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6 May 2005

Airbus A380 First Flight

The Airbus uber-jumbo-jet model A380 completed a successful first flight on 27 April from Toulouse, France.

According to Airbus, the flight was jointly captained by Claude Lelaie, Senior Vice President of Airbus' Flight Division and Chief Test Pilot and Vice President Jacques Rosay. The flight lasted three hours and 54 minutes.

Of course the biggest news about the A380 is its, well, bigness. The A380 is larger than Boeing's B-747 in all respects save for numbers (which are over a 1,000) flying. Boeing and Airbus have very publicly Airbus A380 disagreed about the market direction currently flown by the airline industry, with Airbus insisting the A380 is the future of long haul flying and Boeing betting on the smaller 787 Dreamliner. If the sales prospects were better for the 747 Boeing might be singing a different tune.

On a strangely harmonic note, Airbus is seeking corporate approval to develop a new model which would compete with the 787. Can we stretch the music metaphor even further? Let's see.

Despite the good news about the A380's first flight, Airbus is singing out of tune with Air India. The 787 recently scored a major sales victory with the carrier ordering up to 27 of the aircraft (20 orders 7 options) to replace Airbus A310s. Airbus wants an inquiry and Air India is complaining.

And on a single sour final note, Reuters is reporting that Airbus has confirmed that some A380 deliveries will be delayed.

*Editors note: We would have a picture of the first flight here but there are none as of our deadline on the Airbus website's media section nor did they respond to an e-mail request.

NASA Space Shuttle Discovery Return to Flight Delayed

NASA announced that the Space Shuttle Discovery return to flight mission will slip to a window of July 13 to 31. According to NASA, the new schedule gives the agency time to do additional work to ensure a safe flight for Discovery and its crew.

The announcement follows recent Space Shuttle Program reviews. Managers identified the need to do more work to validate engineering analyses of potential debris hazards and to make some additional modifications to the external fuel tank.

"This is consistent with our overall approach to the STS-114 mission, which is that we're going to return to flight, we're not going to rush to flight," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said at a morning news conference at NASA Headquarters. "Our intent with this effort is to make certain we are as safe as we know how to be before we launch the Space Shuttle and its crew. We want it to be right."

The Return to Flight mission will take Shuttle Commander Eileen Collins and six crew members to the International Space Station. The mission is the first of two test flights to evaluate new thermal protection system inspection and repair techniques and to deliver supplies and equipment to the Station.

Two F/A-18 Hornets and Crew Lost in Iraq

Two pilots and their F/A-18 Hornets have been lost in Iraq. Both planes and aircrew were assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, and were flying off the U.S.S. Carl Vinson (CVN 70).

Killed were Maj. John C. Spahr, 42, of Cherry Hill, N.J., and Capt. Kelly C. Hinz, 30, of Woodbury, Minn., from injuries received when their aircraft crashed. The cause of the crash is still under investigation but sand storms were reported in the region at the time.

First Image of Planet Outside Our Solar System Confirmed

Well, maybe. According to the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, a team of astronomers has possibly made a breakthrough by finding a tiny companion planet to GQ Lupi, a young so called T-Tauri star

GQ Lupi is located in the Lupus I (the Wolf) cloud, a region of star formation about 400 or 500 light-years away. It is apparently a very young object still surrounded by a disc, with an age between 100,000 and 2 million years.

The astronomers observed GQ Lupi on 25 June 2004 with the adaptive optics instrument NACO attached to Yepun, the fourth 8.2-m Unit Telescope of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) located on top of Cerro Paranal (Chile). The instrument's adaptive optics (AO) overcomes the distortion induced by atmospheric turbulence, producing extremely sharp near-infrared images.

As the inset photo shows, the NACO exposures reveal the presence of the tiny companion, located in the close vicinity of the star.

At the distance of GQ Lupi, the separation between the star and its feeble companion is about 100 astronomical units (or 100 times the distance between the Sun and the Earth). This is roughly 2.5 times the distance between Pluto and the Sun.

To Planet or Not to Planet

To further probe the physical nature of the newly discovered object, the astronomers used NACO on the VLT to take a series of spectra. These showed the typical signature of a very cool object, in particular the presence of water and CO bands. Taking into account the infrared colors and the spectral data available, atmospheric model calculations point to a temperature between 1,600 and 2,500 degrees and a radius that is twice as large as Jupiter (see PR Photo 10c/05). According to this, GQ Lupi B is thus a cold and rather small object.

But what is the nature of this faint object? Is it a bona-fide exoplanet or is it a brown dwarf, those "failed" stars that are not massive enough to centrally produce major nuclear reactions? Although the borderline between the two is still a matter of debate, one way to distinguish between the two is by their mass (as this is also done between brown dwarfs and stars): (giant) planets are lighter than about 13 Jupiter-masses (the critical mass needed to ignite deuterium fusion), brown dwarfs are heavier. The team plans more observations. Stay tuned.

Embraer Expands Its Business Jet Portfolio

According to Embraer, the Very Light and Light Jets will offer premium comfort, performance and low operating costs. They will be designed for high utilization and high availability. Embraer claims to have designed in a pilot-friendly cockpit and docile flying qualities which will allow the two new aircraft to operate single-pilot.

Embraer's Very Light Jet will carry up to eight people and be powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada's PW617F engine, with 1,615 pounds of Embraer Light & Very Light Jets thrust. Its range will be 1,160 nautical miles (NBAA IFR reserves with 100 nm alternate) with four people onboard and it will have a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.7.

Embraer says the Very Light Jet should enter service in mid-2008 and will be priced at $2.75 million in 2005 dollars.

The Light Jet will be powered by P&WC's PW535E engine, with 3,200 pounds of thrust. A nine seater, the Light Jet's range will be 1,800 nautical miles (NBAA IFR reserves with 100 nm alternate) with six people onboard, and it will have a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.78.

Embraer says the Light Jet is expected to enter service in mid-2009 and be priced at $6.65 million in 2005 dollars.

Exclusive New Series of Airplane Posters, Aviation Calendars and Pilot Gift Items Launched by AeronauticPictures.com

Unique collection of aviation posters, aircraft T-shirts and airplane gift items draw on the amazing air-to-air, aerial & airline photography of AeronauticPictures.com founder, photographer and filmmaker, Craig Schmitman.

Ventura County, CA, May 4, 2005 -- AeronauticPictures.com announces the launch of an exclusive series of airplane posters, aviation art, aeronautical gifts and aerospace calendars.

Illustrated by the fine art, editorial and advertising photography of Craig Schmitman, founder of AeronauticPictures.com, the new poster and calendar collection includes images of the maiden flight of the NASA Space Shuttle Discovery, U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet aircraft launching from the deck of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson (CVN 70), air-to-air and cockpit photography of Boeing B-747 airliners, exclusive air-to-air images of a U.S. Air Force F-16 performing the 'Cobra' maneuver over Edwards Air Force Base, the U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III, and the World War II legend P-38 Lightning fighter of the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Also depicted are the Air Force F-22 Raptor and F-15 Eagle, the giant U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 E helicopter, in-flight cockpit shots of jet fighter pilots, and from NASA sources, an Eagle Nebula poster as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Schmitman's extraordinary images have never before been available to the public on this scale, with sales largely to trade or industry clientele. He has achieved what is perhaps a singular distinction in the history of powered flight by being the first (and perhaps the only) photographer to have his work appear simultaneously on the covers of Flight International and Aviation Week and Space Technology Magazines. This is the aeronautical equivalent of work on the cover of both mainstream news weekly magazines.

The airplane poster shop is located at http://www.AeronauticPictures.com/posters/index.htm

Products offered include:
- T-shirts (for men and women)
- Golf shirts
- Sweatshirts
- Toddler shirts
- Dog shirts (really!)
- Infant creepers
- Bibs (just for babies)
- Coffee mugs
- Steins
- Coasters
- Mousepads
- BBQ aprons
- Tote bags
- Calendars
- Greeting cards
- Postcards
- Posters

While the poster shop and gift shop elements are designed to appeal to pilots, airplane buffs, those fascinated by space flight and astronomy, bulk purchase of any item for corporate gifts, trade show items, and wholesale orders for re-sale are all available complete with customized text and branding.

Future offerings will draw on the 30,000 image archive held by AeronauticPictures.com, including the rights managed and royalty free stock photography collections located within the AeronauticPictures.com website: http://www.AeronauticPictures.com/rfphotos/index.htm

The posters, shirts, mugs and other gift items are illustrated by images that can convey timely concepts like teamwork, high technology, national security, patriotism, service, hope, potential, industry, risk, bravery, travel, energy, globalization, speed and power.

'I'm very pleased to share these images of subjects I'm passionate about and have enjoyed photographing for so many years,' said Craig Schmitman, owner of Aeronautic Pictures. 'Words can't express the excitement and sense of adventure I've experienced at sea on the deck of a Nimitz Class aircraft carrier (USS Carl Vinson – CVN 70) or chasing a jumbo jet across the Cascade Mountain range glowing with the warmth of a sunset.' He added, 'Hopefully these pictures can speak volumes about those beautiful and wonderful moments.'

Products may be delivered throughout the United States and internationally.

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