Model Airplanes

Havana’s architecture is a fascinating blend of elegant mansions and hotels, many now in decay but a few restored to their glory, and Soviet-style masses of concrete offices and housing, with few new buildings that are noteworthy. Apart from some notable exceptions, this is a country where significant investment has been on hold for two generations. (O. Casey Corr/Good Fruit Grower)

Cuba has an outsized presence in American culture.

The reminders begin when you step off the airplane at Havana’s José Martí International Airport.

Blasted by hot, moist Caribbean air, you see things that are new and yet at the same time seem rooted in memory: Drivers of 1950s American cars beckon with a honk.

That familiar portrait of Che Guevera, dashing in beret, looks skyward for his next revolution, or at least a place on somebody’s T-shirt.

Reaching Havana’s downtown, you see waters that trigger thoughts about Cuba’s shared history with the U.S.: the battleship USS Maine, the Bay of Pigs, the CIA’s plots to kill Castro, and the famous Americans who drank and partied in Cuba, from Ernest Hemmingway and Meyer Lansky to Beyoncé and Jay-Z.

Elegant mansions, most now pitted and crumbling from neglect, remind you of Cuba’s past prosperity as the world leader in sugar production and its lucrative exports of rum, tobacco and nickel.

But that prosperity, limited to Cuba’s landed class, ended in 1959 when the

Article source: http://www.goodfruit.com/cubas-next-chapter-not-so-fast/

A Russian military plane with 92 people on board, including members of a famed army choir, has crashed into the Black Sea shortly after taking off, the Russian defence ministry has said.

There was no sign of survivors, the defence ministry said on Sunday, as President Vladimir Putin announced a national day of mourning.

The Tu-154 plane had departed from the southern Russian city of Adler on Sunday morning and was heading towards Latakia in Syria.

Magomed Tolboyev, a decorated Russian test pilot, said the circumstances of the crash indicated that all on board had died.

“There is no chance to survive in such a situation,” he said, according to the Interfax news agency. “The plane gets instantly blown into pieces.”

By Sunday afternoon, rescue teams had already recovered 10 bodies.

A list of passengers and crew published by the ministry showed that 64 members of the renowned Alexandrov Ensemble, the army’s official choir, and its conductor Valery Khalilov were on board the plane.

Members of the choir were travelling to Syria to celebrate the New Year with Russian troops.

The defence ministry said a widely revered Russian charity doctor was also on board the plane, in addition to nine journalists, a Russian army general and five colonels.

“The site of the Tu-154 plane crash has been identified,” news agencies quoted the ministry as saying.

The Alexandrov Ensemble was due to perform at the Khmeimim airbase, Russia’s main base of operations for its military campaign in support of the Syrian government.

Russia has been supporting its longtime ally, Syria, with a bombing campaign against

Article source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/russian-military-plane-disappears-radar-161225045201828.html

By Julie Johnsson and Michael Sasso

(Bloomberg) – United Airlines plans to fly its last Boeing 747 jumbo jet late this year, retiring its largest airplanes a year ahead of schedule as the iconic aircraft glides into the sunset.

The decision marks the end of an era for U.S. airlines, which have relied on the humpbacked 747 to bring jet travel to a mass consumer market since the plane debuted in 1970. United flew its first jumbo between California and Hawaii that year.

It’s also a reminder of the tough task Boeing faces as it tries to keep its newest 747 model, the -8, aloft amid waning demand for four-engine aircraft. The Chicago-based planemaker has just 28 unfilled orders, after closing 17 sales of the freighter version of the jet last year. Boeing has said it would end production if more orders don’t materialize.

“It’s a bittersweet milestone — this jumbo jet with its unmistakable silhouette once represented the state-of-the-art in air travel,” United President Scott Kirby said in a letter to employees Wednesday.

The Chicago-based carrier flies 20 of the 747-400 passenger model, which Boeing manufactured from 1988 and 2009. Delta Air Lines Inc., the other U.S. operator, is also parking the jumbo jets this year. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., ANA Holdings Inc., Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Air France are among carriers that have retired their 747-400 jetliners this decade amid a shift from four-engine aircraft.

Twin-engine wide-bodies like Boeing’s 777

Article source: http://hamodia.com/2017/01/11/boeing-jumbo-jet-era-ending-u-s-united-retires-747-fleet/