Hasta La Gadget!

Since the dawn of the jet age, there has been safety concerns in the airline industry, but today would be the safest period ever, so if you are scared of flying on a commercial jetliner, it would never have been safer. In fact, for folks living in the US, it has been exactly four years since the last fatal crash happened there, making it an unmatched record to date. Around the globe, 2012 marked the safest year since World War 2 ended in 1945, where 23 deadly accidents and 475 fatalities were recorded according to the Aviation Safety Network, which was less compared to under half the 1,147 deaths which happened in 42 crashes in the year 2000.

Do bear in mind that flying might be safer than ever, but it is not entirely risk-free. With air traffic set to grow in the next 10 years, airports will get more congested, and statistically speaking, it would also increase the number of near-misses on runways and taxiways, with the element of an accident risk going up as well. If there is a takeaway message from this story, do bear in mind that a traveler could fly every day for an average of 123,000 years before being involved in a fatal crash. Pretty good odds compared to driving, or even being a pedestrian, no?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: In-City GPS Tracking Accuracy Improved By Up To 90%, Griff’s Back to the Future 2 ‘Pit Bull’ Hoverboard On Sale For $13k,

You know your tablet platform has made it when you’ve scored a supply deal with an airline, whether it’s for the passengers or the staff. Microsoft undoubtedly feels that kind of validation now that Emirates has decided to give Windows 8 PCs a try. The air carrier will eventually outfit all its flights with HP ElitePad 900 slates, each loaded a custom Knowledge Driven Inflight Service (KIS) app, to help crew and customers alike. Attendants will get feedback and a heads-up on what to expect from everyone onboard; passengers will have chances to make their voices heard and upgrade their seat classes on the spot. Only 100 of the tablets will be in use by the end of January, but the 1,000 ElitePads needed for all aircraft should be active before 2013 is over. We just hope the rollout is quick enough to let us splurge on a sleep-friendly seat during a long trip to Dubai.

Continue reading Emirates hands out HP Windows 8 tablets to flight crews, aims for first-class cabin tech (video)

Filed under: Tablets, Transportation, Microsoft, HP

Emirates hands out HP Windows 8 tablets to flight crews, aims for first-class cabin tech (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not everyone is privileged enough to be able to afford Business or First Class seats on an airplane, but assuming you are one of the elite few who can (or your company does not mind lavishing that kind of money on you), then you might be interested in this bit of news: apparently engineers have managed to develop climate control seats for use in airlines. I know, the temperature in the plane is regulated by a central control, so you cannot determine just how cold or warm your personal space is. Luxury cars have already included climate control in their air conditioning systems for quite some years already, so it is nice to see this idea take to the skies literally.

Trust German scientists to come up with this before anyone else, although the climate control airplane seat still remains in its prototype phase, meaning there is still plenty of work to be done before we start to see airlines offer these as part of their attraction. No idea on how much the cost retrofitting existing aircraft will be, but folks who are on long distance flights will definitely appreciate these, otherwise you might just need to stick to asking for an extra blanket (or two). It does seem to not make sense for economy class seats to carry such a climate control system since those are already so crammed in the first place.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: SEAT project to result in more comfortable flights?, Panasonic to Launch Android Remote Controller for In-Flight Entertainment Systems,

The first US-based 787 carrier is inching closer to its Dreamliner service launch. United Airlines celebrated the plane’s rollout today at Boeing’s Everett, Washington factory. The aircraft, which is set to begin international service later this year, received a custom livery, which includes a curved “swoop” — which oddly enough appears to be the focus of design chatter. That may just be because the public has yet to take a peek inside, though we did have an opportunity to hitch a ride on ANA’s variant last year, which has been flying throughout Japan since late 2011. Despite All Nippon’s head start, United’s flavor has garnered much attention domestically, marking a massive milestone in the Dreamliner’s delayed launch. Hit up our source link below for a few more (exterior) views, courtesy of United.

Filed under: Transportation

United 787 Dreamliner emerges from Boeing factory, complete with golden head-to-tail ‘swoop’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 23:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For a while now, iPads have been used to replace paper in a pilot’s daily duties. Airbus is also looking to further the cause with its Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) applications for the Apple slate. Pretty soon, airlines will have an alternative to existing EFB tech that runs PC operating systems with the “FlySmart with Airbus” app suite. The apps will allow crews to calculate performance and consult manuals without the need to cart around several hundred printed pages. Of course, to gain access to said software in the App Store, you’ll need to be a customer in order to obtain the requisite download permissions.

Filed under: Tablet PCs, Transportation, Software

Airbus Electronic Flight Bag apps save iPad savvy pilots time and paper originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 04:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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