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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (15133)	3/8/2007 11:13:06 PM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217656

just received gumph in e-mail containing interesting items regarding russians, fancy seating, energy usage, money management, gold, and terrorism ... it appears that gold is money ... and apparently all it takes to contain the practice of terrorism is plainclothes police QUOTE Notes from the Road -- interview with a veteran pilot (this is a personal log only) Just spent the last few weeks on the road, though still not finished. Here is 6-hr chat I had with a pilot. The pilot had several decades experience and had worked for various airlines including Asia and Europe: -- Boeing vs Airbus: Most pilots seem to prefer Boeing overall....But, Fuel and speed ...The main drawback of the 747 is fuel savings. Everyone knows this. But if one tries to reduce speed from the Mach 0.86 optimal speed to Mach 0.84 to save on fuel with the 747, the wing design actually hurts and the plane's nose goes up and increases fuel consumption. The Airbus A330 however can go from Mach 0.82 to Mach 0.78 and save about 4 tons of fuel on a 14-hour journey, even though it does add another 45 min to flight time. Landing and airports The 747 has two functions on the landing gear. In addition to main gear it also uses 'bodygear' which allows 90 degree turns and is used for getting around tight spots. The A380 will not be able to use US airports unless it gets the bodygear function, and Boeing is not likely to turn that over. In addition US airports appear to have made no preparations for increasing turning area space to accommodate the A380. Airbus have a feature pilots appear to be a little skittish about. In general the Airbus are known for having used higher tech throughout the aircraft, whereas Boeing are known for having manual backups that crew prefer to fall back on sometimes. But when it comes to the breaks, the Airbus uses a Nintendo type joystick which is highly sensitive. When landing in rain, pilots can have more difficulty with landing the aircraft as a result. -- Aeroflot didn't used to operate Boeing... But the first ones in the 90's were said to be for the triad operations. They fly Russian ladies down to the UAE (and other locations??), and contraband back. There are three airports in the Moscow area, so this into the secondary airport ... Usually the furthermost gate is where the triad aircraft are docked. -- SIA's recent upgrade of cabin, the first class seat cost is about US$0.5m per seat. -- KAL's foreign pilots have poor relations with their colleagues on the flight deck. Communication is very low. When it's time for the 'surprise' alcohol blood levels test, one pilot told of how his colleagues found out about the surprise test the day before, with the foreign pilot the only one not in the know... -- Emirates is currently adding so many planes that flight operations are getting strained. There are some very high tech operational links in place between HQ and the aircraft, and that's good. But recently the sheer volume of new planes has affected recruitment. Standards have had to be lowered in terms of seeking qualified personnel. Nonetheless, a lot of the new hires come from the other leading airlines. -- A main problem at Taipei airport remains poor English used by flight controllers. Pilots often need to request multiple repeats of instructions -- Money laundering. A number of business and first class passengers coming into the UAE from places such as Yemen take their gold filled briefcases directly on board. Customs appear to look the other way. But typically most flights in will have 'runners' carrying in a few kilos of gold per trip. -- why there are no terrorists in the UAE. That's because plainclothes secret police are everywhere UNQUOTE