Model Airplanes

JANUARY –

LOCALS HELP CRIME FIGHT – With criminals using social media more and more these days as part of their operations, local rural residents could help counter the threat by getting to know their neighbours, said Gerald Ingeveld, president of the Olds-Sundre-Didsbury Rural Crime Watch Association. Rural crime such as vehicle thefts and break-ins at farms, ranches, businesses and other properties was continuing in the region at the same or even greater rates as in 2017, he said.

AIRCRAFT HITS POWER LINE – An airplane struck a power line at the Olds-Didsbury Airport knocking out power to 1,800 customers across the district. The aircraft involved, a Piper model PA28-180, landed safely at the airport.

CADET NUMBERS INCREASE – The 3025 Didsbury Service Battalion Army Cadet Corps was seeing an increase in numbers, officials said. Squad leader Tim Kaczmarski said the corps has seen its numbers grow to around 40. “It’s been a slow increase but we’ve reached a nice milestone,” said Kaczmarski. The corps is made up of cadets between the ages of 12 and 19.

FEBRUARY –

CRIME CONCERNS VOICED – About 140 residents attended a town hall meeting at the Eagle Hill Hall to voice concerns about rural crime and to seek solutions. The meeting included a panel made up of MP Earl Dreeshen, MLA Jason Nixon, Mountain View County reeve Bruce Beattie, Red Deer County mayor Jim Wood, Olds RCMP detachment commander St. Sgt. Jim MacDonald, Sundre RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Jim Lank, and Yellowhead MP Jim Eglinski.

CONFERENCE WELL ATTENDED –

Article source: https://www.mountainviewgazette.ca/article/the-gazette-year-in-review-2018-20190101

News Analysis

The year 2018 saw the disillusionment of an entire generation of China specialists, and many former “panda huggers” have begun to admit that they got China wrong. Where exactly did they go awry?

Major Flaws

According to Cheng Xiaonong, a doctoral scholar on China’s politics and economy, the majority of U.S. scholars of China have ignored some very important facts about the country. In addition, the U.S.–China study circle tends to do research in a “closed way,” without comparing China with other countries, he said.

For example, Cheng argues in an article he wrote for the Chinese version of The Epoch Times that people failed to study how the enterprises of the 1970s and 1980s owned by “all the people in China” suddenly became enterprises that were owned by only a small number of people during the 1990s.

Some economists believed the “transformation” of state-owned enterprises was just to turn publicly owned properties into privately owned ones, and nothing else. However, the process of privatizing hundreds of thousands of state-owned enterprises involved the issue of privatizing a massive amount of state-owned wealth, while suddenly splitting dozens of millions of “state employees” into two parts: the laborers and the capitalists.

This process involved major issues such as the encroachment on state-owned assets, the right of the public to participate, and grave violations of social justice. Therefore, the evaluation of China’s economic reform shouldn’t be totally positive.

Cheng said that unfortunately, China scholars in the United States seldom

Article source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/where-did-american-scholars-go-wrong-in-their-study-of-china_2753549.html

Aviation continues to keep people and economies connected as more people fly each year. As the 125th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight’s was celebrated on Dec. 17, aviation enthusiasts and professionals had an opportunity to reflect on the progress the industry has made since the introduction of flight in 1903.

Around the world, 2018 proved to be another very important year of accomplishments for the entire industry. From first flights and last flights to airline consolidation and tragic incidents and everything in between, 2018 was filled with highs and lows that will be remembered as the industry flies full speed into 2019.

This article chronologically highlights important moments in aviation that were covered by AirlineGeeks.com this year.

Emirates Revives the Airbus A380

Emirates officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for 20 firm orders and 16 options for the Airbus A380 aircraft, helping the aircraft manufacturer seal the deal to keep the A380 in production for “at least for another ten years.” The $13 billion deal will help the airline replace older aircraft and add newer A380 to its fleet through 2030.

787-10 Receives FAA Certification

Boeing announced on Jan. 22, 2018, that its 787-10 Dreamliner received an amended type certificate (ATC) from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), clearing the airplane for commercial service. The awarding of the ATC capped a successful test program that began in March 2017 and involved three flight-test airplanes

Article source: https://airlinegeeks.com/2018/12/31/airlinegeeks-year-in-review-2018/

Towards the end of the Second World War, as the United States considered their options for a possible invasion of Japan, there was demand for a new fighter that could escort long range bombers on missions which could see them travel more than 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) without refueling. In response, North American Aviation created the F-82, which essentially took two of their immensely successful P-51 fighters and combined them on the same wing. The resulting plane, of which only 272 were built, ultimately set the world record for longest nonstop flight of a propeller-driven fighter at 8,129 km (5,051 mi) and ended up being the last piston engine fighter ordered by the United States Air Force.

Today, only five of these “Twin Mustangs” are known to exist. One of those, a prototype XP-82 variant, is currently in the final stages of an epic decade-long rebuilding process directed by warbird restoration expert [Tom Reilly]. At the end of this painstaking restoration, which makes use of not only original hardware but many newly produced components built with modern technology such as CNC milling and 3D printing, the vintage fighter will become the only flyable F-82 in the world.

The project provides a fascinating look at what it takes to not only return a 70+ year old ultra-rare aircraft to fully functional status, but do it in a responsible and historically accurate way. With only four other intact F-82’s in the world, replacement parts

Article source: https://hackaday.com/2018/12/28/rebuilding-an-extremely-rare-twin-mustang-fighter/