Model Airplanes

It sometimes seems that you can’t turn pick up your newspaper, or turn on your television, without reading or hearing a story about drones.

They’re seemingly everywhere. We hear about the wonderful uses for drones – they’ve become an integral part of our nation’s war on terrorists around the globe. They can fly missions into enemy space and complete the dangerous reconnaissance missions without placing our brave soldiers in harm’s way, or they can fly into an enemy stronghold and deliver a lethal bomb.

Now, we’re told that at least one company has plans to use drones to deliver packages to its on-line customers.

While there are obviously countless good uses for drones, there are also the negatives. We’ve heard of drones flying over the White House and too near other sensitive locations in our nation’s capital.

We’ve heard of drones being used by Peeping Toms. We’ve heard of drones flying into flight patterns of commercial aircraft.

Of course, those negatives have brought preventative responses in areas. On recent example of that was the Super Bowl, where drones were forbidden from the air.

With all the buzz about drones, it’s hard not to recall my own doomed flirtation with flight.

There’s a picture of me, as a little boy, sitting in my older cousin’s airplane pedal car. I’d imagine it was taken around 1946, or so, given the fact that I hadn’t yet had my first-ever haircut. Now, my cousin cherished his airplane pedal car and swore one day he would actually become a pilot. He did.

Article source: http://amestrib.com/opinion/bill-haglund-it-s-bird-it-s-plane-it-s-drone

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Article source: http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/story/life/2015/02/09/yesterday-marshfield-feb/22948851/

Chris Sloan is known in some circles as an “AvGeek,” — a term for an aviation enthusiast that he does not mind at all.

He tries, for example, to be on the first flights for every new generation of aircraft, a quest he describes as “nerdier than a Star Trek convention.”

What started as a 5-year-old’s fascination with the universe of Miami International Airport has turned into a full-time job for Sloan, editor-in-chief and publisher of web publication Airways News and associate editor of the monthly Airways Magazine.

Airways News, which publishes online at AirwaysNews.com, got its start as the history-focused site Airchive.com in 2003, which Sloan founded as a kind of online aviation history museum. Over time, his coverage turned to more current happenings in the airline world, and last year Airchive formed a strategic alliance with Airways Magazine, which prints about 25,000 copies every month worldwide.

As part of the alliance, the site rebranded as AirwaysNews.com (although the historic Airchive content still exists as part of the new entity). Airways Magazine, which had headquarters in Idaho, was purchased by aviation reporter Enrique Perrella, now the publisher and editor-in-chief. The magazine was relocated to Miami.

Both publications are refining their focus: The print magazine has re-launched with a new look and more topical stories as well a long features; an app for smartphone and tablets rolls out in March. And the website has positioned itself as a go-to source for breaking news and analysis about the industry while also targeting enthusiasts and “high-yield” passengers.

“If

Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article9487511.html

EVERETT — The airplanes were packed inside a nondescript hangar at Paine Field like jigsaw puzzle pieces.

They were being taken apart, inspected, repaired if necessary, refitted and reassembled.

Inside a Boeing 737, everything — seats, siding, insulation, lavatories and galleys — had been removed. In the back, two mechanics installed new floor beams. In the cockpit, all the flight displays, gauges and dials had been removed, leaving wire bundles hanging out. A mechanic, sitting on a wooden box where a pilot’s seat had been, inspected the bundles.

Outside, a mechanic straddled one of the single-aisle jetliner’s engines, which had been uncovered for examination.

It was just another day at Aviation Technical Services at Paine Field. The company provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services, known in the aviation world as MRO, for commercial airliners.

It is the state’s second-largest aerospace employer, and one of the biggest MRO companies on the West Coast.

Passenger airplanes must be regularly inspected and repaired. When an airline buys or leases a previously used airplane, the interior is overhauled and replaced with its own interior and seating layout. Airlines carefully choose an airplane’s layout to fit their business model.

Aviation Technical Services has expanded in recent years. In 2013, it opened a facility in Moses Lake in Central Washington. Last year, it opened a Midwest facility in Kansas City, Mo., and it bought Texas Air Composites, a Fort Worth-based MRO firm that specializes in composite materials.

“We need to spend a little time digesting,” said Gabe Doleac, senior vice president for strategy and

Article source: http://www.columbian.com/news/2015/feb/08/everett-hangar-is-where-jetliners-go-for-repairs/