Aero Blog

Archive for May, 2010

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.

Working in the airport must be fascinating and glamorous as you meet people from around the world everyday; did you ever wish that you were the lucky one working in the aviation industry in these fancy places where you would meet people from around the world everyday. Well, many of us feel that aviation industry offers jobs only as pilots, first officers, flight attendants and specialized engineers but the truth lays in the fact that the aviation industry offers a much larger variety of jobs in aviation support services, which involves mainly ground personal.

How do you find your dream job in the aviation industry? It is very simple; just get in touch with a recruiter and let them guide you to what is available and suitable for your qualifications. The best recruiters have been in the recruiting market for decades during which time they have developed close ties with aviation corporations around the world that today entrust them with the difficult job of finding and providing the right personal for any particular position they require.

Aviation support services offer all types of opportunities such as; ticketing and customer care agents, cleaners, catering, luggage handling, airport safety, technical maintenance and repairs. Each of these fields have tens if not hundreds of types of jobs varieties for both qualified and non-qualified personal in UK, Europe and around the world. All aviation jobs have one thing in common and that is that they have become more adventurous and stressful but also more rewarding and exciting in the process.

In UK it has become very competitive to find the job of choice even in fields of high demand such as aviation and that is because of the sudden invasion from the Eastern European countries. International recruiters ensure a sure way to access the job you desire as soon as it is posted and thus, everyone has a fair chance to obtain the same. Many times we miss an opportunity because you are minutes late but online you don’t have to take that chance as, companies will be able to browse through curriculum vitae posted and thus, decided who is the best qualified for the job.

Top notch aviation recruiters often provide a newsletter with the latest news in the industry and also the latest jobs postings that match your qualifications and requirements, which can be sent directly to the email address you provide when you register. Empower yourself with recruiting professionals that work for you and find the job of your dreams sooner then you think.

Deccan airlines are one of the firs low-cost airlines in India which gives wings to every common India to fly or travel by flight at affordable rates. Deccan airlines come with a dream with no.1 low cost airlines in Indian aviation industry and it has proved it to fly every traveler at affordable rates. India’s first and biggest discount carrier, air Deccan was launched by aviation enthusiasts, Capt Gopinath, Capt KJ Samuel and Vishnu Raval. Deccan Airlines operated its first flight on 23rd August 2003 from Bangalore to Hubli. Air Deccan linking all metros to the smaller towns and cities with in India, Deccan airlines continue to serve the low fare segment of air passengers. Air Deccan has now recently taken over by Kingfisher Airlines in India. Deccan airways flight has been given tough competition by other domestic airlines by proving domestic flights reservation and air tickets at lo cost in India. There are several domestic airlines in India like Goindigo, spicejet airlines & goair to name. Inferences are that domestic flights are in the consolidation phase of combining with scheduled carriers like jet airways & Kingfisher. Example to that are Jetlite and Deccan Airlines merged with Jet airways and Kingfisher in recent times. With increasing cost of operating under strict procedure, every other domestic airline in India is facing tough challenge to survive. Deccan Airlines flights provides suitable way of cheap travel across domestic cities like; Chennai to Kolkata, Kolkata to Agra, Delhi to Bangalore, Delhi to Mumbai, Mumbai to Delhi, Bangalore to Delhi, Mumbai to Hyderabad, Hyderabad to Delhi, and many more at lowest available rates. We at Air Deccan airways provide latest cheap fares tickets update on all sectors where Deccan airlines fly. Deccan airlines are now sports with a vibrant colorful logo of kingfisher in his all aircrafts. And it renamed as kingfisher Deccan Airlines and fly to any where in India at low cost fares. 

AEROAGE En route on the mach 4.7 supersonic jet, I flipped open my iTV , which connected me to the most advanced space network, spacecast. The usual news was being broadcast; “NASCOM, the space people have started mining a new mineral on the moon which is almost identical to Uranium; the Americans have come out with yet another version of the unmanned X-67 which maneuvers itself at mach 25 (courtesy nuclear fusion engines!); the international space station at Mars has discovered a revolutionary microorganism that can be used to fight multiple cancer, a predominant disease on Earth”. Yes, this is the age I’m living in, and when I look back in time at the history of aviation, it leaves me flabbergasted. The history of AVIATION commenced in the 20th century, and a few lucky people who were witness to the first tentative flight of the Wright Brothers, managed to live through these 150 years (through medical advancement of course!) to witness the hypersonic X-67s as well. As Robert Wall once rightly said (towards the end of the 20th century), “So rapid has been the development of aeronautical science that no one can say with safety that an end has been reached or that there is any limit to the ability of man to develop flight at the same pace in the next century.”1 Today, in 2057, man has traveled a long way in the field of civil and space aviation. Advancements that were merely probable 5 decades ago are possible and practical today. All these developments are a consequence of decades of stupendous achievements in space exploration. Half a century ago, landing human astronauts on Mars was within the bounds of possibility. However, today, successful implementation of hypersonic space travel and use of geodesic domes have not only enabled man to experience the surface of Mars, but have also helped him estabilish cyborg colonies there. In addition to the Moon, even Mars is available now, for scientific exploration! The international space station on Mars, in addition to helping scientists in their research work, has facilitated in mitigating the power crisis, which at present is history! After the establishment of The International Lunar Base Station in 2037, man has passed several milestones in setting up a long term colony on the moon. Today, the hotels on the moon go full with increasing number of world, or rather space, citizens going on lunar holidays! A fleet of spaceships taking space tourists high above the atmosphere is now a routine affair. These spaceships are improved versions of Spaceshiptwo, which took Santosh George of India along with other space tourists to as high as 55000 feet, enabling them to experience the excitement of weightlessness and the thunderous deceleration of aerodynamic drag on reentry, in 20072. In addition, disputes between industries, over the acquisition of lunar land for mining have become fairly common. At the start of the 21st century, the failure of NASA’s Mars lander caused despondency over the failure of its apparently reliable technology and put a question mark over other similar systems3. However, perennial human effort and incessant advancement in hypersonic space travel have led to the innovation of extraordinarily efficient probes which are now meeting the challenge of unearthing secrets about the solar system’s remotest planets. For example: a recent probe that has been sent to Pluto weighs only 570 pounds and stands almost 10 feet tall and 27 feet wide. It is composed of 19 solar panels, an extremely light nano-fission engine, and is controlled by an onboard computer. The probe functions by harnessing the light energy of the Sun. At present the fission engines are taking it close to the Sun. Once it is sufficiently close, the fission engines would shut down and light energy from the Sun would push the probe towards Pluto with a tremendous amount of force. The probe would then constantly accelerate and reach hypersonic speeds enabling scientists to have a glimpse of the details of Pluto within their lifetimes! The innovation of the controlled nuclear fusion engine, after the ion and fission engines, in 2031, was by far the most significant advancement in space travel. It enabled spacecraft to reach astonishing speeds. Many decades ago, scientists deciphered that scarce and expensive raw materials exist in abundance on asteroids in our solar system. Today, aeronautical geeks have succeeded in designing manned aircraft, run by fusion engines that travel at supersonic speeds to these asteroids. They are slowed down, when close to the asteroid’s surface and then are made to land by making use of the asteroid’s relatively low gravity. During this rendezvous, with a suitable asteroid, the spacecraft uses abundant solar energy to extract and refine metals like gold and platinum and then the fusion engines power them back to Earth.4 In order to aid space travel and further exploit the hypersonic travel technology, a set of 5 astronomical telescopes, linked by laser, 100 times more powerful than the antiquated Hubble Space Telescope of the 20th century, was deployed in space in 20255 with the aid of space stations and hypersonic jets. Through these telescopes, we have been able to probe deeper into the universe and directly study details of planets in the Milky Way, without having to study the wobbling of stars. This was just a glimpse of the hypersonic space travel in my age! Now, let’s delve into the advancement of supersonic and hypersonic travel in civil aviation. Civil aviation is governed by practicality and affordability. And when supersonic travel is looked at with these factors in mind, its picture seems somewhat blurred. Although, supersonic and hypersonic travel is easily available for civil aviation, its use is restricted only to the elite class. Four decades ago, hypersonic travel could take you anywhere on the planet in 4 hours6. Today, it can take you in just 2 hours! If the world population is transported from one corner of the globe to the other, then, oh my! The gas guzzling machines and sonic booms, created close to the earth’s surface, would simply attract the ire of environmentalists! Although this is the era of supersonic air travel, there also exists an alternative economic means of transport. No economy can ignore such basic realities. Even today we need economically viable means for mass transportation. So, where speed is not essential, the principles of freight transportation have been applied to mass travel. Non-inflammable gases are used to lift huge airships propelled by turbines7. This technology has made air travel extremely cheap, resulting in a five fold increase in air traffic compared to that of 2007. Although technology is reaching new heights every day, socialism continues to be a speed breaker! In addition to supersonic and hypersonic aircraft being used in civil aviation, air taxis with tilt rotors have also come into daily use. Not needing a runway, these taxis can easily maneuver around the city. They help me land right in the center of a supermarket! In addition to the tilt rotors, which give them the vertical lift, they also make use of the ground effect that reduces the drag experienced by aircrafts8. This, thus, reduces the fuel consumption of the taxis. Bad news for environmentalists; they have one less topic to debate upon! As far as the armed forces go, there is no stopping them! Billions were and are being spent to develop aircraft that are capable of traveling at such hypersonic speeds that they escape even the most efficient of all radars owned by their enemies. With the introduction of hypersonic travel, came the highly sensitive infrared radars that were capable of detecting the infrared radiation produced by the engines of these aircraft9. Technology has constantly moved towards super automation. Way back in 2003, Arlen Rens’, a Lockheed Martin test pilot, describing automation in aviation, said humorously: “Airplanes are now built to carry a pilot and a dog in the cockpit. The pilot’s job is to feed the dog, and the dog’s job is to bite the pilot if he touches anything!”10 Now, the question arises; how did we reach this pinnacle? How did we overcome all the inevitable challenges? The main challenges were: a) Financial: the sums invested to develop this technology dwarfed those involved in making possible the Apollo missions to the Moon! b) Biological: traversing long distances in space meant spending years in space in zero gravity conditions. The human body cannot adapt to stresses greater than 9g and react to situations as fast as machines. The human mind is incapable of making 1 million inferences per second unlike machines! c) Technological: reaching high levels of automation required integrating man and machine, and the functioning of diverse systems in perfect synchronization over longer distances and timescales with a minimum of maintenance.11 d) Environmental and Ecological: sonic booms produced by supersonic and hypersonic aircrafts were a great threat to mankind, and wildlife12. Even if man could somehow artificially adapt his hearing sensibilities to sonic booms, he could possibly not dissuade animal activists from protesting against hypersonic travel. Apart from this, supersonic airlines of that age utilized gas guzzling engines, dependant upon dwindling petroleum supplies. It has truly been a daunting task for man to find an answer to everything through technology. It is spellbinding to know how he prevented technology from reaching a standstill, without betting on speed at the cost of mankind. It was observed rightly by Thomas Friedman, in 2006, that “the world is getting flat”. Outsourcing and around sourcing were the key to mutual cooperation, advancement, and ameliorating financial crises13 that would have otherwise brought about a pause in aviation technology. The cornerstones of cooperation, laid in the beginning of the 21st century, led to countries coming together to develop hypersonic and supersonic air travel. This has led us all to live in a more cooperative, rather than a competitive world. It was international cooperation that brought about the success of all the space projects since then and led to the establishment of international space stations. The limiting reagent, in moving further down into space at hypersonic speeds, is the homo sapien! Although such speeds make one experience the tumbling alchemy of Earth and sky, the audacity, and miracle of flight, flying at stresses above 9g, in the Earth’s atmosphere, causes human blood to drain down from the brain, thus, extinguishing vision or even consciousness. In the old gravity suit, pilots would strain against their glottis. This would shut breathing. In the new suits, the pilots are able to flex their body muscles with less force, thus, reducing fatigue. This has been made possible by using “fluid muscles”, as they are called, which are independent of hoses and pressurized air on board, and reacts immediately to high g’s. Besides this, suits have designed in such a way, that pilots can communicate with each other even while traveling at such hypersonic speeds14. As far as space travel is concerned, man’s shortcomings, both mental and physical, have been overcome by integrating him with machines. As Alwin Toffler predicted about 8 decades ago, the astronaut has become “an integral part of an ongoing micro-ecological process whirling through the vastnesses of space”15. What Theodore Gordon once said has come true. We have found that it would indeed be simpler “to provide life support in the form of machines that plug into the astronaut”. In accordance with his vision, an astronaut is “fed intravenously using a liquid food compactly stored in remote pressurized tank”. And “direct processing of body liquid wastes and conversion to water (is) accomplished by a new type of artificial kidney built in as part of the spaceship”16. Five decades ago, Professor Kevin Warwick, was able to connect his nervous system to his wife’s nervous system through a computer. Looking at that development, it is not hard to believe that today the human brain is directly connected to the computer, controlling his spacecraft. Thus, his mind is able to run as fast as a computer and in turn the computer gets a brain to think. Thus, what can be seen is that, the astronaut is no longer a separate entity monitoring the aircraft; he is in fact a part of the whole process. If one divides human existence into three phases, then I would say that the first phase extends from the birth of humans till the year 1920. The second phase covers the time from 1921 to 2000 and we are at present in the third phase. This can be clearly explained by seeing the advancements that took place during these three phases. During the third phase mankind has moved so fast that from Earthlings we have started becoming Marslings! The technology that made all this probability a possibility would make a 20th century dweller dumbstruck! What humans did was that they teraformed Mars and tailored it to their requirements. The first thing that was required was to heat up the exceedingly cold atmosphere. The toxic pollution on Earth served as a medicine for Mars. Pollution creating machines were dropped on Mars whose work was to suck up a mixture of dust and atmosphere and process them into greenhouse chemicals. These chemicals trapped the heat radiated by the Sun and heated the surface and atmosphere of Mars. Once Mars was warm enough, plants and trees were grown in geodesic domes, which in turn increased the oxygen content of the atmosphere, making human existence possible17. This led to the establishment of an Earth colony on Mars which in turn gave birth to the Mars space station. The future now, is thus, to further the use of this technology and make the whole of Mars a human colony. The technology developed for scramjets to attain hypersonic speeds, brought out a solution to the fossil fuel crises. Decades ago, rocket engines used hydrogen as well as liquid oxygen. The weight marred their performance and efficiency. A scramjet carries only hydrogen and uses oxygen from the atmosphere instead. Thus, it turns out to be lighter and more efficient18. Moreover, it also proves to be environment friendly. Mark Lewis of the University of Maryland had once said, “Flying an air-breathing rocket system above Mach5; that’s sort of the gleam in everyone’s eye”19. And yes, today we are all witness to the result of that vision. Scramjets have made hypersonic travel in the civil sector possible and to an extent, environment friendly as well. They fly at hypersonic speeds only high above the Earth and thus avoid the ill-effects of a sonic boom, protecting animals as well as mankind. In addition to the scramjets, the ion, nuclear fission, and nuclear fusion engines are also an answer to the dwindling fossil fuel resources, since they efficiently use materials that are available in abundance on the Earth, Moon, and Mars. Besides this, scientists, with the aid of nanotechnology, are trying to devise methods to manipulate abundantly available elements at the atomic level and give them fossil fuel properties. The problem of inventing a lightweight material that can endure the prolonged high temperatures of the flight engines, plus the heat of the air friction against the wings20, was taken care of by nanotechnology. By manipulating materials at the nanoscale, scientists were able to develop in 2020 a nano-aerogel from carbon which has excellent thermal properties. This material is used to insulate hypersonic aircrafts, which in turn are made up of sheets of carbon nanotubes and nanofibres that are 60 times tougher than steel and much lighter than graphite. For all the above advancements to take place a perennial desire to achieve something better was required. In the words of a Pelican program manager, Blaine Rawdon: “From our perspective, anything that’s already flying is history.”21 From the very beginning of space exploration, most people have always thought it to be an extravagant luxury, affordable only by the superpowers, and only justifiable by them at times when questions of global prestige, between the competing systems of capitalism and communalism, were involved22. However, it has been practically shown that on an average, every dollar spent on the space program and/or aviation industry, results in 7 dollars paid back to the economy23. A list of spin-offs from space technology can be as varied as it is long. The most significant of all spin offs was the result of the need for smaller and more powerful computers, which provided an incentive for the development of microchips. Development of rescue blankets, CCD chip technology, virtual reality systems, advanced keyboards, etc. are all a consequence of space technology. If these things seem vague to some people, they would be astonished to know how space technology has extended its wings to everyday articles like wheelchairs, school buses, batteries, television screens, home security systems, medicines, etc24. Besides this, the modern designs of hypersonic aircraft are the result of research carried out for spacecraft designs over the years. Thus, in some way or the other, we all owe our modern comforts to space technology. Our forefather’s of the 1960s knew that they were witnessing some of space exploration’s “game changing events”25! With our present and near future focussed on Mars, our children may experience the same extraordinary odysseys. Today, we are on Mars and the Moon; tomorrow we might be on one of Jupiter’s moons or even farther. The speed of sound has long been surpassed, and now man’s mission is to approach the speed of light! This may seem like an impossible dream but we must remember that powered flight were seemed impossible when the Wright Brothers set out with their bamboo and canvas contraption to the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk almost one and a half century ago! Read more at http://www.nanojini.com Notes 1 Robert Wall, A History of Airliners (Burlington Books: London 1980, rpt 1989) p 238. 2 Hindustan Times, New Delhi, March 15, 2007, p 1. “the Richard-Branson owned Virgin Galactic company that hopes to begin a new era in tourism in less than two years. Apart from George, two US-based Indian Americans have also signed up for the two-hour flight, Louela Faria-Jones of Virgin Galactic told Hindustan Times from London. SpaceShipOne, a prototype of the space vehicle, flew to space three times in 2004, she said. George will fly on board the SpaceShipTwo, which has large windows, reclining seats, cabins the size of a Falcon 900 executive jet and wings approximately the size of a Boeing 757. It will carry six passengers and two pilots, Faria Jones said. 3 David Owen, Into Outer Space (Burlington Books: London 2000) p 135 4 Ibid, p138 5 Space: Episodes 3 and 4, VCD, B.B.C., 2001 6 Michael Klesius, “Wings of Change”, National Geographic (National Geographic Society: Washington DC, December 2003), p 32 7 Wall, A History of Airliners, p 251 8 Klesius, “Wings of Change”, National Geographic December 2003, p 25, 29 9 My own assessment 10 Klesius, “Wings of Change”, National Geographic December 2003, p 13 11 Owen, Into Outer Space, p 137 12 Wall, A History of Airliners, p 238 13 Thomas L. Friedman, The World is Flat (Penguin Books: London, 2005) 14 Klesius, “Wings of Change”, National Geographic December 2003, p 20,21 15 Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (Pan Books: London, 1971) p 196 16 Ibid, p 196 17 Space: Episodes 5 and 6, VCD, B.B.C., 2001 18 Klesius, “Wings of Change”, National Geographic December 2003, p 32 19 Ibid, p 32 20 Ibid, p 32 21 Ibid, p 29 22 Owen, Into Outer Space, p 128 23 Ibid, p 128 24 Ibid, p 129 25 Jeffrey Kluger, “Nasa’s Plan for a Lunar Comeback Gets a Big Boost”, Time (Time Asia: Hong Kong, March 19, 2007), p 36. http://www.nanojini.com

Availability of a vast array of airline ticket prices is one that is perplexing to most airline travelers.  Only a handful of people who control the complex formulas that go into the science and art of Revenue Management inside the caverns of today’s airlines understand it.  To both the seasoned and occasional traveler alike, getting the best value in an airfare is the elusive dream that is difficult to consistently achieve.

However, there are some time proven axioms that one can follow to put the odds on your side in helping you to reduce the cost of your air travel:

#1 Change the Time You Travel

Don’t be rigid on the time of day you want to travel.  Going between New York and Los Angeles, for example, may have one airline offering as many as seven or eight flights on a particular day.  If you want to leave in the morning, investigate the three or four departures offered during that time period.  Moving your departure time by just one hour, on your departure or return, may save you a significant portion of the ticket price.

#2 Change the Day You Travel

Even if you require traveling on a particular airline or time of day, look at moving your desired departure or return day by one or two days.  It is often the case that a particular flight may be cheaper on a Tuesday than a Wednesday, or a Saturday instead of a Sunday.  The side benefit of this might be a free one-day “vacation” as the savings in airfare can more than offset the additional cost of a hotel room and meals. 

#3 Change the Route You Travel

Yes, we all like to travel directly from where we are to our destination as quickly as possible and without changing planes.  But how much is this worth to you?  Airlines often make connecting flights from your origin to destination less expensive than their non-stop flights.  It may add a couple of hours to travel time but it may be worth the hundreds of dollars you might be saving.  Airline websites, unfortunately, are designed to show you the most direct and shortest time between the cities you request.  If they have an option to “search by fare” use that option with maximum number of results possible and drill down deep in the results to make sure you see all the fares available. 

#4 Change the Airline You Use to Travel

Competition is a wonderful thing!  Many routes are highly competitive and it can force an airline with traditional dominance in a market to drop its airfares, sometimes dramatically, in response to a new competitor or fare sale from other competing airlines.  Often times these “sales” will happen on a moment’s notice and may only last for a few days.  If you have a favorite airline you wish to use, subscribe to their email alerts for your favorite cities so you can be kept up to date on any fare changes.  But, don’t limit yourself to just one airline.  Do it for all the airlines in your market.

#5 First Class Cheaper Than Coach?

No discussion of airfares would be complete without talking about the new currency for airfares: the frequent flyer mile.  More and more of us are accumulating these frequent flyer miles that pay for airline tickets.  Our first inclination when trying to redeem these miles is to seek out a coach seat using the lowest amount of miles, typically around 25,000 miles.  However, it is usually the case that the airline does not have any seats at the lowest mileage redemption level when you would like to travel but may have them if you use twice the miles.  Before giving in to this requirement, ask about business or first class awards.  You may be surprised how many times discounted business or first class awards may be available to and from your destination for the same or less or slightly more miles than for double mileage coach awards.  The extra comfort and perks are the icing on the cake!

Be flexible, keep current on airfares, explore all your routing options and look at all the ways frequent flyer miles can be redeemed.

About the Author

John Lopinto is Partner and co-founder of Expert Travel Services, LLC which owns and operates ExpertFlyer.com, the leading online information service for frequent flyers.  A 100,000+ mile a year frequent flyer, Mr. Lopinto travels extensively throughout Asia, Europe and North America to bring his unique perspective to the travel industry for the frequent flyer.  As a top-tier elite member for an international airline and alliance, Mr. Lopinto has first hand knowledge of life as an air traveler at all levels of service and experiences.

Mr. Lopinto also is President of a manufacturer of fiber optic transmission systems and high-performance computer-video interface products.  Mr. Lopinto previously held various technical and managerial positions in the Broadcast, Satellite and Cable TV industries.

Mr. Lopinto holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree. His professional affiliations include the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and the International Communications Industries Association.

To learn more about how you can travel cheaper and smarter, log onto to http://www.expertflyer.com

 

If you are looking for any information about aviation, commercial or fighter aircrafts, and other information on pilots and crew, Internet is the best source. You will get all the information on aviation at a single place.

Aviation is one of the major industry not only in India but worldwide. A number of new aircrafts are being manufacturers by the global manufacturers. Aviation in India has come a long way and still our military is heavily dependant on the fighter and military aircrafts produced by other countries.

Further we don’t bother to learn and know more about the aircrafts even commercial aircrafts and therefore we should increase our interest in all the terms related to aviation industry. The technical aspects and advantages of commercial and military aircrafts are different. Military and fighter aircrafts are indeed the requirement of every country today and the military of every country would like to induct latest fighter aircraft equipped with all modern techniques.

If you have interest in aviation industry or would like to know more about the fighter aircraft, you need to understand some of the technical terms so that you can easily understand the difference between various commercial or fighter aircrafts. There are over a dozen of aircraft manufacturers worldwide. Some of these have a very good reputation in the aviation industry.

The next thing is to understand the aircraft from a pilot’s viewpoint. You should understand the techniques used by manufacturer especially the design parameters and computerization of the cockpit. Safety is one of the important parameter and manufacturers of commercial or military aircrafts spend billions of dollars for improving safety in all these aircrafts.

So, if you are looking for some information on aviation industry, you will get information from anything to everything at the Internet. Even the top people from military and civil aviation will find the information much more relevant and they can even use the information for deciding the next fighter aircraft for Indian Army.

Cheap flights are not hard to find with the use of the internet. Cheap flights are a great way to save on airline tickets, without necessarily sacrificing the quality of service. Many airlines provide flights to popular destinations at heavily discounted prices. Last minute airline tickets are often expensive so it pays to book your airline ticket well in advance.

Cheap Airline Travel

Travelling to another country can be very exciting but sometimes the airfares can be more expensive than anticipated. This is when discount airline tickets are a blessing. Finding a cheap airline ticket can often mean the difference between having a budget holiday and a luxury holiday with the amount of money you can save. Purchasing a return ticket can sometimes be cheaper (even if you only use half the ticket) than buying a single fare so make sure you check all of the options available before purchasing your ticket. Travellers now have the opportunity to find and book their own airfares through airline ticket aggregator sites so competition between the airlines has increased dramatically and helped to lower prices.

Finding Cheap Airline Tickets

Cheap airfares are available, but you need to find them. Looking on the internet is the quickest and easiest way to find and compare cheap airline tickets. Cheap international plane tickets may be found online and numerous web sites provide discounted airfares to many different travel locations. Cheap and discounted airfares are offered by several airline companies so ensure you check a number of airline ticket providers to make sure you are getting the best deal. Also, don’t forget to arrange transfers or a hire car for when you arrive at the foreign airport as you do not want to start your holiday stranded or facing a hefty taxi fare to get you to your holiday hotel.

Cheap Flights

There is a lot of competition these days on discount flights to your favourite holiday destinations so if you take the time to compare prices you can save a lot of money on your flight if you have to fly to your vacation destination. Flights are very affordable, but watch out for the small print, or you’ll find the only cheap flight is at four in the morning and may include other restrictive contractual clauses. Cheap flights are often tightly scheduled to squeeze more flying time out of each plane, which can exaggerate the effects of any delays. Many airlines offer cheap flights so make sure you check the major airline companies as well as budget airlines. Often, you can find cheap flights on a traditional carrier with some perks, including assigned seating, in-flight service, and assistance if your flight is cancelled or delayed.

Hunting for cheap airline tickets by using the internet to compare prices and flight information you will get a choice of providers without breaking a sweat. Sometimes these cheap international airline tickets are linked to holiday package deals so you can make extra savings buying both items at the same time. If you are saving money on your airline tickets you will have some extra money left aside to treat yourself on your holiday.

Travel has become an expensive proposition, especially if you are not earning future flying miles while airborne. Airline credit cards generally offer points per flight taken, bringing rewards as a byproduct of each trip. These points will earn the cardholder free stays at hotels, future flights, car rentals, as well as other desirable rewards. A few of the cards charge around twenty-five thousand points per flight so a comparison in airline miles should be considered when choosing a credit card.

Most times, you will receive flyer miles per trip taken, and some of these airline credit cards will offer a generous point total per flight.

Some people use cash to travel, however others prefer to use airline mile credit cards. The airline credit cards often have airline miles attached, which provides ongoing benefits. While the cards benefits vary, some provide categories that are major points to consider when selecting an airline credit cards, (i.e. while earning flights the person could choose from more than 200 airlines to fly from, by selecting the choice of airline). If you prefer to use a major airline, (i.e. an airline which you frequently fly) the cards often include features, such as earn x amount of points for each flight taken.

Airline credit cards are often referred to as mileage credit cards. The card enables you to earn points per dollar charged on the card then you can use the points toward a flight. Some cards offer more points than others do.

Checking out the marketplace for the bargains is ideal while considering airline miles credit cards. Once you select a card and accepted, as a cardholder you will discover that you earn points on the card. Be sure to take full advantage of discounts and free offers, since the points will expire on some credit cards.

Some of the disadvantages of airline credit cards are that the cards often have higher interest rates and annual fees attached. Most of the airline cards are for those that can handle paying off the monthly debts incurred on the cards, or for travelers that frequently take trips and utilize the credit cards as a means to manage and document purchases. Still, the rates are comparable in an online search. If you are considering an airline mile credit card, take time to research and compare the values, APR (Annual Percentage Rate), points available, and other services.

While traveling, the idea of the credit cards is to save money, so why not take the time to find the best rates and save even more cash while using your airline credit cards to earn points.

Some of the no-annual-rate cards include the Miles Card from Discover. This card offer no APR fees, and you will receive 5,000 miles once the initial purchase is charged to the card. Balance transfers are free for the first twelve months, and you will find an added benefit in earning a mile per dollar charged to your card.

The Value Miles Platinum Visa cards offer miles per dollar spent with no blackout dates. Fly on the major airlines and earn points while receiving assistance on travel. If you are in an emergency, this card offers emergency funding, and the rates per interest are attractively low.

Noting the two cards named in this article will help you to see the comparison. The Discover Card offers 5,000 points on the first debt incurred on the card, while the Visa Card does not. Now, how can we decide which card is more of an advantage? We can do this by contrasting and comparing airline credit cards. Check for the best rates online, since here you can compare at your own pace, finding multiple offerings and significant savings in fees and interest.