Plane Conversations

Last weekend I was in Chicago as a guest of Apex Brasil  to attend the Peak Anti Freeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 Race. This was the first Indy race I have attended and I hope not the last. Tony Elrod, with ETA Logistics , drove us from the airport to the hotel and promised that I would be hooked on racing after the first event. I have to admit he was right.  

Melanie (my better half) and I arrived in Chicago Friday afternoon in time to get to the hotel downtown and attend a dinner hosted by Apex Brazil at Texas de Brazil Steakhouse Churrascaria. I have been to an authentic Churrascaria in Sao Jose Dos Campos while visiting the Embraer factory. Texas de Brazil has them beat on décor and sizzle but I would give them a tie on the food quality and flavor of the beef.

Apex Brasil (The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency) was created by the government of Brazil to promote companies in Brazil to the international market. To promote Brazilian companies here in the US they have become a major sponsor of the Indy Racing Series. They do an excellent job with connecting their businesses through the face to face networking of events like these races.

As a part of their race sponsorship, Apex Brasil is supplying pure ethanol fuel to power the race cars. Brazil is a world leader in the development and production of bio fuels. The major producers of ethanol in Brazil are now working on an aviation fuel to power commercial aircraft. 

Our business connection to Brazil is through Embraer Executive Jets as an operator of two Phenom 100 light jets. We have also delivered 11 aircraft from Brazil to new owners in Europe and the US as a provider of delivery and mentor services.    

Saturday we went to the race track early afternoon for a tour of the pit and garages where the teams were making last minute preparations and going through inspections prior to the race. It is fascinating to see what goes on behind the scenes of a major race. Just prior to the race we were able to walk by the cars, out on to the track and watch up close as the drivers were introduced.

I was glued to the seat the entire race, and listened through headphones connected to a scanner to the conversations between drivers and the spotters. What a great way to get into a race by hearing the teams talk as it is happening real time.

Sunday we had the day off and took the Chicago Architectural Foundation  boat tour on the river. The tour lasts 90 minutes and is packed with information about the buildings that make up the skyline in Chicago. Chicago was the first city to have skyscrapers, and is rich with architectural heritage. I would highly recommend this tour as a way to learn about Chicago.

On the way back to the airport, Tony recommended going through the drive through at Portillo’s for an Italian Sausage Sandwich on a French Bread roll with grilled Sweet Peppers and Mozzarella. What a treat and a fun way to end our stay in Chicago.

Thanks Tony for getting us to and from the airport with great conversations and thanks to Apex Brasil for a great weekend.

Click on pen to

Update on the FAA Reauthorization Bill

In a post on rollcall.com , Representative Jerry Costello urges Congress to “finish the job” regarding the passage of the FAA Reauthorization bill that has been beating around Capitol Hill for more than three years. Representative Costello, Democrat from Illinois, is Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation.

I believe most everyone in General Aviation and the Airlines support the funding to develop the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The airlines are still squawking about who will pay the cost of new equipment required to upgrade their fleets to work with NextGen.  I can not imagine any situation where the airlines will ever really be content with how they are being treated by the government, so nothing new there.

NextGen will hopefully bring efficiency to a system of air traffic control that is at present marginalized and operating on 1960’s ground radar based technology.  Satellite guidance should allow more air traffic to flow in crowded corridors which will reduce delays and save fuel.  Maybe there will even be some reduction in the frustration passengers are experiencing today with airline travel!  Less delays on the ground and the air surely will make people happier.  Additionally, the airways will be safer with the new technology that will be more accurate in aircraft location and guidance.  

We have posted  several times about this Bill on Plane Conversations because it is important to our national air transportation infrastructure.

I don’t know the exact financial picture of this legislation.  I do know that an increase in the aviation fuel tax will fund some portion if not all of it.  In essence the users of the aviation system, including general aviation, will pay for the new technology that will benefit everyone.  Most people don’t mind paying for something if they see the value.

Hopefully the FAA will manage the program development wisely and give us our money’s worth.  Time will tell.  For now, Congress needs to do their job and get a Bill to the President to sign.

Click on pen to

I have an interest in the development of aviation bio fuels. After riding through too many volatile price swings in aviation fuel (sometimes for reasons no one can explain),  I think it would be nice to one day wake up with some predictability in one of the majors costs to fly aircraft – fuel. And what if the solution happened to be much more carbon neutral? That would be a nice bonus!

Both General Aviation and the Airlines are subject to world price swings in fuel that can destroy profits overnight with no ability to control it on our end. The airlines who sell many seats far in advance are especially vulnerable to fuel price swings since they can not go back to the consumer and ask for more money when they have sold a seat on next months flight.

I have written a couple posts on our site about the development of bio fuels for aviation. Over the long haul this could provide an answer to the problem of price volatility. I also like the idea of our country becoming energy independent. It seems to make sense to not be reliant on other countries for a commodity that keeps the country running, especially since many of the countries we buy that commodity from are not our friends.

I have been to Brazil twice to visit the Embraer factory and on my trips I noticed that Brazil offers more choices to the consumer when you pull up to the gas station to fill your car up. On my first trip when I asked our driver about it he commented proudly that Brazil it energy independent.  The country has developed a variety of fuels for their cars and trucks including Liquid Natural Gas and Ethanol or Alcohol based fuel. They have cars that will run on multiple fuels so as not to be limited by supply of one fuel or the other.

So it does not surprise me that the country’s airlines, bio fuels producers and agricultural producers of the raw products for bio fuels have come together to form an alliance to develop bio fuels for aviation.

The blog site http://www.biomassintel.com reports on this alliance (Aliança Brasileira para Biocombustíveis de Aviação – ABRABA) in a May 20 post.

Quoting from the post:

According to a statement released by the alliance, ABRABA argues:

“The use of sustainable biofuels produced from biomass is key to maintaining the growth of the aviation industry within a low carbon economy.  The proven ability of Brazil to develop alternative energy sources, combined with its knowledge of aviation technologies, will result in a significant gain for the environment by minimizing the impact on economic development.”

The Bio Mass Intel site has a whole section on Aviation Bio fuels under the heading “Aviation 2.0” (link – . http://www.biomassintel.com/category/transportation/aviation-2-0/)  It is worth checking out.

This is part of the innovation that will be required to keep our industry sustainable into the future – both from an economic standpoint and environmentally.

Maybe our country should consider a national policy that orients development of bio fuels for aviation. I can’t see where anyone could complain about it in light of the mess we have in the Gulf of Mexico?

Click on pen to

Looking at the con-trails that aircraft leave in the sky, what kid hasn’t said something about the airplane’s “smoke?”  While those trails are more  water vapor condensed around particles than they are smoke, there’s no denying that aviation has a huge carbon footprint – from aircraft and ground equipment emissions to de-ice and mechanical fluids to passenger trash.

According to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change,  ”Aviation and marine transportation combined are responsible for approximately 5 percent of total GHG emissions in the United States and 3 percent globally and are among the fastest growing modes in the transportation sector. Under business-as-usual forecasts, CO2 emissions from global aviation are estimated to grow 3.1 percent per year over the next 40 years, resulting in a 300 percent increase in emissions by 2050. … Controlling the growth in aviation and marine transportation GHG emissions will be an important part of reducing emissions from the transportation sector.”  The concern is less about aircraft emissions today and more about their rapid growth and exponential increases.  Reducing this footprint is going to take a concerted effort from several sectors including fuel research, aircraft design and air traffic control.

The aviation industry is already set to benefit from alternative fuel research.  AZoCleantech reported on 25 March 2010 that “According to the projections in the “Camelina Aviation Biofuels Market Opportunity and Renewable Energy Strategy Report,” released by Biomass Advisors’ biofuels market researchers, the production of Camelina biofuel is set to reach one billion gallons by the year 2025.”  While this certainly won’t supply all of the fuel needed by the aviation industry, it won’t have to.  As we discussed previously, DARPA has developed a process to produce fuel from algae at the same cost as fossil fuels, with production to begin as early as 2013.  The new fuel sources, in theory, would be carbon neutral since the CO2 emitted by the aircraft would be used again by the fuel-producing organisms.  In addition to using more eco-friendly fuels, the industry is designing more efficient aircraft.

Jets used by airlines have more composite material in their bodies than ever before, although aluminum is still the major component in airliner construction.  Increasing the composite percentage from 2% in the 1950s Boeing 707 to 10% in the 2000s Boeing 777 has lightened the aircraft making them more fuel efficient.  The Hawker 4000 with its all carbon composite construction fuselage really lightens the load.  Fuel efficiency is dramatically increased using these new construction materials and structural changes like winglets, which increase efficiency by decreasing drag.

This week, the United States Senate passed a measure to reauthorize the FAA and to pursue implementation of the NextGen air traffic control system.  There are still several details to be worked out with the system and the electronics required to make it work; but, once in use, it will allow aircraft to fly more direct routes between origin and destination, allowing for more efficient use of aircraft and fuel.

Will flying ever be completely eco-friendly?  I don’t think so, or, at least, I can’t really envision it.  On the other hand, how many children of the 50s, 60s and 70s ever really believed that we could have a telephone that would fit in our pockets, play all of our music, remind us of our appointments and connect us to the world?   Maxwell Smart had the best and his was just a shoe!

Click on pen to

There is recent news about the development of algae-based biofuel to be refined into jet fuel being promoted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an office of the US Department of Defense. In addition to DARPA’s funding, Exxon is also investing heavily in the research and development of this alternative to fossil-based fuel. 

This holds promise for all aviation industries to provide a stable and environmentally friendly fuel source for jet aircraft.

Quoting from a post in the UK Guardian (guardian.co.uk, Saturday 13 February 2010): 

Unlike corn-based ethanol, algal farms do not threaten food supplies. Some strains are being grown on household waste and in brackish water. Algae draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere when growing; when the derived fuel is burned, the same CO₂ is released, making the fuel theoretically zero-carbon, although processing and transporting the fuel requires some energy.

The industry received a further boost earlier this month, when the Environmental Protection Agency declared that algae-based diesel reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% compared with conventional diesel. The Obama administration had earlier awarded $80m in research grants to a new generation of algae and biomass fuels.

For Darpa, the support for algae is part of a broader mission for the US military to obtain half of its fuel from renewable energy sources by 2016. That time line meant that the Pentagon needed to develop technologies to make its hardware “fuel agnostic”, capable that is of running on any energy source including methane and propane.

Unlike corn-based ethanol, algal farms do not threaten food supplies. Some strains are being grown on household waste and in brackish water. Algae draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere when growing; when the derived fuel is burned, the same CO₂ is released, making the fuel theoretically zero-carbon, although processing and transporting the fuel requires some energy.

The military anticipates testing of the fuel to begin next year with full scale production in 2013.

Commercial Aviation has been plagued with unstable pricing of both Jet Fuel and Aviation gasoline. The extreme price swings have wrought havoc on the profits of the airlines and air charter providers around the world.

DARPA is projecting that this fuel can be produced initially for around $3.00 per gallon which is not too far off the prices we are currently paying. Initially the fuel will be supplied to the military but if proven commercially viable, why can’t the rest of aviation benefit as well?

This makes sense for the United States to produce and develop fuel supplies domestically, keeping the money and jobs at home.  

Whether you are in the global-warming environmentalist camp or not, you have to agree that it would be great to have a fuel supply that is not based on buying fuel from countries that are not so friendly to the U.S. Let Hugo Chavez and the terrorist supporting states in the Middle East sell their oil to someone else.

Click on pen to