jazz_08-28-08-thumb-400x286To save some fuel and in turn save some money, Jazz Airlines is going to be removing life vests from all its planes. Have no fear though, you are still able to use your seat cushions as floatation devices.

At first look this seems to be bad for safety, but really only flights that are with-in 50 miles of land can only use their seat cushions and Jazz is only a transcontinental carrier.

So, really…if this saves me from having to pay another weird fee (life vest access fees anyone) I am ok with it.

Source: USAToday Image: deritastudio

modulos_airborn_hotel_pasillo-thumb-400x300By: David Martà­nez-Celis

The Airborne Hotel, or abh, is an innovative seating system for wide-body aircraft that optimizes the available cabin space, ensuring a fully-reclining seat-bed for every passenger on board, while maintaining–and even increasing–passenger capacity of aircraft.

The design’s functionality is based on the bi-level configuration of its seating modules, which enables the utilization of the otherwise empty overhead space in an aircraft cabin. Each module is designed to weigh about the same as a conventional airplane seat; this is possible because the modules’ honeycomb structure allows for multiple points of anchoring and fastening to the aircraft’s fuselage, thus enabling the use of lighter materials. Another element of the design is its unique implementation of three aisles throughout the passenger cabin; this feature is essential to the design’s efficiency, and also increases corridor space by 50%.

Having taken into account the precise dimensions of an Airbus A380 cabin, the system’s designers put together several abh layouts in three-class arrangements for this specific type of aircraft; the most efficient of these layouts can accommodate as many as 580 passengers–that’s 25 more seats than the standard 555 seat configuration for a three-class arrangement in an A380.

This is refreshing news for air travelers and great news for the aerospace industry. Airlines have the possibility of increasing seat count while enhancing passenger comfort; in turn, passengers get a more comfortable flight, without their airfares skyrocketing.

This design is currently participating in the annual Create the Future Design Contest, co-sponsored by NASA Tech Briefs magazine and SolidWorks Corp. To visit the contest page, go to http://www.createthefuturecontest.com/

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