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).

It is not long in the past that using a mobile phone at work was regarded as uncouth to say the least and many offices had rules against this practice. Inflight use was frowned on and in Australia at least there was a time when it was illegal. Now the utility and ubiquity of the mobile phone is being recognised.
En-route documents now list the phone numbers of ATC and weather information and their usefulness in operations when communication difficulties exist is recognised. Pilots are becoming used to the fact that the mobile phone is there as a back up (I had cause to use one when rain caused a total com failure while I was on a charter flight). Many pilots are finding that using their mobiles to phone the AWIS is better than plugging away trying to get the info from Flight Service (not due to them being uncooperative but rather understaffed due cost cutting).
The latest example of this was in the US in California where Air traffic controllers had to resort to mobile phones to relay messages to planes under their guidance during a communications failure at a major control centre. Read more…

A number of pioneers have been chipping away at the problems involved in creating electrically powered aircraft. A variety of approaches are being actively pursued and as yet it is not clear which direction will prove to be the most successful. Contemporary electric motors are already up to the job of powering aircraft up to the light twin level with motors up to 500 kwatts being feasible and available but the problem of power storage or fuel remains opaque to really successful commercially useful solution. Exceptions to this are some niche application such as drones and long duration UAVs where applications are being perfected now.
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An international debate is needed on the use of autonomous military robots, a leading academic has said.

Between January 2006 and April 2009, he estimated, 60 drone attacks were carried out in Pakistan.

While 14 al-Qaeda were killed, some 687 civilian deaths also occurred.

This is an extrordinary amount of “collateral damage” and one wonders who has decided that this is acceptable and would it be acceptable if the casualties were for instance American or British?

Noel Sharkey of the University of Sheffield said that a push toward more robotic technology used in warfare would put civilian life at grave risk. Technology capable of distinguishing friend from foe reliably was at least 50 years away, he added. However, he said that for the first time, US forces mentioned resolving such ethical concerns in their plans. Read more…

At more or less regular if widely spaced intervals in response to a perceived need Aviation design studios or governments or other enthusiasts plan and even at times build large seaplanes. The reasons vary but are usually similar and include statements such as there is said to be a clear need, a significant market and no appropriate offerings. Some splendid aircraft have been built, flown and then more or less never seen again.
The Saunders Roe 100 passenger turboprop Princess flew 46 time for a total of 100 hrs. The American Martin P6M Seamaster long range bomber also flew only a few times. Howard Hughes’ giant wooden 8 engine Spruce Goose machine flew once allegedly illegally and accidentally with Hughes at the helm but very few have had commercial success. The Russian design bureau Berieve seems to have not acquired the ability to give up and have made a number of large and impressive seaplanes but do not look to have won the battle to establish a place for the large seaplane. The Canadair CL415 is a current production twin turboprop firebomber which seems to have found a precarious niche but the category does not seem to have really taken off if I may indulge myself in an atrocious pun.
In light of the above the recent announcement in ZHUHAI, Guangdong by a Chinese company of its intention to build an Amphibian the size of an Airbus A320 must be viewed as courageous and let us hope the time of the giant amphibian has come..
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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.

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Queensland researchers have developed a system allowing them to use mobile phone technology to fly pilotless planes.

In April, researchers from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) completed a successful flight of a small pilotless plane over Kingaroy in Queensland’s South Burnett region.
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It was always going to happen. An Airliner becomes a Hotel. For a Euro 450,000 investment entrepreneur Ben Thijssen has installed a Bar, Jakuzi and Sauna in a Illushin type 18 Airline which saw service on routes to Havana during the time of the East German Federal Republic. He plans to be acccepting Guests this Northern Summer. This amazing project has been set up near the Airport of Teuge bei Apeldoorn in Holland.
The cockpit is in original condition says Thijssen.  DDR-Chief Erich Honecker often flew in this machine. The cokpit has a seat for the members of the Ustashi who always were required to fly with him.
Thijssen is sure the Honiger Hotel will get good bookings.
From the German World Online www.welt.de/reise

A MODEL aeroplane equipped with a camera attached with a rubber band has inadvertently captured graffiti artists at work, leading to their arrest.
The aerial surveillance was carried out over the Aldinga Bay Surf life Saving Club near Adelaide South Australia in March by an model aircraft enthusiast using what police described as a “slow -flying electric remote controlled aeroplane”.

AdelaideNow reports that the modified aircraft was rigged with a camera, attached with a rubber band, which had been set to capture images every 1.5 seconds.

The images returned more than was expected when it captured graffiti vandals at work.

The plane operator sent the pictures to South Coast police who used them to identify the offenders.

Read more on this story at AdelaideNow heralsun.com.au