Aero Blog

As early man watched birds in flight, he probably dreamed of taking to the air himself. The notion of harnessing hot air to achieve buoyancy may have been the first realization by aviation pioneers that flight could actually work.  Hot air balloons have a lengthy history extending back to China, where they were used as hot air lanterns for military communication. The first untethered hot air balloon ride is recorded as having taken place in 1783 in Paris, France.  King Louis XIV decided that the best people to pilot the trial balloons would be condemned criminals. However, two men persuaded the King to let them go instead.  They were Marquis Francois d’Arlandes and scientist Jean-Francois de Rozier. The first casualty of aviation occurred in a hot air balloon that crashed in June 1785, when de Rozier and a companion died while trying to cross the English Channel. The hot air balloons of today are a spectacular site to see. They come in many shapes other than just the typical balloon. Hot air balloon competitions are called races, but the main focus is on accuracy rather than speed. Enthusiasts love to display and race their balloons at annual balloon festivals. These hot air balloon events are extremely popular with people all over the world. Of course, we attribute the very first controlled and sustained heavier-than-air powered flight to the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur. However, it is important to remember that people had been attracted to the notion of flight centuries before the two brothers finally made their dreams a reality. We have some brave pioneers to thank for the tremendous strides that have been made in aviation. Through often dangerous experimentation, they led the way to the accomplishments we see today. Over the last century there have been continuous advancements in aviation. We give thanks to the early aviation pioneers who, with their thought and vision, brought us such advancements as hot air balloons, airplanes, and spacecraft.  We eagerly await the future progress of aviation.

Airline credit cards are those that reward air travel points or miles to people who purchase items. People can easily redeem these points and miles. Airline credit cards ideally suit a specific user profile. Normally users of these credit cards travel regularly and are economically well off.
Ideal Credit Cards Checklist:
Airline credit cards generally have higher interest charges compared to ordinary cards. Thus, if people do not pay their credit charges on time, they will acquire a lot of interest. In addition, if you do not possess good credit ratings, you plummet into an elevated interest bracket. Thus, you will not be eligible for lower APR (Annual Percentage Rate) credit cards.
This makes airline cards extremely costly to own. It is also vital to pay other loans on a regular basis, since several rules connect your credit ratings across debts. This means that if a person possesses a bad credit rating in comparison to another owned credit card, it will definitely affect the credit rating in many airline credit cards. This will cause the person to pay higher rates of interest.
On the other hand, if you are not an extravagant spender and not spending much through airline credit cards, then you will not attain enough miles to take a trip by air for a very long time. Thus, if travel is not fascinating or not accompanying a person’s line of work, then it will better to get a small APR credit card.
However, if you do purchase airline credit cards, try using them whenever you go for shopping. Bear in mind to use the acquired airline miles at the first opportunity, you get. It is better to make use of airline miles for lengthy flights. Airline credit cards are best when people redeem them for airline miles. It is usually not worth it when a person redeems these credit cards on other products.
Airline credit cards differ largely in terms of their package of offerings. There are different credit requirements (if a person has a good credit) and varying APR’s. Additionally, some credit cards provide extra air miles. In such a case, there is a charge of different annual fees.
Bank sponsored airline credit cards enable a person to redeem air miles through several different airlines. With such sponsored cards, a person can use only the issuing airline. An informed purchase of these credit cards leads to free vacations for some and smart savings for others. Remember to merge the smart usage of these credit cards with informed purchase.
If an individual selects and uses airline credit cards intelligently the only downbeat effect will be a jet lag.
User Checklist:
Before deciding to go for airline credit cards, a person needs to make it a point to check the credit history. If it is almost perfect or faultless, you fulfill one want of the ideal airline-card user checklist. If you timely pay your credit card loan, you can strike off the second requirement of the checklist. It is also vital that debts on other bills and credit cards are paid one at a time.

You know you have to work harder than ever to find customers and reassure them that your aviation company is healthy and that investments in aviation are good business. But your marketing budget is not what it was a year ago, and you may have reduced, eliminated or put off hiring marketing and information technology staff.  How do you find new customers and emerge from the current economic storm healthier than ever?

1) Embrace The Controversy!

2) Use Low-Cost, High Credibility Social Media

3) Use Expert Consultants

Embracing the Controversy

Chief executives from General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co, and Chrysler LLC traveled from Detroit to Washington D.C. in order to appear before a U.S. House Financial Services Committee to plead for $25 billion in federal assistance.

Lawmakers (and the press) blasted the auto execs for flying in separate private jets to Washington.

“Couldn’t you have downgraded to first class or something, or jet-pooled or something to get here?” asked Rep. Gary Ackerman, a Democrat from New York.

The press and the public may have equated corporate jet service with excess and waste, but Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft are using the publicity to highlight the business case for their products.

Cessna launched a campaign to take on the controversy directly.  From the Cessna Rise website (www.cessnarise.com)

Shame on those who suggest that business aviation is little more than a corporate frivolity. Focusing on facts over hyperbole, it’s glaringly apparent why you fly. Study after study shows companies operating business aircraft outperform competitors that don’t. It’s simply about availing yourself of the tools to do your job.

Hawker Beechcraft is cutting costs in other areas, but is also taking the critics head-on.   The ad for the new Beechcraft King Air 350 is headlined –  ’Sensible enough to impress any Congressional Committee.’

Engaging the controversy is apparently working for them.  At least it’s getting more publicity than they could have paid for.  Radio personality Rush Limbaugh featured the ad on his popular (and controversial) show. Charles Mayer, Hawker Beechcraft’s V.P. of Marketing, says people are surprisingly receptive to the ad.

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and the General Aviation Manufacturer’s Association have also teamed up to create the No Plane No Gain campaign, which includes studies, videos, advertisements and advocacy tools for aviation companies.

Use Low-Cost, High Credibility Social Media

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Social media is the modern, high-tech version of word-of-mouth.

Social media campaigns can include blog entries, articles and press releases.  These types of content are often seen as more credible than the content that’s always on your company’s “traditional” web site for two reasons – first, these blog entries, articles and press releases are current, which is absolutely vital in today’s constantly changing information climate, and 2) the writer is usually identified, and associated with other known entities.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN send more traffic to sites that rank higher based on the criteria they use.  Those criteria generally websites higher when they include a lot of content, use keywords that are relevant to current events and the industry they’re involved in, and have lots of links from other sites.   These links can come from other websites, (like references from your suppliers, customers and other industry partners) from articles published on other websites, from blog entries, from profiles of employees posted on social networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, or from social bookmarking sites like Delicious or Reddit.

You can inform more people about your product or service, establish your expertise in your field, and bring more traffic to your website by intelligently using social media like articles and blogs.

Many companies establish a corporate blog as a new version of the corporate newsletter.  They write an editorial calendar, just like they do for a newsletter, to broadcast industry news, announce new products, explain concepts, and communicate successes.   Customers can subscribe to the blog or visit as is convenient for them. Having high-quality, consistently current information is less expensive than producing and mailing a printed newsletter and has a greater potential reach and impact. (And articles can be linked to and from other sites, as we mentioned before.)  Once the blog is set up, it is fairly simple to post text, photos and even video.

Many companies have several representatives that post regularly to the company blog, or start their own blogs on related topics and interlink articles.  They can also link these to their profiles on LinkedIn or Facebook for additional visibility.

Use Freelance Specialists

In uncertain economic times, the last thing you may want to do is add to your existing staff. You may even be functioning with fewer people than before and need to get things done more efficiently.

Using freelance specialists is a cost effective way to get tasks accomplished quickly, by experts that you don’t need on your staff all the time.

You may hire a consultant to design, set up or tweak your web site or blog. You may want an expert to plan a marketing campaign that you can execute with your existing staff.   You may hire someone to write regular articles or content for your blog so that you know that your company will be continually represented  in a professional “voice.”  You may hire a consultant to set up a pay-per-click campaign that targets specific customers and provides instant metrics.   Or you may hire someone to perform search engine optimization (SEO) on your web site so that you get more traffic from the search engines.

It probably doesn’t make sense to have these specialists on your staff permanently, but it may make perfect sense to hire them for particular projects or have them on retainer for ongoing efforts.

Getting an expert will cost more per hour than having someone on your staff perform these tasks, but if you hire the consultant, it will be more cost-effective in the long run. A specialist will take less time to accomplish your objective, won’t divert your task from your critical daily operations, and will generally guarantee satisfaction with the results.

Rising to the Challenge

May You Live In Interesting Times – Kai Lung

An ancient Chinese curse is intended to sound like a blessing.  We certainly do live in interesting times, and probably would prefer that they be not quite so interesting, in quite the same way.  There is no doubt that the aviation industry faces challenges. The economic climate we live in has caused some banks and auto manufacturers to fail and others to go begging.

Aviation has the additional burden of having been painted as luxurious, excessive and unnecessary in popular press.  It will take every bit of innovation, creativity and good, cost effective practices that people responsible for marketing can muster.  But companies that are willing to embrace controversy and technology will find ways to weather the storms that keep the competition in the hangar. As Han Solo said to the crew of the Millennium Falcon when flying into a asteroid field –

“We should be safe – they’d be crazy to follow us here!”

Companies that embrace the challenge and make resourceful use of new technology and outside consultants will emerge even stronger than before.

Upon making a decision that you want to take a holiday, more often than not, the next question asked is where we want to go. Do we want to leave the country for an international vacation or do we want to keep it domestic? Once we decide on where we are going, and agree that we are going to fly there, the next step is to decide on a date of travel and then see if it’s possible.To make Airline reservations, you need to have made up your mind on those few things mentioned, like where do you want to go? How much money do you have to spend? How long do you want to be away? How many people are there in your party? When all these questions are answered confidently, then you are ready to make your airline reservations. You can now start looking for an airline that will work for you, and your plans.If going for a short holiday you may want to make airline reservations on a direct flight. This will ensure that you spend maximum time at your destination, and not in airports waiting for connecting flights.  Make sure that you have set time aside to leave later, for example an extra vacation day. This is in case your flight reservations are cancelled or modified by the airline. Always make sure that you find out what the airline policies are on missed or cancelled flight before you make any reservations or payments. Always make sure that the day before your trip you are ready to go and have double checked your reservations. This will ensure that you get to the airport well before your flight time, and you can check in and even request seat changes or upgrades.

Typically, the primary focus is the chartered flights sector of the business aviation industry wherein chartered and commercial flight services are offered to clients for a fee that is realistically higher in cost than traveling on standard airlines. The service is definitely more personal in that there are generally fewer passengers to deal with. Occasionally, the larger corporations have their own business jets as well as the aircraft’s pilots being on the company payroll as regular employees.

Generally, the use of company jets is only afforded to the “higher-ups” such as CEO’s and upper management personnel. The benefit is that a person has the ability to schedule a flight on their time frame rather than those mandated by the typical passenger airlines.

Normally, business aviation charter companies will offer a variety of amenities to their clients, both onboard and on the ground. These would include in-flight personal services such as a catered meal and beverages, the availability of conference capabilities, satellite telephone, and fax services. It is not unusual for these flight charters to be available on a 24/7/365 basis either so as to accommodate their clients with destinations globally and in different time zones.

While on the ground, the charter companies have their own airport lobbies where the business traveler can relax and prepare for the mission ahead of them. Beverages and snacks are usually provided, and the better companies also offer internet connectivity and satellite TV to their clients as well. Safe and reliable ground transportation between the client’s hotel and the airport is also offered, as well as on-site rental vehicles, buses, and shuttles for the client’s convenience.

A significant amount of business aviation charter services have working relationships with the major airlines which enables the companies to offer clients a variety of air transportation services. The use of chartered private aircraft in business aviation circles has become a major component of the corporate world where extensive business travel is concerned.

In addition, the benefits of chartered private aircraft for business travel is that it saves the client time by providing an easier, less tiresome way to travel. The absence of time consuming registration procedures and shortened security check procedures while traveling through control zones saves the client countless hours and lots of frustration in the process.

In years gone by, business aviation was synonymous with flying on a “business class” type of aircraft. Characteristically, this was associated with traveling on luxury airliners that were not cost-effective and usually inconvenient where scheduling was concerned. Today, business aviation has become a necessity for those clients who are both budget and time conscious. For these reasons, the use of chartered private aircraft is now a key component in the business aviation industry.

American Airlines is one of the major carriers in the United States, serving both domestic and international destinations. The airline acquired naming rights to an arena that is situated in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena is fully owned by the city of Dallas.The American Airlines Center serves as home to three of Dallas’ sporting teams. The Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Desperados and Dallas stars. It also hosts other sporting events like hockey, basketball games and soccer. As a matter of fact, the world indoor soccer league was hosted there. This is also a great venue for concerts and it boasts having hosted concerts for great bands such as The Eagles and Michael Flately’s Flames tour.The American Airlines Center boasts one hundred and forty three luxury suites as well. It provides accommodation to people who might be attending an event here. The accommodation is found on three levels, the Platinum, Flagship and Admiral Levels. They also offer fine dining for those who are staying here, or those who want to enjoy a good meal as they catch one of the many events that are hosted here.The American Airline Center development is part of a bigger project to revitalize the city of Dallas. They used the best professionals in construction available to them, from architects to structural engineers. This is a spectacular work of art that adds to the beauty of this great city, which also allows you to take in the city sights with a beautiful view of the city’s skyline.

Recent History

During the 1920s and 1930s, there was a huge leap forward in the field of aviation. Noteworthy milestones included Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight in 1927, and Charles Kingsford Smith’s transpacific flight the following year.

Without doubt, the most successful design of this period was the Douglas DC3, which became the first airliner to carry passengers profitably, and ushered in a new era in passenger airline service.

By the beginning of the Second World War, many towns and cities had built airports, and there were many eager and qualified pilots available. There were many new innovations in aviation, including the first jet aircraft and the first liquid-fueled rockets, which were the result of research generated during WW2.

There was a boom in aviation, in both the private and commercial sectors, after the war, in particular in North America. This was due, in no small part, to the thousands of pilots who became available from the military, and the plethora of inexpensive war-surplus transport and training aircraft which became available. Manufacturers such as Cessna, Piper, and Beechcraft rapidly expanded production in order to provide a ready supply of light aircraft for the new middle class market.

As the 1950s dawned, the development of civil jets had expanded at a pace, starting with the de Havilland Comet. The Boeing 707 was the first commercially successful passenger jet, since it was much more economical than its competitors of the period. By now, turboprop propulsion was coming into its own on smaller commuter planes, with the result that low-volume routes could now be served in a much wider range of weather conditions. 

In 1961, Yuri Gagarin was the first human to travel to space whilst, in 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first to set foot on the moon. Since the 1960s, composite airframes, which are engineered materials made from two or more constituent materials, and quieter more efficient engines had become available, and Concorde was the first supersonic passenger airliner.

However, the most important, and lasting innovations took place in the field of instrumentation and control. This was exemplified by the arrival of solid state electronics, GPS, or Global Positioning Satellite, satellite communications, and increasingly small and powerful computers and LED displays, which is a semiconductor diode that emits light when an electric current is applied in the forward direction of the device, have dramatically changed the cockpits of airliners and, increasingly, of smaller aircraft as well.

Pilots can navigate much more accurately and view terrain, obstructions, and other nearby aircraft on a map or through synthetic vision, which is a technology that provides pilots with a clear and precise method of understanding the environment in which they are flying, even at night or in low visibility.

In 2004, SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded aircraft to make a spaceflight which presented the spectre of an aviation market outside the earth’s atmosphere.  Aircraft powered by alternative fuels, such as ethanol, electricity, and even solar power, are becoming more common and may soon become a reality, at least for light aircraft.

Aviation – How To Succeed

Peter Radford writes Articles with Websites on a wide range of subjects. Aviation Articles cover History, Aircraft Types, Air Traffic Control.

His Website contains a total of 75 Aviation Articles, written by others and carefully selected



View his Website at: aviation-how-to-succeed.com

View his Blog at: aviation-how-to-succeed.blogspot.com

 

 

Airlines the world over are now providing or giving travelers the option to buy their discount airline tickets at very low rates, which are available to them at certain times. These are best suited and appreciated by people who are planning a vacation on a budget. It is wise to find a travel agent who answer your questions and give you details such as who is offering these tickets, how do the terms and policies of these tickets work? When are they available? What are the forms of payment accepted for discount airline tickets and all that?These kinds of discount airline tickets are also great for people who are traveling at short notice. You will find that on most sectors that offer frequent flights, they might leave a few seats with discount pricing still available for travelers. The problem with these tickets is they have a lot of policies and regulations tied to them. For example, you can transfer them to another person, they have a no cancellation policy, where you have to fly or lose your ticket. Others do not allow you to claim refunds, even if you are sick.Discount airline tickets are also put on the market for short periods of time. For example you might go online now, and find a ticket at the price you want. If you decide not to buy it and try again later, you could find that not only is that ticket gone, but now anything you might want to buy has doubled in price.Tickets are also sold at discounted rates to people who are frequent fliers. They can redeem points to get tickets whose prices are discounted. Most of these tickets are sold as electronic tickets, as opposed to paper tickets.

The airline miles credit cards are indeed a great advantage for the frequent travelers. The main aim of these types of airline credit cards is to fulfill the various requirements of the travelers as well as to encourage the consumers to buy such services. These types of credit cards are in fact the result of the constant and collaborative efforts of the various airline companies and credit companies.

With these airline miles credit cards, the frequent travelers can even count each mile that travel. Their working procedure is more or less like the normal credit cards. In fact, fees and transactions procedure of an airline miles credit card is also similar to a normal credit card. The only difference lies in the variety of services that these airline miles credit cards offer.

The various types of airline miles credit cards

You can avail a number of airline miles credit cards. The Gold and Platinum Airline Credit Cards are some of the most popular forms of airline credit cards. The Bonus Miles granted on the initial credit that has been charged to the card often varies, depending upon the type of airline credit cards you are opting for. With a Bronze airline credit card, you can gain 5000 Bonus Miles on the very first credit card charge. It also grants you a mile for expending every $2. On the other hand, the Platinum airline credit cards offer 15000 Bonus Miles for the initial credit card charge along with a award of 1 mile for spending every $1.

The added advantages of airline miles credit cards

You can also use a points system with these airline miles credit cards. In this points system each mile you travel is counted as a point. The regular or frequent travelers can gather mileage points after each flight and after achieving a particular given points figure, you are entitled to get an incentive. With these incentives you can take flights to different places of your choice. Thereby, as a frequent flyer you can build up bonus miles and points rapidly with these airline miles credit cards. Apart from free flights, you can also exchange all these bonus miles and points for renting a car or for free lodging.

There are several credit card companies that provide lucrative sign-up offers, especially for their airline credit card holders. You can conveniently find such credit card companies that charge no yearly fees while you sign-up for the first time. Some other companies may also offer a 0% APR charge for the first year and 5000 Miles bonus for the first purchase with you airline credit card. You can even transfer your available balance with your airline miles credit cards.