Electric planes are coming: Short-hop regional flights could be running on batteries in a few years

Air Canada and United Airlines both have orders for hybrid electric 30-seaters. An aerospace engineer explains where electrification, hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuels are headed.

Gökçin Çınar, Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan • conversation
Sept. 19, 2022 ~9 min

Could 5G really ground planes? Why the US has delayed rolling out the mobile internet technology around airports

The radio frequency at which 5G operates in the US is close to that of an important piece of aircraft equipment, called radio altimeters.

Sufian Yousef, Principal lecturer, Director of the Telecommunications Engineering Research Group, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Anglia Ruskin University • conversation
Jan. 25, 2022 ~5 min


Reducing air travel by small amounts each year could level off the climate impact

Reducing jet fuel consumption by 2.5% each year could halt aviation’s growing influence on climate change.

Milan Klöwer, Postdoctoral Researcher in Weather and Climate Modelling, University of Oxford • conversation
Nov. 5, 2021 ~7 min

Why does it take longer to fly from east to west on an airplane?

When planes fly from east to west, they are flying against a river of air called a jet stream. These air currents can make your flight longer or shorter, depending on which way you are going.

Skip Bailey, Aviation Institute Flight Training Coordinator and Instructor, University of Nebraska Omaha • conversation
Jan. 25, 2021 ~5 min

Green bailouts: relying on carbon offsetting will let polluting airlines off the hook

Carbon offsetting is better regulated than it once was, but it's no solution to the climate crisis.

Ben Christopher Howard, Doctoral Researcher in Nature-based Solutions, University of Birmingham • conversation
May 27, 2020 ~6 min

Grounded aircraft could make weather forecasts less reliable

More than one million weather observations were made by aircraft each day in 2019. Since the pandemic started, these have dropped by 90%.

Matthew Blackett, Reader in Physical Geography and Natural Hazards, Coventry University • conversation
May 13, 2020 ~6 min

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