Model Airplanes | Even older kids like to fly

Hurricane hunters raise awareness, draw crowds in Naples

Posted on May 21, 2016 by Writer

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/local/hurricane-hunters-stop-in-naples-to-note-preparedness-is-more-than-wishing-the-storm-away-33103283-4-380333121.html

Posted in Model Airpanes | Tagged hobbies, model airplanes | Leave a comment

EgyptAir Flight 804: What’s next in search

Posted on May 21, 2016 by Writer

By Ray Sanchez, CNN

Updated 7:12 PM ET, Fri May 20, 2016

Article source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/20/middleeast/egyptair-804-plane-debris-what-next/

Posted in Model Airpanes | Tagged model airplane parts | Leave a comment

Boeing shows off new 777X wing center

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Writer

Boeing has begun installing heavy equipment and robotic machines inside its gigantic new 777X composite wing center in Everett, and the first engineers have moved into offices that overlook production.

On Thursday, just 14 months after the groundbreaking, Boeing showed off the awesome proportions of its $1 billion investment.

A huge cylindrical autoclave — a pressurized oven for baking the composite wing parts to hardness — is being cycled through its heating and cooling phases. But even at 120 feet long and 28 feet in diameter, it looks small from a perch at the far end of the building.

Two robotic Automated Fiber Placement machines lay down strips of carbon fiber tape, building up 105-foot-long 777X wing spars, the structural beams that form the leading and trailing edges of the wings. (This video is silent.)

On the other side of the wing center, in a “clean room” free of dust and debris and at a tightly controlled temperature and humidity, two big Automated Fiber Placement machines are being tested and calibrated, their robotic heads laying down strips of carbon fiber tape as they zip along.

Layer by layer, these machines, designed and built by Mukilteo-based engineering firm Electroimpact, build up the 105-footlong 777X wing spars — structural beams that form the leading and trailing edges of the wings.

The parts for Electroimpact’s corresponding wing skin fiber placement

Article source: http://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeing-shows-off-new-777x-wing-center/

Posted in Model Airpanes | Tagged model airplane parts | Leave a comment

Lawmakers eye terrorism in EgyptAir crash

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Writer

With help from Heather Caygle, Jennifer Scholtes and Lauren Gardner

LAWMAKERS EYE TERRORISM IN EGYPTAIR CRASH: As details trickle in about the potential cause of the EgyptAir crash over the Mediterranean, fears are growing that the crash may have been an act of terrorism — and lawmakers are taking a closer look at potential security gaps at airports in North Africa. Our own Jennifer Scholtes spoke with House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul, who said he fears Americans could be in danger. “If it was a bomb, it probably would have” been put on the plane in Cairo or Paris, McCaul said. “That’s my biggest concern. Cairo has flights into JFK, and they’re going to open another one at Dulles. … As long as we have flights coming directly to the United States, I think it’s putting Americans at risk.”

Story Continued Below

Insights from a recent CoDel: McCaul and other members of Congress actually visited North Africa earlier this month. Jen writes that the delegation checked out transportation hubs including Cairo International Airport and found “inadequate screening equipment and aviation workers that aren’t thoroughly vetted.

Article source: http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-transportation/2016/05/lawmakers-eye-terrorism-in-egyptair-crash-after-drama-free-passage-in-the-senate-thud-appropriations-ramps-up-in-the-house-a4a-lobs-tough-talk-back-at-congress-214405

Posted in Model Airpanes | Tagged hobbies, model airplanes | Leave a comment

The mystery of MH370: EgyptAir MS804 and 7 other planes that vanished

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Writer

The EgyptAir flight MS804 that went missing in the early hours of Thursday morning has sparked renewed interest in Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which vanished on 8 March 2014 and has gripped the public imagination ever since. Unanswered questions about the MH370 such as why the communication system was disabled, and why the aircraft apparently executed a U-turn before it disappeared have deepened the mystery.

But this is not the first time a plane has gone missing. Here are eight other planes that vanished from the skies leaving barely a trace:

The ‘stolen’ Boeing 727-233

In 2003, a Boeing 727-233, registered N844AA, began taxiing along the runway at Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Luanda, Angola with no communication between the crew and the tower. The mid-sized plane manoeuvred towards the runway and took off without clearance. The jet then headed west over the Atlantic ocean with its lights off and its transponder not transmitting, and has never been seen since. On board were two men, neither of whom were believed to have been capable of flying the aircraft, Air and Space magazine reports. A worldwide search by the FBI and CIA failed to locate either the plane or its crew and was eventually called off. To this day, the whole incident remains a mystery.

Mid-air art heist?

A cargo plane belonging to Varig Brazilian Airlines disappeared in January 1979 just 30 minutes after it took off from Narita International Airport in Tokyo. Adding to the mystery of the plane’s disappearance, on board

Article source: http://www.theweek.co.uk/mh370/57683/the-mystery-of-mh370-egyptair-flight-ms804-and-7-other-planes-that-vanished

Posted in Model Airpanes | Tagged model airplane parts | Leave a comment

Want Cheaper Flights? Regulate Airlines Like Public Utilities

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Writer

As if dealing with airlines wasn’t enough of a hassle, now flyers have to deal with airline monopolies. A recent study by Jose Azar, Martin C. Schmalz, and Isabel Tecu found that five of the seven largest institutional shareholders of United Airlines were also among the largest shareholders of Southwest and Delta. The researchers showed that mergers among these giant shareholders, such as with BlackRock’s purchase of Barclays Global Investors, results in higher prices for consumers. Even more disturbing, such monopolies are on the rise in dozens of other industries.

The infographic to the right shows the growth of monopoly power in the United States: Industries are becoming more concentrated, more profitable for their owners, more concentrated in their ownership, and older in age. Tackling these monopolies must become a priority in the years ahead not just to control rising prices, but also to rein in their growing power over consumers.

For this reason, it’s worth taking a second look at the fight for net neutrality: the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs)—businesses like ATT, Verizon, and Comcast—should treat all Internet traffic equally instead of

Article source: http://www.thenation.com/article/want-cheaper-flights-regulate-airlines-like-public-utilities/