From The Telegraph, Surviving A Plane Crash:

A US government study found there were 568 plane crashes in the US between 1993 and 2000, involving a total of 53,487 passengers and crew. Of these, 51,207 – or over 90 per cent survived. Even on the 26 crashes deemed the worst, the study found that more than half the passengers and crew survived.

I knew my fear of flying was irrational but wow! I had no idea crashes were that survivable.

Interesting editorial on the crash of Air France Flight 447. I’d never realized Boeing and Airbus had such a fundamental difference in terms of pilot controls.

The Wall Street Journal’s Middle Seat Terminal gives a look inside DFW’s tower. A nice glimpse of a controllers job. I’ve been in IND’s tower a handful of times and have always admired the guys doing this job.

Dubai International Airport (DXB) is shooting for 90 million passengers by 2018. They are on course to hit 50 million passengers this year. Aviation is one of the few sustainable growth industries in the UAE.

This is some cool stuff from Siemens, Diamond Aircraft, and EADS. A 70kW electric motor powered by a small wankel engine. The engine runs much slower since it is simply powering a generator to provide current to the motor. A great idea.

Cathay Pacific is pushing for a third runway at Hong Kong International (HKG). Why don’t they just step forward and offer to build it themselves in exchange for exclusive use of the new third runway? Looking at their financials I think they could pull it off.

Think outside the box here. Heck, if they didn’t need the full capacity of the third runway they could even lease it out for HKG to use.

I’d love to know what causes this problem.

Does air traffic control just get too backed up? Or is it the airline? Are they being greedy and putting people on the plan and deplaning so as to reduce gate fees? Curious.

Here’s one we covered before in the New York Times.

So far, Emirates’ success is partly an accident of geography. Roughly four billion people live within an eight-hour flight from here.

Also, the Telegraph has an excellent article comparing the struggles of Heathrow with the rising star of Dubai International.

As a passenger experience Dubai airport is slightly overwhelming, but at the same time quite thrilling. You really feel you are at the crossroads of the world.

Finally, an article detailing the competition between Airbus and Boeing for sales to Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar Airways.

The two aerospace companies are retooling their wide-body aircraft, the Airbus A350 and Boeing 777, with an eye to the Middle East market and big-spending Gulf carriers such as Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways.

Both manufacturers are hoping to fine-tune their aircraft to be able to carry about 400 passengers, plus full loads of cargo on flights of more than 16 hours – an increasingly important requirement for Gulf carriers connecting Asia, Europe and the Americas via their hubs. These airlines have more than US$100 billion (Dh367.8bn) worth of aircraft on order to drive growth plans over the next decade and are expected to buy more jets in the coming years.

I think geography is a big factor in the success of these airlines. I think Emirates in particular has figured out they are at a geographical advantage and are building upon that aggressively. The latest news of their growth is their maintenance facility projects.

Going back to the quote from the Time’s article… that’s nearly two-thirds of the world’s population within an 8 hour flight. Just let that soak in. That’s an astounding geographical advantage, and one that I don’t think Emirates (or other GCC airlines) is going to let slip through their hands.