If you want to know how it is to fly in an Airbus A380 but can’t afford a ticket to Singapore, Tokyo or other remote location, this is your chance: AirFrance will fly from Paris Charles de Gaulle to London Heathrow with the Airbus A380 in June, and you can buy your return ticket for 80 EUR! This is even cheaper than the standard price.

AirFrance does that to train their ground, cabin and flight crew in “real life”. I must say that it’s really tempting for me… Being able to see how flying in the Airbus A380 is, without having to endure a long haul flight in coach. And at such a price, getting from Frankfurt to Paris will probably more expensive than the hop to London. If I do it, I’ll let you know about the date!

Click here for all details about AirFrance Airbus A380 Flights between Paris and London for 80 EUR.

After the massive air traffic disruptions by the end of April (click here and here for more about that), the Icelandic volcano known under the improbable name of Eyjafjallajökull (click here and here for funny YouTube videos about the name) is disturbing air traffic over the North Atlantic and some parts of Europe again.

The phenomenon still is highly unpredictable and the industry still lacks information about the real danger it represents. Test flights into the cloud were organized on short notice during the last event and all initial results were favorable. Results of the test flights operated by Airbus using special aircraft were also good, and did not demonstrate any malfunctions. However, these measures represent a very little number of samples and were taken at the end of the event. Much more would be needed to establish new rules, not to mention the time needed to formulate and implement them in the real world.

The reaction of the whole industry to the last event was not so bad. It certainly missed some coordination, test flights could have take place earlier, and many other things could have been handled better, but no one was ready to face up with such an event. One is always smarter in the aftermath. The interesting question, now that things seem to start again, is simple: what did we learn ?

One lesson is that EUROCONTROL, the organization for the safety of air navigation in Europe took a leading role in the coordination of air traffic. They were not really visible in the beginning of the crisis, but they now established a higher media profile. One of their roles is to manage the Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU in short) which coordinates air traffic across Europe, according to capacity reports from ATC services and airports. If you ever had a European flight delayed because of a slot, it has been issued by the CFMU. As the rest of the industry, they were probably not prepared enough to face such events but I hope they are now ready.

Another lesson for me is the lack of test flights. They started quite late, and I understand why. When I heard for the first time about the airspace closures, I thought to myself “that’s a funny thing, it will last for a couple of hours and everything will be normal again soon”. I bet that many had the same idea. Who could imagine that the airspace would be block for almost a week ? I hope that test flights will be started, if not already done, and that we will get a better understanding of the hazards caused by volcanic ashes.

The last eruption of this very volcano lasted for a whole year. This one could be the same, varying in intensity daily, causing small or major restrictions. The industry has to collect more data, establish better predictions (one major criticism was that all airspace closures were decided almost only on the base of computer simulations), and have procedures to cope with such events in another way than simply… shutting everything down.

Did we learn ? We’ll see…

I flew from Frankfurt to Madrid earlier this week, as airline passenger, and my flight was delayed by forty minutes. The passengers were informed only once boarding was completed and the official reason was “wind in Madrid”. This sounds strange, and I had plenty of time, seating in an Airbus 319 to check the latest METAR of Madrid via www.easymetar.com. The wind part of the METAR was uncommon: “34020KT WS R33L WS R33R”. At the next updated, it was reading “340030KT WS ALL RWY”.

WS ? Windshear. An abrupt change in wind direction and speed over a short distance. Windshears are can be caused by different factors, including jet streams, mountain waves, and cumulonimbus. Windsears are hazardous for aircraft because they can strongly impact the climb or descent performance within seconds. A typical windshear starts with increase of headwind and updrafts, and continues with tailwind and downdrafts.

Downdrafts and low altitude are not exactly a good combination, and windshears hard to forecast and measure. Modern aircraft are equipped with windhsears detectors and give warning to the flight crew when such conditions are encountered. Click here to see a (non-embeddable… grrr) video describing the windshear feature of an EGPWS system from Honeywell. As the comment says, “recovery shall be continued until reaching a safe altitude over ground”. Recovery normally means apply full power, raise the aicraft’s nose, and climb.

Check the evolution of the speed, and the speed prediction – the yellow arrow on the speed tape – in this video. At one moment, shortly before the captain applies TOGA (Take-Off / Go-Around) power, the predicted speed reaches values below the stall speed!

Click here to read more about Winshear Awareness from Airbus.

My flight was delayed because the airport reduced the number incoming flights to account for a higher than normal number of go-around and consecutive extra approaches. Finally, the flight was fine, some bumps on the approach, but no go-around and no windshear.

Getting through airport security screenings is not the best part of air travel, but if you follow these tips, you will save you time and make it a non-event.

Clothing – Wear clothes that are easy to remove and do not contain metal. If you wear a belt, make sure it can be removed by simply pulling on it and will not block at each and every loop on your trousers. Avoid clothes with large zippers or metallic buttons.

Shoes – Shoes are a frequent cause of alarms when going through metal detectors. My favorite shoes for air travel are boat shoes. They contain almost no metal, and can be removed in a snap if so required. Shall I say that metal-protected rangers are probably the worst shoes to go through airport security ? Full of metal, and very long to remove.

Empty pockets – Remove all what’s in your pockets while you’re in the queue. Money, keys, wallet, telephone, everything. No exception. Don’t wait until you get in front of the security agent to do that. If you’ve a carry-on luggage, put these things in. If you’ve a jacket, put everything in its pockets, and then pull it off when you reach the screening point. This will save you time, and you’ll look prepared. Screening staff are less suspicious with people used to their procedures.

Travel light – If you have a checked luggage, put all what you can in that. Keep only the important and fragile things in your carry-on, including minimal clothing, in case your checked luggage gets lots… sorry, delayed. Leave all what you don’t really need at home. Make your key ring lighter, remove unneeded items from your wallet (including too much small change). Anything metallic thing left home will make the screening easier.

Laptop on top – Many airports require to have laptops inspected separately. When you prepare your carry-on luggage, make sure your laptop is in a separate compartment, or at least that you can pull it out rapidly.

Liquids and gels – The rules restricting liquids on board are not really “new” anymore but many still struggle with them. Long story short: you can take liquids and gels (toothpaste, …) in containers smaller than 100ml. All of them (up to 10) must be packed together in a transparent plastic bag that must be closed and presented separately at the screening point. Have this bag easily available in your carry-on luggage. If you have a checked luggage, put your liquids in that (except for medications you’ll need during or shortly after the flight). No drinks or food through the screening point.

Friendly and confident - Screening agents are humans. Yes, really. The way you look out is part of their decision to random search you or not. Look friendly, smile, and self-confident. Maintain eye contact with them. A nervous, angry or stressful attitude is suspicious. Be cool. Smiling, saying hello and good bye is fine. Jokes are too much.

One big step – When your turn comes to walk through the metal detector, wait for a sign from the security agent on the other side. Here again, eye contact is important. Go though the detector in one big step. One foot before, the second one after. Avoid having making a step right into the detector, this would increase the probability of triggering the alarm. Keep your hands off your pockets while walking through the detector.

Know the rules – Each airport has its own set of rules. If you don’t know them, check the airport’s website before you go, or at least read the signs at the checkpoint. Observe what other passengers are doing. The key point is to be ready when you reach the screening point, to avoid having to rush at this very moment, with dozens of persons waiting behind you.

These tips are the results of my experience as frequent flier. I also worked for some times in the sensitive area of an airport and got screened twice a day. If you know about other tips, please share in comments, this will make every one’s life easier.

It’s not every month or year that an aircraft manufacturer introduces a new aircraft type, and particularly a super-sized one like the Airbus 380. Some steps of this program already seem far far away in time: the name A380 replaced the codename A3XX in December 2000, and the maiden flight took place five years ago already, almost by the day. It was on the 27th of April 2005.

My first personal contact with an Airbus 380 was in Le Bourget Airshow in the same year, 2005. It was lined-up with all the Airbus family, making it look really large. The in-flight presentation was impressive, for sure, but it’s on the ground, with other aircraft around, that one really see how large it is.

The first time I saw an Airbus 380 in commercial operation, it was the first one operated by Singapore Airlines. I was on a Lufthansa flight from London Heathrow to Frankfurt, and the A380 taxied along our Airbus 320. Rapidly, the whole cabin was chattering about the new giant, and most passengers were taking pictures of it. This was one and a half year ago, in September 2008.

When I came back from my trip in Brazil, earlier this month, I transited via Zurich. The passenger seated beside me told me that this was the first day the Airbus 380 would fly in Zurich. My outbound flight was delayed, and I could see the Singapore Airlines 380 again, taking off from runway 16. Some airport workers made pictures, but the other passengers waiting did hardly notice it.

I was in Paris the last week-end, and after landing we taxied nearby a parked Airbus A380 in AirFrance livery. Not a single comment in the cabin. Shortly after, another Airbus A380, operated my Emirates was clearly visible while it landed. I don’t know if I was the only person looking at it, but I heard no one mentioning it or saying to someone else “look, there’s an Airbus 380 there !!”.

It seems that everyone but aviation fans are now used to see the new SuperJumbo flying around, or people are simply not able to identify and Airbus A380 when they see one. I’m wondering if people will even react when the 787 start to fly around. It’s not that easy to spot, compared to an A380…

Unless you’ve been living on another planet for the last days, you must know that a volcanic ash cloud is blocking air traffic in North and West of Europe.  This clouds comes from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. Yes, this is its real name, and the cloud is so famous now that it even has a facebook fan page. The cloud spreads over a good part of Europe and also on the Northern Atlantic.

The decision to close airspace is not an easy one, and so many countries would not do that just for fun, so yes, this is a real danger for aircraft. Volcanic ash is extremely abrasive and can flame out jet engines. Read more about the real danger from volcanic ashes for aircraft from Cockpit Conversation.

The three largest airports in Europe, Heathrow, Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and Frankfurt but alos many others have been closed for two to three days now, and it looks like this will continue for a couple of days. I planned two trips out of Frankfurt for the coming week, the first one got canceled today. The hotline of the airline I was supposed to fly with is so busy that even after holding the line for one hour, I got no answer. I can’t imagine how busy these guys must be. Who could imagine such a scenario ?

The costs for the whole air transport industry will be huge. There’s an old aviation motto that says “Aircraft in the air generate benefits. Aircraft on the ground generate costs”. No one makes profit from non-flying aircraft. Aircraft on ground don’t need fuel, but this is the only saving. The whole infrastructure, the airports, the Air Traffic Control system, the airline and airport employees are still there and must be paid for. And the banks giving loans to the airlines to buy aircraft probably don’t care a lot about the cloud.

As the decision to keep the airspace closed is renewed approximately every 12 hours, I don’t know how the many supporting companies are reacting. Think of catering for example. Did the caterer prepare food for today, just to throw it away ? The fresh ingredients can’t be held for long, and this could result in massive waste.

So this situation not only costs a lot, but also generates some extra efforts and costs for the airports which must accommodate passengers, particularly those in the transit areas because they have no visa for the country they were simply transiting through. Airports even organize pharmacy services for passengers requiring medications locked in their luggage.

Should this continue, other problems will start to arise, because of crew licensing regulations. To keep their licenses valid, pilots must fly a certain amount of time per year, this is not a problem yet, but they also have to get in-flight checks. Pilots who had them planned during these days and had not enough spare time could be in trouble right now, and there will be more and more of them with each extra day.

Air traffic controllers are submitted to the same kind of regulations. They have to work a certain number of hours per months to keep their qualifications valid. And a significant part of their initial training is done “on-the-job” under supervision of a coach. No traffic, no training.

It is also important to remember that aircraft do more than transport passengers and luggage. If you’re waiting for freight or mail from the other side of the Atlantic, you’ll have to be patient.

AirFrance and other European airlines are also organizing evaluation flights, to gain a better understanding of the how the ash cloud could affect the aircraft. Click here to read more about test flight activities performed by various airlines. The first results seem good, but the situation is still very unstable.

At present time, no one can say for how long this situation will last. Authorities and airlines issue updated information a couple of times per day, but no one takes the risk of communicating a possible restart date. Yesterday, a couple of Lufthansa aircraft were flown from Munich to Frankfurt, VFR, at low altitude, to remain below the cloud. So they will be ready when the traffic will restart, but then the companies will have to fly the blocked passengers, and the restart itself will probably last for a couple of day.

Then, life on the line will continue…

My recent trip to Brazil was the reason for the relatively long time since my last post (sorry for that) but also the opportunity to fly via two slightly unusual airport: Sao-Paolo Congohnas and Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont, named after Alberto Santos Dumont, a an aviation pioneer.

Both airports are used mostly for national traffic, and during the week-ends the “Aero-Bridge” is used by lot of Brazilian working in Sao-Paulo and living in Rio. Congonhas is located in the center of Sao-Paulo. It is so close to the city that on one end, the approach lights and the ILS’s localizer are built on kind of a bridge above a high-traffic road and some houses. The other end of the runway – the one we landed on – is not less impressive. I took these pictures during the final approach.

The runway’s threshold is just abeam the TAM hangar…

Santos Dumont airport in Rio de Janeiro has much less direct neighbors and is located in a spectacular area: one of the numerous bays of the city. The Sugar Loaf, the famous mountain with the cable car, one of Rio’s landmarks is straight is exactly in the axis of the two parallel runways.

This makes it a perfect place for some plane spotting, and I could not resist. On the other side of the runway, a bridge stretches across the bay, and across the runways’ axis. Approaches and departures exist in both directions, and both are rather un-standard, and partly flown visually. I was seating in row 3, my nose against the window to see as much as possible of this approach, in the night over Rio. I spotted some dark holes about the brightly lit city and thought “clouds” but later realized that they were hills… and we were flying below their summits, sneaking into the airport. From my seat, I could hear the typical Airbus auto-pilot disconnect sound. Pilots must have a lot of fun there, and from a passenger point of view, you can get a good impression how landing on water could look like. My instructor always insisted on the fact that landing before the threshold was a bad thing…

The take-off distance available is perfect for mid-size airliners like the Airbus 320 or the Boeing 737, even if the remaining distance after take-off. Good that these aircraft can climb out on one engine…

Looking at the ballet of aircraft turning the left turn after take-off from the Sugar Loaf is fascinating, and if you ever go to Rio de Janeiro, you should not miss that.

Since I live close to Frankfurt, the Frankfurt am Main airport is the departure point of many travels I do as airline passenger. Germany’s biggest airport is not exactly an example of good design, simplicity and is really not a time saver. I already posted a lot about it, click here, here, here or here to learn more about my personal relationship with this airport.

This post is not about the new runway (the fourth one) and terminal (the third one) that are being built right now, but on a new iPhone application to help passengers to find their check-in counter or their gate. Hello ? Why on earth would someone need something like that ? A GPS with some WiFi support to guide passengers inside an airport ? Is that such a labyrinth ? What about the signs ? And if the navigation is that complex, why not invest in some simplification, or new design ?

This application is called “Lufthansa Navigator” and can be downloaded for free from the AppStore. I tested it and must say it’s a cool tool. There’s a simulation mode making possible to test it without having to be at the airport, or to get an idea of where you’ll have to go. It looks a bit like a GPS navigator for cars, displaying a map with your present position and the route to follow to destination and the remaining distance. Talking about long transit times… the distance from the parking to the gate A42 is not less than 1400 meters!

On the plus side – there has to be something positive… – it’s possible to select the destination by specifying a flight and let the application automatically finds the corresponding gate. This application works only for terminal 1 and Lufthansa flights.

All of that being said, Frankfurt is not the only “complex” airport in the world. A good friend of mine recently flew back from Hong-Kong and walked around the terminal twelve times without founding the AirFrance lounge…

After the failed terrorist attempt on Nowrthwest 253, on Christmas Eve 2009, full body scanners seems to be the ultimate solution to all airline security problems. Several airports, including Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol now use them on flights bound to the US, and such scanners will be deployed in London Heathrow “as soon as practical”. This technology, which has before been perceived as unethical and too invasive, and violating some laws about privacy now seems to be Holly Grail of Airline security.

Even if full body scanners will make flying the airlines a bit safer, they are not the 100% safe solution. Some options are much safer than full body scan. Let’s imagine…

You reach the airport five hours before your flight, as required by the airline and security policy. You enter a security check lane corresponding to your gender and age. After one and a half hour in the very slow lane, you reach a tiny changing room. Once the automatic door is locked behind you, you get completely naked. You leave your clothes, all belongings, glasses, jewelery (wedding ring included), mobile phone, computer, in a special security suitcase.

When you’re ready, you move towards the next door, still naked. You leave the suitcase behind you, carry-on luggage are not allowed anymore. Two security inspectors wait for you in the next room. They proceed rapidly, in a very professional, anonymous, not humiliating way with a manual full body search. This is to make sure you don’t take any object with you on board. Once this is finished, you can proceed to the next room. Here you can choose from a variety of flight pajamas. Before getting “dresses-up”, don’t forget to put diapers on, particularly for long flights.

The next door opens on a corridor leading directly to your aircraft. As soon as you’re seated, a flight security assistant straps you in and lock your 5 points security belt. Tightly. From now on, and until you’re released after landing, all you have to do is to enjoy your flight…

Is this ethical ? Would you accept it ? Is such a solution the price for 100% airline security ? Could terrorists find way to bypass this kind of system ? My answers to these questions are “Not sure, Not sure, No, Yes”.

My personal belief is that no system will ever be 100% safe. We can tend towards that, but each step forward will cost more in terms of time, money, constraints, privacy and comfort. It belongs to each of us to define where is the limit. What we are ready to accept, in terms of risk, and how much comfort we’re ready to sacrifice for security.

A passenger Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit fired up a possibly explosive device, starting fire and smoke on board before being subdued by other passengers and the crew. The incident was serious enough to result in a special briefing to US president Barack Obama, which decided “that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel”.

I saw a lot of reactions like “How is it possible ?” or “How can someone get explosives through security screenings ?”. I believe that some are really shocked, not because of what happened, but because it still CAN happen. Yes, someone brought dangerous material on board an aircraft and achieved to fire it. And do you want to know a little secret ? This will happen again.

For years, I used to have access to the sensitive areas of some international airports, for professional reasons. Before September 11th, staff was simply bypassing security screenings. After that, rules became a bit more stringent, until the point where staff was subject to the same controls than passengers, but via separate lanes to avoid too much delays. As you can imagine, I’m quite used to going through screenings right now. Even with the best technologies available today, image processing, shape recognition and what-else-do-I-know, the people operating the screening machines are still human, and can miss something or do mistakes. Terrorists often have new ideas, and are one step ahead. After 2001, security screenings became more strict. But the ban of liquids on board date back to 2003, and was decided after a plot using liquid explosives was discovered. After.

As long as cabin luggage will be allowed, and as long as passengers will travel with clothes and be allowed to carry things in their pockets, there will be no 100% solution to this problem. A complex and advanced security system can possibly achieve 99 something percent, with a lot of nines after the dot, but in this domain, there is no 100%.

There is obviously a solution, but it’s not really decent, and would require lot of logistics… Let passengers fly under full narcosis. No more problems with unlawful interference, unruly passengers, and one could possibly pack more passengers into each plane. I’m however not sure about the costs, the medical support required, and I’m not sure this would preserve passenger’s disgnity.

More seriously, aviation has been a long time target for terrorists because of the spectacular aspect of blasting an airliner, and because airlines carry a lot of symbols of power, and some carry national flags, making them very attractive to media and impressive targets.

I don’t know exactly at this time what will change in the screening process during the next days, but this incident will certainly make them even more unpleasant, to say the least. Let’s hope that they will one day come back to less deep and less complicated standards… Dream on.

For more information about this incident, check the following links:

Report from CNN about Northwest Flight 253

BBC: Detroit airliner incident ‘was failed bomb attack’