Employing a combination of infra-red technology, remote sensors and imagers, and flashing of subliminal images, such as a photo of Osama bin Laden, WeCU says the technology exists to identify threats without the targets even know they’re being screened.

The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) in the US is helping fund the study.  Although the companies say that such profiling is fair, I really do wonder how this secret monitoring would stand up in court.  Just about anything is better than the present “Security Theatre” that we experience today.

Commercial for GE’s new GEnx engine.  Short and creative.

Spanair is owned by SAS and the aircraft was destined for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.  The Boeing MD-82 (built by McDonnell Douglas) first took to the skies in 1980 and hundreds are still in service, the majority operated by American Airlines. Earlier this year, AA grounded its entire fleet of MD-80 series airplanes to check for hydraulic problems.  Though there is no official word on what caused today’s crash it only makes sense that this one area that will receive special scrutiny.

NOTAM : Notice to Airmen. A notice containing information (not known sufficiently in advance to publicize by other means) concerning the establishment, condition, or change in any component (facility, service, or procedure of, or hazard in the National Airspace System) the timely knowledge of which is essential to personnel concerned with flight operations.

NOTAMs will be in force to keep aircraft away from the upcoming Democratic and Republican conventions.  Ignore them and you might just have some company.

(found at at the always excellent PointNiner blog)

Last night in groundschool, we started a three week study of meteorology with a basic overview of terms and concepts.  One point we touched on was clouds.  Really didn’t know there were so many types.  So when I ducked outside for a smoke and saw this I just had to grab a picture with my Blackberry.

The CSeries is positioned to fill the need for smaller, fuel efficient aircraft in the 110-130 seat range.  It will be powered by the revolutionary Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan engine.

Initially announced in 2004 as a concept, this announcement moves it from the drawing board to the manufacturing floor with the attendant creation of more jobs in a sector that is going through some very rough times.  The CSeries promises to be the right airplane for these times of high fuel prices and lowered expectation for airline load factors.  Airbus, Boeing and Embraer will have some catching up to do.

Quotes from the release:

“Today is a great day for Bombardier, our customers, our employees, our shareholders and our suppliers. I am proud to say that we have met our business plan objectives: a technologically advanced aircraft family, a strong pipeline of orders and repayable investments with governments and agreements with key suppliers. With the latest in system technologies and aerodynamics, the CSeries family of aircraft will revolutionize the economics and network strategies for airline operations in the 100- to 149-seat commercial market. It is another example of our commitment to designing and manufacturing innovative aircraft that will ensure our continued industry leadership,” said Pierre Beaudoin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier Inc.

“At Lufthansa, we are committed to a balance between commercial success, environment and business policies oriented toward sustainability,” said Nico Buchholz, Senior Vice President, Corporate Fleet, Lufthansa. “Our initial evaluations of the CSeries family of aircraft and discussions with Bombardier over the last few months have evolved and made us believe that the CSeries family of aircraft clearly meets our stringent requirements for sustainable fleet development, both in terms of environmental and commercial requirements, and flexibility for the future. We are proud to be a part of its launch.”

Both the announcement of the launch and the decision that a significant amount of manufacturing and assembly will be done in Canada bodes very well for the future of aviation in Canada.  Bombardier Aerospace is truly a Canadian success story built on the de Havilland Canada company which was formed 80 years ago.

Had a great evening last night at the Canadian Aviation Museum.  We were treated to an empty museum and we even got a tour of the storage hanger.

I didn’t shoot all 250 pictures – only 233.  I’ve got lots of processing to do when I get back home but here’s a little teaser.

RL-206 was the last Avro CF-105 “Arrow” and was still under construction when the project was scrapped and all aircraft ordered destroyed.  Some enterprising Avro employees hid the nose section from the wrecking bar and it now sits as a sad tribute to this dark time for the Canadian aviation industry.

The weather this morning is crappy.  Guess I’ll attend the sessions instead of going downtown.

Air Canada pays $68,948 in fuel costs to get one of their efficient Boeing 777′s from Toronto to London’s Heathrow Airport. Even if the aircraft was completely full (349 seats), it would still cost $197.56 per person.

Even with fuel surcharges, the rising cost of oil is squeezing any profit out of the airline industry.  Players like AC can probably weather this storm but you’ve got to wonder how the low cost, no frills charter companies are going to survive. Hell, even some of the debt and cost laden big US carriers likely won’t survive this for very long.

Air travel started off as an adventure, worked it’s way up to a rich man’s mode of travel and finally became an option for the masses to see the world.  How long before we slide backwards and only the rich or business people in a hurry will be able to afford it?