Model Airplanes

by
Pete DeMola

October 17, 2017

5:20 PM

Article source: http://www.suncommunitynews.com/articles/the-sun/cuomo-touts-norsk-upgrades/

Five years after the loans were made to Kestrel Aircraft, the manufacturing plant hasn’t been built, there are no aircraft manufacturing jobs in Superior and Kestrel — now part of ONE Aviation, headed by Northland aviation mogul Alan Klapmeier — hasn’t made a loan payment to the state in 11 months.

In a memo from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. requested by the News Tribune, state officials on Monday told the company they are “moving forward with legal action against the company” due to “Kestrel’s inability to show measurable progress toward obtaining financing.”

“We will pursue any and all remedies available to us to protect the state’s investment,” the memo notes.

Meanwhile, one year after being offered $1.5 million in public financial incentives to expand to the Grand Rapids airport, a subsidiary of ONE Aviation still hasn’t accepted the money.

Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board officials confirmed this week that Albuquerque, N.M.-based ACC Manufacturing Inc., which makes composite airplane parts for its parent company, ONE Aviation, hasn’t used the $1.5 million IRRRB loan.

ONE Aviation — formed in 2015 by the merger of Kestrel Aircraft and Eclipse Aerospace — also hasn’t moved any work into a vacant hangar at the airport purchased by the Grand Rapids Economic Development Authority last year with a $293,000 loan from the IRRRB to the city. ACC had pledged to build a manufacturing plant in the empty hangar employing at least 20 people making composite parts for ONE Aviation’s Eclipse jet by now.

IRRRB officials and state lawmakers on the

Article source: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/business/transportation/4342185-aircraft-plans-grounded-wisconsin-taking-legal-action-against

An airplane, built from the ground up by a group of high school students from Granbury, is ready to make its flight debut.

It’s a Van’s Aircraft RV12: A full-sized two seater built by a group of 24 students in Granbury High School’s “Eagle’s Nest” program. With professional supervision, the group started building around last Thanksgiving and finished around July 4.

“We’ve got extremely high-quality students in the program, and with great mentors, great oversight and quality control, it is just like it would have come off a show room floor,” Granbury High School Aerospace instructor Marc Kark said.

The students started with just an instruction book, sheet metal and hundreds of parts. The finished product is fresh from the paint shop and it features all of the latest safety and state-of-the-art equipment, all installed by students.

Granbury HS Students Build Plane, Prepare for Flight

A group of 24 students in Granbury High School’s “Eagle’s Nest” program build a full-sized airplane from the ground up and prepare for its flight debut.

(Published Friday, Oct. 20, 2017)

“You’re getting to learn how to build an airplane, and you’re getting to know how to fly, and you’re getting to learn the aerodynamics of an aircraft all in the same class,” student Cash McKay said.

The plane will take off from Granbury Regional Airport at 9 a.m. Saturday and a second similar model plane is the works. Students started in September, and plan to have it ready to go by

Article source: http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Granbury-High-School-Students-Build-Plane-Prepare-for-Flight-451872313.html

India probably wouldn’t receive a large degree of technology transfer under such a deal as export controls on the F-35 are notoriously tight even for NATO operators. But it is likely that some industrial offsets could be offered, including the possibility of depot work and some component construction being done in-country. 

It is unlikely that such a deal would be offered until after the single engine jet fighter competition is decided, but India could see the writing on the wall, and cancel the FGFA in hopes of joining the Joint Strike Fighter family in the near future.

Above all else, the export of the F-35 to the India—a jet that requires unique, costly, and extensive infrastructure to sustain—would be very bad news for Russia’s tactical jet industry. But given the flourishing relationship between the US and India, and the growing threat posed by China in the region, it may just be a matter of time till F-35s fly with Indian Air Force roundels of their wings. 

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

Article source: http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/15327/india-might-finally-terminate-their-stealth-fighter-program-with-russia

U.S. Soldiers prepare to take off in a Sikorsky UH-60L at the Oberdachstetten Range Complex. U.S. Army photos by Mr. Luis Viegas, Training Support Center Ansbach

For a while, Sikorsky and its HH-60U Black Hawk, and the Boeing/Leonardo team with its MH-139, have been at the forefront of the U.S. Air Force’s UH-1N replacement competition. But as the deadline for proposals passed mid-September, there was another contending aircraft in the running. Without a large sales or marketing effort surrounding its bid aircraft, called “Force Hawk,” Sierra Nevada Corp. went generally unnoticed for the year-plus it was developing its proposal.

The Air Force had originally wanted to sole-source the Huey replacement contract to Sikorsky for Black Hawks. The contract only became competitive when met with congressional opposition. It isn’t an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) like Sikorsky, Boeing or Leonardo, but lead systems integrator Sierra Nevada Corp. does not view itself as an underdog, according to its director of business development, Jack Bailey. In the opinion of Sierra Nevada Corp., the Air Force’s desire for a Black Hawk did not necessarily equal a desire to contract Sikorsky.

“At face value, we looked at it from the perspective that if [the solicitation] does best suit a Black Hawk, it’s a matter of whose Black Hawk,” Bailey told RWI.

Not every UH-60 model is the best solution for the Air Force, he continued. That’s why Force Hawk is a UH-60L, with new components orchestrated by Sierra Nevada Corp.

“We thought that [if] the government … just

Article source: http://www.rotorandwing.com/2017/10/19/sierra-nevadas-uh-60-replace-usafs-uh-1ns/