Model Airplanes

Last year, Avocados From Mexico became the first fresh produce brand to make a Super Bowl commercial (hat tip: The Produce News). This year, the coalition of avocado sellers solidifies itself as one of the better Bowl advertisers around. In an absurd, chuckle-inducing spot, a group of extra-terrestrials tours a museum of Earth culture that features Chia Pets, Scott Baio, airplane travel (presumed to be a form of torture), and, best of all, avocados. Why advertise avocados? The corporate giants behind this ad dominate the market share of avocados sold in the United States, so any general boost to avocado demand helps their cause.

Article source: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/ad_report_card/2016/02/super_bowl_50_ads_watch_the_best_and_worst_of_2016.html

British airline EasyJet is pushing the envelope on its quest to grow its ultra-low-fare flight service while keeping operating costs down. This includes things like using virtual reality for crew training, making airplane parts with 3-D printers, and employing drones to perform safety inspections.

Now the airline is preparing to test out a new hybrid airplane later this year. Not only will this airplane utilize regenerative braking to reclaim energy during landings, but it will also utilize onboard fuel cells.

Electric motors, powered by the fuel cells, will power the planes while taxiing on the ground, a function that currently accounts for roughly 4 percent of an airline’s fuel bill. The company claims that this innovation could potentially save 50,000 tons of fuel annually. According to Ian Davies, EasyJet’s director of engineering, the airline’s budget-oriented passengers help to make this work. “Because of the fact we’re a low-cost carrier, most people take hand luggage and our hulls are empty, so we have the space to do it,” he told CNN.

Not only will this save money, but it will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It would also eliminate the need for tugs to tow the airplanes to the runway, which will provide additional energy savings. A further benefit is the fact that fuel cells produce clean water as their one and only waste product, which can be used to replenish the aircraft’s water supply.

The company

Article source: http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/02/easyjet-developing-fuel-cell-hybrid-aircraft/

The United States Navy has awarded Boeing with a $2.5 billion contract for the construction of 20 new P-8A Poseidon Maritime Surveillance Aircraft, according to a U.S. Department of Defense press release.

“This contract combines purchase for the Navy ($2,052,571,034; 83 percent); and the Government of Australia ($417,011,961; 17 percent), under a cooperative agreement,” the press release notes.

“We continue to hear feedback from our Navy customer about the incredible capabilities of the P-8A,” said James Dodd, Boeing vice president and program manager of P-8 Programs in a Boeing press release. “The deployed squadrons tell us it’s exceeding expectations – we’re looking forward to providing even more capability to the fleet and to Australia.”

The P-8A, designed and built by Boeing to replace the U.S. Navy’s aging P-3 fleet, is a military modification of Boeing’s Next-Generation 737-800 commercial airplane featuring advanced anti-submarine, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

According to the Boeing website, the P-8A aircraft “has twice the sonobuoy processing capability and can carry 30 percent more sonobuoys than any maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft currently flying.” It can also control a number of reconnaissance drones to extend sensor reach.

The P-8A has a range of up to 7,242 kilometers (4,500 miles) without refueling, reaches speeds of up to 490 knots, and “can fly in the “harshest maritime flight regimes, including extended operations in icing environments,” Boeing boasts.

The aircraft can carry several types of bombs, Raytheon Mark 54 lightweight torpedoes (which are turned into glide bombs

Article source: http://thediplomat.com/2016/02/us-navy-orders-20-new-anti-submarine-warfare-planes/

Updated: Jan 28, 2016 – 10:36 PM

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Paul Kantner, an original member of the seminal 1960s rock band Jefferson Airplane and the eventual leader of successor group Jefferson Starship, has died at age 74.

Kantner, who had survived close brushes with death as a younger man and recovered from a heart attack last year, died at a San Francisco hospital on Thursday after falling ill earlier in the week, former girlfriend and publicist Cynthia Bowman told The Associated Press.

Few bands so embodied the idealism and hedonism of the late 60s music scene in San Francisco as Jefferson Airplane. Kantner drew upon his passion for politics and science fiction to help write favorites such as “Wooden Ships.”

The group was the first from the Bay Area to get a national record contract and achieve mainstream success, thanks to the classics “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit.”

Article source: http://www.fox13memphis.com/news/jefferson-airplane-cofounder-paul-kantner-dies-at-age-74/45759503