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Avion, coucou, trapanelle, zinc, zingo, tagazou, aéroplane, aéronef, machine volante, and aérodyne (a bit oldish however).

These are all french words I can think of to talk about airplanes. As a non-native english speaker, my english vocabulary is much more restricter. Passed plane, airplane and aircraft, I can’t think of other synonyms. Ok, there’s airship, even if it does not applies to fixed wings aerodyne.

So today’s challenge is simple: say what is your favorite word when talking about airplane. Whatever the language, I’m interested - even in French, I still have to learn. I heard of “avionette”, and like it, but I’m not sure if it’s Italian or Spanish.

I’m really curious to see what will get out of your comments, and I expect some funny, exotic, refreshing, juicy words, but please remain polite, this blog is open to all audiences. Here you go…

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Category: Pilots Talk
Tags: airplane name words

The first “Fuel Cell” powered manned plane ever flew recently, Boeing anounced on 3rd of April. The airframe was a Diamond Dimona, modified by Boeing Reserach & Technology Europe (BR&TE). The engine has been replaced by an electical enging coupled to a standard propeller. Electricity was provided by batteries, and a fuel cell.

The fuel cell converts hydrogen into electricity and… water ! No pollution, no green-house effect, at first sight (more on this later…). The major challenge is to build a light and efficient enough fuel cell, and to handle hydrogen. I don’t know yet under which form hydrogen was stocked on board, but it’t either the liquid and thus very cold form, or as a gaz, which tend to be unstable and explosive. Certification challenges in sight !

I’m not an expert in environmental questions, but as far as I know, the fuel cell is not so good from this standpoint. Fuel cell produces power and water from hydrogen and oxygen. True. The problem lies in the production of hydrogen. Extracting it requires a large quantity of energy, and does release some CO2 (once again, I’ve no expertise in this domain, so correct me if I’m wrong).

On the plus side, the environment in which hydrogen is produced can be very controlled. Planes will always fly in the sky, and on-board filter or exhaust gas recuperation is simply not possible. Having non-polluting motors in our atmosphere is a plus, and the effort is worth the result.

Links:

Boeing Press Release

Wikipedia on fuel cell (have a look at the “hydrogen economy” paragraph)

This post is the sixth in a series about how modern planes are designed and operated with maximal care to the enviroment. The first one was about Jet-A1 engines, and the second about composite materials and Computer Aided Design. The thrid was about electrically powered planes, and the fourth about green approach routes design. The fifth post was about alternative fuel.

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Category: Modern Aviation
Tags: airplane environment fuel cell

Taking pictures from a plane is challenging. Thanks to digital photography, it’s possible to rely on a “shoot a lot” strategy, hoping to find a couple of good shots in the series. I’m not an expert in photography, but I wanted to go beyond this strategy. This series is about what I found out to improve the quality of my photos. Any tip from your side is welcome.

Autofocus and autopilots are the same. Your best friend, but always waiting to betray you. I got a number of pictures with the focus on the windshield - all the landscape behind being fuzzy. The next picture is a perfect example of this.

The compass looks cristal clear. It’s a shame that the main subject is outside the plane… How to avoid this ? Here are a couple of tips…

Don’t use autofocus at all. If your camera is complex enough, simply disconnect the autofocus and do the job on your own. It’s not that easy because the plane is constantly moving, and possibly shaking. However if your subject is far out, you won’t have to change your setting a lot.

Clear the windshield before flight. This sounds obvious, but it will make the autofocus job easier. A spotted windshield is the best way to get fuzzy pictures.

Remove the windshield. Sounds silly ? Not that much. Some old planes don’t have windshields at all. Piper Cubs and SuperCubs can fly with open windows. With some special equipments for the passenger, it’s also legal to fly a Cessna 172 without doors. Don’t do it without asking your favorite maintenance engineer, but if you want to make good shots, it really helps.

Shoot above the dashboard. Frequently, autofocus do focus on the dashboard, not on the windshield. So make your frame above the dashboard increases your chances to get a sharp picture. Moreover, light levels inside and outside the plane are so different… more on that in a next post. You can also take photos through the side windows.

If non of these work, then enjoy pictures focused on the windshield. Some of them are great, just like this one taken from a Cessna 172 in a rain shower. Cloud colors in the background and rain drops on the windshield make a pretty contrast.

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Category: Pilots Talk
Tags: airplane autofocus photo