United 232, Air Canada 797, and Air Transat 236 could be on this list.

(Written on 2021年 09月 07日)(Permalink)

“83% of Spirit’s Routes Have Head-to-Head Competition” So what? Is 83% high, or low, or about the industry average? It’s a meaningless statistic without context, to wit, the head-to-head route competition percentages for each of the eight other airlines whose schedules the writer compared with Spirit. But I guess SimpleFlying had to keep it Simple!

(Written on 2021年 08月 30日)(Permalink)

There’s USA content in the Airbus A321neo, notably in the engines, plus at least some frames will come from the Airbus final assembly plant in Mobile, Alabama. Boeing airliners aren’t 100% American, Airbus airliners aren’t 100% French nor even 100% European.

(Written on 2021年 08月 25日)(Permalink)

Agreed that the RAT scheme wouldn’t work. I’ve read of designers experimenting with the idea of putting windmills in the wingtip vortices to recover energy, but there too I doubt the energy recovered would overcome the additional drag.

(Written on 2021年 08月 20日)(Permalink)

Taliban will want to be internationally recognized as the legitimate government, so they would have a lot to lose by shooting down an airliner: retaliatory military strike, trade sanctions, condemnation from other countries, diplomatic isolation, for starters. On another note, only US flag passenger flights I can find that would overfly Afghanistan are United services between Newark and Mumbai (perhaps there are also some cargo services), so closing this airspace doesn’t seem to be a big disruption of US flag air commerce.

(Written on 2021年 08月 20日)(Permalink)

Wind turbines as in windmilling props on initial descent to recharge batteries.

(Written on 2021年 08月 18日)(Permalink)

For military aircraft that can be refueled in flight, a nearby friendly airport is not necessary. Apparently the USAF has established a tanker bridge in the area: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/41988/shadowy-kc-135rt-special-ops-tankers-head-toward-afghanistan-as-evacuation-airbridge-forms

(Written on 2021年 08月 18日)(Permalink)

Nevertheless that’s an impressive feat, lifting out 640 in one flight. There wouldn’t have been much personal space left for each passenger. Somewhere in the corporate offices of Ryanair and Spirit there must be planners wondering “How can we monetize this??”

(Written on 2021年 08月 17日)(Permalink)

You don’t. If and when this thing gets certified, the certification will set the max landing weight to equal the max takeoff weight.

(Written on 2021年 08月 13日)(Permalink)

Why not? The electric motors will be powered by batteries, not by on-board solar panels.

(Written on 2021年 08月 11日)(Permalink)