Technology

It’s a bird, it’s a plane…oh wait, no, it’s just another drone. You have to have been living under a rock to be unaware of the rapid developments in drone technology over the past few years. As a result of the growing ubiquity of these devices — which rival GoPro cameras in popularity with outdoor enthusiasts — the powers that be are playing catch-up.

According to a report from The Guardian, the FAA released its proposal for regulating commercial drones in February. The agency’s proposal allows drones weighing up to 55 pounds to fly within sight of their remote pilots during daylight hours. However, these drones are required to stay below 500 feet and at speeds less than 100 mph.

Existing tech to monitor drones

In conjunction with the FAA, NASA has been developing a network for monitoring drones in the U.S. As the FAA hashes out regulations designed to keep the public safe while protecting their privacy, NASA has teamed up with Verizon to offer a different solution. Taking advantage of the vast facilities of the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., NASA proposes to use the air traffic control system and Verizon’s cell towers to keep tabs on commercial and civilian drones.

The idea is to use cell towers to connect with technology on the drones to keep them updated on traffic and within regulatory boundaries. Basically, the solution employs “geofencing” to enforce privacy and safety rules and keep drones outside of restricted areas and no-fly zones.

The project is currently under development at the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. The first tests are anticipated to begin this summer, and Verizon plans to introduce a proof-of-concept of the tracking service by 2017.

Testing time

All involved parties are quick to emphasize that there are many challenges to overcome and this project is still in the early testing stages. Verizon also clarified that public cellphone towers will not be used in these initial testing stages.

One major challenge is that drones are currently not compatible with existing air traffic systems. As there is no quick solution, NASA remains open-minded about alternatives and is also considering monitoring drones with different technologies such as radar and orbiting satellites as well as cellphone signals.

Despite the hurdles, coming up with a feasible tracking system is the first step toward using commercial drones the way many companies have planned. In fact, Amazon and Google have also come to agreements with NASA and will be testing drone technology at Ames.

It seems in the not-too-distant future, you might be buzzed by a drone carrying your Amazon order while your Google self-driving vehicle chauffeurs you to lunch.

Contact L & L International if you need assistance in purchasing or selling a private jet. You can reach our sales specialists today at sales@L-Lint.com, call us any time at +1.305.754.3313, or visit us online.

Fuselage that imitates the bone structure of a bird.
Self-cleaning cabin surfaces.
Fabrics inspired by the lotus plant.

These ideas sound too exotic to be the future of aviation, but Airbus’s Bionic aircraft brings such imaginative implementations into reality.

Light as a feather

With hollow bones that are light yet strong, bird bone structure makes the perfect model for an ideal flying frame. The Airbus structure carries tension only when necessary, leaving extra space — and thus removing extra weight — where strength isn’t needed.

The reduced weight translates into reduced fuel burn, lowering the cost and environmental impact of flying. In addition, the extra space can accommodate oversized doors for passenger boarding and panoramic windows.

Not just for the birds

The Airbus Bionic’s developments aren’t limited to the frame. The new-age aircraft offers a unique look and advanced features for the cabin as well.

Like something straight out of science fiction, the upper part of the cabin can be covered by a biopolymer membrane that becomes transparent on command. It eliminates the need for windows and offers breathtaking views of, say, the Manhattan skyline, the Eiffel Tower, or the Golden Gate bridge.

In addition, seats will be made of a partially intelligent “smart” material that will automatically change shape to a more upright position on takeoff and landing and become firmer for better landing support on the body. And rather than separating first, business, and economy class, seats will change based on demand and the cost of the ticket. Pay more and the chair will morph to give you more space and a comfier setup.

Cha-ching

The creation of this type of bionic plane is obviously a costly endeavor, and passenger cost is always a major factor to consider. With that in mind, Airbus is putting an emphasis on rolling out these changes in business class first, as it is more adaptable to innovation and change.

And although these amazing innovations are currently the realm of Airbus, these features may not be limited to a single carrier in the near future. Mother Nature’s inspiration might have a wider reach in the market, and other aircraft manufacturers are working on similar developments.

The future of aviation looks so bright — it might even be transparent.

Contact L & L International if you need assistance in purchasing or selling a private jet. You can reach our sales specialists today at sales@L-Lint.com, call us any time at +1.305.754.3313, or visit us online.

While most of us in the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing the heat and humidity of the summer months, it’s sometimes nice to dream about the cool days of winter. If you’re dreaming of a snowy, mountainous adventure, then it’s time to start planning.

For the avid mountain climber, cross country skier, or snowboarder, avalanches are always a serious risk. But The North Face offers a useful tool with an innovative twist that can keep you safer on your next backcountry trip.

Meet the 24 ABS Avalanche Airbag Pack, an airbag backpack that can offer an enhanced protection system for winter sports. A handle on the left shoulder strap allows the wearer to deploy two built-in 85-liter airbags in the event of an avalanche. The airbags quickly fill with compressed nitrogen gas.

The pack will help you stay on the surface of an avalanche and can increase your survival chances by as much as 95%. Even better, the pack is lightweight and offers great durability as well as lots of space for your other equipment.

This incredible invention is currently on sale on REI’s website for just over $1,000 and is perfect for any winter backcountry enthusiast!

Something we often take for granted can make a huge difference in the quality of your flight: the air around you! Cabin air quality has been a hot topic of debate for years, and continued concerns from crew and passengers about aircraft air quality and associated health issues keeps this topic in the headlines.

Potential health risks

When you board an aircraft, you face a barrage of airborne health risks, including poor ventilation, the possible transmission of communicable diseases (on commercial and shared flights), the bodily stress caused by cabin altitude and pressure changes, air contamination events that result from leaky seals, and even possible pesticide exposure.

There are still many unanswered questions about how we can accurately and consistently measure cabin air quality, whether we can link illnesses to airplane air toxins, and, most important, how to improve cabin air.

Reducing your risk

Aircraft are generally not fitted with onboard air quality monitors, but that is changing. In the meantime, you can reduce exposure to potential toxins and communicable diseases simply by washing and sanitizing your hands often, especially before handling food and after using the restroom.

In addition, pay close attention to how you feel before, after, and during a flight and contact your doctor if you regularly notice headaches, dizziness, light-headedness, and similar symptoms when you fly.

But there are upgrades you can make in your own aircraft to improve your flying experience. Two British firms have worked together to develop new technology for just such a purpose. The device, called AirManager, kills most of the bacteria, viruses, biohazards, chemical contaminants, and pollutants — as well as nasty smells — and can be fitted during a routine overnight service.

Additional risk-reduction resources are available for air quality recommendations, including the FAA’s Cabin Air Quality Recommendations, which covers topics ranging from carbon-monoxide monitoring to ozone control.

Continued studies and advancements in cabin air quality mean improvements are right around the corner, letting us all breathe a sigh of relief.

Contact L & L International if you need assistance in purchasing or selling a private jet. You can reach our sales specialists today at sales@L-Lint.com, call us any time at +1.305.754.3313, or visit us online.

It’s not a complete reinvention of the aircraft wing, but it comes close. NASA researchers partnered with the Air Force Research Laboratory and Ann Arbor, Michigan private tech firm FlexSys, Inc. on an innovative project. This team has proved once more that small changes to aircraft design can make big changes in fuel efficiency.

According to NASA, the new wing will save millions of dollars in fuel costs every year. The plane wing can change shape in flight with a flexible edge that moves with more finesse than the traditional hinged flaps. Essentially, the flexible wing is designed to operate a full range of positions during flight, similar to the flight of a bird.

A conventional wing design includes a number of mechanical parts: slats, air brakes, ailerons, and other parts add weight and drag. In many instances, that drag is one contributing reason a plane’s speed is slowed as it lands. The new, flexible edge of this wing design still allows for the flaps to angle down to increase the size of the wing and drag, but the mechanics inside the aircraft pull to contort the wing’s surface instead, promising a more aerodynamic effect and greater fuel savings.

The Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge wing design (otherwise known as ‘sharklet’) installed on some Airbus planes, for example, can save up to 4% in fuel. In addition to improving aerodynamic efficiency, it significantly reduces the noise generated during takeoff and landings — a change certain to be joyfully welcomed around the globe.

What’s next? NASA is reportedly working on next generation aircraft tail designs with the same intention of delivering fast improvements with relatively small design shifts. Aviation is once again proving they lead the pack in environmentally conscious design, and years of research and innovation are finally starting to pay off.

June 5, 2015 is World Environment Day, started by the U.N. and celebrated by over 100 countries worldwide. Individuals and companies are investing more heavily in areas of environmental responsibility and sustainability. While aviation pollution rates (689 million tonnes of CO2 in 2012, around 2% of the global total) pale in comparison to the amount of carbon released into our earth’s atmosphere from other sources, we all recognize that aviation is a catalyst for growth. We’re leaders in promoting sustainable development. We believe that aviation should be affordable and accessible to ensure mobility to all sectors of society.

Taking on the challenge

Scientists, aircraft engineers, and many others in the aviation industry are challenged by the dream of reducing carbon emissions and increasing fuel efficiency from aircraft. In 2010 the ICAO Assembly adopted some innovative and challenging goals for the aviation industry including a global annual fuel efficiency improvement of 2% up to 2020 followed by improvement rates of 2% per year after.

Currently, a number of efforts are underway to bring about change, including:

• A very exciting zero-emission airplane powered by the energy of the sun. Developed by Spanish designer Oscar Vinals, the triple-decked aircraft could carry up to 800 passengers and offer more space than a standard commercial airplane, with room for private rooms, shops, and restaurants. It would also be noiseless, as solar panels on the room and wings provide the ultra light plane with the fuel it needs to fly rather than a noisy engine (predicted in 2030).
• NASA has been researching how to make aircraft lighter and reduce drag. One recent NASA project is the Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project that explores new vehicle design concepts and takes to the air to test them. Some of the challenges worked on with this project include innovating flow control for drag reduction, advancing composite materials for weight reduction, and advancing engine designs for noise and fuel consumption reduction.
• NASA is also involved with a number of biofuel concepts and working on research designed to determine whether biofuels can reduce soot and carbon emissions from aircraft. It found that when a biofuel blend was used in place of standard jet fuel, soot emissions from a DC-8 were reduced by 50%.

Achieving these goals will take strong commitment from all stakeholders. We all live in this world and we are responsible for taking care of it. As bizav works towards creating a safer, healthier world, we hope you’ll join us in celebrating World Environment Day this week!

What happens when you decide that it’s time to update the interior of your private jet? Specifically, what happens with the materials leftover from your old seats and fixtures?

This is a question commercial airlines are asking themselves as they renovate their aircraft. Many of these companies have begun donating materials that would have been discarded to organizations that can put them to good use. In a dramatic move towards upcycling (or turning waste materials into new products to minimize environmental effects), aircraft materials are being given a second life through innovation and creativity.

Here are a few of our favorite examples:

Working with Russell Brands, an American manufacturer of sports equipment, Boeing is helping to create protective athletic gear out of carbon fiber left over from production of the B787 Dreamliner. The aerospace-grade carbon fiber is very thin and offers extremely high strength for its weight. It provides improved durability over average materials, turning old junk into shoulder pads to protect college football players.

After redesigning 450 aircraft in their B737 fleet, Southwest Airlines found a truly creative way to reuse their leftover leather seat covers — all 80,000 of them! With 32 football fields’ worth of leather, the executives of Southwest looked around and decided to team up with several groups. Among them was Alive & Kicking Kenya, a training program for young adults that has already used the repurposed leather to create over 1,000 soccer balls. They also turned over some of the leather to Life Beads Kenya, a training program for women and people with disabilities to make bags and wallets. Southwest gave more leather to Looptworks, a Portland, Oregon-based upcycler that makes stylish duffel and tote bags and other items from the recycled materials.

The Supersized Salvage television show worked alongside Arizona’s AvAir and Sycamore Aviation to complete a big upcycling project and raise money for a children’s cancer charity. They upcycled every piece of a plane, including the external shell and the interior fixtures, into new, sellable items. Some of the items created were chairs and sofas made from the curved edge of the plane’s wings, children’s toy boxes repurposed from overhead lockers, and nesting boxes for birds that were fashioned out of air ducts. The challenge sold all the pieces for a combined total of £44,000.

A new startup called Stu-Art Aviation Furniture, founded by an airplane engineer, has begun creating unique furniture designs from old airplane parts. Stuart Abbott began making and selling furniture out of his garage about two years ago. His first piece was an office chair crafted from a recycled airline seat, which sold within an hour after being listed online. His designs since have proven to be just as popular.

All of these examples prove that with just a little imagination, leftover aircraft parts can easily be recycled into new products with a life of their own.

Contact L & L International if you need assistance in purchasing or selling a private jet. 
You can reach our sales specialists today at sales@L-Lint.com, call us any time at +1.305.754.3313, or visit us online.

Known as the “Oscar” of aircraft interiors awards, the 9th annual Crystal Cabin Awards selected the best of the best in 2015 aircraft interior innovations. A record number of submissions were entered this year, all contending for this prestigious recognition. The 68 entries that met award criteria were narrowed down to 21 finalists, who were judged by an international jury of 24 men and women who represent airlines, manufacturers, specialists, and technical service suppliers.

Awards were presented in seven categories:

• Greener Cabin, Health, Safety & Environment
• Industrial Design & Visionary Concepts
• Material & Components
• Passenger Comfort Hardware
• Passenger Comfort Systems
• Premium Class & VIP
• University

Judges looked for novelty, ability to meet general market demand, aesthetics or engineering qualities (where applicable), usability, and cost-effectiveness.

The winners were determined at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, April 14–16. Standout innovations that won awards include:

• Peter Bishop of Bishop Aeronautical Engineers’ “Solar Eclipse” concept, which uses a sun visor to provider passengers with electricity to charge their devices.
• Tony Dixon of Airliner World Magazine’s “SANTO Seat” (Special Accommodation Needs for Toddlers and Overweight Passengers), which makes use of normally wasted space at the rear of the aircraft to meet special needs.
• Marc Spille, university student at Hamburg University of Applied Science, for his development of a mobile trash container that uses vacuum technology to compress trash.

Past winners include brands such as Paperclip Design Limited, Lufthansa Technik, and Diehl Aerospace. With so many big industry names joining the competition in 2015, anyone could go home with a Crystal Cabin award in next years’ competition.

Contact L & L International if you need assistance in purchasing or selling a private jet. You can reach our sales specialists today at sales@L-Lint.com, call us any time at +1.305.754.3313, or visit us online.

Avegant’s Glyph headset

What better way is there to escape the mundane of everyday life than to immerse yourself in a virtual reality? Avegant Glyph headsets let you do just that, converting TV, films, and video games into a truly immersive escape.

The Glyph headsets, which look like bulky headphones, can be pulled over users’ eyes and set to video mode for an amazing visual experience. The device uses new technology to offer exceptional image quality that cannot be matched.

Rather than looking at a LCD of OLED screen through the lens, images are project directly into the users’ retinas through “virtual retinal display.” This combines special optics and millions of tiny mirrors in a way that replicates the way we see the world around us. The end result rivals, and even surpasses, the experience of a home theatre — all in one portable device!

Glyph headsets are in production mode now, but the beta version will be mass marketed in fall 2015. For those who cannot wait to try the experience themselves, the headsets can be pre-order from Avegant for $599.

Up until very recently, getting on a plane meant being cut off from any sort of communication with the rest of the world. It meant spending the flight wondering about important calls and emails, and hoping that things would run smoothly until you were back on the ground. Technology is quickly catching up, however, and our ability to stay connected while in flight has dramatically increased to include our phones, television, and most recently, the Internet — making midflight connectivity nonnegotiable for many passengers.

But some manufacturers such as Honeywell, Satcom Direct, and others have designed their equipment to be installed in a certain way, while other vendors have found a different range of methods to integrate their communications systems. Without standardization or alternative methods for integrating these solutions, providing in-flight connectivity can be a challenging task for aircraft owners.

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) formed a working committee two years ago to address this problem and to create a standard for cabin electronic systems. Headed by Boeing’s Mike Wuebbling and IBM’s manager of aircraft maintenance services, Jim Janaitis, the committee aims to establish common equipment as well as create performance and serviceability standards.

A competitive market

With the rising popularity of in-flight connectivity solutions for business aircraft, advances in technology have made in-flight email and texting possible through the utilization of new communications frequencies. New players in the field such as Gogo Inc. are already creating next-generation aviation technology systems to improve air-to-ground connectivity. Other newcomers, like SmartSky, strive to bring airborne 4G LTE-based wireless networks to the business aviation market, with their beta launch planned for the end of 2015.

One roadblock newcomers to in-flight connectivity solutions may face is getting regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to gain spectrum rights for their air-to-ground (ATG) systems. Gogo currently dominates holdings of FCC spectrum licenses, but if access to other spectrums is granted to competitors by the FCC, Gogo’s position may become more precarious.

But the FAA approval process for installing connectivity equipment on planes is reportedly an arduous endeavor, and some experts predict that commercial services may not launch until well after 2020. In the end, standardization for in-flight connectivity must happen. And when it does, it will make it easier than ever to stay well connected while in flight.

Contact L & L International if you need assistance in purchasing or selling a private jet. 
You can reach our sales specialists today at sales@L-Lint.com, call us any time at +1.305.754.3313, or visit us online.