Point Niner - "Satisfying an unnatural infatuation with airplanes and rockets." A regularly updated blog with nice bits of aviation goodness.
posted on Jul 14, 2008 - View this thread

With over 35,000,000 visitors a year, it could be argued that it is the busiest museum in the world. Yet most people are there to catch a plane.
posted on Jun 12, 2008 - View this thread

Is solar-powered flight getting any nearer? As noted previously on Metafilter, solar powered aviation has travelled a long way since the heady days of the Gossamer Penguin. But could it actually one day power commerical flight?
posted on May 11, 2008 - View this thread

Laser pointer import ban in Oz Seems there's been a rash of people aiming laser pointers at planes in Oz. With an incident of a pilot being "temporarily blinded", this action may be a little less...well, as Oz politicians put it, "amusing". Previously.
posted on Mar 30, 2008 - View this thread

50 years ago today (March 25), the first flight of the AVRO Arrow took place. At the time, the aircraft was considered to be one of the most advanced aircraft then flying, with a flexible airfame design that allowed for a wide variety of missions. To this day, rumours persist that the abrupt cancellation of the AVRO Arrow was due to pressure from US military aircraft contractors who feared losing several of their own lucrative contracts to the new jet. Rumours also recur from time to time that a “missing Arrow” was squirrelled away somewhere, a future treasure find for Canadian Arrow buffs. One thing almost everyone agrees on: cancelling the Arrow in favour of a ballistic missile was the worst disaster ever to befall aviation in Canada. But it probably helped put men on the moon a lot sooner than would otherwise have been the case.
posted on Mar 25, 2008 - View this thread

Whooosh! London to Sydney in 5 hours on the A2 Hypersonic from Reaction Engines. Green too. If they can pull it off.
posted on Feb 5, 2008 - View this thread

Check out NASA's "CALLBACK" publication online. Drawing from the "Aviation Safety Reporting System", a way for pilots to voluntarily report aviation safety incidents while providing some protection from the FAA, CALLBACK recounts some of the most common, and some of the most esoteric, incidents that pilots run in to. It's geared more toward pilots, but others may find it interesting (or terrifying) to read about what can go wrong.
posted on Nov 2, 2007 - View this thread

WWI-era aviation photos (page 2): Biplanes and triplanes and Zeppelins-- oh my!
posted on Oct 16, 2007 - View this thread

Whether it's the Shatner or Lithgow version of the story, it's not something you would want to try and re-enact in real life.
posted on Sep 26, 2007 - View this thread

Steve Fossett has gone missing in Nevada. Fossett has broken many aviation records, including being the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon and the first nonstop, solo airplane flight around the world. A list of all of his aviation records. He went missing during a recreational flight.
posted on Sep 4, 2007 - View this thread

Ever had a yen for a table made from jet engine turbine blades or a desk fashioned from a wing or a cowling? Giancarlo de Astis and Moto Art are two high-end design firms that are creating eye catching furniture and functional art from scavenged airplane parts. You can see their work and the work of others in the aviation art community at InterFlight Studio. Or do-it-yourself-ers in the crowd might just prefer a Field Guide to Aircraft Boneyards.
posted on Aug 10, 2007 - View this thread

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) published their latest Infrastructure Report Card in 2005. America's infrastructure got a D. The ASCE estimate that it will cost $1.6 trillion over a five-year period to bring the nation's infrastructure to good condition. They also have a Critical Infrastructure blog. [Via Gristmill.]
posted on Aug 3, 2007 - View this thread

Pilot tells of hairy near miss at Las Vegas airport A post on Airliners.net telling, in some detail, of a near miss between an America West Airbus A320 (piloted by the author) and an Air Canada plane at Las Vegas airport. And if that puts you off flying, to calm down, another pilot's account, of a less hair-raising flight.
posted on Jul 30, 2007 - View this thread

In 1982 "Lawnchair" Larry Walters tied about 40-45 4' helium-filled weather balloons to a Sears lawnchair and launched himself from San Pedro, California to rise to over 16,000 feet. Here is the audio recording of the CB communications of that flight, available with much more information from this page via markbarry.com.
(Warnings: Audio is Real Audio - use Real Alternative. First half of audio may contain recordings of extremely panicked and strident girlfriend.)
posted on Dec 23, 2006 - View this thread

Triplane Madness presents photos of a large selection of triplane (and quad- and quint- and more) experiments in avionics conducted in a wide variety of countries in the early days of aviation.
posted on Dec 23, 2006 - View this thread

The Great War in the Air is a 69-part video project, clearly a labor of love, by one Jan Goldstein, a musician, painter, and publican. Overwhelmed? Here's a representative sample: Part 7, on the French ace Georges Guynemer. Please note: extensive use of YouTube. Many of the images seen in the film may be perused at earlyaviator.com.
posted on Nov 11, 2006 - View this thread

Did you ever wonder what a Block 1 Apollo guidance computer looked like? Was grandpa a gunner in the Imperial German Air Force ? Maybe he sold a pioneer some laxatives? Perhaps you're just interested in a high tech Japanese Cameras? Find images of these items and more! at The Smithsonian Air and Space eMuseum
posted on Sep 27, 2006 - View this thread

Eject! Eject! Eject! Whether used in the air, on land, at sea (and under it), or on the way to the Moon, ejection seats and capsules have saved thousands of aviators worldwide. The basic concept was first tested in 1912, developed by the Germans in WWII, and became standard safety equipment in high-speed, high-altitude jet and rocket aircraft. (Although ejection seats were in Gemini spacecraft, they were only in early Space Shuttle flights.) Much happens very quickly during ejection, and harrowing accidents and pilot deaths still occur. The decision not to eject right away may be heroic, but even pilots who wait may live while innocent bystanders^{^} die. However, the efforts of dedicated researchers and rocket sled testing by seat manufacturers keep adding new members to the unique club of men and women who survive to fly again.
posted on Aug 28, 2006 - View this thread

"Famous people who died in aviation accidents" -- notables and not-so-notables who have perished in crashes in the last 100 years.
posted on Jul 16, 2006 - View this thread

"Lawsonomy is the knowledge of Life and everything pertaining thereto." The collected works of Alfred Lawson - professional baseball player, aviation pioneer, economist, scientist, theologist, and philosopher - are available to all. [more inside]
posted on Jul 6, 2006 - View this thread

Do a Barrel Roll! [emvedded WMV, or view it on YouTube here] Test pilot Tex Johnston shows off the capabilities of Boeing's new 367-80 "Dash 80" prototype -- which would later become the Boeing 707 -- at a 1955 air show. The barrel roll (or aileron roll to others), done twice, was a no-hazard 1G maneuver for the Dash 80, but thoroughly impressed the crowd. Following the roll, it's said that William Allen turned to an elderly attender to ask for heart attack pills. You can still view the Dash-80 today at its final resting place, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center.
posted on Jun 21, 2006 - View this thread

Bunny versus Airbus A380. The bunny was on the runway as the A380 came in for a landing, but managed to avoid getting pancaked by bolting as the behemoth decelerated. We salute you, Runway Bunny.
posted on Jun 19, 2006 - View this thread

Blackstar to orbit? Aviation Week & Space Technology reports in its most recent issue that a two-stage-to-orbit system may have been declared operational during the 1990s. The Blackstar system appears to have heritage from three other X-Planes, the X-20 Dynasoar, the XB-70 Valkyrie, and the X-30 National Aerospace Plane. [Related MeFi post] [via]
posted on Mar 7, 2006 - View this thread

For the sake of the world's poor, we must keep the wealthy at home, writes George Monbiot, calling the aviation industry "the greatest future cause of global warming," and asserting that growing passenger numbers is "an utter, unparalleled disaster". The airline industry responds: Stop this war on tourism. "Would the unfolding Darfur tragedy be tolerated if the country had a thriving tourism industry? How much of the relief money for victims of the tsunami was raised because so many of us had visited the affected areas on holiday?"
posted on Mar 3, 2006 - View this thread

Enplaned Even if you don't care a whit about the airline inductry, this is a great example of how to blog a topic well. [via Joel on Software]
posted on Feb 2, 2006 - View this thread

Dynalifter! In a cornfield in Ohio, a pair of IT men live the dream as their 150-foot prototype dirigible (which combines airfoil lifting surfaces with a lighter-than-air central hull) readied for a test flight to come this spring.
posted on Jan 5, 2006 - View this thread

Note the champagne boxes. Lots of amazing interior and aerial photos of the new Airbus A380 are up on Airliners.net. It's a huge, huge plane. [There is more inside.]
posted on Dec 10, 2005 - View this thread

Like to listen to the ATC radio chatter while on long flights? Well now you can do it in the comfort of your own home.
posted on Dec 10, 2005 - View this thread

The Wright brothers may not have been the first to fly (fascinating articles on other claims: Sir George Cayley, Richard Pearse and Gustave Whitehead) but they were pretty decent chaps, according to Kate Carew in her strange 1910 interview and delightful caricature. '“Your $7,500 flyers,” I said to the Wright brothers, “will prove very useful, I should think, to establishing a safe and somewhat aloof aristocracy.' Perhaps less well known is the brothers' role in defending America from the Spanish, and Fu Manchu (Comedy Quicktime links).
posted on Oct 2, 2005 - View this thread

To the summit of Everest by helicopter.  Is nothing sacred? (direct link to WMV video)
posted on Jun 2, 2005 - View this thread

All things 737: aircraft systems, pilots' notes, deliveries and fleet movements, production methods, technical photographs, blended winglets, rudder news, illustrated history, accident reports, Q's and A's. Know it all? Take the quiz.
posted on Apr 27, 2005 - View this thread

Planes check in but they don’t check out. At boneyards across the country, derelict airliners await cannibalization, destruction, or possible restoration.
posted on Mar 30, 2005 - View this thread

Consolidated B-24 Liberator nose art archive. Signs of the zodiac, dirty jokes, self-fulfilling prophecies, and stumpers. (Some questionable content [NSFW-ish] and site design)
posted on Mar 25, 2005 - View this thread

Wildcats, Falcons, Dragonflies, Dominators, Lancers, Starlifters, Sea Stallions, Shooting Stars, Stilletos (or is it Stilleti?): instrument panels
posted on Mar 16, 2005 - View this thread

A Confessional for Pilots - To improve aviation safety in America, NASA runs the ASRS, a service that collects voluntary, anonymous reports on aviation-related goofs in exchange for certain immunities and suggestions of clemency. Every month selected reports are published in the Callback newsletter, showcasing the full spectrum of factors that lead flyers to bad decisions: distraction, bad habits, overconfidence, poor planning, "get-home-itis", and on and on...
posted on Feb 28, 2005 - View this thread

Flying Cars and Roadable Aircraft • "Because flying cars and roadable aircraft seem to be more of a dream than a reality, many people believe that these things do not exist. The truth is that almost from the moment the Wright Brothers learned to fly, there has been a history of attempts to build such vehicles. Some of them have had a fair degree of success." The paracycle is dorky, but the winged MafiaMobile ain't half bad.
posted on Feb 16, 2005 - View this thread

Fantasy Planes. Sometimes I think the most interesting airplanes are the ones that never got built
posted on Feb 10, 2005 - View this thread

The Goleta Air & Space Museum/ Goleta Natural History Museum While looking for hot spring photos, I found this virtual museum. It is loaded with amazing shots of warbirds in flight and the latest in space travel On the other hand some very well done nature photography. Including desert panoramas This is all the work of one man.
posted on Jan 31, 2005 - View this thread

"Larry, we're going down, Larry," "I know it." This day twenty-two years ago, Air Florida Flight 90 took off from DC National Airport, in heavy snow, with insufficiently de-iced wings. A minute after takeoff, the plane crashed into the packed 14th Street Bridge, crushing several cars before falling into the Potomac River and sinking into the icy water. [More inside.]
posted on Jan 13, 2005 - View this thread

"To Fly is Everything" - A museum of early aeroplane history. Includes galleries of movies of aviation pioneers (watch an early flight from Wilbur Wright's point of view), and links to early aviation patents.
posted on Jan 3, 2005 - View this thread

Tom Claytor is a bush pilot who set out solo in 1990 to fly around the world. He keeps a website showcasing his pictures and detailing some of his incredible experiences. He is still abroad and recently did aerials for the upcoming Thai film, First Flight.
posted on Nov 28, 2004 - View this thread

Chapters in the Sky --- a rich collection of autobiographical aviation storytelling by Paul Niquette. Complete with glossary for non-pilots/enthusiasts. Highlights: two crashes in one day, the flight school riding on the success of Paul's FAA checkride, commuting over LA.
posted on Nov 24, 2004 - View this thread

Veepfilter: The well-kept secret about Kerry's running mate might just have broken... on an aviation message board, of all places.
posted on Jul 5, 2004 - View this thread

X-43A Flight. "The unpiloted 12-foot-long X-43A vehicle, part aircraft and part spacecraft, will be dropped from the wing of a B-52 aircraft, lofted to nearly 100,000 feet by a booster rocket and released over the Pacific Ocean to briefly fly under its own power at seven times the speed of sound." Watch (RealPlayer) it live.
posted on Mar 27, 2004 - View this thread

Aviation Explorer "Your online source for aviation information and media...aviation web resources for pilots and flight enthusiasts." I'm neither a pilot nor a flight enthusiast, but still found this site interesting (especially the accidents section, which reminded me of this previous thread on cockpit voice recorders).
posted on Jan 21, 2004 - View this thread

Aerosite.
posted on Dec 29, 2003 - View this thread

"We came down here for wind and sand, and we have got them."

Today is aviation's 100th birthday. At 10:35am Eastern, the Experimental Aircraft Association will attempt to re-enact the first flight of the Wright Brothers' "marginal" aircraft. (It's apparently very difficult to fly -- for one thing, the pilot must keep the airspeed between 27 and 32 mph, using an engine without a throttle.) Wish I could be there in NC at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. It's utterly astounding that only 66 years -- less than a lifetime -- elapsed between Orville Wright's twelve-second, 120-foot flight and the Apollo 11 moon landing.
posted on Dec 16, 2003 - View this thread

Bagophily. Extensive collection of airline sick bags.
posted on Dec 12, 2003 - View this thread

Get the plane out of the garage for me would you dear? Not only is John Travolta a qualified pilot (to commercial level) he has his own Boeing 707. And what does any self respecting jetliner owner do? Buy a house with a 1.4 mile runway attached and taxi on up to the door of course...

Oh, and if you hear "Bring your Daughter to the Slaughter" blaring out from the cockpit next time you fly, don't worry it's probably just Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson at the controls.
posted on Nov 7, 2003 - View this thread

Concorde ends today. So what will it take to go commercially supersonic again?
posted on Oct 23, 2003 - View this thread