RSSCommercial Passenger Airliner and Military Jets Nearly Collided
Feb 07
News aircraft models, airplane models, Boeing 777-200, C-17, helicopter models, model airplanes, model helicopters, model planes, National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, plane models, warplanes, wooden airplane models 1 Comment
Last Friday, Feb. 4, US safety investigators said that an American Airlines airliner and two Air Force cargo jets flying together averted a possible collision last month over the Atlantic Ocean.
Flight AA951, a Boeing 777-200, heading southeast to Sao Paulo from New York’s John F Kennedy airport, was 80 miles into its January 20 flight when warning systems alerted air controllers that it was heading in the direction of the C-17s flying northwest bound for New Jersey, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement.
Controllers handling the military flights received the same alerts and the converging planes were ordered to change course, coming about a mile from each other. Safety investigators are reviewing controller handling of the flights.
The Federal Aviation Administration is also reviewing the matter and said controllers at its busy New York center are taking another look at procedures, including guidelines for handling military planes flying in formation.
Based in Washington, D.C., the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine accidents, pipeline incidents and railroad accidents. When requested, the NTSB will assist the military with accident investigation.
- news.airwise.com
-wikipedia.org
May 22, 2012 @ 16:31:00
Hydrogen (H) is indeed the most andnuabt element in the universe however here on earth it does not exist in its elemental state. It has to be created, usually as a by-product of the fossil fuel industry (by steam reforming natural gas). True it CAN be made from electrolysing water but for this you require large amounts of electricity to produce H in any reasonable quantities.Then there is the issue of Hydrogen Embrittlement. H tends to cause metals exposed to it to become brittle and develop miniscule cracks thus making it difficult to not only use in engines but also to store and transport. For instance it would be almost impossible to build a H pipeline as the steel pipes would eventually become brittle and spring leaks. There are other materials you can use, I believe there was some research being done into galvanised Carbon fibre, but this is not really cost effective for mass production into pipelines and the like.Another issue is the extremely low density of H. Under normal conditions the density of H is so low that to store it in usable quantities you need extremely high pressures and/or cryogenic facilities. These necessities add weight, expense and complexity to any H storage system. For it to become viable as a fuel IMO you need to perfect solid state hydrogen at temperatures approaching room temperature and pressures close to sea level. For these reasons and a few others I’m not convinced that H is a viable alternative to petroleum. IMO it shows more promise as replacement for electricity generation through the use of fuel cell technology. However the basic premise of Franciscos speculation is fascinating. What would happen if the world were to suddenly not need/be able to use petroleum? Well for a start the transportation networks would need to be completely overhauled. You cant just use H in normal combustion engines. It would cost many many billions of dollars in changing everything to be H adaptable which is a massive cost to start with even if you had a tech that could deliver your H for free or close to it. The geopolitical ramifications of making such change of course would be fascinating. Somebody does need to write a really good peak oil thriller however some of the speculative non-fiction stuff already around is scary enough.