Here’s an absolutely spectacular video showing a Cathay Pacific Airbus A330 performing its “slow flight” capabilities. Part of any pilot’s flight training requires mastery of this maneuver – the point at which an aircraft remains ever so slightly above stall speed and is still able to fly. It’s normally done at very high altitudes to allow a student pilot to get the exact feel of how the manipulation of aircraft controls allows such a flight situation.

I trained on Cessna 172s and loved doing this maneuver. Well… not the first few times when I failed and upchucked breakfast when I stalled the aircraft and spun towards the ground. (Side personal note: I’ve never been able to eat cantaloupe since.) One time, wind conditions were strong enough where I was able to slow the aircraft, pitch the nose and fly backwards when looking at the ground. Pretty cool.

Anyway, here’s the video… the weather conditions in the video appear “safe” enough to attempt what they did so close to the ground, but if I were the PIC – pilot in command – I would never have approved such an attempt.

Special thanks to my BFF Eric for sending me this video.

Since I volunteered my seat on United Airlines this morning and scored another $400 in vouchers, I have a bit of time to recap additional news items from the week.

• Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental. The longest passenger aircraft in the world took its maiden flight this past Sunday. As I previously posted, only Lufthansa and Korean Air have orders in for the passenger version, so opportunities are at a minimum to fly on the fourth-generation ‘Queen of the Skies’. The Airline Reporter provides an excellent summary of the event, and links to additional stories, videos and posts.
• Chase Debit rewards ending at United & Continental.  Effective July 12, 2011, holders (including myself) of Chase co-branded debit cards with United Airlines or Continental Airlines will no longer earn miles when using their cards. And beginning April 1^st, you lose the “first checked bag free” benefit. Chase & other banks issuing Visa and MasterCard debit cards are a bit upset the fees they collect on the cards will be slashed courtesy of the Durbin Amendment. As a result, we lose the incentive benefits as consumers and will only now be able to earn miles with a mileage-earning credit card vs. one linked to a bank checking account.
• United Airlines mobile check-in. You can now check-in on your mobile device for worldwide United and United Express-operated flights. Don’t get too excited if you’re already overseas and want to check-in. Presently, only the following non-U.S. airports accept mobile boarding documents: Amsterdam, Brussels, Geneva, London Heathrow, Moscow, Munich, Osaka, and Zurich.
• Continental Airlines adds onboard Wi-Fi. Internet will be coming soon to Continentals’ fleet of domestic Boeing 737s and Boeing 757s that already have the DirecTV service. About 200 planes in total will receive the capability, and United has Wi-Fi available on all of the premium service p.s. aircraft on the JFK-Los Angeles and JFK-San Francisco routes, as well as one additional 757 in the standard domestic configuration. Jeff Smisek this week acknowledged how far behind United is lagging in this capacity, and mentioned it will be a priority in the future to roll it out fleet-wide.
• Hilton HHonors Grand Nights promotion. Hilton announced their second quarter promotion this week, which earns you 1,000 extra HHonors points for each night stayed between April 1 and June 30, 2011. Registration is required and the offer does not apply on certain categories, including many advance purchase rates.
• Air France & Airbus search for wreckage. A new search is underway for Air France flight 447 which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009. The flight took off from Rio de Janeiro bound for Paris, but was never heard from after a series of automated radio messages were sent notifying the airline of numerous problems and warning indications. Pieces of the downed Airbus A330-200 were recovered from the ocean, but this new operation hopes to recover the flight data recorders and other debris.

Today, Virgin Blue revealed the new in-flight staff uniforms designed by the Australian Project Runway winner Juli Grbac, as well as provided additional information about expanding their fleet to offer business class. Trying to lure some of the higher-yield corporate traffic away from Qantas, Virgin Blue’s CEO John Borghetti said, “With our competitive pricing strategy, we believe this will be a compelling proposition for corporate travelers, whether they travel in business or economy class.” Meanwhile, Qantas last week announced increased capacity on the top two long haul flights from Perth to Sydney & Melbourne, and allocated internationally configured Boeing 747 and Airbus A330 aircraft to the routes.

Image courtesy Virgin Blue

Image courtesy Virgin Blue

Virgin Blue has ordered A330 aircraft that will be deployed first on the Sydney to Perth market. Offering two cabins, business class looks quite comfortable, and will feature leather seats with a 62-inch pitch in what will likely be a 2 x 2 x 2 arrangement. As I’m a seat map nut, I’ll be anxiously awaiting that full cabin configuration when it’s available. Delivery of the first two A330s won’t be until May this year, so Qantas will have a nice head-start in hopefully securing continued loyalty with their business class offering on the widebodies. As it stands presently, Virgin Blue offers a “Premium Economy” fare for seats in the first three rows of the 737s, for which they block the middle seat and provide a few inches of additional legroom. Virgin Blue is claiming business class will be introduced fleet-wide by December 31^st.

Lounge options are presently available for Virgin Blue domestic flyers in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Three additional lounges will be added by the end of the year, the first of which will open June 30 at Coolangatta airport on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

While the single-class concept worked initially for Virgin Blue, seeking higher revenue traffic makes total sense in today’s economy, and perhaps might make the carrier’s entry into Star Alliance even more of a possibility. I mentioned in a post back in December that I’d love to have a Star carrier in Australia, and Virgin Blue’s chief Borghetti was in attendance at the Star Alliance CEOs meeting. My fingers are still crossed!