aviation – Page 18 – Take off with Natarajan

One of the world’s three biggest polluters just took a big step toward reducing its greenhouse emissions and embracing renewable energy sources.

India’s fourth-largest airport, the Cochin International Airport in the southern city of Kochi, announced on Tuesday that it is now “absolutely energy neutral,” The Economic Times reports. The airport is co-funded and operated by the Indian government through a public-private partnership.

The airport’s energy neutrality is possible thanks to a 12-megawatt solar system consisting of more than 46,000 panels installed on a 50-acre site. The system can generate up to 60,000 units of electricity daily.

According to Al Jazeera America, the project took six months to build and cost $10 million, which the airport anticipates it will recover within five years. The panels are expected to last 25 years.

The Cochin airport’s solar panels as seen from above in Kochi, India in the southern state of Kerala.

The panels were designed and installed by Bosch Ltd., which has a five-year partnership with the airport, according to Catch News.

The airport began testing solar energy in March 2013, when it installed a small solar plant on the arrival terminal’s rooftop, according to The Economic Times.

The project has been seen as a model for the rest of India, and the government is urging other airports to follow suit.

India’s goal is to ramp up solar capacity to 100 gigawatts by 2022. Its current capacity is four gigawatts.

India has a broader goal to derive 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2022, with 3 percent coming exclusively from solar. Earlier this summer, the government rolled out new incentives to encourage developers to turn to renewable energy.

Source…..Joseph ErbentrautChicago Editor, The Huffington Post,….www.huffingtonpost.com

Natarajan

August 22, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

I love small airports. I believe they are wonderful creations of God, made solely for the purpose of teaching big airports a thing or two about how airports are meant to be.

Small airports are refreshingly cosy. They don’t hurry you. If you are late, which in my case is almost always, there is someone willing to help you through with some good, old fashioned hollering. (“Hey, Bill, this gentleman has forgotten his luggage, can you run him home in your car while I hold the gates open?”)

At small airports, owing to the plethora of electronic equipment and assorted connectors in my hand baggage, I always get extra attention (“Ooh, what do we have here–let’s have a look-see, shall we?”), which never fails to make me feel special. Invariably, this allows me to catch up with the security officer about the weather, and thereafter guide him by way of a series of manipulative answers to ask me what I teach at Bournemouth University. When he does, I lie through my teeth and say, “Nanotechnology.” I always go for nanotechnology because nobody is impressed with journalism or journalists these days, and, between you and me, there isn’t much future for either.

The other reason I love small airports is because they come with small planes. Small planes are utterly charming, if you ask me. They have an individuality that big planes lack. You get to walk up to them and board, which makes the whole experience up close and very personal. You get to notice that the panting blonde who is waving you on to the plane is the same blonde who checked in your luggage when you arrived and the same blonde who scanned your boarding pass a minute ago. You get to see the dirt marks on the nose of the plane and the places where the paint is beginning to peel. If you plan the boarding carefully, you might even get to run your hands on the fuselage a bit. This is something you never get to do with big planes. Who amongst us can claim to have scratched the underbelly of an Airbus or a Boeing? No one, I bet.

When you walk into the cabin of small planes, you get to duck your head a bit and feel tall and powerful. This is good for the morale, particularly for short people, who never get to feel tall and powerful otherwise. If Napoleon had flown Flybe even once, I am certain the world would have been spared much bloodshed. In small planes, you can also peer over the pilot’s shoulder and say, “Aha, gotcha, you doodler!” After that, if you are the worrying kind, you could check with the flight attendant if the plane did indeed stop at your destination (“Excuse me, miss, but could you tell the pilot I want to get down in Edinburgh?”). I always do this because it is good to confirm things, and also because it reminds me of a more innocent time when everybody went everywhere by bus and you routinely passed on similar instructions to the driver.

Once you’re inside, small planes allow you to connect to the world in a manner big planes cannot. The flight attendants are less robotic, almost awkward, at times on the edge of a fumble. You see everyday traffic through your window as you taxi. When you take off, you receive a free back massage, thanks to the frantic reverberations of a small engine struggling against the big pull. The best part is that you get to see the world passing beneath you in a Google Earth kind of way. And if you have seated yourself in the fore of the plane slightly ahead of the wings (in my opinion, the seventh or eighth row is best for this), you can press your nose to the window and watch the propellers whirring close to your face. Call me macabre, but there is something distinctly primal and thrilling about that sight. Big planes and big airports? No, it is not the same.

Chindu Sreedharan teaches journalism at Bournemouth University, England. He is the author of Epic Retold.

Source…..Dr Chindu Sreedharan …..www.huffingtonpost.com

Natarajan

67,000 people have already signed up for this one-time opportunity from NASA …I have done Today !!!

August 22, 2015August 22, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

This is onetime opportunity… Your Name could fly aboard NASA’s Mars Mission….

natarajan

I just sent my name to fly aboard NASA’s Mars mission, InSight, scheduled for launch March 2016!
The InSight lander will listen to the heartbeat of Mars to find out how the rocky planets formed.
View my boarding pass: http://mars.nasa.gov/syn/insight/?cn=238690663577
Get your own boarding pass on NASA’s #JourneyToMars!
Send your name here:
http://go.usa.gov/3Aj3G

Natarajan

Source….KEN KREMER….www.universe today .com and http://www.businessinsider.com

Natarajan

Take a look inside India’s brand new Ghost Airport ….Jaisalmer Airport….

August 20, 2015August 21, 2015Natarajan1 Comment

Located in northwestern India, Jaisalmer Airport was completed more than two years ago at a cost of $17 million. At a time when the spanking new facility should be welcoming hundreds of thousands of passengers per year, it sits abandoned. In fact, the airport has yet to operate a single day.

According to Reuters, Jaisalmer is one of more than 200 no-frills airports planned by India’s previous government. They were meant to encourage travel and commerce in far-flung parts of the Indian sub-continent.

However, in many cases, local political greed won out over reason and airports were placed in locations where there simply isn’t enough demand for air travel to warrant a full-scale airport.

In fact, Jaisalmer is one of eight airports the Indian Government has constructed over the past decade at a cost of more than $50 million to have never entered service, Reuters reports.

Why aren’t airports such Jaisalmer in business? According to Reuters, one reason is because airlines can’t open routes to these small under-developed areas. The domestic Indian market is incredibly competitive and for a route to have any chance of profitability, it has to either fly to or from one of the country’s mega cities.

This means that in order for an airline to open a route to Jaisalmer, it has to originate in a major hub such as Delhi or Mumbai. However, airports in these cities are incredibly congested and the precious space there is at these facilities are prioritized for more profitable destinations. As a result, the less populated locales remain perpetually underserved.

Here’s closer look at India’s brand new ghost airport.
It’s a desert town known for its tourism and natural beauty. However, it’s also sparsely populated.

According to the Economic Times, the airport was supposed to open for business in August 2013.

ECONOMIC TIMES

But it never did.

Today, the abandoned Jaisalmer Airport sits as a reminder of the massive waste caused by poorly planned development.

Here’s what the airport looks like today

The arrival and departure lanes are empty. They should be filled with buses, cars, and Taxis.

This door leads to the check-in area.

No tourists here.

This baggage carousel sits idle.

As are these baggage carts.

No one has ever used these dusty seats.

These dusty bathroom sinks are also brand new.

Outside, the desert environment is taking its toll on the airport.

The roads are in poor condition.

The solar panels lay dormant.

The airport’s only visitor on this day is a stray dog.

Bones from a dead animal sit on a road leading to the airport.

Someone mounted satellite dishes to the outer wall of the airport.

However, Jaisalmer Airport is not beyond saving. In fact, from afar, it looks like quite a nice facility.

Source….

BENJAMIN ZHANG in http://www.businessinsider.com

http://www.ndtv.com www. stuff.co.nz

Natarajan

6 Weird Facts About Gravity…

August 19, 2015August 19, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Credit..NASA

Gravity: You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone

Here on Earth, we take gravity so for granted that it took an apple falling from a tree to trigger Isaac Newton’s theory of gravitation. But gravity, which draws objects together in proportion to their mass, is about much more than fallen fruit. Read on for some of the strangest facts about this universal force.

It’s all in your head

Credit: © Paul Simcock | Dreamstime.com

Gravity may be pretty consistent on Earth, but our perception of it isn’t. According to research published in April 2011 in the journal PLoS ONE, people are better at judging how objects fall when they’re sitting upright versus lying on their sides.

The finding means that our perception of gravity may be less based on visual cues of gravity’s real direction and more rooted in the orientation of the body. The findings may lead to new strategies to help astronauts deal with microgravity in space.

Coming down to Earth is tough

Credit: NASA Kennedy Space Center

Speaking of astronauts, their experience has shown that a switch to weightlessness and back can be tough on the body. In the absence of gravity, muscles atrophy and bones likewise lose bone mass. According to NASA, astronauts can lose 1 percent of their bone mass per month in space.

When astronauts come back to Earth, their bodies and minds need time to recover. Blood pressure, which has equalized throughout the body in space, has to return to an Earthly pattern in which the heart must work hard to keep the brain nourished with blood. Occasionally, astronauts struggle with that adjustment. In 2006, astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper collapsed at a welcome-home ceremony the day after returning from a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

The mental readjustment can be just as tricky. In 1973, Skylab 2 astronaut Jack Lousma told Time magazine that he’d accidentally smashed a bottle of aftershave in his first days back from a month-long sojourn in space. He’d let go of the bottle in mid-air, forgetting that it would crash to the ground rather than just float there.

For weight loss, try Pluto

Credit: nullPluto may no longer be a planet, but it’s still a good bet for lightening up. A 150-pound (68 kilogram) person would weigh no more than 10 pounds (4.5 kg) on the dwarf planet. The planet with the most crushing gravity, on the other hand, is Jupiter, where the same person would weigh more than 354 pounds (160.5 kg).

The planet humans are most likely to visit, Mars, would also leave explorers feeling light-footed. Mars’ gravitational pull is only 38 percent that of Earth’s, meaning a 150-pound person would feel like they weigh about 57 pounds (26 kg).

Gravity is lumpy

Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFCEven on Earth, gravity isn’t entirely even. Because the globe isn’t a perfect sphere, its mass is distributed unevenly. And uneven mass means slightly uneven gravity.

One mysterious gravitational anomaly is in the Hudson Bay of Canada (shown above). This area has lower gravity than other regions, and a 2007 study finds that now-melted glaciers are to blame.

The ice that once cloaked the area during the last ice age has long since melted, but the Earth hasn’t entirely snapped back from the burden. Since gravity over an area is proportional to the mass atop that region, and the glacier’s imprint pushed aside some of the Earth’s mass, gravity is a bit less strong in the ice sheet’s imprint. The slight deformation of the crust explains 25 percent to 45 percent of the unusually low gravity; the rest may be explained by a downward drag caused the motion of magma in Earth’s mantle (the layer just beneath the crust), researchers reported in the journal Science.

Without gravity, some bugs get tougher

Credit: CDC/Janice Haney Carr

Bad news for space cadets: Some bacteria become nastier in space. A 2007 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that salmonella, the bacteria that commonlycauses food poisoning, becomes three times more virulent in microgravity. Something about the lack of gravity changed the activity of at least 167 salmonella genes and 73 of its proteins. Mice fed the gravity-free salmonella got sick faster after consuming less of the bacteria.

In other words, Michael Crichton’s “The Andromeda Strain” had it wrong: The danger of infection in space may not come from space bugs. It’s more likely our own bugs grown stronger would strike us.

Black holes at the center of galaxies

Credit: April Hobart, NASA, Chandra X-Ray ObservatoryNamed because nothing, not even light, can escape their gravitational clutches, black holes are some of the most destructive objects in the universe. At the center of our galaxy is a massive black hole with the mass of 3 million suns. Scarier thought? It might be “just resting,” according Kyoto University scientist Tatsuya Inui.

The black hole isn’t really a danger to us Earthlings — it’s both far away and it’s remarkably calm. But sometimes it does put on a show: Inui and colleagues reported in 2008 that the black hole sent out a flare of energy 300 years ago. Another study, released in 2007, found that several thousand years ago, a galactic hiccup sent a small amount of matter the size of Mercury falling into the black hole, leading to another outburst.

The black hole, named Sagittarius A*, is dim compared with other black holes.

“This faintness implies that stars and gas rarely get close enough to the black hole to be in any danger,” Frederick Baganoff, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was involved with the 2007 study, told LiveScience’s sister site SPACE.com. “The huge appetite is there, but it’s not being satisfied.”

Source…www. livescience.com

Natarajan

How to spot the International Space Station….?

August 18, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Every so often, the International Space Station (ISS) becomes visible in your night sky. Here’s how you can spot it.

A composite photograph of the International Space Station from Earth. Image Credit: Dave Walker.

A composite photograph of the International Space Station taken from Earth. Image Credit: Dave Walker.

Is it a meteor? Is it a plane? It might be the International Space Station (ISS).Every so often, the ISS becomes visible in the night sky. To us on Earth, it looks like a bright star moving quickly above the horizon. The ISS is so bright, it can even been seen from the center of a city. Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it disappears. How do you know when you can see the ISS in your night sky?

NASA’s Spot the Station program lets you sign up to receive alerts to let you know when the ISS will be visible from your location – anywhere in the world. You can get alerts via email or text message. Typically, alerts are sent out a few times each month when the station’s orbit is near your location. Visit the Spot the Station website here to sign up, and view a list of upcoming sighting opportunities.

If you sign up for NASA’s new service, notices will be sent to you only when the ISS will be clearly visible from your location for at least a couple of minutes. If you live north of 51.6 degrees latitude (for example, in Alaska), you will likely have to visit the website to find sighting opportunities because notifications in this region would be rare.

The notices contain information on where to look for the ISS in the night sky. Just note where the sun sets and you can easily find the direction where the station will appear (for example, in the southwest or in the northwest). The height at which the station will appear is given in degrees. Just remember that 90 degrees is directly over your head. Any number less than 90 degrees will mean that the station will appear somewhere between the horizon and the 90 degree mark. The station is so bright that it is really hard to miss if you’re looking in the correct direction. Alternatively, you can stretch out your fist at arm’s length toward the horizon, which is equivalent to about 10 degrees. Then, just use the appropriate number of fist-lengths to find the location marker, e.g., four fist-lengths from the horizon would be equivalent to about 40 degrees.

NASA’s Spot the Station program is great. I’ve seen the station fly over twice now and it’s a pretty amazing experience—gets you thinking about how far our technology has advanced.

The first module of the ISS was launched into space in 1998 and the initial construction of the station took about two years to complete. Human occupation of the station began on November 2, 2000. Since that time, the ISS has been continuously occupied. The ISS serves as both an orbiting laboratory and a port for international spacecraft. The primary partnering countries involved in operating the ISS include the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan and Russia.

The ISS orbits at approximately 220 miles above the Earth and it travels at an average speed of27,724 kilometers (17,227 miles) per hour. The ISS makes multiple orbits around the Earth every day.

Photograph of the International Space Station taken from the space shuttle Endeavour on May 30, 2011. Image Credit: NASA.

Astronauts Robert Curbeam, Jr. and Christer Fuglesang working on the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA.

Bottom line: Check out the ISS in the night sky the next time it flies over your location. You can sign up to receive alerts with NASA’s Spot the Station program or visit that website to view a list of viewing opportunities.

Source….

http://www.earthsky.org

Natarajan

India’s Mars Orbiter sends back stunning 3-D images of the largest known canyon in the solar system

August 17, 2015August 17, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

While the rest of India was tasting patriotic waters on the account of the 69th Independence Day, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission, Mangalyaan, sent us pictures which made us proud yet another time.

The Mars Orbiter Mission sent some beautiful images of the largest known canyon from the Red planet – Mars.

These are the images of Valles Marineris, a largest known canyon complex in the solar system. This picture was taken from a height of nearly 2000 km from Mars colored camera.

A 62 km wide valley named Opir Chasma can be seen bordered by high cliffs.

Mangalyaan reached Mars on September 2014. It was an ecstatic moment for the whole country as ISRO was successful in its maiden attempt. Many countries like the USA, Russia, and Europe have accomplished successful Mars missions.

And what’s more, this is not the first time that an image has been sent. Earlier, they sent images of Martian landmarks – Aurorae Chaos.

It’s a long terrain with irregular blocks.

What this image proved?
It showed signs of fluvial activity which means showing signs of water or similar substances which could have flowed there sometime in the past.

You can see more pictures taken by Mangalyaan here.

Well, there is no doubt that this image proved the mettle of Mangalyaan another time, but it also proved to be a perfect Independence Day present for everyone especially because many studies have been undertaken to know about any signs of life on Mars. May many more pictures come our way!
Built at the cost of just Rs 450 crores, the orbiter still has 39 kilograms of fuel it still has left in the tanks – which could mean a few more years of breathtaking pictures, among other things.

Well done!

News Source: Aparajita Mishra in Hindustan Times…. http://www.storypick.com and www.scroll.in

Natarajan

World”s 10 Safest Airlines ….

August 17, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

A Lion Air plane is seen in the water after it missed the runway in Denpasar, Bali in April 13, 2013. Photographs: Reuters

Five decades ago, 87 plane crashes took away the lives of 1,597 people.

This was when airlines carried only 141 million passengers, which is 5 per cent of today’s number, says Safety and product rating website AirlineRatings.com.

In 2014, though the number of fatal accidents fell to 21 (one for every 1.3 million flights), Malaysia Airlines’ two planes – MH370 and MH17 – met a fatal end that claimed 537 lives.

December 2014 saw the tragic end of 162 people from Surabaya who were flying to Indonesia when the AirAsia flight crashed due to bad weather.

Safety and product rating website AirlineRatings.com has listed world’s ten safest airlines.

Of 449 airlines which were included in the study, 149 achieved the website’s seven-star safety ranking and almost 50 had just three stars or less.
Take a look at the world’s 10 safest airlines…

A Qantas A380 arrives at its gate at Kingsford Smith International airport in Sydney. Photograph: Daniel Munoz/Reuters

Qantas

Topping the list is Qantas, which has a fatality free record in the jet era, says the report.

Qantas is Australia’s national airline with an impeccable record. AirlineRatings.com editors noted that over its 94-year history, “Qantas has amassed an extraordinary record of firsts in safety and operations and is now accepted as the world’s most experienced airline.”

: An Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300ER featuring livery advertising the film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Photograph: Neil Hall/ Reuters

Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand ranks second in safety.

Based in Auckland, New Zealand’s national airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 25 domestic and 26 international destinations in 15 countries.

British Airways. Photograph: Reuters

British Airways

Ranked third in safety, British Airways is the UK’s largest airline on fleet size, international flights and destinations.

Photograph: Alex Domanski/Reuters

Cathay Pacific Airways

Cathay Pacific, based in Hong Kong also ranks high on safety.

The airline operates flights across 168 destinations in 42 countries.

Flight attendants serve journalists during a flight tour organized by Emirates airline. Photograph: Reuters

Emirates

Emirates is the largest airline in the Middle East with over 3,500 flights per week.

It operates in 142 cities across 78 countries.

Photograph: Reuters

Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways operates more than 1,000 flights per week to 96 destinations.

Etihad Airways is the fourth largest airline in the Middle East and the second largest airline in the UAE.

An Airbus A330-300 aircraft of Taiwan’s Eva Airlines, decorated with Hello Kitty motifs. Photograph: Reuters

EVA Air

Taiwan-based EVA Airways Corporation operates flights across 40 international destinations in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.

Photograph: Reuters

Finnair

Finnair is the fifth oldest airline in the world.

It has also been ranked one of the safest airlines in the world with no accidents since 1963.

Image: A Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 taxis after landing at Dulles International Airport. Photograph: Larry Downing/Reuters

Lufthansa

Lufthansa operates services to 197 international destinations in 78 countries.

It has one of the largest passenger airline fleet in the world.

Image: Singapore Airlines Ltd stewardesses pose next to a business class seat at Changi Airport. Photograph: Edgar Su/ Reuters

Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines ranks amongst the top 10 in terms of international passengers.

It was the first airline to fly the Airbus A380.

Source….www.rediff.com

Natarajan

World”s 10 Longest Non-Stop Flights….

August 17, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The world’s 10 longest non-stop flights criss-cross the world, cutting down travel time and making journeys easier and comfortable.

: Emirates to fly the longest non-stop trip. Photograph, courtesy: Emirates

While the longest non-stop flight in the world will take over 17 hours, the longest domestic flight in India — from Kochi to New Delhi — takes three hours.

The top 10 non-stop flights cover a distance of 82,702 miles, connecting big cities across the world.

Take a look at the world’s 10 longest non-stop flights…

Emirates

Rank: 1

Route: Dubai to Panama City

Distance: 8,588 miles

Duration: 17 hours and 35 minutes

Image: Emirates’ flight from Dubai to Panama city, to launch in February 2016, will be the world’s longest non-stop flight. Photograph, courtesy: Emirates

One of the world’s biggest airlines, Emirates plans to launch services to Panama City from February 2016, making it the longest non-stop flight in the world.

The service to Panama City will start with a daily flight operated by a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft.

Currently, it operates four longest non-stop commercial flights.

Qantas ranks 2nd in the list. Photograph: Reuters

According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, these airlines operate the longest non stop flights…

Qantas

Rank: 2

Route: Dallas to Sydney

Distance: 8,578 miles

Duration: 16 hours and 55 minutes

Qantas is Australia’s national airline and has the record of being the safest airline as well.

Founded in 1920, the third oldest airline in the world flies to 20 domestic destinations and 21 international destinations in 14 countries. Qantas also owns the low-cost airline, Jetstar.

Saudia flies from Jeddah to Los Angeles. Photograph: Reuters

Saudia

Rank: 3

Route: Jeddah to Los Angeles

Distance: 8,332 miles

Duration: 16 hours and 55 minutes

Founded in 1945, Saudi Arabia’s flagship airline flies to over 120 destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

The airline is the third largest in the Middle East in terms of revenue, after Emirates and Qatar Airways

Delta’s longest flight takes 16 hours and 40 minutes. Photograph, courtesy: Delta

Delta Airlines

Rank: 4

Route: Johannesburg to Atlanta

Distance: 8,439 miles

Duration: 16 hours and 40 minutes

The oldest airline operating in the United States, started off as Huff Daland Dusters in 1924.

The airline and its subsidiaries operate over 5,400 flights daily across 334 destinations in 64 countries.

Emirates

Rank: 5

Route: Dubai to Los Angeles

Distance: 8,339 miles

Duration: 16 hours and 35 minutes

The largest airline in the Middle East, Emirates operates services to 147 destinations in 81 countries in Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Far East and Australasia.

Since its launch in 1985, Emirates Airline has received more than 500 international awards

Etihad is the second-largest airline in United Arab Emirates.
Photograph, courtesy: Etihad

Etihad

Rank: 6

Route: Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles

Distance: 8,390 miles

Duration: 16 hours and 25 minutes

Founded in 2003, Etihad is the second-largest airline in United Arab Emirates.

The airline operates more than 1,000 flights per week to over 120 destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States.

Emirates operates four of the longest non-stop commercial flights. Photograph, courtesy: Emirates

Emirates

Rank: 7

Route: Dubai to Houston

Distance: 8,168 miles

Duration: 16 hours and 20 minutes

Emirates is the seventh largest airline in the world in terms of revenue and the fourth-largest airline in the world in terms of international passengers carried.

The airline has a record for being profitable for the last 27 consecutive years.

American Airlines is the world’s largest airline. Photograph, courtesy: American Airlines

American Airlines

Rank: 8

Route: Dallas to Hong Kong

Distance: 8,123 miles

Duration: 16 hours and 20 minutes

American Airlines, which started operations in 1934, is the world’s largest airline in terms of passengers flown, fleet size and revenue.

The airline established itself by merging 82 small airlines through acquisitions in 1930.

Etihad is ranked among the world’s best airlines. Photograph, courtesy: Etihad

Etihad

Rank: 9

Route: Abu Dhabi to San Francisco

Distance: 8,158 miles

Duration: 16 hours and 15 minutes

Etihad Airways was ranked 9th among the world’s top 10 airlines by Skytrax in 2014.

Image: Cathay Pacific flies to 200 destinations. Photograph, courtesy: Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific

Rank: 10

Route: New York to Hong Kong

Distance: 8,072 miles

Duration: 16 hours

Cathay Pacific. founded in 1946, flies to 200 destinations in 52 countries across the world.

The airline has been ranked as ‘World’s Best Airline’ four times.

It subsidiary, Dragonair, operates to 44 destinations in the Asia-Pacific region from its base in Hong Kong.

Source….www.rediff.com

Natarajan

Remains of the Day

August 14, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Remains of the Day.

But it never did.

Here’s what the airport looks like today

This door leads to the check-in area.

No tourists here.

This baggage carousel sits idle.

As are these baggage carts.

The roads are in poor condition.

The solar panels lay dormant.

Gravity: You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone

It’s all in your head

Coming down to Earth is tough

For weight loss, try Pluto

Gravity is lumpy

Without gravity, some bugs get tougher

Black holes at the center of galaxies

Deanna Conners

The Mars Orbiter Mission sent some beautiful images of the largest known canyon from the Red planet – Mars.

And what’s more, this is not the first time that an image has been sent. Earlier, they sent images of Martian landmarks – Aurorae Chaos.