Model Airplanes

“I want to see this community do well.”

Teri L. Hansen, Managing Editor

From coffee to subsea technology, John Ferguson continues to bring assets to McPherson. For the past few years, he has been looking to the sky for inspiration and has brought airborne technology to the community, in the form of unmanned aerial vehicles.

“I want to see this community do well,” Ferguson said.

SkyNet Unmanned Aerial Services, now renamed Saxon Remote Systems, located at 880 Vanguard St. in McPherson, is home to some of the most innovative drone designs on the market.

If you build it

Ferguson made a name for himself in the oil industry for years. After watching the industry rise and ultimately fall, he knew he needed a change. In addition, it was time to come home and spend time with his family.

“I spent half my kid’s lives traveling around the world,” Ferguson said.

And so his business began. In the three years since its inception, the business has seen its fair share of setbacks, from personnel to legislation, but it has grown from humble beginnings. In fact, Ferguson sold his motorcycle to purchase the parts to build a drone. Now, the business is internationally known in both military, public and private sectors.

In an industrial cornucopia like McPherson, Saxon is unique to the area, though not the world. Hoping to capitalize on a multi-billion-dollar global industry, Ferguson employs the best and brightest to make strides in drone technology, while simultaneously making it available to the everyday business.

“The

Article source: http://www.mcphersonsentinel.com/news/20170601/from-sea-to-sky-mcpherson-resident-capitalizing-on-uav-technology

There are few industries whose evolution includes dramatic steps backwards, but that’s exactly what happened in commercial aviation and its experiments in supersonic flight.

For 27 years, supersonic travel was a reality, creating a bridge between Europe and the U.S. that led to a bright future for commercial flight. And then, suddenly, that future disappeared. Blake Scholl is determined to bring that future back.

In an interview for Flux I chatted with Blake, the founder and CEO of Denver-based Boom, a supersonic jet company. We got into how the Concorde business model was flawed, why it takes an outsider to re-ignite innovation in the industry and how simulation software has greatly reduced the time and cost of plane design.

An excerpt of our conversation is published below.

AMLG: Today’s guest is Blake Scholl, founder of Boom — a supersonic civilian aircraft company based in Denver, Colorado. RRE is an investor and we’re a huge fan of Blake. He is a certified pilot and a repeat entrepreneur who previously founded the payments company Kima Labs, which was acquired by Groupon. He also built Amazon’s marketing automation stack. Welcome Blake. Let’s jump in — what is Boom exactly and where did the idea come from?

BS: The first 50 years of aviation— from the Wright brothers forward — we had incredible progress and safety and comfort and economics and speed. Then this weird

Article source: https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/30/1497383/

Talbot Fisher The Register-Mail TalbotFisher16

GALESBURG — On May 21, lifelong Galesburg resident Julia Mattocks was honored at the Galesburg VFW for her 99th birthday. Mattocks worked as a “Rosie the Riveter” during World War II. She riveted airplanes in California, built bombs in Burlington, Iowa, and made airplane parts in Galesburg.

On Tuesday afternoon, again at the Galesburg VFW, Mattocks was honored once more, this time by the American government. Rep. Cheri Bustos of the 17th Illinois congressional district, which includes Galesburg, took the time to present a copy of the congressional record from May 25, when Mattocks’ life and legacy were honored on the House floor.

In part, the record reads, “Ms. Mattocks, Galesburg’s ‘Rosie the Riveter,’ serves as a role model in our community due to her tireless work ethic and dedication to serving others.

“Ms. Mattocks is a true inspiration for many people, and her passion and dedication makes her a uniting force within our community. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for Julia’s contributions and service to our community and our nation.”

Mayor John Pritchard, members of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and a number of local veterans, friends and well-wishers came to honor Mattocks on Tuesday.

There were laughs and smiles after the ceremony as Mattocks and Bustos chatted about Mattocks’ new cat, Jewel.

Talbot Fisher is weekend reporter for The Register-Mail. His weekly column looks at life in Galesburg 100 years ago and its connections to the Great War. Contact him at talbotefisher16@gmail.com; follow him

Article source: http://www.galesburg.com/news/20170531/julia-mattocks-presented-with-congressional-record-statement

Chuck Johnson, 88, stands beside wooden airplane models he built as a kid during World War II, now on display as part of Battle of Midway exhibit at the Klamath County Museum almost 75 years after their original construction. Johnson used a World War II-era citizens aircraft spotters guide to make the models, which he still has to this day.

Article source: http://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/miniature-warbirds/article_49f65549-0171-5264-94fe-930dba93eb39.html