Samsonite

"Dr. Hans von Ohain and Sir Frank Whittle are both recognized as being the co-inventors of the jet engine. Each worked separately and knew nothing of the other's work. Hans von Ohain is considered the designer of the first operational turbojet engine. Frank Whittle was the first to register a patent for the turbojet engine in 1930. Hans von Ohain was granted a patent for his turbojet engine in 1936. However, Hans von Ohain's jet was the first to fly in 1939. Frank Whittle's jet first flew in in 1941." http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_was_the_jet_engine_invented Mr. Sikorsky immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 30 and became an American citizen.

From SFO Cathay Pacific usually arrives in BKK at 10:30 a.m., China Air at 12:30 p.m., and Singapore Air at 3:30 p.m., but I doubt any of them offer "premium economy." Cathay Pacific makes a stop in Hong Kong, China Air in Taipei, and Singapore Air in either Hong Kong or Seoul and then Singapore before finally taking you to Bangkok.

Another absolutely brilliant statement, wacky. Do you even know what powers a "turbo" prop?

Nonsense. There are plenty of skill workers in the U.S., but the corporations don't want to pay them a decent wage and use this argument, this ruse, to justify, in their minds, out sourcing the jobs overseas.

"DATE:20/05/10 SOURCE:Air Transport Intelligence news A380-900 and freighter both on 'back-burner': Enders By David Kaminski-Morrow Neither the freighter nor the -900 variant of the Airbus A380 are likely to be revived in the near term, because the airframer wants to reduce its risk exposure to new projects. Speaking after the delivery of Lufthansa's first A380 at Hamburg, Airbus chief executive Tom Enders described both variants as being "on the back-burner". "We have to be realistic about what we can do with a given set of resources," he says. The company wants to achieve "cruise mode" on its A380 programme by stabilising production and focus on its A350 development. Enders says the cargo market has been showing evidence of recovery, following a severe drop in traffic. But he points out that Airbus, with its A330-200F, has "a great new freighter" to offer the market." http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/...ner-enders.html It is pretty safe bet that the cargo version of the a380 won't be built and it looks like the stretch version, the a380-900, will suffer the same fate.

Sigh... One more time for the, obviously, extremely obtuse: That is what testing programs are for, i.e., to find the problems and fix them before the aircraft goes into service.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=a9UKBNbncX2Q Airbus A380 Order Dearth Risks Double-Decker-Dud Fate (Update1) By Andrea Rothman May 5 (Bloomberg) -- Five years after its first test flight, the Airbus SAS A380 superjumbo remains more than 200 planes short of making the program profitable. Only one new airline customer signed up for the 525-seat jet since commercial operations began in 2007. Deliveries slowed to 10 A380s in 2009, from 12 a year earlier, as Airbus struggled to ramp up production of the world’s largest passenger plane. The muted response for the Airbus flagship, with just 202 orders since the jet went on offer a decade ago, contrasts with a boom in global aircraft orders and sales that led airlines to sign up for more than 3,000 wide-body planes in the same period. Airbus says it is years from making money with the A380, which cost more than 18 billion euros ($24 billion) to challenge Boeing Co.’s decades-long grip on the market for long-haul jets. “There’s only a handful of routes you can use the A380 on, and if traffic drops on that route you’re stuck,” said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of Teal Group, an aerospace analysis company. “The A380 is best regarded as a $25 billion write-off and an act of industrial irresponsibility.” The superjumbo idea was championed in the 1990s by former Airbus Chief Executive Officer Jean Pierson. His successor, Noel Forgeard, pursued the plane with backing from Daimler AG and Lagardere SCA, the two largest shareholders of Airbus parent European Aeronautic, Defence and Space Co. Forgeard was fired in 2006 after a six-month delay on the A380 construction. ‘Winner’ Louis Gallois, who leads EADS today, said the A380 is a “winner,” and the more than 200 planes sold so far are a success, according to a May 4 interview with Bild-Zeitung. “Its size is the only right answer to the congestion at the overflowing airports around the world,” Gallois told the newspaper, according to comments confirmed by the company. Building the plane cost 50 percent more than Airbus had originally earmarked, as software glitches led to production breakdowns. The delays later stretched to 2 1/2 years. This year, Airbus aims to double deliveries to 20 planes, a goal the manufacturer itself has called “aggressive.” Deutsche Lufthansa AG gets its first A380 this month, the second European airline after Air France to operate the jet. Singapore Airlines has ordered 25 A380s, and Emirates Airline signed for 58. The list price for an A380 is $327 million, though early clients get discounts, and Airbus also owed penalties for late deliveries. Fuel Efficient The airplane manufacturer markets the A380 as more fuel- efficient per passenger mile than older and smaller jets, allowing airlines to alleviate congestion to major airports and on busy routes. Airlines operating the A380 say it’s a crowd pleaser, attracting flyers with its double-decker layout, and on-board perks such as first-class cabins and cocktail bars. “Our first-class suite optimizes beautifully on the main deck, and our business class suite optimizes perfectly for the upper deck and gives us both of these things that a single floor aircraft would have to compromise,” said Lyell Strambi, group executive of operations at Sydney-based Qantas Airways Ltd., which has six A380s in service, with orders to increase its superjumbo fleet to 20. The superjumbo’s perks may prove less attractive in a market reeling from a global recession that wiped out six years of premium travel growth, according to the International Air Transport Association. Qantas is removing first-class cabins from some A380 planes, and shrinking business class to add premium-economy and coach seats on other A380s. Lagging Indicator Airlines stand to lose a collective $2.8 billion this year, down from about $9.4 billion in 2009, according to a forecast IATA made before travel disruptions caused by a volcanic ash cloud last month cost airlines billions in lost revenue. The effects from rising or contracting air travel can take more than a year to feed through to manufacturers, as airlines take time to adapt their order patterns to demand. Manufacturers estimate that there’s typically a six-month lag between the time airlines’ profit rebounds and when they begin ordering new aircraft. Even as the economy picks up steam, airlines may be no more inclined to order the jet than during the recession. Several A380 customers have sought deferrals, while maintaining deliveries of smaller, wide-body planes. Those postponing include Air France KLM group, Etihad, Qatar Airways Ltd. and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Virgin Delays Virgin deferred the first of six planes on order to 2013 from 2009. The carrier has since pushed the date out to as late as 2015 and is indefinite about taking delivery at all. “We’ve left our options open to see where that plane is by 2015 and where the market is,” Chief Executive Steve Ridgway said in a telephone interview April 28. Virgin is now looking at Airbus’s A350, which seats 300 to 350, and plans to take delivery of 15 Boeing 787s as soon as they’re available, the CEO said. The 787, built in large parts from composite materials, seats 250 to 300 people. The rise of the wide-body market has been helped by more reliable engines, opening up long routes to twin-engine planes such as the Boeing 777 and 787 and Airbus A350. Aviation regulators said in 2007 that jetliners with two engines are as safe as those with three or four, providing less reason for carriers to pick planes such as the A380 or competing 747-8. Small in Japan Before it even flew, Airbus predicted sales for the A380 of as many as 1,000. Today, Airbus’s official prediction for the next 20 years is 1,300 plane sales in the jumbo category, including the Boeing 747-8. Boeing sees potential for 740 units. Aviation analysts are less optimistic. Over the next 10 years, airlines worldwide will take deliveries of an estimated 100 very large planes and about 450 wide-body jets, according to a forecast released May 4 by Ascend Worldwide Ltd., a London- based aviation adviser and forecaster. One market where Airbus has so far failed to sell the A380 is Japan, a country it had targeted as one of the biggest recipients because of its dense population. Japanese airlines have been the largest operators of Boeing’s 747 jumbo plane, where the jet is used on domestic routes. Airbus’s market share has been less than 5 percent in Japan over the last decade, with no order backlog. That compares with Boeing’s order backlog of 173 aircraft in the country. Boeing’s Boom Occupancy rates on routes where the A380 flies are as much as 10 percent higher than on models by competitors, said Richard Carcaillet, Airbus’s marketing director for the plane. That advantage means Japanese airlines will have no choice but to acquire the aircraft as carriers including Air France begin flying into Tokyo’s Narita, he said. “There is strong potential in Japan and the U.S.,” he said. “Maybe not in two years, maybe in five years, or eight years, but these carriers will in my view end up deciding on the A380.” Carcaillet predicts at least another 600 sales of A380s. Even if Carcaillet were proven right, Airbus would sell less than half as many A380s than Boeing has delivered of its 747 jumbo jet since the model was launched in 1969. When the plane first flew, it was twice as large as anything else and offered more range than any other commercial transport, opening the door to inexpensive, mass transport. Wide-Body Revolution In the four decades that followed, wide-body models with long range and greater flexibility moved into the market for long-haul flights. Boeing’s 787, entering service late this year, already has 866 orders and Airbus’s A350, entering service in 2013, has 530 orders for the jet. As wide-body jets made from composite materials flock to the market, Airbus may find that its A380, with a maximum takeoff weight of 569 tons, lacks the flexibility that airlines demand to address travelers’ growing preference for direct flights instead of landing at major airports and then switching. “The market for the plane is too limited to ever make any real money, and I don’t think the end of the recession will change that,” said Hans Weber, president of aerospace advisory firm Tecop International in San Diego. “It’s been well-received by passengers and done pretty well as far as reliability but the market’s probably limited to no more than another 200 planes.” To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Rothman in New York via aerothman@bloomberg.net Last Updated: May 5, 2010 08:04 EDT http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=a9UKBNbncX2Q

You won't get a sea view room at the Sandy Spring for 1,000 Baht, but you might get better than their rack rate by using this service: http://www.scandibar.com/hotel/ Good luck.

It is possible to have a "sea view" from the Residence Garden, but due to the haze (smog) you may not be able see it.

Try one of the Asian airlines from the West Coast. They will get you into BKK around noon instead of midnight. Sad news. Continental was the last American owned airline with a decent reputation. This merger has been in the wind for many, many months, if not a couple of years on the aviation web sites. IMHO, it shouldn't be allowed. The companies involved in these mega mergers always talk a good story, but the end result is prices go up and service goes down. Hard to believe the service on an American owned airline could get any worst than it already is, but, sigh, it will.

You might want to take that up with that British firm known as Rolls Royce. The launch customer, ANA, picked RR engines for their 787s. Rolls, unfortunately hasn't been able to meet their own performance specifications and are off by 5%, even now, two years after they and the 787 where originally suppose to have been delivered. The first 4 aircraft of the test fleet have been flying with the initial RR engine, but will be refitted with the "new" version that is within 1% of spec and re-tested before deliveries begin later this year. The GE engine meets spec and they are working to exceed their own performance guarantees. BTW, the one of the features of the 787 is a standardized engine mounting system (forgotten what it is called) that will allow engines to be changed quickly even if from a different manufacturer (if the engine was built for the 787, of course). I would imagine there would have to be some software changes in the cockpit.

Eighteen actually, and 4 more in final assembly. There have been minor changes here and there, and there might be a few more as the flight test program continues, but for the most part they are done. The engines will be installed as they arrive from the manufacturer (GE or RR) and interior options, as picked by each buyer, will be done just prior to delivery.

They are built and parked on the flight line waiting for certification by the FAA.

It doesn't change the schedule. Boeing has 22, 787s completed or in final assembly, not counting the two static test airframes, for a total of 24, so far. At the current pace they will have 34 flying aircraft completed by the time of the first delivery later this year. There are 6 aircraft in the flight test program and 3 of those will be delivered to customers, so 31 aircraft will be available for delivery by the end of this year. They will be building at an initial rate of 2.5 a month from August this year on, and that will rise to 7 a month and eventually 10 a month. At the rate of 2.5 a month, they will, by the end of the first year following the first delivery, have completed and delivered at least 61 aircraft. How many a380s have been delivered in the 2 1/2 years since its first delivery? 26. "Boeing halting 787 deliveries to Everett until June By Jon Ostrower on April 27, 2010 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0) Boeing will hold shipments of fuselage section for Airplane 23 at supplier partners to allow them to catch up, pushing the start assembly to early June, company sources confirm. The halt in deliveries to Everett will not cease production activities at Final Assembly, the aircraft currently on the line, numbers 19, 20, 21 and 22 will continue undergoing assembly. Program sources tell FlightBlogger that the plan is to hold deliveries for up to 24 manufacturing days, beginning at the end of this month and stretching into June. A typical month contains 22 manufacturing days with a 5-day work week. The hold is expected to last a total of four weeks and four days. 787 production had been running at a two aircraft per month pace, accepting deliveries from Boeing Charleston and supply partners every 10 manufacturing days. Production was supposed to accelerate from two to two and a half aircraft per month beginning in August." http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightbl...ing-787-de.html

It doesn't take more than very little commonsense and some knowledge of basic accounting principles to know the B747 will be around long after the fly citroen is history.

The new 747-8F. Now that is an impressive aircraft. (As opposed to the Flying Citroen )

The Golden Crab on Soi 13 has security and a kitchen in each apartment. http://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/index.ph...2&hl=golden

Has reading comprehension always been a problem for you?

As should you. It is starting to appear that Pom, Wacky and the Fiend are one and the same person. Pay Toilets On Ryanair? Nope. Posted by Andrew Compart at 4/13/2010 4:20 PM CDT Ryanair's latest supposed proclamation about in-flight pay toilets generated a slew of news stories and blog rants. But considering the history of this this hype, at a carrier whose leader likes to create controversy to help brand Ryanair as cheap, I shied away from saying much about it. I talked to Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamamara yesterday, and it turns out my skepticism was justified. First, let's review the history. Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary began talking about the pay toilet possibility in February 2009, as you can hear in this BBC interview. But, as I noted in this blog post at the time, the airline's spokesman backtracked a bit, and O'Leary has a long history of bluster. By early March 2009, even O'Leary admitted he just talked about pay toilets to get publicity for the carrier, when he told a tourism conference it would be technically impossible and legally difficult to do, the Irish Times reported at the time. Of course, that did not stop the airline from trying to wring some more publicity out of it. Just days after O'Leary essentially confessed, the carrier started an online contest for ideas along the lines of what the airline described as its ongoing consideration of a toilet charge. O'Leary raised the pay toilet idea again in June 2009. He also started talking about charging for toilets in conjunction with reducing the number of toilets on plane from three to one, to free up room for six more seats. That faded, too -- until now, when, in the March/April issue of its in-flight magazine, Ryanair put in a small item about its "Cost Saving Proposal: Toilet Charge." In that item, Ryanair says it is "developing this cost-saving option" for flights of one hour or less and "is working with Boeing to develop a coin-operated door release." The airline says in the item that it hopes the pay toilet would reduce passenger usage, enabling it to remove two of the three toilets to make room for six more seats. That's what started the stories that Ryanair pay toilets were inevitable and imminent. But it's neither. I'm not one to put anything past Ryanair, which elliminated seatback pockets because they create trash, decided to forego reclining seats because they require maintenance, and got rid of airport check-in counters. But reasons for skepticism remained. O'Leary and Ryanair also has bloviated in the past about standing-room only seats, as well as a "fat tax" and having all customers carry their checked baggage all the way to the plane. There is plenty of reason for skepticism on the pay toilets, too. Boeing has not confirmed it is developing a lavatory door with a credit card swipe. Ryanair sells drinks on its flights, and a toilet fee would discourage consumption. And with 189 seats on its Boeing 737-800 aircraft, Ryanair is already at the maximum. If it is going to remove lavatories to add six extra seats, the aircraft will have to be recertified for 195 seats. When I talked to McNamara yesterday, he complained the media had "misrepresented" what Ryanair actually said in the in-flight magazine (a complaint I could not take all that seriously, considering how Ryanair likes to fan the flames). But here's the crux of the matter: McNamara says the pay toilet idea O'Leary went public with in February 2009 "has not moved in any way, shape or form" since then, although Ryanair officials "continue to feel it's something we should explore with Boeing." The idea itself, he says, remains "very much up in the air" and "is not a priority for Ryanair." Could it happen this year? "Certainly not," McNamara says. Next year? "Probably not," he says. Personally, I wouldn't bet on it happening in 2012 either, although I suspect we'll hear about it again many times before then. Besides, the idea that it IS going to happen, and soon, is so ingrained in the media culture right now that it has probably become one of those false assumptions that will continually make its way into stories, commentaries and blog posts; it's just too good of a "fact" to leave out of a story about airline fees going too far -- just as ABC News does, today, in this story. Heck, the U.S. Congress might even hold a hearing on it. Such a waste of time. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/comme...mentId=blogDest

Was that "official" announcement posted? Guess we could call you, Pom and Wacky airbust kool-aid kids (drinkers).

And there you have it. Pom, Wacky and the Fiend, The Three Stooges.

One of them will become true in the not too distance future. I'll let you know. BTW, how do you like your crow served?

Well, Pom, let's see. Over the life of the 747 program over 1,400 aircraft have been built and delivered, but, again, it was a different time and it was the only one of its kind. The latest 747, the 747-8, is in production and is currently undergoing flight testing. They have 108 airframes on back order and how much would you like to wager Boeing will deliver all those 747-8s before airbust can deliver finish delivering their current backlog of a380s, some of which have been on back order for going on 10 years.

To date 21 Boeing 787s have been built or are in final assembly. At the present rate they will have over 34 completed by time of the first delivery. During the first year following the first delivery to ANA they will deliver upwards of 60 aircraft. Now, let's see, airbust in the 2 1/2 years since the first a380 was handed over to Singapore Air has delivered how many?? Hmmm? Twenty-six (26).

Well, you could say that, but here, 5 years after the first flight and 2 1/2 years after the first delivery, it has a very poor reliability rate. The first 787 will be delivered in November or December, this year, to ANA.