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Boeing Reveals a Sneak Peek Inside of Their New 787 Dreamliner

February 8, 2010 at 9:35 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

We’ve been more than a little excited over the Boeing 787, and we haven’t been afraid to show our love for the newest bird in the sky. However, we have grown a little tired just drooling over its composite body and sleek styling. That’s why we’re glad that Boeing has finally cracked the doors open to the plane to show off its interior goodies.

The current interior installed on the third test plane features fancy lighting, larger overhead bins, and boring seats with blue head rests. Don’t get disappointed if you don’t like what things look like right now, because once the planes get in the hands of the airlines, the interior will be altered and hopefully get cooler—hopefully. The latest in seating technology will probably find its way aboard this next generation airplane and, as long as it’s not face-to-face, it should be an improvement over current offerings.

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Boeing's 787 Dreamliner Is Getting Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

January 27, 2010 at 9:04 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

When we last checked in on the 787 Dreamliner, it was doing its best to get a good grade on its initial flight tests. Things have been progressing nicely, and there have been no real issues for the new bird. There was a little problem with some junk in the fuel tank, but the engineers and mechanics at Boeing quickly worked out these issues. Some thought it was just leftover bits from the manufacturing process that trickled down into the gas tank; it wasn’t a major malfunction or anything.

The biggest overall test since its maiden journey was doing well enough in the skies to achieve airworthiness. Now with approval to move forward, things will get even more serious. The plane can now put the pedal to the medal and approach 650 miles per hour and climb to about 40,000 feet. Previously the pilots had been testing things out around 15,000 feet—just in case.

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Donald Trump's Tacky-Fabulous Private Jet Is Up For Sale

January 26, 2010 at 8:30 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

If you’re in the market for a used airplane we’ve found a pretty good one for you. Donald Trump is getting rid of his old Boeing 727, and it’s up for sale to anyone with some serious cash. We’ve seen the plane parked at LaGuardia before, and it’s always made us a little jealous, so we won’t be sad to see it go.

Unfortunately, if you have to ask how much it is, you can’t afford it. The price listed on the Leader Aviation website is the dreaded “call for pricing.” If you somehow score financing you’ll be able to bring all your friends along as there’s room for 24 passengers. If you need some private time, check out the master bedroom, designed for VIPs to escape from the ruckus in the main cabin. There are also some totally ridiculous features like plenty of storage for fine china and a gold plated sink.

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US Airways' 'Miracle on the Hudson' Airbus is For Sale!

January 22, 2010 at 4:05 PM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

Anybody looking to develop a new roadside attraction? Have we got the deal for you! The now-infamous Airbus 320 of US Airways Flight 1549—which performed a flawless emergency water landing after a bid strike took out its engines—is up for auction.

WIRED and Gothamist fill us in on the details of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity:

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Five Supersonic Spots To See The Concorde

January 22, 2010 at 11:35 AM | by kjb | 3 Comments

We’ve always been a little sad inside that we never flew aboard the Concorde. There’s been little realistic talk of getting another supersonic jet off the drawing board, so unless we win the lotto seven times, we’re stuck going slower than the speed of sound. We’ve kind of accepted our turtle-like pace, so it’s time to set out to see the Concorde in all its museum glory. We can’t promise that it doesn’t smell like moth balls, but here are five spots to dream about what could have been aboard one fast bird.

· Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace
Not too far outside Paris sits The Museum of Air and Space in Le Bourget. This place is probably the Concorde capital of the world, because it has not one but two of the supersonic jets on display. In its collection is the prototype plane which made its maiden voyage in 1969 as well as Concorde Sierra Delta that was active within Air France’s fleet for years. Although not exactly ready to take to the skies, museum officials do fire up Concorde Sierra Delta every once in a while. Entrance to the museum is free, but access to some of the fancy exhibits like the Concorde will set you back 6 Euros—about $8.50.

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A Virgin Atlantic Virgin Flies From New York to London

January 19, 2010 at 9:00 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

It's low tourist season in London right now; the Harrod's after-Christmas sale is on, hotel prices are cheaper, the snow has melted and the sun's out. So we figured, why not hope across the pond for a week and why not finally lose our Virgin Atlantic virginity.

We left on Friday night, after a quick visit to the Clubhouse at JFK, and boarded Virgin's Flight 046 direct to London-Heathrow. We had no idea what we were in for, except for the fact that we had been upgraded to premium economy. But once we boarded the 747-400, the surprises began rolling in.

Mood lighting, an in-flight bar and a toupee, after the jump. Tips too!

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What Will 2010 Bring For The Boeing 787 Dreamliner?

January 6, 2010 at 8:44 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Now that 2010 has arrived, the folks at Boeing need to get serious about the 787. The first test flight went well and a second plane has even gone into the sky to test things out, but there’s still tons of work to do before we get to hitch a ride inside of the composite bird.

Test flights are taking place almost daily as the pilots, engineers, and pencil pushers on the ground attempt to determine how to solve any minor issues before they turn into major problems. If the day is dragging at your cubicle you can just head over to FlightAware to see if one of the planes is up in the air. We’ve done the hard work for you, so just click right here and you can see if the flight pattern is making any cool shapes. So far it just looks like a bunch of circles—but that’s probably a good thing!

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New Airline Seating Design Introduces The Mezzanine Level

January 5, 2010 at 9:52 AM | by kjb | 2 Comments

We’ve seen some unique seating designs in the past, and one thought even won our award for most ridiculous airline idea in 2009. However, with a new year comes new ideas, and we’re happy to share a whole new design for airline seating. One company has spent many late nights in the office conference room to come up with their flex-seat plans that hopefully will benefit all travelers—we’ll see.

Jacob Innovations hates the wasted space above your seat on airplanes—especially on big birds like the 747 and A380. They want to add some more seats between you and the airplane’s roof—we can already feel the claustrophobia attack. Their plans include a sort of bunk bed type seating configuration, and also an idea to add a few steps so that flyers can get a little more space by sitting higher than others in their row.

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JetBlue Is Thinking About Adding A Bit Of Orange To Their Planes

December 29, 2009 at 10:24 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Back in October, JetBlue gave us a little thrill (we’re easy to please) by updating their livery and adding a new paint scheme into the fleet. Blueberries—the new tailfin design—has been slowly added into the mix over the last few months, and we even got a chance to see it in the wild back around Thanksgiving at T5 at JFK. It looked snazzy.

The painters responsible for updating all the JetBlue planes won’t have too much rest going into 2010, because the airline is now planning to add another new design to several of their planes. However, instead of hiring an expensive graphic designer, the airline is looking into some homegrown talent. They’ve asked their employees to put pen to paper to design something creative for the New Year.

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Boeing's 787 Dreamliner Hits The Skies For The First Time

Where: Paine Field [map], Seattle, WA, United States
December 15, 2009 at 2:17 PM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

In the image above, you witness the first second that the much delayed but much beloved Boeing 787 Dreamliner lists off the ground. The plane, whose original test flight was scheduled for two years ago, finally hit the skies around 1:30pm EST today, taking off from Seattle's Paine Field.

The event was presented with a live videocast on Boeing's website and on CNN, and we watched the behemoth taxi and then finally leave the runway, with two military jets in tow for monitoring, weather scouting, and photography purposes. The plane's first flight today is important for more than the reason that the two years of delays have ended, but because the 787 Dreamliner is made of composite materials, said to be fuel-efficient, and boasting new designs for everything from the wings to the size of the windows. It's not near as large as the new Airbus A380, but that's not the point; the Dreamliner is meant to be better and not simply bigger.

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Today's The Day For Boeing's New 787 Dreamliner To Take Flight

December 15, 2009 at 8:40 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

We’re pretty pumped about what’s going on in Washington today. After years of delays, problems, and missing puzzle pieces, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is finally going to take flight.

Things are scheduled for a test flight at 10:00am PT (1pm EST) as long as the weather in the Seattle area is good to go. The new Boeing beauty will leave from Paine Field, do some testing stuff in the air, and then land at Boeing Field.

All the ground tests have gone well over the last few days. The latest test was a high-speed taxi where the pilots put the pedal to the medal on the new bird. The plane reached speeds of about 150 mph, and despite every desire to just get up and go, stayed on the ground. However, the nose of the plane did lift up, if ever so slightly.

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Boeing 787 Is Dreaming Of A Flight Christmas And Might Just Get It

December 11, 2009 at 8:40 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

We had our doubts and definitely enjoyed using the '7-Late-7' nickname, but Boeing’s next generation passenger jet might be getting off the ground sooner than initially thought. Of course the test flight is years over schedule overall, but the plane might just be slightly ahead of its revised schedule. The most recent estimate was for a first test flight on December 22, but now the plane might just take-off as early as next week.

The window for the first flight for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner will open on December 15. It’s not set in stone, and we kind of have doubts about that day, but to have the thing fly anytime next week would be pretty sweet. The plane has pretty much passed all of the on-the-ground tests, but there are just a few final tests left—aren’t there always? Boeing also needs to get some kind of experimental approval thing from the US Federal Aviation Administration—probably a lot of paperwork and cash to get one of those.

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