In The News: Star Wars Themed Plane, Re-designed Interiors, And A Revolutionary Airplane Toilet

 

Star Wars Themed Airplane

All Nippon and The Walt Disney Company have teamed up to create a one of a kind Star Wars airplane, check it out here!

Original Article by Kevin Polowy

The Future Of Flying For Passengers

Each year cabin interiors get more and more comfortable for the passengers. This year Boeing and Airbus came out with designs for a few modifications that look amazing! Click here for the original post.

Original Article by Mark Wilson

Zodiac Has Revolutionized The Airplane Toilet

Usually toilets aren't very exciting but Zodiac has changed the game. These changes will actually benefit aircraft mechanics more than anyone, in turn saving maintenance teams time and money. Click here for the original post.

Original Article by Marisa Garcia

In The News: Boeing's New Sleep System, Man Falls Asleep In Cargo Hold, Ways To Relax When Flying

Boeing Comes Up With A New Sleep System For Passengers

Boeing has recently been awarded a patent for a new sleep system which secures to each passengers seat allowing for a more comfortable sleep. This system is designed so the passenger would lean forward to rest instead of back in their seat. Click here to read more.

Original article by AOL

Man Falls Asleep In The Airplane Cargo Hold

A baggage handler on an Alaska Airlines flight leaving from Seattle heading to Los Angeles apparently fell asleep in the cargo hold. He woke up shortly after takeoff, and was banging on the floor. The pilot was notified and they landed shortly after. Click here to check out the original article.

Original article by CBS

A Few Ways To Make Your Flight More Enjoyable

Flying can be a stressful thing even for aviation professionals. Even if you aren't completely afraid of flying Click here to read more about how you can calm your nerves when flying!

Original article by Nicola Garrett

In The News: Boeing & NASA Team Up, The Inside Scoop On Flying

The Inside Scoop: Questions You Always Had About Flying Answered!

There are thousands of moving pieces in aviation and thousands of questions we all want answered. If you've ever wondered how much jet fuel a plane uses on a flight, or why planes leave long white trails in the sky, or even what happens if the toilet on a plane fills up ...check out this post by clicking here.

Original article written by Chris Kitching

NASA And Boeing Team Up!

Nasa and Boeing have joined forces to come up with more efficient fuel saving solutions for the future. One of these techniques they are looking into is called Active Flow Control Enhanced Vertical Tail Flight. In this experiment they are looking to attaching 31 smaller jets across the back of the planes tail, changing the flow of air. Estimations state that fuel use can be lowered by up to 6% if the flow of air is more streamlined. For more, click here.

Original article by Tyler Lee

Skylink's Trip To Chile

Just a few weeks ago a couple members of our Skylink family got to go meet some of our extended family down in Vina Del Mar, Chile. Vina Del Mar means the vineyard by the sea, and the name truly speaks for itself, the views of the ocean are absolutely amazing. Below is a picture of Nate Anglin and Evelyn Rios having a wonderful lunch right by the sea with Mario Vigorena who is our Skylink team member in Chile.

In addition, while they were in Chile, they had the pleasure of attending a ceremony celebrating the 92nd anniversary of the creation of the Naval aviation branch. They discussed the history of their navy, and how it became what it is today. Below are a few pictures of the ceremony.

Also check out this stunning plane located on the base!

After such an amazing trip, and getting to meet some of our great friends, all good things must come to an end…

How To Deal With Unresponsive People

In the non-stop aviation world there’s nothing more frustrating and annoying than an unresponsive supply chain partner. From major airlines to small 2 aircraft fleets, from small aircraft maintenance MROs, to international lessors, it’s a topic I hear about often.

Maybe it’s a colleague, another department, a supplier, or even an OEM. Unresponsiveness is rude. Unresponsiveness bottlenecks decisions. Unresponsiveness wastes time and money. And the biggest of all, unresponsiveness causes you stress.

It happens all the time. Just over a month ago we procured a part for stock replenishment. The repairable part arrived in terrible condition. The new vendor we were testing has been unresponsive. He never replies to emails, his receptionist sends us to voicemail, and he doesn’t pick up his cell phone. He just doesn’t care. The sad part is he's the owner.

I used to be a tyrant with our supply chain partners. Yelling and screaming when they screwed up and if they had the nerve to ignore me, I would be quick to give them my opinion. One time I told a GSE OEM I would be invoicing them a consultancy fee since I was coaching them on how to do their job. Yet today, I’ve taken a much different approach. An approach I’ll share with you below.

Now, I just sit back and laugh. In this hyper connected world (which poses other problems reserved for a future post) many people are becoming less connected to their aviation responsibilities.

But here’s how we can stop the unresponsive epidemic:

No excuses for sales

Let me just start off with a quick disclaimer. If you’re in sales and have an established client who needs you, being unresponsive is absolutely ridiculous.

No matter how mad they made you, no matter what’s going on at work or at home, you smile and reply as soon as you can. There is no other option.

If you cannot smile and reply, you just don’t care and you shouldn’t be in sales. It’s as simple as that.

Dissect the reasons they may not be responding

Someone may not respond for many reasons when she...

• feels unsafe.
• isn’t aware of any thoughts or feelings.
• literally doesn’t know what to say or do.
• is distracted or overwhelmed by something and can’t tell you.

The  fourth reason is the most understandable. Someone literally is pulled from the phone and email and can’t tell you they’re in the middle of something. This is avoided if they have support that can still answer some questions for you or at least tell you she’s out.

In order to truly get to the bottom of someones unresponsiveness, dissect why they may not be replying. Do they not care? Are they really busy? Is this the first time they’ve been unresponsive?

The best measure if someone just doesn’t care is if it’s a recurring theme. If it’s something they always do, then being unresponsive is in their nature and you won’t change that.

Communication works both ways

The next step is to evaluate how you’ve communicated. If you’re unresponsive then don’t expect others to be responsive when you want them to be. Effective communication works only when there are two parties present.

Refine and update your communication skills. When 2 or more parties are in a dialogue that follows effective communication, so many good things can happen.

If you ignore then prepare to be ignored as well.

Create a “WOW” experience with everyone

At Skylink, it's one of our core values to create “WOW” experiences. Everyone must do this when communicating. Whether you’re in sales, operations, accounting, it doesn't matter. Be present for the other person, help resolve issues expediently, go over and beyond, rinse and repeat.

Most people would rather use the excuse they’re too busy than to help someone.

Create a list of responsive people

The next step is to create a list of partners and people who are hyper responsive. On the supply chain side we call this our preferred vendors list but this can be in any department.

Create a list of people who are willing to be there for you day in and day out. You can connect with their work phone, mobile, text, email, and the hundreds of other apps that have us all connected nowadays. They create “WOW” experiences for you.

Put these people on your speed dial and remember, responsiveness works both ways.

Fire the unresponsive

The next and easiest step is to fire the unresponsive.

Like my story in the beginning, this company was fired from any relationship with Skylink. When it comes to being responsive, you don’t get very many chances. The people who never reply and show they really don't care, fire them.

Agree to quit putting yourself through the pain of working with people who don’t care. Agree to firing these people from all communications with you and put your energy into people who care.

Dealing with unresponsive people is common. It’s annoying and frustrating. How you decide to work with these people will be the sole determinant on how much stress is created in your aviation world. You decide, choose wisely and fire the unresponsive.

P.S. If you know of someone who suffers from an unresponsive supply chain partner, share this article with them.

P.P.S. Here at Skylink, we create “WOW” experiences backed by industry leading solutions for the hectic aircraft maintenance world. Fill out the form below and lets start talking about how we can serve you.

Aviation News: Emirates In Orlando, Orient Thai's Safe Landing, TSA Screening List

In the news: Emirates arriving In Orlando!

Just last week we got some wonderful news that our Orlando International family is growing!

Emirates will begin flying a daily route from Orlando International Airport non stop to Dubai starting on September 1, 2015.

Frank kruppenbacher stated that this move will have about 100 million dollar economic impact on Central Florida.

The president of Emirates Sir Tim Clark had this to say in a recent press release, “Orlando is one of the world’s premier leisure and conference destinations, a dynamic business centre and a destination which Emirates has long wished to serve,” Additionally, “As a growing region, we believe that our service will facilitate further growth for both Orlando as well as central Florida by connecting the city with our global network of 145 destinations across 80 countries; and give customers from Orlando the choice of flying Emirates whilst experiencing our award-winning in flight product and service.”

For obvious reasons this is huge news for us, and we hope you are as excited as we are!

Original post by Richard Bilbao

Additional news: Orient Thai's flight makes emergency landing

We were worried for a moment, but happy to hear that our friends at Orient Thai are all safe.  A flight en route to Chengdu from Phuket had to make an emergency landing after the plane rapidly lost altitude. Oxygen masks were deployed, but the plane landed safely and there were no major injuries.

Original post by Chris Kitching

More news: TSA’s list of suspicious behavior comes out

As It turns out being randomly selected isn't always so random. They do in fact have a list of “suspicious activities” to look out for, all of which are attached to a point system. Get yourself too many points, and you could land  in a screening room. But this is a good thing that our TSA security is watching out for us, just don't be to fidgety or  be whistling next time you’re going through security!

Orginal post by Josh Hicks

2nd MEGA Maldives Airlines Futsal Tournament

Just imagine, an opportunity to compete against other departments within your company. Finance against maintenance, marketing against sales.

This is exactly what our friends did at MEGA Maldives Airlines.

They competed against internal departments with one department being the victor.

Here’s a little piece of the action:

We are pleased to be apart of the MEGA Maldives team and to be able to enjoy this experience thousands of miles away.

MEGA and the entire crew are amazing people and an amazing company.

We can't wait until the 3rd annual MEGA Maldives futsal tournament.

The Best Way To Relieve Stress & Avoid Overwhelm

This article was first seen on NateAnglin.com. To see original article, click here. Stress is like the older brother I never had.

He beats me up, teases me, and takes my food when I’m not looking.

Just last month he beat me up really bad. Our email host, Bluehost (terrible), had an issue which resulted in our Virtual Private Server (VPS) being shut down for 24 hours. What this meant was no emails going in and no emails going out for Skylink.

Talk about stress. I was frantically panicked doing everything in my power to yell and scream to get our emails back. The stress lasted late into the night, 12 am to be exact.

I was mentally beaten up, and decided to go to bed.

In the morning our emails were back and the stress was over.

Sleep is one of the best ways to relieve stress. [TWEET THIS]

No, it didn't magically make our emails come back to life, but it did give my mind the ability to chill out and refresh.

Why sleep is so important

Sleep and stress have a hateful relationship.

When you’re stressed, you’re not sleeping and when you’re not sleeping, you’re stressed.

In several research studies (here, here) disruptive sleep affects stress responsivity.

In other words when you're not sleeping your tolerance for stress goes through the roof.

When you get quality sleep your memory improves, quality of life rises, inflammation subsides, creativity increases, attention sharpens, weight is healthy, stress is manageable, depression stalls, and the list can go on and on. Should I continue?

One of the most critical ways to relieve stress is to just sleep it off.  Now, this is easier said than done. If you have sleeping problems, or just need better quality of sleep, put a couple of strategies in your sleeping arsenal.

Prep your sleep sanctuary

Your sleep sanctuary is your bedroom. It’s the royal grounds of your life.

This is where you recover from being a human. This is where the life altering changes during sleep happens. Sleep less and be miserable, or sleep well and live well.

Here are a few strategies you should adopt today:

• Eat a few hours before bed. Give your body time to digest.
• Limit your fluid intake a couple of hours before bed.
• Black out your shades. No light should come in to your room from the outside, your phone, alarm clock, TV or any other device. Completely black.
• Make your room nice and cool. Research says 65°F but that's too cold for me.
• Get ear plugs and block out unnecessary noise.
• Turn your phone on airplane mode and turn off all WiFi connectivity. This will cut your EMF exposure and help create a sleep sanctuary.
• Reduce your blue light exposure at least 2 hours before bed. No electronics. I like to use candles after 9pm.

Sleeping well may not be normal for you, while stress is.

It’s about making conscious efforts to change bad habits and promote higher quality of sleep.

Your stress level is depending on it.

Do you sleep well? Are you always stressed? Comment below and share your sleeping habits.

5 Ways To Reduce Stress With Silence

This article was first seen on NateAnglin.com. To see original article, click here. Gaze into your eyelids and breathe. Think of nothing, and end up in the middle of yourself.

Crazy, right?

In this hectic world, silence may seem like a dream, a fantasy, a scarce jewel you'll never find.

Silence is a scarcity, while stress is the new age commodity.

As you run and cater to the demands of life, your stress levels rise and you become a tyrant of sanity. Your life seems like a chaotic dance of one thing to the next.

From a demanding boss, to screaming kids. From engineering pressures to financial overwhelm.

You dance beautifully with chaos, but if you're anything like me, dancing is never graceful.

Life’s stresses are managed through healthy habits, but it can also be cured with just silence.

The science of silence

Mediation is a mind-body connection. It’s a way for you to focus your attention and end the jumbled stream of thoughts that create a world of chaotic anxieties.

Many people think of meditation as “weird” or not worth their time. But in fact the people who think this are worse off.

The power of silence can literally change who you are. Yes, literally!

“In a study published last year in the Journal Stroke, 60 African-Americans with atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, practiced meditation for six to nine months. (African-Americans are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease) The meditators showed a marked decrease in the thickness of their artery walls, while the nonmeditators actually showed an increase. The change for the meditation group could potentially bring about an 11 percent decrease in the risk of heart attack and an 8 percent to 15 percent decrease in the risk of stroke.”

If that wasn't enough:

“A second study, published last year in Psychosomatic Medicine, taught a randomized group of 90 cancer patients mindful meditation (another type of practice). After seven weeks, those who had meditated reported that they were significantly less depressed, anxious, angry and confused than the control group, which hadn't practiced meditation. The meditators also had more energy and fewer heart and gastrointestinal problems than did the other group.”

The power of silence and meditation can change the way you think, feel and act. It’s a way for you to calm your mind and be present in the now and limit the clutter overflowing your mind.

Meditation strategies for coping with stress

There are many ways to be silent. Sitting on the couch watching TV doesn’t count.

Pick one of these 5 strategies and begin to see yourself transform.

1) Sitting in silence: Pick a dark quiet room and sit in a chair. With your hands on your knees slowly close your eyes. Focus on your natural breath, nothing else. When a thought comes into your mind just let it go and return to your breath. Set a timer and do this for 10 minutes a day. You can also try guided mantra, and mindfulness meditation. Whatever you choose the goal is the same.

2) Yoga: You perform a series of postures and controlled breathing exercises to encourage flexibility of your body and calmness of your mind. As you move through poses that require balance and concentration, you're encouraged to focus less on your busy day and more on the moment.

3) Working-out: As you perform an exercise, focus on proper breathing and good form. Much like yoga you’ll be focusing more on the moment and less on your busy day.

4) Take a walk: As you walk focus on a sensation or a sight. Don’t try to dissect the sensation just feel it and let it be. Or you could simply focus on your breath. Would you have ever thought walking could be a form of meditation and low-level exercise combined?

5) Get in the tub: Fill your tub with hot warm water that’s comfortable for you. Don’t make it too hot or cold where you start thinking about the temperature. Make it just right. Light one candle and place it in front of you. Breathe normal and feel your body relax. As you relax focus your attention on the candle. Watch the way it moves and dances. Don’t dissect it, just watch it. Focus on nothing but the candle.

As you can see there are plenty of meditation strategies for coping with stress. Science even validates this.

Meditation is no longer some fru-fru, hippy hugging adventure.

It has true and tangible benefits.

Sit silent, decrease your minds clutter and feel a more fulfilled stress free you.

Have you tried one of these meditation strategies for coping with stress? Comment below.

Simple Strategies To Overcome Stress With Exercise

This article was first seen on NateAnglin.com. To see original article, click here. I have a scary visual for you. Did you know that 7 out of 10 adults in the United States say they experience stress or anxiety on a daily basis?

This isn’t the dinosaur chasing you type of stress our ancestors (very old ancestors) dealt with.

No, it’s modern day media in your face, boss yelling in your ear, and constant barrage of emails screeching in your inbox kind of stress.

Whether you’re in aviation or a number crunching junky on wall street, stress affects every part of your body.

We've talked about stress many times (here, here, here and here) and what you can do to combat it.

Just like your nutrition habits, you're more than likely to make excuses for easy remedies. There are a ton of easy workouts that can help relieve stress.

The benefits of exercise

Exercise isn’t just for health junkies (that would be me) and bodybuilders (only in my dreams).

Getting active is a natural human occurrence. Just until the 20th century have we plopped our butts into chairs for hours at a time. Thank you TV and thank you modern-day business environments.

We've not only become sedentary, but also neglected the best ways to alleviate stress.

Exercising is one of these ways.

Brain - body connection: Stress directly affects the brain with its vast nerve connections, so when your brain is stressed so is your body. Taking care of both is crucial to your stress busting endeavors.

Endorphin processing greatness: When you’re physically active your body produces endorphins, the little chemicals in the brain that act as natural painkillers.

Improved sleep: Research has shown that exercise increases slow wave sleep, the most restorative type. It also balances your circadian rhythm promoting daytime alertness and night-time “sleepiness.”

A form of meditation: When you're physically active you’ll often times forget about the days’ irritations and focus only on what you're doing in the moment. This brief single task focus (meditation) may help you keep calm in everything you do.

Increases confidence: When you set exercise goals and achieve them you get a boost in self-confidence. Not to mention the added benefit of how you look in the mirror.

Increases oxygen to the brain: Exercising increases your heart rate, which pumps more oxygen to your brain. Simple right? It also stimulates the brain's plasticity by stimulating growth of new connections between cells. Research also suggests that it increases growth factors, making it easier for your brain to grow neuronal connections.

3 steps to becoming more active

“I’m too tired”, “I don't have time”, “Exercise isn’t fun”, blah, blah, blah.

We often make excuses for things we do not enjoy and things in which we do not have a goal for.

Exercise is much easier if you're focused on a goal.

Step 1: Set a goal to reduce stress levels by 50%. Write it down and post it somewhere you always look.

Next, think of 7-10 activities you enjoy and write them down.

Step 2: Commit to doing 1 activity for 15 - 30 minutes per day for one week. Rotate the activities each day.

Activities such as throwing the frisbee, walking the dog, climbing a tree, chasing your kids around the house, jump roping, boxing, and the list can go on.

The next and final step is to get moving at work.

Step 3: Choose 2 strategies that help you become more active at the office

I do an office workout and use a stand-up desk every day.

Office workouts that relieve stress are a great strategy to keep blood flowing and to ease your mind. Yes, even during an AOG.

Gone are the days of spending hours in the gym, just add activity into your daily life.

How do you get physically active during the day? If you don’t, explain why. Comment below.