Model Airplanes

The first stage of his labor of love lasted 10 years. Aviation manuals and YouTube tutorials were his guiding stars; every aspect of aircraft manufacture gradually imbibed in painstaking detail.

When the time came, Zeferu opted to model his plane on one used by trainee pilots in the U.S. in the 1920s and 1930s.

Some items were salvaged, others bought second hand from the Merkato market in Addis Ababa. The 8.5 meter wing was crafted from timber imported from Australia, with each wooden panel hand-sculpted. But there was one element of the plane Zeferu could not imitate.

The design called for a Ford engine, but the amateur engineer “couldn’t get [it] cheap in Ethiopia,” settling instead for a four cylinder, 40 horsepower model stripped from a Volkswagen Beetle. The cost? 8,000 Ethiopian Birr, around $380.

Total expenditure rose to $7,600, but after a year and seven months Zeferu had finished. Not bad for someone who had “never stepped onto an airplane,” never mind worked within the aviation industry.

A second bite of the cherry

June’s disappointments are now behind him and Zeferu is ready to complete the task at hand.

In doing so he would take a seat among a pioneering group of amateur enthusiasts from the continent. Not all have been successful: Kenyan Gabriel Nderitu has attempted to take off

Article source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/22/africa/asmelash-zeferu-plane-ethiopia/

Like a lot of kids in the ’80s, Matt Kline loved the movie “Back to the Future.”

“I was enthralled by it,” says Kline, now a 33-year-old Sugar Creek police captain. “The thought of being able to time travel … it seemed like it could happen.”

In 1987, when Matt turned 5, his dad, Mike Kline, organized a birthday party at a local ShowBiz Pizza Place. As a special surprise, Dad invited his friend Joe Pace, a Kansas City car fanatic who had built a replica of the movie’s time machine by outfitting his 1984 DeLorean with airplane parts, flashing LED lights and household gadgets such as garage door openers and TV remotes. It even had a flux capacitor and a Mr. Fusion machine stuffed with banana peels.

Matt thought it was the real thing.

“I remember being scared,” he says, “like, ‘Oh man, I hope this thing doesn’t go back in time.’ ”

In the 30 years since Pace built his time machine, “Back to the Future” has become a classic blockbuster, and the custom car builder has made a living displaying his DeLorean all over the country, from California to Florida, from Texas to Minnesota. Along the way, he has met a few of the movie’s stars, including Thomas F. Wilson (Biff Tannen) and Lea Thompson (Lorraine Baines McFly). Pace also has met the movie’s screenwriter, Bob Gale.

Pace, a self-described “poor kid from the Northeast,” says he thanked Gale for inventing the idea of a time-traveling car.

“It changed my whole future,” he says.

Back

Article source: http://www.kansascity.com/living/article40232130.html

Outline

• Ethiopian has doubled long-haul fleet and network in just four years
• Ethiopian plans more widebody orders
• Ethiopian to operate A350s in high density configuration
• Ethiopian to launch New York, followed potentially by Chicago and Houston
• Ethiopian could expand Dublin hub as expansion in US continues
• Ethiopian plans further expansion to China with new Chengdu service
• Ethiopian plans SE Asia growth with Singapore, Ho Chi Minh and Jakarta services
• Ethiopians rapid expansion in Asia has continued in 2015 with Manila and Tokyo
• Ethiopian has bright outlook as network expansion continues

–>

Ethiopian has doubled long-haul fleet and network in just four years

Article source: http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/ethiopian-airlines-plans-further-growth-in-asia-and-us-starting-with-chengdu-and-new-york-249034

Like a lot of kids in the ’80s, Matt Kline loved the movie “Back to the Future.”

“I was enthralled by it,” says Kline, now a 33-year-old Sugar Creek police captain. “The thought of being able to time travel … it seemed like it could happen.”

In 1987, when Matt turned 5, his dad, Mike Kline, organized a birthday party at a local ShowBiz Pizza Place. As a special surprise, Dad invited his friend Joe Pace, a Kansas City car fanatic who had built a replica of the movie’s time machine by outfitting his 1984 DeLorean with airplane parts, flashing LED lights and household gadgets such as garage door openers and TV remotes. It even had a flux capacitor and a Mr. Fusion machine stuffed with banana peels.

Matt thought it was the real thing.

“I remember being scared,” he says, “like, ‘Oh man, I hope this thing doesn’t go back in time.’ ”

In the 30 years since Pace built his time machine, “Back to the Future” has become a classic blockbuster, and the custom car builder has made a living displaying his DeLorean all over the country, from California to Florida, from Texas to Minnesota. Along the way, he has met a few of the movie’s stars, including Thomas F. Wilson (Biff Tannen) and Lea Thompson (Lorraine Baines McFly). Pace also has met the movie’s screenwriter, Bob Gale.

Pace, a self-described “poor kid from the Northeast,” says he thanked Gale for inventing the idea of a time-traveling car.

“It changed my whole future,” he says.

Back

Article source: http://www.kansascity.com/living/article40232130.html

The Department of Transportation announced today it will require all model aircraft and drone pilots to register their drones with the federal government. It hopes to implement this system by as early as Christmas, and says that those who do not register their drones will face fines.

The DOT’s announcement raises all sorts of questions, few of which the agency was able to answer. It’s clear that the agency, which oversees the Federal Aviation Administration, wants to crack down on the unsafe use of drones, and it’s looking like it’s going to try to bypass as much of the traditional rulemaking process as is possible.

Effective immediately, the DOT and several drone interest groups will begin outlining how the registration process will work “with the goal of having some rules in place by the middle part of December,” DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx said.

“We want to ramp up on enforcement”

“Registration will reinforce the need for unmanned aircraft users, including consumers and hobbyists, to operate their drones safely. It’s hard to follow rules if you don’t know what the rules are,” Foxx said. “This will help us enforce the rules against those who operate unsafely by allowing the FAA to identify the operators of unmanned aircraft … we want to ramp up on enforcement.”

The agency didn’t say what drone registration would look like, though it did say it would not require drone owners to get a pilot’s license.

Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy and legal affairs for DJI, the

Article source: http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/read/8-questions-raised-by-the-faas-decision-to-register-every-drone-in-the-us