Biman Bangladesh Airlines

Biman Bangladesh Airlines

Biman Bangladesh Airlines (Bangla:িবমান বাংলােদশ এয়ারলাইনস) is the National Flag Carrier of Bangladesh, with its main hub at Zia International Airport in Dhaka. It also operates flights from Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong and earns significant revenue from the connecting service to Osmani International Airport in Sylhet. Currently it provides passenger and cargo service in different international routes in Asia and Europe along with major domestic routes. It has Air Service Agreements with 42 countries; but maintains flights to only 18 at present. Until July 2007 the airline was wholly owned and managed by the Government of Bangladesh; on 23 July 2007, it was transformed into Bangladesh's largest Public Limited Company by the then Caretaker government of Bangladesh.[2]
Created in February 1972 with some old vintage aircrafts, Biman enjoyed an internal monopoly in Bangladesh aviation industry until 1996.[3] During next three decades, the airlines expanded its fleet and horizon (at it’s peak Biman used to operate 29 international destination with New York – JFK in the west and Tokyo – Narita in the east) but suffered heavily due to mass corruption and frequent mishaps. The major reason behind the airline's huge financial loss and bad reputation for poor service and regular flight cancellation / delay was its ageing fleet, with some of its long-haul aircrafts were banned for safety reasons by the aviation authority of the US and EU countries. Annual Hajj flights, transporting non-resident Bangladesh workers/migrants[4] as well as Biman's subsidiaries, form an important part of the carrier's business. Biman has a 2 star ranking out of 5 by Skytrax,[5] a United Kingdom – based consultancy. Currently the carrier is facing stiff competition from number of local private airlines as well as some international carriers targeting country's air transport sector that is experiencing 8% growth per annum due to large number of non-resident Bangladeshi.
After becoming a public limited company, Biman has trimmed the number of staff and turned its attention to modernizing the fleet. Biman strikes a deal with US aircraft manufacturer Boeing for procurement of 10 new generation aircrafts along with option/purchase right for another 10. The carrier is also in the process of leasing some aircrafts for the interim period to re-start flights to some of the destinations in Asia, Europe and North America.

History.

Boeing 707 at London Stansted in 1979
Biman Bangladesh Airlines was established on 4 January 1972 to be Bangladesh's national airline under the Bangladesh Biman Ordinance (Presidential Order No. 126).[6][7] The initiative to launch the national flag carrier, was taken by 2,500 former employees, including 10 Boeing 707 commanders and 7 other pilots, of Pakistan International Airlines, who submitted a proposal to the government on 31 December 1971 following the independence of Bangladesh.[8] The airline was initially called Air Bangladesh International but was soon renamed Biman Bangladesh Airlines.[9]
Biman is a Bengali word meaning airplane; it originates from the Sanskrit word vimana, a name given to a flying machine mentioned in ancient Vedic literature. The logo, painted on the tail, is a stylised white stork (Balaka in Bengali) inside a red circle. The initial livery was a dark blue line extending across the aircraft along the windows and covering the tail section. This was replaced in the 1980s by dark green and red lines, matching the colours of the Bangladesh flag, and has remained in place for over two decades. The Balaka has also given its name to the Biman headquarters, the Balaka Bhaban (Balaka Building),[10] and a landmark sculpture in Dhaka depicting storks is in front of Biman's former headquarters.[11]
On 4 February 1972, Biman started its domestic service on the Dhaka–Chittagong, Dhaka–Jessore and Dhaka–Sylhet routes with a World War II vintage Douglas Dakota and Douglas DC-3, both gifts from the Bangladesh Air Force.[8][12] On 10 February 1972, Biman experienced its first accident when the Douglas DC-3 crashed near Dhaka during a flight test, killing all five crew members.[13] A Douglas DC-6 was immediately leased from Troll Air, a Norwegian airline,[14] to keep the domestic service running.[8] On 4 March 1972, Biman started its international operations with a once-a-week flight to London using a Boeing 707 chartered from British Caledonian.[8] The short haul fleet was supplemented by a Fokker F27 from India on 3 March 1972 which saw the start of a daily flight between Kolkata (Calcutta) and Dhaka on 28 April 1972.[15] Three additional Fokker F27s were acquired during March and September of the same year bringing the number of Fokker F27 aircraft to four.[8] In the first year of operation, Biman operated 1,079 flights carrying just over 380,000 passengers.

Four additional Fokker F27s, purchased from Australia and the Netherlands, joined the fleet in 1973 enabling Biman to double the frequency of the Kolkata flight to a twice daily service.[15] A Boeing 707 was added to the fleet in September and the flight to London became twice weekly, while a Chittagong-Kolkata flight also began operating at the same time.[15] In 1974 operations were extended to Kathmandu (February), Bangkok (November) and Dubai (December).[15] In 1976, Biman sold two of its Fokker F27s and bought another Boeing 707 to extend international services to Abu Dhabi, Karachi and Mumbai.[15] Singapore was added to Biman's list of international destinations, when a third Boeing 707 was purchased in February 1977, followed by Jeddah, Doha and Amsterdam the following year which also saw the purchase of its fourth Boeing 707, from the United States.[15] In 1977, Biman was converted into a public sector corporation to be governed by a board of directors appointed by the government.[15] The airline broke-even for the first time in 1977–78, and made a profit the following year.[16] International destinations expanded to include Kuala Lampur, Athens, Muscat and Tripoli in 1979, followed by Yangon, Tokyo and Dhahran in 1980.[15]

Airbus A310-300 landing

In 1983, three Douglas DC-10s joined the fleet and the airline started to phase out the Boeing 707s.[15][12] The network expanded further to include Baghdad (1983), Paris (1984) and Bahrain (1986).[15] On 4 August 1984, Biman faced its worst accident when a Fokker F27 flying in from Chittagong crashed near Dhaka, killing all 49 on board including Captain Kaniz Fatema Roksana, the airline's first female pilot.[17] The long haul fleet was supplemented by the purchase of two new Airbus A310s in 1996 followed by the addition of two more in 2000, from Singapore Airlines and Air Jamaica, and another in 2003.[18]
In the 2005–06 fiscal year, Biman carried 1.15 million passengers, a growth of 70% from the previous decade's average. However, with the rise of private domestic carriers in Bangladesh, Biman's market share for domestic passengers dropped by 35% over the previous ten years' average, with only 162,000 passengers travelling with Biman in the domestic sector in the 2005–06 fiscal year. During the same period, Biman reported its biggest annual loss of over US$120 million (Tk8.3 billion), with a US$100 million (Tk6.9 billion) loss reported the following year.[19] Biman also fell behind millions of dollars in payments to its fuel supplier, the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.[20]

Management

The airline was wholly owned by the Bangladesh government through the Bangladesh Biman Corporation since its inception. In 1977, Biman was converted into a public sector corporation which afforded Biman limited autonomy, governed by a board of directors appointed by the government.[15] The authorised share capital was increased to Tk2 billion in 1987,[21] and Biman was transformed into a public limited company, the largest in Bangladesh, in 2007.
During the late 1980s, Hossain Mohammad Ershad, President of Bangladesh at the time, served as president of Biman. After an early period of expansion and growth, Biman entered an era of nose-diving profits and slow growth, exacerbated by incompetent and corrupt management; with padding of purchases, falsified repair bills and unprofitable routes kept in operation for political reasons.[22][23] Research conducted in 1996 found that Biman had 5,253 non-flying personnel, 30% more than Singapore Airlines which had almost a ten-times larger fleet. The report described Biman as "poorly managed, overstaffed, undercapitalized, and subject to excessive political interference in its day-to-day management."[24]
In the 1992–93 fiscal year, accounts under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism revealed that Tk22 million in tax was not paid to the Government. The audit carried out in 1999, also showed that Biman was owed Tk2.2 million by travel agents from the proceeds of ticket sales, most likely with the collusion of Biman officials.[25] Additionally, Tk2.4 million was overpaid as incentive commission to the sales agents in violation of Biman policies. In 2007, the caretaker government launched an anti-corruption drive which saw the arrest of Shamim Iskander, the brother of ex-prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia and a former Biman flight engineer, on multiple corruption charges.[26] This was shortly followed by the forced retirement of 35 other employees and officials, some of whom were close aides of Iskander.[27]

Privatisation

Due to the growing losses, which began in the late 1990s,[28][29] the government offered 40% of Biman to foreign airlines in 2004, hoping a buyer would take over the management of the carrier. However, the proposal demanded that many decision-making rights remain with the Bangladesh government, and the offer was ignored by outside airlines. A similar initiative in 1998 cost Biman US$1.6 million in consultancy fees with no positive results.[30]
In May 2007, the caretaker government approved plans to turn Biman into a Public Limited Company with shareholdings split between seven public sector organisations.[31] As a part of the restructuring, the government put in place a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to reduce the man-equipment ratio (MER) of 367:1 (ratio of manpower to aircraft). The industry average at the time was 200:1, with other Asian airlines operating with MERs of around 150:1.[32] The VRS provided compensation based on length of service, at a cost to the government of over US$40 million. While Biman management had expected to reduce its workforce by 1,600 personnel, 2,162 applications for VRS were received, many from employees who expected to be dismissed with little or no severance if the quota was not achieved. Biman accepted 1,877 applications and affirmed that key personnel would not be allowed to leave the organisation via VRS.[33][32]
On 23 July 2007, Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd became the largest Public Limited Company in Bangladesh.[2] Earlier suggestions that the airline should be renamed Bangladesh Airlines Ltd were rejected.[34] The government is the sole shareholder of the 1.5 billion shares but intends to offer 49% to the private sector while retaining majority ownership.[35] The previous Managing Director, Dr. Abdul Momen, was appointed the CEO as well as MD in the new organisation. The six board of directors have been appointed from the ministries of energy, commerce, finance, civil aviation, foreign affairs and the cabinet division with the cabinet secretary taking on the role as Chairman. The six secretaries and a joint secretary to the civil aviation ministry have been made the seven shareholders of the new PLC.[35]
Following the privatisation, an initiative was launched by ex-Biman employees, who left the organisation via the VRS, to setup a competing airline.[36] Names proposed for the airline included Air Bangla International, Biman Employees Airlines and Balaka.[37] They were joined by previous managing directors of Biman, along with the former president of the Bangladesh Airline Pilots' Association.[36]

Services

Biman is notable for poor customer service and disruptions to its flight schedule which is reflected in its Star ranking from Skytrax,[38][5] a United Kingdom-based consultancy whose research is used by the UK government in formulating air transport policy.[39] The 2 star ranking (out of 5) is indicative of the poor standard of service provided by the airline which falls below the industry average.[40] In 2007, Biman faced strong criticism from major international airports including Heahthrow and Dubai International Airport for its failure to maintain flight schedules. Heathrow Airport operator BAA, wrote to Biman providing evidence which showed Biman had not achieved the minimum 80% usage of its allocated landing slots at Heathrow, as required by EU and IATA regulations, during summer 2007. Biman should therefore not expect slot allocations at Heathrow for summer 2008 and should look to Stansted or Gatwick airports if it wished to continue serving London.[41] However, following discussions with BAA, Biman obtained landing slots for the summer 2008 period on condition that it achieved 80% usage.[42]
A two-class service (J & Y) is operated on its wide-body airliners and a single class service on the smaller aircraft.[43] The Maslin Executive Class cabin on its Airbus A310s is setup in a 2-3-2 configuration while the setup on the Douglas DC-10-30s is a more roomy 2-2-2 configuration. The economy class cabins are setup in a typical 2-5-2 configuration.[44]
English and Bengali language newspapers are available on board the aircraft along with Biman's in-flight magazine, Digonto (Horizon) which is published quarterly. It covers a range of topics with emphasis on tourist destinations in Bangladesh and other places reachable by Biman.[45] While the majority of the content is in English, for an international audience, some features are available in other languages including Bengali.[46]
In-flight entertainment aboard Biman aircraft is rated "very poor" by Skytrax.[47] The Douglas DC-10-30s are equipped with a projector in each cabin while the Airbus A310s have monitors that drop down from the ceiling below the luggage racks in the center of the aircraft. While other airlines using modern aircraft are able to provide more personal in-flight experiences via seatback LCD screens, Biman's ageing fleet has maintained the standard equipment available when the planes were manufactured.[48][49]
Biman operates a frequent flyer programme which awards customers with a free round trip flight on production of ticket stubs for ten round trip journeys on Biman. The free ticket is for the route which has been flown the most out of the ten. Journeys on local routes are excluded from the offer.[1]
An agreement was signed with Amadeus in 2007 to upgrade Biman's ticketing system with an e-ticketing solution in order to comply with International Air Transport Association rules, which set out a deadline of 31 December 2007 for all member airlines to switch over their ticketing systems. E-ticketing has enabled major airlines, such as British Airways, to provide online check-in facilities reducing the need to queue-up at check-in counters. However, Biman has not indicated the adoption of e-ticketing would provide customers with an improved service apart from reducing its own costs and allowing it to meet increasing demand.[50] In 2005, Biman had briefly stopped using the Amadeus ticketing system when the government suspended the operation of a local Amadeus subsidiary following a court order, after allegations of money laundering.[51] However, the suspension, lasting only a month, was lifted after the writ was appealed in the High Court.[52]

Air Line

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for passengers or freight, generally with a recognized operating certificate or license. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit.
Airlines vary from those with a single airplane carrying mail or cargo, through full-service international airlines operating many hundreds of airplanes. Airline services can be categorized as being intercontinental, intracontinental, or domestic and may be operated as scheduled services or charters.

History

U.S.
Tony Jannus conducted the United States' first scheduled commercial airline flight on 1 January 1914 for the St. Petersburg-routes, Braniff Airways, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines (originally a division of Boeing), Trans World Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and Eastern Air Lines, to name a few.US airline route structure before World War II
Passenger service during the early 1920s was sporadic: most airlines at the time were focused on carrying bags of mail. In 1925, however, the Ford Motor Company bought out the Stout Aircraft Company and began construction of the all-metal Ford Trimotor, which became the first successful American airliner. With a 12-passenger capacity, the Trimotor made passenger service potentially profitable. Air service was seen as a supplement to rail service in the American transportation network.
At the same time, Juan Trippe began a crusade to create an air network that would link America to the world, and he achieved this goal through his airline, Pan American World Airways, with a fleet of flying boats that linked Los Angeles to Shanghai and Boston to London. Pan Am and Northwest Airways (which began flights to Canada in the 1920's) were the only U.S. airlines to go international before the 1940s.
With the introduction of the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-3 in the 1930s, the U.S. airline industry was generally profitable, even during the Great Depression. This trend continued until the beginning of World War II.

Europe

The Imperial Airways Empire Terminal, Victoria, London. Trains ran from here to flying boats in Southampton, and to Croydon Airport.
The first countries in Europe to embrace air transport were Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
KLM, the oldest carrier still operating under its original name, was founded in 1919. The first flight (operated on behalf of KLM by Aircraft Transport and Travel) transported two English passengers to Schiphol, Amsterdam from London in 1920. Like other major European airlines of the time (see France and the UK below), KLM's early growth depended heavily on the needs to service links with far-flung colonial possessions (Dutch Indies). It is only after the loss of the Dutch Empire that KLM found itself based at a small country with few potential passengers, depending heavily on transfer traffic, and was one of the first to introduce the hub-system to facilitate easy connections.
France began an air mail service to Morocco in 1919 that was bought out in 1927, renamed Aéropostale, and injected with capital to become a major international carrier. In 1933, Aéropostale went bankrupt, was nationalized and merged with several other airlines into what became Air France.
In Finland, the charter establishing Aero O/Y (now Finnair, one of the oldest still-operating airlines in the world) was signed in the city of Helsinki on 12 September 1923. Junkers F 13 D-335 became the first aircraft of the company, when Aero took delivery of it on 14 March 1924. The first flight was between Helsinki and Tallinn, capital of Estonia, and it took place on 20 March 1924, one week later.
Germany's Lufthansa began in 1926. Lufthansa, unlike most other airlines at the time, became a major investor in airlines outside of Europe, providing capital to Varig and Avianca. German airliners built by Junkers, Dornier, and Fokker were the most advanced in the world at the time. The peak of German air travel came in the mid-1930s, when Nazi propaganda ministers approved the start of commercial zeppelin service: the big airships were a symbol of industrial might, but the fact that they used flammable hydrogen gas raised safety concerns that culminated with the Hindenburg disaster of 1937. The reason they used hydrogen instead of the not-flammable helium gas was a United States military embargo on helium.
The British company Aircraft Transport and Travel commenced a London to Paris service on 25 August 1919, this was the world's first regular international flight. The United Kingdom's flag carrier during this period was Imperial Airways, which became BOAC (British Overseas Airways Co.) in 1939. Imperial Airways used huge Handley-Page biplanes for routes between London, the Middle East, and India: images of Imperial aircraft in the middle of the Rub'al Khali, being maintained by Bedouins, are among the most famous pictures from the heyday of the British Empire.

Asia

A Philippine Airlines DC-3 at Manila, Philippines
Some of the first countries in Asia to embrace air transport were India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The first country in Asia to embrace air transport was the Philippines. Philippine Airlines was founded on February 26, 1941, making it Asia's oldest carrier and the oldest operating under its current name. The airline was started by a group of businessmen led by Andres Soriano, hailed as one of the Philippines' leading industrialists at the time. The airline’s first flight was made on March 15, 1941 with a single Beech Model 18 NPC-54 aircraft, which started its daily services between Manila (from Nielson Field) and Baguio, later to expand with larger aircraft such as the DC-3 and Vickers Viscount. Notably Philippine Airlines leased Japan Airlines their first aircraft, a DC-3 named "Kinsei". On July 31, 1946, a chartered Philippine Airlines DC-4 ferried 40 American servicemen to Oakland,California from Nielson Airport in Makati City with stops in Guam, Wake Island, Johnston Atoll and Honolulu, Hawaii, making PAL the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific Ocean. A regular service between Manila and San Francisco was started in December. It was during this year that the airline was designated as the Philippines flag carrier.

Air India Boeing 747-400. The Government of India is the majority stake-holder in Air India and Indian Airlines.
Another airline company to begin early operations was Air India, which had its beginning as Tata Airlines in 1932, a division of Tata Sons Ltd. (now Tata Group) by India's leading industrialist JRD Tata. On October 15, 1932, J. R. D. Tata himself flew a single engined De Havilland Puss Moth carrying air mail (postal mail of Imperial Airways) from Karachi to Bombay via Ahmedabad. The aircraft continued to Madras via Bellary piloted by Royal Air Force pilot Nevill Vincent.
Following the end of World War II, regular commercial service was restored in India and Tata Airlines became a public limited company on 29 July 1946 under the name Air India. After the Independence of India, 49% of the airline was acquired by the Government of India. In return, the airline was granted status to operate international services from India as the designated flag carrier under the name Air India International.
Neighbouring countries also soon embraced air transport, notably with the beginning of a new nation, Pakistan began Orient Airways Ltd (Pakistan International Airlines), Cathay Pacific founded in 1946, Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines in 1947 (as Malayan Airways), Garuda Indonesia in 1949, Japan Airlines in 1951, and Korean Air in 1962. With the outbreak of World War Two, the airline presence in Asia came to a relative halt, with many new flag carriers donating their aircraft for military aid and other uses.

Development since 1945

Post-war airline route structure.[citation needed]
As governments met to set the standards and scope for an emergent civil air industry toward the end of the war, it was no surprise that the U.S. took a position of maximum operating freedom. After all, U.S. airline companies were not devastated by the war, as European companies and the few Asian companies had been. This preference for "open skies" operating regimes continues, within limitations, to this day.
World War II, like World War I, brought new life to the airline industry. Many airlines in the Allied countries were flush from lease contracts to the military, and foresaw a future explosive demand for civil air transport, for both passengers and cargo. They were eager to invest in the newly emerging flagships of air travel such as the Boeing Stratocruiser, Lockheed Constellation, and Douglas DC-6. Most of these new aircraft were based on American bombers such as the B-29, which had spearheaded research into new technologies such as pressurization. Most offered increased efficiency from both added speed and greater payload.
In the 1950s, the De Havilland Comet, Boeing 707, Douglas DC-8, and Sud Aviation Caravelle became the first flagships of the Jet Age in the West, while the Soviet Union bloc countered with the Tupolev Tu-104 and Tupolev Tu-124 in the fleets of state-owned carriers such as Aeroflot and Interflug. The Vickers Viscount and Lockheed L-188 Electra inaugurated turboprop transport.Airline trunk route systems.[citation needed]
The next big boost for the airlines would come in the 1970s, when the Boeing 747, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, and Lockheed L-1011 inaugurated widebody ("jumbo jet") service, which is still the standard in international travel. The Tupolev Tu-144 and its Western counterpart, Concorde, made supersonic travel a reality. In 1972, Airbus began producing Europe's most commercially successful line of airliners to date. The added efficiencies for these aircraft were often not in speed, but in passenger capacity, payload, and range.
1978's U.S. airline industry deregulation lowered barriers for new airlines. In this period, new start-ups entered during downturns in the normal 8-10 year business cycle. At that time, they find aircraft, are financed, contract hangar and maintenance services, train new employees, and recruit laid off staff from other airlines.
As the business cycle returned to normalcy, major airlines dominated their routes through aggressive pricing and additional capacity offerings, often swamping new startups. Only America West Airlines (which has since merged with US Airways) remained a significant survivor from this new entrant era, as dozens, even hundreds, have gone under.
In many ways, the biggest winner in the deregulated environment was the air passenger. Indeed, the U.S. witnessed an explosive growth in demand for air travel, as many millions who had never or rarely flown before became regular fliers, even joining frequent flyer loyalty programs and receiving free flights and other benefits from their flying. New services and higher frequencies meant that business fliers could fly to another city, do business, and return the same day, for almost any point in the country. Air travel's advantages put intercity bus lines under pressure, and most have withered away.
By the 1980s, almost half of the total flying in the world took place in the U.S., and today the domestic industry operates over 10,000 daily departures nationwide.

De-regulated hub and spoke airline route structures.[citation needed]
Toward the end of the century, a new style of low cost airline emerged, offering a no-frills product at a lower price. Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, AirTran Airways, Skybus Airlines and other low-cost carriers began to represent a serious challenge to the so-called "legacy airlines", as did their low-cost counterparts in Europe, Canada, and Asia. Their commercial viability represented a serious competitive threat to the legacy carriers. However, of these, ATA and Skybus have since ceased operations.
Thus the last 50 years of the airline industry have varied from reasonably profitable, to devastatingly depressed. As the first major market to deregulate the industry in 1978, U.S. airlines have experienced more turbulence than almost any other country or region. Today, almost every single legacy carrier except for American Airlines has operated under Chapter 11 bankruptcy provisions or have gone out of business.

Other Observations

The pattern of ownership has gone from government owned or supported to independent, for-profit public companies. This occurs as regulators permit greater freedom and non-government ownership, in steps that are usually decades apart. This pattern is not seen for all airlines in all regions.
The overall trend of demand has been consistently increasing. In the 1950s and 1960s, annual growth rates of 15% or more were common. Annual growth of 5-6% persisted through the 1980s and 1990s[citation needed]. Growth rates are not consistent in all regions, but countries with a de-regulated airline industry have more competition and greater pricing freedom. This results in lower fares and sometimes dramatic spurts in traffic growth. The U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Mexico,India and other markets exhibit this trend.
The industry is cyclical. Four or five years of poor performance precede five or six years of improved performance. But profitability in the good years is generally low, in the range of 2-3% net profit after interest and tax. In times of profit, airlines lease new generations of airplanes and upgrade services in response to higher demand. Since 1980, the industry has not earned back the cost of capital during the best of times. Conversely, in bad times losses can be dramatically worse.
Warren Buffett once said that despite all the money that has been invested in all airlines, the net profit is less than zero. He believes it is one of the hardest businesses to manage.
As in many mature industries, consolidation is a trend. Airline groupings may consist of limited bilateral partnerships, long-term, multi-faceted alliances between carriers, equity arrangements, mergers, or takeovers. Since governments often restrict ownership and merger between companies in different countries, most consolidation takes place within a country. In the U.S., over 200 airlines have merged, been taken over, or gone out of business since deregulation in 1978. Many international airline managers are lobbying their governments to permit greater consolidation to achieve higher economy and efficiency.

Model Aircrafts

Model Aircraft

Model aircraft are flying or non-flying models of existing or imaginary aircraft, often scaled down versions of full size planes, using materials such as balsa wood, foam and fiberglass. Many designs are possible, from simple gliders, to accurate scale models, some of which can be very large.
Models may be built either as static non-flying models, or as flying models (also known as aeromodelling). Static model aircraftConstruction techniques for the two are usually very different.

Static model aircraft

Static model aircraft (i.e those not intended to fly) are scale models are built using plastic, wood, metal or paper. Some static models are scaled for use in wind tunnels, where the data acquired is used to aid the design of full scale aircraft.
Collectors can buy models that have already been built and painted, models that require construction, painting and gluing, or models that have been painted but need to be snapped together. Snap models require minimal construction and are becoming increasingly popular.

Promotional Use

Most of the world's airlines allow their fleet aircraft to be modeled as a form of publicity.[1] In the early days, airlines would order large models of their aircraft and supply them to travel agencies as a promotional item. These models are the most prized collectibles

Manufacturers

Manufacturers of static model kits include Tamiya, Revell Germany, Trumpeter (company), Schuco, Hasegawa, Czechmaster, MPM, Special Hobby, Academy, Hobbycraft, Dragon/DML, Italeri, Minicraft, Fujimi, and Testors. Other companies are Monogram, Revell USA, OzMods Australia and Airfix.

Scale

In static models, the most popular scale is 1:72, followed closely by 1:48. 1:144 is popular for civil airliners, and there is a growing range of military subjects. [2] More detailed models are available at 1:32 and 1:24. Some manufacturers introduced 1:50 scale and 1:30 scale. Japan offers 1:100. The French firm Heller SA is the only manufacturer to offer models in the scale of 1:125. Herpa and others produce promotional models for airlines in scales including 1:200, 1:400, 1:500, 1:600, 1:1000 and more. A few First World War aircraft were offered at 1:28 by Aurora.
Other less popular scales are 1:64, 1:96, and 1:128; however, old molds are often revived in these scales. Many older plastic models, such as those built by Revell do not conform to any established scale. They are sized to fit inside standard sized boxes. These kits are often called "box-scale" and are often reissued in their original, unusual scales.[3] Some helicopters used to be offered in 1:32 scale, similar to some fixed-wing aircraft models. The trend is to issue helicopters in 1:35 scale, similar to most land vehicle models.

Media

The most common form of manufacture for kits is injection molded polystyrene plastic, using carbon steel molds. This takes place mostly in China, the Philippines, South Korea, and Eastern Europe. Injection molding allows a high degree of precision and automation not found in other manufacturing processes. Smaller and cheaper runs can be done with cast copper molds, and some companies do even smaller runs using cast resin molds, but the quality and precision is of a lower standard than carbon steel.
The next most common form of manufacture is cast resin, using silicone rubber molds placed in vacuum chambers to reduce the incidence of bubbles in the castings. This form of manufacture is labor intensive and involves a degree of waste because the resin attacks the silicone and the molds can only be used about 20-30 times before a new mold needs to be made. The flexibility of the mold does allow shapes and undercuts not possible with any other manufacturing method. This sort of manufacture is reserved for unusual or esoteric subjects in relatively small production runs, and are consequently far more expensive than injection molded plastic kits.
Vacuum-formed polystyrene kits are still being made, buta greater amount of effort is required by the consumer to produce an acceptable model compared to the aforementioned methods. There is a handful of photo etched metal kits which allow a high level of detail but can be laborious to assemble. [4] [5] Specialized kits cast in resin are available from companies such as Anigrand, Collect Aire, CMK, and Unicraft.
Scale models can be made from heavy paper or card stock. [6] Card models are also distributed through the internet, and several are offered this way for free. Card model kits are not limited to just aircraft, with kits being available for all types of vehicles, buildings, computers, firearms and animals. Ready-made models (desk-top models) include those produced in fibreglass for travel agents and aircraft manufacturers, as well as collectors models made from die-cast metal and plastic. [7]. Snap Fit plastic plane models are manufactured by Wooster, Long Prosper, and Flight Miniatures

Flying model aircraft

Main article: Radio-controlled aircraft


Flying models are usually what is meant by the term aeromodelling. Most flying model aircraft can be placed in one of three groups:
Free flight (F/F) model aircraft fly without any attachment to the ground.This type of model pre-dates the efforts of the Wright Brothers [1] and other pioneers.
Control line (C/L) model aircraft use cables (usually two) leading from the wing to the pilot. A variation of this system is the Round-the-pole flying (RTP) model.
Radio-controlled aircraft have a transmitter operated by the pilot on the ground, sending signals to a receiver in the craft.
Some flying models resemble scaled down versions of piloted aircraft, while others are built with no intention of looking like piloted aircraft. There are also models of birds and flying dinosaurs. One company, Flying ThingZ of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, makes unusual offerings, produced from laser-cut corrugated plastic include a witch on a broomstick, a flying M1A2 Abrams tank, a flying race car and even a 2/3-scale flying lawnmower

Construction

The construction of flying models is very different from most static models. Flying models borrow construction techniques from (usually vintage) full-sized aircraft (although models rarely use metal structures.) These might consist of forming the frame of the model using thin strips of light wood such as balsa, then covering it with fabric and subsequently doping the fabric to form a light and sturdy frame which is also airtight. For very light models, very thin paper can be substituted for fabric. Heat-curing plastic films ("heat shrink covering" or "solarfilm") can be ironed on — a hand-held iron causes the film to shrink and adhere to the frame. A hair dryer can also be used.
Other model construction techniques consist of using formers and longerons for the fuselage, and spars and ribs for the wings and tail surfaces. More robust designs may use solid sheets of wood to form these instead, or might employ a composite wing consisting of an expanded polystyrene core laminated with a surface veneer of wood, often obechi, which protects the core and provides strength. Such designs tend to be heavier than an equivalent sized model built using the traditional method, and would be much more likely to be found in a power model than a glider.
The lightest models are suitable for indoor flight, in a windless environment. Some of these are made by bringing frames of balsa wood and carbon fiber up through water to pick up thin plastic films, similar to rainbow colored oil films. The advent of "foamies," or craft injection-molded from lightweight foam and sometimes reinforced with carbon fiber, have made indoor flight more accessible to hobbyists. Many come ready-to-fly, requiring little more than attachment of the wing and landing gear. See: ParkZone Slo-V.
Flying models can be built from scratch using published plans, or assembled from kits. Plans are intended for the more experienced modeller, since all parts must be sourced separately. The kit contains most of the raw material for an unassembled plane, a set of assembly instructions, and a few spare parts to allow for builder error. Assembling a model from plans or a kit can be very labour-intensive. In order to complete the construction of a model, the builder assembles the frame, covers it, and aligns the control surfaces.

ParkZone P-51D Mustang
To increase the hobby's accessibility to the inexperienced, vendors of model aircraft have introduced Almost Ready to Fly (ARF) designs. Compared to a traditional kit design, an ARF design reduces the amount of time, skill, and tooling required for assembly. The average ARF aircraft can be built with less than 4 hours of labor, versus 10-20+ for a traditional kit aircraft. More recently, Ready To Fly (RTF) radio control aircraft have all but eliminated assembly time (at the expense of the model's configuration options.) Among traditional hobbyist builders, RTF models are a point of controversy, as many consider model assembly as integral to the hobby. Brands associated with these types of aircraft include Great Planes, Hobbico, Carl Goldberg Products, Lanier RC, E-Flite, Hangar 9, GWS, HobbyZone and ParkZone Tower Hobbies.

Gliders

Main article: radio-controlled glider
Gliders are aircraft with no attached powerplant. Model gliders are usually hand-launched or catapult-launched (using an elastic bungee.) The newer "discus" style of wingtip handlaunching has largely supplanted the earlier "javelin" type of launch. Other launch methods include ground based power winches, hand-towing, and towing aloft using a second powered aircraft. As gliders are unpowered, flight must be sustained through exploitation of the natural wind in the environment. A hill or slope will often produce updrafts of air which will sustain the flight of a glider. This is called slope soaring, and when piloted skillfully, radio controlled gliders can remain airborne for as long as the updraft remains. Another means of attaining height in a glider is exploitation of thermals, which are bubbles or columns of warm rising air created by hot spots on the ground. As with a powered aircraft, lift is obtained by the action of the wings as the aircraft moves through the air, but in a glider, height can only be gained by flying through air that is rising faster than the aircraft is sinking relative to the airflow.
Sailplanes are flown using available thermal lift. As thermals can only be indirectly observed through the reaction of the aircraft to the invisible rising air currents, pilots find sailplane flying challenging and rewarding.
Hang gliders come in two large categories: hang glider and paraglider. The default use of the term is for the stiffened-wing sort; the paraglider is fully flexible winged.
Walkalong gliders are light weight model airplanes flown in the ridge lift produced by the pilot following in close proximity. In other words, the glider is slope soaring in the updraft of the moving pilot.

Power sources

Powered models contain an onboard powerplant to propel the aircraft through the air. The model is usually powered by an electric motor or small piston engine, but other types of propulsion include rockets, small turbines, pulsejets, compressed gas engines and twisted rubber bands.

Old and cold

An old method of powering free flight models is Alphonse Pénaud's elastic motor, essentially a long rubber band that is wound up prior to flight. It is the most widely used powerplant for model aircraft, found on everything from children's toys to serious competition models. The elastic motor offers extreme simplicity and survivability, but suffers from limited running time, an exponential reduction of thrust over the motor's operational cycle, and it places substantial stress on the fuselage. Even so, a competitive model can achieve flights of nearly 1 hour. http://www.indoornews.com/indoorrecords/record_list.php
Stored compressed gas (CO2), similar to filling a balloon and then releasing it, also powers simple models.
A more sophisticated use of compressed CO2 is to power a piston expansion engine, which can turn a large, high pitch prop. These engines can incorporate speed controls and multiple cylinders, and are capable of powering lightweight scale radio control aircraft. Gasparin and Modella are two recent makers of CO2 engines. CO2, like rubber, is known as "cold" power because it becomes cooler when running, rather than hotter as combustion engines and batteries do.
Steam, which is even older than rubber power, and like rubber, contributed much to aviation history, is now rarely used. In 1848, John Stringfellow flew a steam-powered model, in Chard, Somerset, England. Hiram Stevens Maxim later showed that steam can even lift a man into the air. Samuel Pierpont Langley built steam as well as internal combustion models that made long flights.)
Baronet Sir George Cayley built, and perhaps flew, internal and external combustion gunpowder-fueled model aircraft engines in 1807, 1819 and 1850. These had no crank, working ornithopter-like flappers instead of a propeller. He speculated that the fuel might be too dangerous for manned aircraft.

Monitoring of Model Aircraft Performance

RC Power System Monitor
The increased complexity of model aircraft power systems has created the need for tools to measure model performance, both during ground testing and in-flight.
As of 2008, the popularity of lithium polymer (LiPo) based electric power systems increased the need for this monitoring, due to the relative fragility of LiPo batteries. Several small and low cost in flight monitors and bench meters designed specifically for RC are available in 2008. One example is pictured at right.