Aviation Study Tour Blog

Our busy day at Shell Aviation in Chester began with presentations:

1. Overview - discussed the organisation as a whole. History of Shell, Sections and divisions (Aviation, Commercial, Sulphur, Lubricants). Where each division concentrates on a particular area of business (development, sales, support) and strategic plans were also briefly discussed, along with a short introduction to future alternative fuel options.
2. Synthetic fuels. A hot topic for us aviation enthusiasts! The group was briefly informed on a number of options for alternative fuels, each with their own pros and cons. Using vegetable based alternatives (ethanol) as a alternative for fuel to use in Aviation is not strongly favoured by Shell (due mainly to the fact that more CO2 would be produced from this method than using other means for developing fuels) Currently, the majority of the world uses what's called Jet A-1 (other similar variances also used) fuel which has a high octane rating and certain characteristics making it suitable for jet aircraft and engines. Shell expressed that they were concentrating strongly on developing a synthetic based alternate fuel that could act as a "drop in" replacement for the current traditional coal based fuel (this would also save airliners money by not having to make extensive modifications to aircraft of jet engines).     
3. Fames (fat acid methyl esters). This was a brief presentation on the technology used to extract certain ingredients from plant materials for use to develop fuel.

The group was also fortunate to be taken on a visit the Shell laboratories where the group was split into 3 teams and taken on three separate exercises demonstrating the importance in keeping fuel clean and the difficulties imposed by this. One exercise demonstrated the possibility of 'bugs' and live material which can grow in fuels and the risks this posse to aircraft. The second demonstration showed the filtration process of fuel which is transported from the refinery to the aircraft, with a live demonstration on how water is captured and removed by the fuel filters. The last exercise showed us how fuel is tested during stages for quality and completeness.

Shell was also considerate in offering us a cafeteria based lunch!  The day ended with a short opportunity to ask questions.  The group thank Shell for their efforts and taking the time to prepare the tour for our group.

Kane

A 3:45am wake-up for a 4:00am start is tough in anyone's book, but for a group who has already experienced 12 full days of activities, the fact everyone was up and ready to go on time was remarkable!  With no suprise, the 3 girls were ready and in the bus before the majority of the boys.  We arrived at easyJet headquarters at Luton airport and were welcomed by Shahir and Ricky. 

We were then taken to departures and watched their favourable 20 minute turn around.  Even though we were lucky enough to be able to go airside, most of us couldn't handly the freezing wind, so we were taken inside to watch.  Following this we went to arrivals where again we saw their impressive turn around process.  We also took advantage of our tour guide, LEO - the famous star of the TV show "Airline".

After having a break for breakfast, we were given interesting presentations on the business aspects of a low cost carrier and what makes easyJet so unique.  As we were leaving, we were lucky enough to get a photo taken with the big guy himself, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who founded the airline in 1995.

Ash and Anna

Cam, Jeff and I set off at around 8:45am this rainy British morning in the Freighter.  This was bound to be an adventure from the word go!  Our destination... Duxford, aka 'We have no idea'. Thanks will go to our navigational friend TomTom, who so far is working quite nicely at guiding us in the right direction...

The Imperial War Museum was on the agenda for today, and from what we have heard, it is one of the best in the World. Breakfast was awesome because it was free... we have already come to realise that we couldn't survive long in this country, if we had to pay for food everyday with the money we have!

Yesterday we left Toulouse, which was quite a nice city (Not as nice as Paris of course). We frequented an Aussie bar called the Rex café and were even treated to a huge Rugby match by the owner, ORLY TOULOUSE!!

Airbus, were fantastic to us, showing us most of their production lines, feeding us huge meals and most of all booking an A380 full motion sim for the group, which costs 1200 euros an hour for two hours!! The groups' French skills are exceptional now after our stay in France!

Ryan

Photos from Imperial War Museum in Duxford:

Paris was like a slap in the face with a wet tea towel, a very pretty architecturally stunning and culturally rich tea towel...

On Saturday morning after being awoken by my very excited parents, Janelle and I decided to make our way down to see some of local Pari, armed with our trusty Pollay Vu Olgliss (please ignore spelling, I'm a pilot not an English scholar).  First, we set out to see the Arc De Triomphe, talk about a jaw dropper!  From there we trotted on down to see none other than the Eiffel Tower.  Words do not describe the first time you set your eyes on this beautifully wonderful piece of architecture... truly jaw dropping stuff!!! And that's just looking at it! After taking the lift all the way up to the top, the view was overwhelming, like the intake of breath as you jump into a cold pool, it's indescribable, but I will say, 360 degrees of awesome!

After a swift cruise down the river Seine we jumped off the boat at Notre Dame.  Notre Dame was phenomenal with its high ceilings, beautiful windows and artworks to die for... simply superb!

From there, we ventured to the Louvre, which was an interesting mix of new architecture verses older architecture on the outside and internally, it was a bit of an eye opener with paintings the size of elephants! Then you see the miniscule Mona Lisa, aaahhh yes she was there staring at us keeping her secret behind smirking lips.

After a lovely walk down the Champs Elysses we stopped at a café and had some French pastries and coffee.  The coffee was rich and intricately beautiful. I've never tasted such beautiful coffee.

We had planned to visit the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel tower at night; however after getting back to our hotel and laying on our beds at 5pm, the next thing we know, its 7 in the morning!

So up we get up again, this time to visit Sacra Cure.  Sacra Cure was amazing inside and had a spectacular view over Paris outside.  I think it was almost as good, if not BETTER than Notre.  At the least, a lot less touristy!

After that we attempted to do some shopping at the equivalent of Myer or David Jones, however after we saw some clothes worth 1650 Euro (about $3200) we decided it would be best if we wander around and absorb some culture for the rest of the day.

That night we saw Paris by night... I'm not going to bother describing it, just imagine what I have described above and multiply its beauty by 10, and your answer might be close to what it is realistically.

Anyway, I have babbled on enough, I only hope that I have described our visit to Paris in enough detail so that you at home can fully appreciate how much we enjoyed it.

Au Revivor

Janelle & Zac

The last two days have been a real eye opener for the group.

The first day we viewed the Airbus production line of the A330, A340 and A380.  After having seen Boeing's production line in Seattle, it was a great experience to compare the different methods of the two major competitors, Boeing and Airbus. We were very fortunate to see Qantas?s first A380 fresh off the production line before its delivery next August - we saw it first!!

The second day at Airbus turned out to be very special indeed, not only as it was my birthday, but more so because we experienced what very few people have done. First up we visited the telemetry centre and discussed the possibilities and ability for the communication between the engineers and pilots on test flights, where they are able to monitor 250,000 different parameters. After this the best of all... we all got to fly the A380 in a full flight simulator!!! The videos below are of myself (student pilot) vs. Jeff (a first timer).

Cam in the A380 flight simulator	Jeff in the A380 flight simulator

This was by far one of the highlights and it was amazing how easy it was to land first time round. Overall a great two days were had by all and we couldn?t thank Airbus enough for what they have done.

It's a well known fact that snails are a delicacy in France and us 3 girls, Janelle, Ana and Ashleigh decided it was a must - we had try them. We tried to delay this for as long as possible, but we knew that our time in France was coming to an end.

So on our first night in Toulouse we went out to dinner to La Boucherie (in English, The Butchery). And for entrée the 3 of us ordered 6 snails to share. As it arrived to our table we could smell the strong aromas (garlic). Our initial reactions weren't great.

We let it sit there for a while we built up the courage to take on this challenge.

First it was Ashleigh's turn, and refusing to take a look at them, Ana spoon fed her. Ashleigh definitely wasn't a fan.

Ana was a little more game than Ashleigh, and fed herself. She handled the taste mush better. She wouldn?t eat it again though.

Janelle was the enthusiastic of us all. After no fuss from her first snail Janelle was ready and willing to have another go. And before we knew it her second snail was gone.

Our next challenge which none of us are willing to attempt is the hole in the ground female toilets....

Janelle, Ana and Ashleigh

With the group having two free days in Paris, many sights and sounds were taken in.

Now it's down to business, with Thales meeting the group Wednesday morning for a full day of activities, followed by two full days with Airbus in Toulouse.

In the meantime, here are some pics of beautiful Paris... keep watching for updates.

I don?t know where I was when the Air France Concorde crashed in Paris, but I do know where I was today: on board the world?s only supersonic passenger aircraft as it was parked at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

The temptation was strong to say: ?that was one small step for man. But, one giant leap backwards for mankind?, when I stepped off the aircraft.

It?s hard to think of past examples where human beings had the technology to progress, but held back.

We went to the moon and now we are on our way to Mars. We went across the Atlantic Ocean on the Concorde in 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds?, and now we can?t any more. It doesn?t make sense.

When the British and French government decided to commission a supersonic passenger aircraft in 1952, the engineers had no idea how such a thing might be achieved. Sure, they had jet fighter aircrafts flying up in the stratosphere at twice the speed of speed, but these were flown by young men with G ? suits.

Boeing state that the technological challenge of making a Mach 2.0 passenger aircraft was greater than putting a man on the moon. Those engineers get all teary eyed about their beloved Saturn Vs. But, when the Concorde is mentioned, their eyes dry and they nod, slowly and reverentially.

That?s because life beyond the 750 miles per hour sound barrier is hostile. There?s the friction which generates heat, which results in the aircraft expanding by 6 inches.

There?s a spot on the dash that, in flight, is so hot that you could fry an egg on it!

Then, there?s the shock waves, that jams the hydraulics and freezes the controls.

Towards the end of World War II, pilots who put their Spitfires into a dive often lost control and could not pull up. They didn?t know at the time, but a supersonic shock wave preventing the ailerons from moving. To get an aircraft to fly through the sound barrier the shock wave has to be tamed.

To make things even more complicated, there?s the bothersome business of fuel consumption and reliability.

A typical flighter aircraft of the 1960 was out of fuel after 45 mintues. And it needed up to two weeks of maintenance after a sortie.

The Americans failed with their Supersonic Transport because they aimed for Mach 3.0 and the exotic materials needed to withstand the heat at this speed weren?t commercially available back then. The Russians were more realistic with their Tupolov, but it failed because it only had a range of 1500 miles.

It?s worst remembering that Concorde was built by trail and error after error.

Make no mistake, Concorde was an extraordinary technological achievement. Almost certainly, one of the greatest.

And not just technically, but politically. France and Britian couldn?t even agree on how it should be spelt. They finally decided that it should end in an ?e?, in the French style, but then things happened and they dropped the letter.

It was Tony Benn, the then secretary of state for industry, who solved the matter by declaring there would be ?e? for England, ?e? for Europe and ?e? for entente cordiale.

Benn saved Concorde over and over again. He even had to fight the Americans who tried to ban the aircraft on the grounds that its sonic boons would knock over their cows.

They kicked up such a stink that, bit by bit, the world began to lose confidence in the aircraft. One by one, the sixteen airlines that had ordered Concorde began to cancel until just two were left: Air France and British Airways.

Knowing that the plane was destined to be a commercial disaster, Benn had to cajole the Treasury and the French until, the scheduled services began. For the first time, paying passengers could fly so fast they could watch the sun rise in the west and arrive in America before they left home.

The cost to the British taxpayer was astronomical: $3.9 billion. Even in today?s money, that would nearly get you two football stadiums.

Even though this exotic plane arrived as Freddie Laker (founder of the low cost airline) began to take the working classes for $180, it regularly flew three ? quarters full and made $60 million a year for British Airways.

Usually, in an accident of this kind, we mourn the people who died.

But this time it was different. For the first time since Titantic we mourned the loss of the machine itself.

The great white dart was not invincible after all.

No company or government in the world is currently undertaking serious work on a supersonic aircraft.

There?s talk of Gulfstream building a Mach 2.0 business jet, but that?s about it and there are whispers about a spaceaircraft that could get from London to Sydney in two hours. But when the proposed cost of such a thing worked out at $27 billion, they decided not to.

Do you think Columbus would have reached America if he had concerned himself with the bottom line? Do you think Armstrong would have walk on the moon or Hillary on top of Everest?

Compounding the problem is a sense that the first world has pulled so far ahead of the third, the money would be better spent helping others to catch up. For every dollar spent on human advancement, there are a thousand bleeding hearts saying the money could have been spent on the starving in Africa. I see their point.

But what I can?t see is the human thirst for improvement being extinguished by the bean counters. No individual company or country could afford to develop an aircraft that?s significantly better than Concorde, so maybe what?s needed is a ring ? fenced global fund for the greater good. A fund that undertakes the work business won?t touch, hunting the skies for asteroids, searching the seas to find a cure for cancer and fuelling our quest to go faster and faster.

Or maybe the days of mechanical speed are over. Why go to the United Kingdom or America at the speed of sound when, with an internet connection and video conferencing, you can be there at the speed of light? Why go at all?

Maybe planes are about to follow in the footsteps of the horse. When the car came along, the horse didn?t go away. It simply stopped being a tool and became a toy.

If you can communicate instantly with anyone anywhere, the only reason to travel is for fun, for your holidays. And given the choice of doing that at Mach 2.0 or for $6, I know which I would choose.

Pike Place Market is internationally recognized as America's premier farmers' market and is home to nearly 200 year-round commercial businesses; 190 craftspeople and 120 farmers who rent table space by the day; 240 street performers and musicians; and 300 apartment units, most of which house low-income elderly people. "The Market," as the locals affectionately say, attracts 10 million visitors a year, making it one of Washington's most frequently visited destinations.

Here is some video of what Pike Place is famous for... the throwing of the fish, as Anna and Ashleigh found out (open in Media Player):

ash&anna@pikeplace1.AVI

As we woke up to a beautiful crisp clear morning in Seattle (which doesn't happen very often), we have been told this would be our first day at Boeing. We were then bussed out to the Everett Centre, which is where the 747, 767, 777 and 787 are being produced in the biggest building in the World, by volume.

The facility was absolutely massive, around 100 acres (That was just inside!) Our awesome tour leader Melodie accompanied by our Boeing escort Allan, showed us the classic way 747's are made, compared to the new 'pulse/moving' line for the 787. We were able to view 787 #1, which was a pretty rare sight. A 747 is produced in 4 months and a 787 in just three days.

We then headed off to the 787 gallery just down the road. This is where airlines come and ?fit out? their new aircraft, with seats, galleys, crew rest, lighting, interior fittings, appliances, safety equipment and IFE. Mark showed us around his facility and explained the complexities of what happens when it comes to deciding how your aircraft will look. Here we had the chance to experience the 787 up close and personal. We were told the choices available to customers had been cut right down, to enable Boeing to reduce costs incurred by the supplier and Boeing itself. This insures each 787 is quite similar in the way it is setup, enabling maintenance and support to be conducted much easier.

By this time we were all very tired and quite eager to get home, but decided to head to the mall and ate at our favourite place called the Cheesecake Factory (WE LOVE IT!) We made friends with a lot of the staff, and probably nearly got them all fired J We have already had an amazing time!

Ryans Pics:

Being the only two students from Sydney (UNSW), we've been overwhelmed with the welcome and efforts provided by Peter, Jeff and all the students from Swinburne. After the long flight from SYD (no upgrades for us, but we did see the A380 in LAX), we headed off to our hotel, near SEA-TAC. Whilst it is pretty freezing in Seattle, the excitement of seeing Boeing has taken our minds off this.

Nick and Cyrus at Airport	Inside the Boeing 787 cockpit	Study Tour crew at Boeing

Boeing has treated us royally; feeding us grand lunches and presenting us with exquisite gifts. Coming from a management background, it was great to get a hands-on insight into the world's largest aircraft manufacturer. The highlight was definitely seeing the B787, which only a handful of people have ever seen. Very much looking forward to heading to Paris and Toulouse, to visit Thales and Airbus!

Cheers for now,

Nick and Cyrus!

UNSW Bachelor of Aviation (Mgt) 3^rd Year Students

24 Hours later, touchdown in Seattle!

Sleep ahead of a full day's tour of Boeing to come.
We'll keep you posted......

After having met up with the two UNSW students, Cyrus and Nick, at Sydney Airport the group went through some vital duty free purchasing and pre-boarding checks before proceeding to the departure lounge.  Unfortunately, James and Zach were upgraded to Business Class for the journey (much to the disgust of the other study tour participants) and had to make the first tough decision of the trip - whether to go for the snapper, beef fillet or braised chicken for the main.  Not bad for their first trip on a 747!

13 hours later, 1 and a bit movies, 4 episodes of The Office, a couple of episodes of Family Guy, a little sleep and we were in Sunny San Francisco... well almost! Upon approaching San Fran airport, an eager Singapore Airlines jet fought us for the runway and we did a go-around, where we took in some lovely sights of the city.

With a few hours to spare after checking in for our flight to Seattle, a few of the guys headed to the Golden Gate bridge, doing us all proud with Cam's flag:

More news to come after our flight to Seattle!

12 Excited and Eager Swinburne Aviation Students have met and made it through the first flight - QF426 to Sydney.

The 2007 study tour will provide students with an opportunity to build on theoretical knowledge of many aspects of aviation by visiting a number of major organisations in key areas of the industry, across several cultures. The subject enables students to observe, first-hand, from the operations of major world airports, airlines, manufacturers, regulatory bodies, and air traffic management organisations.

Check back here for regular updates from the students.