Plane Nation

The Boeing 787 program has made a subtle but important change to the
airplane’s livery to enhance airplane performance.By developing a
method for maintaining a smooth flow of air - called laminar flow — over
more area on the 787 nacelle inlet, Boeing is able to reduce aircraft drag
and fuel consumption.The 787 nacelle has a tightly controlled smooth
surface to preserve laminar flow over a greater distance than that on a
standard design.”Aircraft drag is reduced because laminar flow has much
lower skin friction drag than turbulent flow,” said Ron Hinderberger,
propulsion leader for the 787 program, said in a statement issued in
Seattle Monday.To achieve laminar flow over the inlet it

EXECUTIVES of Europe’s aircraft manufacturer Airbus were engaged
this weekend in another crisis. They had hoped to unveil the design of
their new A370 aircraft this week on the eve of the Farnborough Air
Show. The “launch” of the new plane, which is even more critical to the
company’s future than its troubled A380 super-jumbo, had been pencilled
in for 14 July until British partner BAE Systems announced it was
triggering a full audit of the Toulouse-based European planemaker. On
Friday, the launch of the mid-sized jet was suddenly suspended to allow
new chairman Christian Streiff to “review” the troubled project, so Airbus
claimed.

images from Flight Global)Airbus is now testing its next winglet from Kansas. It looks great. Remember how neat the the 7E7 looked with the curves? Lets hope this
design works best and wins.

European aircraft maker Airbus, which faces delays to production of the
A380 super-jumbo, may also be forced to delay the launch of its long-haul
A350 jet, London’s Times newspaper said Friday.The new setback was
because Christian Streiff, expected to be confirmed as the new Airbus
chief executive, needed time to approve the venture, the newspaper said
citing sources close to EADS, which owns 80 percent of Airbus.The
group has been busy redesigning its A350 model, a new mid-sized airliner
that has been poorly received by potential clients.According to The
Times, sources close to the European Aeronautics Defence and Space
Company have warned that Streiff may not make a decision

During a national televised interview in June 2006, French President Jacques Chirac mentioned the A370, about which he had probably been briefed by his
staffers.
Since the A370 is little known yet outside of aerospace circles, pundits and political opponents wrongly scoffed this reference to the A370, which they didn’t
know
of, and quoted it as another example of the President being out of touch with reality. (via Main Page - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)