Exclusive Pics: New V4 Panigale Successor!! In-moto Magazine

An additional error was the failure to integrate the intrinsic energy of the vehicles, aircraft and the carbon costs over their entire lifecycle into the calculation. Once again Wayne doesnt appreciate just how absolute is the 1st Law of T. Looks like he picked a great day to give up glue sniffing.

 

Wayne58, you are 100% correct. In addition to WAT (weight, altitude & temperature) limits on which all aircraft performance depends, there are other variables such as fuel bias to compensate for increased fuel burn as engines age, angle of attack which can be influenced by many variables including simple things like if an aircraft is dirty (ever wonder why American Airlines used to have the bottom of the fuselage on their aircraft polished ?) - a dirty aircraft causes an increase in drag (parasite), an increase in parasite drag requires an increase in angle of attack to provide additional lift to overcome the parasite drag. This increase in angle of attack causes an increase in induced drag (drag produced as a by product of lift) and is drag cause by the relatively low pressure above the wings "mixing" with the relatively high pressure below the wings at the wing tips. This can be seen as wing tip vortices at the wing tips of an aircraft on a misty morning. Modern aircraft have "winglets" which not only increases wing area to provide additional lift - it also reduces the "mixing" of air at the wing tip. This simple device can decrease fuel consumption by 3%.

Airlines employ a cost index which is range between 0 - 999 where 0 is minimum fuel and 999 is minimum time. The ratio is used by the flight planning department of airlines to ensure the most cost efficient use of fuel. Less fuel = greater profit. This figure appears on a flight plan that is given to the pilots and they insert that figure into the MCDU (Multi-function control and display unit) this interfaces with the FMGS - Flight Managagement & Guidance Computer which schedules a Mach number for the aircraft to fly at. Mach 1 = the speed of sound. This decreases with height as air density decreases. This is a difficult calculation as CI 0 = minimum fuel, however, if the aircraft is airborne for longer it burns more fuel hence why the range 0-999 is so great.

In addition to the above, airlines only carry enough fuel to complete the flight safely. It's not like filling your bike up at the petrol station as carrying extra fuel burns 10% of the extra fuel carrried. Every flight has a flight briefing package which is usually between 80 -100 pages. It includes weather en-route, at the destination and alternate airports, weather charts and NOTAMS (notices to airmen). The fuel required to complete a flight is made up of:

TAXI FUEL
TRIP FUEL (fuel from take-off to landing)
CONTINGENCY FUEL (5% of the total fuel to cover for any unexpected increase in fuel burn)
ALTERNATE FUEL (fuel to fly from the destination airport to the alternate airport in case of a diversion)
ADDITIONAL FUEL (fuel added by the airline for things like weather avoidance en-route)
HOLD FUEL (fuel added by the airline if holding is expected at the destination airport)
EXTRA FUEL (fuel added by the pilots that isn't covered above. For example, if no hold fuel is added by the airline but the pilots expect to hold at destination)
FINAL RESERVE FUEL (a minimum of 30 minutes of fuel to cover flight at 1,500 ft at the alternate airport). THIS IS THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF FUEL TO LAND WITH AT THE DIVERSION AIRPORT, IF NOT DIVERTED, THE FUEL AT DESTINATION MUST NOT BE LESS THAN ALTERNATE FUEL & FINAL RESERVE FUEL)

This is a long winded way of saying that the aircraft I fly carries 122,000 kg of fuel. A flight to say, Kuala Lumpur would require 58,000 kg of fuel. Leaving space for 64,000 kg of fuel. If I were to take that extra 64,000 kg of fuel, the fuel used to carry the 64,000 kg would be 6,400kg. Therefore, we only take what we need.

Finally, one other way of saving fuel is a reduced thrust take-off. Airlines do not set full thrust on take-off (unless necessary for performance reasons - short, high elevation runways on hot days = less air density = more lift required for flight = more thrust and higher speeds required to be able to take-off). On all take-offs, a performance calculation is independently performed by the pilots (they then compare the figures to confirm they are the same. This is a critical calculation and needs to be accurate). This results in a FLEX temperature in deg C. What this means (i.e with a FLEX temperature of 68 deg C) is that the aircraft can take-off with an OAT (outside air temperature of 68 deg C). The pilots then insert this figure into the performance page of the MCDU* (see above). What this does is tell the engines it's 68 deg C outside. Higher temperature = less density = less thrust. So, when the outside air temperature might be, say 15 deg C, the engines believe it's 68 deg C and produce thrust according to that temperature which is much less than thrust at 15 deg C !

However, all this science which has employed the services of many of the worlds best scientists and which billions of $'S have been spent is meaningless to some. Yes, aircraft pollute but they are made as efficiently as possible, not to be kind to the environment but to save money. The average life span of a jet aircraft is 35 years (most western airlines keep them for less than 10 years because as they age they burn more fuel and are more expensive to maintain).

I could write pages on aircraft performance. As well as flying I'm also working on my PhD in Aeronautical Science.

However, all the above is meaningless if King Canute is reading it.

 

I tried flying once, killed my arms and I got nowhere

 

V4 PLEASE lol

 

We need an air-craft section, that includes paramotoring.

 

And an anti-aircraft section.

 

Good idea. The V4, from what I've seen, looks like a turd.

 

Ffs, keep coming back thinking there’s a new pic and it’s still the Airplane bitching

 

I for one have been grateful for the distraction.

I've almost forgotten what the V4 looks like in that pic.

 

You used to give us all an "on topic" slap now and then @El Toro , have you given up?

 

No, but he thinks it's shit too

 

You were using the wrong pills... come see me.

 

Paramoaning more like!