Model Airplanes

Abu Dhabi’s proposed merger of two of its largest sovereign investment funds would create a global energy business that produces more oil than OPEC member Libya and with more assets than ConocoPhillips. 

The Persian Gulf emirate with about 6 percent of the world’s crude reserves will combine  Mubadala Development Co. and International Petroleum Investment Co. to cut costs and boost efficiency, the state news agency WAM reported Wednesday. The deal would pool assets of about $135 billion, many of them non-energy-related, and debt of about $42 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations. ConocoPhillips, by comparison, had $97 billion in total assets as of Dec. 31, 2015.

Like other oil producers in the region, Abu Dhabi is struggling to maintain state spending after crude prices fell by half since 2014. A union of Mubadala with IPIC would create an entity akin to integrated oil companies that pump oil and process it into fuel and petrochemicals used to make plastics and consumer goods, according to Robin Mills, chief executive officer of Dubai-based consultant Qamar Energy.

Streamlining Operations

“It’s more about streamlining and getting rid of duplication in the business,” Mills said of the planned merger. The combined funds would have “an integrated assets base that’s geographically spread out,” he said. “IPIC is more involved in refining and chemicals, and Mubadala is mostly focused in oil and gas production abroad.”

Middle Eastern oil producers have intensified their push into refining and petrochemicals over the last decade. Abu Dhabi, the capital

Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-29/abu-dhabi-merger-to-create-oil-producer-dwarfing-opec-s-libya

More than 675 people turned out for the meeting Wednesday night of The Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals, which is comprised of county and city officials from the San Francisco Peninsula and tasked with addressing the airplane noise issue and reviewing a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposal to change flight routes, altitude and other local flight procedures.

The Select Committee does not have any power, but it could potentially support the FAA’s Northern California Initiative Feasibility Study or provide other recommendations for cutting airplane noise. The problem of increased noise began in 2015 after the FAA rolled out its NextGen program to modernize the nation’s air-traffic system.

The FAA proposal came out of recommendations from local airplane-noise groups and incorporates recommendations the agency deems feasible. The study analyzed six categories: airspace design and airspace; adjusting arrival procedures; nighttime departure operations; developing new departure transit points for some nighttime flights; evaluating Oakland and San Francisco departures and improving management of aircraft by flight control.

Packing the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, residents told the committee about hundreds of low-flying planes and the impact the noise has daily and at all hours on their health and mental well-being. While residents from as far away as Santa Cruz and from up and down the Midpeninsula agreed that increased airplane noise has made their lives miserable, they were not united in how the problem should be fixed.

Residents from Santa Cruz and the mountains want a flight path that was

Article source: http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2016/06/30/advocates-sharply-disagree-on-solutions-to-airplane-noise

CARMICHAELS – John Brodak is taking his love of flying model airplanes to new heights.

In addition to winning several national flying titles, Brodak is credited with reviving control-line model aviation, a form of flying in which the model airplane is flown in a circle, guided by lines attached to the pilot’s hand control.

His company, Brodak Manufacturing and Distribution, has brought back many of the famous control-line models that were no longer in production and has become the world’s largest manufacturer of model airplane kits.

For his newest venture, Brodak will soon start construction of a museum focusing on the history of model airplanes and aviation in general. It will be built as an addition to his 10,000-square-foot manufacturing plant on Park Avenue in Cumberland Township.

“I want to preserve it,” Brodak said of his reason for building a museum for model aviation.

Many of its avid fans have collected items associated with the hobby for years.

“These guys are dying off,” he said.

They want to pass on what they have collected to someone who will make good use of it, and not just throw it away.

“These people have given me so much stuff, I told them to stop, I don’t

Article source: http://www.observer-reporter.com/20160608/carmichaels_man_is_top_producer_of_model_aviation_kits

Visitors to Seward on the Fourth of July will have the opportunity to see something special. The Nebraska National Guard Museum now has a full replica of Nebraska’s first airplane suspended from its ceiling. It is one of the first features that visitors will see when entering the museum. The plane was installed June 24 in preparation for the museum’s dedication at 9 a.m. on July 4.

Daws Trucking transported the piece into Seward and when it got to the outskirts of Seward June 23, they were met by a police escort to bring in the centerpiece to the “Century of Nebraska National Guard Aviation (1915-2015)” – The Curtiss Pusher. The plane represents the birth of aviation in the Nebraska National Guard and will be unveiled to the public at the dedication.

Once the Daws truck pulled up to the museum, a crew of volunteers

Article source: http://www.sewardindependent.com/news/local_news/article_7876a324-3e05-11e6-80e0-4f9ad7a97743.html

Wildly talented on electric guitar, steel-string and classical, Gretchen Menn is a force to be reckoned with. While you might recognize her from her role as the lead guitarist for all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band Zepparella, Menn also delivers some serious solo work and released Hale Souls—which she wrote, produced and recorded—in 2011.

Menn covers a wide spectrum of styles, including jazz, funk, rock, progressive and metal. Oh, and did we mention she’s a professional airplane pilot? She’s a true modern-day renaissance woman. 

We sat down with Menn to get her opinions on playing classical versus electric, what gear she keeps in her arsenal, what she thinks is the hardest Led Zeppelin song to play—and more.

Learn more about her in the interview below and at gretchenmenn.com. 

Tell us a little-known fact about yourself.

I have a rather sick and twisted sense of humor. Some people could easily accuse me of being childish about things I should have long since outgrown finding hilarious. My whole family is like that, though, and it’s a huge bond. I have had laugh attacks with my mom and my dad and my sister… on more than one occasion in highly inappropriate situations.

How has your father, Don Menn, influenced your career in music?

Many people assume my dad put a guitar in my hands, and it is a rather obvious assumption. But it didn’t happen at all that way.

From my earliest childhood, both of my parents encouraged me and my sister, Kirsten, to explore all forms of creativity. They never forced anything on us,

Article source: http://www.guitarworld.com/artists-artist-news/gretchen-menn-talks-new-music-gear-zeppelin-and-more/29371