Tag: airplanes

Bigger Isn’t Better… Or Is It?

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userpic=corporateMerger mania is back. Today’s lunchtime news chum concerns some mergers that are in the news, as well as some other business news primarily focused on ways to bring in the green:

  • If You See Your Waitress Here, Send Her Over With a Beer. The “mainstream” beer world is devolving, with everything distilling down to two major brewers who make most of the beer in the world (which personally isn’t a big deal for me, as I don’t drink beer). My favorite blog, Planet Money, has a wonderful thing they call a Beer Map: for any country, who makes the swill you drink (Two Giant Brewers, 210 Brands).
  • A Clip Joint. So Office Depot and OfficeMax are merging. I don’t know if this is good or bad, but it probably isn’t that great for prices. Neither has ever been great in the fancy pen department. Of course, some cities are happy about it. Good example: St. Louis, which has no Staples stores, might get some to give Office MaxDepot some competition.
  • An American Conglomeration. Tom Paxton once sung about the horrible baggage service of Republic Airlines. Republic was formed by the merger of North Central and Southern, and then merged with Hughes Airwest. This then merged with Northwest Orient to form Northwest, which then merged into Delta (which itself was the merger of Delta and Western). Then again, there is United Airlines, which is the merger of United and Continental, where Continental absorbed the old People Express and Texas International, and United absorbed most of Pan Am. Well these two Frankenstein monsters now have a third beast to contend with: American (which in the past had absorbed AirCal, Reno Air, and TWA) is merging with US Airways (which itself was the merger of Allegheny, Lake Central, Mohawk, Trump Shuttle, Piedmont, America West, US Airways, Pacific Southwest Airways) to form an even bigger American. Here’s how American and US Airways joined. I should note that coming up forth is the combination of Southwest and AirTran, which to my knowledge haven’t swallowed anything else.

And as we’re talking about business, here are a few more business related items to clear out the bookmarks:

  • Flyaway Expanding… and Raising Fares. Yet another Flyaway bus line is being added to get people to LAX because the light rail doesn’t go there. This time, the bus will be running from the Expo Line La Brea Station starting in the Spring (at a price of $6, moving up to $7). More importantly to me, the article noted that one-way fares between Van Nuys bus terminal and LAX will rise to $8 July 2. The increase is expected to reduce an annual deficit of $531,000 for operating and maintaining the Van Nuys terminal to $168,000.
  • Paying to Play. We’re all used to it. The hours and hours of previews before a movie. (That’s one nice thing about live theatre — no previews to sit through!). That may be changing, as a number of theatres are either charging to run the previews, or are limiting the number that can be run for free. I’m curious whether this means there will be less previews. The theatres need to be looking less for revenue and more for what will draw patrons in (as Michael Jonathan noted in a blog post I noted yesterday); their problem is that the movies they advertise might not even be running in their theatre, or certainly not exclusively in their theatre.
  • In Bed With Martha Stewart. It appears Macys and Pennys are sparring over the queen of domestic advice, Martha Stewart. Yup, the two retailers are arguing over who has the sole right to see the convicted women’s branded stuff. Neither is asking, however, whether people actually care about the name in the first place.
  • Customers Demand More Fees. Caesars Entertainment has announced that they are going to start charging resort fees in all of their Las Vegas properties. Specifically, Caesars will begin adding fees ranging from $10-$25 on March 1 that will provide package coverage for amenities including Wi-Fi, local calls and fitness centers. Caesars operates nine hotels in Las Vegas, including Caesars Palace, Harrah’s, Bally’s, the Flamingo, the Quad, Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood on the Strip. Why are they doing this? According to Caesars, it is something guests asked for. Specifically, Caesars indicated guests asked for a pckage fee, as opposed to what Caesars did in the past: charging separately for such amenities.

 

 

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Pushing the Technology Faster and Faster

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Saturday, while doing a daddy-daughter day, my daughter took me to her favorite used bookstore, Bargain Books in Van Nuys. There I found a copy of the first edition of “747 – The Story of the Boeing Super Jet“. I’ve been reading the book since then, and finding the history of the development of today’s modern jets fascinating. One clear fact that comes through in the story is how development for military and other government uses has clear benefit for the commercial side (a fact that many who decry government spending seem to forget — the technological leads often become very fruitful when reapplied). This is certainly clear in the Boeing story. Initial commercial plane development was driven by the Postal Service (in a similar way that the Census drove development of computers). Later attempts and successes on military programs led to the development of planes such as the 247, the 377, and the 707. Each was a leap forward in technology (as was the 747).

I mention this because I’ve been seeing a number of articles today on hypersonic flight. Today there will be a key test of a hypersonic flying system by the military–specifically, today will see the launch of the unmanned experimental aircraft X-51A WaveRider. The test will take the aircraft — attached to a B-52 bomber’s wing (also made by Boeing… in the era of the 707!) — from Edwards AFB to about 50,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean near Point Mugu. From there, its high-speed journey at Mach 6 is expected to last only 300 seconds, but that’s twice as long as it’s ever gone at that speed.

Supersonic and hypersonic flight has been fraught with problems. We all know the problems that doomed the Concorde (the only commercial SST; the Boeing 2407 never was commercial): high fuel costs, high operating costs due to limited passenger capacity, pollution, noise. The hypersonic approaches are working to overcome at least some of those problems. I’ve seen some articles that discuss bi-plane approaches for SST/HST travel that significantly limit noise; the double-wings cancel out the shock wave and improve fuel usage. There are also airframe stress problems (especially due to the temperature extremes), and of course the cost is commercially prohibitive.

Still, we need to keep working on the technology. The need to fly at stratospheric levels pushed development of pressurized cabins, building on the supercharging developed for engines. The development of jets and new wing shapes — as well as challenges to carry more passsengers and more cargo led to larger jet planes. Perhaps the SST/HST development will finally push the development of effective, efficient, and safe engines and airflow surfaces. I’m curious to see how this test goes.

ETA: Alas, the test failed even before the hypersonic engines were started.

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Travelling On

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Today’s news chum brings a few stories related to travel:

  • Overdependence on Technology. A story that is near and dear to my heart: Why maps are better than GPS. Of course, I already knew that.
  • Airport History. If you know me, you know I enjoy history. That’s one reason I love this “LA as Subject” piece with some nice photos of early LAX. I particularly like the penultimate photo, which is looking south at the Interim Air Terminal. You can see what is now the Northrop Grumman facility in the background.
  • Who Killed the Concorde? A really nice find of two articles from /. on the death of the Concorde. The second link is particularly interesting, for it provide such interesting facts as “Concorde used as much fuel taxiing to the end of a runway as a Ryanair-size Boeing 737 flying from London to Amsterdam.” or ” the friction of air flowing over the wings also caused the airframe to expand by 23cm (9 inches) during flight, and its steel and copper wiring had to be hung loose, like overhead wires on railway tracks rather than fixed to the fuselage because they expanded and stretched at different rates.” Cool.
  • Travelling On. Something I’ll be facing in a few weeks: Helping Mom and Dad to Let Go When Your Kid Goes to College. Although I’ve jokingly said we’re dropping her off at UCB and then heading to Palm Springs to celebrate, in reality we’ll miss her and worry about her.

P.S.: I know at least one friend will appreciate this: 14 Creative Divorce Cakes.

 

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Friday Link News Chum Stew: Politics, Resumes, Meters, Runways, Bananas, iPod Connectors, DirecTV

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Well, it’s Friday at lunch, and that means it is time to clean out the accumulated links that never quite formed into a theme:

  • And The Plan Is… Let’s get some politics out of the way first. One of my big problems with the GOP of late is that their position seems to be solely what they are against, not what they are for. The LA Times captures this well in an article that discusses how the GOP focus regarding “Obamacare” is the repeal, and they have taken no actions — even actions they  promised — towards finding a better solution. This was evidenced this week with the 33rd vote in the house to repeal the act, with knowledge aforethought that it would never pass the senate, let alone be signed. I think the GOP would have a lot more respect if they would work to modify the act into something better, as opposed to just tossing it out whole-cloth with no replacement.
  • Whither the Resume? CNN has an interesting article on the potential death of the resume. Their basic question is this: In this era where our job history is easily available via LinkedIn or even Facebook, why have a resume at all? Work history can be easily found out.
  • Broken Meters. Gov. Brown just recently signed a bill making it legal to park at broken parking meters. It takes effect January 1, 2013. But there’s a catch. Cities can create superseding rules… and it is expected that Los Angeles will be one of those cities.
  • Side Effects of Heat. As you know, it has been hot. You had it in the east; we’re getting it in the west right now. It has been up into the 120s in Las Vegas. Heat has an interesting side effect: it makes air thinner, and thus it is harder for planes to take off. Luckily, the Las Vegas airport is one of the few engineered specifically for hot weather. Specifically, McCarran International Airport has two built-in advantages that help pilots deal with extreme heat: an exceptionally long runway and one that goes downhill just enough — 1.1 degree over its 14,505-foot-length — to help jets reach takeoff speed.
  • Sequencing the Banana. Bananas are an interesting fruit. The best bananas are sterile, propagated by shoot. The majority of the bananas consumed are a single variety — the cavendish — because others do not travel as well or look as good. This has made bananas very susceptable to disease and hard to improve. Thus, it is significant news that they have sequenced the genes of the banana. No, not the cavendish, but something close enough that they might be able to use the information to improve the banana. In related news, did you ever wonder why people slip on banana peels?
  • Pinning it Down. Lastly, an interesting article that explores the Apple iPod Dock Connector: why the shuffle uses a 4 pin connector; why that doesn’t work for most iPods (which have 30 pin connectors), and why there might be a 19-pin connector in the future.
  • Compensating for Nick. CNN is reporting on how DirecTV is compensating for the loss of the Viacom channels. Supposedly, according to DirecTV’s facebook page, “to thank you for your patience until Viacom channels are returned, all eight Encore Channels (including Encore Family) will be made available to all customers thru July 31st”. Further, the article notes that some subscribers have gotten discounts on their subscriptions for multiple months due to the loss.

Music: Raisin (1973 Original Broadway Cast): It’s a Deal

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Transportation News

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

A number of news items in today’s lunchtime news reading address transportation in some form:

Lastly, a PS to my post of the other day on new musicals: Work is being done on a Broadway-bound update to Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, featuring a new book by Douglas Carter Beane. Tony nominee Beane (Xanadu, Lysistrata Jones, The Little Dog Laughed), who also delivered a fresh book for the Broadway production of Sister Act, recharted the journey of the classic tale in a new way: Retaining all classic elements of the fairytale, it will now be Cinderella’s turn to rescue the Prince. Beane’s treatment will incorporate songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalogue, as well as songs from the original television version, including “In My Own Little Corner,” “Impossible/It’s Possible,” “Ten Minutes Ago” and “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?” The casting, which is for a workshop, also looks interesting.

 

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Up in the Air

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Today’s lunchtime news chum brings together a collection of articles, all related to things that are up in the air:

  • Stopping a Non-Stop. When is a non-stop flight a one-stop. The answer, of course, is when it has to stop to refuel, which is something happening to an increasing number of non-stop flights from Europe. The reason for this is increased headwinds at the flight altitude, which consume more fuel. Now, that wouldn’t be a problem if jumbo-jets were being used, as they carry more fuel (e.g., 767s, 747s), but airlines (especially United) want to save money. They are attempting to utilize 757s whereever possible, and a transatlantic flight is just at the edge of their range. Give them a strong headwind, and — voila — a refueling stop is needed. This is a boon to many small airports, who just love the landing fees.
  • The Roar of the Engine. Those of us who live in the San Fernando Valley remember well the roar of rocket engine testing from Rocketdyne, which is now part of United Technology. Rumors are circulating that Rocketdyne will be sold to another company, such as GenCorp (Aerojet) or ATK. The interesting part of this article, for me, was the information on site development of Rocketdyne sites (as Rocketdyne owns a prime 47-acre site between Canoga and Owensmouth avenues and Vanowen Street and Victory Boulevard – right next to Westfield Topanga mall – in addition to a campus at De Soto and Nordhoff St. The article noted that “Last summer UTC filed plans with the city of Los Angeles to build a 6 million-square-foot community of high-rise buildings, 4,000-plus residential units and a 16-story hotel. Rocketdyne will eventually leave the Canoga site and consolidate operations at its campus at De Soto Avenue and Nordoff Street.”
  • Rescuing a Satellite. Wired had an interesting article on the rescue of the AEHF-1 satellite, along with speculation as to the underlying cause of the problem. The Slashdot article that alerted me to this also included a link to an interesting analysis that highlighted a side effect of younger engineerlings with little experience working with old engineer crows, which (to me) emphasizes the important of passing on the lessons learned to other generations. As I’m starting to enter the “old crow” stage (52 is rapidly coming up), this is a useful reminder, and something all of us need to do.
  • Stick ‘Em Up. Lastly, speaking of old, we have something that is old that forces you to put your hands in the air. Namely: they are still robbing the train after 60 years at Knotts Berry Farm. Now I remember going to Knotts when I was young and seeing this. The one thing not stated in the article is what the “robbers” do with anything park guests give them.

Music: Liege and Lief (Fairport Convention): Tam Lin

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Up In The Air

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Today’s edition of lunchtime news chum brings a collection of articles related to air transportation:

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Finishing Out The Links

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

The remaining lunch-time links don’t form a unifyable theme, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth following:

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