Oh hello, I'm Las Vegas high school student Manuja Gunaratne and I built this aircraft using trashbags and helium. Btw, I put a GPS tracker on this thing and had a digital camera takes pictures during the entire flight. Check out
Project T.B.A.C.
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posted by Foci for Analysis
on Sep 24, 2011 -
19 comments
Watched by Vladimir Putin, the
Sukhoi T-50, Russia's answer to the Raptor stealth fighter, has made its maiden public appearance at the MAKS 2011 air show near Moscow, after
first flying in January 2010. Bearing a
striking resemblance to the
F-22, the Sukhoi T-50 has been developed in co-operation with India and is slated to become the backbone of Russia's airforce. While the F-22 first flew in 7 September 1997 and
ceased production with just 187 aircraft ordered, Sukhoi director Mikhail Pogosyan
hopes to build 1,000 T-50s for Russia's airforce and export. Despite its ageing engines, it is rumoured to have a range of a range of almost 3,500 miles, twice that of the F-22. What is believed to be China's 5th generation fighter,
the J-20, is also under development.
posted by joannemullen
on Aug 18, 2011 -
69 comments
Boeing are currently testing the latest version of their venerable Jumbo Jet, the 747-8. Yesterday, in one of the last test flights prior to certification the new 747 flew for 17 hours, a distance of over 11,000 miles. The flight path can be seen
here.
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posted by jontyjago
on Aug 3, 2011 -
27 comments
Austrian research company IAT21 has presented a new type of aircraft at the Paris Air Show which has the potential to become aviation's first disruptive technology since the jet engine. ... The key to the D-Dalus' extreme maneuverability is the facility to alter the angle of the blades (using servos) to vector the forces, meaning that the thrust can be delivered in your choice of 360 degrees around any of the three axes. Hence D-Dalus can launch vertically, hover perfectly still and move in any direction, and that's just the start of the story.
posted by Trurl
on Jun 23, 2011 -
38 comments
Fresh on the heels of Lockheed Martin's
delivery of the first production F-35 to the USAF, you might be wondering how much it actually costs. It depends on who you ask.
Blackfive takes a
crack at it, prompting a rather
snippy response from Bill Sweetman over at Ares. Throw in
additional commentary and a
rebuttal, and head down the rabbit hole into the wonderful world of defense acquisition.
posted by kjars
on May 17, 2011 -
94 comments
Two hours just to sort through the error messages. What happened to that Airbus A380 (Qantas flight QF32) whose engine caught fire in mid-air between Singapore and Sydney in November 2010? One of the
five crewmembers on the flight deck recounts the story, which centres on airplane computer systems as much as on keeping tons of metal in the air.
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posted by joeclark
on Dec 12, 2010 -
40 comments
Luftfahrtsieb:
Das Luftfahrtarchiv ist eine interessante Website, die handelt sich um die frühe Geschichte des Luftwesen in Deutschland und anderswo. Es botet Artikeln, die diskutieren
die frühste Fliegversuche des Mensch, berühmte Fliegstaten wie die erste Flüge über
den Ärmelkanal oder
den Atlantik usw., aber vielleicht interessanter sind jene, die sich mit anderer Fächer befassen. Es gibt zum Beispiel Geschichten der
Bemühungen des Graf von Zeppelin, einen erfolgreichen Luftschiff in seiner schwimmenden Halle auf dem Bodensee zu bauen und des
Flugplatz in Johannisthal, wo findet deutsches Luftwesen seines Anfangrichtige. Man kann auch lernen,
wie Kunstflugmanöver zu erbingen sind, oder
die richtige Methode, sein Luftschiff zu starten oder landen. [more inside]
posted by Dim Siawns
on Nov 24, 2010 -
48 comments
Air traffic in much of
northern Europe halted – due to ash from a volcanic eruption under the
Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland. The volcano under the glacier erupted for the first time in 200 years last month and whilst Iceland is renowned for its volcanic and geologic activity the sheer ferocity of the latest eruption (thought to be 20 times more powerful than the initial eruption on the 20th March) and prevailing wind conditions have culminated in the current
traffic chaos.
Flightradar24.com shows the current impact on the skies. Whilst the particles will disperse at high altitude and pose no threat to those on the ground, the
volcanic ash is very
dangerous to aircraft . Not only is there the problem of it clouding pilot vision but the ash can cause engine malfunction and damage the delicate airframe skin. One silver lining in all this is the anticipated glorious red sunset that should follow.
posted by numberstation
on Apr 15, 2010 -
149 comments
The exotic blend of international travel, the authority of commanding the ever larger and faster airliners, and those dashing uniforms turned heads, drew autograph hunters and attracted groupies. Pilots also made a lot of money. Today it is different. Captain Dave Ryter earned so little when he was a co-pilot for a major airline that he lived in a gang area of Los Angeles, commuted for hours to work and made less money than a bus driver. A pilot's life: exhausting hours for meagre wages
posted by fearfulsymmetry
on Jan 11, 2010 -
39 comments
Early in the days of
exploration of Antarctica, Australian geologist
Douglas Mawson turned down an invitation to join Robert Falcon Scott's
Terra Nova Expedition in 1910 (
Cool Antarctica previously). Instead, Mawson lead his own expedition, the
Australasian Antarctic Expedition (December 1911 to December 1913), an expedition to chart the 2000-mile coastline directly south of Australia, one of the least-visited parts of the continent throughout the early years of Antarctic exploration.
The group's efforts and activities are well documented, and many remnants of the expedition remain on Antarctica.
The conservation of Mawson's Huts is now an ongoing effort from
Association of Australasian Palaeontologists (AAP)
Mawson's Huts Foundation. While most efforts were focused on the recovery and treatment of artifacts inside the main hut, the group also searched for the
Vickers (
Aviation)
monoplane that was modified to become an "air tractor", or motorized sledge. The remains of the plane were last seen in 1975.
Now the plane has been found, thanks to an exceptionally low tide and a bit of luck.
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posted by filthy light thief
on Jan 5, 2010 -
11 comments
21st Century Jet: The Building of the 777 (part 1 of 5) In the early 90's, Boeing decided to build a new airplane, the 777. They also decided to allow KCTS Television and Channel Four London to film the design, construction, and testing of the new airliner. This 5-hour documentary, first aired in 1996, is no longer shown on TV, and out of print on VHS, but you can now watch it on Google Videos.
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posted by FishBike
on Dec 18, 2009 -
20 comments
Point Niner -
"Satisfying an unnatural infatuation with airplanes and rockets." A regularly updated blog with nice bits of aviation goodness.
posted by Burhanistan
on Jul 14, 2008 -
5 comments
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 by Mike D
on Mar 25, 2008 -
32 comments
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 by backseatpilot
on Sep 4, 2007 -
36 comments
