Carr - Woolman Flight Appreciation Center

Alaska Airlines Tests Scanning Method for Faster Aircraft Inspections

 

If you work in an industry with lots of parts to keep track of that are located in tight spaces, keeping them all tagged and cataloged is consuming work. That cataloging is usually done on your hands and knees or your tip toes or flat on your back getting into the tight spaces to access them. Alaska Airlines in partnership with Boeing and Fujitsu have found a new way to aid in this kind of work. Anyone who remembers Star Trek episodes where they "scanned" objects for information can appreciate this. This Boeing Company video was posted by YouTube user Altumkell. For more information about Alaska Airlines, visitors may also wish to head to Concourse A here at the Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation Center located on the left hand side of the page. Gates A3 and A4 are for Alaska Airlines. Images of Alaska's world may also be seen at flight observations decks located at flickr such as Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 14

Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 5 at flickr

 

Alaska Airlines N799AS by Gillphoto

This gallery was created to be part of my online, Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation Center. My online center dedicated to the history of North Central Airlines and Delta Air Lines other airlines of my liking and aviation past, present and future.

This gallery was created to be part of my online, Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation Center. It is dedicated to the history of North Central Airlines and Delta Air Lines and aviation past, present and future. This observation deck gallery is for Alaska Airlines. 

Alaska Airlines is my third favortie airline of all-time.  In the 1990s, I had the opportunity to fly Alaska. It was always a first class experience, even though I was in coach. They offered some of the best service I had ever seen. I remember them going out of their way at Burbank to get my late mother on the plane safely. They hauled her wheelchair up the air stairs as just one example. North Central used to say, "Good people make our airline great." I felt the same when travelling on Alaska. You felt it from the curb to the baggage claim.

To me they are the last of the heritage of the regionals, the airlines that specialized in only certain parts of the country, before the deregulaton free for all of the 1980s. You may see names like Air Wisconsin or Frontier still. These airlines are either contract fliers like Air Wisconsin for United Express or Frontier as just a nameplate for parent company Republic Airways. These airlines may fly just about anywhere as well, not to just one region.

Alaska in the last decade has spread out some across the America, but retain their core on the west coast of North America. Then, there is the core within the core. Alaska is one of the few to own and operate their own regional feeder. Known as Horizon Air, they serve the smaller communites linking them to Alaska's major routes. Like the parent, Horizon is a class act. When I look at the Alaska route map these days, I think of North Central's final route map. North Central was starting to expand beyond Herman the duck's midwestern nest. Eventually, Herman too flew from coast to coast as Republic Airlines (not to be confused with today's Republic Airways). Sadly, Republic may have reached too far. They certainly did finanically and this lead to a takeover by Northwest Airlines. I really hope that the same fate does not befall Alaska. Rumors crop up from time to time that this or that major would like to swallow up the Eskimo. I hope that Alaska's managment team keeps the proud airline own their own, an independent heritage from the great state that is their namesake. To see more images from this observation deck of Alaska Airlines go to: Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 5. Also, to visit Alaska's world, you may proceed to the Concourse A and gates A3 and A4 located on the left hand side of this page here at the Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation Center.

Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 14 at flickr

 

Leaving JNU by Gillfoto

This gallery was created to be part of my online, Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation Center. It is dedicated to the history of North Central Airlines and Delta Air Lines and aviation past, present and future. This observation deck gallery is for Alaska Airlines. 

Alaska Airlines is my third favortie airline of all-time.  In the 1990s, I had the opportunity to fly Alaska. It was always a first class experience, even though I was in coach. They offered some of the best service I had ever seen. I remember them going out of their way at Burbank to get my late mother on the plane safely. They hauled her wheelchair up the air stairs as just one example. North Central used to say, "Good people make our airline great." I felt the same when travelling on Alaska. You felt it from the curb to the baggage claim.

To me they are the last of the heritage of the regionals, the airlines that specialized in only certain parts of the country, before the deregulaton free for all of the 1980s. You may see names like Air Wisconsin or Frontier still. These airlines are either contract fliers like Air Wisconsin for United Express or Frontier as just a nameplate for parent company Republic Airways. These airlines may fly just about anywhere as well, not to just one region.

Alaska in the last decade has spread out some across the America, but retain their core on the west coast of North America. Then, there is the core within the core. Alaska is one of the few to own and operate their own regional feeder. Known as Horizon Air, they serve the smaller communites linking them to Alaska's major routes. Like the parent, Horizon is a class act. When I look at the Alaska route map these days, I think of North Central's final route map. North Central was starting to expand beyond Herman the duck's midwestern nest. Eventually, Herman too flew from coast to coast as Republic Airlines (not to be confused with today's Republic Airways). Sadly, Republic may have reached too far. They certainly did finanically and this lead to a takeover by Northwest Airlines. I really hope that the same fate does not befall Alaska. Rumors crop up from time to time that this or that major would like to swallow up the Eskimo. I hope that Alaska's managment team keeps the proud airline own their own, an independent heritage from the great state that is their namesake. To see more images from this observation deck of Alaska Airlines go to: Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 14 at flickr. Also, to visit Alaska's world, you may proceed to the Concourse A and gates A3 and A4 located on the left hand side of this page here at the Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation Center.

Science Fair: Convair 580 Turboprop Engine! What Exactly is a Turboprop Engine?

 

      I always enjoy finding new people who have a love for the old North Central Airlines and those who loved the Convair 580 propjet. The 580 was a mainstay of the fleet from 1967 to 1979. Rich Hoeg, alias Northstarnerd.org was one had an interest in the 580, in a way I had not yet heard of. He wrote in a recent blog entry:

      "Sometimes it's amazing how data which has been buried in your brain for 40 years suddenly reappears. Most mornings, our company cafeteria posts a question on a bulletin board. People then write their responses on an easel ... sort of a physical Twitter or microblog!

• Today's question: What was your science fair project?
• My answer (from the 1960's): The Convair 580 turboprop engine!..."

     I thought a science fair project on the 580's powerplant was very cool. I wrote Rich and he wrote me back saying, "....I have a collection of airline memorabilia dating back to the great airline strike of 1968. My collection has thousands of items, with North Central being the biggest airline in terms of stuff. I have most Northliner issues from 68 till they stopped publishing (first the employee newspaper, then the flight magazine). I was 12 years old at the time, and was supposed to fly down to Fort Dodge where my grandparents would pick me up to visit the family farm (via Ozark Airlines). I ended up ultimately making the trip, but via Braniff to Sioux City....and I flew many miles via North Central."

     Rich doing a science fair project when he was young about the Convair 580's engine made me think that you might like to know what exactly is behind the prop in a turboprop or prop-jet engine.

     Jet engines are the predominant powerplant for modern aircraft, but turboprops have found niche uses in both military and civilian applications. Sometimes they are called prop-jets. Many airlines, including North Central, when introducing the Convair 580 in 1967, liked to promote it as "jet-powered" to catch the attention of travellers sure that jet meant modern and fast and that anything prop was old and slow. What exactly is a turboprop or prop-jet engine?

     NASA's education program at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland Ohio explains them this way:

 

     "To move an airplane through the air, thrust is generated with some kind of propulsion system. Many low speed transport aircraft and small commuter aircraft use turboprop propulsion. On this page we will discuss some of the fundamentals of turboprop engines. The turboprop uses a gas turbine core to turn a propeller. As mentioned on a previous page, propeller engines develop thrust by moving a large mass of air through a small change in velocity. Propellers are very efficient and can use nearly any kind of engine to turn the prop (including humans!). In the turboprop, a gas turbine core is used. How does a turboprop engine work?

     There are two main parts to a turboprop propulsion system, the core engine and the propeller. The core is very similar to a basic turbojet except that instead of expanding all the hot exhaust through the nozzle to produce thrust, most of the energy of the exhaust is used to turn the turbine. There may be an additional turbine stage present, as shown in green on the diagram, which is connected to a drive shaft. The drive shaft, also shown in green, is connected to a gear box. The gear box is then connected to a propeller that produces most of the thrust. The exhaust velocity of a turboprop is low and contributes little thrust because most of the energy of the core exhaust has gone into turning the drive shaft.

     Because propellers become less efficient as the speed of the aircraft increases, turboprops are used only for low speed aircraft like cargo planes. High speed transports usually use high bypass turbofans because of the high fuel efficiency and high speed capability of turbofans. A variation of the turboprop engine is the turboshaft engine. In a turboshaft engine, the gear box is not connected to a propeller but to some other drive device. Turboshaft engines are used in many helicopters, as well as tanks, boats, and even race cars in the late 1960's.

To learn more about turboprops like the thrust equation and other information:

Go to: the Glenn Research Center's beginners guide to aeronautics! I especially like this diagram. To me the end of the equation = POWER! 

Here is an image of one of North Central's Convair 580s. You can see the large propblades on her starboard engine. These really impressed me as a kid. I knew these meant business. Click on image for larger version.

 

     You can see this image and more of the prototype of the 580 at my Carr-Woolman Observation Deck 8.  These images are from the San Diego Aerospace Museum archives. Some are labeled Model 240-21 which must have been the prototype designation. Basically a swooped up 240 with the Allison engines.

     Also, for great information about North Central's Convair 580 in particular go to the definitive North Central history site, Heramantheduck.org by Scott Grieger.

 

Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 13 at flickr

 

This gallery was created to be part of my online, Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation Center. It is dedicated to the history of North Central Airlines and Delta Air Lines and aviation past, present and future. 

Some of my observation decks cover a specific subject. This observation deck is for the Tu-114 of the Tupolev Design Bureau. One of my favorite things about aircraft is when the industrial design of it really stands out. To me, that is true of the Tu-114. I like form to go with function. With its swept back wings, streamlined fueslage and awesome contra-rotating  Kuznetsov NK-12MV engines, the 114 made for an impressive sight. I wish I could hear those propjets fire up. They are said to be the most powerful ever built. There were probably a lot of jittery vodka bottles in the galley of a 114. The 114 was also the fastest propjet ever built and held many records. Soviet airliners and even some Russian ones today were really knockoffs of western designs. The 114 though was truly a Soviet template and a masterpiece of aviation design. Lastly, this aircraft was based off a weapon of war, the Tu-95 bomber. I like it when things made to kill people are used to serve people instead. You can visit the entire gallery at: Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 13

Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 12 at flickr

 

North Central Airlines and the Convair 580. These two cemented my love affair with aviation, the airline and the airline industry for a lifetime. The machines and the people who run them from the CEO to the crews to the support staff at all levels.  They take the person engaged with them to new places, new opportunities, and new ways of being on this planet. I will always be grateful to North Central and the 580 for opening up a child to the greater world via thirty minute flight to grandma's. Needless to say this Observation Deck looks at the history of North Central Airlines. View the Observation Deck gallery at: Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 12

Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 11 at flickr

 

This is where my love affair with Delta Air LInes began. The next year (1974) some Delta employees at that ticket counter paid my brother and I a great kindness as we were passing through Memphis on the way to Atlanta. We were being whisked away from home during a family crisis to stay with an aunt. It was our first time flying on our own. I still have my button that signaled me as a minor to Delta staff. I assume we were brought by a red coat to this ticket counter. I remember being asked if we would like to wait in the employee's office area behind the counter. I was already enamored with airliners and airlines at 11 years of age. So, I thought I was being given a great honor to see behind the magic ticket counter. We were very well cared for and made comfortable. I am so glad to have found this image. I am forever grateful to the people of Delta in Memphis that day for taking care of us and giving us a few moments of happiness in a very traumatic time. They were a blessing from God that I will always treasure. This whole gallery is devoted to a look at historical images of the airline. See more at: Carr Woolman Flight Observation Deck 11

Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 10 at flickr

 

This gallery was created to be part of my online, Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation Center. My online center dedicated to the history of North Central Airlines and Delta Air Lines other airlines of my liking and aviation past, present and future. You can visit the entire gallery at: Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation Gallery 10

This Observation Deck gallery at flickr shows scenes from airline travel yesterday and today. Not only do we look down the aisle in this Observation Deck, we see Dad comng home to the family on Ozark. We see airport observation decks, waiting at the gate, love and aviation, and other sights.

Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 9 at flickr

 

Delta Airlines Douglas DC-8 -n.d.by steveartist

This gallery was created to be part of my online, Carr-Woolman Flight Appreciation Center. My online center dedicated to the history of North Central Airlines and Delta Air Lines other airlines of my liking and aviation past, present and future. You can visit the entire gallery at: Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 9 at flickr

This Observation Deck gallery at flickr is for Delta Air LInes.

Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 8 at flickr

 

This Observation Deck looks at the prototype of my favorite prop-jet of all-time, the Convair 580. The 580 was flown by my beloved North Central Airlines as well as many others. In fact, in this series Convair went out of the way to show Frontier Airlines high altitude destinations to portray the Allison 501D engined 580's ability to go just about anywhere. Images are from the San Diego Aerospace Museum archives.

There is nothing like seeing, hearing and feeling the power of a prop-jet engine. The whine as it spools up and the roar of the blade spinning up. The buzzing roar as the pilot changes the pitch of the blades. Seeing the prop go from blur to almost invisible. The feeling of the vibration of the engine power. A feast for seeing, feeling and hearing. And the Convair 580 is the queen of all prop-jets. Check out the whole gallery at: Carr-Woolman Flight Observation Deck 8 at flickr