Once again, this year the Red Bull Air Race opens in Abu Dhabi on 26 & 27 March. The world’s top 15 pilots will start their six-month long battle for championship points in the first of eight races on a total of five continents.

The World Championship will take place in some of the cities already visited by previous Red Bull Air Race Championships, and these are:

- Abu Dhabi (UAE) 26&27 March

- Perth (Australia) 17&18 April

- Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 8&9 May

- Windsor (Canada) 5&6 June

- New York (USA) 19&20 June

- Lausitz (Germany) 7&8 August

- Budapest (Hungary) 19&20 August

- Lisbon (Portugal) 4&5 September

Want more information? Just browse www.redbullairrace.com and you’ll get pics, videos, news and much more. Just keep tuned with CrossingTheSkies, because there’s more to come!

Red Bull Air Race. Font: www.redbullairrace.com

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That’s what happened on Feb 22, 2010. Apparently, one of the JFK air traffic controller brought to work with him his son and his daughter (first day the son, next day the daughter). He was actually authorized to bring them to work. The fact is that the daring daddy allowed them to speak through the mic and control the airplanes, converting the JFK tower into a kindertower.

Finally, somebody recorded all the conversations via liveATC, and the video came out. Now this air controller is resting at home with his kids with no job and no money.

Check this video!

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The load & balance sheet (or the load sheet and the balance sheet) are two types of templates generally used in air transport. Their main goals are:

- To load the aircraft in a correct way, ensuring that the aircraft doesn’t exceed any operational limit (like MTOW, MZFW or MLW).

- To lay out properly the payload in order not to alter so much the center of gravity.

- To inform the captain about the payload distribution, as well as the center of gravity position.

With all this information (total load in compartments, passengers weight, cargo weight, moment index, %MAC), the captain should be ready to set the trim correctly, so the aircraft behaves in a same way whichever way the load has been loaded in.

Here you have an example of a loadsheet referring a flight from New York JFK to Geneva GVA. This document shows you the total passengers onboard, the load in compartments, the different weights depending on the flight stage and some other information.

On the other hand, we have the balance sheet from an Airbus A320. Once you have inputted all the pax and cargo weights, you get the moment index or the %MAC (Mean Aerodynamic Chord) that enables the pilot to set the aircraft trim in the proper position.

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Howdy!

From CrossingTheSkies, we wish you a fantastic and a happy 2010. To première this new year, here you have an awesome flash game named Airport Madness 2 (there’s an old version called Airport Madness)  that will blow up all your productivity at work.

And again, for this year I expect to increase my posting rate, as well as the quality and rigorousness of every single post. Of course, if you have any comment/proposal to this blog, CrossingTheSkies.com is willing to hear those and make this blog much more pleasant for all of you.

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Everybody who has flown sometime, is familiar with the airport vehicles. There’s thousands of them around the world, different models and different brands. Today we gonna see some of them, and their main features.

Aircraft steps

This steps provide to passengers a connection from the ground to the airplane. It is often mounted on a light truck or a van, and it can be a extensible or fixed stairs.

Luggage truck

This little truck tows a whole load of packed trailers,  with all the passengers’ luggage. Although, the ULD containers are widespread. The Unit Load Device, is a container to load the baggage in, and they fit in the aircraft deck, so the luggage truck tows ULD instead of rusty trailers.

Fuel tanker

That is, a truck full of fuel (usually loaded with Jet A-1, but 100LL for GA is Ok as well) that provides airplanes with kerosene. It’s basically made up of a rear tank, a pump and a hose. Sometimes, they are simply a pump and they get the fuel from a ground hydrant.

Bendy bus

The bendy bus is comprised of two rigid parts, and it is articulated. They are used as people mover, to transport passengers from the terminal to the remote aircrafts. It’s also possible to use a single bus though.

Fire truck

The fire truck is a special motor vehicle, adapted to fight the fire in case of an emergency landing or a crash. They usually have a water tank and a water gun, able to launch compressed water to parts set on fire up to 200 feet.

Catering truck

This van serves the airplanes with the most extraordinary and exquisite (¬¬’) airline food, to make passengers feel comfortable when flying. It is basically a big metal box that can be lifted, in order to reach the aircraft height.

Aircraft tow

This tow is just a truck that it frequently lifts the front wheel of the aircraft, and push it back to the correct position to start the taxi to the runway. Sometimes, this little bugs cannot lift the aircraft, so there’s a towing bar that is attached to the front wheel and the truck just tow it back.

These are the most used vehicles used in an airport. Although, you can find some more out there. Now, have you always thought that airport vehicles were slow to hell? Top Gear don’t think so.

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