Aviation – Page 2 – Leonardo Times

World’s First Mixed Reality Trainer Developed by Airbus

4Dec

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

News, Operations, Uncategorized

World’s First Mixed Reality Trainer Developed by Airbus

The unlikely partnership between Airbus and the Microsoft Hololens has led to the development of the world’s first mixed reality trainer for aviation applications. In cooperation with Japan Airlines(JAL), Airbus has developed a prototype for training the mechanics and crew of A35 XWB using the ‘Hololens’ technology and immersive headsets. A considerable amount of resources is focused on training the crew to develop skills required for the operation of the aircraft. This new technology will provide a cost-effective and safer alternative to the traditional training methods. The headsets enable the user to train on an interactive, virtual 3D system while being aware of their surroundings and coworkers. Trainees can access the aircraft digital data which can be viewed from any angle to vir...

31May

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aerodynamics and wind energy, Aviation

Active flow control for boundary layers

Author: Henry Tol, PhD Candidate Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft Article published in Leonardo Times Magazine, Edition of January 2017. Turbulence and the transition to turbulence are recognized as unsolved problems in physics. Likewise, control theorists have hardly ever come across a problem this challenging. The goal of active flow control is to cross these interdisciplinary boundaries by considering the relevant flow physics when designing the control algorithms. Motivation The ability to control fluid flows to any desired state has great consequences for many applications. Imagine future aircraft where the traditional control surfaces (elevator, rudder, etc.) are replaced with flow control devices, which can accelerate the flow over the wings to generate lift and control m...

China’s C919 Completes Its Maiden Flight

5May

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aviation, News, Operations

China’s C919 Completes Its Maiden Flight

Today, China’s C919 completed its maiden flight, bringing China one step closer to realising their long-standing dreams of having their own home-grown commercial aircraft. The narrow-body aircraft was in the air for 90 minutes before it returned safely to the Pudong airport in Shanghai. Prior to the flight, state television announced that it would be flown at an altitude of 3000 meters and achieve a speed of 300kmph. The flight was cheered on by thousands including dignitaries and enthusiasts. China has hoped to build its own commercial airplanes since the 1970s when Chairman Mao Zedong’s wife, Jiang Qing, backed a project. The C919 was announced by China nearly a decade ago in May 2008, when they set up the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). It was initially in...

1May

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aviation, News, Operations, Propulsion

Aurora unveils eVTOL aircraft

Uber has declared that by 2020 they plan to have a network of ‘flying cars’ in Dallas and Dubai. The new service will be called Uber Air. With Uber Air people will be able to order flying taxis in the same way users of the current Uber app can order car rides. This sounds fantastic and happening so soon! However, during the Uber Elevate summit of April 25-27 2017 in Texas Uber’s chief product officer Jeff Holden admitted that Uber is rushing the Uber Air initiative. Uber Air will consist of electrical vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Although these eVTOL aircraft seem to be a promising concept, the technologies needed are not yet fully developed. The eVTOL aircraft are envisioned to be fully electric with zero-emissions, autonomous and near-silent. It looks like this vision...

Printed titanium parts to reduce costs on the Dreamliner

13Apr

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aviation, Manufacturing, News

Printed titanium parts to reduce costs on the Dreamliner

Norsk Titanium AS, a Norwegian 3D printing company, has been hired by Boeing Co. to 3D print structural titanium parts for its Dreamliner. Titanium parts alone cost about $17 million out of the total $265 million cost of the plane. This is due to the 787’s carbon fiber fuselage and wings and result in a higher titanium requirement. This is obviously a sizeable portion of the costs and Boeing has been looking for ways to reduce these costs. Norsk Titanium Vice President, Chip Yates, claims that by 3D printing these, as opposed to manufacturing them the traditional way (with forging and machining), they will be able to cut down the costs of each 787 Dreamliner by around $2-3 million. Considering that Boeing produces around 144 Dreamliners each year on average, this will lead to a sizeable...

5Apr

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aviation, Propulsion, Space engineering, Space flight

The Airbus Zephyr

Authors: Rens van der Zwaard & Max Aalberse, MSc Students Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft Article published in Leonardo Times Magazine, Edition of January 2017. The Zephyr 8 is a compromise between Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and satellites. It has the ability to fly autonomously in the stratosphere, above all weather and air traffic, the advantage being that it can perform its functions without having to take unexpected weather changes into account. Its endurance at this altitude is in the order of weeks. Therefore, the Zephyr can do the job of a satellite while flying sufficiently close to the surface to make high-resolution images and is inexpensive to use, relative to developing and launching a satellite. Another advantage is that the Zephyr can always stay focused on th...

25Mar

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aviation, News, Operations

Maiden flight 787-10 scheduled

Boeing has announced the date of the 787-10 Dreamliner maiden flight to be March 31st. Its public roll-out on February 17th took place at its exclusive building site in North Charleston, South Carolina. The event was celebrated by thousands of employees along with U.S. President Donald Trump and the Governor of South Carolina. https://twitter.com/BoeingAirplanes/status/844595295367385090 As of February 2017 over 1200 orders have been placed for the entire 787 family, of which 149 for the 787-10 variant. Its prime customers include Singapore Airlines and Etihad Airways, both having ordered 30 aircraft. First delivery is planned for 2018. Boeing shall be broadcasting the first flight of the newest member of the 787 family, subject to weather and other factors, live online here.

19Mar

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aviation, News, Operations

Endless runways: The future?

If you think that everything you can think of has already been invented, you are wrong. Recently BBC News posted a film [1] presenting the idea of circular runways. The Endless Runway is a project run by the NLR in the Netherlands. The principle of The Endless Runway is that aircraft take-off and land on a circular runway. The circular runway will allow aircraft to take-off in any direction and land in any direction, making it possible for the aircraft to always land and take-off in the most desirable direction with respect to the wind: headwind. The possibility for aircraft to land and take-off without experiencing crosswind at all times is not the only advantage to the concept of circular runways. In low wind conditions, it would be possible to shorten the landing and take-off intervals....

29Sep

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aviation, Time Flies

The 6 Day War

Operation Focus (Mivtza Moked) Intro In 1967, Israel was faced with a serious geopolitical existential threat of war on 3 fronts by its neighbors. Israel decided to go for pre-emptive airstrikes and won the war in just six days. How did the IAF achieve this success? The Six-Day War was fought by Israel and its neighboring states of Egypt, Syria and Jordan with the backing of almost all Arab countries. The June 1967 war in particular was not only a watershed in the history of the Middle East, it was also one of the rare occurrences in the recent history of a pre-emptive war, a type of war which breaks out primarily if the attacker feels that it will itself be the target of a military attack in the short term. Political Background The root cause of Arab-Israeli conflict has been the c...

19Aug

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aviation

Swiss Air Force: An Inside Look

To be able to fly a military aircraft, aspirants have to go through a tough selection process. Eventually only a fraction of the applicants will be able to call themselves pilots. One of these people is Sebastian Blanke, Lieutenant of the Swiss Army, currently an aspirant to becoming a pilot. He shares his experiences exclusively with Leonardo Times. As a child, many people have the dream of becoming a pilot. I wasn’t any different. Huge, complex, and fast technical systems like airplanes always fascinated me. As I grew older, the dream grew with me. Finally, at the age of seventeen, I decided to pursue my dream and try to become a pilot of the Swiss Air Force (SAF). The very first step on the journey to the cockpit is SPHAIR. It is the platform of the SAF, which offers every Swiss cit...