Silver blue and teal. Why does that sound so familiar? Ah right, Eastern Air Lines tried out that livery combination for a while and it looked great. Although the livery looks great, it is no longer flying.
Clickair is a low cost carrier that was founded in 2006 and was based in Barelona. The little airline grew quickly to almost 40 destinations and about 25 Airbus A320’s before it merged with Vueling Airlines in July 2009.
It is sad to see a very nice looking liver disapere, but at least Vueling’s livery isn’t half-bad either.
Head to the Future of Flight to get a close look of a Dreamlifter (N249BA) and four Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
Yesterday was a very nice day in Seattle for it being almost the middle of November. Figured it might be a good day to head back to Paine Field (KPAE) and take a look at what is going on. As always, there were a few nice surprises.
The biggest is one of the Dreamlifters (N249BA) is parked just feet away from the Future of Flight (photo). The DreamLifter is sitting right next to four Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Rumors are the Dreamlifter will be parked there until the end of the month and the Dreamliners should be there at least through the winter.
The 787’s and now the Dreamlifter are hanging out next to the Future of Flight due to Boeing’s turf getting pretty full. I don’t think I have ever seen so many new airplanes at Paine Field (photo). One of the new liveries seen out on the ramp is AirBridgeCargo’s on a Boeing 747-8F (photo). To date have seen Boeing’s “lite” livery, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, British Airways (partly) and AirBridgeCargo on the Boeing 747-8 Freighter to date.
During my visit a brand new, not even fully painted, Air France Boeing 777-300 (F-GZNH) took off (photo – video). I have seen quite a few Boeing 777’s take off, but it never gets old. One of my reasons for heading to Paine was to check out the Eva Air Boeing 777-300’s. I have been covering their issues with Koito seats and they have been moved from the tower (photo1 –photo2) and one had a test flight today. I am working on an update on their story to share soon.
Our local Seattle NBC station is very good at covering local aviation. I have grown up watching KING5 and getting all my local aviation news. On Tuesday they did a great 20 minute segment on how weather can affect your airline travel. Jeff Renner, who is the lead meteorologist and many others of the KING5 team take a look at many different aspects of weather and air travel.
In this KING 5 special our weather team shows you how Boeing builds planes to withstand the forces of nature, how Alaska Airlines trains pilots to cope with adverse conditions, and learn how pilots land even when fog blankets the runway below.
My father flew the EA-6B and retired while serving with VAQ-134, the Garudas.
Today is Veteran’s Day and hopefully each of us can take a moment to thank a Veteran and think about those who are spread out around the globe who are serving in the military. No matter your stance of war, there are many people who have and continue to make sacrifices to served in American armed forces. If you know a Veteran, give them a call and tell them you appreciate what they have done. Better yet, give a Veteran a hug.
I grew up as a “military-brat,” but was lucky to not have to move since the aircraft my father flew, the EA-6B, was only stationed on Whidbey Island and in Japan. The EA-6B is being phased out and being replaced by the EA-18G Growler.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA002 at Paine Field on January 27, 2010 before its first flight.
For the last day there are been bits and pieces of information coming from Boeing, inside sources and different media outlets on ZA002’s sudden landing due to reported smoke in the cabin. Boeing has just released an official statement putting some of the rumors to rest and explaining what they know of ZA002’s recent emergency landing in Laredo, TX.
Boeing confirms that ZA002 did lose primary electrical power that was related to an on board electrical fire. Due to the loss, the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), which provides back up power (photo of RAT from ZA003) was deployed and allowed the flight crew to land safely. The pilots had complete control of ZA002 during the entire incident.
After their initial inspection, it appears that a power control panel in the rear of the electronics bay will need to be replaced. They are checking the surrounding areas for any additional damages. At this time, the cause of the fire is still being investigated and might take a few days until we have more answers.
At the time of the incident, ZA002 was completing tests of the Nitrogen Generation System, but Boeing does not feel that test was related to the fire. Until Boeing determines the cause, they have postponed all flight tests on the other 787 aircraft. Boeing does not know if this incident will cause the first delivery of the Dreamliner to be pushed back to a later date.
