Game Changer
Jack Hsu brings years of gaming industry experience to his latest challenge - developing augmented reality software (AR) for aircraft inspection.
First flight for Boeing’s 777X, its biggest jet yet
The plane’s maiden flight was three hours and 51 minutes in duration, with pilots reporting the 777-9 “flew beautifully” during a detailed test plan that exercised its systems and structures.
The world’s longest passenger plane is here — the Boeing 777X
The longest passenger jetliner in the world just made its debut. On March 13, the very first Boeing 777X was presented to company employees, inside the airframer's main wide-body manufacturing facility in Everett, Washington.
Is Boeing or Airbus Better? We Asked an Airline Pilot.
What does a professional, highly experienced pilot think of the planes? "I love both aircraft for different reasons. Where one comes up short, the other one excels,” said Captain Rory Kay.
Awesome cargo planes: Transporting goods around the world
Those beautiful roses from Ecuador? The fresh lobsters from Canada's Maritimes on your plate, just hours old? How about your new smartphone from Shenzhen? They all enjoyed a flight in a cargo plane, part of the remarkable logistics web that transports goods from destinations around the globe.
Space Odyssey
ViaSat-2 sat quietly on its cradle in the clean room, no longer attended to by scores of gowned technicians. Antennas folded, solar panels and radiators tightly retracted. Its large rectangular structure could have been mistaken for an industrial appliance, rather than a highly advanced communications satellite bound for space. The satellite was ready to be enclosed in a specialized shipping container, a cocoon, to protect the satellite during its flight to French Guiana. And soon after being launched on an Ariane 5, ViaSat-2 will stretch out its 158-foot-long solar panels, ushering in new capabilities of Ka-band connectivity.
Charting Out the North Pole
The iconic Jeppesen approach charts are filled with the information pilots need to complete a safe approach and landing. The format of the charts has also inspired a series of more than 80 commemorative maps recognizing Jeppesen employees, and honoring pilots such as Jimmy Buffet and Harrison Ford, and events such as Apollo 13 and the Miracle on the Hudson. In 2013, Jeppesen added Santa Claus to the list of honorees with the release of its North Pole Village chart.
Light Ideas From Boeing
Cabin ceiling projections of stars, clouds and colors; huge curved flat-panel in-flight entertainment (IFE) displays; advanced lighting systems; massive translucent cabin monuments displaying current flight status and moving maps. These are just some of the concepts being worked on by engineers in Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes Product Development group. “Airlines are telling us that they want to have interiors that have a wow factor, and set their cabin apart from [those of] their competitors,” says Mark Ellis, senior manager, Payloads Product Development.
Digital Dreamliners
Earlier this year at the Paris Air Show, Boeing test pilots put a 787-9 through its paces in a spectacular aerial demonstration. The new Dreamliner was decked out in the blue and gold livery of Vietnam Airlines, but the people attending the airshow weren’t the only ones to see the amazing maneuverability of the latest version of the 787. Prior to the show, when the pilots practiced their routine at the Moses Lake WA’s airport, Boeing had a high-definition video of the session shot and produced.
Build Your Own Dreamliner
At Mock Air, APEX’s unofficial carrier, we’re all about the #PaxEx. At least we would be, if we were an actual airline with real aircraft. But one can never be too prepared, so we recently spent a morning at Boeing’s “Dreamliner Gallery,” to think about fitting out the interiors of our fictional fleet of 787s. The 54,000 square foot facility has been open for eight years, and was a “paradigm shift in our interaction with our customers,” says Dan Olson, Dreamliner Gallery Manager.