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This picture was taken on August 5th outside that impressive Olympic stadium in Beijing. Yes, you could say its smoggy. Here's another one. For those of you about to be consumed by Olympic fever, add this site to your bookmarks; perhaps also this one.
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An intriguing story on Airliners.net takes us on a little trip. If this is a true story, then China has stolen from a thief. Which is, of course, very funny.
More on Blackprogram
An intriguing story on Airliners.net takes us on a little trip. If this is a true story, then China has stolen from a thief. Which is, of course, very funny.
More on Blackprogram
There are two China's – the big one and the little one. The little one does not want to be eaten by the big one. The big one has an enduring desire to eat the little one. This is a prescription for a fight. And one day there will be a fight.
Meanwhile preparations for this fight continue, despite denials. The bigger China has developed a fighter, known as the J-10. This plane, has a look of the unlamented Israeli Lavi to it. An excellent summary on China's fighter development can be found here.
Meanwhile the little China, also known as Taiwan, is also developing a fighter. But Taiwan is in a tough spot. It has been restricted on what kind of fighter it develops – the US does not want it to develop a plane with offensive capabilities. So it has tended to develop something of a point defense fighter in the IDF-11. An excellent summary of this aircraft can be found here.
Rather than stop at 130 jets as planned, the latest version IDF-11 has been upgraded and now has a name – Goshawk. Its not clear if the Taiwanese will do next. The original versions of the IDF may be grounded in ten years. Since the bigger China will not stop developing fighters that clearly are not point defense equipment, the little China has few options. Consequently we expect to see the Goshawk version of the IDF-11 become the standard.
Neither country offers much information on capabilities. So comparing the two fighters is not an easy task. The military doctrine of the Chinese strategist Sun Tzu ias that it is more important to defeat the enemy's strategy than to engage in combat. Deception and bluffing are necessary elements of Sun Tzu's strategy and both China's subscribe to this thinking. As each country develops its aircraft they are sending messages.
There are two China's – the big one and the little one. The little one does not want to be eaten by the big one. The big one has an enduring desire to eat the little one. This is a prescription for a fight. And one day there will be a fight.
Meanwhile preparations for this fight continue, despite denials. The bigger China has developed a fighter, known as the J-10. This plane, has a look of the unlamented Israeli Lavi to it. An excellent summary on China's fighter development can be found here.
Meanwhile the little China, also known as Taiwan, is also developing a fighter. But Taiwan is in a tough spot. It has been restricted on what kind of fighter it develops – the US does not want it to develop a plane with offensive capabilities. So it has tended to develop something of a point defense fighter in the IDF-11. An excellent summary of this aircraft can be found here.
Rather than stop at 130 jets as planned, the latest version IDF-11 has been upgraded and now has a name – Goshawk. Its not clear if the Taiwanese will do next. The original versions of the IDF may be grounded in ten years. Since the bigger China will not stop developing fighters that clearly are not point defense equipment, the little China has few options. Consequently we expect to see the Goshawk version of the IDF-11 become the standard.
Neither country offers much information on capabilities. So comparing the two fighters is not an easy task. The military doctrine of the Chinese strategist Sun Tzu ias that it is more important to defeat the enemy's strategy than to engage in combat. Deception and bluffing are necessary elements of Sun Tzu's strategy and both China's subscribe to this thinking. As each country develops its aircraft they are sending messages.
China is making much of its ambitions to build advanced jets. You read more about it here. Meanwhile take a look at this picture of the tail of their new ARJ21. ARJ = Advanced Regional Jet. Does it look familiar? To airplane junkies it should.
Lets look back a number of years and assume that McDonnell Douglas's attempt to build a plane in China, then dubbed the Trunkliner, was successful. Picture starting to look more familiar now?
As this next picture shows, the Chinese ARJ looks suspiciously like a small 717 with winglets. Notice the curves around the nose section, note the hump above the tail. Look familiar now? It should.
In case it does not, the next picture is a reminder. It also proves that China can learn to create, sorry copy, designs and update as needed. If this plane is successful, then it may become popular in China. Success here means commercially. This is not like building military jets that China can fob off onto Pakistan. The risks are higher in commercial aviation. We await with interest to see what engines are put on this plane. The Rolls Royce engine should work fine, just like it does on the 717.
China is making much of its ambitions to build advanced jets. You read more about it here. Meanwhile take a look at this picture of the tail of their new ARJ21. ARJ = Advanced Regional Jet. Does it look familiar? To airplane junkies it should.
Lets look back a number of years and assume that McDonnell Douglas's attempt to build a plane in China, then dubbed the Trunkliner, was successful. Picture starting to look more familiar now?
As this next picture shows, the Chinese ARJ looks suspiciously like a small 717 with winglets. Notice the curves around the nose section, note the hump above the tail. Look familiar now? It should.
In case it does not, the next picture is a reminder. It also proves that China can learn to create, sorry copy, designs and update as needed. If this plane is successful, then it may become popular in China. Success here means commercially. This is not like building military jets that China can fob off onto Pakistan. The risks are higher in commercial aviation. We await with interest to see what engines are put on this plane. The Rolls Royce engine should work fine, just like it does on the 717.
In something of a surprise announcement, US Airways said it plans to fly to China if it gets permission. This is, to say the least, a long shot. But why not throw its line in anyway? The first reaction from everyone is that its A330s could not reach China from Philly, a route of some 7,400 miles.
Now a scheduling issue occurs. What comes first – permission to fly there or the Air Canada A340s? Also, the exact model A340 is clearly of interest. Air Canada has a number of A340-300s on lease. But it owns two A340-500s and these planes can reach just about anywhere. Only the Boeing 777LR flies further.
Unfortunately the A340-500 has something of a spotty image among airlines. Its legs may be long but its capacity is impacted over long ranges. It should be able to fly over 300 people 8,400 miles. Except it does not really do this – Singapore Airlines flies under 200 people on its planes to the US. Thai has announced it will quit flying the planes to the US because of high fuel burn. Singapore Airline can charge a premium for its seats and we suspect US Airways will not be able to do this. In fact, it is likely to be the low price leader in the China market – making the A340-500 a potentially financially inefficient plane.
Let us assume (not unreasonably) that US Airways cannot compete against the likes of American and Delta for China. Where can US Airways fly these A340s then? Despite the common cockpit, the A340 is quite a lot more airplane than the A330. A small sub-fleet is not easy to integrate. Yes, US Airways wants to a be a big overseas airline – but which markets beckon?
Just when at first glance things seem a bit bleak, note that US Airways has two aces in the hole that most people forget about. Those are Las Vegas and Phoenix. If you think Philadelphia has money to throw at a China route, then imagine what Las Vegas can offer. We think a Las Vegas-Shanghai flight would be sold out every trip. As evidence that China is fast approaching ex-Communist status, we offer this week's China-inspired global stock market meltdown. The Chinese are inveterate gamblers and growing richer at fabulous rates. Las Vegas is irresistible to them we suggest.
So we think US Airways acquisition of long haul planes is a very good idea. If not China, the whole remaining huge Pacific market is open to them out of their western hubs. In fact its a surprise it has taken them this long to embark on such a strategy.
In something of a surprise announcement, US Airways said it plans to fly to China if it gets permission. This is, to say the least, a long shot. But why not throw its line in anyway? The first reaction from everyone is that its A330s could not reach China from Philly, a route of some 7,400 miles.
Now a scheduling issue occurs. What comes first – permission to fly there or the Air Canada A340s? Also, the exact model A340 is clearly of interest. Air Canada has a number of A340-300s on lease. But it owns two A340-500s and these planes can reach just about anywhere. Only the Boeing 777LR flies further.
Unfortunately the A340-500 has something of a spotty image among airlines. Its legs may be long but its capacity is impacted over long ranges. It should be able to fly over 300 people 8,400 miles. Except it does not really do this – Singapore Airlines flies under 200 people on its planes to the US. Thai has announced it will quit flying the planes to the US because of high fuel burn. Singapore Airline can charge a premium for its seats and we suspect US Airways will not be able to do this. In fact, it is likely to be the low price leader in the China market – making the A340-500 a potentially financially inefficient plane.
Let us assume (not unreasonably) that US Airways cannot compete against the likes of American and Delta for China. Where can US Airways fly these A340s then? Despite the common cockpit, the A340 is quite a lot more airplane than the A330. A small sub-fleet is not easy to integrate. Yes, US Airways wants to a be a big overseas airline – but which markets beckon?
Just when at first glance things seem a bit bleak, note that US Airways has two aces in the hole that most people forget about. Those are Las Vegas and Phoenix. If you think Philadelphia has money to throw at a China route, then imagine what Las Vegas can offer. We think a Las Vegas-Shanghai flight would be sold out every trip. As evidence that China is fast approaching ex-Communist status, we offer this week's China-inspired global stock market meltdown. The Chinese are inveterate gamblers and growing richer at fabulous rates. Las Vegas is irresistible to them we suggest.
So we think US Airways acquisition of long haul planes is a very good idea. If not China, the whole remaining huge Pacific market is open to them out of their western hubs. In fact its a surprise it has taken them this long to embark on such a strategy.
