As if on cue to support the previous blog post, Eurocontrol has just celebrated 10 years of the Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) programme which went live at 01:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on January 24, 2002. For a number of reasons this was a truly significant moment for air traffic management, not least because [...]

The attitude of an air traffic controller   must be similar to a teacher’s when dealing with a class room full of inquisitive, hyperactive children. The constant back and forth of ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘do this while you’re waiting’, happens 52,000 times a day all around the world, according to SESAR, and its set to increase by [...]

Richard Branson, the international entrepreneur and founder of the Carbon War Room, an organization with a mission to fight emissions, recently upped the ante by adding to Virgin Atlantic’s current aim of 30% carbon reductions per passenger kilometer by 2020, to 50% sustainable fuel use by 2020. In October 2011, Virgin Atlantic, LanzaTech Biofuels, and [...]

Consider the changes undergone in aviation since the commercial use of jet aircraft began at the end of the 1950’s, and it is easy to see the progression in aircraft shape and design, let alone fuel efficiency. Today jet aircraft are over 70% more fuel efficient per seat kilometre than those of the 1960’s, and [...]

Government action to deal with the impact of climate change and, specifically, proposed policy measures to address the impact of aviation on the environment have featured heavily in newspaper headlines throughout 2011. Within these, often emotional, intergovernmental debates, it is perhaps easy to overlook the many efforts that industry itself has driven forward in the [...]

From a distance, modern aircraft would appear to be supremely aerodynamic with rounded noses, ‘natural laminar flow’ wings reducing drag, and silky lines from the nose to the tip of the tail. However, up close, and with the help of a large magnifying glass, the aerodynamic illusion is betrayed by a layer of paint which [...]

Electricity has become a formidable opponent to fossil fuels in recent times as it reaches into copious areas of development in technology. Its employment is welcomed with open arms by the environmentally conscientious for its reduced carbon footprint and silent work. Taking these characteristics into account leaves little else to be explained with regards as [...]