Model Airplanes

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Audi and Porsche are recalling a total of nearly 300,000 SUVs because they may develop cracks that cause fuel to leak, which raises the risk of fire.

Volkswagen Group of America’s Audi recall covers 240,487 Q5 and Q7 vehicles, with model years ranging from 2013 to 2017. Dealers will replace fuel-pump flanges that have cracks and apply a protective film to those that do not.

Porsche’s separate recall covers 51,497 vehicles, including certain 2015-17 Macan S and Macan Turbo vehicles and 2017 Macan, Macan Turbo with the Performance Package and Macan GTS vehicles. It will also replace any flanges that are cracked and apply a protective film to those that aren’t.

Owners can contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 or visit www.safercar.gov.

Article source: http://www.680news.com/2017/05/13/audi-porsche-recall-suvs-for-possible-fuel-pump-leaks/

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (KTUU) – Ahead of finding a permanent home at Eielson Air Force Base, F-35s are participating in Exercise Northern Edge for the first time in program history.

And as they’ve done each day of Northern Edge 2017, the planes will continue to cruise Alaska skies until the last day of the training on May 12.

“These exercises are honestly my favorite flights in this plane – large force exercises, because it really lets the plane stretch its legs,” said Maj. Adam Wellington, a Marine pilot and aviation safety officer.

For now, Wellington and a Marine squadron working with F-35B aircraft – a model of the multi-role fighter that specifically allows for short takeoffs and vertical landings – are the ones putting the planes through their paces in the Last Frontier.

“These exercises don’t take place that often, and it’s these exercises where we really get to showcase what the F-35s can do, so we’re all really excited to be here,” Wellington said. “To participate with Navy, Air Force, groups that compliment each other, that’s not something you can do a whole lot.”

However, come 2020, Alaska will have its own squadron of F-35s. The groundbreaking for a flight simulator for the aircraft took place at Eielson in March, following the announcement last year that the base was selected as the home of the Air Force’s first operation overseas F-35A Lightning IIs.

As for the planes themselves, while the model of the aircraft used in Northern Edge this year are slightly

Article source: http://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Meet-the-squadron-F-35s-part-of-Northern-Edge-ahead-of-2020-arrival-421900754.html

Soon after Dad had uprooted our family to North Dakota from our lovely Minneapolis neighborhood to chase a business venture, I moped in the dank basement of our bland rambler, tapping the keys of a dilapidated piano left by the previous owners, hoping the plaintive sound would lead my mom downstairs to observe my misery and offer the comfort I craved. It did.

“Why are you here all alone?”

I whimpered that I didn’t know. But of course we both did. It’s impossible for a 9-year-old to hide homesickness.

“I miss my friends, too,” she said. And she hugged me while I cried.

So naturally, she bought me a puppy.

That’s what mothers do, right?

But that was a temporary fix until I found a friend or two, which for reasons I can’t remember seemed to take a long time. It must have pained her when the dog didn’t do the trick and I insisted on sequestering myself in my barren bedroom.

I remember just two things about that room: The view of a frightfully endless wheat field across our newly paved street — and a balsa wood model airplane that perched for the entire year on the narrow wall shelf facing my bed.

The wheat field I’d sooner forget about (but as you can see, I can’t). The balsa wood model and the story of how it got there reminds me of a mother’s love and understanding for her child.

Here’s why:

Occasionally my parents’ friends from Minneapolis

Article source: http://www.startribune.com/childhood-memories-call-it-a-case-of-mother-knows-best/422144713/

Exactly two months after he assumed office as the Chief Executive Officer of Arik Air, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, in this interview, told Obinna Chima, about efforts made by his team to reposition the ailing airline. Ilegbodu also spoke about the challenges facing the aviation sector

Can we have an overview of what you have done since you took over the management of Arik Air?
When we started on the 9th of February, we looked at what was on the ground at Arik. What we met was quite interesting.  For an airline that has about 30 aircraft in its book, only about 10 were functional.  If you look at that alone, that tells you there is a problem in the system. So, one would say that AMCON’s intervention was very timely. That is because if you look at some of the things that were on the ground, you can easily deduce that the company would have folded up in a couple of weeks, or maybe months. There were no spare parts in the store to support the operations and you could see attrition in terms of aircraft fleets. There were huge bills left unpaid when we came on board which we had to address in order to rebuild confidence.

This business is mainly driven by credit and trust. Once you try to breach that trust,

Article source: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/05/13/roy-ilegbodu-how-we-saved-arik-from-crashing/

File picture shows ground crew members escorting a Boeing 737 MAX as it returns from a flight test at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, January 29, 2016. — Reuters picCHICAGO, May 13 — Boeing Co resumed flights of its new 737 Max jetliners on a limited basis yesterday, setting the stage for the first commercial delivery after a potential engine flaw temporarily grounded the single-aisle aircraft.

Regulators cleared the planes to fly as long as they’re powered by spare engines that don’t include the possibly defective part, Boeing spokesman Doug Alder said Friday.

Supplier CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Safran SA, alerted the plane-maker late last week to a manufacturing quality problem with low-pressure turbine discs in the Leap engines.

Boeing is racing to inspect the engines and meet delivery commitments to Indonesia’s Lion Mentari Airlines, the largest Max customer. Lion Air’s delivery has been delayed four days, and it will receive the first one on May 22, director Edward Sirait said in a text message today. Lion affiliate Malindo Airways will use the first jet.

“The plan remains to start deliveries this month,” he said.  Norwegian Air Shuttle is also slated to receive its first 737 Max in late May.

The newest 737’s progression to market had gone smoothly until this week, and Boeing shares fell Wednesday after the company said it would ground the fleet of more than 20 Max planes. Engine faults have also marred the debuts of Airbus SE’s A320neo and Bombardier Inc’s

Article source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/money/article/boeing-737-max-back-in-flight-as-first-plane-delivery-looms

Autodesk has partnered with a Michigan foundry in a 3D printing proof-of-concept project that resulted in a new magnesium commercial airline seat frame so light it could save an airline more than $200 million in fuel costs.

Autodesk used its Netfabb 3D design software to produce a complex geometric model for a new aircraft passenger seat frame just as strong as a traditional seat, but vastly lighter.

The CAD program created a file used to 3D print in plastic the seat frame, which was then coated in ceramic material and heated to a high temperature to evaporate the inner plastic.

The remaining ceramic mold was then used by Aristo Cast, a Michigan foundry, to manufacture a magnesium seat frame that weighs 766 grams, 56% lighter than the conventional 1,672-gram aluminum seats in use today.