Posted: Saturday, March 10, 2018 9:13 pm
Valley Morning Star
HARLINGEN — For Mitri Garib, flying is freedom.
Article source: http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/slice_of_life/to-the-sky-mitri-garib/article_3208ab2c-24da-11e8-b55f-f3370a799755.html
When Andrew Bakalar embarked on a recent 10-day business trip to Paris, he left his beloved pooches, Jujee and Elsa Rose, in the hands of a trusted dog-sitter.
But when his trip was unavoidably extended for an additional two months, he decided to send for them to join him.
His plan: Have the dog-sitter ship the pair as cargo from Dulles International Airport in the US to France. The dogs, a schnauzer and a terrier, are small. It couldn’t be that hard, he thought.
The saga that ensued involved absurdist twists and turns that can be described only as Kafkaesque. But as the bureaucratic hoops, logistical complexities and costs piled up, Bakalar had an uncharacteristically unprincipled thought: He should have just lied and passed them off as emotional-support animals, which would have allowed them to travel in the cabin with the dog-sitter.
“It might have been cheaper, frankly, to tell the dog-sitter, ‘You’re coming to Paris for two days, on me,’ ” said Bakalar, 54, of Silver Spring, Maryland. The entire process cost him about US$2,000 ($2746).
The world of pet transportation has changed dramatically in recent years. With the advent of emotional-support animals – in some cases with questionable or no certification – pet owners have attempted to board planes with everything from the typical dog and cat to rodents and more-exotic pets, including peacocks, spiders and snakes.
Backlash from other passengers has prompted
Article source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12010510
The Colombian Air Force (FAC, in Spanish) expanded its capacity to modernize aircraft. Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer gave FAC operational capacity to update and repair the Tucano AT-27, an armed aircraft several air forces in the region use for training and counterinsurgency operations.
FAC now concludes a process agreed to with Embraer in 2006, when it first began refurbishing mechanical parts. Upon earning its latest certification for aircraft repair and maintenance on extendable and retractable flaps and the landing gear in February 2018, FAC gained the capacity to perform work on the entire Tucano AT-27 aircraft.
Procurement and knowledge transfer
In 2005, the Colombian Ministry of Defense acquired 25 Tucano planes, 14 of them AT-27 models, at a cost of $237 million. The purchase requested an offset agreement from Embraer to allow for technology transfer. FAC began training its personnel, with ongoing consultation from the manufacturer.
“In 2009, we entered into an offset agreement in which Embraer pledged to develop the capacity to modernize the AT-27 in Colombia,” said to Diálogo FAC Colonel Jaime Ernesto Díaz Gómez, commander of the Air Maintenance Command (CAMAN, in Spanish) that carries out renovations. “This was made possible under the Pegasus Plan [Plan Pegaso], an agreement signed between CAMAN and the Colombian Aviation Industry Corporation [CIAC, in Spanish] to pool our maintenance capabilities, focus on technological development, and commercialize that ability.” Colombia acquired 14 upgrade kits for the Tucano AT-27.
Colombia, the only certified nation
“This process meant a lot both to Colombia and Brazil. Even though Embraer is the manufacturer,
Article source: https://dialogo-americas.com/en/articles/colombia-gains-capacity-update-tucano-27-aircraft
TiltonMaster model maker to speak
Dick Zoerb of Nashua, a Korean War veteran who’s been into model making since he was a teenager, will present a display of dozens of his large-scale paper models of airplanes, ships, lighthouses and more and speak about his lifetime in the craft in a public talk at the New Hampshire Veterans Home on Wednesday. He’ll be donating a couple of his works, large replicas of famous World War II bombers, to the Veterans Home. The event is free and the public is welcome. Because the works are made of paper, it’s particularly weather sensitive – please check for cancellation at 527-4400 if the forecast is for snow or rain. Contact NHVH Program Information Officer Len Stuart at number below for additional information. The event will take place at town hall auditorium, New Hampshire Veterans Home, 139 Winter St., Tilton.
GilfordA program on sleep
Join LRGHealthcare for a free presentation on sleep basics. Learn about the changes that take place as we age and tips for improving sleep quality. The program will take place at Wesley Woods in Gilford on Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A light lunch will be offered to participants. The presenter for this program will be Sasha Kolnick, a University of New England third year medical student who is currently doing her rotations at LRGHealthcare. For more information, please call the community education office at 527-7120.
Article source: http://www.concordmonitor.com/Announcement-Master-16097984
MELROSE – Dr. Merton “Baron” Tisdale George died peacefully on November 2, 2017 in Peabody, MA, after a remarkable life devoted to his family, to aerospace, and to scientific inquiry. Baron was a loving father to his two daughters, a devoted husband to his wife Kay for more than 70 years, and a happy grandfather to his five grandchildren who adored him. He had a deep interest in the natural world, and his career in the aerospace industry involved him in many important projects during the height of the space race.
Born on October 24, 1920 and raised in Saskatchewan, Canada, Dr. George was fascinated with flight from an early age. When he wasn’t chasing gophers with his sisters Beryl and Betty, Baron made his way to the local airport, just a mile from his home, every day. There, the young boy would observe different types of aircraft and try and speak to the pilots. His parents, Baron and Elizabeth, encouraged his building and flying of model airplanes. He entered the Jimmie Allen National Contest to build a model from the same plans as thousands of other children, and won that national competition with a silver cup.
In the summer of 1939, Baron met Kathleen “Kay” Cousens, a “Girl Friday” for Noordyn Aviation. She agreed to see a movie with the young draftsman who spent his days drawing and modifying aircraft, and eventually accepted his marriage proposal while walking home from the streetcar. When they did marry
Article source: http://www.capecodtimes.com/obituaries/20180309/dr-merton-baron-tisdale-george
A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a new onboard system that could protect commercial airplanes from lightning strikes, significantly reducing the risk of a plane being struck by lightning.
Aviation experts estimate that every commercial airplane is struck by lightning at least once a year, with about 90 percent of the incidents likely triggered by the aircraft itself, requiring follow-up inspections and safety checks that could delay subsequent flights.
During a thunderstorm, a plane’s electrically conductive exterior acts as a lightning rod, sparking a strike that could potentially damage the plane’s outer structures and compromise its onboard electronics.
To avoid potentially dangerous lightning strikes, flights are usually rerouted around stormy regions.
However, when a plane flies through an ambient electric field, its external electrical state, normally in balance, shifts. As an external electric field polarizes the airplane, one end of the plane becomes more positively charged while the other end swings towards a negative charge.
As the plane becomes increasingly polarized, it can set off a highly conductive flow of plasma, called a positive leader—the preceding stage to a lightning strike.
However, the researchers believe that temporarily charging a plane to a negative level to dampen the more highly charged positive end could prevent it from reaching a critical level and initiating a lightning strike. The researchers achieved this by outfitting a plane with an automated control system consisting of sensors and actuators fitted with small power supplies.
The sensors monitor the surrounding electric field for signs of possible leader formation, while
Article source: https://www.rdmag.com/article/2018/03/new-system-could-reduce-lighting-strike-risk-planes
When Andrew Bakalar embarked on a recent 10-day business trip to Paris, he left his beloved pooches, Jujee and Elsa Rose, in the hands of a trusted dog-sitter.
But when his trip was unavoidably extended for an additional two months, he decided to send for them to join him.
His plan: Have the dog-sitter ship the pair as cargo from Dulles International Airport to France. The dogs, a schnauzer and a terrier, are small. It couldn’t be that hard, he thought.
The saga that ensued involved absurdist twists and turns that can be described only as Kafkaesque. But as the bureaucratic hoops, logistical complexities and costs piled up, Bakalar had an uncharacteristically unprincipled thought: He should have just lied and passed them off as emotional-support animals, which would have allowed them to travel in the cabin with the dog-sitter.
“It might have been cheaper, frankly, to tell the dog-sitter, ‘You’re coming to Paris for two days, on me,’ ” said Bakalar, 54, of Silver Spring, Md. The entire process cost him about $2,000.
[A little girl saw an emotional-support dog on a plane. It went for her face.]
The world of pet transportation has changed dramatically in recent years. With the advent of emotional-support animals — in some cases with questionable or no certification — pet owners have attempted to board planes with everything from the typical dog and cat to rodents and more-exotic pets, including peacocks, spiders and snakes.
Backlash from other passengers has prompted crackdowns. Delta Air Lines this month began
