Google Helps Plan Your Flights

Google's Inside Search blog has revealed a new search feature that can help make your travel plans a whole lot easier. With Google's new flight schedule feature you need only enter your query into Google search and, if your airport is covered, will be rewarded with the available flights covering your departure and arrival locations. For example, enter "flights from Halifax to Boston" in the Google search field and you'll be presented with the following:

Expand the results and you'll see:

It works very well for major regional airports but less so for smaller local centers where there are fewer direct flights. I think the key here is that it is selecting nonstop flights and not considering connecting flights, at least at the moment. Even so, a quick search can provide you with a lot of visibility into what is available and a few queries strung together will likely give you what you need for planning purposes. Of course seat availability and pricing information is not provided but I'd suggest googling before you hit your favorite travel site so you'll at least know your options of times and carriers.

Solar Plane Takes Flight

It may have only been a 350 meter flight down the runway at an altitude of just one meter and lasting 28 seconds, but test pilot Markus Scherdel has flown into the history books piloting Solar Impulse. Solar Impulse founder and president Bertrand Piccard says “For over ten years now, I have dreamt of a solar aircraft capable of flying day and night without fuel” he said in a press release. “Today, our plane took off and was airborne for the very first time.”

Spokeswoman Rachel Bros de Puechredon told Wired.com “There will first be longer flights and to higher altitudes. The next step will be the first day-night-day flight, a 36 hour flight next summer.”

It's just too bad they couldn't have accomplished this in 2003 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers flight!

Jetman Yves Rossy Aborts Africa To Europe Flight

Yves Rossy, also known as Jetman or Fusionman by some, was forced to ditch in the Mediterranean Sea while attempting an intercontinental jetpack flight from Africa to Europe. The 23 mile flight would have been just 1 mile longer than his successful trek across the English Channel to France earlier this year. According to Gizmodo, Rossy will make another attempt sometime around New Years.

Check out this video, now this is a guy who is truly excited about his work!

Air Canada Launches iPhone App

Air Canada has released an iPhone/iPod Touch application that, according to the CBC, allows passengers to "check in with their device, select their seat, retrieve electronic boarding passes and keep track of real-time flight status and information."

"This is only the first iteration of our app, and we will continue to add new features in response to customer demand." Air Canada executive vice-president Ben Smith said of the application developed for the airline by IBM Canada.

Air Traffic Controller Uses SMS To Guide Crippled Plane's Pilot

A quick-thinking air traffic controller from Cork, Ireland guided the pilot of a twin-engined Piper that had lost all onboard electrical power, communications and weather radar to a safe landing using only text messages. The pilot of the troubled craft attempted to use his cellphone repeatedly to raise contact with Kerry airport, where he had left, and when unsuccessful he made brief voice contact with air traffic control at Cork. When voice contact was lost the air traffic controller sent text messages to the pilot informing him that he had a radar signal on the aircraft and that Cork would allow them to land. "In this incident the positive and proactive initiative of the ATC controller, who, on realising that mobile audio communication from the pilot was intermittent, quickly switched to texting his instructions instead," said air accident investigator John Hughes. I hope this guy gets a raise! Well done...

Irishtimes.com

In-flight e-mail and IM coming at last

JetBlue Airways Corp. is poised to start offering e-mail and Instant Messenger access to travelers, starting with one flight next week. The service will be free of charge and will be limited but it's a step that has been a long time coming. According to the Globe and Mail "General Web surfing and e-mail attachments won't be permitted because of bandwidth constraints, and services on laptops and handhelds with Wi-Fi wireless access will be limited to e-mail and messaging from Yahoo Inc." No surprise here but Research In Motion has gotten in on the action, "Passengers can check other personal and work e-mail — but only on two BlackBerry models that have Wi-Fi wireless capabilities"

Other US carriers are said to be getting their own services ready and plan to offer broader capabilities in fee based offerings.

Your cell phone as your boarding pass?

Continental Airlines is testing a system that allows passengers to use their cellphone or personal-digital assistant (PDA) instead of a regular boarding pass. During the test being conducted in Huston, Continental and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will allow passengers to present a code the airline has sent to their cellphone or PDA. According to USATODAY.com "The two-dimensional bar code, a jumble of squares and rectangles, stores the passenger's name and flight information. A TSA screener will confirm the bar code's authenticity with a handheld scanner. Passengers still need to show photo identification. The electronic boarding pass also works at airport gates."

Boeing launches 787 on o7/08/07

The best pre-selling commercial jet to date has yet to carry passengers but was celebrated with much fan fair in Washington yesterday. The 787 Dreamliner will carry it's first paying customers next May. Boeing has already received 677 orders for the 330 passenger (depending on configuration) commercial jetliner whose range is 8,500 miles. A company spokesman is quoted as saying "The most important promise of the Dreamliner,is to make the world a smaller place, and in doing so, bring us all together." CNet has the story here.