Monday, January 25, 2010

Top 10 most luxurious aircraft interiors

In this day and age, owning a jet is just the beginning for the world’s most elite travelers. Filthy rich dudes with millions stuffed in various banks can even afford a big airbus with ease. But then the dilemma is for those yearning for exclusivity. And so pimping the aircrafts to transform them into luxurious flying palaces is the mantra. And finally as it’s always said, “it’s what’s on the inside that counts” holds true, isn’t it? A custom designed interior is what separates a lacklustered mode of aircraft interiors for a stylish reflection of personal panache. There are no limits to just how much luxury you can experience with swanky décors with high tech features. Whether you want to deck out your airbus or jet for an important board meeting in London or a romantic dinner in Paris or a weekend getaway at the golf course for the executives, get tips from this list of Top 10 luxurious aircraft interiors...

Though the luxurious Strato Cruiser Airship by Tino Schaedler and Michael J Brown is a concept yet this luxury helium-filled airship will feature a gourmet restaurant, a spa, a swimming pool, a resident DJ, library, and private mini-offices, to name a few.The Strato Cruiser airship combines the luxury cruise experience with Richard Branson’s futuristic visions of space travel. The travelers will be pampered with spa treatments - massage, personal trainers, yoga classes and beauty care so the travelers will come out energized instead of looking weary. Further, its doughnut hole atrium reinvents the zeppelin concept with a sky lounge on top, the earthward viewing restaurant and bar on the underside and a recreational climbing wall in between. Private suites are sheltered away from public spaces on the ship’s belly.

9) Aeroscraft ML866 aircraft

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Shaped like a whale, the Aeroscraft ML866 aircraft is as big as a superyacht and touts a range of over 3000 miles. Boasting a top speed of 138 mph (222 km/h), the ML866 comes with its own airport and features over 5,000 sq ft of cabin space to put you into extreme lavishness. The aircraft is able to take off vertically like a helicopter to reduce the runaway time. The most prominent aspect of the ML866 design is its spacious and comfy space, which is almost half the size of a football field. One of the Aeroscraft ML866 configurations to be offered is an airborne business center that will be equipped with an automated office, video conferencing facility, a sophisticated communications package, transformable interior, personal state room and a physical conference space.

8) Etihad Airline’s Diamond Seat

The world’s leading new airline, Etihad Airways are back onto the top-luxury slot with their in-flight innovation with the arrival of its new purpose-built Airbus 340-500 and the revolutionary Diamond Seat. The luxury seat can rotate 180 degrees, enabling guests to hold meetings and dine with one another, all in the Diamond zone’s luxurious surroundings. The seat also features a 23′ personal LCD video screen and mood lighting to add to the luxury travel experience. Besides the 180 degrees swivel feature, the seat also features a six-way movement headrest with built-in massage facility and the seat even converts into luxurious 6 feet 1 inch flat bed at the touch of a button to provide home like comforts when traveling. The Diamond zone is also equipped with fold-and-swivel meal tables, an integrated personal mirror, pneumatic lumbar support, reading light and desk lamp apart from the surrounding luxuries that includes a coatroom and mini-bar. So, if you think traveling is a weary-experience then you need to discover the new levels of comfort when traveling with Etihad Airways revolutionary Diamond Seat.

7) 2005 GULFSTREAM G550

This luxury Gulfstream G550 sits 14 passengers in beautiful leather seating configuration and is equipped with a conference table, two lavatories, two coffee makers, a high temperature oven and microwave, a dish washer, china and crystal storage, a stainless steel sink, two ice compartments, a thermoelectric cooled food storage compartment, a thirty gallon pressurized water system, a hot water heater and air conditioning. This airplane also comes with Internet access, printer and fax machine. The cabin video equipment includes two DVD players, one 20 Inch LCD monitor, one 17 Inch LCD monitor, seven 7 Inch LCD monitors and three more smaller LCD monitors. Additionally there are two digital multi-system converters, two color touch screen remote controls, two RF remote controls and ten 115 volt AC electrical outlets. Also included in this configuration is a fuselage mount forward view camera, fuselage mount aft view camera and a tail mounted camera. While the passenger audio systems includes ten mid range speakers, four subwoofer speakers, seven pages system speakers, 16 stereo headphone jacks and headphones and one CD player.

Want to experience BMW’s luxury in an absolutely new avatar! Airbus A350 unveiled its A350 twinjet at the Aircraft Interiors Expo 2006 exhibition in Hamburg next month that featured opulent interiors by BMW. Airbus has linked with BMW Group Designworks to design a new interior on the A350. The ultra-luxury cabin will boast of high-end luxury features like the A350 chief engineer Dougie Hunter says, “We can project onto the ceiling whatever is appropriate for the mood required, for example the night sky or clouds etc. Hunter says that, a concept around the door two area has a bar area and seating for economy while the entrance area will feature a dome to give the feeling of spaciousness or openness in the cabin.” The new luxurious airbus will also have improved overhead bin design to increase their volume.

Brazilian company Embraer had teamed up with BMW’s Los Angeles studio, DesignworksUSA, for some super-swank interiors for the company’s medium-range jets. The Phenom 300 pictured here should be one of the first to get the BMW interior, expected to take to the skies in 2009. The $6.65 million (probably more with this snazzy interior) jet flies at 41,000 feet and has a range of 2,078 miles. This interior is intended for the company’s line of medium-range jets. It features a full galley and lavatory and a very Teutonic, tech-heavy lounge-style cabin with lay-flat seats, deployable tables, and muted lighting.

4) Versace & Tag Aircraft Interiors
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The Versace clientele can now deck-up their private jets too in Versace with the company’s extended interior styling line for aircrafts in association with TAG Aircraft Interiors. Versace geared up to produce unique cabin designs for the ultra rich. Each design will be a complete one off, and your custom interior will be signed and numbered by Versace. The leather seating is inspired by the Versace home couture collection, and is designed to offer the utmost in luxury and comfort. Apparently, clients can also participate creatively with the Versace’s designer’s team to conceive the personalised interior spaces built to their own specifications.

3) Airbus A380 VIP ‘Flying Palace’

Opulence has no boundaries! And, one of the newest trends with the ultra-rich is owning more expensive jets that are normally associated with commercial airlines like the Airbus A319, A320 and the Boeing 737. A U.S.-based design company is working on the interior design for the VIP version of the Airbus A380 “Flying Palace” for a prospective customer. The luxuriously designed Airbus A380 includes a fully-equipped interior office or board room, a curvy cocktail bar which boasts a super-size TV screen, cozy seating and private dining or relaxing zone.

2) Singapore Airlines private bedroom
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Singapore Airlines upgraded their luxury seating by announcing the new ’super-first’ class on the Airbus A380 double decker. The fully enclosed private suites, which signify to the ‘golden age’ of flying boats in the thirties and forties, have been designed by famous yacht designer Jean-Jacques Coste. Each suite will be equipped with a leather seat and a full-sized bed with mattress. The two middle suites can be further transformed into doubles for couples. The cabins will be getting a gadget galore, including a 23-inch flat-screen TV, with a choice of 100 films and 180 TV programmes, and 700 CDs. A ritzy aircraft without a bedroom is like an action movie without a high-speed car chase!

1) BMW 787 cabin concept for Russian tycoon

Boeing Business Jets approached DesignworksUSA and challenged the firm to create a conceptual 787 aircraft interior for a fictitious, affluent, Russian client in his mid-thirties. So in a pursuit to render a second luxurious home, the design team at DesignworksUSA came up with an interior with semi-translucent walls, residential-style furniture that lets space visually continue around it and vistas that let the eye travel beyond the immediate environment. The interiors of the luxury jet features a bar, scores of couches, beds, meeting rooms, stairs, and even enough space to fit in your BMW. Did I miss something?

Luxury air travel is getting a new face everyday with the new luxurious amenities from the luxury airliners. So ditch the tan and taupe two-by-two factory seats and get tips from some of the most luxuriously furnished aircrafts featured in this list. Are you thinking of securing yourself with gold plated seat belts? Great, we will be glad to feature that too! So enjoy a luxurious flight…..get some work done or just relax. Nothing can compare with the experience of flying in bespoken aircrafts! via BornRich

ICON A5 Amphibious Light Sport Aircraft – “The Sports Plane of the Future”

The company ICON was founded in 2005 right after the FAA’s dramatic regulation changes in 2004. Kirk Hawkins the founder of ICON wanted to create personal sport aircrafts that were small enough to tow behind a pickup, store in a common garage, and not cost a fortune. Their A5 design fit’s that bill perfectly.

The A5 is the easiest, low-cost, easy-to-store aircraft in production today. It is completely sea-worthy and being only a two-seater it is lighter than a compact car. It has retractable landing gear that can be completely removed to create a pure seaplane. The Seawing platforms make for easy access and easy docking. It is completely amphibious, allowing the owner to access a perfect runway in nearly any large body of water. The folding wings make transporting this adult toy as easy as towing a wave runner. And with a 100 HP engine it can be refueled at any marina with common unleaded gas.

This puppy is also fully loaded with GPS, MP3 in-flight music port, and a glass LCD multifunction display. It has a high-visibility wrap-around canopy window that not only gives the A5 a sleek look but also allows for some awesome sight seeing. The canopy window does have removable side panels that enable you to feel the wind in your face, but if you would rather not, it does come complete with an AC and a heater.

The price tag is $139,000 and is expected to be delivered in late 2010. The A5 took its first flight in July of 2008 and did great, the production is completely on track. Deposits are being taken and orders are being placed, ICON states they may have to broaden their production figures in the early years to keep up with all the orders currently being placed. For more information see www.iconaircraft.com icon-a5-aircraft

Solar aviation will soar high with Falx Air Vehicles

Although the concept of solar powered vehicles isn’t too new, the idea of solar powered aircrafts hasn’t taken off as swiftly as cars powered by the same energy. But with the latest addition from Falx Air Vehicles, solar aviation won’t be considered to be in its infancy. The company is all set to take the wraps off a prototype of its new hybrid-electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing VTOL aircraft platform. It is believed to come as a single-seater or twin-seater weighing in at just 350kg and 450kg respectively. And finally we come to the solar element. It is designed to make use of solar arrays and a small 100hp combustion engine to achieve a fuel economy of 10 liters per hour of flight. Combining cutting edge control technology with uniquely developed airframe concepts, Falx will be able to offer a certified version of this prototype before 2009 ends.

Alexander Begak’s universal super-light craft is an ‘Evolution’

Russian designer and inventor Alexander Begak loves his aircrafts. He likes them in he air, he likes them on land and he just loves them on the water. So, he designed something that will let him take one big joyride through the fields, onto the lake and into the air across the city and back. Thus the Evolution was born. Made of ultra-light coal-plastic and Kevlar fibers with a sturdy hull made of ultra-strong materials, the super-light aircraft weight only 60 kgs (which is still less than what I weight post-Christmas!) Begak, who is also a trained pilot and parachute jumper, showed the craft at the recent MAKS-2007 air show in Russia and disclosed that the design had undergone over a 100 test with specialists from Russia’s major aviation corporations, such as Roskosmos participating in the research. The Evolution was made after two years of intense research and testing with parts of the craft being produced by Roskosmos, Sukhoi and Moscow Aviation Institute.

Begak, who has developed 15 successful aircraft projects before this, explains the efficiency of the Evolution saying, “this is a universal kind of transportation. It can fly at the height of 4,000 meters above the ground and cover the distance of upto 400 kilometers without additional refueling. Its 30 horsepower motor can reach speeds of 160 km/h in the air and 80 km/h on land. An on-board computer controls pilot’s actions.” Begak also revealed that in case of an emergency in the air, the parachute system of the craft softens the gliding to the ground and during water landing an inflatable emergency device prevents the craft from drowning. What is even more impressive is that the plastic equipment makes it invisible to radars proving to be a handy non-civil aviator as well.

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Friday, June 26, 2009

SAPS choppers to get specialised surveillance cams

saps_hellicopter Forming part of the multi-million rand security plan for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, a R100-million contract between the SAPS and Carl Zeiss Optronics has been signed, giving the police the edge in the fight against crime.

A specialised surveillance camera system, the LEO II-A5-EP, will be fitted to helicopters in the SAPS’s air wing across the country, enabling the police to tag suspects with a specialised laser and follow them to pinpoint exact locations.

The cameras, upgrades on the current Goshawk system, will be fitted with a thermal imager and a specialised search light allowing the system’s operator to automatically track vehicles and people day or night, irrespective of weather conditions.

“The system, which is fitted with a microwave downlink, will allow those in command and control centres to see exactly what the system’s operators on the helicopter are seeing and has power to direct ground forces to the exact area where they are needed,” Gilbert do Nascimento, of Carl Zeiss Optronics, said at the signing ceremony.

He also confirmed that the R100-million contract covered not only the supplying of the systems, which are in use by European and South American countries, but also the microwave downlink capabilities and all external and internal aircraft related equipment, training and the supplying of aircraft moving map displays.

The hi-tech cameras are being prepped ahead of next year’s general elections and will come into operation in February.

“With our 12 air wing units across the country being fitted with these systems, our crime-fighting capabilities will be greatly enhanced, giving us the ability to reduce the risk to our forces on the ground,” police air wing national head, Director Janna van der Colff said, equating each helicopter to 25 police officers on the ground.

According to van der Colff, all the police helicopters in 2010 Fifa World Cup host cities would be fitted with the new systems, as well as four permanent systems for South Africa’s four major cities purchased along with eight mobile systems, to be deployed anywhere in the country.

“After the tournament we will then fit the remaining helicopters across the country with the camera systems,” he said.

“This is a golden opportunity for us to expand and this technology will give us the edge that we need over criminals,”