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Air Travel Myths and Mysteries….

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Myths and mysteries of an Air Travel…

From the safest seat on a plane to why some airlines don’t include row 13 and what really happens to your waste, we reveal the truth about air travel, with some help from flight deal website Skyscanner.com.

Is it safe to drink the water on planes?

Some planes have unwanted stowaways in their water supply, including bacteria that could make you sick, according to tests by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 2009. The water didn’t meet safety standards in one out of every seven planes tested, with bacteria associated with human faeces like coliform and E. coli found. Bacteria can grow in the plane’s water tanks and hoses, as the water is pumped on board through hoses that are difficult to clean. Best to be cautious on this!

Do you really get drunk quicker while in the skies?

Not true, according to studies. Dr. Bhushan Kapur from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine said passengers’ blood alcohol level doesn’t increase in the air. However, people do tend to drink more in a shorter time frame in the skies, which can leave them more impaired. So where does the misconception come from? The onboard effects of hypoxia – less oxygenated conditions due to the low-pressure environment and high altitude – can cause passengers to experience symptoms similar to intoxication.

What happens to your waste?

Airlines are not allowed to dump their waste tanks in mid-flight, however leaks can occur. Numerous “blue ice” (frozen sewage material treated by a liquid disinfectant that freezes at high altitude) impacts have been recorded, including some where it has fallen through the roofs of people’s homes.
For example, one UK couple were reportedly sitting in their garden when blue ice hit the roof of their house before landing on their heads. It gave off a “particularly pungent whiff of urine” as if thawed.

Do flight attendants have to be a certain weight?

There are no strict rules according to waistlines, but cabin crew must have “weight in proportion to height”. They must be able to sit in the jump seat without an extended seat belt and fit through the emergency exit window. The acceptable height is approximately 160-185 centimetres.

What happens when the pilot goes to the toilet?

Ever wondered why the seatbelt sign randomly lights up during a flight? Well forget turbulence, it may be that the pilot has made a sneaky trip to the toilet. A cabin crew member will guard the flight deck door while the pilot makes the trip to the lavatory.

Can lightning cause a plane crash?

Passenger planes are inevitable targets for lightning, which strikes a commercial plane on average once a year. However, lightning hasn’t downed a passenger plane since 1967. Planes have to pass numerous lightning certification tests. The outer skin of most planes is mainly aluminium – a good conductor of electricity. The current flows through the skin from the point of impact to another extremity point, commonly the tail.

Why do airlines leave out row 13?

Some airlines remove row 13 from their planes so not to spook superstitious flyers, including Air France, Emirates, Continental Airlines, Lufthansa and Ryanair. Lufthansa also flies minus a 17th row as it’s regarded as unlucky in Italy and Brazil.

Do lavatories have to be fitted with an ashtray, despite ban on smoking?

Smoking on planes has been banned for nearly 15 years, but all planes worldwide must have ashtrays to ensure flight safety. Why? A discarded cigarette sparked a plane crash in 1973, so the rule was adopted in case a passenger gave in to their cravings on a flight.

Can you get high from the emergency masks?

Contrary to what Brad Pitt’s character in Fight Club may think, the oxygen from the emergency masks won’t get you high. It’s actually a loss of oxygen that makes you feel this way, so that’s why airlines provide the masks in case the cabin pressure suddenly drops.

Can your mobile phone cause a plane crash?

The jury’s still out on this issue, but airlines are erring on the side of caution. Current regulations give crew the power to ban the use of any device that could threaten the safety of an aircraft. Experts say that electromagnetic waves emitted by mobiles can interfere with a plane’s electronics and cause a crash, concerns that were outlined in an investigation by the New York Times last year.

Which seats are the safest?

It’s true – the safest seat should you be involved in a mid-air disaster is the emergency exit, according to researchers from the University of Greenwich commissioned by the US Civil Aviation Authority, who looked at the accounts of 2000 survivors in 105 air accidents around the world. A seat up to five rows from an exit offers a greater chance of escaping if there’s a fire. There’s only a “marginal” difference as to whether the seat is on the aisle or not. It also found passengers at the front of the plane had a 65 per cent chance of escape, while those at the rear had only a 53 per cent chance.

Why does food taste different on a plane?

It’s not just your imagination – food really does taste different in the skies. Firstly, the atmosphere inside the cabin dries out the nose and then the change in air pressure numbs approximately a third of the taste buds. This explains why airlines tend to add a lot of salt and spice to food.

source::::news.com.au
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Read more: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/greatest-air-travel-myths-exposed/story-e6frfq80-1226463922963#ixzz2LE9jLXei

Understanding Calendar….

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Calendar is an English word which shares its root with “KALANTARA” in Sanskrit, meaning time gap, elapsed time , or time between any two events. “KALA” means TIME and “ANTARA” means in between. ANTARA bears similarity with the english words “inter”, “intra”, “enter” etc. Calendar is indeed a measure between two periods of Time…KALA ANTARA.

Calendars and clocks are not just some decorative pieces on the wall as they have come to be today. A Calendar is an extension of a clock and tracks time beyond a day.

Traditional calendars locate us and our earth exactly in space in relation to Sun, Moon and the Planets. They are thus clocks that represent the pace of functioning of the cosmos. When the design and components of a calendar are understood, they bring us closer to understanding the functioning of the cosmos.

We can see our ancestors had not only understood the functioning of cosmos, but had also worked out models for translating it into mathematical calculations. These models are available to us today in the form of “PANCHANGA”, the Indian calendrical system. These models help conduct our lives in sync. with Nature around us. They indicate the time for rains, to sow, to harvest, to fish, to set sail, to celebrate various festivals and so on. They mark the coming of seasons and prepare us for that season.

From the knowledge of the motions of the planetary bodies also came the knowledge of the effect they have on man and his surroundings .From this was born Astrology, a model to predict favourable times for performing certain activities on the earth.

HORA is the Indian word for Time. This comes from “AHORATRA” meaning ” continuous , unending cycle of day and night ” .From the same root as HORA come words in English such as Horology meaning study of time, Horoscope which is a plot of the planetary positions as well as hour.

Wishing you all Good Times Ahead in the year 2013 ….

source::::D.K.Hari & Hema Hari in SRI KRISHNA SWEETS CALENDAR 2013 …

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India on Diwali Night !!!

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NASA releases map of India on Diwali night !!!

  • A satellite imagery of India on Diwali night released by NASA. Photo: PTI
    PTIA satellite imagery of India on Diwali night released by NASA. Photo: PTI
  • NASA releases map of India on Diwali night. PTI graphic
    PTINASA releases map of India on Diwali night. PTI graphic

NASA, the national space agency of the US, on Thursday released a black and white satellite imagery of India Diwali night 2012, cautioning people against the fake image in circulation on the social media.

“On November 12, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this night-time view of southern Asia,” NASA said releasing a picture of India on this Diwali night.

“The image is based on data collected by the VIIRS ‘day- night band’, which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared. The image has been brightened to make the city lights easier to distinguish,” it said.

NASA said most of the bright areas in the imagery released by it are cities and towns in India. “India is home to more than 1.2 billion people and has 30 cities with populations over 1 million,” it said.

Cities in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan are also visible near the edges of the image.

“An image that claims to show the region lit for Diwali has been circulating on social media websites and the Internet in recent years. In fact, it does not show what it claims.

That image, based on data from the Operational Linescan System flown on US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, is a colour—composite created in 2003 by NOAA scientist Chris Elvidge to highlight population growth over time,” NASA said.

“In that image, white areas show city lights that were visible prior to 1992, while blue, green, and red shades indicate city lights that became visible in 1992, 1998, and 2003 respectively,” it said.

“In reality, any extra light produced during Diwali is so subtle that it is likely imperceptible when observed from space,” NASA said.

Keywords: NASA images, Diwali night, India satellite images, Earth at Night

source::::::THE HINDU

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2012…End of The World??!!!….NASA Scientist Tries to Ease the Fear!!!!!

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source::::: ABC NEWS…Good Morning America…
By KEVIN DOLAK (@kdolak)
Dec. 1, 2012
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It was 10 years ago that veteran NASA scientist David Morrison began to answer a question a day from the public about the origin of life on Earth, evolution and the mysteries of the cosmos.

Lately, though, Morrison, senior scientist at the NASA Astrobiology Institute, has been inundated with questions about both Doomsday 2012 and the Nibiru cataclysm, a supposed apocalyptic event in which Earth will collide with a massive rogue planet.

Some of these questions, he says, are increasingly alarming, and include threats of murder and suicide.

“I think it was about 4 years ago, early in 2008, I started getting 5 questions a day about 2012, and now it has increased,” Morrison told ABCNews.com. “The most common question is, ‘Will the world end on December 21, 2012?’ I find that strange because the idea of the world ending is absurd. Do they really think, ‘The world is ending, but if I build a bomb shelter in my back yard, I’ll survive’?”

The frequency of the queries has even led Morrison to add a disclaimer to the NASA “Ask an Astrobiologist” page, noting that he has now answered 400 questions about Nibiru and 2012, and to please read these before submitting a new query.

“The most specific questions are about this rogue planet Nibiru,” he said. “I think, if it were four years ago, you could say, ‘maybe.’ If it were real at this point, it would be the brightest thing in the sky.”

But over the past few years, some of the questions he’s receiving are increasingly alarming, and include a number of children who, faced with a perceived threat of impending doom, say they are planning their own deaths.

“I get 1-2 a month from a person who self-identifies as 11-12 years old, who is contemplating suicide,” he said. “It happens often enough to disturb me … to hear that children are considering ending their lives.”

Morrison said that one letter was from a middle school teacher in Stockton, Calif., who said that the parents of a student said they were planning to kill their kids and themselves. Another was from an elderly person, who said that her best friend was a little dog. The writer asked when the dog should be put to sleep, so it doesn’t suffer when the world ends.

Though he finds these messages alarming, Morrison said that he only has limited information on the people writing in. He said he does whatever he can to soothe their fears, but at the end of the day, people’s beliefs and fears are out of his hands.

“I can tell them there is absolutely nothing to be worried about. But I am in no position to provide psychiatric advice,” he said.

From theories about pole shifts to the black hole at middle of the Milky Way to galactic planet alignment, Morrison says he has heard a number of doomsday theories — the most popular of which relate to the Mayan calendar – a modern hoax. The Mayan calendar, which is made of cycles of day counts, does not end this year, he says. Rather, one cycle ends and the next cycle begins.

“It’s purely a fantasy,” he said. “It amazes me you can get so much … I sense that some of these people are into the conspiracy issues.”

Morrison says that he will give up from answering the public’s questions next year. But in the meantime he is carrying on, weathering the public’s theories and phobias. Although some of the queries border on the nasty — suggesting government conspiracy and NASA cover-ups, he said he doesn’t let it get to him.

“I’ll ask for apology on Dec 22,” he said, “when none of this happens!!!

Supersonic Airtravel Set to Come Back !!!

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Nine years after the Concorde’s last flight, supersonic air travel is moving closer to a comeback. 

Supersonic flight, a longtime dream for makers and owners of private planes, is inching closer to reality.

Nine years after the last trip of the Concorde jetliner, the quest for speed without window-rattling sonic booms is spurring research by billionaire Robert Bass, General Dynamics’s Gulfstream, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and others.

The efforts signal that the time may finally be nearing for corporate aircraft flying faster than sound, about 1207 kilometres per hour at sea level. Technological leaps since the Concorde’s development in the 1960s are converging with the willingness of globe-trotting chief executive officers to pay more for ever-bigger and longer-range jets.

Some of the largest corporate planes, such as the Gulfstream G650, can flight about 90 per cent as fast as sound.Some of the largest corporate planes, such as the Gulfstream G650, can fly about 90 per cent as fast as sound.

“Most all of the manufacturers have done size, have done luxury and opulence,” said Andrew Hoy, a managing director at broker ExecuJet Aviation Group in Zurich. “Time is the biggest opportunity for them all and the only differentiator left.”

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High operating costs and scant demand for the Concorde’s premium fares forced its retirement in 2003 after 27 years in service. The 100-seat jets streaked from New York to London at twice the speed of sound, slicing travel times in half to about three hours.

Planemakers took away a lesson in supersonic economics: It may be easier to find CEOs and wealthy individuals who crave faster corporate aircraft than to persuade airlines to invest in a Concorde successor.

‘More sense’

“Given the amount of fuel you need to burn to achieve supersonic speeds, it’s going to be a more expensive proposition that only a sliver of the market is going to pay the price for,” said George Hamlin, president of Hamlin Transportation Consulting in Fairfax, Virginia. “When you’re talking about a supersonic business jet, that begins to make more sense.”

The largest corporate planes already cost almost as much as the smallest Boeing and Airbus airliners, and can fly about 90 per cent as fast as sound. Gulfstream’s G650 lists for $US58.5 million ($A56 million). Bombardier’s Global 7000 and 8000 jets retail for as much as $US65 million. Warren Buffett’s NetJets unit ordered 20 last year.

The chief obstacle to supersonic flight is the same one that bedeviled the Concorde: the sonic boom. The US Federal Aviation Administration outlawed such flights by civilians over land in 1973 because of the noise, and other countries followed.

Boom rules

Reversing that ban will be pivotal to any revival of supersonic travel, because the planes would lose their business case if they can’t fly at top speed, according to Savannah, Georgia-based Gulfstream.

“That requires a solution to the sonic boom problem, and that’s where our research efforts are focused,” Preston Henne, Gulfstream’s senior vice president of engineering and test, said during an aviation conference in Orlando, Florida, in October. “We continue to make progress on that.”

NASA expects to start building a demonstrator plane in 2016 to show that disruptive booms can be minimized, and that jet may fly after 2020, according to Peter Coen, chief of supersonic research. In an industry in which Boeing’s Dreamliner took more than a decade to go from the Sonic Cruiser concept to first delivery, that’s not a long-range timeline.

“This is a high-value niche market; the winner here will be the first to market,” said Brian Foley, an aviation consultant based in Sparta, New Jersey. “That’s why there’s interest and that’s why there’s motivation for these people to keep on trying.”

Risks ahead

Success for a new generation of planes is hardly assured, said Foley, who spent 20 years as marketing director at Dassault Aviation’s Falcon business-jet unit.

No follow-on aircraft has emerged since Air France and British Airways parked their Concordes, which were grounded for more than a year after the 2000 crash in Paris that killed 113 people when one of the Air France jets struck runway debris.

The planes slurped twice as much fuel as a Boeing 747 jumbo jet with only about a quarter of the passengers, and round-trip tickets in 2003 fetched as much as $US13,500, then the sticker price on a Dodge Neon compact.

While new designs and engines may tame the roar billowing from a supersonic jet in flight, engineers still must muffle the so-called focused boom, the sharp crack that occurs as a plane first goes past the sound barrier. Emissions and maintenance on high-performance engines also remain challenges.

‘Magic number’

“It doesn’t matter which manufacturer is working on it at the time, when you ask them when it’s going to be a reality, they generally all say, ‘Within 12 years,’” Foley said. “That seems to be the magic number. It doesn’t matter if someone asks them in 1980, 1990 or 2000, there will be one within 12 years.”

Supersonic-flight boosters such as NASA’s Coen see reason for optimism. Planemakers can employ more-powerful engines, use new materials such as the lightweight composites on Boeing’s Dreamliner and draw on years of aeronautical knowledge from the Concorde’s operations and from making supersonic warplanes.

Gulfstream is experimenting with a telescoping rod protruding from a jet’s nose to disrupt the sound waves that cause sonic booms. Bass, a co-founder of investment firm Oak Hill Capital Partners LP, has hired a NASA research jet to test a high-speed wing design from his Aerion Corp.

Boeing and Lockheed have devised supersonic concepts with slender fuselages and rear-mounted engines to damp drag that contributes to the noise. NASA is testing models as long as 3 feet (0.9 meter) in wind tunnels and studying nozzles from General Electric Co. and Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc for future engines, Coen said.

‘Pretty close’

“We were able to achieve both good aerodynamic elements and low sonic boom simultaneously,” Coen said. “We think we’re there or pretty close. That was a really exciting development over the past year.”

After holding public meetings on supersonic flight from 2008 through 2011, the FAA is shifting to gather data from NASA and industry groups as it weighs noise regulations.

“Current research has demonstrated enough progress on reducing impact of sonic booms before they reach the ground for us to revisit this issue,” the FAA said in an e-mailed response to questions. No new public sessions are scheduled.

Bass’s Aerion doesn’t want to wait for any regulatory changes. The Reno, Nevada-based company has a low-drag wing design that it says will allow a jet to fly efficiently at subsonic speed over land and at as much as Mach 1.6, or 1.6 times the speed of sound, over the ocean.

Aerion was in “deep discussions” on a planemaker partner to build the craft as the recession began in late 2007, Chief Operating Officer Douglas Nichols said. Before the economy tanked, Aerion had 50 commitments for an $80 million supersonic plane, Nichols said. Bass declined to comment on Aerion through a spokeswoman, Marcia Horowitz.

“We have a thoroughly committed and patient investor who believes these things and is heavily involved in the business,” Nichols said. “The next frontier is speed and the industry will get there sooner or later. Our wish is sooner.”

source::::brisbane times.com

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Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/holiday-type/business/supersonic-air-travel-set-for-comeback-20121128-2adra.html#ixzz2DZs9WUPW

Pilot-less Planes to Become a Reality soon?

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Pilot-Less Planes Might Become A Reality Before Driver-Less Cars

airplane, flying

NB: Not a pilot-less plane.

A piece in this week’s Economist looks at developments in pilotless planes and goes on to claim that autonomous civil aircraft could be flying before cars go driverless. 

It is potentially a huge new market. America’s aviation regulators have been asked by Congress to integrate unmanned aircraft into the air-traffic control system as early as 2015.

Some small drones are already used in commercial applications, such as aerial photography, but in most countries they are confined to flying within sight of their ground pilot, much like radio-controlled model aircraft.

Bigger aircraft would be capable of flying farther and doing a lot more things.

Pilotless aircraft could carry out many jobs at a lower cost than manned aircraft and helicopters — tasks such as traffic monitoring, border patrols, police surveillance and checking power lines.

They could also operate in conditions that are dangerous for pilots, including monitoring forest fires or nuclear-power accidents. And they could fly extended missions for search and rescue, environmental monitoring or even provide temporary airborne Wi-Fi and mobile-phone services.

Some analysts think the global civilian market for unmanned aircraft and services could be worth more than $50 billion by 2020.

What is unlikely, of course, is that passengers will accept being flown around in a pilotless plane any time soon. But this technology could allow for commercial jets to fly with just a single pilot. 

 

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Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/developments-in-pilot-less-planes-2012-11#ixzz2DFfND2ia

When NASA Will Call You ?!!!

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When the International Space Station Passes Over your House …

source::::::  Megan Garber ….A  Staff Writer  on Space in  ” THE ATLANTIC”…..

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Good news, space nerds! NASA will send ISS viewing info directly to you.

[optional image description]

This composite of 70 exposures shows the trail of the ISS (with gaps between exposures) as it moved left to right over the city of Tübingen in southern Germany on February 7, 2008. As seen from Tübingen, the passage took about 4 minutes. (Till Credner via NASA)

The International Space Station is, after the sun and the moon, the third brightest object in the sky. If you know where to look for it, you can easily see it — no telescope required. But: if you know where to look for it. Since the Earth spins as the ISS orbits it, the station’s position in the sky at any given moment — relative to a position on land — is hard to know for sure.

You know who always knows where the ISS is, though? NASA. Several times a week, Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston determines sighting opportunities for 4,600 terrestrial locations worldwide — places from which the space station is visible for a long distance. Now, NASA is publicizing that list … and sending it, in fact, directly to you. Spot the Station lets you sign up for email or text-message alerts that will let you know, a few hours beforehand, when the ISS will be passing over your area.

“This service will only notify you of ‘good’ sighting opportunities, NASA says — “sightings that are high enough in the sky (40 degrees or more) and last long enough to give you the best view of the orbiting laboratory.” That viewing opportunity could come as often as once or twice a week or as rarely as once or twice a month, depending on the Earth’s rotation and on sky clarity. (So “don’t worry,” NASA says, “if there are big gaps in between sightings!”)

Being, for better or for worse, pretty much the target demographic for this particular service, I just signed up for it. For Washington, D.C., Spot the Station offered location options down to the neighborhood level. And it allowed me to clarify whether I preferred to learn about morning or evening sighting opportunities. (I chose both, because why not.) We’ll see how well it works. For the moment, though, the service is a nice, thoughtful feature: a way to take work that NASA is already doing … and transform it into public wonder and goodwill.

A Jump Breaking the Speed of Sound!!!!!

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Austrian Skydiver Felix Baumgartner Breaks The Speed Of Sound

Felix

Felix Baumgartner successfully jumped from 24 miles above Earth today.

By doing this, the 43-year-old from Austria became the first person to break the speed of sound wearing only a high-pressure suit.

A top speed of 833.9 mph, or mach 1.24 was reached.

“I could feel myself break the speed of sound. I could feel the air building up and then I hit it,” Baumgartner said according to the Red Bull Stratos Twitter feed.

The landmark jump comes 65 years to the day after U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in a rocket plane.

Baumgartner shattered three other world records: highest manned balloon flight, highest altitude jump and the fastest free fall.

The latter two milestones were first set by former Air Force test pilot Joseph Kittinger in 1960, who served as Baumgartner’s mentor throughout five years of meticulous preparation.

Baumgartner did not set a new record for the longest free fall. Kittinger still holds onto that title with his free fall of 4 minutes and 36 seconds. The Austrian ‘s free fall only lasted 4 minutes and 19 seconds.

There were a couple of scares during the skydiver’s fall to Earth. He went into a flat spin shortly after jumping from the space capsule platform. Then, the heat plate in his face visor wasn’t working. That caused his helmet to fog up.

But after tumbling through the atmosphere, Baumgartner deployed his parachute and safely plopped down onto the New Mexican desert. He swiftly dropped to his knees and threw up his arms in victory. Less than minutes and 130,000 feet later, the Austrian was home.

Here’s all the preliminary data from the jump:

Altitude reached: 128,097 feet

Total time from jump to landing: 9 min. 3 seconds

Freefall duration: 4 min. 19 seconds

Top speed:  833.9 mph

 

SOURCE::::BUSINESS INSIDER.COM….news on 14 oct2012

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Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/austrian-skydiver-felix-baumgartner-shatters-world-records-in-24-mile-jump-2012-10#ixzz29K4sdHsH

Astronomers New Find…Super Earth….

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Astronomers Find A Planet Mostly Made of Diamond !!!!

55Cancri e

Haven Giguere

An illustration of the interior of 55 Cancri e.

Astronomers from Yale University believe planet 55 Cancri e is made largely of diamond.

The planet was first spotted orbiting its star in 2011. But at that time, scientists thought 55 Cancri e had a rocky core surrounded by water in a state where it is both liquid and gas. New observations challenge that assumption.

According to a statement from Yale University: 

The planet was first observed transiting its star last year, allowing astronomers to measure its radius for the first time. This new information, combined with the most recent estimate of its mass, allowed [lead researcher] Madhusudhan and colleagues to infer its chemical composition using models of its interior and by computing all possible combinations of elements and compounds that would yield those specific characteristics.

Planet 55 Cancri e is part of a class of planets known as “super-Earths.” It’s about twice as big as our Blue Marble and eight times as massive. It’s also scorching hot with temperatures that can hit 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit.

Because of these conditions researchers now believe planet  55 Cancri e is mostly made of graphite that surrounds a thick layer of diamond, rather than water.

“When you form diamond, it’s only a matter of temperature and pressure, and the temperature is very high on the surface,”  French scientist Olivier Mousis tells New Scientists’ Jacob Aron.

 SOURCE::: business insider.com

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Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/astronomers-discover-diamond-planet-2012-10#ixzz2931W48fy