Model Airplanes

New FAA rules are making radio-controlled aircraft a rough hobby to enjoy here in the USA. Not only are the new drone enthusiasts curtailed, but the classic radio-controlled modelers are being affected as well. Everyone has to register, and for those living within 30 miles of Washington DC, flying of any sort has been effectively shut down. All’s not lost though. There is plenty of flying which can be done outside of the watchful eye of the FAA. All it takes is looking indoors.

Living Room Flights

When flying sorties in the living room, a rotary wing aircraft is your best friend. Back in the 90’s, I used to dream of a quadcopter which was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. Today, thanks to motor and battery advances, they’re everywhere. You can buy a palm-sized quadcopter at your local mall for under $20 USD. Many of these are based on the Cheerson CX-10 design, which weighs in at a miniscule 11.9 grams. These are actually great flying quads, with 3 “skill levels” which actually translate to transmitter stick sensitivity changes. The only downsides to them are flight time and orientation. Beyond 10 feet or so, it’s easy to lose orientation with an object barely an inch on a side. The on-board LEDs help with this, but eventually the red and blue blend into a purple blur.

For those learning to fly indoors with a multicopter, or just looking for

Article source: http://hackaday.com/2016/01/08/surviving-the-faa-regulations-modelers-move-indoors/

Chuck Walker, co-owner of CMJ Hobbies, 6875 U.S. 341 S., Roberta; 836-9788. Open noon-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

How long have you been in business?: Walker bought the hobby business from its previous owners about four years ago. The shop was located in town, and he built a store at Emmett Field outside town and moved the hobby business there.

Remote control airplane enthusiasts have used Emmett Field for about 30 years. Walker has been flying model airplanes “all my life, and I’m 61. I probably started when I was 7 or 8. My dad was big into it, and that’s why I built him a field.”

CMJ Hobbies sells all kinds of radio control airplanes as well as parts for remote control cars and boats.

What do you like best about your job?: “Just dealing with the public.”

What is your specialty?: “Mostly airplanes. … Like 130 people fly here, and somebody always needs help or help getting started. They are members of the Georgia Model Aircraft Association. … Most are from Middle Georgia.

“At one time, on a pretty Saturday, there are probably 20 or 30 people here.”

What are your future plans?: “Right now we are trying to put in some parking spaces for travel trailers — campsites because people come from all over the U.S. when we have a fly-in. We’re working on it.”

— Linda S. Morris

Article source: http://www.macon.com/news/business/article53833495.html

Low-cost direct flights to four new Canadian markets will soon be available for commuters flying out of the Kelowna International Airport.

NewLeaf, billed as “Canada’s newest, ultra-low-cost travel company” will officially announce new direct flights out of Kelowna as well as its route map, pricing and booking details on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the Kelowna International Airport.

The new routes include direct flights from Kelowna to Hamilton, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg, markets not currently available direct from Kelowna.

According to NewLeaf, the new air service “plans to revolutionize the Canadian travel market” with what they call ultra-low-fares. introductory one-way fares from Kelowna to Saskatoon and Regina are $89 while Kelowna to Winnipeg is $99 and between Kelowna and Hamilton is $149.

“It’s a new year and we are happy to say 2016 is the year we officially bring affordable travel back to Canada,” said Jim Young, president and CEO of the NewLeaf Travel Company.

Initial departures will begin Feb. 12 and customers can now book flights on the company’s web site www.flynewleaf.ca.

The arrival of NewLeaf in Kelowna has been some time coming.

Last January five B.C. ski resorts including Big White, Silver Star and Sun Peaks partnered with NewLeaf to provide a one-time charter flight at spring break from Hamilton to Kelowna. The seats easily sold out and at the time, Michael J. Ballingall of Big White said it was imperative for tourism in the Okanagan to be able to provide cheaper flights from other parts of Canada.

“This bodes for well for skiing

Article source: http://www.revelstokereview.com/news/364398501.html

The Bachelor
January 4, 2016

Alright. Let’s do this. 

Hey, remember Ben Higgins from last season of The Bachelorette? I don’t mean that rhetorically. I mean, “do you off the top of your head remember that there was a contestant on The Bachelorette named Ben Higgins, and if so, can you picture his face right now? Seriously, close your eyes and try to think of what this ‘Ben Higgins’ — that is if you remembered there even was a  ‘Ben Higgins’ — what he looks like.” Because I’m thinking that before ABC’s promotional team got a hold of you, the answer to all of these questions was a resounding, “NOPE.”

I’m not trying to be mean, honestly, it’s just that even though this “Ben Higgins” was the second runner-up on Kaitlyn’s season of The Bachelorette this summer — just a few months ago! — he was so unremarkable that in this blog his nickname on the series was “Other Ben.” Not Ugly Ben,

Article source: http://blog.chron.com/tubular/2016/01/the-bachelor-horsing-around/

Boeing Co.’s newest airliner, the 787 Dreamliner, saw its highest number of deliveries and also had the largest year-over-year gain over all other Boeing models in 2015.

The Chicago-based company on Thursday reported its fourth-quarter and year-end deliveries for 2015.

Boeing said deliveries in the three-month quarter ended Dec. 31 totaled 182, compared with 195 in the same quarter in 2014, a nearly 7 percent drop.

But for all of 2015, total airplane deliveries rose 5 percent, from 723 in 2014 to 762. It was the most deliveries in Boeing’s 99-year history.

While Boeing saw higher deliveries among three of its five models, it was the 787 — first delivered in 2011 — that led the pack in terms of the largest gain. Boeing said it delivered 135 Dreamliners in 2015, compared with 114 in 2014, a difference of 21 planes.

That compares with the 737 and 767, of which Boeing delivered 10 more each in 2015 than in 2014. In 2015, the company delivered 495 737s and 16 767s.

In 2015, the company saw one less delivery of its 747 jumbo jet — 19 — and 777 — 98 — compared with 2014.

“The Boeing team has worked hard to achieve strong performance,” Ray Conner, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO, said Thursday in a news release. “Our team did a fantastic job achieving higher deliveries and getting our products to our customers as quickly and efficiently as possible. This will continue to be our focus.”

Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita manufactures parts of the fuselages,

Article source: http://www.kansas.com/news/business/aviation/article53493110.html

Editor’s Note: this will be part 2 of a 2 part series analyzing new oneworld carrier service to DFW. This installment will focus on airberlin’s upcoming DFW route. Part 1 covered the return of JAL to DFW.

Dallas/Ft. Worth airport will receive a new nonstop link to Europe this summer when airberlin commences four weekly services to Dusseldorf in May 2016. The Berlin-based carrier, which joined OneWorld in 2012, will operate its DFW route on a year-round basis. Based in Berlin-Tegel airport, airberlin is the second largest carrier in Germany, operates a primary hub in Berlin and a secondary hub in Dusseldorf.

The logic behind airberlin’s service to DFW is to grow the volume of flights between North Texas and Europe, while also providing an opportunity to connect into American Airlines’ massive hub on the DFW end. This will help relieve OneWorld’s other hub operations at London Heathrow airport (a hub for IAG partner British Airways), which is essentially maxed out capacity-wise, and Madrid Barajas airport (a hub for IAG partner Iberia) whose southern geography can be circuitous for connections to parts of Central and Eastern Europe.

Airberlin will commence DFW services with four weekly flights beginning May 6, operating on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays on an Airbus A330-200 aircraft. It will join DFW’s existing transatlantic schedule, wihch include daily services offered by Lufthansa to Frankfurt, British Airways to London Heathrow and American to London, Paris, Frankfurt and Madrid. Although airberlin is partners with British Airways and American across the Atlantic, they are still competitors as

Article source: http://airwaysnews.com/blog/2016/01/06/37960/

Steve Pick: What would happen if babies stopped being born, and the population of the world would be shrinking every day? Would there be chaos? Would nations lose all control, and countless interest groups battle over resources until the only civilized place on Earth would be England? By civilized, I mean a place where all non-native people would be treated worse than Donald Trump’s most horrific dreams?

Would the good people of England fetishize the youngest person in the world, sobbing uncontrollably when he is killed because of a refusal to live up to the image people have of him as some sort of special being? What if one of the outside people turned up pregnant?
  
These are the questions in the minds of the creators of Children of Men, a sci-fi action thriller from director/co-writer Alfonso Cuarón just nine years ago.

Steve, I remember renting this by mail from Netflix back when it was relatively new. I’d seen it before, and I was surprised to realize, while watching the rented version, that I’d forgotten the entire last half hour of the film. (Or perhaps I watched it too late at night, and slept through the ending.) I love the way we are just thrown into the story without much more explanation than the questions I raised in the first paragraph. If I think too hard about it, I’m not sure the world Cuarón envisions is the most likely to come from sudden infertility, but I’ll

Article source: http://www.popmatters.com/post/double-take-children-of-men-2006/