Alexander Supelli He was Vice President of Aircraft Design Division - Indonesian Aerospace Industry

Alexander Supelli, he was Aircraft Design Division Vice President for N250 Aircraft program.

N250 Aircraft on Assemby Workshop

N250 Aircraft On Firts Flight

N250 Aircraft Take Of on First Flight

N250 Aircraft

Alex Supelli, Pilot Cessna crashed in Bandung Airshow, Passed Away

Alexander Supelli, Pilot Cessna crashed in Bandung Airshow, passed away, may Allah SWT. forgive all his mistakes and accept all his charity and worship. May the families left behind were given patience and strength Amiin .

According to family news, corpses will be brought to the funeral home on Jl. Source Sari No. 10 Bandung.

Cessna Aircraft Crashed in Bandung Airshow

Alexander Supelli Cessna Aircraft Pillot Crashed in Bandung Airshow 2010

Alexander Supelli

Cessna Aircraft Guides Books

• Standard Catalog of Cessna Single Engine Aircraft
• Daron Worldwide Trading H3132 C206 Stationair Cessna 1/32 AIRCRAFT
• The Complete Guide to Cessna Aircraft (2nd Edition)
• Cessna 337 engine start
• CESSNA 152 PREFLIGHT
• Cessna Warbirds: A Detailed and Personal History of Cessna's Involvement in the Armed Forces
• Cessna 337 stalling, rev, stall
• 1961 Cessna Skyknight Turbocharged Aircraft Photo Print Ad
• Cessna Aircraft (Images of Aviation)
• Cessna Model 172 Skyhawk - 1/24 scale model
• Cessna 1976 Skyhawk Cessna Model 172m Pilot's Operating Handbook
• Cessna rev and shut-down
• CESSNA 152 : Introduction to Flight
• 1974 Cessna Citation Jet Aircraft 2-Page Print Ad
• The Complete Guide to Single-Engine Cessnas
• Cessna O-2 Aircraft Flight Manual
• Cessna fly-by
• CESSNA ~Wall Clock~ plane airplane pilot parts 172 gift
• AirUtopia:New Zealand COCKPIT Adventure: Cessna 208 / GAF Nomad-NEW
• Cessna LC-126 / 195 Aircraft Blueprints Engineering Drawings
• Cessna U-3 Aircraft Maintenance Manual
• Cessna Skymaster fly-by
• 1978 Cessna Citation II Jet Aircraft Pratt & Whitney Print Ad
• The Cessna 172
• Cessna O-1 Aircraft DS GS Maintenance Manual
• CESSNA 172 SKYHAWK : Introduction to Flight

Pilot Condition - Bandung Airshow Plane Crashes

Metrotvnews.com, Jakarta: The condition of plane crash victims sport utility model Super Decathlon, Alexander Supelli, Friday (24 / 9), decreases. This afternoon, he had surgery the leg bone.

Last submitted a doctor conditions Rudi Kadarasah, chairman of the doctors who deal with Alexander, in Jakarta. He said the injuries suffered by Alexander quite severe. Luka is on the whole body, especially the head and leg fractures.

The operation takes about 3 hours. Meanwhile, the family is still waiting patiently as well as confirmation from the doctor to plan treatment displacement Alexander to Singapore. (RAS)

Alex Supelli

Cessna Aircraft Crashed at Bandung Airshow

Cessna Aircraft Crashed at Bandung Airshow

Airborne smoke shortly after a Cessna piloted crashed in Lanud Alexander Supeli Hussein Sastranegara, Bandung, Friday morning. 

A Cessna aircraft crashed during an acrobat stunt at the Bandung Air Show at Husein Sastranegara Airbase in Bandung, West Java, on Friday.
Alexander Supeli, a Cessna pilot who crashed while doing air attractions in Bandung Airshow 20 010 events in Sastranegera Hussein Air Base on Friday (09/24/2010), escaped death and is currently still being treated at Hassan Sadikin Hospital, Bandung.This information provided the staff of PT Dirgantara Indonesia Eddy S Herman to Kompas.com, this afternoon.
Based on videotape during the attractions, see the aircraft crashed and burned on one side of the runway. Shortly before the plane was spinning maneuver and one of its wings hit the ground, bouncing, and direct fire.

Alexander Supelli on His Account Facebook Photo

Alexander Supelli - Pilot Cessna Crashed
Bandung Airshow 2010

Landing the Finest Aerospace Jobs at Boeing

By: Wynnwith

There are few names that are as synonymous with an industry as Boeing is with aerospace technology. Boeing is an American aerospace firm with connections throughout the world and a staff of tens of thousands. The company has expanded steadily as corporations, governments, and airlines have sought out a variety of aerospace solutions for their unique markets. Indeed, Boeing brings in millions upon millions of pounds in orders each year, which are fulfilled by a variety of engineering, design, and production professionals. For aerospace professionals, there are few companies that match the allure or the benefits of a company like Boeing.

However, Boeing has a high standard for its employees. Aside from the need for top notch professionals to fill all of their positions, Boeing relies on outstanding service and performance to maintain their brand name. These high standards make it difficult for an aerospace engineer or designer to land a job with Boeing. However, there are a few tips that can help land an interview and a position with Boeing for the right professional.

The first step for a professional applying to Boeing is to craft a unique and eye-catching set of application materials. Some positions require an essay or sample of work in order to complete the application. This sample shouldn’t be pedestrian nor should it be something of a lower standard, like early university work. Essays and work samples should be creative and show an ability to think outside of the box. As well, the CV should be concise and hit on all of the major job experiences relevant to a position with Boeing. 

Another step for landing a job with Boeing is searching out graduate training and internship programs. Depending on the job region applied to, Boeing may have a variety of entry level positions for engineering graduates that can allow them to ease into full time professional positions. In this way, Boeing is able to invest in exceptional graduates while a professional can have job stability and gain experience in the industry. 

Finally, an aerospace professional should consider working with a speciality recruiter in order to land their Boeing aerospace job. Recruiters that specialise in placing aerospace professionals have exclusive positions available to professionals with great potential and experience. As well, recruiting agencies that work with Boeing or other aerospace firms can help train young professionals to get them ready for the first day of work. Aerospace workers looking for jobs with Boeing should leave no stone unturned.

About the Author

Wynnwith Aerospace are a specialist aerospace recruitment division which fulfil aerospace jobs, including electrical engineer jobs,Catia V4 designers and stress engineer positions.

(ArticlesBase SC #281588)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Landing the Finest Aerospace Jobs at Boeing

CATIA V5 - Aircraft Design

CATIA V5 - Aircraft Design

Hiring Expats For Work

By: Peter Garant
Anyone engaged in business today recognizes the rising costs of labor as one of the major hindrances to expansion. While there are several ways that this issue is being addressed, one of the most viable is by hiring expat workers.

There are numerous advantages of having expats in your workforce. The first is that they are not difficult to find. There are now, in such countries as New Zealand Canada, Japan, the United States, several thriving expat communities. Undoubtedly there are also several more in other nations.

There are several reasons for this growth; one of them is that while several come in with the intention of only studying in a university, they end up staying because they fall in love with the place, or get married. As such, it presents a great opportunity for an entrepreneur to find and hire educated and qualified workers.

Aside from being skilled, the other major advantage of the working expat is that you can often have them for a much lower cost. You maintain the quality of your service, but you end up saving money. Even communication costs have been significantly reduced by the Internet, so it will not be a problem regardless of your location relative to your workers.

Where to Find Expats

The expanding expat communities, coupled wit the rise of communications technology, have made it easier than ever to get in touch with those communities. You can just enter "expat community" plus the name of the country in a search engine and you will get plenty of hits. In fact that that may not even be necessary as foreign universities and newspapers can provide the information you are looking for.

Potential Savings

The cost of stateside labor goes up because besides the salaries, one also has to pay pensions, social security, allowances etc. These are expenses that will not be incurred with outsourcing, so you can expect savings from 30 to 70 percent.

Of course, it should be stated that the salary demands and expectations of working expats, while not as high as those stateside, will still vary. You should attempt to strike a balance between managing your overhead costs and also having highly qualified personnel. However, for the greater part, you will still end up saving a considerable with outsourcing your work.

ECA International

There are several human resources organizations you can turn to, and one of the most respected is ECA International, with over 4,000 HR centers spread over several countries across the globe. ECA has been a leading provider for software solutions, HR and consultancy for over 30 years. Their clients include several Fortune 500 companies, and aimed at professionals and executives.

Training Course: Expat Staffing

The Australian National University offers a course for International Human Resources Management. It covers the subject of HRM extensively, and among the subject matters covered are labor costs regulations, recruitment, globalization, expatriation, repatriation, and several other issues that are pertinent to expat staffing.

Moreover, the course also offers a wide ranging study and analysis of HRM with regards to its international context and how it is developing worldwide.
About the Author
Peter Garant is writing articles for an Expat Staffing guide for a site about Expat Jobs.

(ArticlesBase SC #638575)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Hiring Expats For Work

German Engineering Market Looks Set For 2010

By: Matchtech
Market sentiment suggests that there is a positive period ahead after Germany is officially declared to be out of recession.
The engineering market of Germany is showing signs of improvement, and 2010 should be a growth phase in many of the core markets, including Aerospace, Automotive and Energy. Matchtech GmbH, a leading engineering recruitment consultancy in Germany, is also growing fast, with the recruitment of new Consultants to cope with additional workload as client activity increases.
In the Aerospace industry, development of the A400M and composite A350 aircraft at Airbus hubs in both Southern and Northern Germany continues, and our clients in the 1st and 2nd tier supply chain are not only working on these high-profile programmes, but also bidding for involvement in new opportunities. We are currently in need of Design Engineers (particularly with CATIA v5 experience), and Stress Engineers (with NASTRAN, PATRAN, ISSY or ISAMI experience) for long term contracts.
The German Energy sector has aspiring plans in place for the development of brand new renewable energy infrastructure in the next years, and we are picking up opportunities across the board in both renewable and traditional energy in Northern Germany for contract or permanent Engineers in Design, Analysis, Quality and Project Engineering.
In the Automotive market, whilst production levels are still well down on the position of twelve months ago, many of our clients in the supply chain and in the consultancy sector are seeing an upturn in fortunes. We are in need of Calibration Engineers for both engines and transmissions, and Design Engineers with CATIA v5 or PROENGINEER experience to work in engines, interiors, body and plastics development. We also need to hear from Hybrid Engineers for a wide range of interesting permanent and contract opportunities.
About the Author
Matchtech GmbH is a leading engineering recruitment consultancy in Europe and Germany and specialises in the provision of engineering jobs across Aerospace, Automotive, Energy, Pharmaceutical and Mechanical Engineering industry sectors.

(ArticlesBase SC #1706864)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - German Engineering Market Looks Set For 2010

Basic Dimension Drawing in CATIA V5

Basic Dimension Drawing in CATIA V5


ArticleCity.com Videos

ExPat Aerospace Jobs

ExPat Aerospace Jobs

By John Routledge

Aerospace jobs in Toulouse.

Based in Toulouse, France, Airbus Industrie is a European consortium, founded in 1969 with a Franco-German lead, and later British and Spanish participation. Its first product, the A300, a 266 seat commercial plane, had British wings, mostly German fuselage, French nose section and lower part of the centre fuselage and Spanish tails. Both GE and P&W in the USA made the engines. Honeywell supplied US-made avionics and Messier-Hispano-Bugatti the landing gear. Toulouse is the main, but not the only, assembly location for Airbus; the second is Hamburg, Germany.

Today, Airbus has become the world's largest producer of commercial aircraft. In 2000, it produced 311 planes in Toulouse. Airbus assembles six different models of aircraft with parts and components coming from 1,500 contractors located in 30 countries. The largest single provider is the USA with over 800 suppliers located in 40 states. In the meantime, Toulouse has become a major aerospace cluster, with hundreds of firms. These include ATR, the Franco-Italian manufacturer of turboprops, which produced 22 turboprops in 2000. Other firms present in the region are Turbomeca (turbines), Messier-Dowty (landing gear for 30 airframers both civil and military, including Airbus) and EADS Socata, the French member of the European consortium. EADS produces small aircraft and structures for Airbus in the region. Toulouse has attracted other aerospace producers not necessarily linked with civil aircraft, such as Matra and Alcatel (satellite telecommunications). In addition to Toulouse, Airbus Industrie has 12 other European production sites, in Bremen, Hamburg, Munich and Stade (Germany), Chester (UK), Madrid and Seville (Spain), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Gossellies (Belgium), as well as Meaulte, Nantes and St Nazaire (France).

In 1997 there were 494 plants in the Toulouse region directly linked to aerospace. More often than not, final aircraft assembling occurs in one region (typically Hamburg and Toulouse for Airbus, Seattle for Boeing, and Montreal for Bombardier), engine assembly in another (Bristol for Rolls-Royce, Hartford, Connecticut and Montreal for P&W, Evendale, Ohio or Lynn, Massachusetts for GE), yet critical parts such as avionics, landing gear or nacelles are produced somewhere else. Four characteristics appear when these knowledge flows are examined. First, they are mostly international. Second, they are mostly constituted of explicit and codified knowledge. Third, they involve several independent companies. And finally, they are closely tied to markets for parts, components and subassemblies.

Middle East Aerospace jobs.

In areas where there has been recent investment and growth, you can see the process all over again, aircraft engineering jobs in Abu Dhabi, where the investment has been, or aircraft engineering jobs Milan where Lufthansa Technik has opened a new maintenance and repair centre.

aviation-database.com has lots of resources for the aircraft industry. The web is a vast source of information. Aviation-database collects the industry into one huge database of contacts. Middle East aerospace jobs are posts filled by Aeropeople on behalf of clients in the region.

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How to Learn CATIA Software

By: Jason Kay
CATIA stands for Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application and is one of the most widely known and used software systems in the CAD world that is marketed and technically supported by IBM. The software is very intricate and is used by some of the biggest names in the business world. Currently over 20,000 companies use it worldwide and the distinguished list of names that use the software are top names such as Goodyear, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai, Boeing, Porsche, and Lear Jet just to name a few. All these top companies and more take advantage of the powerful applications that the software has to offer in order to help develop and design their products.

If you are planning on getting into such careers as design, manufacturing, or architecture then learning CATIA software will most likely be required of you at some point in time. So how do you go about learning the ins and outs of CATIA?

Because CATIA is such an intricate program the only way to adequately learn CATIA is to get some training with the software. There are several ways to go about this such as:

Training Seminars: There are a number of training seminars that are conducted each year all geared towards teaching you how to use CATIA software. Depending on where you live you can sometimes find many providers of such trailing or a limited number, but you should be able to find some level of help either way. A quick search online will reveal the numerous establishments that conduct such training seminars. Many prefer this type of training as they can actually learn by doing as the CATIA training seminars will have a lot of hands on training.

Online Training: Thanks to the internet it is no longer necessary to leave you home in order to learn how to use CATIA software. Many institutions and even colleges will offer a class and training online making the learning of CATIA software something that can be done around your busy schedule. Sometimes it is not necessary to even have the CATIA software on your computer as there are places that will offer a modular type of training where you will learn certain aspects of the software as you go along.

Colleges and Tech Schools: Many colleges and technical schools across the country now offer classes specifically for CATIA software. These classes are a better way to learn the program if you do well in a classroom environment. Many students prefer to be in such an environment so that they can raise their hand and ask questions should the need arise. Not that you cant ask questions in an online setting, they just may not get answered right away.

No matter how you decide to learn CATIA it is a necessity if you plan on having a successful design, manufacturing, or architecture career. CATIA is used in every corner of the globe and only by mastering the software will you give yourself the best opportunity to succeed no matter which way your career path takes you.
About the Author
Find Catia jobs in engineering and design worldwide.

(ArticlesBase SC #2365729)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - How to Learn CATIA Software

Aerospace – A key Investment sector in UK

By: editor investinuk
Aerospace companies in the UK have a long history of being a leading aviation industry in Europe. Aerospace companies in the UK are competitors in all niches of aircraft manufacturing. There are lots of invest UK opportunities in the Aerospace sector. The industry tops second world wide in terms of employment creation and attracts highly skilled people. Despite the global recession, the industry performed quite remarkably showing little signs of its effects as companies saw through their long term contracts and development projects. Its remarkable performance records for international joint ventures such as the Airbus conglomerate on civil aircrafts and other military programs with the US have seen it prosper.
Invest in UK provides best investment service in UKin the Aerospace sector. Aerospace sector has experienced a boost recently from the sale of the UK manufactured Rolls Royce engines to major aircraft manufacturers in the world. In addition, UK supplies of aircraft hardware have been outsourced by the manufacturers for their other engine making programs. The North West Aerospace Alliance has been at the forefront of the UK aerospace growth and development. Most companies in the aerospace sector have invested part of their business in the UK and have greatly benefited from the UK Trade and investments. There are over 3400 aerospace companies in the UK out of which 750 are based in the South East.
The UK aerospace industry is second to the US' with a highly developed defense sector that tops about 20 billion pounds in turnover and new orders totaling 26 billion. The involvement of the UK aerospace industry in major global programs has rendered the industry a global competitor with about 60% of the A380 Airliner being manufactured here. Investors in this industry have developed it into a global leader in systems design, integration, electronics avionics, advanced structure and others. This has subsequently seen the UK rise as a major air transport hub with advanced technologies made in the UK being used worldwide.
Investors in the aerospace industry have access to a large market thanks to the UK's hold of a bigger percentage in terms of sales and production of Aerospace technology. It accounts for 23 percent of the European market by value. Invest in UK in Aerospace industry is helped by employments of a workforce of about 271,000 people with 16% working in the south East. The North West of UK is a thriving location for investments in the Aerospace industry attracting about 10 of major US Aircraft manufacturers. It accounts for over a third of the UK's output in this industry.
About the Author
Invest in UK is an initiative to market United Kingdom as an investment destination all over the globe, to provide a networking platform for UK businesses at a global level and to provide information to the international investors about investment opportunities in UK. For finding more updates on aerospace investment in uk log on to our website:
http://www.investinuk.net/

(ArticlesBase SC #2386046)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Aerospace – A key Investment sector in UK

Aerospace Career - Excellent Jobs For The Adventurous

Aerospace Career - Excellent Jobs For The Adventurous

By Abhishek Agarwal

If you have decided to change your vocation and join the aerospace industry you could not have made a better choice. No matter what back ground you come from, there is room for most of the categories in this industry. Unlike the other organisations the aerospace industry is not what one would call a "common area" in the business arena.

Common Job roles in every industry

There are common job positions on all the industries, like sales and marketing and finances etc. are to be found in ever kind of industry. This knowledge will help you when you plan to change your job and go in for something different. However, the aerospace industry is quite different to all others and has some very specific job roles that go with it. So if you are opting for an aerospace job you will have to have some knowledge of what this kind of industry entails. You will have to get into a completely new arena with a transition that will be much more difficult than between two other industries.

Some job positions will remain the same and need the same sort of background and qualification no matter what industry you are in. For instance if you are into web site designing, you will be doing the same thing even if you join a different company. Your job description remains the same. The same holds good for statisticians, chartered accountants and financial advisors, and many other such job roles. You will still be doing what you were initially trained for.

Sometimes you might remain in the same industry but with a totally new and different job description. If you have been a pilot in the aerospace industry and now have changed to being a navigator you continue in the same line but with a new job description. So as long as you are aware of what the job change entails and are prepared for it you will have no problem in making the transition in a smooth way.

In case you have set your heart on the aerospace industry you could also search on the net for all the different options that they have either to join the industry or to get out of it and change to something different. There are common jobs available in the aerospace industry and several others outside it. You could be qualified to take on something that will be in this common area and for what you are suitable qualified. This would give you the confidence to be able to work in any other industry in the same area.

Abhishek is a Career Counselor and he has got some great Career Planning Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 71 Pages Ebook, "Career Planning Made Easy!" from his website http://www.Career-Guru.com/769/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.

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Ladies There Are Many Aerospace Engineering Scholarships For Women

Ladies There Are Many Aerospace Engineering Scholarships For Women

By Shinnie Rice

Ladies, do you want to work in the aerospace field? Are you currently pursuing or planning to major in engineering? Well you are in luck. There are many women that want to go pursue a career in this field but run into a brick wall financially going forward.

Acquiring college scholarships are becoming more and more competitive as well. To take a more accurate look, financial aid has seen an accelerative number of graduates from high schools that elect to continue education by going to college. Of coarse when this is happen, even a bigger number of undergraduates begin to petition for allocated financial aid and scholarships. To put it in another way, as more students decide to pursue their education, performance awards acceptance qualifications take on a whole new approach. Anyhow, because the number of students who decide to continue their education increase is not a good reason to forget about what goals or dreams you may have. The amount of what's accessible in free scholarships is ascending with immense likelihood to stay strong. There are many free scholarship awards right at your finger tip, and the acquirability of them are not just given to the scholarly students inclusively or for the underprivileged also.

Did you know, aerospace engineering scholarships for women represent a distinct category of on hand non-repayable scholarships? Since we know that there are many scholarships for many career paths, an aerospace engineering scholarship for women presents a unique education for women who may not be able to attend without it. One scholarship that comes to mind is the Delta Air Lines Engineering Scholarship. This award is designed for women who are pursuing an aerospace, aeronautical, electrical, or mechanical engineering career. Applicants must be a member of Women in Aviation, International and have a minimum 3.0 grade point average in order to be qualified. So many women need to take advantage of these types of awards. Why? Because did you also know that between males and females, the numbers of jobs are controlled in fields which men continue to dominate. So aside from providing the opportunity to continue their education, a chance that women need more than men, aerospace engineering scholarships for women are intended to clear a path that in the past wasn't available.

As stated earlier, locating free scholarships may be a hard task, and aerospace engineering scholarships for women wouldn't be missed entirely. Staying informed and looking in the right places can make a huge difference. Locating aerospace engineering scholarships for women, if this is the financial aid award you got to have, is not that hard to uncover. The internet is the right place to start. Diverse internet sites, similar to Freetoapply produce first-class inquiries for aerospace engineering scholarships for women.

Your education is very important and as far as college education, you shouldn't make or think that it's a cake walk. Furthermore, with all the available opportunities for aerospace engineering scholarships for women, why would you decide to settle on finding another way to pay for your education? An aerospace engineering scholarship grants women a tolerable prospect to advance their life and accumulate wealth.

Take into consideration, a good college education is an achievable goal even for those who apparently do not qualify for financial aid for their college education, and obtaining an aerospace engineering scholarship will help put you in the proper line of work that may be very rewarding thanks to you graduating from college.

S Rice also writes on other information related to aerospace engineering scholarships for women and related info such as medical, nursing and engineering scholarships for women and scholarships for women under 50. We have a full scope of closely matched scholarships at http://www.freetoapply.com.

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Advantages of Becoming an Aerospace Engineer

Advantages of Becoming an Aerospace Engineer

By Sally Tolentino

Now is a great time to get in aerospace engineering. NASA is beginning to phase out the space shuttles (due to be retired in 2010) and is in the process of developing the Ares rockets. These are to be the spacecraft of the future. There is a great deal of involving in the development of these rockets. There are to be two rockets per trip in the Ares program, a rocket that carries the crew, the Ares I rocket, and a rocket that carries the cargo, the Ares V rocket.

For students beginning college in the near future, this is a chance to help develop and work in the next step of space exploration. NASA is planning to establish a base on the moon by 2018 and to launch a manned mission to Mars from the moon. What an honor and privilege it would be to work on the first manned mission to another planet! Over 200 private companies currently have contracts with NASA on the Ares program. NASA is planning the first test flight for the Ares I rocket to be scheduled for 2009.

NASA is also currently developing a new lunar lander named Altair. Altair will be capable of landing four astronauts on the moon and it will provide the astronauts a temporary base on the surface moon for one week. Here at NC State, our aerospace engineering department is working the ablative shielding for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), the command module of the Ares I rocket. The ablative shielding is the layer of material that burns off the spacecraft during reentry. It prevents the spacecraft from burning up on reentry. Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract for Orion.

There are many co-op and internship opportunities available for aerospace engineers. Many of the private aerospace companies offer co-ops and internships and NASA offers a few as well. Co-ops and internships are like extended job interviews. You are paid to go and work at an aerospace company and if they like you, then you are already in good standing with the company and the company knows what you are capable of. They may offer a job before you even graduate! Imagine still being in college and having the peace of mind that when you graduate, you already have a job waiting for you.

Many private aerospace companies are in the development stages of commercial space flight. Virgin Galactic, for example, is working on a spacecraft designed to take tourists into space for short period of time. Many other companies are working on similar civilian space projects as well. Aerospace engineers also develop aircraft and projectiles. The U.S. military is always looking for a cutting edge in aircraft and missile technology.

Sally is a dedicated writer for StudentScholarships.org. She is an expert in Aerospace Engineering Scholarships, Financial Aid, Career Advice, and most other things college related.

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Online Aeronautical Engineering Degree

Online Aeronautical Engineering Degree

By Ata Ur Rahman

Aeronautical Engineering has been derived from Aerospace Engineering which has another branch called astronautical engineering. Aerospace in general deals with the construction, design, and science of aircraft and spacecraft although Aeronautical Engineering deals with the area of aircraft only. Modern craft goes through a lot of severe conditions like loads, atmospheric pressures, different temperatures etc and a single mistake in aircraft design or any of the matter relating to it could be devastating beyond imaginations.

Aircrafts these days carry hundreds of passengers floating on staggering heights without a suspension or a support and thus requires a flawless design which could minimize the risk level to almost zero percent so passengers could fly to their destinations safely. This is the area where an Aeronautical Engineer comes in handy and fortunately now you can get an online aeronautical engineering degree from top accredited online universities and top accredited online colleges. Educational requirement to become an Aeronautical Engineer is at least an Aeronautical Engineering Degree according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, and if you get an Online Aeronautical Engineering Degree from one of the top accredited online universities or top accredited online colleges then it would be a golden star on your resume and it would definitely help you a lot in getting a good job. The main idea behind teaching aeronautical engineering online is to minimize the time that it takes to complete this complex field. The duration of the degree of course will not be lowered down but the more could be learnt in that duration only and many top accredited online universities offers a good pay as a Certified Instructor once you are in the finishing stages of your Online Aeronautical Engineering degree program.

Course Outline

Course outline in an online aeronautical engineering degree may contain following courses:

• Fluid Mechanics
• Aerodynamics
• Statistics and Dynamics
• Mathematics
• Electrotechnology
• Aircraft Structures
• Aeroelasticity
• Noise Control
• Avionics
• Risk and Reliability
• Flight Test

Career Outlook

After completing an online aeronautical engineering degree you could have a very bright career ahead. The field of aerospace engineering has a fair amount of expansion capacity as new aircraft technologies are under constructions and with the rising fuel prices, scientists are trying to find an appropriate solution for less fuel consumption and different other aspects. An average salary of an Aeronautical Engineer could range between $60,000 to $100,000 per annum.

For further information regarding top accredited online universities and top accredited online colleges offering aeronautical engineering and other aviation degrees, please visit: http://www.onlineaviationdegree.net/

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Aeronautics Career Schooling

Aeronautics Career Schooling

By Renata McGee

The technology used in aircrafts is sophisticated and includes everything from radios, navigation systems, and flight computers, to fuel systems. Students can enter vocational training and earn a degree in aeronautics. Schooling constantly updates to include the latest technology advances, which leaves students with skills needed to enter the workforce.

Students that work through a program inside a vocational technical college will find that there are two main options to choose from. The majority of schools offer training at the associate's and bachelor's degree level. Programs are completely dedicated to providing students with in depth understanding and workable knowledge of aeronautics equipment and technology. Choosing a program is easier when students base it on their career goals.

Depending on the school being attended students can work through different programs at the associate's degree level. Aviation electronics and aviation maintenance are two possible options available to students. Working through an electronics program teaches students to operate the electrical equipment used in aircrafts. Specialized courses are taken through subjects that provide students with the ability to work with fuel systems, electronics, and the different communication systems integrated into an aircraft. Some courses in an aviation electronics degree program include:

• Aviation Control Systems
• Collision Avoidance Systems
• Electronics Theory
• Air Transport Labor Law
• Flight-Line Maintenance

Students can expect to learn the skills needed to work directly with aircraft communication and diagnostic systems. Maintenance programs center on teaching students the knowledge of different inspection processes. Students can expect to learn how to analyze, fix, and manage airplanes by troubleshooting equipment. Hands-on training provides in depth learning and may include courses on:

• Air Transportation Regulations
• Repair materials
• Servicing Procedures
• Aircraft Blueprints

Study at the associate's degree level prepares students for various careers and opens up the opportunity to advance knowledge in further study. Students can start or continue education at the bachelor's degree level if desired. Students should expect to learn technical aspects regarding technology, design, production, and management of different aircrafts. Although courses and subjects may vary depending on the concentration basic courses may include:

• Basic Flight Training
• Aircraft Engine Design
• Aviation Controls
• Airport Management
• Aeronautic Propulsion Systems

The career opportunities available to students are wide providing them with many ways to not only advance inside the industry but also continue education if desired. Through the completion of an associate's or bachelor's degree program students can become pilots, safety experts, aviation technicians, engineers, and electronics specialists. Continuing education is available at the graduate degree level at traditional colleges. Many students choose to work for a couple of years before earning a graduate degree. Specialized and advanced careers are available to students that continue education.

The need for trained and skilled individuals will only continue to increase as the electronics and equipment used in aircrafts continue to advance in technology. Students can enter this exciting career field by completing an accredited degree program in aeronautics. Full accreditation is provided by agencies like the Council on Aviation Accreditation http://www.aabi.aero/ to quality educational training programs that offer students the best education possible.

DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERIC OUTLINE and may or may not depict precise methods, courses and/or focuses related to ANY ONE specific school(s) that may or may not be advertised at PETAP.org.

Copyright 2010 - All rights reserved by PETAP.org.

Renata McGee is a staff writer for PETAP.org. Locate Aeronautics Schools and Colleges as well as other Vocational School Programs at PETAP.org, your Partners in Education and Tuition Assistance Programs.

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Types of CAD Jobs

Types of CAD Jobs

By Jason Kay

The demand for CAD (computer aided design) jobs have continued to grow over the last several years. Many people who are unfamiliar with the technology believe that it is nothing more than simply creating digital designs, however this couldn't be farther from the truth. In reality, there are a number of unique CAD jobs available. To get an idea of what types of jobs are available, here is quick look at some of the job openings that have shown the biggest need recently. While there are many different descriptions (CAD operator, technician, drafter, etc), they all means essentially the same thing

Types of CAD Jobs

A CAD drafter essentially prepare technical drawings and plan. These plans are used by production and construction engineers to build a finished product. These products range from the tallest buildings to smallest microchips. Drafters create the visual guidelines that will specify details such as the dimensions, procedures, and materials that will be used. The drafter is responsible for melding the information that is given to them from scientists, surveyors, engineers, architects, and the like.

There are a variety of different specialties that a CAD technician could have including: aeronautics, architectural, civil, electrical, mechanical, and process piping.

An aeronautical CAD drafter creates engineering drawings that are detailed plans and specifications that will be used in the manufacturing of goods such as missiles and aircraft.

An architectural CAD operator will create structural features for construction projects. Some CAD operators will specialize even further based upon the type of structure (residential or commercial) or material being used (masonry, wood, steel, or reinforced concrete).

An electrical CAD drafter will deal primarily with layout diagrams that are used be electricians and workers who deal with electrical equipment such as power plants and communication centers.

Civil CAD technicians create relief and topographical maps that can be used to aid in construction and civil engineering projects. These would include things like water systems, sewage systems, pipelines, highways, bridges, and the like.

Pipeline (Process Piping) drafters focus primarily on creating the layout of gas fields, refineries, chemical plants and related projects.

There are other specialties as well including: mechanical and electronics CAD engineers as well.

CAD Work Environment

CAD drafters of all types often have similar working environments. Most will have their own office space and spend extremely long hours in front of the computer. Oftentimes, they will have a standard 40 hour work week (or overtime) because part time CAD workers are rarely needed.

CAD Yearly Earnings

The average yearly income varies based upon location and specialty, however the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that architectural and civil engineers earn $44,390, mechanical drafters earn $47,630, and electrical and electronic CAD drafters earn $47,910 per year.

While the basic function of a CAD drafter is fairly similar, the specialties related to specific types of CAD jobs vary greatly based upon the employee specialization. The basic specialties can be group into: aeronautical, architectural, electrical, civil, pipeline, mechanical, and electronics. The need for different types of CAD jobs is currently projected to continue to increase over the next decade, if not longer.

Find engineering and design Cad jobs near you.

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The McDonnell-Douglas MD-11

By: Robert G. Waldvogel

I

               The McDonnell-Douglas MD-11, intended successor to its earlier DC-10 and the third widebody tri-jet after the DC-10 itself and the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, traces its origins to the General Electric and Pratt and Whitney engine competition to provide a suitable powerplant for the Lockheed C-5A Galaxy military transport, resulting in the first high bypass ratio turbofan, while the DC-10, the result of American Airlines’ 1966 requirements for a 250-pasenger transcontinental airliner, had been built in five basic versions, inclusive of the DC-10-10, the DC-10-15, the DC-10-30, the DC-10-40, and the KC-10 Extender, achieving an ultimate production run of 446.  Program cost overruns had intermittently necessitated the Douglas Aircraft Company’s merger with McDonnell, hitherto a military aircraft manufacturer, in order to ensure survival of both the company and its aircraft.

                Douglas design studies for both narrow and widebody successors, powered by high bypass ratio turbofans and accommodating 150 passengers, had been initiated as far back as the late-1970s.  Although no definitive aircraft program had, in the event, been launched, detailed market analysis, along with new technological research, would later prove valuable to the eventual design.  The 60 orders for the KC-10 had enabled Douglas to maintain the basic DC-10 production line longer than it would have if it had only relied on commercial orders, thus delaying the need for a replacement.  Yet, because it would be based upon its earlier-generation counterpart, it could proceed through its definition and design phase far more rapidly than the later, competing Airbus A-340 and Boeing 777, entering the market earlier than these aircraft and tapping into an existing DC-10 customer base for potential sales.

                Unlike that aircraft, however--whose five basic versions had shared the same fuselage length and cross-section--the projected successor of 1979 had featured a 40-foot fuselage stretch capable of accommodating 340 mixed-class passengers, three General Electric CF6-50J turbofans producing 54,000 pounds of thrust each, a strengthened wing, and a 630,000-pound gross weight.

                The resultant DC-10-60, paralleling the earlier, stretched, long-range DC-8-60 series, had offered a 75-passenger increase over the DC-10s of Air New Zealand and Swissair who had been targeted as potential launch customers, but use of the existing wing had severely eroded performance, and five-foot extensions, coupled with a new wing fillet and active ailerons to reduce gust loads, had considerably improved it.  Indeed, revised trailing edge flaps and a larger tailcone had resulted in a 24-percent fuel reduction over that of the DC-10 and its seat-mile costs had been lower than those of the four-engined Boeing 747.

                Program launch, intended for 1979, had been usurped by Douglas’s further definition of its versions, which, designated “DC-10-61,” “DC-10-62,” and “DC-10-63,” had even more closely reflected the DC-8-61, DC-8-62, and DC-8-63 nomenclatures.  The DC-10-61, for instance, had been intended as a domestic variant with the 40-foot fuselage stretch and a 390-passenger capacity, and had been powered by 60,000 thrust-pound engines.  The DC-10-62, with a reduced, 26.7-foot fuselage insertion, had been intended for very long-range operations, with a 14-foot wingspan increase, active ailerons, and a four-wheeled centerline main undercarriage unit.  It had been intended to carry some 40 fewer passengers than the –61, while the –63 had combined the design features of both, resulting in a high-capacity, long-range variant.

                A series of intermittent DC-10 accidents, none of which had been traced to an inherent design flaw, along with the prevailing economic recession, had precluded further Super DC-10 development at this time, although one of its features, eventually incorporated in its successor, had been flight-tested on a Continental Airlines DC-10-10 in August of 1981.  Winglets, extending both above and below the wing tip, and varying in size, had resulted in a three-percent fuel reduction because of an equal decrease in generated drag.

                Thus buoyed only by MD-80 sales, the Douglas Aircraft Company rode the recession.  A projected DC-10 replacement, bearing an MD-11X-10 designation in 1984 and offering considerably more advancement than the original Super 60 series had, had been most closely based on the DC-10-30 with a 580,000-pound maximum take off weight, a 6,500-nautical mile range with a full payload, and either three General Electric CF6-80C2 or Pratt and Whitney PW4000 engines.  A higher-capacity version, to be offered in parallel with the basic airframe, had featured a 22.3-foot fuselage stretch, to permit 331 mixed-class passengers to be carried over 6,000-mile ranges and had a corresponding 590,000-pound gross weight.  American, Delta, Lufthansa, and Toa Domestic Airlines, considering this iteration, had suggested refinements which had later been incorporated in the definitive aircraft.

                By the following year, the board authorized order solicitations, although both versions had, by this time, featured the same fuselage length, the medium-range variant, at a 500,000-pound gross weight, offering a 4,781-mile range, and the long-range counterpart, at a 590,000-pound gross weight, offering a 6,900-mile range.  Accommodating some 335 passengers in a typically mixed arrangement, they introduced composite construction, a two-person cockpit, and an advanced electronic flight system.

                At the time of official program launch, which had occurred on December 30, 1986, 92 orders and options had been placed by Alitalia, British Caledonian, Federal Express, Korean Air, SAS, Swissair, Thai Airways International, and Varig.

                The MD-11, which had rolled out for the first time some three years later in September of 1989 in Long Beach, California, and had been registered N111MD, had been devoid of its engines, winglets, vertical stabilizer, and paint scheme, but displayed the logos of the 29 customers which had ordered or optioned the type by this time.  As these surfaces had subsequently been added, however, it bore a close similarity to the DC-10-30 from which it had been derived.

                Featuring an 18.6-foot stretch over that aircraft, attained by means of two fuselage plugs, it retained its nose and cockpit sections, but introduced an elongated, drag-reducing, chisel-shaped tailcone, and offered a 201.4-foot overall length when fitted with General Electric engines, or a 200.11-foot overall length with Pratt and Whitney powerplants.

                The two-spar Douglas airfoil, built up of chordwise ribs and skins and spanwise stiffeners, featured a 169.6-foot span, a 35-degree sweepback at the quarter chord, and six degrees of dihedral, rendering a 7.9 aspect ratio and a 3,648-square-foot area.  Low-speed lift was augmented by new, full-span leading edge slats and redesigned, double-slotted trailing edge flaps, while roll control was provided by inboard, all-speed ailerons made of metal with composite skins, and outboard, low-speed ailerons which drooped with the trailing edge flaps during take off and were entirely constructed of composite material.  Each wing also contained five spoiler panels.

                Fuel, carried in wing integral tanks, totaled 40,183 US gallons.

                Up- and downward-extending winglets, installed on the wingtips themselves, had provided the greatest distinction to the DC-10.  Harnessing the drag-producing vortex otherwise created by wingtip pressure differential intermixing, they had been comprised of a seven-foot, upward-angled section made of a conventional rib and spar, but covered with an aluminum alloy skin and completed by a carbonfibre trailing edge, and a 2.5-foot, downward-angled section made entirely of carbonfibre, collectively encompassing a 40-square-foot area.

                Because of the increased moment-arm and computer-controlled longitudinal stability augmentation software, the MD-11’s horizontal tail had been 30 percent smaller than that of the DC-10 and featured a 2,000 US gallon integral trim tank which increased range and facilitated in-flight center-of-gravity optimization.  Its advanced, cambered airfoil, and reduced, 33-degree sweepback, coupled with an electromechanically-activated variable incidence tailplane fitted with two-section, slotted, composite trailing edge elevators on either side, resulted in a 1,900-pound structural weight reduction and decreased in-flight drag.

                Power had been provided by three 62,000 thrust-pound General Electric CF6-80C2 or 60,000 thrust-pound Pratt and Whitney PW4462 high bypass ratio turbofans, two of which had been pylon-attached to the wing leading edge underside and one of which had been installed in the vertical tail aft of the fin torsion box.  Tracing its origins to the 41,000 thrust-pound TF39 engine originally developed for the Lockheed C-5A galaxy, the former had evolved into the quieter, more advanced CF-6 intended for commercial operation, and its 40,000 thrust-pound CF6-6D had powered the domestic DC-10-10, while its 48,000 thrust-pound CF6-50C had powered the intercontinental DC-10-30, along with the Airbus A-300 and some versions of the Boeing 747.  The even more advanced CF6-80A had also been chosen to power the A-310 and the 767.

                Incorporating the CF-6’s core, with a larger, 93-inch, two-shaft fan, the CF6-80C2 powering the MD-11 had offered 17-percent more thrust and had a bypass ratio of 5.05.  Linked to a full authority digital engine control system, which itself had provided electronic autothrottle and flight management system interface, the turbofan had offered reduced fuel burn.

                The alternative Pratt and Whitney PW4060, whose reduced length equally decreased the aircraft’s overall length by five inches, had been the only other customer option.  The Rolls Royce RB.211-524L Trent, briefly listed as a third alternative, had been specified by Air Europe for its 18 firm and optioned orders, but the financial collapse of its parent company had precluded its continued offering.

The hydraulically-actuated, tricycle undercarriage, like that of the DC-10-30, had been comprised of a twin-wheeled, forward-retracting nose unit; two quad-wheeled, laterally retracting main gear bogies; and a twin-wheeled, forward-retracting, fuselage centerline strut, all of which had featured oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers.

                The MD-11 cockpit, significantly deviating from the DC-10’s, had been operated by a two-person crew, the third, or flight engineer, position replaced by digital avionics and computerized flight control and management systems, while the Aircraft System Control, or ASU, had been comprised of five independent, dual-channel computers which automated all of his previous functions.

                The passenger cabin, designed for flexibility, had incorporated seat, galley, lavatory, and garment closet installation on cabin length-running tracks whose one-inch increments facilitated multiple configurations and densities and rapid rearrangements, thus permitting carriers to operate the type on scheduled flights during the week and on high-density/charter services during weekends.  Compared to the DC-10 cabin, the MD-11 featured light-weight side panels and seat assemblies; improved lighting; larger, restyled overhead storage compartments which tripled the per-passenger volume to three cubic feet; standard centerline bins aft of the second door; and provision for overhead crew rest beds.

                A typical two-class, 323-passenger configuration had entailed 34 six-abreast first class seats at a 41- to 42-inch pitch and 289 nine-abreast economy class seats at a 33- to 34-inch pitch, while a three-class arrangement had included 16 six-abreast first class seats at a 60-inch pitch, 56 seven-abreast business class seats at a 38-inch pitch, and 221 nine-abreast economy class seats at a 32-inch pitch.  Maximum capacity, in a ten-abreast, three-four-three configuration, had been 409.

               The MD-11, with a 114,100-pound weight-limited payload, had a 602,500-pound maximum take off weight.  Accommodating 298 three-class passengers, it had offered a 6,840-nautical mile range, including FAA-required reserves.

               First taking to the skies on January 10, 1990 from Long Beach, the MD-11 had performed stability and control tests over Edwards Air Force Base, achieving a maximum altitude of 25,000 feet and a 300-knot speed before concluding a highly successful two-hour, 56-minute maiden flight.  Three hundred fifteen orders and options had been received for the type by this time.

               The certification program, which had entailed four General Electric CF6-80C2 and one Pratt and Whitney PW4460 powered airframe, had notched up several commercial tri-jet records, including a 9,080-mile flight from Anchorage, Alaska, on July 31, 1990, with the fourth prototype, which had remained aloft for 16 hours, 35 minutes.

               Type certification had been achieved on November 8 for the CF6-80C2-powered version and December 19 for the PW4460 aircraft, while clearance had been given for Category IIIB landings the following April.

 II

               Finnair, the type’s launch customer, had taken delivery of its first aircraft, registered OH-LGA, at a ceremony in Long Beach on November 29, 1990, and a representative intercontinental sector with this aircraft had been made two years later, in October of 1992.

               Founded on November 1, 1923 by Bruno L. Lucander, the private carrier, then designated “Aero O/Y,” had inaugurated service the following March to Reval, Estonia, with Junkers F.13 aircraft, before expanding to Stockholm, with an intermediate stop in Turku, in cooperation with Sweden’s ABA.  Finnish domestic route development, because of the country’s profusion of lakes, had necessitated floatplane equipment, although post-1936 airport construction had enabled it to acquire two de Havilland Rapide Dragon biplanes and, later, two Junkers Ju.52/3ms.

              Shortly after World War II-mandated flight suspension had been lifted, the fledgling airline, now 70-percent government owned and renamed “Aero O/Y Finish Air Lines,” had reestablished its Helsinki-Stockholm sector and acquired nine DC-3s.

              The 1950s, characterized by continental route system expansion and modern, Convair 340 aircraft acquisitions, had taken it to Dusseldorf, Hamburg, London, and Moscow from a steadily expanding Helsinki flight hub, and the type had been superseded by the slightly higher-capacity Convair 440.

              The Sud-Aviation SE.210-1A Caravelle, its first pure-jet equipment, had replaced the pistonliners and had enabled it to reduce flying time on the Stockholm and Frankfurt routes, and the larger, SE.210-10B, first delivered in 1964, ultimately became its standard type, four years before it had officially been redesignated “Finnair.”

               The Douglas DC-8-62CF, its first long-range, quad-engined jet, had been delivered on January 27, 1969 and had enabled it to inaugurate intercontinental service from Helsinki to New York, via Copenhagen and Amsterdam, on March 15 for the first time.  The first of five DC-10-30s, its first widebody aircraft, had been accepted in 1975, and two Airbus A-300B4s had been acquired 11 years later, in 1986, for charter service.

               The MD-11, powered by General Electric CF6-80C2D1F engines and configured for 58 business class and 278 economy class passengers, had been ordered to replace its DC-10-30s, and had first been deployed on the Helsinki-Tenerife route on December 29, 1990, to amass initial operating experience before being transferred to the North American and Far Eastern sectors for which it had been intended.

               Operating an Airbus and McDonnell-Douglas fleet comprised of two MD-11s, five DC-10-30s, two A-300B4s, 14 MD-82s and –83s, three MD-87s, and 17 DC-9-40s and –50s by the fall of 1992, Finnair had carried 5,236,000 passengers on a domestic, international, intercontinental, and charter route network, encompassing 25 destinations in Finland, 31 in Europe, two in North America, and four in Asia.  The former had mostly been operated on its behalf by Karair, which had had a fleet of five ATR-72s, and Finnaviation, which had flown six SF-340s.  Its two MD-11s had operated the Helsinki-Tokyo and Helsinki-Bangkok-Singapore routes, while its DC-10-30s had continued to serve the New York and Beijing sectors.

              The first, to Japan, had spanned 4,862 miles and had entailed a nine-hour, 35-minute block time, and had been operated by the first MD-11 to enter passenger-carrying service, OH-LGA.

              The tall, dense trees surrounding Helsinki’s Vantaa International Airport, still wearing their yellow and gold autumn coats, appeared diffused as the biting, 30-degree wind whirled snow flurries toward the geometric pattern of ramps, taxiways, and runways.  The goliath, blue-trimmed Finnair MD-11 tri-jet, currently the only widebody on the white-dusted tarmac accompanied by a myriad of narrow body DC-9, MD-80, and 737-300 twinjets, was towed to Gate A-4 30 minutes before its scheduled, 1620 departure time amid the late-afternoon, diminished Nordic light.

             The MD-11’s two-person cockpit, a radical departure from the DC-10’s, sported six eight-square-inch Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) glass display units, comprised of the duplicated Primary Flight Display (PFD), Navigation Display (ND), Engine and Alert Display (EAD), and Systems Display (SD) schematics, while the Automatic System Controllers, located on the overhead panel, were subdivided into sections for hydraulics, electrical, pneumatics, and fuel, each controlled by two independent computers.  The Flight Control Panel (FCP) itself, located on the Glareshield Control Panel (GCP), featured controls for autopilot and flight director mode selections, as well as flight management system mode change controls, inclusive of speed (SPD), navigation (NAV), and profile (PROF).

            The pending, trans-Siberian flight’s departure and destination points, weights, moments, flight plan, take off runway (04), and take off performance calculations, obtained from the station-prepared load sheet, had been entered into the keypad-resembling Multifunction Control Display Unit (MCDU) located on the center pedestal between the two pilots.  The flight’s Standard Instrument Departure (SID) had subsequently been loaded into the flight management system during inertial reference system initialization.

            The number three engine, the first to be started and the furthest from the bleed air source, had been engaged by pulling the Engine Start Switch, its start valve moving into the open position, as verified by an amber confirmation light.  When the N2 compressor speed had equaled 15 percent, the start lever had been moved to the “On” position and the engine start switch, reflecting an exhaust gas temperature (EGT) of between 45- and 52-percent, had popped in, the start valve now closed and the amber light disilluminating.  The engine’s N1 tachometer had settled at 23-percent and its exhaust gas temperature had hovered at the 700 degree Fahrenheit mark.  The sequence had then been repeated for the other two turbofans, followed by completion of the “After Start Checklist.”

           Tug-maneuvered from its nosed-in parking position, the MD-11, operating as Flight AY 914, had initiated its autonomous movement with an almost imperceptible throttle advancement, testing its flight surfaces and following Vantaa Ground Control taxi instructions.

           Navigating the snow-patched, blue light-lined taxiways in virtual darkness, the lumbering tri-jet made a 180-degree turn on to Runway 04 with the aid of its nose wheel steering tiller, the nose wheel itself positioned so far behind the cockpit that the aircraft had been inched well beyond the strip’s centerline before it had actually initiated the turn toward it, its elongated, wide fuselage following it in trailing mode.  Full rudder deflection provided ten degrees of steering on the ground, while the nose wheel achieved up to 70 percent of left and right laterability.

            Receiving take off clearance, the MD-11, sporting 25 degrees of trailing edge flap, had thundered into initial acceleration as its throttles, manually advanced to the 70-percent position, nourished its huge-diameter General Electric turbofans with a steady stream of fuel, as they swallowed massive quantities of cold air with each, increasingly faster fan rotation.  The AUTOPILOT button, located on the Flight Control Panel and engaging the autothrottles themselves, computer-controlled the aircraft into its proper take off thrust setting, coupled with automatic engine synchronization.

            Elevator-leveraged into a nosewheel-disengaging rotation, the tri-jet surrendered to the purple, snowflake-blurring dusk, its heavy fuel load exerting a wingtip-curving bending load and its wing leading edge light beams slicing through the obscurity as it climbed out over Runway 15 and the ground light splotches representing Helsinki.  Retracting its tricycle undercarriage, the aircraft, whose pitch bars had indicated its correct climb attitude, had automatically adhered to its standard instrument departure course.

             Arcing into a shallow right bank over the coast, Flight 914 retracted its trailing edge flaps, although its leading edge slats had remained extended until additional speed had been amassed.  Engaging the navigation mode enabled the aircraft to fly its departure profile, while activating the autoflight system, coupled with the “NAV” and “PROF” buttons, ensured that it followed its route, climb, outbound radial, and either air traffic control-assigned or level-off altitude.  Airspeed had been maintained at 250 knots below 10,000 feet, at which time it had been permitted to accelerate to 355 or beyond, and its leading edge lights had been retracted.

             Surmounting one of many cloud decks, the aircraft crossed the Gulf of Finland, whose dark purple surface had been separated from the horizon by a diffused band of chartreuse light.  Increasingly encased in howling slipstream, it passed over the coast of the former Soviet Union at a 472-knot ground speed, flying southwest of St. Petersburg in black skies which had been traced by a thin, glowing orange line on its western horizon, now located behind its left wingtip, as it settled into its initial, 33,000-foot plateau at a 509-knot ground speed, destined for the Ural Mountains and Siberia.

            The passenger cabin, sporting diagonal-patterned, light and dark blue upholstery, had featured six rows of seven-abreast, two-three-two, configured business class seats in the forward section, followed by another three aft of the second cross aisle.  Economy class seating, entirely in a ten-abreast, three-four-three, arrangement, had included nine rows behind the business class, and 21 in the aft cabin, running between the third and fourth cross aisles.

            Dinner in the latter, according to its bilingual English and Japanese menu (which, in October of 1992, had ironically featured an in-flight profile of one of Finnair’s DC-10-30s), had included a selection of aperitifs, beer, wine, and nonalcoholic beverages served with lightly salted peanuts and smoked almonds; a crabmeat and mushroom seafood salad on a lettuce bed with jumbo shrimp, sliced cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes; a basket of hot white and wheat rolls with Finnish butter; mango beef or chicken in curry-coconut cream sauce; French camembert cheese with crispy rye crackers; raspberry mousse cake; coffee or Japanese tea; a selection of liqueurs; after-dinner mints; and hot towels.

            In-flight entertainment had encompassed Finnair’s high-quality, trilingual Blue Wings magazine, which had devoted some 40 pages to airline-specific features; 14 channels of audio programming accessed through padded, stereophonic earphones; and two feature films.

            Maintaining a 567-knot ground speed, the MD-11 penetrated the minus 62-egree tropopause at a three-degree nose-high attitude, passing southeast of Arkhangelsk over the frozen Siberian tundra, with seven hours, 30 minutes remaining on its flight plan.  Thinning cloud layer, appearing like sheathing veils, revealed periodic orange and white, population center-represented pearls steadily moving beneath the protruding, massive-diameter turbofans as they propelled it toward Adak and thence south of Naryan-Mar.

          Oblivious o the passengers, the upper and lower winglets delayed the otherwise vortex-created wingtip pressure differential intermixing, reducing drag, while the horizontal stabilizer-located trim tank had enabled the aircraft to shift its center-of-gravity rearward, toward its 34-percent aft design limit, further reducing drag and coincident fuel burn by 2.7 percent.  The type had standardly operated within a 29- to 32-percent range.

Oblivious to the passengers, the upper and lower winglets delayed the otherwise vortex-created wingtip pressure differential intermixing, reducing drag, while the horizontal stabilizer-located trim tank had enabled the aircraft to shift its center-of-gravity rearward, toward its 34-percent aft design limit, further reducing drag and coincident fuel burn by 2.7 percent.  The type had standardly operated within a 29- to 32-percent range.

Flight 914’s flight plan progress, indicated by a series of position and ground speed readings, had been the result of the IRU’s position and velocity coordination with VHF omni-directional radio range (VOR) and distance measuring equipment (DME) stations between Finland and Japan.  The Flight Plan (F-PLN) display selected on the MCDU yielded the aircraft’s position and waypoints aligned in a vertical manner on the screen, with the estimated times beside them, along with speed and altitude, listed as “Position,” “Estimated Time Overhead” (ETO), “Speed” (SPD), and “Flight Level” (ALT).

Passing over Irkutsk, the Yabblonovyy Mountain Range, and Tsitisihar, the aircraft moved ever eastward, toward Vladivostock.

Slicing the darkness and opening day in the Orient, dawn’s razor pierced the eastern horizon with a thin cut through which an orange glow had poured ahead of the port wing, somehow emphasizing the cylindrical nature of the planet over which the tri-jet presently arced.  “Tomorrow,” seemingly eager to unleash its force, streamed through the gradually-enlarging fissure marking the demarcation line between the 24-hour cycle’s two modes, its light intensifying and transforming the black, nocturnal doom of Siberia into a cold, partially habitable purple and ultimate dark, pre-dawn blue.  The amount of humanity awakening to such light below in the vast wasteland had undoubtedly been infinitesimal.  The sun, appearing a red, liquid mercury immersed in a gray-black sea, slowly triumphed over night, its upper, head-like rim becoming distinguishable as it shyly revealed the rest of its body, illuminating the ice-capped, corrugated crust of the Russian mountains covering the area immediately below the fuselage.  Initially seeming to float in a dark-brown sea, they became independently distinguishable as the sun stretched its floodlighting rays, like pointing limbs, toward them.

Passing over snaking, copper-reflecting rivers, Flight 914 consumed the two hours, 11 minutes remaining on its flight plan.

Aromas of brewing coffee enticed the groggy, mostly-sleeping passengers from nocturnal slumber in the cabin, a process only partially augmented by breakfast-precedent hot, perfumed towels.  The meal itself had included orange juice, a three-egg omelet filled with creamed spinach, thick slices of Danish ham, assorted rolls, Swiss black cherry preserves, Finnish cheese spread fondue, cream wafers, and coffee or tea.

Banking on to a southeasterly heading with the aid of its inboard ailerons, the MD-11 had, after virtually the duration of its cruise, departed Soviet air space for the first time over snow-dusted, chocolate-brown ridges whose peaks had been gently grazed by funnels of vapory mist, following them to the coast and the morning sun-reflected, copper surface of the Sea of Japan.  One hour, 23 minutes had remained to Tokyo.

Motionlessly suspended above the water’s glass-like surface, it cruised past the silver peak of Mount Fuji, now maintaining an almost due south, 180-degree heading.  Banking left over cumulous patches, it forged its final link to Japan, with its time-to-destination having unwound to the 40-minute mark.

The ridges defining Honshu Island appeared ahead.

Tokyo had been reporting clear skies and 20-degree Celsius temperatures.

Traversing the coast over Niigata, the MD-11 had reached a position directly northwest of its destination, with 25 minutes remaining on its flight plan, disengaging itself from its aerial plateau for the first time in almost nine hours by means of the cockpit-selected “NAV” and “PROF” modes.

Induced into a nose-down, slipstream-increasing descent profile, Flight 914 traced the coastline before briefly passing out over the whitecapped Pacific, now ATC-vectored into a series of three right banks.  Automatically guided, the aircraft reduced speed to 250 knots as it had transited the 10,000-foot speed restriction, adhering to its Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR), propelled by its three massive turbofans whose N1 tachometers had registered almost-stationary, 34-percent readings.

An air traffic control-requested speed reduction, to 200 knots, had, according to the speed tape, required an initial trailing edge flap extension, to 15 degrees.

As the aircraft had sank over brown, tan, and green geometric-patterned farmland on its final approach heading of 340 degrees, the captain had selected the Approach/Land tile, the autoland system armed for an instrument landing system (ILS) approach and poised to capture the glideslope and localizer.  The Approach page of the MCDU, yielding landing weight, runway, barometric pressure, and final flap setting speed readings, listed the following for RJAA, the ICAO four-letter code for Tokyo-Narita: a 208-knot “clean” speed, a 158-knot flap extension speed to the 28-degree position, a 161-knot approach speed with 35 degrees of flap, a 158-knot V-reference speed, and a 150-knot touchdown speed.

Sporting significantly increased wing area with leading edge slat and 35 degrees of trailing edge flap extensions, the blue-trimmed Finnair MD-11, projecting its tricycle undercarriage like four outstretched claws, conducted its final approach over the Narita suburbs in the flawlessly-blue morning, passing over the runway threshold.  Sinking toward the concrete, during which time altitude calls had been computer-generated, the widebody tri-jet had been pitched into a seven-degree, nose-high flare, retarding its authothrottle to idle at 50 feet and permitting ground effect to cushion its main gear contact.  Manually throttled into its reverse thrust mode, it had unleashed its upper wing surface spoilers, their handle having been moved from the retract (RET) setting through the “1/3,” “2/3,” and “FULL” marks as the aircraft decelerated.  The nosewheel thudded on to the ground.

Taxiing to Satellite Four of Narita International Airport’s South Wing, the aircraft moved into its Gate 44 parking position at 0855, local time, ending its intercontinental flight sector and completing the circular pattern of nosed-in widebody airliners comprised of an Austrian Airlines A-310-300, a Japan Air Lines 747-200B, a British Airways 747-400, an ANA 747-200B, a Northwest 747-200B, and a Swissair MD-11.

III

Initial MD-11 service had not always been so routine.  Indeed, the aircraft had demonstrated gross weight and drag increases far in excess of performance projections, resulting in payload and range deficiencies, and Robert Crandall, then American Airlines’ CEO, had refused to take delivery of the type, substituting an existing DC-10-30 on the San Jose-Tokyo route for which it had been intended.  A series of performance improvement packages (PIP), targeting the shortcomings, had ultimately remedied the situation.

By January 1, 1996, 147 MD-11s had been delivered to 24 original customers and operators who had collectively engaged the aircraft in an 11.6-hour daily utilization, experiencing a 98.3-percent dispatch reliability.

Aside from the initial passenger MD-11, several other versions, although in very limited quantities, had been produced.

The MD-11 Combi, for example, had featured an aft, left, upward-opening freight door, permitting various percentages of passengers, from 168 to 240, and cargo, ranging from four to ten pallets, to be carried on the main deck, while lower-deck space had remained unchanged.  With a 144,900-pound weight-limited payload, the aircraft had a maximum range of between 5,180 and 6,860 nautical miles.

The MD-11CF Convertible Freighter had featured the main deck door relocated to the forward, port side.  Martinair Holland, launch customer for the variant in August of 1991, had placed four firm orders and one option for the type.

The MD-11F, with a 202,100-pound payload, had been a pure-freighter without passenger windows or internal facilities ordered by FedEx, while the MD-11ER Extended Range, launched in February of 1994, had featured a 3,000 US gallon fuel capacity increase carried in lower-deck auxiliary tanks, a 6,000-pound higher payload, a 480-mile greater range, and a new maximum take off weight of 630,500 pounds.  World Airways, selecting the Pratt and Whitney PW4462 engine, and Garuda Indonesia, specifying its General Electric CF6-80C2 counterpart, had placed the launch orders.

Dwindling sales, the result of the design’s initial performance deficiencies, American Airlines’ reputation-damaging public criticisms, order cancellations, and competition from the Airbus A-340 and Boeing 777, had forced McDonnell-Douglas to write down $1.8 million for the program in 1996 and by the following year, after McDonnell-Douglas’s merger with the Boeing Commercial Airplane Company, it had no longer been feasible to continue its production.  The original Douglas Aircraft Company Building 84, located at Long Beach Airport and incubation point for all McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 and MD-11 widebody tri-jets, had hatched its 200th and last MD-11, a freighter, for Lufthansa Cargo, in June of 2000, and the aircraft, towed across the road to the runway, bore the title, “The perfect end to a perfect era.”

The complete production run had included 131 MD-11P Passenger versions, five MD-11C Combis, six MD-11CF Convertible Freighters, 53 MD-11F Pure-Freighters, and five MD-11ER Extended Range variants.

The figures, added to the 446 DC-10s built between 1971 and 1988, had resulted in a total of 646 tri-jets having been produced.

Although McDonnell-Douglas had studied several stretched, re-engined, and rewinged MD-11 successors designated “MD-12s,” including a double-decked, quad-engined, A-380-resembling configuration, these ambitious proposals had exceeded the value of the manufacturer itself, and when Taiwan Aerospace had withdrawn financial support for the definitive version, which had reverted to a tri-jet design with an advanced wing, the three-engined widebody, tracing its lineage to the original DC-10, had finally ended, leaving the increasing number of passenger-converted airframes into freighters to carry their pedigrees into the early-21st century.

About the Author

A graduate of Long Island University-C.W. Post Campus with a summa-cum-laude BA Degree in Comparative Languages and Journalism, I have subsequently earned the Continuing Community Education Teaching Certificate from the Nassau Association for Continuing Community Education (NACCE) at Molloy College, the Travel Career Development Certificate from the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA) at LIU, and the AAS Degree in Aerospace Technology at the State University of New York – College of Technology at Farmingdale. Having amassed almost three decades in the airline industry, I managed the New York-JFK and Washington-Dulles stations at Austrian Airlines, created the North American Station Training Program, served as an Aviation Advisor to Farmingdale State University of New York, and created and taught the Airline Management Certificate Program at the Long Island Educational Opportunity Center. A freelance author, I have written some 70 books of the short story, novel, nonfiction, essay, poetry, article, log, curriculum, training manual, and textbook genre in English, German, and Spanish, having principally focused on aviation and travel, and I have been published in book, magazine, newsletter, and electronic Web site form. I am a writer for Cole Palen’s Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in New York.

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