Model Airplanes

HAVELOCK, NC (WITN) – Havelock leaders say reducing the number of F-35s coming to Cherry Point would have a devastating impact on them.

Mayor Will Lewis reacted this afternoon to a tweet from President-elect Donald Trump who this morning vowed to corral the “out of control” cost of the fighter jet.

The new aircraft would have a $400 billion dollar price tag and would allow the Marine Corps to retire the aging fleet of Harriers, in addition to supplying strike aircraft to the Navy Air Force.

Cherry Point is supposed to be a hub for the new aircraft, and is now scheduled to receive 94 of them.

“Havelock needs them because our base right now is a Harrier base and that’s one of the legacy aircraft being replaced by the F-35B model,” said Lewis.

Trump hasn’t explained how he’ll save billions of dollars in military purchases while also honoring a campaign vow to rebuild the armed forces. Once Trump is in office, he can propose deep cuts to the F-35 or even elect to cancel the program altogether. But Congress, not the president, controls the government’s purse strings and makes the final decisions about the budget.

Mayor Lewis says the air station is a big economic driver for Havelock, with 40% of the city’s population over on the base.

“$2.2 billion of impact inside that gate. So, if that was diminished in anyway whatsoever, not only would we feel a devastating impact, but the region would have a major impact and the

Article source: http://www.witn.com/content/news/Lockheed-falls-as-Trump-tweets-that-F-35-program-is-costly-406019745.html

In a bid to expand its international presence, The Boeing Company BA inked a high-value deal with Iran Air yesterday for 80 jetliners. Valued at $16.6 billion, this marks the first-of-its-kind transaction between a U.S. company and the Islamic Republic.

Interestingly, this deal was finalized less than a month after the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation prohibiting the Treasury Department from issuing commercial aircraft sales licenses to Iran.

So, although the deal received a nod from the acting U.S. government, its fate looms in uncertainty. Chances are high that the Congress will strongly oppose it and President-elect Trump will pose serious impediments to its execution.

Details of the Deal

The aforementioned deal was first disclosed in Jun 2016 by Boeing, when it announced its plans to sell 100 jets to Iran’s national airline. However, financial details of the agreement were kept under wraps then.

In Jan 2016, Iran Air had inked a similar deal for 118 jets, worth $27 billion, with Airbus Group SE EADSY , Boeing’s direct rival in the commercial airlines space. However, given the huge amount of U.S.-built aircraft parts involved in the deal, it is subject to extensive regulatory approvals by the U.S. government. In fact, it was finally in September that the Obama administration approved the deals.

Coming back to the latest deal, now it’s Boeing’s turn to deliver 50 737 Max 8, 15 777-300 ER and 15 777-9 models to Iran.

Notably, the 737 MAX, which is 14% more

Article source: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/can-boeing-ba-pull-off-17-billion-iran-air-deal-cm720348

Citing the danger of little crashing planes, a state appeals court panel has refused to overturn a ruling in a zoning dispute that grounded a model airplane club.

For one thing, Judge Julia K. Hearthway noted in the recent Commonwealth Court ruling that some of the offending radio-controlled aircraft flown by the Fairview R/C Flyers Club include not-so-quiet or tiny model jets that can hit 200 mph.

And some of the club’s planes, or parts of them, have ended up slamming into the property of its Berks County neighbors.

The court dispute centers on a bid by Jerry and Carol Grim to overturn a Perry Township Zoning Hearing Board ruling that requires them to stop renting their 48-acre property for the club’s airborne activities.

In taking the case to state court, the Grims argued they should be allowed to keep renting the site to the club because radio-controlled planes have been flying there for years. Also, they claim the loss of the club’s annual $10,000 rental payment would create a financial hardship for them.

Neither argument took flight with Hearthway. She noted that the Grim property is in a rural agricultural zone where such recreational facilities aren’t permitted. Township officials cited the Grims for a zoning violation in 2014 based on complaints by neighbors, the judge observed. The case went to state court after County Judge Madelyn S. Fudeman sided with the township.

The club’s planes take off from Grim property, but they don’t stay there. Their flight paths take them over neighboring properties, where more

Article source: http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/12/model_airplane_club_must_be_gr.html

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s flag carrier finalized a major deal with U.S. plane maker Boeing Co. to buy $16.6 billion worth of passenger planes Sunday in one of the most tangible benefits yet for the Islamic Republic from last year’s landmark nuclear agreement.

Iran Air’s deal for 80 jetliners is the biggest agreement Iran has struck with an American company since the 1979 revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover. It has the potential to transform Iran’s creaking and accident-prone aviation industry, which has been hobbled by years of sanctions.

Those curbs have prevented the country from buying new planes from Chicago-based Boeing and European rival Airbus, and in many cases made it difficult for Iranian airlines to secure much-needed spare parts.

The deal covers 50 single-aisle 737 Max 8s, a soon-to-be-introduced version of Boeing’s existing narrow-body 737 line.

It also includes 30 777s, a wide-body, twin-engine plane typically used on long-haul routes that is popular with other Persian Gulf carriers such as Dubai-based Emirates. Half of the order will cover the 777-300ER version, while the rest will be of the 777-9 model still under development.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said the planes would be delivered over the next decade. The first will start to arrive in 2018, Boeing said.

In September, Washington granted permission to Boeing and Toulouse, France-based Airbus to sell billions of dollars’ worth of aircraft to Iran. Airbus needed U.S. approval because at least 10 percent of its planes’ components are of American origin.

The U.S. and other world powers agreed last year

Article source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/11/iran-says-its-finalized-166b-boeing-deal-to-buy-80/