Model Airplanes

Phones can shoot great video, but holding a thin phone steady for long periods is near impossible. And if you’re moving at the time — I may have a slight interest in shooting video from inside a landing airplane — you can forget it altogether.

Fortunately, a Barcelona-based company called Shoulderpod has an excellent solution in its line of smartphone rigs. You not only get a better way to hold your phone still, but also the freedom to add accessories like a microphone and a light to boost your video’s quality. And for the serious professionals out there, Shoulderpod’s rigs will attach to most standard tripods, as well.

Shoulderpod R1 Pro is an elegant way to shoot…
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Article source: http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/shoulderpod-r1-pro/

America’s F-117 stealth fighter has been in a state of limbo. In 2008, the U.S. Air Force officially retired the black, angular warplanes but they never entirely went away. For eight years, the radar-evading aircraft have rested in climate-controlled hangars at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada.

Here’s why — when the F-117s retired, Congress required the Air Force to maintain some of the planes in case they were ever needed in a future war. The flying branch even kept flying a handful, most likely as guinea pigs for stealth-penetrating sensors … or some other mysterious hardware.

Well, that shouldn’t continue for much longer. This week, the House Armed Services Committee voted to remove the requirement that certain F-117s “be maintained in a condition that would allow recall of those aircraft to future service.”

That would allow the Air Force to finally send the Nighthawks to the sprawling Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, according to Flight Global, and will likely permanently end the F-117 as an airplane capable of operations. In other words, scrapped.

Although the dry desert conditions in Arizona are ideal for keeping aircraft viable, Flight Global reports the Nighthawks will “probably be torn apart or less likely, scavenged for hard-to-find parts.” Due to the sensitive nature of the Nighthawk’s stealth technology, it would not be surprising for the Air Force to dismantle and bury them. A few will surely make attractive museum pieces.

So ends the world’s first

Article source: http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/rip-americas-lethal-f-117-stealth-fighters-16005

By DEE-ANN DURBIN
AP Auto Writer

DETROIT (AP) – Electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. brushed off a big first-quarter loss and cheered investors with news that it plans to accelerate its production plans.

Tesla’s loss rose 84 percent to $282 million in the first quarter as it struggled with parts delays for its new Model X SUV. The company’s stock-based compensation costs also more than doubled during the quarter to nearly $90 million.

The loss, of $2.13 per share, far exceeded Wall Street’s forecasts. Analysts polled by FactSet expected a loss of 87 cents per share.

But Tesla’s shares jumped 3 percent to $229.48 in after-hours trading after the company said it’s pushing ahead its plan to make 500,000 vehicles per year to 2018, two years earlier than scheduled. That’s up from 50,000 vehicles in 2015.

Tesla said it remains on track to deliver 80,000 to 90,000 vehicles this year after resolving the Model X production issues. It also reaffirmed that production of the lower-cost Model 3 car will start in 2017. Tesla has set July 1, 2017, to start production of the Model 3 and wants to make 100,000 to 200,000 cars in the second half of the year.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has a desk and a sleeping bag at the company’s Fremont, California, factory, said he celebrated the first flawless production of a Model X at 3 a.m. last Friday – eight months after the company started deliveries to customers.

He stressed that the Model X – with its gull-wing doors and

Article source: http://www.12newsnow.com/story/31892317/tesla-motors-1q-net-loss-widens-on-model-x-woes

By: Cody Diamond and Jared Kaplan / Published: May 4, 2016

April 28, 2016 was a monumental day for LAN and TAM Airlines, two major Latin American carriers that are now known as LATAM Airlines. Not only did the company debut its new name on its passenger network, but it also rolled out its new brand and uniforms.

During the upcoming months, many noticeable changes will take place to standardize the LAN and TAM brands into one new “elegant and warm” brand. A total of 40 aircraft will be repainted into the new livery by the end of 2016. The remainder of the fleet will be painted within the next three years.

RELATED: LATAM Unveils its News, Unified Livery

An graphic rendition of an Airbus A350 wearing the LATAM livery. (Credits: LATAM)

The new LATAM logo signifies the new leading airline in Latin America. The only remaining part of the two airlines to be standardized is the frequent flyer program, which will be standardized over the next year to be the LATAM Fidelidade Frequent Flier Program.

LATAM Fidelidade is the Frequent Flier Program of LATAM Airlines. (Credits: LATAM)

From an operational standpoint, several exciting changes are in the works. LATAM’s Senior Vice President of North America and the Caribbean Pablo Chiozza sat down with Airways to discuss some

Article source: http://airwaysnews.com/blog/2016/05/04/latam-a-new-horizon-for-latin-american-air-travel/

Bombardier, Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) is having a good year so far in 2016 with its stock up 41% year-to-date through April 29. The Quebec-based airplane manufacturer managed to snag two major orders for its CSeries jets over the past two months—200 potential planes from Delta Air Lines and Air Canada—representing a lifeline of sorts for the company.

But it’s not out of the woods by any means, despite these orders, and that’s got the powers that be in Quebec seeking a bailout from the federal government to ensure Bombardier is able to continue making and selling planes around the world.

Getting in the way of the bailout is the dual-class share structure that gives the Beaudoin family 54% of the votes with just 13% of the equity. Canadians coast to coast would be appalled by such a frivolous use of taxpayer money, especially when it’s done to prop up the lifestyle of a rich Canadian family.

Dual-class share structures get a bad rap, but they shouldn’t.

For every poor performer such as Bombardier, which is down 20% over the past five years on an annualized basis, there’s an equally impressive performance from the likes of Alimentation Couche-Tard or CCL Industries, whose stocks are up 46% and 49%, respectively, over the same period.

In my opinion, the size of the company and its relative lack of scale has more to do with its failure to perform than the Beaudoin family’s voting control. For me, it’s all about the business and its method of making money. Bombardier simply

Article source: http://www.fool.ca/2016/05/03/the-3-dual-class-stocks-you-should-own/