Delta to add more flights on New York JFK Los Angeles route with full flat-bed seats

by Devesh Agarwal

Delta Air Lines will debut three updated Boeing 757 aircraft on the transcontinental route between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport beginning July 1, 2014.

These will be the first 757 aircraft in service to feature Delta's previously announced upgrades which will include full flat-bed seats in BusinessElite on transcon flights between New York-JFK and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. All transcon flights on these routes will feature flat-bed seats by summer 2015.

The aircraft will include 16 full flat-bed seats arranged in a 2-2 configuration in the BusinessElite cabin. Each seat is 20 inches wide – expandable up to 22 inches – with an average bed length of 76 inches. Cabin mood lighting and high definition 16-inch video monitor at each seat will further improve the onboard experience.

The addition of flat-bed seats to the 757 transcon fleet will complement Delta's existing Boeing 767 transcon flights which already feature flat-bed seats for a total of eight daily flights on the route. Customers will enjoy a gourmet three-course menu from renowned chef Michael Chiarello paired with wine from Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson's specially curated Delta Winemaker Series, Westin Heavenly In-Flight bedding, a Tumi amenity kit featuring skincare products from Malin+Goetz, a noise-reduction headset, Starbucks coffee and sparkling wine round out the BusinessElite experience.

Delta Boeing 757 BusinessElite cabin

The 757s transcontinental fleet will add an Economy Comfort class with 44 extra-legroom seats offering 35 inches of pitch and 50 percent more recline in a 3-3 configuration. This is in addition to 108 standard economy seats.

All seats in the economy cabin will feature a slim-line design for more personal space, an adjustable headrest, a nine-inch video monitor and standard 110v and USB power ports available at every seat.

Delta has been enhancing the transcon experience from nose to tail throughout 2013 with the addition of products such as complimentary Starbucks coffee and headsets for all passengers. The entire transcon fleet will feature in-flight Wi-Fi and all upgraded aircraft will offer an entertainment library of more than 1,000 on-demand options. Additionally, the 757 fleet will feature 18 channels of live satellite TV.

New York passengers will depart and arrive at Delta's new Terminal 4 (see video below) and at Los Angeles it is Terminal 5 which is being overhauled with a $229 million investment in progress.

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Trip Report: United Airlines economy class Newark-Miami and return

Back in late January, I had to do a weekend turn to Miami. Because I am currently shooting towards Star Alliance Gold (9,000 miles away) in advance of my travels this summer, I decided to book on United Economy. (Un)Fortunately, my mother was traveling with me, so I had to stick to the nonstop United between Newark – Miami – Newark.

We arrived at the airport T minus one hour before departure, and sporting only carryon luggage (a must for domestic travel in the US today), made it to the security line at T minus 55 minutes. We had Premier Access thanks to my Star Silver Status but of course the folks at the TSA decided to let a flood of regular passengers (including several that had arrived at security after us) in before those who had premier access. Regardless, we made it through security in 15 minutes, which is reasonable for Newark Airport; that too with a slight TSA hold up in between.

We passed through security and into Terminal C at Newark. In terms of the architecture and feel of the terminal, the best I can say is that it has decent food options (good centralized food court plus several more lining the concourse). Otherwise, not the most aesthetically appealing of terminals.

My mom bought some food at the food court; I stuck to a bottle of water. We were boarding at Gate C86 which is at the far end of the terminal, so I rushed my mom to the gate, and we showed up around 5 minutes before boarding was called. Boarding was quasi efficient, though United hasn’t put enough seating at the gates near the end of each pier in Terminal C so there was a bit of a mosh pit waiting around the gate. At least the various groups were honored by the gate agents, thus preserving the value of early boarding. This hasn’t always been the case on my previous United flights.

Flight #1 – 27th January 2013
United 782 -- Newark – Miami 
D: 1230 A: 1527 
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200
Economy Class Seat: 29A

United has pretty much completed its roll out of Economy Plus seating onto former Continental aircraft, which features great legroom.

My seat was 29A, which in typical US carrier fashion had limited legroom and narrow seats. It also looked a bit old but was comfortable enough for a 3 hour flight.

At least I was in a window seat, which meant I got to observe the United hub in full swing midday. Very few IFEC offerings for economy class can beat the joy of watching airport operations through the window.

Take off was another one of those lovely waits at Newark; 20 minutes for the 8 aircraft in line. About 45 minutes after takeoff, the flight attendants started the drink service. I’ve noticed recently on most of my United flights, that the flight attendants are not as sharp as they used to be when I was flying Continental, or even versus United 6 months ago. The soft product in terms of flight attendants smiling, being courteous, and just that general warmth which is exuded by the flight attendants on most Asian airlines has always been hit or miss at United. But at least the flight attendants were always efficient in their service. This time around; not so much. It took them close to 30 minutes to get drink service done, and they came by just once to collect trash, that too skipping by my row at first before I flagged her down. For drinks, I had a Diet Coke with ice, and the flight attendant gave me the can without me asking. I didn’t try any of United’s snack boxes or a-la-carte snacks, but speaking from experience they are delicious with snacks to satisfy a wide variety of palates.

Regardless, I spent most of the flight getting some work done on my IPAD (offline because no WiFi was offered), as the 757 only had the old overhead CRT monitors. Moreover, United has fallen into the bad habit of pushing more and more so called “Indpendent films;” which I find incredibly boring, I’m normally fine with overhead films, but not if they aren’t entertaining. I did kill 30 minutes reading United’s Hemispheres Magazine, which is excellent.

The irony of reading United's earnings
call transcript while Flying United

The flight actually landed 15 minutes ahead of schedule (a nice change from United’s heavily publicized reliability issues in 2012), and taxi was uneventful. The approach into Miami International on a clear day is gorgeous and I love taxing in Miami because you get to see colorful and unique aircraft from the bevy of Latin American airlines that serve the airport.

Deplaning was about as timely as can be on a 184 seat narrowbody and we were off to the warmth and sunshine of Miami, a welcome change from the subzero temperatures experienced in Princeton. After a productive 3 days in Miami, it was time to head back to freezing New Jersey.

We traveled from our hotel to the airport via the Metrorail, which is quite efficient, though it serves a very limited area with just two lines. Miami’s rental car and intermodal transit center is off property which is fine, but my one beef is that after you are transported to the airport (with some incredible overviews of the airport ramp in between) and dropped off, it is a pretty long walk to the various concourses; the optimal design for the train would have added 2 more stops, one at the international concourse, and one in the middle of American’s terminal.

Security in Miami was poorly run; United hasn’t provided premium customers and frequent flyers with their own security lane, so the wait took almost 40 minutes. Afterwards, we walked into Concourse G, which features low ceilings and cramped conditions a-la La Guardia (although there is enough seating for most narrowbody aircraft). After picking up some rock hard breadsticks from the Pizza Hut (food options were decent), we settled down at the gate where I fired up my IPAD and discovered that Miami International has done away with free WiFi. Boarding began, and it was efficient and orderly yet again, with my Premier Access honored.

Flight #2 – 29th January, 2013
United 1439 – Miami – Newark 
D: 1831 A: 2145 
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Economy Class Seat: 31A

When I had reviewed the booking before the trip, I was happy to discover that the return flight would be on one of United’s 737s with DirectTV, which is my favorite shorthaul inflight product (both on United and Delta). The price, at $7.99 for a 3 hour flight was a bit steep, but I gladly paid it for the chance to watch live TV in the air (I am a huge TV buff).

The 737 seat had similar legroom and width to that on the 757, but I found it fine. I am 5’10, 190 pounds and even so domestic economy class seats in the US are fine for me. However, I used to be 250 pounds, and the seat width for me back then was much more troublesome.

Flight attendants on this flight were quite surly and in a bad mood. They did give me the whole can of Diet Coke again though which was nice, and were efficient in getting the drink service done and making two “trash runs.”

I spent the first 1:45 watching The Campaign before switching over to the US-Canada soccer friendly for the remainder of the flight (huge plus to not miss important sporting events while in flight. By the time we landed at Newark 10 minutes ahead of schedule, it was dark outside, so I got some great night views of all the United jets overnighting at Newark. Deplaning was not as efficient as the outbound, but we got off the flight in reasonable time and went out into the frigid New Jersey night.

Conclusion:

Overall it was a reasonably pleasant flight, though US airlines in shorthaul economy are nothing special. The second flight was much better than the first, primarily because of the DirectTV. The full scoring for the flights is shown below; the method of scoring and weighting will be detailed in a later post.

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SpiceJet to launch services to Guangzhou

Indian low cost carrier (LCC) SpiceJet will be launching flights 4 times per week between Delhi and Guangzhou, the hub of the Chinese Pearl River Delta. Services will begin on 8th February, 2013 with the following schedule:


SG 81 -- DEL - CAN -- 1720-0035+1 -- 2467 --  737-800
SG 82 -- CAN - DEL -- 0155-0525 -- 1357 -- 737-800

SpiceJet's competition on this route will be SkyTeam member China Southern, who operates a daily 757-200, and is the only other airline to ply the route between India. While the timings are far from optimal, they do offer good connections to Chennai in both directions, which is an important connection between India's manufacturing center and the hub of Chinese manufacturing.

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Night photos from Delhi Indira Gandhi international airport - the Boeing collection

Thanks to the support of the kind friends at Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd. (DIAL) who operate the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), and the DGCA, some members of the Aviation Photographers India, went airside for some photography. Click here to see photographs from the entire group.

Below are some night photographs from the event taken by the Bangalore Aviation team of Devesh and Vedant. Photographing airliners at night is very challenging, very tiring, but at the end of it, most exhilarating. It is when the big boys from across the world come, the airport is relatively quiet so we can get up close to the planes, and the creativity we can exercise with the light. For example the star bursts are not generated using any filters. They are created by stopping down the aperture and increasing the time the shutter is open.

We hope you enjoy. Do take the time to leave a comment, either here, or on the photograph page itself. Considering we are hobbyists, praise always helps.

Today is the Boeing collection from the 757 to the new 747-8i. Click on the images to see the original photos in high resolution. We are excluding the 777s which will be posted in a separate collection tomorrow.

Lufthansa Boeing 747-8i D-ABYA

China Southern Airlines Boeing 757-200 B-2823

China Southern Airlines Boeing 757-200 B-2812 (another night, another plane). Compare the star bursts between the two photos. This one is created used a prime 50mm f/1.8 Nikon lens, and at around Rs. 8,000 it is a steal, compared to the 24~70mm f/2.8, used for the shot above, which costs six figures.

Kenya Airways Boeing 767-300ER 5Y-KYX

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Planespotting Photos: Newark Liberty International Airport

Earlier this week, I got a chance to go planespotting at Newark (well technically I stood atop my car in an IKEA parking lot across the street from Newark's runway) and I'd like to share some of the fruits of my trip.

While I am nowhere near the level of photographer that Devesh or Vedant is, here are the cream of my photos. You can click on the photos to view a larger version.

United Airlines Boeing 737-500 (N32626)- Ex Continental Airlines bird that has been repainted.



Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 taking off over the Newark skyline.



The same Southwest Boeing 737-700 (N7669W) taxiing



United Airlines Boeing 777-224ER (N77012) gliding in to land with the control tower in the background.



The same United Airlines Boeing 777 in flight.





United Airlines Boeing 757-224 (N12125)taking off over the Newark skyline.



JetBlue Airbus A320-200 in flight (N503JB)



Porter Airlines Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 (C-GLQB)



United Airlines Boeing 757-224 (N19130)



A rarity. ex-Continental Airlines 737-824 which has not yet been repainted into United Airlines colors (N76504).



Southwest 737-700 landing with Newark skyline in the background.



Readers, please do share your thoughts on my photos. Feedback is very much appreciated.

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Northwest Airlines Detroit international operations in 2000

Here at Bangalore Aviation, we sometimes like to take trips down memory lane, and explore the history of airlines.

Today we take a look at Northwest Airline's international operation in their Detroit "World Gateway" in 2000. Northwest Airlines was a US carrier who served Mumbai and Delhi for many years via partner KLM's hub in Amsterdam. In 2008 they merged with Delta Air Lines to form (then) the world's largest carrier.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Northwest Airlines had its largest international operation at its hub in Detroit. To give readers a better picture of their operations in that year, Bangalore Aviation has reviewed US Department of Transportation data (amongst other sources)and gleaned the following details.

*Please note that all figures are for outbound flights ONLY; multiplying all figures by two would provide a rough estimation of total market size

Characteristic	Figure
Passengers Carried	1,460,003
Scheduled Destinations Served	20
Flights Operated	8109
Average Load Factor	75.97%
Destinations Served (Scheduled)	Amsterdam, Beijing, Cancun*, Frankfurt, Grand Cayman*, Ixtapa*, London-Gatwick, Mexico City, Montreal, Nagoya, Tokyo-Narita, Osaka-Kansai, Paris- Charles de Gaulle, Puerto Vallarta, Rome, Saint Maarten*, Shanghai-Pudong, Toronto, Vancouver*
Most Common Aircraft Type	Douglas DC-10

Today, of the 20 destinations from 2000, 16 are served by Delta Air Lines' hub in Detroit, with Paris- Charles de Gaulle service forthcoming in summer 2012

The following maps give a better picture of international service from Detroit; the first map covers regional international routes, the second: long haul ones.

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

Additionally, the following destinations had the most traffic out of Detroit:

Destination	Traffic
Amsterdam	320,956
Tokyo-Narita	165,045
Toronto	134,213
Osaka-Kansai	128,995
London-Gatwick	106,448

On that list, by far the most surprising destination for most people is Osaka-Kansai. Back in the 1990s, Osaka was considered a global city on the level of Rome or Paris; Northwest ran daily Boeing 747-400s on the route. But today, Osaka is mostly an afterthought for the US carriers; much of the traffic to Osaka now connects in Seoul on Korean Air and Asiana.

Also noteworthy is the relative dominance of Amsterdam as a destination. By this point, the Northwest-KLM joint venture was reaching its peak, and the two carriers were funneling passengers back and forth across the Atlantic like crazy. Still, Amsterdam is the largest trans-Atlantic destination served from Detroit today; perhaps all those years of cooperation fostered additional business links?

The following chart notes the seat load factor of all Northwest Airlines international flights from Detroit in 2000:

75.9% is certainly not out of line for seat factors on international flights, but as a comparison, Delta averages around 85% on their operations today.

Meanwhile, it is also interesting to note the breakdown of international flights out of Detroit by aircraft type.

Aircraft	Flights
Douglas DC 10-30	2177
Boeing 747-400	1752
Douglas DC 9-50	1184
Airbus A320	782
Airbus A319	663
Douglas DC 9-30	553
Boeing 727-200	488
Douglas DC 9-40	168
Douglas DC 10-40	160
Boeing 757-200	122
Boeing 747-200	52
Douglas DC 9-10	8

Most of these aircraft have been elminated completely from global airline fleets and even in 2000 were on their last leg. Still, its easy to remember a time when tri-jets (such as the DC-10 and the 727 were the norm). Of those aircraft, the 757s, A320 family aircraft, and the 747-400s remain in Delta's fleet. The 747 classics and DC-9s were mostly retired while the DC-10s were replaced by Airbus A330s.

Northwest Airlines was the first carrier I ever flew (DTW-AMS in the early 90s incidentally), and also featured my favorite livery of all time, the "Bowling Shoe" (pictured below). May they rest in peace.

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Delta Air Lines expands Economy Comfort Service

Earlier today, Delta Air Lines announced that it would be expanding its popular economy comfrot service to all domestic aircraft. 550 mainline aircraft, as well as 250 2-class regional jets will be configured with the new seating. Earlier this year, Delta implemented an international Economy Comfort section on 170 aircraft.

The new economy comfort sections will be installed in the first 3-5 rows of Delta's 767, 757, A320, A319, 737, MD-88, MD-90, and DC-9 aircraft, as well as in Delta's two class regional jets such as the E170, E175, CRJ-700, and CRJ-900. The new seats will offer the following amenities:

• 34+ inches of pitch: Current Delta economy class seats have between 29 and 31 inches of seat; so the new cabin will have 3-5 inches worth of extra legroom
• Priority Boarding: Customers traveling in Economy Comfort will board early, directly after first class passengers and Delta's elite frequent flyers.

Initially, customers who have purchased economy class seats can upgrade to Economy Comfort for a fee of $19-$99 after purchase. In 2012, the carrier plans to gradually introduce their international Economy Comfort directly into their booking engine, though it is not yet clear whether they will choose to do so for domestic flights as well.

Passengers who purchased a full-price economy class ticket will get access to Economy Comfort for free, and the following SkyTeam frequent flyer groups get some benefits as well.

• Diamond/Platinum/Gold: Complimentary access at time of booking
• Silver Medallion: 50% discount at the time of purchase or free access at check-in

When traveling domestically within the US, the lack of domestic seat pitch is perhaps the worst part of the experience. While I do not have extraordinarily long legs (being about 5'8"), I regularly struggle with the legroom on domestic passenger aircraft. Thus even if one does not care for the extra amenities of first class, paying for an upgrade to Economy Comfort can be well worth the price.

For Delta, who becomes the second US airline to implement a premium economy section after United Airlines, the addition of an economy comfort cabin will add incremental ancillary revenue, but more importantly will help the carrier retain its frequent flyers. Junior level frequent flyers often complain that their status lacks real perks; upgrades to first class are often limited to frequent flyers of the highest tier. But the ability to upgrade cheaply (or for free) to a premium economy cabin adds value to membership in lower frequent flyer tiers; helping Delta retain high value customers.

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British Airways revives 1983 livery in tribute to retiring Boeing 757 fleet

In 1978, with launch orders from the erstwhile Eastern Air Lines and British Airways, Boeing commenced the venerable Boeing 757. Eastern Air Lines put the aircraft into commercial service on January 1, 1983, followed by British Airways on February 9, 1983.

British Airways has operated the 757 for 27 years, longer than any other operator, with the aircraft reaching a maximum strength of 54 in the carrier's fleet. Now, the airline is retiring the last three 757's in its fleet at the end of this month.

In tribute, British Airways has repainted one of its 757-200, registration G-CPET, in the same “Negus & Negus” livery prevailing when it first introduced the plane into service in 1983.

In keeping with the tradition of British Airways naming many of its aircraft after famous castles in the United Kingdom, G-CPET is also being titled “Stokesay Castle” during its final month of service.

The last scheduled flights for the Boeing 757s will be on Saturday, October 30, 2010.

Stokesay Castle near Ludlow, Shropshire is open to visitors Wednesdays to Sundays throughout October. For further visitor information, call +44 1588 672 544 or visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/stokesaycastle

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Spotting images: Boeing and Russian freighters

Thanks to a technology based economy (sorry world, but Bangalore is a lot more than just BPO outsourcing), Bangalore has always been a preferred destination for air cargo.

Bio-technology, electronics, aviation, pharmaceuticals, high-end precision engineering, floriculture, fresh produce, and the outsourcing industry which buys tons of imported computers, ensure that Bangalore is the leading hub for air cargo in Southern India, ahead of Chennai and Hyderabad, and third behind Mumbai (the economic capital of India) and the national capital New Delhi.

As the Asian economies recover and lead the world back from the economic slowdown, a few pictures of some cargo beauties from Bangalore and Mumbai for your pleasure. Click on any image for a high resolution view.

Volga Dnepr Airlines. Ilyushin IL-76TD Vladimir Kokkinaki RA-76950
United Parcel Service Boeing MD-11F N293UP
United Parcel Service Boeing 767-300F (Extended Range) N302UP
Blue Dart Aviation Boeing 757-200PCF (Passenger Converted Freighter) VT-BDM
Blue Dart Aviation Boeing 737-200 Passenger Converted Freighter VT-BDG
One of the biggest in the sky. Volga Dnepr Airlines Antonov An-124-100 Ruslan RA-82081. Put in perspective the people working on the taxiway in the background.

Photo used with permission.

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Image: Early morning contrails - Blue Dart Boeing 757-200PCF

Blue Dart Aviation is a dedicated freight only airline in India, and the only operator of the Boeing 757 in India.

Aircraft name 'Vision VIII' registration VT-BDM is a Boeing 757-200 PCF (passenger converted freighter) and here it is coming to to land on runway 27 at the Bengaluru International Airport in the early morning of June 14th.

My friends often ask me what pleasure do I get from airplane spotting, the answer is this photograph.

See more of my spotting pictures on JetPhotos.

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Boeing and Airbus: 40 years of rivalry and one-upmanship - Part one

Forty years ago as the 1969 Paris Air Show unfolded, the world was abuzz over the Boeing 747 and the BAC-Aerospatiale Concorde both whom had just made their first flights just a few months before.

At the same time, European aerospace companies were finalising a consortium to wrest back dominance of the United States in the commercial aviation market.

Within months of the show the European aerospace companies created Airbus Industrie which would take on the industry leaders of the day Boeing, Lockheed, and McDonnell Douglas. Today Airbus SAS and Boeing are the two survivors battling it out in an intense global duopoly.

In a two part series I take you on a look back at the rivalry over the past forty years and the one-upmanship practised by both companies reflected in the aircraft developed and produced.

1969 was clearly for Boeing. Its 747 Jumbo Jet reigned for more than 36 years as the Queen of the skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide body ever produced. As of May 2009, 1,416 aircraft have been built, with 107 more in various configurations remaining on order. The next version of the aircraft, the 747-8, is in production and scheduled to enter service in 2010 but the project is highly delayed. The 747 is supposed to be replaced by the Boeing Y3 (part of the Boeing Yellowstone Project) in the future. [Note: I have not covered my beloved Concorde since it is not an Airbus product per se.]

But just as Boeing was celebrating the 747 debut, France and Germany who were later joined by Spain and the United Kingdom set up the Airbus Industrie consortium in 1970 and launched their first plane, the A300. The first twin engine wide-body aircraft, the A300 entered service in 1974 with Air France. The A300 was the first airliner to use just-in-time manufacturing techniques. Complete aircraft sections were manufactured by consortium partners all over Europe. These were airlifted to the final assembly line at Toulouse-Blagnac. Incidentally, today Boeing uses the same technique, ferrying the wings and other parts of the soon to fly 787 Dreamliner from production facilities in the far east. Airbus sold 561 of the planes and the final production A300 an A300F freighter for FedEx, made its initial flight on 18 April 2007 and was delivered on 12 July 2007.

To counter the Airbus A300 and Boeing launched development of its twin-engine wide-body the 767 in 1978 which entered service in 1982. The 767 was conceived and designed in tandem with the narrow-body Boeing 757 twin-engine jet with both aircraft sharing common design features and flight decks. The 767 was followed the A300 cockpit and became the first Boeing wide-body airliner to enter service with a two-person crew flight deck, eliminating the need for a flight engineer. The first 767 entered service in 1982. Though orders started tapering off in the 1990s, updated versions of the plane are still in production, including the 767-400ER (extended range) model. American Airlines has outfitted many of its 767s with the Aviation Partners winglets in a bid to improve the fuel efficiency. There have been over 1,000 767s ordered with over 900 delivered as of 2009. The -300/-300ER models are the most popular variants, accounting for approximately two-thirds of all 767s ordered. As of 2009, Delta Air Lines operates the largest 767 fleet of any airline.

Airbus next widened its product offering and offered a replacement for the venerable Boeing 727 three-engine jet, the most popular aircraft at the time. At the same time the A320 also targeted Boeing's best seller the narrow-body 737. After the oil price shocks of the late 1970s, the new Airbus would be of the same size, yet offer vastly improved operating economics and significantly quieter engines. The digital technology in the A320 would herald a two generation technological leap over the all-analogue Boeing 727 and a generation ahead of the hybrid Boeing 737-300/-400/-500 series. The new Airbus was also wider than the 737s by almost eight inches providing passengers that crucial extra inch of shoulder space in the same six abreast seating layout. In 1984 Airbus launched the A320 and again Air France was the launch customer, The airliner became the best selling aircraft for Airbus, who quickly developed two shorter and smaller versions, the A319 and A318, and the longer and larger A321. By the end of May 2009 a total of 6,321 aircraft of the A320 family have been ordered and 3,893 delivered. The order tally went up today with Qatar Airways announcing an order for 20 Airbus A320s and four A321s. The A320 family is the second best-selling jet airliner family of all time after its primary competition, the Boeing 737 family which recently crossed the 6,000th aircraft delivery mark.

Do visit Bangalore Aviation tomorrow and read the continuation of this 40 year old rivalry.

Images courtesy Wikipedia and Airbus SAS

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The typical takeoff and climb angles of all Boeing planes

In the recent issue of Boeing's AERO magazine there is an article titled Exceeding tire speed during takeoff in which there is this nice graphic that demonstrates the recommended take-off rotation and climb angles for all Boeing aircraft.

I was surprised that despite it's length, the Boeing 747-400 Jumbo Jet has a rotation angle of 10 degrees. Compare that to 7 to 9 degrees for the 737s and 777s. The king of the angle is the MD-11 with a take-off rotation of up to 10 degrees and a climb angle of a whopping 25 degrees. Then I remembered who made the F15 Eagles.

Image courtesy Boeing AERO magazine Q2 2009.

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Exclusive Pictures: Iron Maiden and Ed Force One at Bangalore airport

Was present to photograph Iron Maiden's departure earlier this morning, after their smash hit concert in Bangalore.

A one on one interaction with pilot and Ed Force One Captain Bruce Dickinson during the bus ride to the airplane. Really nice guy. He said he absolutely enjoyed coming to Bangalore, the fans, and the city. Being an aviator, he really missed visiting the Aero India show, but did offer a suggestion for the Indian Air Force. Look hard at the F-16IN SuperViper, and the F/A-18 E/F SuperHornet. His friends who fly the Eurofighter Typhoon say it is just an F-16, 20 years later. Thanks Bruce and do come back in 2011.

Enjoy the photographs. These are my copyright. If you would like to use these pictures, I request you to please provide a link from your site to mine. If you would like high resolution originals for your website, please contact me via the "About" link in the main menu.

For the aviation fans. Captain Bruce Dickinson on the steps of Ed Force One.

and pictures of Ed Force One at Bengaluru International Airport, Boeing 757-23A, registration G-OJIB, Astreus Airlines, CN 24292, powered by RB211-535E4 engines, from taxi to air borne.

A very special thanks to Photoyogi. At his request, I will not disclose for what though.

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