ATIS (visibility, clouds, etc.), (thunder)storms, lightning, damage and breakdown, snow clearing, gusts, wind shear and microburst, minima, state of runway, tailwind, crosswind, braking action, runway visual range, temperature inversion, turbulence, natural disasters, runway closed, change of runway
icing problems, clouds, struck by lightning, turbulence, external parts of aircraft, engine performance, response to controls, instrument performance, alarms, violent movements, relief/high ground, flight profile, injuries, blindness/loss of visibility
He has great pronunciation and intonation
Last year 5.2 million minutes of delay were caused by weather (compared to 2,9 million minutes in 2013) and meteorology was identified as a contributing factor in 26% of accidents in 2017. For years pilot experts have called for existing ‘modern’ technologies to be applied to improve the way meteorological information is exchanged & displayed – but to no avail. The latest forecast, however, seems to be more optimistic: change is in the air!
Read about it on the Eurocockpit page
Read about it on the Washington Post or the Aviation Herald
Accident: KLM B744 at Amsterdam on Nov 30th 2010, collision with de-icing platform, de-icer injured
By Simon Hradecky, created Wednesday, Dec 1st 2010 14:15Z, last updated Wednesday, Dec 1st 2010 22:20Z
A KLM Boeing 747-400, registration PH-BFB performing flight KL-785 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Saint Maarten (Dutch Antilles) with 240 passengers, had been de-iced at a remote stand and was moving out of the stand and turning, when the aircraft's horizontal stabilizer hit the still partly extended hydraulic lift of a de-icing vehicle and knocked the vehicle over, so that the cabin at the top of the hydraulic lift crashed to the ground. Emergency services needed an hour to get the man out. The de-icer received serious injuries including two fractures of his spine, but is in stable condition. The aircraft received substantial damage to its tailplane requiring the replacement of the horizontal stabilizer assembly.
Read more here |
Read about this accident in flight on the Aviation Herald
Read more about wake turbulence during landing and takeoff on the Bold Method blog
This one is a fumulus. See more strange and beautiful ones on The Cloud appreciation society
The speed of prevailing winds over the North Atlantic trended higher in December than in recent history and that has led to some complications for United Continental airlines' Boeing 757s. Last year, when flying west over the North Atlantic, the airline landed twelve jets short of their destination because high winds slowed the jets' progress and ate into reserves. Last month, the carrier landed 43 flights out of 1,100 to refuel, a spokeswoman told the Boston Globe, and 57 flights were affected over a five-week period. Those jets are generally flying routes on full tanks.
The winds have affected United Continental flights operated with Boeing 757-200 jets, mainly flying the 4,540 miles between Stuttgart and Newark. The airlines modified the jets years ago with winglets and carbon brakes to help the jets fuel burn. Continental's winglet installations added 200 nautical miles in range, according to the airline. "We're looking into this very closely," United Continental's Megan McCarthy said. The FAA reviewed an increase in fuel stops made at Newark back in 2008 from jets flying other routes. It found no cases in which jets landed with fuel levels that fell below minimum requirements. The agency said Wednesday that it will now be looking into the recent increase of fuel-related stops involving the 757. The carrier may be looking at reductions in passenger loads and extra fuel tanks to combat the problem.
from AVweb
Microburst - Aircraft Maintenance Training Facebook.mp4
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Read about it on The Guardian
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A Qantas Boeing 737-800 was preparing for departure from Perth's runway 06 when the crew received ATIS information indicating winds were coming from 060 degrees at 8 knots, weather conditions were CAVOK with temperature at 37 degrees C. The aircraft lined up runway 06 with the first officer being pilot flying and the captain pilot monitoring, both pilots checked both windsocks visible showing headwinds for departure from runway 06, the aircraft was cleared for takeoff and accelerated for takeoff. Between V1=137 knots and Vr (V rotate)=139 knots the indicated airspeed no longer increased, the captain noticed a tail wind component of 20-25 knots was indicated on the navigation display, firewalled the throttles, the aircraft rotated and the first officer flew a windshear escape manoeuvre. The aircraft climbed out to safety and continued to Canberra for a safe landing.
Read the full report on the Aviation Herald |
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Fog on their home airfields was such a hazard to RAF aircraft returning from bombing operations that in 1942 the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, ordered the Petroleum Warfare Department to develop a way of dispersing it. The result was FIDO – Fog, Intensive, Dispersal Of – a network of pipes and petrol burners capable of clearing fog from runways.
FIDO was installed at 15 airfields around the UK – most of them in Bomber Command – as well as at some airfields in the USA and in the Aleutian Islands. By burning petrol at the rate of 100,000 gallons (456,000 litres) per hour FIDO could produce sufficient heat to lift fog and enable pilots to take-off and land safely when poor visibility would otherwise have made flying too dangerous.
Between 1943 and 1945 2,500 aircraft landed safely in fog thanks to FIDO, saving the lives of 10,000 aircrew. FIDO also helped to shorten the war by allowing operations to continue when the weather would have made flying impossible. The last FIDO installation, at RAF Manston, was removed in 1959.
Source: The Royal Air Force Museum
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Photograph by Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
The latest teething problem for Boeing’s (BA) new jets—high-altitude icing—has the aircraft manufacturer telling operators of its 787 Dreamliner and new 747-8 withGeneral Electric’s (GE) GEnx engines to stay at least 50 nautical miles away from high-altitude thunderstorms.
The warning is meant to avoid the accumulation of ice crystals in the engine, which can reduce its thrust. Since April, there have been six cases of the GEnx engine losing thrust because of core-engine icing. The engine comes in two versions, and five of the incidents have affected 747-8s, while one affected a 787.
This type of high-altitude icing occurs without warning and can cause engines to surge, lose thrust, or experience power “roll-backs” with little warning, Aviation Week reported. “The problem is unusual because it generally occurs at altitudes where atmospheric moisture levels are normally very low and because it impacts the high-pressure core of turbofans, previously thought to be virtually immune from significant icing,” the magazine reported in August. The ice accumulation can also cause engine damage, as described in this detailed report of an incident over China involving a 747-8 flown by a Russian air cargo company.
Read the full article on Bloomberg Business week
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Should we thank NASA's Wind Shear Program?
Sitting on apron two after going through a hail storm on arrival into YYC.
Continental Flight 3407 reported 'significant icing' before crash that killed 50 By Charity Vogel, Phil Fairbanks and Brian Meyer News Staff Reporters Updated: February 13, 2009, 10:46 pm The flight crew of the Continental Express plane that crashed into a Clarence Center home Thursday night faced "significant icing" problems as it approached the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. All 49 persons aboard the plane were killed, as well as one man on the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board revealed the icing findings this afternoon following initial review of Flight 3407's flight data and cockpit voice recorders. "The crew discussed significant ice build-up — ice on the windshield and leading edges of the wings," said the NTSB's Steven R. Chealander. While he stressed no conclusion has been reached as to whether the ice build-up played a role in the crash, Chealander confirmed ice can play havoc with aircraft. "Significant ice build-up is an aerodynamic impediment. Airplanes are built with wings that are shaped a certain way and ice can change the shape," Chealander said. |
Continental Airlines Flight 1713 was scheduled to leave Denver at 12:25 PM MST, but many flights out of Denver that day were delayed by inclement weather.
The flight was cleared for takeoff at 2:14 PM Mountain Time.
As the plane was taking off, it over rotated; the aircraft descended and the left wing struck the ground, causing the wing to separate. The left side of the plane and cockpit struck the ground next and the plane continued rolling, inverted. Of the 82 occupants on board (77 passengers and 5 crew), 28 were killed while 54 survived. The majority of the passengers who died were in the middle of the aircraft. As the plane skidded, the left side was tilted over and the tail was inverted; this action caused the middle part of the plane to squeeze and crush many of the passengers on board.
According to the FAA report, NTSB Number AAR-88/09 and NTIS Number PB88-910411:
The aviation sector has compiled information on over one hundred engine weather–related powerloss events, and concluded that these events are due to flight through areas of high Ice Water Content (IWC) associated with deep convective clouds. Recent powerloss events have included multiple engine temporary failures, including a recent successful no–power landing in Florida. In addition to the obvious safety concerns, these events can also lead to costly engine repairs. As a result, an industry working group has recommended the collection of data sets to characterize the microphysical properties of these clouds, which will be used to provide guidance to manufacturers, and to develop a new certification rule for engine performance in high IWC environments. Major funding contributors include NASA, the FAA, Transport Canada, the Boeing Company, Environment Canada, and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. A NASA S–3 aircraft will be instrumented for cloud microphysics and will also record engine parameters. This will lead to a better understanding of the characteristics of high IWC regions, processes creating them, and details of their effects on jet engines.
Read more about the topic here
The Boeing 737 was deiced with a mixture of heated water and monopropylene glycol by American Airlines, under a ground service agreement with Air Florida. That agreement specified that covers for the pitots/static ports and engine inlets had to be used, but the American Airlines employees did not comply with those rules. Two different operators — who chose widely different mixture percentages — deiced the left and right sides of the plane. Subsequent testing of the deicing truck showed that "the mixture dispensed differed substantially from the mixture selected" (18% actual vs. 30% selected). The inaccurate mixture was the result of the replacement of the standard Trump nozzle, "…which is specially modified and calibrated, with a non-modified, commercially available nozzle." The operator had no means to determine if the proportioning valves were operating properly because no "mix monitor" was installed on the nozzle.
Read more about it on Wikipedia or on the FAA Lessons Learned site
A Boeing 747 in the IR de-icing hangar at JFK.
October 2, 2013, 3:55 AM
Aircraft departing from two U.S. airports have a quicker and more environmentally friendly option for de-icing than traditional glycol. At New York John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport and Wisconsin’s Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport (RHI), departing aircraft that require de-icing can roll into an open-ended hangar where targeted infrared (IR) waves remove frost, snow and ice with a minimum of glycol usage, increasing aircraft throughput and decreasing de-icing time and cost. While these systems are not new, growing environmental concerns and airline cost-cutting measures could prompt new interest in IR de-icing technology.
“IR de-icing systems can reduce glycol usage by up to 90 percent,” according to David Speirs, president and CEO of Niagara Falls, N.Y.-based Radiant Aviation Services, which markets the IR de-icing technology. “The system generates IR waves that are tuned to the absorption rate of ice. The waves do not heat the air, just the frost or snow, and they penetrate only about two microns into the aircraft skin.”
Even though the IR system can remove frost, snow and ice without Type I glycol, theFAA still requires Type IV glycol anti-icing fluid to be applied. “But since the aircraft is warm and dry when the anti-icing fluid is applied, the anti-ice is much more effective, dramatically reducing the chances of needing to return for a second de-icing,” Speirs said. Type I glycol is occasionally used in conjunction with the IRsystem to remove thick accumulations of snow and ice more rapidly. Considering that it takes between 500 and 1,000 gallons of glycol (costing about $12 per gallon) to de-ice a typical commercial aircraft, using IR can save $5,000 to $10,000 per aircraft.
According to RHI airport director Joseph Brauer, Great Lakes Airlines, the last regional carrier that consistently used the IR de-icing system at the airport, reported that its glycol usage was down by 60 percent. RHI’s 120- by 140-foot facility was completed in 1998 to handle small general aviation, corporate and 19- to 50-seat commuter aircraft that serve the small northern Wisconsin airport.
RHI charges flat rates for using the IR de-icing system in five-minute increments, with most aircraft incurring about $125 in charges. RHI’s current carrier, SkyWest, did not use the IR system during the 2012-13 winter season, but is considering its use this winter. “Even without the airlines, we have general aviation aircraft that use the system about three or four times per season,” Brauer said. “Once the system is warmed up, [the IR system] takes the frost off an aircraft in about 30 seconds using less than one dollar’s worth of energy.”
Even more important to airlines than the reduced glycol costs is the quicker throughput achieved by using IR de-icing instead of the traditional glycol dousing. According to documents provided by Radiant using data from the JFK facility for the 2010-2011 winter season, average snow/ice removal time for a Boeing 737-size aircraft was approximately 17 minutes from the time the aircraft rolls into the hangar until it exits. Boeing 747-300-size aircraft averaged 19 minutes. This means that three to four 737s or two 747s can be de-iced per hour, versus approximately 45 to 90 minutes per aircraft with conventional glycol de-icing.
Read the full article on AINonline
Winter Operations Update, part of the FAA Airports Video Series; the video reviews pre-season planning and best practices for winter operations, and takes a look at new approaches, reporting methods, and terminology.
Watch it here
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Read Getting to the Grips with Cold Weather Operation by AIrbus
The winter of 2010 paralyzed Europe’s air traffic system. Snow and ice piled up around terminals and closed runways for days. At its peak, 9,500 passengers were stranded in London’s Heathrow airport after a heavy snowfall on December 18. The flights backed up until Christmas, as 4,000 canceled flights had to be rescheduled. It was the third year in a row that snow and ice shut down one of the world’s busiest airports.
One obvious response has been to invest more in clearing equipment and deicing chemicals such as urea and glycol. But another tactic has caught airports’ attention: building heated runways and aircraft parking stands.
Since then, Heathrow has been exploring a proposal to install a heating system that will keep its runways or parking stands warm and ice-free year round. And airports in America have recently started work on similar projects. The energy requirements to keep a space of ground as big as a runway hot enough to melt ice seem enormous. The genius part of this proposal is that almost all of it comes free and clean courtesy of the sun -- and even heating smaller areas can make big difference if parked planes are blocked by snow.
Read more about it here or on the Wall Street Journal
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The images below show an aircraft being affected by a lightning flash. To the authors knowledge, nobody on the plane was injured. It is unknown if the aircraft experienced any damage. According to the scientist who acquired this imagery, the airplane itself triggered the lightning discharge.
For more detailed information about the imagery below, please read the paper titled:
The interaction of lightning with airborne vehicles.
The imagery below is courtesy of:
Zen Kawasaki
Department of Electrical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Osaka University
Yamada-Oaka 2-1, Suita, Osaka 565-0871
JAPAN
Phone +81 6 6879 7690
FAX +81 6 6879 7724
Scroll down to observe lightning flash sequence.
Still imagery of plane being affected by the flash
"Fast" imagery of plane being affected by the flash.
"Slow" imagery of the plane being affected by the flash
A traditional aircraft is made from aluminum, being a metal that can conduct electricity very well, when hit by lightning there is actually no damage caused. An airplane typically gets hit by lightning once per year.Now they are developing composite aircraft which are lighter, better for the environment, and cheaper to run, but unfortunately don’t conduct electricity as well. With the new research they develop new ways to protect composite materials against lightning strikes.
Above all, remember this: never regard any thunderstorm as “light” even when radar observers report the echoes are of light intensity. Avoiding thunderstorms is the best policy. Following are some Do's and Don'ts of thunderstorm avoidance:
Don't land or take off in the face of an approaching thunderstorm. A sudden wind shift or low level turbulence could cause loss of control.
Don't attempt to fly under a thunderstorm even if you can see through to the other side. Turbulence under the storm could be disastrous.
Don't try to circumnavigate thunderstorms covering 6/10 of an area or more either visually or by airborne radar.
Don't fly without airborne radar into a cloud mass containing scattered embedded thunderstorms. Scattered thunderstorms not embedded usually can be visually circumnavigated.
Do avoid by at least 20 miles any thunderstorm identified as severe or giving an intense radar echo. This is especially true under the anvil of a large cumulonimbus.
Do clear the top of a known or suspected severe thunderstorm by at least 1,000 feet altitude for each 10 knots of wind speed at the cloud top. This would exceed the altitude capability of most aircraft.
Do remember that vivid and frequent lightning indicates a severe thunderstorm.
Do regard as severe any thunderstorm with tops 35,000 feet or higher whether the top is visually sighted or determined by radar.
If you cannot avoid penetrating a thunderstorm, following are some Do's Before entering the storm:
Tighten your safety belt, put on your shoulder harness if you have one, and secure all loose objects.
Plan your course to take you through the storm in a minimum time and hold it.
To avoid the most critical icing, establish a penetration altitude below the freezing level or above the level of —15° C.
Turn on pitot heat and carburetor or jet inlet heat. Icing can be rapid at any altitude and cause almost instantaneous power failure or loss of airspeed indication.
Establish power settings for reduced turbulence penetration airspeed recommended in your aircraft manual. Reduced airspeed lessens the structural stresses on the aircraft.
Turn up cockpit lights to highest intensity to lessen danger of temporary blindness from lightning.
If using automatic pilot, disengage altitude hold mode and speed hold mode. The automatic altitude and speed controls will increase maneuvers of the aircraft thus increasing structural stresses.
If using airborne radar, tilt your antenna up and down occasionally. Tilting it up may detect a hail shaft that will reach a point on your course by the time you do. Tilting it down may detect a growing thunderstorm cell that may reach your altitude.
Following are some Do's and Don'ts During thunderstorm penetration:
Do keep your eyes on your instruments. Looking outside the cockpit can increase danger of temporary blindness from lightning.
Don't change power settings; maintain settings for reduced airspeed.
Do maintain a constant attitude; let the aircraft “ride the waves.” Maneuvers in trying to maintain constant altitude increase stresses on the aircraft.
Don't turn back once you are in the thunderstorm. A straight course through the storm most likely will get you out of the hazards most quickly. In addition, turning maneuvers increase stresses on the aircraft.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lucky-strike-2/
Don't believe all the pictures want to show you.
There were a lot of on-going problems with the airplane – and the pilots just were the last ones to solve those problems. In my opinion, the pilots should have never been put in the position to solve those problems at the very end. There is a lot of emphasis on what the pilot should have done. But there is not enough emphasis, which I tried to put, on all the troubles the machine already had.
The concept of “human error” is still used a lot in the press but the human operator is only one of the many defenses the system should have.
The pilot is not flying the plane anymore. The pilot is just there to solve the problem, when everything else fails, so he is the last resort. I think it's a bad analysis to pinpoint the pilot and just forget all the other trouble that machine had. But of course, the industry doesn’t want a critical eye on the problems their planes have, and they find it easy to target the pilot, the one who is flying the plane.
I’ve spoken to quite a lot of pilots about this accident, including the pilots that fly the same plane – the A330 or the A340, which is almost the same thing), and they said if you put 10 people in the same situation, 9 out of 10 would have done the same mistake. That’s what is called retrospective bias. We look backwards and we say that the pilot should have done this or should have done that. It’s not very easy to put ourselves in the place of those people when they had a lot of contradictive information on their instruments.
Read more about it on Aerotime
This is taken from the Interim Report on the accident on 1st June 2009 to the Airbus A333-203 registered F-GZCP operated by Air France flight AF 447 Rio de Janeiro – Paris
This report was published by the BEA (Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile)
2. INITIAL FINDINGS
On the basis of the first factual elements gathered in the course of the investigation, the following facts have been established:
Here is a video course explaining some aspects of the weather theory and their consequences for flying.
....
WeatherSpark is a new type of weather website, with interactive weather graphs that allow you to pan and zoom through the entire history of any weather station on earth.
Get multiple forecasts for the current location, overlaid on records and averages to put it all in context.
Download a vocabulary activity by Cambridge English
Any port in a storm
This means that in an emergency any solution will do, even one that would normally be unacceptable.
Blue skies
A overly enthusiastic outlook or disposition. The sales team had blue skies projections for their deals, although not many of those deals were signed.
Bolt from the blue
If something happens unexpectedly and suddenly, it is a bolt from the blue.
Brighten up the day
If something brightens up your day, something happens that makes you feel positive and happy all day long.
Calm before the storm
A calm time immediately before period of violent activity or argument is the calm before the storm.
Chase rainbows
If someone chases rainbows, they try to do something that they will never achieve.
Cloud nine
If you are on cloud nine, you are extremely happy. ('cloud seven' is a less common alternative)
Cloud of suspicion
If a cloud of suspicion hangs over an individual, it means that they are not believed or are distrusted.
Cloud on the horizon
If you can see a problem ahead, you can call it a cloud on the horizon.
Cold light of day
If you see things in the cold light of day, you see them as they really are, not as you might want them to be.
Colder than a witch's tit
If it is colder than a witch's tit, it is extremely cold outside.
Come rain or shine
If I say I'll be at a place come rain or shine, I mean that I can be relied on to turn up; nothing, not even the vagaries of British weather, will deter me or stop me from being there.
Doldrums
If a person is in the doldrums, they are depressed. If a project or something similar is in the doldrums, it isn't making any progress.
Down in the doldrums
If somebody's down in the doldrums, they are depressed and lacking energy.
Dry spell
If something or someone is having a dry spell, they aren't being as successful as they normally are.
Every cloud has a silver lining
People sometimes say that every cloud has a silver lining to comfort somebody who's having problems. They mean that it is always possible to get something positive out of a situation, no matter how unpleasant, difficult or even painful it might seem.
Face like thunder
If someone has a face like thunder, they are clearly very angry or upset about something.
Fairweather friend
A fairweather friend is the type who is always there when times are good but forgets about you when things get difficult or problems crop up.
Get wind of
If you get wind of something, you hear or learn about it, especially if it was meant to be secret.
Go down a storm
To say that something has been enjoyable or successful, you can say that it has gone down a storm. Eg. Last night's party went down a storm, it was incredible.
Greased lightning
If something or someone moves like greased lightning, they move very fast indeed.
Head is in the clouds
If a person has their head in the clouds, they have unrealistic, impractical ideas.
Hit rough weather
If you hit rough weather, you experience difficulties or problems.
In a fog
If you're in a fog, you are confused, dazed or unaware.
Into each life some rain must fall
This means that bad or unfortunate things will happen to everyone at some time.
It never rains but it pours
'It never rains but it pours' means that when things go wrong, they go very wrong.
Jack Frost
If everything has frozen in winter, then Jack Frost has visited.
Know which way the wind blows
This means that you should know how things are developing and be prepared for the future.
Made in the shade
One has an easy time in life or in a given situation. Finding things working to one's benefit.
Quiet before the storm
When you know that something is about to go horribly wrong, but hasn't just yet, then you are in the quiet before the storm.
Rain on your parade
If someone rains on your parade, they ruin your pleasure or your plans.
Rainy day
If you save something, especially money, for a rainy day, you save it for some possible problem or trouble in the future.
Right as rain
If things are right as rain, then everything is going well in your life.
Sail close to the wind
If you sail close to the wind, you take risks to do something, going close to the limit of what is allowed or acceptable.
Seven sheets to the wind
If someone is seven sheets to the wind, they are very drunk.
Shoot the breeze
When you shoot the breeze, you chat in a relaxed way.
Silly season
The silly season is midsummer when Parliament is closed and nothing much is happening that is newsworthy, which reduces the press to reporting trivial and stupid stories.
Steal someone's thunder
If someone steals your thunder, they take the credit and praise for something you did.
Stem the tide
If people try to stem the tide, they are trying to stop something unpleasant from getting worse, usually when they don't succeed.
Storm in a teacup
If someone exaggerates a problem or makes a small problem seem far greater than it really is, then they are making a storm in a teacup.
Take a raincheck
If you take a rain check, you decline an offer now, suggesting you will accept it later. ('Raincheck' is also used.)
Take by storm
To take by storm means to captivate- eg. A new play that took New York City by storm.
Tempest in a teapot
If people exaggerate the seriousness of a situation or problem, they are making a tempest in a teapot.
Throw caution to the wind
When people throw caution to the wind, they take a great risk.
Twisting in the wind
If you are twisting in the wind, you are without help or support - you are on your own.
Under a cloud
If someone is suspected of having done something wrong, they are under a cloud.
Under the weather
If you are feeling a bit ill, sad or lack energy, you are under the weather.
Wait for a raindrop in the drought
When someone is waiting for a raindrop in the drought, they are waiting or hoping for something that is extremely unlikely to happen.
Weather a storm
If you weather a storm, you get through a crisis or hard times.
When it rains, it pours
This idiom means that when things go wrong, a lot of things go wrong at the same time.
White as snow
If something or someone is as white as snow, they are perfect or completely uncorrupted and honest.
More idiomatic expressions here.
Photograph by Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
The latest teething problem for Boeing’s (BA) new jets—high-altitude icing—has the aircraft manufacturer telling operators of its 787 Dreamliner and new 747-8 withGeneral Electric’s (GE) GEnx engines to stay at least 50 nautical miles away from high-altitude thunderstorms.
The warning is meant to avoid the accumulation of ice crystals in the engine, which can reduce its thrust. Since April, there have been six cases of the GEnx engine losing thrust because of core-engine icing. The engine comes in two versions, and five of the incidents have affected 747-8s, while one affected a 787.
This type of high-altitude icing occurs without warning and can cause engines to surge, lose thrust, or experience power “roll-backs” with little warning, Aviation Week reported. “The problem is unusual because it generally occurs at altitudes where atmospheric moisture levels are normally very low and because it impacts the high-pressure core of turbofans, previously thought to be virtually immune from significant icing,” the magazine reported in August. The ice accumulation can also cause engine damage, as described in this detailed report of an incident over China involving a 747-8 flown by a Russian air cargo company.
Photograph by Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
The latest teething problem for Boeing’s (BA) new jets—high-altitude icing—has the aircraft manufacturer telling operators of its 787 Dreamliner and new 747-8 withGeneral Electric’s (GE) GEnx engines to stay at least 50 nautical miles away from high-altitude thunderstorms.
The warning is meant to avoid the accumulation of ice crystals in the engine, which can reduce its thrust. Since April, there have been six cases of the GEnx engine losing thrust because of core-engine icing. The engine comes in two versions, and five of the incidents have affected 747-8s, while one affected a 787.
This type of high-altitude icing occurs without warning and can cause engines to surge, lose thrust, or experience power “roll-backs” with little warning, Aviation Week reported. “The problem is unusual because it generally occurs at altitudes where atmospheric moisture levels are normally very low and because it impacts the high-pressure core of turbofans, previously thought to be virtually immune from significant icing,” the magazine reported in August. The ice accumulation can also cause engine damage, as described in this detailed report of an incident over China involving a 747-8 flown by a Russian air cargo company.
Photograph by Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
The latest teething problem for Boeing’s (BA) new jets—high-altitude icing—has the aircraft manufacturer telling operators of its 787 Dreamliner and new 747-8 withGeneral Electric’s (GE) GEnx engines to stay at least 50 nautical miles away from high-altitude thunderstorms.
The warning is meant to avoid the accumulation of ice crystals in the engine, which can reduce its thrust. Since April, there have been six cases of the GEnx engine losing thrust because of core-engine icing. The engine comes in two versions, and five of the incidents have affected 747-8s, while one affected a 787.
This type of high-altitude icing occurs without warning and can cause engines to surge, lose thrust, or experience power “roll-backs” with little warning, Aviation Week reported. “The problem is unusual because it generally occurs at altitudes where atmospheric moisture levels are normally very low and because it impacts the high-pressure core of turbofans, previously thought to be virtually immune from significant icing,” the magazine reported in August. The ice accumulation can also cause engine damage, as described in this detailed report of an incident over China involving a 747-8 flown by a Russian air cargo company.