Model Airplanes

Fred H. Hall, 86, a longtime businessman who owned a barbershop and later merchandise and distribution companies in the Toledo area, died Nov. 7 at Hospice of Northwest Ohio in Perrysburg.

He had been diagnosed with kidney cancer six years ago and it returned three years ago, said his daughter, Margo Leininger.

Hall

Article source: http://www.toledoblade.com/Deaths/2017/11/20/Fred-H-Hall-1931-2017-Businessman-and-barber-had-real-zest-for-life.html

On Wednesday, Airbus announced its largest single aircraft order in the company’s history. U.S. investment firm Indigo Partners bought 430 aircraft of the Airbus A320 family for a sticker price of 49.5 billion dollars. The deal was announced at the Dubai Air Show by a jubilant John Leahy, Airbus‘ Chief Operating Officer – Customers. The massive deal includes orders for both the A320neo and A321neo aircraft, Airbus’ newest revamp of the A320 family.

Just a few days prior to the order, Airbus had been concerned that the Dubai Air Show would end in disaster for the company, with annual orders tracking below anticipated levels and few new orders placed at the Gulf event. Airbus has struggled to sell its flagship A380, even after its revamp as the A380plus. Rival Boeing had been pulling ahead of Airbus in recent weeks with further 787 orders firming up in Dubai.

With this order, Airbus has caught up in one fell swoop. The unusualness of the order begs the question: who places an order of this magnitude and what motivates them to place an order with a single manufacturer instead of diversifying?

Indigo Partners is an American private equity and venture capital firm based in Phoenix, Ariz. that specializes in airline industry investments. It holds shares of Denver-based ultra-low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines, Chilean discount airline JetSmart, Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air and is rumored to be aiming at the Canadian market, as Canada is underserved by low-cost airlines.

The man behind Indigo

Article source: https://airlinegeeks.com/2017/11/18/william-franke-the-man-who-bought-430-airplanes-in-a-single-day/

EDGEMONT — Jorli “J.C.” Sikes of Edgemont is making model airplanes again, a hobby he enjoyed more than 75 years ago when he was a boy.

“Then I went into the Air Force, and they gave me a real one to play with,” the 88-year-old said.

He was a crew chief/engineer from 1950-1970, stationed in Texas, Missouri, Washington and Oklahoma. He said he was responsible for keeping all kinds of planes up in the air.

“The last ones I flew in were C-47s, gooney birds,” he said.

Thirteen of Sikes’ model planes, mostly World War II bombers and fighter planes, are on display at Bentley’s restaurant in Greers Ferry.

“They have drawn a lot of comments,” he said.

Owner Rob Bentley said Sikes has restored wooden chairs in the restaurant almost since it opened 20 years ago. Sikes also built a wooden salad bar that looks like a boat.

Bentley said Sikes showed up at the restaurant with one of his models.

“The first plane, I think, was a P-51, and he said, ‘Here, put this up,’” Bentley said.

“We said, ‘OK, we want every World War II model we can get,’” Bentley said. “As I’m getting more and more planes, I’m getting more and more reaction. Everybody likes them. [They say] ‘Have you got a new plane?’”

Bentley said his father used to have a pilot’s license, and his father-in-law is a retired airplane mechanic, so planes are a family interest.

Sikes, who grew up in

Article source: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/nov/19/air-force-veteran-builds-model-airplanes/

Model aircraft enthusiasts have gone to an 85-acre plot of land off state Route 76 in Fallbrook nearly every weekday and every weekend for about 20 years to fly, but that tradition may soon change as development blossoms in that part of the village.

“You stand out there on the flight line, and you just know we’re going to be standing in the middle of a car wash, a McDonalds and a department store at some point,” Steve Gebler, next year’s president for the Palomar Radio Control Flyers Club, said. “It’s just inevitable that that’s going to happen.”

The club, which has roughly 200 members from Riverside, San Diego and Orange counties, has been using the plot of land near the intersection of Pankey Road and SR-76, just east of Interstate 15, to fly model fixed wing airplanes, model helicopters and drones.
The surrounding area is ripe for development. Housing will be put in about a mile away, and Palomar College’s North Education Center – currently under construction – will be about a half mile away.

Gebler said the Sacramento-based land developer that owns the vacant parcel of land where the club operates has been very communicative and has told club officials it will give them as much notice as possible when it starts to build

Article source: http://villagenews.com/local/with-development-impending-aircraft-club-seeks-new-space-to-fly/

SPRINGFIELD, NJ – The Houdaille Quarry, often called the “Grand Canyon of Union County”, and normally closed to the public, will be open on Sunday, November 19 from 1:00 p.m. to 3 p.m. for Fall Foliage walks sponsored by the Springfield Environmental Commission.

This is a rare chance to get to go on the other side of the fence and see the Quarry, which is an ecologically unique wild area in Springfield, located between Rt.78 and Mount View Rd.  Its trails lead to a deep basin and to a beautiful pond where wild turkeys, foxes, coyotes and colorful migrating birds have been spotted.  

The Quarry is an important 170-acre greenway linking Briant Park, Hidden Valley Park, and Watchung Reservation. Basalt, a hard-black volcanic rock, was once quarried here, and crushed to make gravel for road construction.  The site is owned by Union County Parks.

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Alyson Miller, Chair of the Springfield Environmental Commision, reminded potential participants that “The Quarry Walk is a once a year event. There is no other access to this pristine natural area. One of the highlights comes at the bottom of the Quarry where there is a pond and a tunnel under I-78.”

The Houdaille Quarry has been through many incarnations, beginning as part of a vast lava flow from an ancient volcano and continuing to its more modern use as a site for mining rock and gravel used for road building. Part of the site is now used as the Union County leaf composting facility serving

Article source: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/berkeley-heights/sections/green/articles/the-2017-houdaille-quarry-walk-sunday-in-springf-8

Rotorcraft shipments increased by 7.7 percent year-to-date, and general aviation airplane shipments increased 1.7 percent, GAMA said in its newly published “2017 Third Quarter Aircraft Shipment and Billings” announcement.

The $2.7 billion in rotorcraft billings represented an increase of 8.8 percent, in contrast to airplane billings, which ticked down 2.8 percent, to $13.2 billion from 2016.

Business jet shipments rose 1.4 percent, with 434 units shipped. Turboprop shipments declined 2.1 percent, from 382 to 374 airplanes.

GAMA President Pete Bunce framed his optimism for the future in the context of global initiatives to make aircraft manufacturing more nimble.

“We’ve been very focused on streamlining certification and validation processes around the world, which will help our member companies continue bringing new and safer products to the market and hopefully spur growth in future quarters,” he said.

The continued momentum in the rotorcraft segment registered most significantly with piston-helicopter shipments that increased from 168 to 190 units, a 13.1-percent rise, in the first nine months of 2017 compared to last year, GAMA said. Turbine helicopter shipments increased by 5.6 percent to 471 units, up from 446.

Airbus Helicopters shipped the most rotorcraft overall, its 242 units representing a wide range of models. A manufacturing standout for its piston-helicopter shipments was Robinson Helicopter of Torrance, California, which shipped 220 units in the first three quarters. Of those, 163 were piston R22 and R44 models, with 57 turbine-powered R66s also shipping. Robinson’s total billings came to approximately $117 million, according to the figures released.

Noteworthy in the four-percent

Article source: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2017/november/14/helicopters-highlight-latest-manufacturing-figures