Could Technology End Airline Delays?
Are you a fed up air traveler? You’re not alone. Delays and cancellations seem to have become the rule this year, but there is a better way. Technology and free markets could vastly improve air travel, if politicians will allow them to work.
It’s become popular to blame air travel woes on deregulation, just as California pundits and politicos are blaming a freer energy market for rising electric bills. In both cases, competition and free markets are unjustly taking the fall in public commentary. California eliminated some restrictions on the sale of electricity. But state government and the Feds continue to regulate energy production, while environmental groups block the creation of new power plants, which makes it difficult and costly to generate electricity. If it costs a lot to generate power, you can only squeeze so much savings out of new marketing rules.
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Radar to help pilots avoid birds
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C.: A trailer with antennas and wires temporarily parked on base awaiting transit to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, might not look like much, but it could save the military lives and money when it gets shipped later this spring.
The trailer contains a Merlin Aircraft Birdstrike Avoidance Radar System that will alert pilots and air traffic controllers to the presence of birds near one of the U.S. military’s busiest airfields in Afghanistan.
While currently used at some stateside Air Force bases and international airports, the installation of the bird detection radar at Bagram Airfield will mark the first use of this technology in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, said Gene LeBoeuf, the chief of the Air Force Safety Center’s Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard, or BASH, team.
Having bird detection radar at Bagram Airfield is a result of three years’ of effort between the Safety Center’s BASH team, headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., and the U.S. Air Forces Central Command Safety Office at Shaw Air Force Base.
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2009 Airline IT Trends Survey: Technology developments
Passengers using their mobile phones to check-in may be fairly thin on the ground today, but airlines are forecasting that people using this service will increase fivefold in the next three years and are gearing up to rapidly accelerate the availability of a whole range of mobile facilities, including check-in, to help their customers self-process their journey.
The growth and popularity of web and mobile services look set to overshadow kiosks as a check-in channel – indeed airlines in some regions that have yet to implement kiosks may simply leapfrog this evolutionary stage. However there is plenty of life left in the kiosk as a self-service channel, with an increasing number of airlines looking to evolve it further to provide other self-processing tools.
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An Encounter With A Microburst
It was a beautiful pre-summer afternoon as we took off from Bangalore for Coimbatore in our Dornier-228. We were required to position at Coimbatore for a routine charter flight. The weather forecast for the route was seasonal pre-monsoon weather with likely Cumulonimbus buildup during late afternoon. The enroute weather was generally good, except for a large cell visible on the weather radar slightly north of Coimbatore. Our track was fortunately clear and we expected no problems but for the northerly winds, which were pushing the cell slowly towards our destination. However, we expected to be on ground well before the CB could affect our destination. As we approached Coimbatore, the tower cleared a scheduled Boeing-737 flight to descend behind us and join the ILS final approach path directly ad told us to report overhead for a procedure ILS, as requested by us. However, as we reported overhead, the mighty CB had reached within 10 NM of the airfield and moving in fast. Winds were slowly picking up and we were anxious to be on ground as early as possible. In the meanwhile, the B-737 reported as having been established on ILS for R/W 23. As we joined the hold for the ILS, the jet reported some turbulence on finals. However, as the jet landed, the captain informed us that he had experienced severe turbulence on finals and advised us to approach the airfield from the other end, I e R/W 05.
Sensing an abnormal situation developing, we became adequately alert and decided to follow his advice. The CB was now within 5 NM from the airfield.
As we decided to join a southerly visual circuit, the winds too were veering and becoming favorable for our newly selected approach path. Consequently, we joined a descending circuit and were asked to report finals for R/W 05. By the time we turned base-leg, we had reached circuit altitude and began adjusting configuration for the final approach. We also noticed slight turbulence at this stage.
Further, one important variation was the requirement of higher power setting for the existing aircraft configuration and altitude. As we turned finals, the power setting requirement steadily increased. During descent, the power requirement increased uncomfortably and reached an abnormally high setting of 65% torque by the time we were 500 feet on short finals. The normal setting under the circumstances would have been 35% torque on finals and steadily decreasing during the final descent. In addition, there was a steady increase in turbulence level and situation had become uncomfortable at 500 feet. We were now in a full-fledged Microburst and slowly getting into a worse situation. The captain, on RHS who was silently monitoring the approach finally decided to takeover the controls and commenced a go around at about 400-500 feet. As he opened power, he found that the aircraft was barely maintaining height with even maximum power and turbulence was now severe,lightning at night especially for a light aircraft like Dornier. At this crucial stage, the Captain decided to leave current flight path and commenced a right turn away from the direction of winds and the approaching CB, which by now was very close to the far end of the runway. To his great relief the effect of strong winds of microburst began to fade away, the aircraft started to respond to power, and finally started a gradual climb at about 200 feet above ground level. With further change in direction, the aircraft comfortably climbed out and we decided to divert to the nearby airfield.
Aware that we had had a real close shave, the following points emerged during the mutual debrief:
* The caution from the Boeing was indeed a timely one regarding the oncoming situation.
* We had inadvertently entered a microburst and recovered just short of a sure disaster.
* There is no known equipment to accurately warn the pilots about an impending microburst, which can be present in clear weather in the vicinity of a CB.
* Within a microburst, the turbulence can drastically increase from an acceptable level to a dangerous one within a short descent of 200-300 feet.
The wind situation for us while in microburst changed sequentially from strong headwinds to strong updraft and then to a severe downdraft, the last condition being responsible for many aviation disasters where even maximum power from all the engines may be insufficient to climb out safely. Fortunately, we avoided getting into this last situation, as we decided to turn without waiting for the aircraft to initiate climb at fairly low altitude. Incidentally, the Captain vaguely remembers this action being recommended on a TV program on aviation disasters as a likely course of action for an airliner, which crashed due to a microburst some years ago. You never know which direction the help can eventually come from!
The decision to divert could have been taken right away. Although we did not expect to encounter a microburst, yet avoiding this situation altogether would have been a desirable course of action. However, we would have been deprived of this once in a lifetime experience of encountering a microburst first-hand, and coming out alive and safe. The encounter will never fade away from our memory. And of course, I have absolutely no desire to get into a similar situation in future.
