Yo quiero Continental!
Posted on 01/07/2009 8:20:01 PM PST by trumandogz
A Continental Airlines Boeing 737-800 took off shortly after noon today from Bush Intercontinental Airport and made history as the first U.S. commercial jet to fly on a mix of conventional jet fuel and biofuel. After taking a wide swing over the Gulf of Mexico toward southwestern Louisiana, it touched back down at Intercontinental at 1:45 p.m. Officials said the plane burned 3,600 pounds of a 50-50 jet fuel-biofuel mix in one engine and 3,700 pounds of traditional fuel in the other, meaning the test batch was more efficient. "The airplane performed perfectly. There were no problems. It was textbook," senior pilot Richard Jankowski said.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
How many billions of subsidies did that take? And how much corn had to be diverted from food supplies by government fiat to make enough fuel for this flight?
Does this mean that the two engines are perfectly (or nearly so) identical in thrust per unit fuel ratios?
Links don’t work.
The Article just disappeared.
They claim they used algae.
"The biofuel is derived from jatropha plants and algae. Jatropha has been tested elsewhere as aviation fuel, but the carrier said this was a first for algae."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/6198680.html
They claim they used algae.
Good for them.
There is one thing that conservatives and liberals can agree upon, but for different reasons.
We’re all Americans and we don’t want to buy energy from sand monkeys in the Middle East (I happen to be a sand monkey whose family came to this great country and now you’re stuck with me so I can say that and not be un-PC). It will be a great day for libs and conservatives when we can not buy foreign oil and the Saudis go back to the 16th century where they belong.
I don’t care if the planes and cars run on methane from farts or hot hot air from Congress. Libs are willing to destroy the economy to save the Earth for a lie.
Somewhere, there is a great American inventor who will solve all of this by inventing _________ (energy we’ve never heard of) that will solve all of this crap and become very rich.
Looked at the URLs and I suspect you’re right. A hazard of posting...
The green giant is about to awaken. Algae will be the answer to our energy needs.
“How many billions of subsidies did that take? And how much corn had to be diverted from food supplies by government fiat to make enough fuel for this flight?”
There’s starving kids in (fill-in), please take your seat. Your meal has been diverted to the left side fuel tank (would bring new meaning to carry on — lunch box)
OOH, OOH, I propose new regulation: Private jets must use bio-fuels (Gov Arnold, Pelosi, Travolta (condolences), others).
Commercial flights (for the common folk) will be fueled by conventional fuel sources. After all, flight was initially labeled as “air buses” weren’t they?
Were both engines started at the same time? Many planes idle on the ground on one engine - it saves fuel.
Engine thrust and RPM, were they identical?
How about the viscosity of the fuel? Thicker fuel won't go through injectors at the same rate.
Does a gallon of biofuel weigh the same as a gallon of jet fuel? Perhaps if they measured by volume instead of weight, the difference would disappear.
While no big fan of ethanol, I do hope using the algae can someday become viable as an alternative. I like to keep petro-dollars out of our enemies' hands.
You know, I was on a flight a few years ago that would have showed that an engine not running was FAR more fuel-efficient than the one that was running.
Oil leak (oil level went to zero) resulted in one engine being shut down. The last half-hour-plus of the flight was flown on one engine, no doubt with the tail doing extra duty to keep us on course. The operating engine burned much more fuel than the one shut down -- therefore the engine shut down early was more efficient. Feh.
I don’t buy that the bio fuel mix had increased efficency.
Was the plane ballasted to represent a fully loaded aircraft?
Was it at MTOW at the start of the test?
What was the speed during the flight?
Not entirely:
Continental hace historia con vuelo experimental de avión cargado de biocombustible
Por BILL HENSEL JR. Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 7, 2009, 3:14PM
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.es.mpl/sp/top/6198957.html
Yo quiero Continental!
A Continental employee prepares to unhook a fuel hose at a news conference on the biofuels test flight of a Continental Airlines Boeing 737-800 jet.
Sapphire Energy’s Tim Zenk stands over Sapphire’s booth, which illustrates the process of making biofuel from algae during a news conference on the first flight of a Continental Airlines Boeing 737-800 jet aircraft running partially on biofuel on Wednesday.
Flying on a wing and a fart. ;)
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