AircraftNews.Com

While researching STOL airfoils, the Cuanda effect, as well as the Dyson bladeless fan (which uses a blown ring geometry airfoil) , as one does, I came upon an interesting article.   This I am sure will interest those of us who are into aerodynamics. I suppose that is most of us. This article elucidates a surprising understanding of low Reynolds Number flow by the ancient and medieval technologists, and also an insight into pre-industrial revolution industrialisation.

As published in Low-tech Magazine by Kris De Decker this is a truly amazing read follow the link below :

Wind powered factories: history (and future) of industrial windmills

Please follow the link and leave a comment.

A major in the Australian Army was knocked to the ground by an unexpected and trivial structural failure on one of the Army’s new highly advanced Tiger combat helicopters when staging through Essendon Airport today. While conducting a routine inspection from the stub wing the Officer was knocked to the ground (where he stayed for a few minutes) when a large inspection panel parted company with the airframe and fell to the ground. The office was offered first aid by airport and flying school staff but despite sporting a ripper lump over his R eye he claimed to be well.
Gotta be careful with those Tigers. They also said it was a brilliant bit of kit and we were all very impressed (By the Tiger and the casualty’s fortitude).

The recent tragic loss of a DHC 6 twin otter in PNG with the loss of at least 13 lives has brought out into the open all the usual suspects. The pilot a young PNG National has callously and unreasonably been dubbed inexperienced and the aircraft affectionately know to many as The Twatter described as poorly maintained. With these and other stories such as that the co pilot had been “forced” to fly on his day off all coming from no where it seems likely that after the ususal shock horror tsk tsk reaction an enquiry will be called and what is already is known will be pointed out (flying in PNG is very difficult, aviation infra structure has been allowed to decay to a point which would be unacceptable in many other places in the world etc) and then a few people will be blamed preferably I suspect people outside PNG such as Australia or the EU and nothing will change.
I surely hope not. It is technically possible to avoid such incidents and relatively cheap and simple so to do. Augmented GPS approaches and rotary wing transport would transform such operations as the Kokoda one with a much lower level of risk. The Augmented GPS component of this solution is available now and should be put in place with dispatch. I suppose there will be a fight over who will pay for it. Couldn’t the interested parties do it now and decide on final distribution of costs later? It would cost much less than a Stealth bomber or an AWAC.

Some years ago (maybe 30) I read in Flight that the time was coming when a latest generation Combat aircraft was going to take the entire GDP of a small nation. At the time I took it seriously and though it a bit of an exaggeration but as time has worn on it seems they were joking at the time using delightful British irony but that they had unwittingly hit the nail on the head. That day is here with the F22 that the US wont sell to any one because it cost them so dear and mega Airliners taking many Billions to create and 100s of millions to buy.
As the financial crisis looms and doomsayers prattle away I wonder whether now is the time for a paradigm shift. Skip the A380 and A350 and B787 etc and go for a highly standardized no frills blended body well and truly subsonic alternatively powered (fuel cells and props?) solutions that will halve the cost per kg per kilometer (Note I use metric as I am talking of the future)
Anyone with the courage to do it should (?!) clean up.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The only inkling passengers had that something was wrong on the Continental Airlines flight over the Atlantic Ocean was when an announcement came over the loudspeaker asking if there was a doctor on board.

Otherwise, flight attendants continued to serve snacks. Passengers read magazines and watched movies. And the flight kept on its schedule.

But in the cockpit, the 60-year-old captain had died of a suspected heart attack and two co-pilots took over the controls. The 247 passengers aboard did not learn what had happened until the flight from Brussels landed safely Thursday and was met by fire trucks, emergency vehicles and dozens of reporters.

Read more…

Guest Post by Bill Reichert of Garage Technology Ventures www.garage.com
Very few people have the opportunity to experience life on a nuclear aircraft carrier up close and personal. Recently, I had the extraordinary experience of spending a day and a night at sea in the Pacific on board the USS Nimitz. I was part of a Navy outreach program to give ordinary landlubbers like me a perspective on the mission and operations of a naval strike group.

I was excited. Who would turn down a chance to get on top of a nuclear power plant driving 100,000 tons of steel through the ocean, with 5,000 men and women handling scores of aircraft, carrying thousands of pounds of bombs and missiles, burning thousands of gallons of jet fuel a day, with margins measured in inches, and tolerances of seconds? What could possibly go wrong? Read more…

Here in Oz we have recently introduced compulsory drug testing for people involved in aviation.
At first sight this might seem like a good thing and a sort of Motherhood matter. Who could object to it?
On second thought I am not so sure.
Firstly what is the rationale for it? Do we really think people are flying and working in aviation under the influence? Where is the evidence?
If there are individuals so irresponsible and I do fear there are would anyone so irresponsible be liable to change their behaviour in the face of possibly being confronted with a blow in the bag or lick the stick man?

I rather suspect not.
How much does all this cost and where is the cost benefit analysis?
Having observed Aviation for quite a long time I have a very uneasy feeling that the reality here is that this is a feel good exercise for box tickers which will as is becoming usual lead to much of the effort and a large slab of the cost being handed on to the aviation community so bureaucrats can be seen to be doing good stuff.
Aviation is, perhaps inevitably, highly regulated but recently I have noticed increasing mountains of paper all in the name of compliance and safety with entities such as the SMS (Safety Management system) becoming required and yet in practice becoming more like a distracting burden. There is only so much time people can give to such things before they actually subtract from the time and attention available to Aviate safely.
Maybe there should be a requirement for a regulation to be removed before another can be applied?
I would be very intersted in the views of others on this.

Red Bull pilot Peter Besenyei was forced to make an emergency landing in a field in Windsor Ontario while preparing for the latest of the Red Bull Air race series. The race scheduled for this week end is to be held over the Detroit River between The motor city Detroit in the USA and Windsor Ontario Canada. Read more…