Model Airplanes

Good morning. It is Tuesday, Dec. 29. Someone reprogrammed a Caltrans sign in the Inland Empire to read: Vote Donald Trump. Here’s what else is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Starter home

“San Bernardino is a place for people to start.” That’s according to a high school student who dreams of going to college and then making enough money to help his parents, who struggle to get by in a city with the lowest median income in the state. It’s a place that immigrant families hope will launch their children into the middle class. Los Angeles Times

Revised policy

At an L.A. County jail, it was once standard practice to handcuff inmates to the wall partially or fully naked as deputies waited for contraband to be expelled from the inmates’ bodies. The policy has since been rescinded, and 24 cases were sent to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution. The union for sheriff’s deputies says it’s unfair to discipline low-level employees for following orders. “The handcuffings are the latest in a series of problems facing the nation’s largest county jail system, which is under federal oversight because of a long-term failure to properly care for mentally ill inmates.” Los Angeles Times

Visa application

San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik told U.S. authorities she was pregnant when she applied to be a permanent U.S. resident. The detail may have been a way to show that her marriage to Syed Rizwan Farook was legitimate.

Article source: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-essential-california-20151229-story.html

Accused sex attacker Bill Cosby flew out of Philadelphia Wednesday night on his $3million private plane – after a lingering hug with the high-profile attorney who has vowed to exonerate him.

The disgraced comedian, 78, shrugged off his court appearance by joining friends and family for a meal Wednesday afternoon at his sprawling mansion in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.

His attorney, Monique Pressley – a former DA and TV legal analyst – addressed reporters outside the seven-bedroom property, vowing to clear her rich client’s name and saying he was ‘doing as well as expected’. 

‘We expect him to be fully exonerated and we are actually glad that we have an opportunity to have these matters ferreted out in court,’ she said. 

‘Certainly, it is a disappointing day. It’s sad for his legal team and his family that he would be dragged through this, that this would be a political maneuver, that this would be the fulfillment of the campaign promise, as opposed to something that is necessary.’ 

Cosby is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at that same mansion in January 2004. The case against him emerged just days before Pennsylvania’s 12-year statute of limitation deadline for pressing charges was about to run out and despite a previous DA declining to charge Cosby a decade ago. 

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3378951/Arrest-warrant-issued-Bill-Cosby-2004-sexual-assault-Andrea-Constand.html

Bend, Oregon-based Epic Aircraft is ending 2015 on a high note after the maiden flight of its first conforming Epic E1000 fight test aircraft.

The single-engine turboprop dubbed FT1 launched from Bend Municipal Airport on 19 December.

The achievement gives lift to the project that started in 2012, when Epic chief executive Doug King filed an application to certificate an updated, FAA-certified version of the company’s LT kit plane.

The flight lasted 20min and threw up no surprises, says Epic chief pilot David Robinson.

Epic E1000 takes flight

Epic Aircraft

FT1, tail number N331FT, will be joined on the certification campaign by FT2 in March or April, the company says.

This first example will assess the type’s “general handling qualities, operational performance, systems operations in normal mode, failure scenarios, extreme conditions and flight into known icing (FIKI) regulations”, the company explains.

FT2 will assess interior and cabin functionality, as well as the “fuel, hydraulic, avionics, navigational and environmental systems”.

Epic previously anticipated first flight in June, but the milestone was pushed back by sluggish supply of various parts and components. There were no significant technical issues, says Epic director of sales and marketing Mike Schrader.

“Things don’t show up in time; It’s just one of those things,” he says. “It was almost 100% bringing the parts together.”

Those same issues have also bugged final delivery of the remaining Epic LT orders, with the final five aircraft remaining to deliver in 2016. The company stopped selling that model in 2014, but already records 60-plus orders for the improved

Article source: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/epic-end-to-2015-as-e1000-turboprop-takes-flight-420446/