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February 8th, 2010Exclusive Valentines Gifts
February 8th, 2010If you are wondering what to give your loved one for valentine’s day why not surprise her with a trip of a life time by taking her to Paris by private jet. Read more about what you can expect from a romantic trip to Paris by private jet.
Alternatively you could whisk your loved one away to a secret location by helicopter for a romantic dinner for two.
Finding Paradise
February 6th, 2010
Laiya, Batangas, Philippines
When it comes to finding your perfect paradise in the sun most people in the UK think of probably Spain, Thailand, and the Caribbean – in reverse order of exclusivity. However, there is another alternative which is very easy to get to by many people often don’t even give it a thought. The place is the Philippines, a place that I go to often because I have family.
Beatrice & Miles
Having just returned from the Philippines I thought I would do a little write up on a beautiful place by the sea called Laiya. There will be some of you who will find themselves travelling to the Philippines capital, Manila, on business. The good thing about Laiya is that it is only three hours south of Manila by car. You can also hire a private helicopter to get to the place.
Banka - fishing boat
My family and I stayed at a place called Laiya Coco Grove - http://www.laiyacocogrove.com/. The resort itself was very quiet, clean, and has really nice views of the bay. The unique selling point of the place are its tree house rooms. All of these come with air con and a fan so you won’t fry in the hot weather.
Banka from under the water
There are many things to do at the resort. You can hire a banka [local boat] to go snorkelling or fishing. There are also some interesting walks around the area. My passion is fishing so I hired a kayak in an attempt to catch Dorado. Having tied down my fishing rod, fishing tackle box and water bag I rowed out for about just over a mile. Despite my efforts I finally gave up after five hours. The only thing I did catch was sun burn - unfortunately the large waves breaking over the bows had washed off my suntan lotion on my legs.
View from our room
Another plus about going on holiday in the Philippines is that the people are very hospitable and speak English. One evening we went for a walk along the beach to see what the other resorts looked like. When we arrived at Laiya White Cove Beach Resort - http://www.laiyawhitecove.com/ we were welcomed by a group of about twelve people who called us over to have a drink with them. Three hours later and feeling a little worse for wear they all walked us back to our resort.
Beatrice & tree house
Miles, Beatrice, Faith
Smarter Air Charter - Econ warrior of the aviation world
January 22nd, 2010Despite the recent economic troubles the celebrities’ favourite private aircraft charter broker, Flaps International Ltd of Upton in Worcestershire, has reported strong sales over the last year, including regular flights for such distinguished celebrities as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Sienna Miller and many Premiership footballers from a host of different clubs. Director Pete Lynch Williams attributes a significant proportion of this not just to the high standards of service provision but to Flaps’ long-standing relationship with the environmental company, Treeflights (www.treeflights.com) who plant trees from as far afield as Wales and Kenya to offset the carbon emissions of aircraft.
“Many of our clients have noted our long-established relationship with Treeflights and seem genuinely interested in the efforts we make to offset our carbon footprint” says Mr. Lynch Williams. “Unlike some of our rivals, we can point to the fact that we have been quietly providing support to this extremely worthy cause as a matter of principle over a significant period of time, rather than cynically hopping on the green bandwagon as so many have done lately”.
Ru Hartwell, owner of Treeflights agrees: “Flaps are certainly our oldest established aviation partner and in fact they are also our longest established partner company of any description as other concerns who pre-dated them have since dropped by the wayside. Since Treeflights was the first company in the world to plant trees specifically to offset aviation emissions, that must make Flaps International one of the first air charter companies in the world (if not the first) to start taking more responsibility for emissions in this way”.
Flaps International Ltd., (www.smarteraircharter.com) offer every enquirer the free option to plant a tree for each flight they take. If they wish, people can be provided with evidence of the location of their trees and can even name them after their children, for example. “When we first hooked up with Treeflights I named four trees after my wife and daughters” says Mr. Lynch Williams: “I only hope they don’t grow to be quite so expensive to keep!”.
Industrial Strikes, Bad Weather & Terrorism - Welcome To The UK
January 9th, 2010Long before Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a plane bound for Detroit on Christmas day 2009, travelling overseas has become a real trial of endurance. Ever since 911 people flying from the UK have had to put up with longer queues than anywhere else in the world, particularly at Heathrow.
When you arrive at the security point your are herded, by the thousand, like mindless sheep to the slaughter. Often those doing the herding are rude and not exactly the brightest people. Regardless of whether you are a middle aged woman with children or an old man everyone is treated as a suspected terrorist. Often hand luggage gets sifted through with ponderous detail.
Queues at our airports are likely to get even longer since the failed terrorist attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Judging by the TV interviews with travellers following the incident most of us appear resigned to the fact that delays are likely to get even longer at airports.
Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, announced that new scanning equipment will be introduced within 3 weeks time. Johnson said that all UK airports must have new “explosion trace detection equipment” by the end of the year, and said that BAA had begun training its staff in behavioural analysis techniques. The question is – could these new scanners have prevented Umar Farouk from getting on board? The amount of explosive hidden in his underpants would have been difficult to detect even with a scanner.
Some have argued that there should be a stronger emphasis on social profiling based on gender, age, ethnic background and race. Take the case of Umar Farouk. Here was a young black man coming from a country of predominantly Muslim origin, who’s own father had warned officials of his possible intentions. Added to this, Abdulmutallab got on a plane bound for the United States with only a one way ticket and no checked-in luggage, yet alarm bells failed to go off.
If we only use ethnicity to weed out those who should be scrutinised in detail at airports you would surely get cries of injustice by civil liberties groups. However, profiling people by ethnicity has been a success in Israel for many years. The United States is the only other country to have implemented this thus far.
But even without the problem of terrorism it seems the UK continues to be a hostage to industrial action and the weather. December 2009 saw British Airways staff threatening a twelve day strike over the Christmas period. If the strike had gone ahead it would have lead to major chaos at Heathrow and probably spelt the end of BA. Luckily for BA they managed to get a legal action that declared the strike illegal.
The cold weather also played a part in bringing the UK transport system to a halt in December 2009. With snowfall throughout the country and record temperature lows flights, trains and roads all suffered. Even the Channel Tunnel came to a halt because of the “wrong type of snow” getting clogged in the engine vents.
So what about the future? You can’t do much about the weather but you can avoid strikes and cut the threat of terrorism by using private charter flights.Certainly using private business jets and regional airports means you don’t have hassle of the long queues. Security is also tighter because you are likely to know the people on your flight.
A Review Of The Top 3 Ski Resorts
January 7th, 2010If you are thinking of going skiing this year you might want to have a look at going to one of the top three ski resorts. This article gives a quick review of the top three French ski resorts: Chamonix, Courchevel, and Val-d’Isere.
Chamonix:
Like many ski resorts in France Chamonix is made up by several ski areas. In the south there is Brévent/Flégère which has south-facing slopes and amazing views of the Mont-Blanc chain. The Grands Montets region has high altitude north-facing slopes that dominate the village of Argentière. Towards the head of the Chamonix valley is the third area known as Balme which has vast expanses that sit on the Swiss border.
Chamonix offers all types of skiing. There are long slopes, forest runs as well as beginner runs and off-piste runs for the more advanced. There are also three smaller valleys that area excellent fun for the novices and children. In contrast to this there is the Vallée Blanche in Chamonix which offers an off-piste ski route, 20km long with a vertical descent of 2700m. In certain areas of Vallée Blanche you will need a specialist guide.
Should you wish to have a break whilst skiing you might want to try the Requin Hut for a bite to eat, which is half way down Vallée Blache. When the snow is thin on the ground you can return to Chamonix using the train at the Montenvers train station.
If you are going to ski at Chamonix try the Les Granges d’en Haut. The complex comprises of numerous luxury alpine chalets which sit amongst trees and have the most amazing views. A chalet takes up to eight guests. For your money you get a concierge, a lovely lounge, and the use of both a 120 seated restaurant and a beautiful large 600m2 spa. Each chalet has four bedrooms and four bathrooms, three of which are en suite. The chalets also come with their own private sauna, a fully-equipped kitchen, a laundry room and a private balcony.
Courchevel:
Courchevel refers to both a region and a number of towns. The town itself is not so much a town but a conglomerate of towns made up of the original town La Praz, now Courchevel 1300, Courchevel 1550, Moriond - Courchevel 1650, and Courchevel 1850. However, Courchevel 1850 is in reality only 1747 meters but it was named 1850 for marketing reasons to compete with Val d’Isere.
Courchevel is a world famous resort and rightly so, given its location at the Eastern end of the gargantuan ski area of Les Trois Vallées. It has 600 kilometres of piste which stretch from the Mont Blanc massif in the North to the Les Ecrins massif in the south. The breathtaking scenery includes views of Mont Blanc as well as views over the Swiss and Italian Alps. Should you wish for a quick change of scene you can take the fast ski lifts to the top of Pointe de Thorens which is 3266 m high.
Being the largest linked ski area in the world, the Trois Vallée has 62 chairlifts, it boasts 27 green runs, 44 blue runs, 38 red runs and 10 black. To bash smash and smooth all 119 pistes of this vast expanse Courchevel requires 563 snow cannons and 26 piste bashers. To keep down the risk of avalanche there are an incredible 65 gazex and 4 catex avalance-release systems.
There are many great places to stay in Courchevel but if you want to pamper yourself one would recommend the Hotel de Charme les Airelles. Located at Courchevel 1850 staying at Hotel de Charme les Airelles means you can enjoy the best location for getting straight out to the slopes.
The lounge at Hotel de Charme les Airelles has a library and an open fire which sets the warm and relaxing ambience. There is a choice of four restaurants and you can use the Spa Vermont pour Les Airelles with its pool, sauna, hammam, whirlpools, and snow cave.
If you are staying at 1850 then your best places to party at night are Le Tremplin, the Le Kalicol, the Bar l’Equipe and the Bar le Jump. In Courchevel 1650 the bars of choice would be the Space Bar, Rocky’s, the Bubble Bar or Moriond Lounge as the slopes close for a good party before dinner. In Courchevel 1550 the places to be for apres-ski are Barouf, Channossa or The Bar.
Val-d’Isère:
Val-d’Isère is your typical picture post card skiing resort with all the lovely alpine style chalets. The skiing area also includes the ski town of Tignes, which combined with Val-d’Isère, makes up the ski area otherwise know as l’Espace Killy .
Val-d’Isère offers both groomed slops and off-piste skiing. There are a nice balance of green, blue, red and black runs, but just watch out for the run coming into town as it is closer to a red run than a blue run, as advertised. As one would expect the slopes are equipped with both gondolas and the small button chair lifts.
In the recent past you were able to do summer skiing on Glacier De Pissaillas but the glassier has retreated, possibly because of global warming. The snow in Val-d’Isère is excellent but they still rely on a few snow cannons to keep some of the slopes open owing to the large numbers of visitors.
Tignes, the other town of l’Espace Killy also boasts excellent slopes. Here you can blast your way down the motorway wide slopes all the way to the bottom. At Tignes you can also catch the funicular to the Grande Motte glacier.
Val-d’Isère has a lively après-ski as there is a nice selection of pubs and clubs. Dick’s Tea Bar is the main English-language hangout. Dick’s Tea Bar also has good immediate après-ski with happy hour, videos and then jazz before the disco scene cranks in. The other bars to check out are the Café Face in the Christiania Hotel and St. Hubert Pub under the St. Hubert Hotel. If you want somewhere to relax and have a chat then avoid these place.
If you are not on a tight budget we would recommend the Les Barmes de l’Ours hotel, at the foot of the famous Bellevarde Olympic ski run, right by the main ski lifts. This hotel can best be summed up as traditional alpine style wrapped in a velvet glove of modern luxury. All the rooms have state of the art entertainment, designer bath products and suites include both a bath and a Jacuzzi.
Boeing 787 Becomes The First Composite Airliner To Fly
December 16th, 2009History was made this week when Boeing’s B787 took its first flight. The B787 is the first composite airliner to fly.
Boeing 787 Becomes The First Composite Airliner To Fly
After a few delays the test flight took place in Northwest Washington on a miserable wet day. Only the bare minimum of crew took to the skies but in its next flight the aircraft will be packed with test engineers.
The initial flight only lasted 3 hours because storms created too many deviations so the aircraft was unable to fly the way it was originally planned. The weather was so bad that a good deal of the flight involved IFR activity [flying by instrumentation]. A more punishing flight testing schedule is due after the Christmas holiday period.
Heathrow Express Launch Automated Check-In Services
December 3rd, 2009Heathrow Express is set to launch automated check-in services for air passengers at London’s Paddington station yesterday [December 2nd].
The new service will allow travellers to check in for their flights using automated self-service machines, before taking the train to Heathrow. It is the first time these common use self-service machines have been used at a UK railway station.
Explaining the new service, a spokesperson for Heathrow Express said: “It’s a touchscreen machine, much like the ones that you use at the airport. You pick the airline that you’re flying with and that takes you to the flight.”
You can then check in for your flight, as you would at the airport, and “out pops your boarding card and then you get on the train and go.”
Boeing 787 Dreamliner Structural Tests
December 2nd, 2009Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner came a step closer to reality as it completed the static test which was required to validate the Dreamliner’s side of body modification.
In June 2009 Boeing announced it had to reinforce the aircraft structure at the side-of-body section by installing new fittings at 34 stringer locations with the joint where the wing is attached to the fuselage.
The test involved subjecting the wing and trailing edges of the airframe to maximum limit loads - the highest loads expected to be seen in service. The load is about the same as 2.5 times the force of gravity for the wing.
If the test results are returned positive next week this will clear the aircraft for its first planned flight in January.