Aeroflot Livery Concept World Cup 2014

My Concept of a Team Russia World Cup Livery. This is still in progress.

Malaysia Airlines 777 Goes Missing: MH370

 MALAYSIAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 370 MISSING

Early today (8/3/2014), A Boeing 777-200ER owned by Malaysian carrier Malaysia Airlines mysteriously disappeared off radar.

The plane bound for Beijing lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2:40 local time (18:40).

Early speculations was that the flight had some instrument or flight control problems and was escorted by Vietnamese fighters to Nan Ming. This rumour was then denied and confirmed to be untrue.

The plane was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew among them 153 Chinese, 38 Malaysians and 7 Indonesians. This flight was a codeshare between Malaysia Airlines and China Southern Airlines.

The plane was confirmed carrying 7.5 hours of fuel at the time of the crash.

en.wikipedia.org
The missing aircraft, still yet to be found

TIMELINE

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, on a six hour red-eye flight to Beijing departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport (WMKK) at 00:41am (16:41 UTC) . The flight was expected to arrive in Beijing's Capital Airport at 6:30 local time. The flight climbed out of Kuala Lumpur International Airport as usual. There seemed to be no problem as the plane was exiting Malaysian Territory. Soon after reaching the designated cruising altitude of 35.000ft and after 2 hours in the air, at 2:40am (Malaysia Standard Time) Subang ATC lost contact with the plane, just as they entered Vietnamese Airspace. There was no sign from the pilots of any trouble nor even a distress signal and all exchanges between ATC and MH370 were normal. Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh ATC were also expecting MH370 to check in.

http://nikomd90.blog.so-net.ne.jp/
The aircraft involved

A few hours later, Vietnamese navy troops state that the plane has crashed into the Gulf of Thailand, presumably 153 miles from the island of Thu Cho in Vietnam. Malaysian officials deny this statement and it was also rejected by the Malaysian Minister of Transport. At the time of the crash, controllers indeed confirm that the plane was in Ho Chi Minh Airspace. Soon after, Malaysian representatives hold a press conference. Two hours later, CEO of Malaysian Airlines, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya released a statement:

Statement by CEO Malaysia Airlines

Malaysian authorites soon scrambled a plane, two helicopters and four vessels off it's east coast in search of the plane to verify whether the it had crashed. 

Lai Xuan Thanh, director of Vietnam’s civil aviation authority, said air traffic officials in the country never made contact with the plane.

The plane “lost all contact and radar signal one minute before it entered Vietnam’s air traffic control,’’ Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of the Vietnamese army, said in a statement issued by the government.
The CEO of Malaysia Airlines in one statement did say that there was no distress signal from the pilots suggesting that whatever happened occurred rapidly and possibly catastrophically (I hope not.)

Chinese officials state that the plane lost contact over Vietnam but an unconfirmed report from a flight tracking website said that the aircraft had plunged 200m and changed course just before disappearing from radar. 

This photo shows the route of MH370.
www.flightradar24.com

The rescue will be conducted by joint search-and-rescue teams from Vietnam, China, Philippines and Malaysia. The Singaporean Air Force announced that it has deployed a C-130 to assist in the search while the US Navy has deployed a P-3C Orion and a Destroyer class ship with 2 helicopters onboard.

At around 9:00 MST, Vietnamese troops spotted an oil leak, spanning as long as 15km. This is likely to be from the jet that crashed. 

QUESTIONS OVER THE TWO EUROPEAN PASSPORTS

Just after Malaysia Airlines released a manifest, both Austria and Italy deny that one of their citizens was onboard. This raises the mystery and questions over foul play. Both the Austrian man and the Italian man were found by the police, safe and sound. The Austrian man said that his passport was stolen whilst on a visit to Thailand. Same as the Austrian man, the Italian man also lost his passport during a visit to Thailand, and presumed it was stolen.

After confirming that the stolen European passports matched the names of the two passengers, Malaysia Airlines CEO stated that they are not ruling out any possibilities.

AIRCRAFT HISTORY

Image by Boeing

The Boeing 777 was a -200ER series with "ER" short for Extended range, which meant this plane could fly longer distances than the regular -200 series. The plane involved was registration number 9M-MRO and was 12 years old with over 20.000 service hours. On that night, the flight to Beijing was using callsign MAS370. In it's history, the plane was involved in a minor incident at Shanghai Pudong Airport in 2012. The 777's wingtip struck the tail of an Airbus A340 while taxiing and it separated from the wing.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members." 

(Don't expect anything fancy. I'm just a 14 year old blogger.")

Newly Updated A320-Enhanced Template

This template is based on the Airbus A320 Enhanced, or more commonly known as A320 Sharklets. The difference between this and my old template is that I've added a light spot near the forward fuselage using lens flare.

First livery I will be showcasing is a JetBlue A320. This livery is only for B6's A321 fleet. But since I quite like the design, I made one on an A320.

Next is Germanwings, which recently introduced a new branding.

Iran 787

I've been thinking about maybe an Iran Air 787. This is what the livery might look like if Iran Air did order new 787s...

The livery may not have much to it... Don't ask why there's Chinese on the plane.

What Is All These Problems With The 787's Lithium Battery? Is The Plane Reliable?

All Nippon Airways, launch customer of the 787-8

... They say, when you put out a new product, it always has some errors. These "errors" have cost Boeing their reputation and also has impacted sales. The delivery of the first 787 to launch customer All Nippon Airways was 3 years late. Factors causing this were engineering errors, strikes and installation of incorrect parts. Outsourcing that was thought as something that would boost production quality and save money was actually increasing costs.

INCIDENTS

Recently, the 787 Dreamliner had encountered major problems with it's Lithium batteries. These batteries are lighter but run on an extremely high voltage. Most future airliners are using a similar type of battery. After just one year of service, there have already been 4 incidents linked with the Lithium battery. Soon the FAA ordered a review of the Lithium batteries, and then followed by the grounding of all 787s mid-January 2013.

Courtesy of Reuters

TIMELINE OF LITHIUM BATTERY INCIDENTS

January 7 2013, A battery overheated and caused a fire in an empty Japan Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport. A few days later, the US Department of Transportation along with Japan's Transport Ministry launched an investigation onto the causes.

January 15, 2013, an All Nippon Airways 787 made an emergency landing on Shikoku Island after the pilots received a computer warning that there was smoke inside one of the electrical compartments. According to ANA, there was an error message in the cockpit citing a battery malfunction. 

CAUSES?

The main cause of the Lithium battery incidents according to some people is overheating, leading to thermal runaway and damage to major parts of the battery. The official cause is not yet known.

787 Battery Locations

SOLUTION?

The solution? Since Boeing is not going to replace it's Lithium batteries, they have come up with a new battery kit. The kits take about five days to install and include a 1/8th-in.-thick stainless steel battery enclosure, vent line assembly, battery charger, wire bundles and associated hardware. The enclosure is designed to meet a 300°C event without thermal risk to the aircraft. New batteries, which have been redesigned to better insulate their eight cells, are being shipped directly to airlines across the globe.

Besides isolating cells better to prevent thermal runaways, the improved installation is designed to rob the battery of the oxygen necessary to sustain a fire by venting fumes overboard.

Damaged battery and Improved battery

ANOTHER FIRE RELATED INCIDENT

July 12, 2013, an Ethiopian Airlines 787 caught fire while parking at a remote apron. Since there was nobody onboard, there were no injuries. This caused a shutdown of Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports. Ethiopian Airlines said they had detected smoke, earlier that day. The fire resulted in smoke throughout the cabin and damage to the upper part of the rear fuselage.

Boeing 787-9

Courtesy of Businessweek

Less than 2 years after Boeing delivered the first 787 Dreamliner, It is introducing the next variant, the 787-9. The Boeing 787-9 is a stretched version of the Boeing 787-8. The airplane is quite different with the 787-8, as it has a larger fuel tank, a much strengthened fuselage structure, and a slightly longer range of around 8500nmi. The 787-9 also has a significant difference in minimum take-off distance. Boeing is expecting a higher sale for the 787-9 since has the same performance as the 787-8 but with an extra 40 seats. Boeing claims that the 787 burns 20% less fuel than the average airliner.

Image by Boeing

The first flight of the Boeing 787-9 was in September 2013. Thousands of Boeing employees gathered to watch their airplane fly. The test flight lasted for 5 hours and 15 mins as it circled around Seattle. With the success of the test flight, Boeing has so far attracted 391 firm orders. The test flight marks a milestone for the 787 program, as they are starting development on the new 787-10, which was launched at the Paris Air Show. Boeing is expecting to begin deliveries in 2014, starting with Air New Zealand.

787 Performance and Features, Courtesy of planes.findthebest.com

Future operators of the 787-9

The prototype 787-9, ZB001 or N789EX is currently under testing, and has accumulated more than 40 flight hours. ZB001 is scheduled to begin a series of flutter tests later this month.

Since N789EX has no interior, there are no interior photos to post. Thanks for reading.

Latest Designs. Plus new Background!

Here are my latest designs. The first one is a Qantas 787. This livery should only be on 787s.

Next is an Airbus A350. This one is based on the first A350 prototype, F-WXWB. The livery took some 2 hours to make.