News and Stories Archives - Page 5 of 11

Drone pilots: how to combat boredom

How do drone pilots stay alert during 12-hour missions, especially considering that they’re in a control room while the UAV they’re piloting can be hundreds of miles away? This Gizmag article by David Szondy shares how MIT researchers are looking into ways to combat pilot boredom during long drone flights: The saying that “war is […]

Four to Be Inducted in National Aviation Hall of Fame

Local sponsors made the difference in keeping the National Aviation Hall of Fame enshrinement event dubbed “America’s Oscar Night of Aviation” in Dayton, Ohio, this Saturday after fears the ceremony would be wooed to North Carolina, an organizer said. Area sponsors pledged about $200,000 to keep the 50th anniversary event that celebrates aerospace luminaries in […]

Horizon Air Meet: Up close with Matt Chapman

The first ever Horizon Air Meet was held last weekend at the Sanford, Maine regional airport and in addition to nonstop RC jet and heli flying and an off-road RC car race, spectators were treated to a spectacular noontime air show featuring professional airshow pilot Matt Chapman! Matt took some time out before the show […]

Update! Human-powered heli breaks ground effect

When we last reported on the University of Maryland students and their impressive Gamera II machine, they had only managed to get few feet off the ground. In this latest video, Gamera II gains 8 feet in altitude using just its pedaling passenger for power! Here’s the scoop, as reported by Claudine Zap of Yahoo’s […]

A Flight Journal Photo Tour of Oshkosh

Basically, there are only two kinds of people in the aviation community: those who have been to the annual aerial orgy in Wisconsin known as Oshkosh (aka AirVenture) and those who want to go but haven’t. Unfortunately, the “wannagos” greatly outnumber the “beentheres.” So, as a public service to those who are getting tired of […]

Flying a “heli bike”!

Here’s an amazing video of students at the University of Maryland and their human-powered helicopter. This guy is really pedaling hard … guess that’s a natural “safety limiter”! “Gammera II” currently holds the world record of 50 seconds for human-powered heli flight. The students designed and built it in an effort to capture the Sikorsky […]

X-37B Secret Space Plane Video

The U.S. Air Force’s X-37B unmanned space plane returned to Earth last week after 15 months in orbit on a mystery mission! The Air Force released a video (below) that was partially shot in infrared. The X-37B landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

A-10 Goes to War on 40th Anniversary

The U.S. Air Force “isn’t even remotely considering” replacing the A-10 Thunderbolt II, alias the Warthog, with a newer-generation, single-mission ground attack aircraft. “It isn’t going to happen,” said outgoing Air Force chief of staff Gen. Norton Schwartz on the 40th anniversary of the A-10’s first flight on May 10. Gen. Mark Welsh, named to […]

Wellington Revival

Total Vickers Wellington bomber production totaled 11,461 aircraft, built between June 1936-when the prototype first flew- and the end of the World War II in 1945. Just a handful survive and none of these are in airworthy condition. A medium bomber and a reconnaissance aircraft with two 1,585-horsepower Bristol Hercules VI radial engines, the Wellington […]

The Rooster Flies!

You need a sense of humor to survive these days, a fact that hasn’t escaped Italian aircraft designer and builder Ottone Baggio-his recently completed Rooster flow for the first time on December 26th, 2011. “The Rooster has flown!” crowed the crowd at Nervesa della Battaglia airfield, near Treviso in northeast Italy that day. Ottone’s Rooster […]