Archives for March, 2007
Tuskegee Airmen receive Congressional Medal
Friday, March 30th, 2007
President Bush saluted the Tuskegee airmen on Thursday, six decades after they completed their World War II mission and returned home to a country that discriminated against them because they were black. “These men in our presence felt a special sense of urgency. They were fighting two wars. One was in Europe and the other took place in the hearts and minds of our citizens,” he said. Bush then saluted the airmen, saying he offered the gesture to “help atone for all the unreturned salutes and unforgivable indignities” they endured.
Air Force plans to develop revolutionary engine
Friday, March 30th, 2007
Air Force Research Laboratory engineers have outlined a five-year timeline for a new, adaptive engine that will enable pilots to switch from high speed combat maneuvers to long-range persistence mode as effortlessly as a bird in flight. The new engine design will use adaptive fans and cores to generate high thrust when needed, and optimize fuel efficiency when cruising or loitering.
Boeing Prepares Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane for Ground and Flight Testing
Friday, March 30th, 2007
In an effort to develop environmentally progressive technologies for aerospace applications, Boeing researchers and industry partners throughout Europe plan to conduct experimental flight tests this year of a manned airplane powered only by a fuel cell and lightweight batteries. The systems integration phase of the Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane research project, under way since 2003 at Boeing Research and Technology — Europe (BR&TE), was completed recently. Thorough systems integration testing is now under way in preparation for upcoming ground and flight testing.
User Fees for General Aviation?
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007
Faced with an instrument approach below minimums, how would you react to the notion that a last-minute approach to a nearby airport with better weather would cost you $1,000? Such harried decision making and its negative effect on safety are a way of life for European general aviation pilots.
Fly along with AOPA Pilot Editor-at-Large Thomas A. Horne on an IFR flight across Europe in a Piper Twin Comanche as he deals with just such a situation. The user fees for his 350-nautical-mile flight totaled $233.97.
Weather briefing: $7.80
Filing a flight plan: $4.68
Airport and departure fees: $121.60
Missed instrument approach: $22.10
Second instrument approach: $22.10
Landing fee: $55.69
“European pilots pay more, receive less, and can face higher risks,” Horne writes after the flight in “Euro-Fees Fears.”
If you, as a pilot, want to pay similar fees each time you fly, then sit back and do nothing. Otherwise, please contact your elected representatives and demand they NOT implement aviation user fees.
More info on the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) web site
Airbus A380 Landing in New York
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007
Also, A380 Landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Flaming space junk narrowly misses jet
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007
The pilot of a Lan Chile Airbus A340, which was travelling between Santiago, Chile, and Auckland, New Zealand, notified air traffic controllers at Auckland Oceanic Centre after seeing flaming space junk hurtling across the sky just five nautical miles in front of and behind his plane about 10pm last night. According to a plane spotter, who was tuning into a high frequency radio broadcast at the time, the pilot “reported that the rumbling noise from the space debris could be heard over the noise of the aircraft. “He described he saw a piece of debris lighting up as it re-entered (the earth’s atmosphere). He was one very worried pilot, as you would imagine.”
Flying car company “takes off”
Friday, March 23rd, 2007
After many years of pioneering with well-known parties as the Dutch Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) to create a flying and driving vehicle John Bakker has formed a management team and is recruiting employees to start PAL-V Europe. A number of investors have been found to back the start-up and currently initiatives are taken towards more investors to speed up market launch.
First MQ-9 Reaper lands at Creech Air Force Base
Friday, March 16th, 2007
On March 13, Creech Air Force Base welcomed the first MQ-9 Reaper, a larger and much more capable version of the MQ-1 Predator. The aircraft completed initial testing in California, then flew more than 250 miles in two hours to land at Creech. The aircraft was piloted by Lt. Col. Jon Greene, 42nd Attack Squadron commander. Flying with him was Senior Airman Aaron Aguilar, the sensor operator, also of the 42nd ATKS. The Reaper’s turboprop engine allows speeds up to 285 miles per hour at 40,000 feet. The Reaper can stay in the air for more than 20 hours.