This year’s Thanksgiving travel looks like it’s going to be messy this year, with a Nor’easter bearing down on the, well, Northeast. If you’re flying for Thanksgiving, be sure to pack extra patience and perhaps take advantage of your airline’s travel waivers. Continue reading
Every year one of the highlights of my summer is the Chicago Air and Water Show. For a few days the sky is filled with the thunderous roar of jet engines and the high-pitched whine of acrobatic prop planes. And for that weekend, seemingly everyone in the city becomes a bit of an aviation geek.
On Friday I had the pleasure of joining the crew of the Flagship Detroit on an hour-long flight around Chicago. We departed O’Hare Airport to the west and flew south and east before turning up the shore of Lake Michigan and joining the pattern for an approach and landing on O’Hare’s runway 28C. Continue reading
I was very sad to learn this morning that Massimo Vignelli has passed away. As someone who loves great design and transportation, Vignelli’s work has always been of great interest to me.
Vignelli’s designs include the iconic American Airlines “AA” logo, New York Subway signage, and the much heralded (or cursed, depending on who you ask), 1972 New York Subway map. Vignelli’s work also includes the directional signage for Washington D.C.’s Metro and the old dinnerware on Alitalia flights. Continue reading
Over a week and a half have gone by since Malaysia Airlines flight 370 was last seen flying at 35,000 feet above the Gulf of Thailand on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Dozens of ships, airplanes, helicopers, and satellites are currently searching thousands of square miles of sea and land to find MH370, but have so far come up empty. Perhaps most maddening is that we still have no idea what happened. The bits of information that have trickled out since it disappeared haven’t really brought us any closer to understanding where MH370 is and what happened on board.
The past week and half have been a steep learning curve, especially for those who don’t normally follow aviation. Navigating the jargon of the business can be confusing and separating all the acronyms can get in the way of understanding the situation.
What this post is: an attempt to put together some pieces of information so that reading the news doesn’t mean looking up a new acronym every two words. If you’re confused at all by ACARS vs TCAS, or you think ADS-B is what kicks in when your car hits a patch of ice, this post should shed a little light and I’ll do my best to update this post with answers to any questions you may have.
What this post isn’t: a compendium of theories of what happened to flight 370. If you’re looking for that, there are plenty of other places willing to entertain wild speculation. Continue reading
Last week I went through my photos and pulled out my favorite non-aviation photos from 2013, but now it’s time for my favorite aviation photos of 2013. This year was a great aviation-photography year. I experienced the unveiling of the new American Airlines livery (and talked about it with one of the key people behind it), EAA Airventure in Oskosh, WI, planespotting with some consummate avgeeks, American Airlines’ new Embraer E175, and O’Hare Airport’s Run on the Runway. Continue reading
Yesterday I participated in the annual O’Hare Airport Run on the Runway to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, a great organization that supports wounded veterans returning from war. Along with thousands of other people I took to runway 10C-28C for the first (and probably only) chance to run on a runway not yet open to air traffic. O’Hare will commission 10C-28C on October 17, but they wanted us to try out the pavement first. Continue reading
There’s no better way to spend a beautiful Saturday than staring off into the distance trying to spot the small dot on the horizon that in a few short minutes turns in to a 200-ton behemoth roaring overhead at 140 knots. This Saturday Bruce from NonRevAdventure and I headed out to O’Hare International Airport to do some planespotting and we weren’t disappointed. In addition to the unending parade of regional jets O’Hare sees, we were treated to a strong lineup , including some surprises like an AeroLogic 777F and American’s AstroJet retro livery. Continue reading
United Airlines announced today that they’re bringing back “Fly the Friendly Skies,” the Leo Burnett-created slogan used from 1965-1996. To me “Fly the Friendly Skies” is one of the most enduring travel slogans of all time. With Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” United has consistently produced quality advertising using the combination. Continue reading
Last night my friend Omar sent me a link to Wolfe Air Aviation’s new demo reel. As any good avgeek does, I stopped what I was doing, pressed play, and watched.