forty percent of the airport is illuminated with LEDs and the air-conditioning is fired by chiller efficient machines. Here’s more about the airport.

2. Magnificent Metro Projects

Starting with the first metro being built in Kolkata in 1984, metros have become lifelines in some of the major cities in India. The Delhi metro started its operations in 2002 and is one of the most disabled-friendly public places in the country, with all stations equipped with ramps, low level control panels in the lifts, and buttons in Braille. With 208 trains serving 140 metro stations, it is the first metro rail and rail-based system in the world to get “carbon credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Named one of the top 100 strategic global infrastructure projects at the Global Infrastructure Leadership Forum held in New York, the Hyderabad Metro Rail project will be the the world’s largest project under public-private partnership. It is also the world’s largest elevated metro and is expected to provide transportation to over 1.7 million commuters by 2017.

3. Neemuch Solar Power Plant, Madhya Pradesh

Located at Diken in Neemuch district of Madhya Pradesh (MP), it is Asia’s largest solar power plant. This 151 (DC)-megawatt solar photovoltaic power project by Welspun Energy, India’s largest private solar project developers, is set up on an 800-acre site. The plant will address the power needs of 6.24 lakh homes in MP on completion.

4. Yamuna Expressway

The expressway which connects New Delhi with Agra is India’s longest motorway. This 165 kilometer, six-lane expressway was opened in 2012 and has dramatically reduced the travel time between the two cities; it now takes only a little over two hours to get from Delhi to the Taj Mahal. The project was featured in the list of world’s top 100 innovative infrastructure projects, prepared by KPMG.

5. India’s First Solar Park at Charanka Village in Gujarat

Picture Source

This group of solar parks constructed in Gujarat makes the state Asia’s largest solar park hub. Spread across 5,000 acres, with a capacity of 500 MW, the park can generate both solar and wind energy. Operational since 2013, it hosts 19 different projects by different developers, including Alex Astral, US-based Sun Edison, Lanco Solar, Roha Dyechem, and GMR .

6. Amazing Airport Terminals

The Indira Gandhi International Airport was ranked the world’s best airport in handling 25-40 million passengers per annum category by ACI 2014 and is South Asia’s largest aviation hub. The recently constructed T3 Terminal has added to the glory of IGAI. The terminal has a capacity to host 34 million passengers annually and is the 24th largest building in the world. Not only this, it also has India’s first automated parking management and guidance system in a seven-level car parking area which can accommodate 4,300 cars.

Mumbai’s T2 terminal, with a four-storey building and a capacity to handle 40 million passengers annually, is also nothing short of extraordinary. It also has the country’s largest airport escalator at 11.6 meters. The car parking can accommodate 5,200 cars and the steel used to build the roof of the terminal is enough to construct two Eiffel Towers.

7. GIFT City, Gujarat

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Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) is an under-construction central business district between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar that will be a major financial hub. The Rs. 600,000 crore project will host corporate and regional offices of companies, a trade centre, housing colonies, and a centre for the domestic financial sector. It is expected to create over 10 lakh new jobs in 10 years. Organizations like International Monetary Fund (IMF) and agencies of United Nations are expected to open offices here. GIFT city is designed to be eco-friendly – it will use an energy-efficient district cooling system instead of air-conditioning.

8. Ahmedabad and Indore BRTS

The Bus Rapid Transit System of Ahmedabad is a planned commuting system with reduced emissions and improved air quality. It is also referred to as a model urban transport system. Started as a pilot project over a distance of 12.5 kms, it now covers 51 kms. Around 22 percent of commuters who used two wheelers earlier have now started using BRTS. The project ran free of cost for the first three months of operation.

Another BRTS service which is worth mentioning is Indore’s BRTS which has been built on the pattern of Ahmedabad BRTS. This project too offered free rides to the commuters in the initial phase. The project has 16 buses that operate on 10 lines. The buses have a frequency of every 15 minutes on every stop. Smart cards are used for fare collection.

9. Mumbai’s Eastern Freeway

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India’s second largest flyover, Mumbai’s Eastern Freeway, is an amazing piece of engineering and design. It connects P D’Mello Road in South Mumbai to the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) at Ghatkopar. The 16.8 km long freeway became operational in June 2013 and is believed to support over 25,000 vehicles daily. Commuters can enter the flyover from eight points. Also, the flyover has enabled commuters to enjoy the 20 minutes road journey from CST to Chembur.

10. Banihal-Qazigund tunnel

The tunnel that connects Bichleri Valley of Banihal with Qazigund area of Kashmir Valley is India’s longest railway tunnel. It is also the second longest tunnel in Asia. The tunnel, which became operational in June 2013, is 11 kms long and is located in the Pir Panjal mountain range. The ambitious and difficult project took seven years to complete with the hard work of 150 engineers and 1,300 workers. The USP of the tunnel is the use of the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) of construction. The project cost was around Rs. 1,700 crore.

11. Interceptor Sewage System

Yamuna river’s sad state is not news. Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has come up with a solution to keep the river clean by implementing the Interceptor sewage system on three major drains – Najafgarh, Supplementary and Shahadra drains. This Rs. 1,357 crore project diverts the sewage to treatment plants so that the river’s water can be used for other purposes like horticulture and cleaning. The system captures sewage from the 1,600 unauthorized colonies through 600 mm to 2,400 mm wide pipes.

12. Petrochemical Complex at Dahej

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) Petro additions Limited’s (OPaL) mega petrochemical complex at Dahej will be used to manufacture polymers along with products like detergent bottles, milk jugs, water pipes, etc. It will also export products to countries like China, Singapore, Turkey, Africa, Pakistan, etc. The construction of the project was started in 2009 and it was expected to be ready by 2013, but was delayed. The officials claim that the plant was mechanically completed by April 2015 and one of the units commissioned in June. Other units of the plant will also be commissioned soon. The entire plant is expected to start operations by end of 2015.

13. Narmada Canal Solar Project

Gujarat’s canal-top solar project covers a 5.5 km section of the Narmada canal with a photovoltaic grid. This 10 MW solar project is one of its kind in the world. Located at Chandrasan village near Mehsana, the plant is designed to generate 1.6 million units of electricity per year along with preventing water from evaporation. The project will eliminate the need of land solar projects and is expected to save two billion litres of water annually. Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited will build the plant and maintain it for 25 years.

14. The Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus

The aviation industry is always looking for new ways to get more people into their planes and judging by a new patent filing, Airbus is proposing a pretty radical idea.

The manufacturer of the world’s largest commercial jet, the A380, just filed a patent in Europe for a number of wacky looking seating configurations on its aircraft, creating the potential to jam even more people into planes.

In the patent filing, the company says “in modern means of transport, in particular in aircraft, it is very important from an economic point of view to make optimum use of the available space. Passenger cabins are therefore fitted with as many rows of passenger seats as possible, which are positioned with as little space between them as possible.”

Amongst the range of new configurations is a business class cabin with a mezzanine level.

Passengers on the upper level would have to climb steps to reach their seats. Seats in this configuration would recline flat, allowing passengers to enjoy an airborne version of being in a bunkbed.

Another design shows two passengers seated on a mezzanine, face to face, something which business travellers looking to get work done might find particularly helpful!

The patents may be designed to save space but Airbus was also keen to stress that the new seats will provide a “high level of comfort for the passengers using the seat arrangement.”

It also said that the seat configurations could be used on trains and buses. One bonus that might come from such cramped conditions is that air fares could get cheaper.

But no matter how unpleasant these planes might look, it seems unlikely that the designs will ever come into use.

Airbus is well known for filing hundreds of patents per year in order to protect its intellectual property and ensure that competitors like Boeing cannot get the upper hand.

Recent patents filed by the company include a jet that could travel across the Atlantic in only one hour.

Source….Will Martin….www.businessinsider.com.au

Natarajan

Airports are exciting places of activity, but at times they also can be overwhelming for some fliers.

Recently, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport brought in two legitimate, trained therapy dogs to help ease the stress of travelling.

Mumbai airport is possibly the first in the country to employ animals that would help ease travellers’ anxieties about returning to the skies. Earlier, therapy dogs were used to comfort special children and traumatised adults at US airports after the 9/11 attacks.

Goldie and Pepe, trained by the Animal Angels Therapy Centre in Pune, can sense a person’s mood by sniffing them.

Their mission is to put a smile on every passenger’s face they interact with.

This is what a Chicago-bound flier who came to bury his dead mother wrote in the feedback form:

Of course, not everyone is a dog lover. Some people would feel less stressed at an airport if they could cuddle with a cat.

But, let’s admit it, passengers will now have a PAWSitive experience at the Mumbai airport! 🐾

News Source: Hindustan Times

Source….Shuvro  Ghoshal …www.storypick.com

natarajan

London’s Heathrow Airport is one of the busiest hubs in the world and serves as a major connecting point for traffic between Asia and Africa with North America.

As Britain’s main international airport, Heathrow has been working hard to upgrade its facilities. In recent years, the airport has opened two brand new terminal buildings and have conducted significant renovations to others.

However, the greatest constraint on the airport has been it’s lack of runways. Although more than 72 million passengers pass through Heathrow every year, the facility still operates using just two runways.

However, if Heathrow’s latest expansion plans are approved, things are about to change for airport.

At first, the airport wasn’t much to look at. Its passenger terminals were just tents.

Heathrow Airport

By the 1960s, the airport’s permanent terminal buildings entered service. Heathrow also abandoned its ‘Star of David’ layout, keeping only the northern and southern runways.

Heathrow development came just in time for the arrival of the jet set! Along with celebrities such as The Beatles and …

Today, the airport is the primary international hub serving London and much of England.

Flickr/Tony Hisgett

The airport is home to Virgin Atlantic Airways and …

Heathrow Airport

… British Airways.

… Terminal 5 facilities

But what hasn’t changed in the last half century are its two runways.

But that may be ready for an update if the Airport’s new expansion proposal is approved this December.

The expansion would include a third runway built at the north of the airport; it would increase Heathrow’s capacity from 470,000 flights a year to 740,000.

The airport also wants to build a new terminal to the west of Terminal 5.

The expansion would also dramatically alter Heathrow’s central terminal area.

The transformed central terminal area will feature new hotels, office buildings and …

… green space for passengers.

The new hotel facilities will be located just a few minutes away from the terminals.

The proposed development plan also calls for improvements to road and rail access to the airport.

The expansion of London Heathrow has been a contentious topic. Although there have been discussions about building a completely new airport for decades, the British government recommended improvements to Heathrow as the preferred way to increase airport capacity.

source….BENJAMIN ZHANG  in http://www.businessinsider .com.au

Natarajan

Alaska Airlines Space Bins will give passengers almost 50 percent more space overhead for carry-on bags. Within two years, nearly half of Alaska Airlines’ fleet will be fitted with the larger bins, the airline said. (Boeing)

Is the end of scrambling for overhead bin space near?

Boeing revealed new overhead bins on its Boeing 737s that will give passengers almost 50 percent more space for carry-on luggage.

Alaska Airlines is one of the first major airlines outfitted with Boeing’s bigger and wider bins, it dubbed Space Bins, which will fit six bags instead of four.

In order to do that, it’s sacrificing about 2 inches of head space, says Boeing.

But the move could mean savings for passengers who spent $3.5 billion last year on fees to check their bags–and are trying to find ways around check bag fees, which average around $25 per bag.

On Alaska’s 737-800, the expanded bin space will increase the number of bags that can fit overhead from 118 to 178 — a difference of 60 more standard sized bags.

“Alaska is relentlessly focused on making the travel experience better,” Sangita Woerner, Alaska Airlines vice president of marketing said in a release. “We’ve been on a mission to improve our cabin experience for several years and Space Bins are part of a $150 million investment we’ve made to make flying more comfortable and enjoyable.”

Within two years, nearly half of Alaska Airlines’ fleet will be fitted with the larger bins, the airline said.   Delta will also have Space Bin 737s in early 2016 and United has also committed to the bins.

But that doesn’t mean you can bring on a bigger bag— the size limitations for carry-ons on Alaska will stay in place.

Source….www.foxnews.com

natarajan

For those lucky enough to ride in a first class cabin, a 20-hour flight is actually something to look forward to.

AirlineRatings.com, which rates airlines on the level of comfort and safety they provide to passengers, recently ranked the top 10 airlines with the best first class cabins.

From multi-room suites to double beds covered in plush linens, here’s a look inside the cushiest first class cabins in the world.