A change of focus for the blog - transport technology

While I continue to be fascinated by aeropolitical developments and on a personal note I have taken up flying again (this time with the Whangarei Flying Club), my professional interests are now more focused on developments in transport technology across all modes.

It seems likely that we are on the cusp of transport-technology disruption the likes of which we have not seen since the end of the nineteenth century. Topics like the "Internet of Things" and "Big Data" all have a transport dimension, and we are increasingly using such phrases as "Intelligent Mobility" and "Mobility as a Service".

It is an exciting time to be involved in transport policy as we work through the implications of the anticipated transport system changes.

As a consequence I will also now be using this weblog to provide links to some of the more interesting reports and articles on intelligent transport systems (ITS).

Podcasts

A couple of years ago when I first got an iPhone I downloaded from iTunes and listened to an aviation podcast. I was not impressed as the speakers were amateur enthusiasts who were clearly not that well informed.

I then started listening to EconTalk, a series of excellent podcasts by economist Russ Roberts from GMU in Virginia (he also blogs at Cafe Hayek). Each week he interviews at length a distinguished economist in a manner that is not overly technical.

For lighter relief I have been listening to the Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4. These generally take the form of a quiz or short monologues focussed on the latest political news from the UK.

More recently, I have been listening to a couple of much more professionally done aviation podcasts.

• Airplane Geeks (@AirplaneGeeks) - from the USA
• Plane Crazy Down Under (@pcdu) - from Victoria, Australia

They have turned out to be excellent with coverage of civil and miltary aviation, including aviation history and technology. I have been listening to older episodes and have even sent off a couple of possible "Grill the Geeks" questions to the USA.

These have all been great listening while walking our two dogs.

Noted People in New Zealand Aviation History

I have been having a look at the official Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (DNZB) to see how many people who made significant contributions to New Zealand's aviation history have been the subject of biographical notes. These are the 25 names that I have found so far:

Henry van Asch
Jean Batten
George Bolt
Alfred Brandon
Keith Caldwell
Norris Falla
Lawson Field
Oscar Garden
Esmond Gibson
Hilda Hewlett
Leonard Isitt
Cyril Kay
Edward Kidson
Fred Ladd
Fred Lucas
Malcolm McGregor
Bert Mercer
Keith Park
Richard Pearse
Geoffrey Roberts
Leo and Vivian Walsh
Leo White
Harry Wigley
Rodoph Wigley
Henry Wigram

I will add a few more as I find them.

Australian Senate inquiry into pilot training and standards

On the initiative of independent Senator Xenophon, the Australian Senate has launched an inquiry into pilot training and airline standards. Ben Sandilands, on his Plane Talking blog, is actively following the inquiry.

I must stress that this is a personal view partly based in part on my own experience of flight training and holding a PPL but I remain sceptical that airline pilots can be safe without a much higher number of flying hours in the air as pilot in command than seems to be being advocated by some airlines.

General aviation in the USA responding to criticism

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) in the United States has launched a web site, GA Serves America, to publicise the role of general aviation. Its activities, such as flight training, are vital for the health of the airline industry.

The business aviation sector was hit even harder by the global economic recession than other sectors when US Congressmen and others criticised automobile industry chief executives used their business jets to travel to a hearing in Washington DC about the financial troubles they were facing. The CEOs had appeared at a hearing of the US Senate Banking Committee on 18 November 2008. This was covered in reporting on 19 November 2008 by ABC.

One has to wonder whether the critics even thought of the number of layoffs in the aviation industry that would be caused as a direct consequence of their remarks. One also has to question whether it would be good use of his time for the Ford CEO paid US$28m per year to be standing around in queues for check-in, aviation security and boarding!

Ironically Fox News reported on 18 February 2009 that the US fiscal stimulus package included tax breaks to buy business jets. This is done by allowing accelerated tax depreciation.

There is also a New Zealand AOPA.

"Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

I have recently finished the book "Outliers - the Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell. It was a quick and enjoyable read.

I was not so fast to read his first book "The Tipping Point" after its publication suspecting that other books I had read covered the point he was making better but in the end did not regret doing so either.

What first attracted me to buy Outliers was Chapter Seven "The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes". This focuses on cases where copilots sometimes have shown too much deference to the captains of the airliners leading to disastrous outcomes. Gladwell focuses on the terrible run of crashes that Korean Air had. He looks at something called the Power Distance Index (PDI) developed by Dutch psychologist Geert Hofstede as a partial explanation of why pilots from some cultures are safer than others, with a suggestion that those from New Zealand might be the safest (see page 209).

This led me to hunt on the web for some more serious reading on this subject and I came across a paper Culture, Error, and Crew Resource Management by Robert L. Helmreich, John A. Wilhelm, James R. Klinect, and Ashleigh C. Merritt from the University of Texas at Austin.

Other chapters also contained interesting ideas, some of which I could personally relate to. There are lessons for those interested in educational performance, particularly about the pay off from putting in hours of hard work to master mathematics, computer programming or music for example.

Reviews of Outliers have appeared in:

• the Independent
• the Telegraph
  
• the Times
• the Guardian
  
• the New York Times
• The New Republic NEW
  

Attempt underway to set around the world via the poles speed record

Tag Trans Polar 08 is currently attempting to beat an FAI 54 hours, 7 minutes and 12 seconds speed record set in 1977 by a Pan American B747SP for a circumnavigation of the globe via the North and South Poles.

The Bombardier Global Express aircraft touched down in Christchurch, New Zealand early this morning local time for only 31 minutes.

The planned routing is Farnborough-Whitehorse-Majuro-Christchurch-Punta Arenas-Sal-Farnborough. (HT to MRC Aviation which provides very good coverage of non-scheduled international operations through New Zealand.)

The Avro Vulcan finds a new fan at Farnborough

The 2008 Farnborough International Airshow is just finishing up with its usual displays of spectacular flying. One piece of writing about the Show caused me some amusement - a post by Flight International journalist Kieran Daly on his weblog Unusual Attitude:

"When I wrote on 18 August 2006 that 'I've got my own doubts about how much money can be justified to keep large jets flying' I may have inadvertently given the impression that I had doubts about how much money could be justified to keep large jets flying.

"Having spent a gloriously unproductive ten minutes at Farnborough this afternoon watching an Avro Vulcan fly ... I would like to assure readers that I think the amount of money appropriate for keeping Vulcans flying is, basically, whatever it takes.

I apologise for any confusion that may have been caused."

The ex RAF Avro Vulcan concerned is XH558 restored by the Vulcan to the Sky Trust. Video clips of the aircraft's flying displays are available on YouTube.

For the story of RAF Vulcans in action over the Falkland Islands I thoroughly recommend reading the book "Vulcan 607" by Rowland White.

I confess to mixed feelings about old aircraft being restored to fly. All too often they crash with tragic consequences. I was fortunate enough to attend the Farnborough Air Show in 1986.

HRH Prince William flies solo

The Times reported on 17 January 2008 that, having transferred to the Royal Air Force (RAF), Flying Officer William Wales has now flown solo in a Grob Tutor at RAF Cranwell. The RAF also has a story on his progress. I hope that this is the beginning of a lifelong interest in aviation for him and wish Prince William every success with the rest of his flight training.

The Tutor is a much more powerful training aeroplane than the two-seat, 115hp Piper Tomahawk ZK-EYG that I flew solo in at Paraparaumu Airport on 18 November 1989. My main recollection was that the aircraft performed significantly better in the takeoff and climb without the then chief flying instructor at the Wellington Aero Club, Sarah McIlroy, who had just been on board.

Safe flying William!

"The Leading Edge - An Adventure Story" by Dick Georgeson and Anna Wilson

I have recently finished reading this excellent autobiography. Dick Georgeson, the nephew of famous jet boat inventor Bill Hamilton, grew up in the South Island high country and was a pioneer glider pilot in New Zealand. He set many gliding distance and altitude New Zealand and world records as he explored the mountain waves that form in the lee of ranges. The stories of coping with extremes of heat, freezing cold, turbulence and flying in cloud are somewhat awe inspiring. Breaking records is not easy! The Mackenzie Country in South Canterbury where Dick Georgeson often flew has subsequently come a world-class centre for soaring.

A Listener article published in 2003 provides some more information about Dick Georgeson that was not included in the book.

Personally I have been up in a glider twice on trial flights but while I was flying powered light aircraft wasn't tempted to take up gliding as a hobby. My wife was involved in a gliding club in England when she was younger.

A flight across Canada and back in an old C172

While hunting for information comparing the energy efficiency of the different transport modes, I came across the homepages of a Canadian, James Strickland. He has a wonderful collection of photographs and a detailed description of flying his 1962 GPS-equipped Cessna 172 aircraft from Victoria, BC, to Ottawa in 20 hours flying time and back in 23 hours during the summer of 2003. The weather conditions on the return legs turned it into quite an adventure.

My longest cross-country flying effort was Wellington to Whangarei and back which took me just over three hours each way piloting a Piper Arrow (ZK-EIF).

And yes, James does have an interesting page of energy efficiency comparisons for passenger transport modes. Unfortunately it is information on modal comparisons for energy efficiency in freight transport that I am currently trying to track down.

New Zealand Aviation Yahoo! Group

Back in 1998 I founded a Yahoo! Group covering New Zealand Aviation. It now has 121 members from around the world and has had some 447 messages posted on it but of late activity has dropped off. I have taken a particular interest in ensuring that the Links page has a wide coverage of New Zealand aviation web sites. If you are interested in the New Zealand aviation scene please join and take an active role in livening the Group up again.

FAI World Air Sports Challenge coming to New Zealand

Last month I attended the launch at Parliament of the FAI World Air Sports Challenge to be held at Omarama and Wanaka in the South Island of New Zealand during December 2007. One of the potentially most exciting proposed features is the use of Virtual Eye computer technology from Animation Research Ltd to cover the gliding competitions. This technology is based on that used for Americas Cup coverage and, with the added dimension of altitude, should make for some exciting viewing.