aviation

From cover of Airplane! by Robert Grossman

We learned in back in high school physics that it takes energy to move a mass, and the more mass, the more energy. Paul Kedrosky lists some of the tiny moves that airlines are making to squeeze every ounce out, which add up to big savings in fuel.

One airline saved over 17 gallons/year per pound of weight per airplane after shedding inflight phones, ovens, excess potable water, and some galley equipment on an older fleet

Lloyd noted a little while ago that Zeppelins are back, and they are even offering passenger journeys, as opposed to just cargo (like the SkyHook being proposed for the Alberta Tar Sands, of all places). However for now, when I say passenger journeys, I really mean sight-seeing tours. The Guardian has a fabulous photo essay showing the view that can be had floating over London in an ...

photo by Matt Hansa

A couple of days ago we wrote about how the Internataional Energy Agency believes how it is wrong to blame speculators for the current high oil prices. Based on an email titled “An Open Letter to all Airline Customers” apparently the CEOs of twelve U.S. airlines didn’t get the memo.

You may have gotten the same email as I did from Delta Airlines, but for those you didn’t here are the choice parts:

Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus...

photo by Craig Forrester

In the ongoing effort to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, the airline industry has been the focus of a good deal of criticism. Some airlines themselves have announced plans to reduce their environmental impact—Lufthansa, JAL, and Virgin Atlantic have all taken steps in this direction. Now comes word from the EU that...

Airship design circa 1817

Why do I feel like what I’m about the present isn’t real—that’s it’ll come out that it’s really just a big sociology experiment on the gullibility of bloggers?

We covered Darren Campbell’s Turtle Airships about eight months ago, but Mr Campbell has just issued another pronouncement about the great turtle airship future that is so (cough) enthusiastic that I am compelled to share it. I’ll let the original text work its magic.
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