Hasta La Gadget!

There are some things in this world we’re not sure are improved by the 3D printing process, like firearms and food. Aircraft might also be on that list, but no amount of dubiousness will stand in the way of MakerPlane’s open source plane. The aviation company’s ambitious Indiegogo campaign went live last week (check out the video below), but its quest for funding looks like it’s going to be a major uphill climb. At the time of this writing, the campaign had yet to breach the $800 mark, a far cry from its $75,000 goal. While part of the reason for the slow funding can be chalked up to a certain level of skepticism when it comes to a plane made with 3D printed parts and open sourced avionics software, the lack of plane-related rewards might also be holding the company back from reaching its endgame. For example, a $10,000 pledge will only get your corporate logo on the display craft’s fuselage. That being said, somebody’s got to dream big. Just don’t ask us to get in your homemade plane.

Filed under: Transportation

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Via: Wired

Source: Indiegogo, MakerPlane

You may remember the urban legend that claimed that American Airlines saved $70,000 per year by simply removing one olive from each of its salads. It sounds too good to be true, since the airline made a change that passengers wouldn’t notice that would save thousands of dollars. However, United Airlines is making a similar breakthrough that isn’t an urban legend.

United Airlines has installed split scimitar winglets to its Boeing 737-800 plane and took it for a test flight. It was a successful run and the airline has decided to implement the winglets on all of their Boeing 737 planes. The winglets are designed to improve aerodynamic efficiency by routing air around it, thus cutting down on drag and using less fuel.

Boeing says this will cut fuel costs by 2% when factoring in only the 737 fleet, but along with their Boeing 757 and 767 fleet (who already have last-generation winglets installed), United Airlines says this will save them $200 million per year in fuel costs. That’s an incredible savings for just a little bit of added metal to the airplane wing (although that isn’t counting the money spent on R&D for the new winglet).

Of course, winglets have been around for awhile now, and several airlines use them, but this new split scimitar winglet is said to be much improved over the current models, providing even more efficiency. The winglets essentially add another fin to the plane’s wing that faces downward, adding to the current winglet that points upward on the plane. The added winglet further reduce the vortices formed behind the wing, which increases performance even more than just having the upward-pointing winglets.

The new winglets will begin to roll out to the Boeing 737 United fleet starting at some point early next year, as further testing is still needed, as well as approval and certification from the FAA is still underway.

SOURCE: United Airlines

United Airlines Boeing 737 fleet getting new winglets to cut fuel costs by millions is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

In another streak of bad luck for Boeing, the first of the 50 or so 787 Dreamliners was cleared to fly again by the FAA. The Ethiopian Airlines 787 successfully completed a test flight the first time around, but it seems trouble struck again, as a fire broke out on the plane at London’s Heathrow airport. Luckily, no passengers were on board.

Boeing is obviously aware of the issue and has provided an official statement on their Twitter account, saying that they’re “aware of the 787 event…and have Boeing personnel there.” The company is currently “working to fully understand and address this.” The cause of the fire is currently unknown at this point, but it’s said that the situation is similar to that of what happened at Boston’s Logan airport when the planes first started catching on fire.

This is obviously terrible news for Boeing, and it seems like a incredibly bad luck on their part. Again, the cause of the fire is currently unknown, but we have no reason to not believe that the fire could’ve been cause by another failed battery. The 787 was initially grounded by the FAA back in January after problems with the battery caused fires on several of the planes.

From the photos taken by onlookers, there doesn’t appear to be any noticeable damage to the outside of the plane, although you can clearly see fire-retardant foam covering the ground around the plane. It’s possible that the fire was concealed inside of the aircraft where the battery compartment is located.

Arrivals and departures were temporarily suspended at Heathrow while emergency crews attended to the situation, but Heathrow officials recently lifted the suspension after the situation was brought to control. At the time, the 787 was parked on a remote parking stand, so it was out of the way for the most part.

VIA: BBC

IMAGE CREDIT: Boeing

Boeing 787 Dreamliner catches fire after being cleared to fly again is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While some airlines are still trying to catch up by bringing WiFi to its fleet of aircrafts, Southwest Airlines is a step ahead of the crowd. Today, Southwest and DISH have teamed up to bring free live television, as well as on demand services, to all WiFi-equipped Southwest flights. This means that around 75% of Southwest’s flights currently can take advantage of free TV while in the air, which they’re calling “TV Flies Free”.

Of course, many airlines offer live TV on board through the built-in television displays behind the seat, but Southwest Airlines and DISH boast that it’s better to watch television on the device of your choice rather than have to be stuck with a small display that looks terrible compared to a Retina-equipped iPad.

Southwest says that only “certain personal devices” will be compatible with DISH’s in-flight television service, but seeing as how the company gave away free iPads to all those on board the inaugural flight, we’re guessing that most iOS devices are compatible, as well as newer Android devices as well.

DISH doesn’t say how many channels passengers get to choose from during the flight, but they do mention that 75 on-demand shows are available to watch anytime during the flight. There’s also no mention of how the service works, but from the video above, it doesn’t look like there’s a dedicate app for the service. Instead, it seems that passengers open up the web browser and watch TV through that.

As airlines try to win over customers on a daily basis, they’re attempting to find more and more ways to convince flyers to choose their airlines by providing incentives and free services like wireless internet, live television, and of course free snacks and drinks. It’s a competitive market, and the airlines that offer the best services are the ones who usually win.

SOURCE: Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines DISH deal brings free TV to WiFi flights is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Federal Aviation Association has been mulling over the idea of easing up on consumer electronics restrictions in planes for over a year, but it seems a decision might be coming rather soon, as it’s said that a “high-level advisory panel” will be recommending that the FAA let loose a little bit on in-flight restrictions

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