Tag: zero (Page 4 of 4)

Saab and Vū Systems Launch Game-changing Enhanced Flight Vision System Solution

October 29, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

Saab and Vū Systems are launching a Next Generation Enhanced Flight Vision System (EFVS) solution using new passive millimetre wave (PMMW) technology, enabling pilots to see and land in low-visibility conditions at all times.

The Saab Vū EFVS enables commercial operators to maintain their schedule, while their competitors are forced to delay or cancel flights. It is the first system to provide reliable performance, unlocking access to airports in all weathers, without the need for conventional CATII/III infrastructure. The new Saab Vū EFVS provides the ability for take-off and landing in adverse weather conditions, including zero-visibility environments.

“The new system offers unmatched operational and safety advantages. Being able to take-off and land in low to zero-visibility environments radically reduces costs, increases safety and reduces environmental impact. This benefits pilots, operators and society as a whole. We are proud to be working together with Vū Systems to make this significant innovation commercially available,” says Jan Widerström, head of business unit Avionics Systems, within Saab business area IPS.

Every year, commercial aviation all over the world incurs massive financial losses as a result of delays and cancellations due to low visibility weather. In the USA alone, these additional costs amount to billions of dollars.*

To provide a solution to the impact of weather on U.S. flight operations, new FAA regulations (14 CFR 91.176) now permit landing without natural vision. The new regulations are performance based, meaning the performance of the EFVS sensor is critical to the operational value. The performance of the current EFVS sensors is limited by the atmospheric attenuation in the infrared band.

The Saab Vū EFVS solution is not affected by weather, enabling pilots to achieve Equivalent Visual Operations (EVO) and see runways at distances of two miles and more in zero-visibility conditions.

“This strategic arrangement with Saab means we can supply this revolutionary technology through a qualified supply chain to larger commercial customers, benefiting the aviation industry globally, by enabling them to take off and land when their competitors cannot,” says Stedman Stevens, CEO at Vū Systems.

Through a strategic partnership with Vū Systems, who developed the first commercially available PMMW sensor, Vū Cube, the Saab Vū EFVS exceeds the new regulatory performance goals. This unique solution comprises a new, sophisticated PMMW sensor and software that optimizes the sensor images with IR and synthetic vision, projected on the new Saab Head-Up Display (HUD). It provides pilots with the complete solution and the means necessary to land safely regardless of thick fog, snow, rain, smog, dust, smoke and clouds.

British Airways to Become First UK Airline to Offset Carbon Emissions on Flights

October 11, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

Airline announces plan to offset carbon emissions for all UK domestic flights from 2020
British Airways to invest in verified carbon reduction projects around the world
From 2020, British Airways’ carbon emissions on international flights will be capped through the United Nations’ carbon offsetting scheme
Announcement comes as parent company International Airlines Group (IAG) announces commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050

From January 2020, British Airways will become the first UK airline to offset carbon emissions on all its flights within the UK.

All customers flying within the UK next year on flights operated by British Airways will have the carbon emissions from their flights offset by the airline and invested in carbon reduction projects around the world*. These quality assured projects will include renewable energy, protection of rainforests and reforestation programmes.

The airline operates up to 75 flights a day between London and 10 UK cities, including Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Isle of Man, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Belfast City, Inverness and Jersey. British Airways’ domestic emissions total around 400,000 tonnes of C02 a year.

Today’s announcement comes as British Airways’ parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG), became the first airline group worldwide to commit to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, contributing to both the UK Government’s commitment to a net zero carbon economy by 2050 and the United Nations’ objective to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. IAG’s emissions’ goal will be achieved through numerous environmental initiatives, including investing more than US$400m in the development of sustainable aviation fuels over the next 20 years.

Alex Cruz, British Airways’ Chairman and Chief Executive, said: “British Airways is determined to play its part in reducing aviation’s CO2 emissions. To solve such a multi-faceted issue requires a multi-faceted response and this initiative further demonstrates our commitment to a sustainable future. It also follows our announcement to partner with renewable fuels company, Velocys, to build a facility which converts household and commercial waste into renewable sustainable jet fuel to power our fleet.”

While customers on UK domestic flights will not need to offset their emissions, those travelling further afield can also reduce their impact on the environment by using British Airways’ carbon offsetting tool. The carbon tool enables customers to calculate their emissions and then invest in carbon reduction projects including high quality forestry and renewable energy projects in Peru, Sudan and Cambodia**.

Using the tool, which can be accessed on https://www.pureleapfrog.org/ba/carbon_zero, a customer will pay around £1 to offset a return flight from London to Madrid, travelling in economy, while from London to New York in business class will cost around £15.***

Notes to Editors

* British Airways is investing in Verified Carbon Standard projects.

**British Airways’ offset scheme is operated through the airline’s partnership with not-for-profit organisation Pure Leapfrog. For more information on the carbon reduction projects, visit: https://www.pureleapfrog.org/ba

***While customers travelling on domestic flights’ carbon emissions are offset for them, customers flying outside of the UK can choose to pay to offset their emissions. Examples of pricing are shown below:

Journey	Cost to offset
London to Madrid (economy)	£ 1
London to New York (economy)	£ 5
London to New York (business)	£ 15
London to Los Angeles (economy)	£ 8
London to Los Angeles (business)	£ 24
London to Hong Kong (business)	£ 26

Customers can find a link to the carbon calculator at https://www.pureleapfrog.org/ba/carbon_zero

Jaguar Land Rover to Build Electric Cars at UK Plant

July 16, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

LONDON (Reuters) – Jaguar Land Rover (TAMO.NS) is making a multi-million pound investment to build electric vehicles in Britain, in a major boost for the UK government and a sector hit by the slump in diesel sales and Brexit uncertainty.

Britain’s biggest car company, which built 30 percent of the UK’s 1.5 million cars last year, will make a range of electrified vehicles at its Castle Bromwich plant in central England, beginning with its luxury sedan, the XJ.

“The future of mobility is electric and, as a visionary British company, we are committed to making our next generation of zero-emission vehicles in the UK,” Chief Executive Ralf Speth said on Friday.

The announcement gives a boost to Britain’s automotive sector hit this year by Honda and Ford’s (F.N) plans to close factories.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has highlighted the dangers of a no-deal Brexit and the need to maintain frictionless trade with the European Union, echoing warnings from the industry that just-in-time production could be hit by customs delays and additional bureaucracy.

But it has signed a deal with workers at the Castle Bromwich factory to go from a five-day to a four-day working week with the same amount of hours which should allow the plant to operate more efficiently.

Three of JLR’s four European car plants are in Britain, giving it limited capacity elsewhere on the continent.

The other, in Slovakia, only opened last year and is still being ramped up with other models allocated there.

“We are making this investment because the ongoing Brexit uncertainty has left us with no choice, we had to act, for our employees and our business,” JLR said.

“We are committed to the UK as our home and will fight to stay here but we need the right deal.”

Both candidates to replace Prime Minister Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, have both said they are prepared to take Britain out of the EU on Oct. 31 without a deal, although it is not their preferred option.

Brexiteers have argued that the EU’s biggest economy Germany, which exports hundreds of thousands of cars to Britain ever year, would do its utmost to protect that trade

Friday’s announcement comes after a turbulent few months for Jaguar which announced around 4,500 job cuts earlier in January and posted a 3.66 billion pound ($4.5 billion) loss in 2018/19.

The carmaker is undergoing a turnaround designed to offer an electrified option to all of its new models from 2020 as it seeks to move away from its reliance on diesel vehicles which are being increasingly shunned by buyers.

Jaguar also called on the government to bring giga-scale battery production to the country so that Britain is not left behind in the rush to produce low and zero-emissions vehicles and technology.

Britain’s business minister Greg Clark said the government was doing all it can to meet that goal.

“We are determined to realize that ambition,” he said.

($1 = 0.7952 pounds)

Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Michael Holden and Jane Merriman

FILE PHOTO – A car hangs on the wall of Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich manufacturing facility in Birmingham, Britain, November 17, 2016. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Nissan Launches Electric Pickup Truck Through JV in China

July 16, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

While we are impatiently waiting for Tesla, Rivian, and others to bring their electric pickup trucks to market here in North America, China is already getting some.

Nissan is launching a new electric pickup truck through a Dongfeng joint venture in China: the Dongfeng Rich 6 EV.

With its aggressive zero-emission mandate, China has forced automakers to accelerate their deployment of all-electric vehicles in the country.

Several of them are now making EVs just for the Chinese market.

Click the link for the full story! https://electrek.co/2019/07/16/nissan-electric-pickup-truck-dongfeng-rich-6-ev/

United Airlines Makes Historic Eco-Friendly Commercial Flight

June 5, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

Historic “Flight for the Planet” combines the use of biofuel, zero-waste measures and carbon offsets to significantly minimize impact on the environment.

CHICAGO, June 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — United Airlines, a longstanding leader among all global carriers in environmental sustainability, made history today – World Environment Day – with the departure of the Flight for the Planet, the most eco-friendly commercial flight of its kind in the history of aviation. On the Flight for the Planet, United became the first known airline to demonstrate all of the following key actions on a single commercial flight: utilization of sustainable aviation biofuel; zero cabin waste efforts; carbon offsetting; and operational efficiencies.

United is using the Flight for the Planet to evaluate key measures of flying as sustainably as possible using the airline’s current technology, resources and fuel-saving procedures. The flight departed from gate B12 at United’s hometown hub of Chicago O’Hare for its “eco-hub” in Los Angeles, where sustainable aviation biofuel has helped power all the airline’s flights from the Southern California hub since 2016.

“The historic Flight for the Planet showcases United’s philosophy of working together to find new and innovative ways to lead us into a more sustainable future,” said Scott Kirby, United’s president. “As an airline, we see our environment from a unique perspective every day and we know we must do our part to protect our planet and our skies.”

The Flight for the Planet further illustrates United’s commitment to its bold pledge to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2050.

DHL Adds New Boeing Freighters to CVG Base

June 3, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

DHL Express introduced the first plane in a new line of Boeing aircraft based at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, which will gradually replace the company’s older intercontinental fleet.

The first aircraft in an order of 14 Boeing 777 freighters took off on its commercial maiden flight May 25 from the DHL Express hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport to Bahrain. Three more 777 Freighters will arrive this year to continue replacing DHL’s previous Boeing 747-400 aircraft for intercontinental flights.

Click the link for the full story! https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/06/03/dhl-adds-new-boeing-freighters-to-intercontinental.html

DHL Express’ first Boeing 777 Freighter took off on its commercial maiden flight May 25 from the DHL Express hub at CVG to Bahrain.

The Battle of Midway takes place on June 4, 1942

June 5, 2016 / WIL BALDWIN

The Battle of Midway takes place on June 4, 1942, turning the tide of World War II in the Pacific Ocean. The Battle of Midway took place just 6 months after Japan’s surprise attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack was meant to cripple the U.S. Navy’s ability to wage war in the Pacific theater of operations. Japan made a critical mistake in the timing of its attack though, as the American aircraft carriers were not present in Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. These aircraft carriers were the primary targets of the Japanese attack on that day. Sinking those missed aircraft carriers was also the primary goal of Japan’s planned attack on Midway Island. Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was confident that those aircraft carriers would come to the defense of the U.S. base on Midway Island if Japan attacked the isolated outpost in force. Unfortunately for Yamamoto, U.S. Intelligence had cracked the Japanese Naval code used to encrypt messages, and were lying in wait just to the Northeast of Midway Island on June 4, 1942.

The Battle of Midway sequence of events

The contact between U.S and Japanese forces actually started on the 3rd of June. The U.S. Navy sent out 22 PBY reconnaissance airplanes to search for the Japanese naval forces. One of these planes spotted ships about 500 miles to the west-southwest of Midway Island around at around 9:00 a.m. The ships that were spotted were part of the invasion force sent to occupy the Island. They were not part of Yamamoto’s aircraft carrier force. The Japanese carrier force launched their initial attack on Midway Island around 4:30 a.m. on June 4th. Around the same time, they also launched 8 reconnaissance aircraft to search for any U.S. naval forces that may be in the area. One of the 8 planes was delayed by 30 minutes due to technical problems. This delay, combined with a very poor search plane, would come back to haunt the Japanese naval forces before the day was over.

Around 5:3o a.m, American PBY’s once again searching for the enemy forces spotted 2 Japanese aircraft carriers. They reported the location of the ships, and alerted Midway Island that attacking aircraft were headed their way. The Japanese air strike on the island was comprised of half the aircraft of the carrier fleet. The other half was held in reserve in case enemy ships were spotted by their search planes. The U.S. carriers started to launch their counter attack on the Japanese aircraft carriers around 7:00 a.m. Admiral Raymond Spruance, in command of Task Force 16, ordered his attacking aircraft to proceed to their target immediately. This contradicted the normal protocol of allowing the strike force to assemble together before proceeding to attack their target. This decision would prove to be fatal for both sides before the day was over. Admiral Spruance had taken over the task force just 2 days before it departed Pearl Harbor. He replaced Admiral “Bull” Halsey, who had been hospitalized with a severe case of Shingles.

Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo was in charge of the Japanese carrier force. He had been under a steady attack from planes based on Midway Island following the launch of his air strike earlier in the morning. As his first wave of aircraft were returning to land, the flight leader informed command that they had failed to destroy the air strip on the island. Nagumo was preparing his reserve aircraft for a second ground attack when the delayed scout plane from signaled that it had sighted an American naval force located to the east of their position. The scout plane then sent word that the force spotted included an aircraft carrier. Nagumo decided that while the returning attack group was landing, the reserve aircraft would be re-armed for sea action.

Torpedo Squadron 8 from the Hornet was the first American carrier group to engage the enemy. The group, lead by Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron, began their attack without any accompanying air support. This was due to the decision by Admiral Spruance to proceed directly to the target on takeoff. All 15 of the TBD Devastator torpedo bombers in the squadron were shot down by the Japanese fighter cover without inflicting a single hit on the enemy. The only member of the group to survive the attack was Ensign George Gay, who was later rescued after the Battle of Midway was over. The attack was followed by the Torpedo Squadron from the USS Enterprise, which lost 10 of their 14 aircraft. The Torpedo Squadron from the USS Yorktown came next, and lost 10 of its 12 planes. There was not a single hit from the 3 decimated groups attacks, and the TBD Devastator aircraft was never used in combat again. While the 3 torpedo groups were being decimated by the defending Japanese air patrol, 3 squadrons of dive bombers from the American carriers Enterprise and Yorktown arrived over the fleet. With the Japanese air patrol focusing on the torpedo attacks, and her carriers re-fueling and re-arming their bombers, the recipe for destruction was set.

Two dive bomber squadrons from the USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown came in to attack the Japanese carrier force. The Kaga was hit by 4 bombs and was quickly engulfed in flames. Only 1 bomb hit the Akagi, but it exploded in the hanger deck where the fuel and the ordinance was located. The resulting conflagration devastated the ship, resulting in heavy casualties. The Soryu was hit with 3 bombs, which ignited gasoline and ammunition, turning the ship into a floating inferno. In a little more than 5 minutes, the Imperial Japanese Navy was down to a single remaining aircraft carrier.

The Hiryu, Japan’s sole remaining operational carrier, launched 2 separate attacks on the USS Yorktown. The first one resulted in 3 bomb hits on the U.S carrier which smashed through the flight deck and exploding deep inside the ship, bringing her to a halt. The USS Yorktown’s damage repair teams sprung into action, patching her flight deck and repairing her boilers. Within 1 hour the ship was operational again and resumed its air operations. When the second strike force from the Hiryu came in to attack, since there was no smoke coming from the ship, they believed it to be a different American carrier. Two torpedoes slammed into her port side, causing the carrier to list 23 degrees.

Later that afternoon, an American scout plane finally located the Hiryu. The carrier Enterprise launched what would be the final blow of the Battle of Midway. Four bombs smashed through the deck of the Hiryu, leaving her in flames. Despite their best attempt to get the fires under control, the crew was unsuccessful. The crew of the Hiryu were ordered to evacuate the ship. She sank early the following morning, with her commander Admiral Yamaguchi going down with his ship. With an American victory at hand, the Battle of Midway would go down in history as the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

battle of midway

Image from www.historynet.com