MetaFilter posts tagged with flight and aviation

Pilots overshoot MSP. Whoops!

COBRA! — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:50:50 -0800

Were they arguing? Were they asleep? It's not clear yet why two pilots overflew the Minneapolis airport by 150 miles before turning around in Wisconsin. What is known is that they dropped radio contact over Kansas, that Air Force fighters were put on alert, and that, according to MN Public radio, passengers saw cops and stern-looking men in suits waiting on the jetway when they were finally allowed off the plane. MSP alt-weekly City Pages aggregates info about the flight as it comes in, and discussion on local sites is spirited.

"The world's most famous missing person."

kirkaracha — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:11:32 -0800

"The unburied come back to haunt us." On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan took off from Lae, Papua New Guinea (map) in their Lockheed Electra en route to Howland Island (map). They were never seen again. Earhart and Noonan's flight was one of the last legs of an attempted around-the-world flight at the Equator. (A previous attempt, flying east to west, failed when Earhart's plane was damaged in Hawaii and had to be sent to California for repairs.) The most common explanation is that they ran out of fuel, ditched in the ocean, and drowned, but the disappearance is an enduring mystery. In Search of...Amelia Earhart (part 2, part 3). Where's Amelia Earhart? The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR; previously) is a leading supporter of a theory that the Earhart and Noonan crash-landed at Nikumaroro (then called Gardner Island; map) TIGHAR's map of Nikumaroro shows the locations of possible evidence to support their theory. TIGHAR recently obtained a reference sample of mitochondrial DNA from a direct female relative of Earhart's, and is making a new expedition to Nikumaroro in May 2010 to look for DNA evidence. Crash Reconstruction by the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University.

It's not too early in history to be exterminated by a Dalek

XMLicious — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:00:35 -0800

The ring wing or annular airfoil is an aircraft design which has been experimented with throughout the history of aviation with some interesting variations. It has served as the inspiration for several paper airplane designs, model airplanes of course, and a variety of children's toys. The capabilities imagined by the French coléoptère engineers of the 1950's and 1960's and the U.S. "flying tank" designers are available today at least in the form of unmanned vehicles (large PDF brochure, 6 minute video download, 1½ minute YT news clip). The technology has also been adapted to become the surfboard tunnel fin and there are underwater UAVs as well.

fear of flying

lalex — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:41:19 -0800

Ask the Pilot. Columnist Patrick Smith explains why you shouldn't be afraid of flying. For the past several years, the invaluable Patrick Stewart has been answering common passenger questions, including: Is turbulence dangerous? What are the safest airlines? No really, what are the safest airlines? How dangerous is in-flight decompression? Too hot to fly? A plane crossed in front of us? WHAT?? What does a runway near-miss mean? Will using an electronic device really down a plane?

Air traffic control simulator

nthdegx — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:19:15 -0800

Push tin with ATC-SIM, an air traffic control simulator.

If you squint your eyes it could pass for a private jet

MrMerlot — Sun, 11 May 2008 08:03:14 -0800

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? Trouble is, a quick look at the prototypes reveals that most solar-powered planes remain a world away from passenger aviation. But that could be subject to change. Although we are not quite at the stage of the easyJet ecojet just yet, what might be just over the horizon is something like the Hy-Bird, a hybrid of hydrogen, solar-power and lithium-polymer batteries. The Hy-bird still looks like a bit like a prototype, but it is beginning to look more like a proper plane. If you squint your eyes, it could pass for a private jet. Lisa Airplanes, the Hy-bird's manufacturer, is planning to take the plane on a voyage that will circumnavigate the planet later this summer. According to Inhabitat, the Hy-bird gets just 10% of its power from solar, but that's still a significant contribution. Yes, we should all fly less if we want to reduce CO2. But the prospect of a truly green-powered aeroplane is enough to spark the imagination. Could we both save the planet and still be able to fly?

Steve Fossett gone missing.

backseatpilot — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:07:25 -0800

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.

Two Wrights make a...

godawful — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 11:30:11 -0800

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).

The Boeing 737, Nose to Tail

breezeway — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 08:49:37 -0800

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.

Derelicts vs. Cannibals

breezeway — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 09:19:52 -0800

Planes check in but they don’t check out. At boneyards across the country, derelict airliners await cannibalization, destruction, or possible restoration.

Over 3,400 Annoying Gimmicks

breezeway — Fri, 25 Mar 2005 09:47:17 -0800

Consolidated B-24 Liberator nose art archive. S i g n s of the z o d i a c, dirty jokes, self-fulfilling prophecies, and stumpers . (Some questionable content [NSFW-ish] and site design)

Your favorite cock pit

breezeway — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 10:44:35 -0800

Wildcats, Falcons, Dragonflies, Dominators, Lancers, Starlifters, Sea Stallions, Shooting Stars, Stilletos (or is it Stilleti?): instrument panels

Fantasy Planes

growabrain — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 01:05:35 -0800

Fantasy Planes. Sometimes I think the most interesting airplanes are the ones that never got built

Aviation Explorer

jdroth — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 13:19:59 -0800

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).

Aerosite

hama7 — Mon, 29 Dec 2003 18:08:38 -0800

Aerosite.

...but their bags stayed in Dayton...

Vidiot — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 22:51:44 -0800

"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.

Jet Boy

jontyjago — Fri, 07 Nov 2003 01:23:49 -0800

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.

caviar at mach 2 no more

casarkos — Thu, 23 Oct 2003 23:00:10 -0800

Concorde ends today. So what will it take to go commercially supersonic again?

Centennial of Flight

hama7 — Fri, 25 Apr 2003 07:05:08 -0800

Centennial of Flight [more]

Bamboo Dick

Silune — Mon, 31 Mar 2003 11:53:23 -0800

One hundred years later, the question remains: Did Pearse fly?

Postroad — Sat, 22 Sep 2001 14:10:34 -0800

the passengers on our planes should have the right to bear arms Is this guy, a former pilot, suggesting that we have a constitutional right to carry weapons aboard planes so we can defend ourselves? Is an uzzi ok or a bayonet?

southisup — Sun, 10 Jun 2001 21:22:13 -0800

White Dwarf is a flying HPV. I thought they only existed in books. More fun on a still day than a Frisbee.
Link via:Velo Vision

zeoslap — Thu, 22 Feb 2001 11:57:56 -0800

Presenting the no-gasoline, no-pollution, no-engine personal flier Hydrogen peroxide is used to fuel individual rocket motors at the tips of helicoptor like rotors.... James Bond eat your heart out :)

Aaaugh! — Mon, 05 Feb 2001 14:13:00 -0800

Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming toward me very fast? Very, very fast. So big and flat and round... Are you one of those people in search of a new extreme sport? Have you considered spacediving?