Model Airplanes | Even older kids like to fly

Boeing talks of developing new airplane: Could it be built in North Charleston?

Boeing officials are considering plans for a medium-range commercial jet to compete with Airbus, and the company’s North Charleston campus — with its large expansion capability — is being mentioned as a possible site for final assembly of the new aircraft.

Wherever production goes, if the plane actually gets built, a decision likely won’t be made for years.

“It’s far too soon to speculate on where such an airplane might be built,” said Rob Gross, a spokesman for Boeing South Carolina. “Our focus right now is on understanding what our airline customers’ requirements are in terms of size, range and timing. We’re still evaluating the best low-risk solutions around technologies and market needs.”

Gross said “the middle of the next decade is when we expect to address new requirements based on customer needs.”

John Wojick, Boeing’s senior vice president of global sales and marketing, told The Wall Street Journal and The Seattle Times this past week that the company is studying a replacement for its single-aisle 757 model, which was last delivered to airlines in 2005.

Boeing is considering a plane that would carry between 220 and 280 passengers up to 5,000 nautical miles — something about a third bigger than the largest 737 but smaller than the 787 Dreamliner, which is Boeing’s smallest wide-body plane.

Wojick’s comments show Boeing has reversed its thinking about the need for a new midsize product since the start of this year,

Article source: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150615/PC05/150619580/boeing-talks-of-developing-new-airplane-could-it-be-built-in-north-charleston

Used Aircraft Review: Cessna Citation CJ3

Multiple strengths make it the most popular model in the CJ series.

Cessna’s entire line of Citation CJ light jets has remained popular over the years. Offering varying degrees of stretch of the same diameter fuselage, the models share certain characteristics. But talk to CJ owners and it quickly becomes apparent that one variant stands out above its siblings as the perfect combination of range, performance and operating economics: the seven- to nine-passenger CJ3, which first entered service in 2004.

“It is one of Cessna’s best-built light jets,” enthuses Alex Wilcox, CEO of JetSuite, a charter operator based in Irvine, California. The company acquired eight used CJ3s less than two years ago and since then has been flying each one an average of 80 hours per month. JetSuite also operates 12 Embraer Phenom 100s, but it found that some of its customers wanted more passenger capacity and longer range.

“We needed a plane with the legs to get from Teterboro [New Jersey] to West Palm Beach [Florida],” explains Wilcox. So JetSuite acquired the CJ3s, formerly operated by Cessna’s now-defunct CitationAir, and gave them new paint and a refreshed interior. Among the upgrades: new upholstery, carpet, LED lighting, a redesigned beverage cabinet, stowable life rafts and the Gogo Biz ATG 5000 Internet system. JetSuite alsoreplaced the airstair door with a more substantial one.

It’s not just the range—up to 1,875 nautical miles, with reserves—that makes the CJ3 a winner in the light-jet category, according to Wilcox. The Williams International FJ44-3A engines (2,820 pounds of

Article source: http://www.bjtonline.com/business-jet-news/used-aircraft-review-cessna-citation-cj3

Utilities Connection: Landfill provides venue for new recreation – Las Cruces Sun

Suzanne Michaels - For the Sun-News Klaus Kemmer, Solid Waste Administrator, and Gerard DeLong, president of the Mesilla Valley <a href='https://www.modelairplane.com/link/modelairplane'>model airplane</a> Club, stand

By the end of the summer the buzz of model airplanes flying through the air will be heard at the 160-acre Old Foothills Landfill, 555 S. Sonoma Ranch Blvd. Then, this fall the whiz-thunk of arrows hitting targets will be added to the mix of familiar sounds coming from the closed landfill – the sound of grinding green waste and mulching it into free compost for residents and local agencies.

“Bringing these types of recreational activities to a closed landfill is a remarkable use of space,” said Klaus Kemmer, administrator of the Solid Waste Section of Las Cruces Utilities. “Nothing happens (with most closed landfills), because you’re not allowed to dig into the ground at all but you can certainly do things on the surface.”

In this case, surface work involves using millings – recycled asphalt from a public works project on N. Roadrunner Parkway – brought to the landfill managed by Las Cruces Utilities to construct the runways for the model airplanes and parking lots including one for the archery range. Coordinating both projects is the Parks and Recreation Department.

Mark Johnston, director of parks and rec, said $125,000

Article source: http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_28316432/utilities-connection-landfill-provides-venue-new-recreation

Aerospace Breaks Through Barriers to 3-D Printing Benefits

Aerospace and defense firms are at the forefront in the adoption of 3-D printing processes that promise significant improvements in production flexibility and reductions in overall manufacturing costs. According to John Schmidt, managing director for the North American arm of consulting group Accenture, the technology, also known as additive manufacturing, will be a major theme of this year’s Paris Air Show, with companies gaining a clearer understanding of what it will take to reap the full benefits.

“3-D printing enables airplane parts to be made in various locations, and this simplifies supply chains and creates more economical warehousing of parts,” Schmidt told AIN. “Using this customizable technology, manufacturers can be more innovative in designing products. If you currently have a supply chain measured in 14 to 18 months, this can go down to weeks and that gives you real benefits in terms of saving working capital. And manufacturers can produce a part where they need it, when they need it.”

Companies are having to make significant investments in 3-D printing equipment and processes, resulting in higher direct costs than many traditional manufacturing techniques, countered by the promise of eventually reduce total costs resulting from the increased flexibility they are already delivering. For instance, supply chains stand to be rationalized significantly through the ability to produce parts in multiple locations closer to customers. In some cases, parts can be made lighter, contributing to aircraft fuel savings, while not being compromised in terms of strength.

At the same time, the potential applications for additive manufacturing are

Article source: http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2015-06-15/aerospace-breaks-through-barriers-3-d-printing-benefits

Families enjoy aircraft at museum’s Fun Day

BLOOMINGTON — He may be only 3 years old, but Ryan Russell is obsessed with airplanes, said his grandfather, Chris Ward of Clinton.

“He loves everything about them,” Ward said Sunday at Prairie Aviation Museum’s Fun Day at the Airport. “He loves movies with planes in them. That keeps him busy all day long.”

Ryan took Grandpa on a tour of every plane on display at the museum near Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington.

“I don’t know what it is,” said his mother, Alaina Russell, “but he just loves everything about planes. We knew this would be a great place for him.”

The Flag Day event gave both children and adults the opportunity to tour the museum and sit in the cockpits of some of the aircraft on display such as a Huey helicopter, F-100C Super Sabre and F-4N Phantom II fighters, a Cessna and several others.

“There are a lot of kids out here today,” said volunteer Robert Wysong of Bloomington. “That’s what we were hoping for. We want it to be fun, but also for them to have an educational experience.”

The volunteers also have fun, sharing stories with both kids and adults, said David Wilson of Bloomington.

“I always enjoy showing what I call my big model airplane,” he said, while standing next to an A-4M Skyhawk.

Thirteen-year-old Kaitlin Bryce of Normal was able to sit in the pilot seat of the plane while Wilson exchanged stories with her dad, Craig.

“This is fun,” she said. “My dad is really interested in planes and he’s trying to get

Article source: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/families-enjoy-aircraft-at-museum-s-fun-day/article_970ac313-a556-5c42-8ff2-aa39de30e4ea.html

Singular Diligence On Breeze-Eastern Corp (BZC)’s Moat

Singular Diligence On Breeze-Eastern Corp (BZC)’s Moat by Tobias Carlisle, GREENBACKD

This month Singular Diligence covers Breeze-Eastern Corp (NYSEMKT:BZC) a manufacture of sophisticated engineered mission equipment for specialty aerospace and defense applications. BZC’s products are used to complete rescue operations and military insertion/extraction operations, move and transport cargo, and load weapons onto aircraft and ground-based launching systems. It’s an obscure, cheap stock in a duopoly. The extract below describes the company’s moat:

Breeze-Eastern has over 50% market share in helicopter rescue hoists. Outside of the former Soviet Union, it is part of a true duopoly with UTC Aerospace. Most customers believe they have only two choices for rescue hoists. They can either go with UTC or Breeze-Eastern. It is important not to overstate the technical difficulties of this business. Breeze is a duopoly. And there are good reasons to believe it will stay a duopoly.

But there are not serious technical obstacles to overcome to enter the rescue hoist business. In fact, it is possible to modify a helicopter designed to work with a Breeze rescue hoist so it can instead be equipped with a UTC rescue hoist.

There are many more helicopter models than rescue hoist models. There is no need to design a completely new rescue hoist model for each helicopter model. A former Breeze-Eastern engineer told us: “In general I would say rescue hoists though somewhat customizable for each airframe in general the overall design was consistent. As with any aerospace product there is some uniqueness per aircraft

Article source: http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/06/singular-diligence-on-breeze-eastern-corp-bzcs-moat/