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AT THE RECENT Paris Air Show, aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus engaged in a fierce competition to score orders for their newest planes. Most of those planes feature state-of-the art technology, making it possible to predict everything from part failures to turbulent weather in real time.
An engine alone, for example, is likely to have as many as 5,000 elements monitored every second.
“It’s not Google big data, but it’s a lot of data,” says Bill Baumgarten, business development manager at UTC Aerospace Systems, one of the major suppliers of high-tech sensors to the industry. Among the capabilities UTC sensors provide: monitoring the temperature of an engine part to flag even a five-degree variation from normal, or sensing a change from flight plan.
“Maybe [the plane] is burning more fuel than it should because of wind conditions. Maybe the pilot has deviated from the flight plan for no intended reason, or maybe something happened on the aircraft — a part is broken or a system is malfunctioning,” Baumgarten explains to Business Insider.
That data is monitored by analysts on the ground, who can immediately respond.
The world started to learn more about this when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in March 2014. No one was able to contact the pilots, and the plane vanished from radar. But the aircraft’s engines connected to a satellite, enabling searchers to calculate a pair of vast arcs along which the plane may have traveled.
While safety and security are the highest priorities, all of this also saves money and time for airlines. Southwest Airlines is among those adopting Boeing’s Airplane Health Management, which uses real-time data monitoring to reduce fuel consumption and boost efficiency.
Then, there’s weather. Southwest and UPS actually send data to the National Weather Service, augmenting the government agency’s weather balloons with more frequent and precise data on current conditions like humidity and the potential for icing or turbulence. More accurate forecasts mean better scheduling and fewer flight disruptions. Delays are responsible for $8 billion in losses for the airline industry, according to Bloomberg.
“You can’t take credit for the event that you avoid,” says Tim Leonard, Southwest Airlines director of flight ops compliance and operations. He says the predictive analysis also has secondary benefits, like avoiding the public-relations disasters of delays or engine failures. “All those tools help you prevent it because they make the pilots and the mechanics and the employees more aware,” Leonard tells Business Insider.
In the future, airlines plan to use the data analysis happening at headquarters to update pilots in real time. Southwest, for instance, imagines a day in the near future when pilots have Wi-Fi connections to the ground, using sensor data in both directions to optimize fuel consumption and adjust flight paths instantaneously. Pilots’ Electronic Flight Bags can be updated with new data constantly.
Modern plane sensors are generating so much data — terabytes of it in some cases — that airlines have to be ready to make use of it all. “You’re going to have to have the tools to mine it. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of data you’re not tapping into,” Leonard says.
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I am sure that it was Erskine Childers snr and not his son, president Childers that was the author of riddle of the sands. He was also part of the delegation that negotiated the Anglo Irish agreement following the war of independence.
That’s what I thought too when I first read that.
It was actually Erskine Childers’ father who was executed in 1922, that wrote The Riddle of the Sands. Great article tho Sinead and god knows Darby O Gill was the ultimate in paddywhackery !!
It was Erskine Childer’s father who was the writer.
Hillery’s golf handicap sums up his presidency
It’s well known that De Valera,as Taoiseach, went to the German embassy and offered condolences to the Nazis on the death of Adolf Hitler.
I never knew that President Douglas Hyde did the same thing.
Ireland’s best kept dirty secret?
Not a ‘dirty secret’ – as a neutral country, Hyde was acting appropriately as Head of State rather than expressing a personal view
Research fail…
What a horrible Americanism If you are american I forgive you
@fitszpatrick
How is “X fail” an Americanism? I has thought it was more of an Internetism. Fail is the opposite of win and both can be used as nouns.
In other news, what horrible capitalisation and lack of punctuation. If you are under the age of ten, I forgive you.
Like ur fail is the opposite of succeed and lose is the opposite of win. Enough already Eva. If you are woman I forgive you
No mention of the “small joke” which JFK cracked in the Dáil and which so annoyed Dev. What was it?
Hi Pete,
Thanks for your comment. The story was told by Ryan Tubridy in his JFK in Ireland book last year. He discovered that de Valera had wiped the offending part of JFK’s address to the Dáil from the record – quite extraordinary!
The “joke” was a reference to Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s line “Leinster House does not inspire the brightest ideas.”
JFK seemingly meant it as a light hearted quip, as he added, “that was a long time ago, however”. It wasn’t enough to appease Dev, according to Seán Lemass, who heard him tell the young American that “he had done no service to Irish politicians by this quotation”.
The whole story (is a bit longer than this – so wasn’t really suitable for this article) can be read in that book if you’re interested. Hope this answers your question.
Thanks again for your feedback.
Best,
Sinead
It is also ironic that Erskine Childers was executed by the Free State government for possession of a pistol that was a gift from Michael Collins.
Where’s the explanation of the caption under the picture?
Brutal work.
Hi
Thanks for your comment. The story was told by Ryan Tubridy in his JFK in Ireland book last year. He discovered that de Valera had wiped the offending part of JFK’s address to the Dáil from the record – quite extraordinary!
The “joke” was a reference to Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s line “Leinster House does not inspire the brightest ideas.”
JFK seemingly meant it as a light hearted quip, as he added, “that was a long time ago, however”. It wasn’t enough to appease Dev, according to Seán Lemass, who heard him tell the young American that “he had done no service to Irish politicians by this quotation”.
The whole story (is a bit longer than this – so wasn’t really suitable for this article) can be read in that book if you’re interested. Hope this answers your question.
Sinead
Nothing wrong with Darby O’Gills and the Little People.
It’s a fine Cork pub.
“One of the last presidential acts of Douglas Hyde was to visit the German ambassador Eduard Hempel on May 3, 1945. During the visit, which remained a secret until 2005, he reportedly offered his condolences on the death of Adolf Hitler.”
It did not ‘remain a secret until 2005′. It was widely known and circulated at the time and afterwards. It was common knowlege when I was growing up, learning history at secondary school and subsequently at third level. In case you’re wondering I’m no six year old.
Anyone got video of Mary Robinson on the Den? looks like it was in The Best Bits of the Den DVD
Noth
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