AE Current Events (2 Feb 10)
Dave Druga
Here are some AE current events from the past 2 months:
-(from Maj Rosenbaum Lipman, MAWG DAE) "NASA will be providing
streaming video from the space station! Check out
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_10-027_ISS_Streaming_Video.html
"
-(from Lt Col Flaherty) YouTube synopsis "Alert response and 15-ship
B-52 Minimum Interval Take-Off (MITO), in support of Exercise GLOBAL
THUNDER, Minot AFB, ND, June 09"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ7niLYSVFo
-(from 1st Lt Kent) "Solar Impulse HB-SIA Takes First Flight"
http://www.pddnet.com/news-solar-impulse-hb_sia-takes-first-flight-120409/
-(3 Dec 09) "Seventy years later, still flying"
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2009/091203seventy.html?WT.mc_id=ebrief
-(4 Dec 09) "USAF Confirms New Secret Stealth Plane"
http://gizmodo.com/5419363/usaf-confirms-new-secret-stealth-plane
-(7 Dec 09) From AvWeb: "As the industry continues to wring its hands
about a replacement for soon-to-be-extinct 100LL, an Oklahoma-based
modification house says it has a fuel worth looking into. George Braly
of General Aviation Modifications Inc. told us Friday that his company
has run a promising new fuel in its test cell that's at least 100
octane or better. The fuel appears to have good anti-detonation
characteristics and, on paper at least, would be in range of meeting
ASTM D910, the avgas fuel specification. So what is this stuff? Braly
declined to offer details other than to say the new fuel is based on
95-octane blend stock with an additive that's not lead but that might
be obtainable economically through conventional refining processes.
Is it some offshoot of Swift Fuel, the much lauded but so far
non-existent bio-fuel announced a couple of years ago? Nope, says,
Braly, nothing to do with Swift Fuel. Oil industry insiders have
consistently said petrochemical-based octane enhancers are chemically
feasible. Indeed, Swift Fuel is just that—a bio-derived material that
uses acetone as a feedstock to make an enhanced isopentane fuel. What
has stymied such efforts in the past—and indeed, may yet kill Swift
Fuel—is the economics. If the additive can't deliver 100-octane fuel
at a price similar to tetraethyl lead, the whole exercise is just
another chemistry experiment. Braly said Friday that he's filed a
patent on the process and that it's being shopped to the refinery
industry to flesh out the economics. Meanwhile, Braly said the fuel
will be ready for wider demonstration in about a month."
-(7 Dec 09) "Cutting risk of bird strikes not 'insurmountable' task"
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-12-06-bird-strikes-hazard-solutions_N.htm
-(8 Dec 09) "Branson Rolls Out His Tourist Spaceship"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703558004574582053403819852.html?mod=dist_smartbrief
http://www.virgingalactic.com/
-(10 Dec 09) "NTSB statistics show over 200 small plane crashes caused
by low fuel"
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8989553
-(from AOPA's General Aviation Serves America campaign) "In 43 years
in the Air Force—with the Air National Guard, on active duty as a
fighter pilot—Gene Hartman served across the United States and in
Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, and Taiwan before retiring as a
colonel. It was a career he said he “enjoyed very much,” but Hartman
would go on to find fulfillment, too, in the missions he flew for the
Civil Air Patrol (CAP) following Hurricane Katrina..."
http://gaservesamerica.com/stories/091209hartman.html?WT.mc_id=ebrief
-(11 Dec 09) "World War II sub chaser goes west"
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2009/091211edwards.html?WT.mc_id=091218epilot&WT.mc_sect=gan
-(14 Dec 09) "Aviation Injuries, Aloft and on the Ground"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/health/15stat.html?_r=2
-(16 Dec 09) "FAA Gives Rare Look Inside Airport Tower"
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/21985534/detail.html
-(16 Dec 09) "How Cape Air Trains Its Pilots"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHgM_kJlMwQ
-(22 Dec 09) "UK GA pilots offered GPS to prevent airspace violations"
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/12/22/336381/uk-ga-pilots-offered-gps-to-prevent-airspace-violations.html
-(29 Dec 09) "Ground school in a war zone"
http://www.aopa.org/training/articles/2009/091229school.html
-The University of North Dakota has recently unveiled a Bachelor
Degree program in unmanned aircraft systems. Seeing as this is the
future of military aviation, and perhaps a large segment of future
aviation in general, perhaps this will interest some of the cadets out
there...
http://www.aviation.und.edu/ProspectiveStudents/Undergraduate/uasops.aspx
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/12/11/und-unmanned-aircraft/
-AirVenture 2010 will have a special gathering this summer.
Organizers are holding a DC-3 reunion to mark the aircraft's 75th
anniversary. To date 35 DC-3s and C-47s are expected to attend, and
the hope is for a 25+ aircraft formation to open the airshow. That
should be pretty cool!
http://www.thelasttime.org/
-(6 Jan 10) "1911 airplane found in Antarctica"
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2010/100106antarctica.html?WT.mc_id=100108epilot&WT.mc_sect=gan
-(8 Jan 10) "Obama Orders Security Fix"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126287015166119561.html?mod=dist_smartbrief
-(8 Jan 10) "FAA Slams Jet Makers on Recorders"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704854904574644570274056260.html?mod=dist_smartbrief
-(11 Jan 10) From AvWeb: "The Coast Guard says LORAN-C isn't necessary
for maritime navigation and the Department of Homeland Security says
it's not needed as a backup for GPS, so by Feb. 8, you may not have it
available to you, either. That has some pilots very concerned about
the lack of a land-based redundancy for GPS. That doesn't seem to
concern authorities who call it "an antiquated system no longer
required by the armed forces, the transportation sector or the
nation's security interests." The decision considers that LORAN-C is
only used by "a small percentage of the population," and that those
users "will have to shift to GPS or other systems." The bottom line is
this: "LORAN-C is no longer prudent use of taxpayer funds and is not
allowed under the 2010 DHS Appropriation Act," according to the Coast
Guard.
Officially, "In accordance with the DHS Appropriations Act, the U.S.
Coast Guard will terminate the transmission of all U.S. LORAN-C
signals effective 2000Z 08 Feb 2010," writes the Coast Guard. The
Coast Guard's Federal Register announcement clarifies that the Feb. 8
date is just the beginning of the shutdown and some signals may still
be floating around after the date. According to the Federal Register
notice, LORAN stations are expected to cease all LORAN-C transmissions
by Oct. 1, 2010."
-(12 Jan 10) "Tibet to be location of highest airport in the world"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/12/tibet-world-highest-airport
-(16 Jan 10) "Supplies brought in despite Haiti's main airport getting hit"
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-01-13-Haiti-air_N.htm
-(19 Jan 10) "Passenger planes leaving Haiti with empty seats"
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/5min/story/1432771.html
-(19 Jan 10) "Flights from Florida take aid to Haiti, bring back evacuees"
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-haiti-airports-20100119,0,5955785.story
-(19 Jan 10) "Airport security system draws Senators' ire"
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators&id=7227538
-(19 Jan 10) "'Lethal force' an option in Olympic Games airspace: Norad"
http://www.canada.com/news/Lethal+force+option+Olympic+Games+airspace+Norad/2461441/story.html
-(21 Jan 10) Piper Aircraft has recently acquired Czech Sport
Aircraft's SportCruiser and will be selling it as the PiperSport LSA.
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/jan/21/piper-aircraft-entering-light-sport-aircraft/
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/PiperUnveilsPiperSportLSA_201878-1.html
http://www.newpiper.com/home/pages/PiperSport.cfm
-(22 Jan 10) "Service with some altitude: Civil Air Patrol looks to
expand in Jamestown"
http://www.jamestownsun.com/event/article/id/103275/
-(23 Jan 10) Here's a YouTube video of a new NASA concept: an electric
motor powered single occupant aircraft called the Puffin. It is
expected to have a service ceiling of around 30,000 feet and have a
cruising speed around 120 knots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV0qBU_u3tQ
-(29 Jan 10) "Top-secret Russian 'Stealth' fighter test flight"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxWZiSdWvns
-(1 Feb 10) Two pilots are attempting to beat the world record of 64
days, 22 hours, 19 minutes, and 5 seconds aloft by flying the Cessna
172 for 65 days straight. They plan to refuel in the Mojave Desert by
flying next to a fuel truck on long stretches of road, and they plan
to modify their engine to allow for in-flight oil changes. Here is
their blog:
http://65days.wordpress.com/
-(2 Feb 10) "User Fees Axed From Proposed FAA Budget"
http://aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awx/2010/02/01/awx_02_01_2010_p0-201272.xml&headline=User%20Fees%20Axed%20From%20Proposed%20FAA%20Budget&channel=comm
As always, let me know about any current events that you come across
so that they can be shared with the squadron!
V/r,
DAVID A. DRUGA, Capt, CAP
Aerospace Education Officer
