Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Indy Transponder 29-FEB-2012 2345z

No Cape air show for second straight year - Southeastern Missourian | Since its first year in 1998, the air show has been canceled three times and never in back-to-back years. Make it a fourth. And for the second straight summer. The Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival will not take place this year, with organizers blaming a time-crunch caused by the consideration of expanding the air show's focus....

Holland Park home to big little air show - They Daily News | A little-known Texas City park — Holland Park at 7500 Humble Camp Road — is the home of the Texas City Radio Control Club. Members fly radio control airplanes and helicopters daily. These models are not the toys of yesteryear and, in some cases, are very expensive, large and complicated replicas of full-scale models. Access to the park is restricted by a locked gate required to protect the golf green-type runways....

Video: Celebrate Leap Day with the US Navy parachute team, “The... from You like airplanes, too?

Winter Training Almost Complete - USAGK | It has been six weeks since the Golden Knights arrived in Homestead and the Teams are still going strong. All the jumpers are increasing their skills every day with much more still to learn.  So far the demonstrators have practiced Stack Outs, Baton Passes, Mass Formations, Diamond tracks and have even performed two live shows.  All maneuvers thus far have been preparing them for one of the toughest formations the demonstrators perform, the Diamond Formation.  Unlike the other maneuvers that involve the...

Public Invited to Celebrate First Parachute Jump Anniversary - Patch | One hundred years ago, on March 1, a man jumped out of an airplane with a parachute for the first time—and landed successfully at Jefferson Barracks. That man was Capt. Albert Berry and he jumped out of a 1912 Benoist Type 12 “pusher” biplane designed by Thomas Benoist, of Missouri....

Cross-country air race will take off in July from Mitchell - The Daily Republic | A multi-state air race will launch in Mitchell this summer. The 2012 EAA AirVenture Cup race will be held on Sunday, July 22, in advance of the EAA AirVenture fly-in in Oshkosh, Wis. This year’s race will commence in Mitchell and end...

Race Course Announced For 2012 EAA Airventure Cup from AvStop | Race officials for the 2012 EAA AirVenture Cup race have finalized the race course for this year’s cross-country race, scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 22, 2012 in advance of the EAA AirVenture fly-in in Oshkosh, WI. This year’s race will commence in Mitchell, SD (KMHE) and end in West Bend, WI (KETB), with checkpoints in Sheldon, IA...

Battle of Britain Film – “Behind the Scenes” Footage from Warbirds Online by Scott WRG Editor | Some “behind the scenes” 8mm film shot by an observer of the shooting of the Battle of Britain Movie in 1968. Filming at RAF Duxford, RAF North Weald, San Sebastian & Seville. Shots of...

FdL World War II hero will get delayed military memorial service - FDL Reporter | Air Force First Lt. George Balthazor made quite the dashing figure in his World War II bomber jacket, his hair swept back to one side. Surviving 32 missions while piloting a B-17 named “Flutterby” over enemy territory earned him membership in the elite “Lucky Bastard Club” of the 487th Bombardment Group, the group nicknamed “The Gentlemen from Hell.”  His medals...

Canada buying F-35 from Black Horizon by Steve Douglass | Canada will buy a fleet of F-35 stealth fighters to replace aging CF-18s and won't pay more than what's already pledged for the 65 planes, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said. MacKay made the promise to hundreds of people attending a military conference in Ottawa that included a number of defence industry executives....

Air Force Base Quietly Pauses F-22 Fighter Ops After More Air Problems - 670KBOI | American pilots at an Alaskan military base have reported a sudden spike of incidents in which they experienced an apparent lack of oxygen while flying the nation's most sophisticated fighter jets -- a mysterious, recurring problem that already caused the $77.4 billion fighter jet fleet to sit idle on the tarmac for months last year. In at least three incidents in the last two weeks, pilots of the...

Mrs. Alaska U.S. All World Beauties 2012 takes flight with ‘GirlsFlyToo’ platform from Let's Go Flying | My name is Ariel Talen-Keller and I am the reigning Mrs. Alaska U.S. All World Beauties pageant winner.  My platform is called ‘GirlsFlyToo’ – a project to encourage and educate women to be a part of aviation.  I grew up on an airfield and my parents are pilots. My father is one of the few people in the nation that restores antique airplanes for a living.  His passion and love for aviation inspired me to share that same passion.  I attended flight school after college and as a pilot myself, I understand the importance of teaching and encouraging our youth to get involved in aviation....

World of Warplanes Soviet Warbirds Soar to Great Heights - Sacremento Bee | Wargaming.net, the award-winning videogame developer and publisher, soars to new heights with the new addition of Soviet warplanes, the third faction revealed for the flight combat action MMO World of Warplanes. The game is currently in its global alpha phase, where an army of test pilots are assisting the development team in improving and polishing the gameplay. The initial Soviet tech tree will include the legendary La-5 light fighter and Il-2 ground-attack plane, along with more than 20 other warbirds. Additional planes will be added to the Soviet line as the game nears launch....

Former Quarterback Breaks Paper Airplane Record from AVwebFlash Current Issue | The quiet world of competitive paper airplane flying got some unusual attention this weekend when Joe Ayoob, a former quarterback for the University of California at Berkeley, set a new world record for distance, 226 feet and 10 inches, inside a 747 hangar at McClellan Air Force Base, near Sacramento. Ayoob broke the former record by 19.5 feet. "It was a proud moment," said Ayoob...

Video: NASA's Methane-Powered Launcher Lifts Off With a Blue-Hot Column of Flame - POPSCI | NASA’s Project M, an awesome concept to use vertical launch systems to send robonauts to the moon, is still moving forward despite Robonaut’s one-way trip to the International Space Station. It’s now called Project Morpheus, and it’s a test bed for autonomous, environmentally friendly vertical launch systems. Watch below as Morpheus fires its new engine for the first time. The spacecraft is capable...

"We Are the Explorers!" - and we must GO! from Spaceports | Why do we explore? Simply, it is part of who we are, something we've done...

More news on this post:  Indy Transponder 29-FEB-2012 1330z

C-47 from WWII gets rescued




IASAR saves Another C-47
Image 1
  'Tooie' has a new home in Indiana



"We're losing all of our World War II veterans.
This is one veteran we're not going to let drop." - Charles Walker, founder and president of Indiana Air Search and Rescue



This World War II C-47 is being restored by IASAR at
Photos by: Scott Roberson, Daily Journal
IASAR
317-549-5900 | http://www.iasar.org


Morgan Freeman Party For Able Flight



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Dear Indy,
When you donate to the Able Flight Scholarship Fund, you become more than a donor...you become a partner in its mission.
Make a Secure Donation Now




Who Do You Help When You Help
Able Flight?
People like Heather Schultz. Paralyzed in a swimming pool diving accident, Heather is now a pilot thanks to your support of Able Flight Scholarships.


Able Flight salutes Flying High Coffee for supporting aviation nonprofits. Your purchase of their coffee helps programs like Able Flight. Great coffee for a great cause!
Morgan Freeman and Bill Luckett at their Ground Zero Blues Club in Mississippi
MORGAN FREEMAN HOSTING BENEFIT FOR ABLE FLIGHT AT HIS BLUES CLUB
 Share a night of great music, food and fun for a great cause! On Saturday, April 21st you'll meet Morgan and other special guests, including more Able Flight pilots together in one place at one time than ever before.
Brought to you by our our friends at Sennheiser and Embraer. With their generous support, all proceeds from donations for tables and seats for the party will directly benefit the Able Flight Scholarship Fund!


WANT TO JOIN US AT THE PARTY?
There are a limited number of seats still available, so act right away to reserve yours.
With your donation of $1000 to the Able Flight Scholarship Fund, we'll be able to offer even more scholarships, and you'll have a night you'll always remember!
Join Morgan, the incredible Paul Thorn Band and surprise guests at Morgan's Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the historic home of the Delta Blues.
For details on making a donation to reserve your seat, lodging choices and other fun things to do in Clarksdale, call 919-942-4699.
 WOUNDED MARINE ADAM KISIELEWSKI BEGINS TRAINING
Learning to fly after the loss of a left arm and a right leg below the knee would intimidate a lot of people, but not Adam Kisielewski.
Just a week into his training he recently had his first unassisted landing.
Congratulations Adam!
Adam Kisielewski
Sergeant Adam Kisielewski
Wounded in combat in August of 2005, Adam now supports other wounded veterans through his work with Operation Second Chance. 
91 Oak Leaf Lane | Chapel Hill, NC 27516 US



Indy Transponder 29-FEB-2012 1330z

Miami-Dade wants the mother of all aerospace trade shows - In Tuesday's State of the County address, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez indicated he would not take "no" for an answer for plans to bring an international aerospace tradeshow to the Homestead Air Reserve Base. "We'll continue to work to get the federal support we need to land that show," Gimenez told a full audience inside the county commission chambers. County elected officials have continued to work on plans to bring a version of the venerable Paris Air Show to the HARB despite a rejection letter from the Secretary of the Air Force last summer....

Volunteers Needed at Sinful Sundays from Nordo News | Started in 2004 as a destination for a Sunday flight, the Sinful Sunday events have grown over the years from a few visiting friends to an average of 100 planes on good weather days. At last year's August event, we realized that if it were not for our family members and their friends, we would have needed to cancel the event because no one else was here to 'work' when things started to get into full swing.  Most of you have come to know Rich's Mom, Betty, and Ginger's parents, Wayne and Donna, as they are at most of the airport events.  You will also find them working hard and donating funds and items to ensure that everyone has a great time during all the events.  But, did you know that none of them are pilots?  And, did you realize that they travel around 200 miles, one way, just to be here and often return to their homes on the same day?...

2012 Nat'l General Aviation Award Winners Named from Alabama Aviator - Aviation News | LONGMONT, Colorado - In each of the past 49 years, the General Aviation Awards program and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have recognized a small group of aviation professionals in the fields of flight instruction, aviation maintenance, avionics, and safety for their contributions to aviation, education, and flight safety....

Discover the excitement of aviation at EAA's Family Flight Fest - The Northwestern | Kick off springtime by discovering the exciting world of aviation with an interactive, educational family experience at EAAs Family Flight Fest, scheduled for Saturday, March 24, and Sunday, March 25, at EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, the...

Taylor 150 Air Race April 14, 2012 from VAF Forums by Bob Axsom | The race is open for entries and I just entered but names are not showing up in the "Who's In" link yet. The course looks especially clean and should be fast with simple turns ...

Texoma 100 Air Race, March 31, 2012 from VAF Forums by Bob Axsom | Pat Purcell is organizing this race and she always comes up with more than the average collection of awards and for everyone goodies (T-shirts, decals, etc.). The entry list is the largest so far and the...

Women Fly it Forward - Frederick, MD Stats from Toriaflies | A lot of people have been asking me the specifics on the event, like the number of planes, how many ground volunteers, how many women are registered, and so on.  So I thought I would share a few of those tidbits with you tonight!...

Students learn about WWII from a man who lived it - ABC News 4 | Students learn about many different jobs at Career Day, but one speaker at a local elementary school stood out among the rest. A World War II veteran shared his story with the kids at Belle Hall Elementary Tuesday. 91-year-old Sgt.. Arthur Cobert flew with the Flying Tigers.  He vividly remembers one bombing run....

Tuskegee Airmen part of web program at Phoenixville High - The Mercury | Seventy years ago, “Coach” Roscoe Draper and Major John Harrison could not have imagined they’d be the revered guests of Phoenixville Area High School in a presentation honoring history’s Tuskegee Airmen. Seventy years ago, Draper and Harrison were being rejected at almost every turn....

First to Mach 2 — Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket from Travel for Aircraft | An evolution of the Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak, the Skyrocket was made to burn. It was swept winged, rocket powered and carried aloft by a mothership — all significant differences from the Skystreak. It was the second Skyrocket airframe which was the first aircraft to obtain Mach 2, albeit in a slight dive, and happening on 20 November 1953....

Episode 187 – Ducky Does Airplanes from Airplane Geeks Podcast | Guest David Allen produces the great video podcast Other People’s Airplanes, where he takes you with him on flights in, well, other people’s airplanes. He also co-hosts the popular Pilot’s Flight PodLog, a hangar flying podcast....

The new M-346 advanced jet trainer in Republic of Singapore Air Force (vintage) color scheme February 26, 2012 by David Cenciotti | Although the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) stand at the recent Singapore Air Show showcased a scale model of the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master in an two-tone grey color scheme, the are rumors that the actual livery of the first M-346A could be similar to the orange and white one of the old Siai S211s. Therefore, after publishing the....

Delivering The Incredible by Randy Tinseth | It’s hard to believe just a little over a year has gone by since the 747-8 Intercontinental made her world debut. I took my son to the premiere event in our Everett factory to see the new Queen of the Skies decked out in a gorgeous sunrise livery. It was a day we’ll both remember....

Indy Transponder 29-FEB-2012 0200z

Thunder Over Utah air show adds F-22 Raptor to lineup - St. George Daily Spectrum | The Thunder Over Utah Air Show has added the United States Air Force F-22 Raptor to its lineup. The Raptor will perform high speed loops, slow speed passes, as well as high speed passes. This aircraft can go from 70 to 700 mph in less than 60...

Great Tennessee Air Show from Airplanes Channel | The Great Tennessee Air Show will feature a number of top performers, including the renowned US Navy Blue Angels. Other performers will include...

Cosford Air Show To Go Ahead On Fathers Day from AVIATION-NEWS by Marcel van Leeuwen | The organisers of the annual RAF Cosford Air Show have confirmed that the show will go ahead on Sunday 17June 2012. In previous years the crowd at this event on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border have enjoyed a fantastic five-and-a-half hour flying display and 2012 will again see dozens of aircraft from all ages of flight coming...

Wings of Freedom Tour offers hands-on look at WWII aircraft in Gulfport - Gulf Live | The Wings of Freedom Tour will offer a close-up experience with rare World War II combat aircraft during a visit to the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport from March 7 to 9. Gulfport is one of 110 stops on a...

What’s it like to ride in and fly a North American T-28... from You like airplanes, too? by marvinsmith | What’s it like to ride in and fly a North American T-28 Trojan? Fellow...

Warplane's arrival leads to US twin' connection - Wanganui Chronicle | A Wanganui Chronicle story about the arrival of an historic warplane at Ohakea on Friday has gone global and attracted the interest of a warbirds organisation in the United States. Marton businessman Brendon Deere bought a World War II Grumman Avenger for his growing collection at the RNZAF base, and his new acquisition flew in last week....

Over The Phone, Bob Hoover Helps A P-51 In Trouble from AVweb Top News | When the pilot of a P-51D was unable to extend the landing gear to land on Sunday afternoon, his ground crew found some expert help -- they got former airshow pilot Bob Hoover, now 90 years old, on the phone to offer advice. Pilot Chuck Gardner was preparing to land in Mobile, Ala., after giving a 30-minute ride to a customer, but when he put the gear down, only the right main gear extended. Gardner knew he could probably manage to land and walk away, but not without damaging the $3 million airplane. Hoover suggested...

Stallion 51 celebrates 25th anniversary from General Aviation News by Janice Wood | Stallion 51 will kick off a yearlong "Silver Jubilee" commemoration at this year's Sun ’n Fun International Fly-in and Expo in Lakeland, Fla., March 27-April 1. Sun ’n Fun will dedicate Friday, March 30, to Stallion 51 in commemoration of its 25 years. Lee Lauderback, Stallion 51's president and chief pilot, will perform his signature solo Mustang routine at the beginning of the night air show that will culminate Sun ’n Fun's "Stallion 51 Day."...

Tuskegee Airman's WWII Stories Leave Crowd in Awe in Apple Valley - Patch | “It’s a pleasure to be here”, said retired Air Force Major Joseph Gomer, 92, to a standing room only crowd at Galaxie Library on Saturday. “Then, at this age, it’s a pleasure to be anywhere.” Gomer, who grew up in Iowa Falls, IA, in one of only two black families in town, and got his pilot's license before his driver’s license, was a pilot for the 332nd fighter group during World War II....

Jacksonville's role in first cross-country flight in 1912 - jacksonville.com | One hundred years ago, an important event in early American aviation occurred. And Jacksonville played a role.  On Feb. 8, 1912, a battered Wright Brothers aeroplane appeared in the northeastern sky, circled over old Moncreif Park Racetrack, then landed on the racetrack infield. Robert Grant Fowler had just completed the first-ever west to east transcontinental flight...

From Antique Airfield

The Fly-In That Cried Wolf? from Nordo News by Rich Davidson | I really like that title. It’s funny. Plus, as one friend said last year when we asked if they would be attending, “Sorry, but I can’t be there. Plus, you’ve said this might be the last for the past few years”. The meaning there was that they thought we were crying wolf. That’s why I like the title. There is much more there than meets the eye. Today, it seems everyone takes everything for granted. In turn, our world is...

National Museum USAF to receive retired NASA space shuttle crew compartment trainer from Air Force Link Top Stories | A retired NASA space shuttle crew compartment trainer is expected to arrive this summer at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The CCT is a high-fidelity representation of the Space Shuttle Orbiter crew station that was used primarily for on-orbit crew training and engineering evaluations....

Welcome, Discovery! | Join us to launch Space Shuttle Discovery on its new mission to educate and inspire! - airandspace.si.edu | The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum is planning a festival of activities -- Welcome Discovery -- to celebrate the acquisition of the Space Shuttle Discovery.  The festival will begin when the orbiter arrives in the D.C. area on April 17 and will feature four days of space-related activities, performances, appearances by space pioneers, films, and displays at the shuttle's new home, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Activities at the Center will kick off on April 19 when Discovery will be officially...

Yeovil collector seeks story behind classic aeroplane models found at charity shop - This is Somerset | A fascinating trove of handcrafted model aeroplanes unearthed at a charity shop has led their new owner to ask for help tracing their history. Steve Mills, 56, of Goldcroft, Yeovil, has been a fan of airplanes since he was a child and could not believe his luck when he chanced upon the 17 boxes....

Video: Red Bull Skydive Team: 13,000 Jumps and Counting from Aerial Sports Feed | Watch some of the best BASE jumpers and skydivers in the world conquer amazing heights and locations. Called the Red Bull Skydive Team, this six-man crew is featured jumping from planes, helicopters,...

First 747-8 Intercontinental set for Tuesday delivery (Update4) from Flightblogger by Jon Ostrower | While no official confirmation exists beyond a very telling Qatari registration, the Government of Qatar Amiri Flight will take delivery of the first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental today.  The aircraft, registered A7-HHE, the prefix denoting a Qatar registered aircraft, will depart Paine Field in Everett, Washington around noon pacific time enroute to a business jet completion facility....

Views of a flying palace from Things with Wings by Guy Norris | VIP customers, usually from the Middle East, are traditionally coy about whether they even own vast aircraft like a 747, let alone what the interiors may look like. Today Boeing officially delivered the first non-freighter version of the stretched 747-8 to a VIP customer and, although they’re not confirming it is bound for Qatar, the manufacturer is at least revealing images of what the interior could eventually look like....

Marine Corps Aviation Introduces F-35B Lightning II Into Fleet - Defpro | A century after 1st Lt.Alfred A. Cunningham took his first flight in 1912, Marine Corps aviation introduced the F-35B Lightning II aircraft into its fleet. The short takeoff vertical landing variant combined with fifth generation capabilities is a breakthrough in itself, matching the importance of the first Marine aviator and starting a new chapter in Marine Corps aviation history....

Insider information for student pilots from General Aviation News by Janice Wood | A new ebook, "Learning to Fly an Airplane: Insider information from a student's perspective," seeks to open up the flight training process and help people interested in becoming a pilot get the most value for their time, money, and effort....

Neil Armstrong, 1st Person on Moon, Touts Suborbital Spaceflight from SPACE.com | The famed moonwalker thinks we have unfinished business closer to Earth.

Virgin Galactic to test passenger ship in space - Toronto Sun | Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, expects to test fly its first spacecraft beyond the Earth's atmosphere this year, with commercial suborbital passenger service to follow in 2013 or 2014, company officials said on Monday. Nearly 500 customers have signed up for rides on SpaceShipTwo, a six-passenger, two-pilot spaceship being built and tested by Scaled Composites...

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Indy Transponder 28-FEB-2012 1700z


Thousands flock to airshow - Star News Group | THOUSANDS of aircraft enthusiasts descended upon Point Cook last week as the Point Cook RAAF Museum Air Pageant came to town. The pageant celebrated the Air Force heritage through “flying and static displays of past and present aircraft”. More than 20,000 people were...

Air Show a success, but Birdman fails to fly - Phuket News | ...Birdman was meant to land on Surin beach wearing his bird suit, but on the day the plane he was meant to be riding in pulled out, and a replacement one could not be found....

Blue Angels gear up for upcoming flying season - KSWT | Midway through their winter training, the Blue Angels look forward to their first show of the year at Naval Air Facility El Centro, a dream for Lt. Mark Tedrow, his first year on the team. "There are actually 120 training flights prior to our first public demonstration for all the demonstration pilots so that is a requirement to fulfill prior to performing in front of a public demonstration, a public audience," says Lt. Tedrow, who flies Blue Angels #7.  "It's a big number as you can imagine from January to the middle of March.  These guys fly two sometimes three times a day."...

Those magnificent men in their flying machines - Evening Telegraph Video | The Blades display team have begun their winter training programme under the guidance of a new team leader, Mark Cutmore. Features editor Joni Ager find out more about the UK’s only full-time civilian aerobatic team. It may be lashing down with rain and blowing a gale at Sywell Aerodrome, but The Blades are still preparing to fly....

Celebrating Women And Flight from Flight To Success by Karlene Petitt | More than 100 aircraft piloted by pilots from 8 countries are getting ready to celebrate the centennial of Harriet Quimby's crossing of the English Channel by flying over the English Channel between England's Headcorn Aerodrome and France's Le Touquet Airport.

Remember the Smithsonian's flying Pterodactyl model? from The Original Rocket Dungeon by Dick | In 1984, the Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum commissioned the construction of a flying mechanical model of a Quetzalcoatlus northropi a.k.a. a pterodactyl.  The project was led by aeronautical engineer Paul MacCready of Aero-Vironment, Inc and was funded by Johnson Wax. It flew on the National Mall in 1986 (?) in conjunction with the opening of the IMAX film "On the Wing."...

The Voyage of Biarritz: Paris-Noumea (1932) from Passion pour l'aviation by Xavier Cotton | March 6, 1932, Biarritz, designed by the manufacturer Couzinet off Vendee Rene Bourget. He rallied in New Caledonia in 30 days. The association Yonnais Heritage and the town of La Roche-sur-Yon are celebrating this milestone in aviation history....

Powering Planes with the Sun - Blades Magazine | We’ve heard of Around the World in 80 Days (or 97 if you’re Barrington Irving). That’s impressive, but can it be done with no fuel? Though that issue came up a lot during Barrington’s trip, Solar Impulse plans to make those worries a thing of the past with a plane that can fly on nothing but solar power....

Russians in Iranian sky from Military Photos by Stasi | Russian aerobatic team flying back from Bahrain Air Show (notice some Iranian escorts):...photo gallery

CEO of the Cockpit is FREE, Today! from Flight Monkeys | One of the best and brightest contributors to FlightMonkeys is the mighty Captain Kevin Garrison. Unlike some who bestow the moniker on themselves, Kevin is a real captain in the sense that he once wore a jacket with four stripes on the sleeves, a shirt that had four bars on the epaulets, and earned the grudging respect of first officers and flight attendants who filled the skies above. Heck, most of them are still up there somewhere. They know who they are. Hopefully they know where they are, too....

Team To ‘Take A Leap’ Off GM Headquarters Wednesday - CBS Detroit | Look up! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a… No, it’s the Red Bull Air Force team. The team will “take a leap” at General Motors Headquarters at the Renaissance Center Wednesday to celebrate Leap Year in a memorable way. The team will be attempting the first-ever attempt at five consecutive base jumps in five different cities on the same day, including in...

Soyuz TMA 04-M Prep Continues for May 15, 2012 Ride to Orbit from the Cosmodrome from Spaceports | At the Baikonur Cosmodrome preparations continue for the May 15, 2012 launch of Soyuz TMA-04-M human transport spacecraft under the International Space Station program. NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Roscosmos cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin are scheduled to fly on...

NASA Scientist Wins Free Space Trip on Rocket Plane from SPACE.com | NASA scientist Thomas Goodwin may not get to actually claim the big prize.

UPDATE 1-Virgin Galactic aims to test fly ship in space this year - Reuters | Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, expects to test fly its first spacecraft beyond the Earth's atmosphere this year, with commercial suborbital passenger service to follow in 2013 or 2014, company officials said on Monday. Nearly 500 customers have signed up for rides on SpaceShipTwo, a...

Indy Transponder 28-FEB-2012 0945z

This year’s Skyfest postponed, base says - The Spokesman-Review | Fairchild Air Force Base is canceling Skyfest, originally planned for September, but plans to hold the air show sometime in 2013, the base announced this morning.  Budget constraints and “conflicts with other regional air shows” were behind the decision, according to a news release. Skyfest was originally scheduled to be held Sept. 22 and 23. Fairchild plans to hold Skyfest next year “on a date to be determined.”...

CAF B-29 Pilot David Oliver – Warbird Radio LIVE! – Tuesday | This week we’re looking back at some of our favorite episodes.  Commemorative Air Force B-29 pilot David Oliver joins Matt Jolley on Warbird Radio LIVE!  Tune in and hear the latest news from the CAF’s B-29 / B-24 Squadron....

P-51 With Stuck Gear Lands Safely With Help From the Master from EAA - The Experimental Aircraft Association | Some fast thinking by Cavanaugh Flight Museum officials, along with remote advice from one of the greatest pilots who ever lived, allowed for the safe landing of the museum's P-51D Mustang Brat III, which was providing rides on Sunday at Mobile Downtown Airport, Alabama....

WWII plane will be repaired in Mobile - Fox10TV | A former combat airplane that landed safely following landing gear trouble in Mobile is now in the shop waiting for repair parts. Cavanaugh Flight Museum Director Doug Jeanes said he was in his Dallas home cooking when he got the call for help. A P-51 flying over Mobile as part of a tour that brought a...

Video: Miniature air show in the desert southwest - 13 KSWT | Experienced remote control pilots from across the nation came out this weekend to show off their skills at the Fly Yuma 2012 Model Airplane Air Show. "Were just going up and doing dead stick landings and trying to see how long we can stay up and glide without using our engines. Who ever has the longest time wins," says Julian Bustil....

Buffalo Soldier - Vintage Wings of Canada | Flying Officer (F/O) Allan Selwyn Bundy’s name first appears in the 404 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Books) within an un-embellished 8 October, 1944 summary where it is noted that he and his NCO navigator, Flight Sergeant (F/S) Wright, together with another newly arrived crew were “declared fit for ops.” Two days later the two crews were in the air local to their new home in Scotland – the RAF Airfield at Banff – honing up on their formation flying skills. Even this early on, it becomes apparent that the...

Chinese American WW2 P-47 Pilot, Lt George Chin (Deceased), European Theater, 9th Army Air Force - Flickr | To expand see controls on top of image to get to full size. Also featuring Margaret Chin, (alive), the "San Mateo Belle". During WW2, following the "day of infamy", It's rare it is for Asian Americans to be officers,...

WWII bomber history topic of Meadville roundtable - GoErie.com | The Victory Bound, a B-17 bomber based in Europe, will be the topic of the World War II Roundtable on Friday. The program will be presented by Lucy Nesbit, daughter of Staff Sgt. Milton McCracken, who was a gunner on the plane....

Ohio museum crews make parts by hand to restore famed World War II bomber 'Memphis Belle' - The Republic | Crews in Ohio are working to restore a famed B-17 bomber from World War II, scraping paint and bending metal to bring back the beauty of the Memphis Belle. The storied aircraft flew 25 crucial missions over Europe during the...

Smithsonian Aims to Make All Objects In Museum Collection 3-D-Printable | Please give me a Friendship 7 to call my own - POPSCI | The Smithsonian Institution, guardian of the nation’s historical awesomeness, is building a new archive of 3-D digital models for its entire collection. It starts with a statue of Thomas Jefferson and ends, we sincerely hope, with full-scale replicas of every item in the National Air and Space Museum, which we can personally print out with a souped-up Makerbot. CNET reports that that some 3-D scanned items will become 3-D printouts, and others will...

World War I Aircraft from InFlightUSA | The Curtiss JN-4 ‘Jenny” that trained U.S. Army pilots prior to their travel to France to fly French fighter aircraft. (Photo byBrian Karli at Amarillo Texas in 1918/Holcomb’s Aerodrome)When gunfire began in the First World War, the airplane was just 11 years old and had been in competition for five years. In America, however, the airplane was still an aerodynamic juvenile. No one had thought about using it to wage war. That would quickly change....

WWII pilot knows: It's not the leap, it's the landing - Palm Beach Post | For a man who once went to extremes not to bail out of an airplane (specifically, a crippled B-24), Mel Schumer was bound and determined to make it happen this past weekend. The occasion? Well, Mel turned 90 Monday, and the tandem jump with his granddaughter Lauren, who was celebrating her 30th birthday, se...

Girls fly too! | Helicopter pilot aims to put 500 young women into flight - NNSL | There will be some busy skies over the Yellowknife Airport March 10 as a plan takes flight to put 500 young women into helicopters as an encouragement to take up careers in aviation. Yellowknife helicopter pilot Kirsten Brazier, organizer of Sky's No Limit - Girls Fly Too!, aims to have 500 girls ages eight to 19 fly the skies above Yellowknife for free with four to six helicopter pilots, including herself. "The purpose of the helicopter ride is to grab their attention and get them there, once there, there is an...

4 on the floor by Randy Tinseth | Here’s something you don’t see every day. In fact, for only the sixth time in history—four different models of the 777 are currently being built inside our factory in Everett. The first time this happened was in 2009. The last time this happened was in 2010....

Astronaut with GA roots prepares new generation of  explorers - AOPA Online | The main engines lit six seconds before liftoff, filling the space shuttle Discovery with a low rumble. “Almost like an engine on a car, a big engine on a car,” recalled NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott, one of six astronauts on board as STS-133, the final mission for Discovery, launched Feb. 24, 2011. Nothing, Stott said, can prepare a person for what happens as the clock strikes zero: solid rocket booster ignition. Liftoff was instant....

Video | Felix Baumgartner: Red Bull Stratos Pilot from Aerial Sports Feed | Felix Baumgartner is not only a well-known Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper, but also the pilot of the Red Bull Stratos project. Having already set several records in BASE jumping and skydiving,...

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It doesn’t get much closer than that! EL CENTRO, Calif.... from You like airplanes, too? | Members of the U.S. Navy flight demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels, perform a diamond formation maneuver over Naval Air Facility El Centro during a practice flight...

Flying the DC-7 from Aviation Mentor by John Ewing | I wrote a while ago about two vintage aircraft that used to sit between the taxiways on Oakland's North Field: A P3 Orion that was cut up for scrap and a DC-6 that was refurbished and flew out on its own power. I've never flown on either aircraft types, but seeing the DC-6 do a last low-pass over 27 left before departing to the East was like going back in time....

The Bücker of Charbo from Apache Roll, le blog de la patrouille Breitling by Grifil | The last two videos of beautiful Breitling Bücker evolving by Grégory Le Moigne. | With its beautiful blue livery system and smoke, he is ready to show what he has in the belly of the finest meetings. The F-Bücker AZVK No. 27, built in 1935, was based in Texas. Its new owner is Bernard "Charbo" Charbonnel, N ° 2 of the Breitling Jet Team. The aircraft...

Radio-controlled aircraft: Display at mall March 9, 10 - North Umberland Today | Learn to take flight at Pine Ridge Flyers annual show | COBOURG — Almost spring is almost time for the Pine Ridge Flyers Model Airplane Club’s annual show at Northumberland Mall. The display on March 9...

Women Soar You Soar Set to Inspire Young Women at AirVenture 2012 - EAA | Young women will be inspired to reach for their aviation dreams as Women Soar You Soar, a four-day mentoring camp featuring inspirational female aviators, returns for its eighth year in conjunction with EAA AirVenture 2012. Women Soar You Soar, scheduled for Thursday, July 26, through Sunday, July 29, will introduce 100 young women to aviation-based careers...

Speedbirds - Translated | The book SpeedBirds # 1 's friend Laurent Negroni being exhausted, it will be reprinted in large format (BD). At his request, I made an illustration of a plane of the Schneider Cup, an Italian Macchi M39 (which you have an excerpt here).  The release is scheduled for the meeting of La Ferte-Alais....

Dan Linn's Blog: Vintage Aviation Advertisements - Eaglerock from Antique Airfield News | This past week I was sorting some early period, vintage magazines from the 1928 and 1929. Some of the rare gems I pulled from the advertisement pages were of the Alexander Eaglerock biplanes. The text from one of the ads caught my attention...

The coolest photo of an F/A-18F you’ll see all day! Heck,... from You like airplanes, too? | ...An F/A-18F Super Hornet from the Black Aces of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 41 breaks the sound barrier during an air power demonstration for ...

Boeing B-1 Bomber Completes 10,000th Combat Mission from AVIATION-NEWS by Rob Vogelaar | The Boeing [NYSE: BA] B-1 bomber aircraft has completed its 10,000th combat mission. The heavy bomber entered service with the U.S. Air Force on June 29, 1985, and has been in nearly continuous combat for the past 10 years. The milestone mission took off from a base in Southwest...

Training exercise has C-130 flying low in Evansville - 14news | If you've noticed a low-flying airplane around Evansville you're not alone. Air traffic manager Rick Polete tells 14 News that C-130 pilots are training at the Evansville Regional Airport. The pilots spent hours Monday working on their approaches....

CoolPix: Lean & Mean North American X-15 (1961) from AirPigz | I was born the same year this photo was taken of the #3 North American X-15 sitting on a dry lakebed, and I gotta say it was pretty cool growing up with the X-15 program still operational. This image seems to say it all when it comes to how cool the X-15 is. It's lean, mean and so secure in what it's designed to do that it didn't even need wheels on the main gear! It's part Batman and part astronaut all rolled into one....

Lockmart unveils F-16V - interops with F-35 & F-22s from Black Horizon | The Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon has been around for over three decades and so far there have been nearly 4,500 delivered. The F-16 will continue for many years to come and Lockheed Martin has today unveiled a new version called F-16V. The new version of the fighter jet was unveiled at the Singapore Airshow and has new feature enhancements to make the aircraft more formidable...

Flash Forward—Part 8: It’s Finished—Almost: The Continued Progress of Our First 737-800 - Nuts about Southwest | At the end of our last installment, our first Boeing 737-800 was being towed into the paint shop. As this batch of photos from some of our folks who travelled to Renton shows, the painting process is complete....

Soyuz images at English Russia from High Power Rocketry

Mojave Air and Space Port Asks for California State Legislators to Provide Help to Compete from Spaceports | Stuart Witt, CEO of the East Kern Airport District, which manages the Mojave Air and Space Port, said immediate action is needed to battle efforts by governors in several states to lure the new industry to their states. Speaking at the...

Astronauts4Hire Announces its Commercial Astronaut Training Programs from RLV and Space Transport News | Palo Alto, California – After more than a year of development, Astronauts for Hire (A4H) is proud to announce its proposed training programs for Research Specialist Astronauts and Operations Specialist Astronauts. These programs, which were developed by the nonprofit in close consultation with former NASA astronauts and astronaut instructors, are the most comprehensive commercial scientist-astronaut training guidelines available in the world....

Monday, February 27, 2012

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WWII plane lands safely - WALA-TV FOX10 | A World War II era plane on tour in Mobile, Alabama had some problems with its landing gear this afternoon. And one local Mobilian aboard the plane got the ride of his life. The Cavanaugh Flight Museum (Dallas, TX) says it costs about $2000 ...

Rare sights for plane spotters take to the skies - Manawatu Standard | There will be a chance for the New Zealand public to see the newly-acquired NH90 helicopters at Ohakea Air Force Base next month as part of the Royal New Zealand Air Force air show. There will also be Australian air force fighter jets, ...

Flying NZ National championships: The Wings Trophy competition, the weather, the PM and some other general views from Rodney's Aviation Ramblings | As I mentioned in an earlier post, the weather was very interesting. It varied between windy and calm, wet and dry, overcast and patches of blue... each day... Thankfully it was all good on Saturday for the Trans Tasman Wings Trophy competition. The Wings Trophy is a competition between New Zealand and Australia and held in each country on alternating years. This year was New Zealand's turn to host it, and, to cut a long story short, our team retained the title! Well done guys!..

Flying NZ National championships: Even more aircraft from Rodney's Aviation Ramblings | Photos

Veterans and others flock to see old warbirds - WINK | PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - More than 40 old warbirds took the skies in Charlotte County this weekend as part of a show at the Charlotte County Airport. "It brings back memories and the sad part is, it brings back memories of friends they lost," said Jim "Zack" Olzacki, President of Charlotte County based Florida Warbirds, who put on the air show....

Speed: 500 MPH. Altitude: 50 Feet. Feeling: Amazing - Pilot Magazin (translated) | From the tiny Formula 1 class racers that lap the short course at more than 250 mph to the anything-goes unlimited class where pilots go more than 500 mph just 50 feet off the ground, going fast is the only goal. The 47th annual National Championship Air Races kick into high gear this weekend at Stead Field outside Reno, Nevada. The event started in 1964 when World War II pilot Bill Stead organized a race in the high desert of Nevada, resurrecting a sport that had largely gone missing since the last of the great Cleveland air races in 1949....
 
Miniature air show in the desert southwest - KSWT 13 | Experienced remote control pilots from across the nation came out this weekend to show off their skills at the Fly Yuma 2012 Model Airplane Air Show. "Were just going up and doing dead stick landings and trying to see how long we can stay up and glide without using our engines. Who ever has the longest time wins," says Julian Bustil....

Solar Impulse Tests Pilot Endurance - AVweb | The pilot of Solar Impulse spent 72 hours pretending to fly an electric airplane around the world last week and it appears human frailties can be accommodated through good management during the real event. Andre Borschberg was in a faithful mockup of the cabin of the aircraft that will make the circumnavigation attempt and after three days and three nights of flying the delicate craft alone he...

Ohio museum restoring famed plane 'Memphis Belle' - Dayton Daily News | Crews in Ohio are working to restore a famed B-17 bomber from World War II, scraping paint and bending metal to bring back the beauty of the Memphis Belle. The storied aircraft flew 25 crucial missions over Europe during the war, a rare accomplishment at the time. Now the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton is preparing the plane for display in its World War II Gallery, tentatively scheduled for 2014....

Formation flight Sunday. P-12Bs from Planeshots

Duncan Receives Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award from State Aviation Journal by Kim Stevens | In 1981 Robert Duncan took over the reigns of what had already become a thriving aviation business in Lincoln, Nebraska and continued to build on the hard work and success his father had already accomplished. Duncan proceeded to guide the family-owned business through some tough economic times and build it, into what is today, the largest family-owned maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in the world,  providing complete acquisition sales and support services for business aircraft....

Shenyang J-16 Silent Flanker Chinese Intermediate Stealth Fighter from Defence Aviation | China is developing a heavily modified variant of the J-11B code name J-16 Silent Flanker. It features stealth design like internal weapons bays, stealth-optimized engine intakes, and canted vertical fins. It’s the race of the stealth fighters, the United States, Russia, India, Japan, India, China everyone seems to want to have a bite at it. China is trying hard to modernize and fill in their need for fourth generation fighters, meanwhile working very hard every way possible to develop it’s Fifth generation fighter capability. One such attempt is with a heavily modified and reversed engineered Sukhoi Su-27 code named Flanker by the NATO....

Sunday, February 26, 2012

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Vulcan bomber needs £300,000 to keep flying - Daily Echo | ONE of the favourites of Bournemouth Air Festival is facing another battle to keep flying. Vulcan to the Sky Trust needs to raise £300,000 by the end of March to keep the Cold War bomber in the air. It currently has around £70,000 and is appealing for donations. Vulcan XH558 receives no...

Cadets from Spalding flying high with Red Arrows  - Guardian | SPALDING’S air cadets have been treated to an up-close encounter with the Royal Air Force’s elite Red Arrows team. The 21 cadets from the 1406 Squadron made the journey to RAF Scampton for a talk on the history of how the “Reds” were formed. They also enjoyed a guided tour around the hangar and viewed the cockpit of one of the Hawk jets....

Air show coming to New River Valley this fall - The Burgs | New River Valley Airport outside Dublin will host an air show Sept. 7-9. Timed to coincide with the airport turning 50 years old, the SkyFest AirShow is posting details on its site. Organizer Debbie Seagle, an experienced air show promoter, is lining up aviators to perform a host of flying maneuvers and has asked the U.S. military to bring combat aircraft for...

7 Golden Knights Jump Their First Demo from US Army Golden Knights by Dan Cook | The 2012 Demonstration season has finally begun for the newest members of the Golden Knights. While at our Winter Training site in Homestead, the “New Guys” performed their first parachute jump into the 4th Annual Biscayne/Everglades Greenway Bike Festival. A light fog drifted through the city of Homestead  but high above the sky was clear. For [...]

Collier Trophy nominees named from General Aviation News by Janice Wood | The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) announced that former Collier Trophy recipients Dick Rutan, Joe Lombardo, Bobby Sturgel, and Jeff Pino will be among the aviation leaders who will participate in the Selection Committee for the 2011 Robert J. Collier Trophy. Nominees for this year's trophy are: Taurus G-4 Electric-Powered Aircraft, Boeing 787 Dreamliner, C-5M Super Galaxy, and the Gamera Human-Powered Helicopter....

DVD REVIEW: RAF Leuchars Airshow 2011 from Flightline UK | ...For many reasons, RAF Leuchars Airshow 2011 was a very significant event. Defence Cuts and financial cutbacks may have reduced the show’s static displays, but the flying display was a very well varied and impressive affair. A few weeks aftre the show, it was announced the RAF would be leaving Leuchars over the next few years with the Typhoon squadron (No 6(F))  based there supposedly moving to RAF Lossiemouth. Happily though, this airshow will not be the last staged at Leuchars....

G.A.S.E. REVIEW AND POTTED HISTORY – PART TWO from JR HAFER AVIATION BLOG.COM by JR HAFER AVIATION BLOG.COM | ...We were able to continue working with Norman Surplus who had called a halt to his circumnavigation in the autumn of 2010 whilst in the Philippines because of problems with bureaucracy meant that he would not get across Siberia and the Bering Sea before winter, but as the spring approached we were back on the job (running his social media sites) as he returned to the Philippines to resume his journey....

Reno man remembers how Red Tails protected his bomber crew - RGJ | During the fall and winter of 1944, U.S. heavy bombers staged a relentless series of daylight raids on French and German military targets. The raids were undertaken mostly by B-17 Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers. On several daylight missions, there were over 1,000 bombers in the air — most assigned to a single military target. I was a crew member on a B-17 Fortress with the 447th Bomb Group....

Palm Springs Air Museum gala includes tribute to Tuskegee Airmen - Mydesert.com | In addition to having a world-class World War II aviation museum, superb educational facilities and a prestigious cadre of loyal supporters, the Palm Springs Air Museum knows how to put on one heck of a party. The annual Black Tie gala played to a packed house of 475 guests at $350 each. This year's theme was Hollywood in the Skies and...

Longest serving Airman also longest serving African-American in DoD from Air Force Link Top Stories | The Air Force's longest serving Airman, who retired this past January after nearly 47 years of service, is also the longest serving African-American service member within the Department of Defense. Maj. Gen. Alfred K. Flowers recently retired from the Pentagon where he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget for Headquarters, U.S. Air Force. Originally from rural Jones County, North Carolina, Flowers enlisted in the Air Force shortly after graduation from high school in 1965. He began his career as a...

It’s Mosquito time – again! This time with a Canadian twist… from Shortfinals's Blog | In honour of National Aviation Day (February 23rd) in Canada, I thought we should add a Canadian twist to this post! If I had to pick just one warbird which is making headlines this year, it would be the de Havilland DH 98 Mosquito. From New Zealand to the U.S.A. and the United Kingdom, projects are being started, being worked on, or being planned almost everywhere it seems. However, we must not forget Canada, the second home of the Mosquito, a country which provided many aircraft, mostly to RAF Bomber Command, in order to help smash the industrial heart of the Third Reich....

The Museum of Flying Grand Opening - NBC LA | When the Museum of Flying opened in 1989, it was located not in a downtown area, or next to other museums, but probably at the best place it could be: an airport. And if you visited the Santa Monica Airport in the...

The Grumman A-6E TRAM: Making the Intruder More Lethal from Tails Through Time by JP Santiago | The main variant of the Grumman A-6 Intruder to fight in the Vietnam War was the first production version, the A-6A. The next two variants, the defense-suppression A-6B and the night attack-optimized A-6C, were just modifications of the basic A-6A variant and both the B and C versions served in only small numbers...

No backup plan for aging jets if new F-35s are delayed from Wright Squawks by Roger Chua | There's little wiggle room to prolong the life of Canada's CF-18 jet fighters beyond 2020 and they may have to be flown gently if there are further delays in the F-35 program. A Defence Department chart that tracks maintenance on all 77 aircraft shows the CF-18s had used up about 73 per cent of their airframe life prior to last year's Libya bombing campaign....

Navy pilots in good condition after F/A-18F Super Hornet crashes - The Kathryn Report | Two pilots are in good condition after their single F/A-18F Super Hornet crashed this afternoon during a training flight about 30 miles northeast of Fallon in an unpopulated, dry lakebed....

Forest Service presents "Aerial Safety Over Wildland Fires"  - Silver City Sun News | GRANT COUNTY On Saturday the National Forest Service presented the program Aerial Safety over Wildland Fires. Private, commercial, and air transportation pilots arrived at the Forest Service Aerial Headquarters at the Grant County Airport near Hurley, to learn from Robert Madill, the Forest Aviation Officer for the Gila and Lincoln National Forests on how to fly safely around wildland fires. Last year in our region we had over 10,000 flight hours, and the majority of these were fire related, Madill said....

Schools encouraged to join in aviation time capsule competition - Sleaford Standard | A NEW education project is being launched by the county’s aviation heritage promoters. For 2012 Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire is running a competition based around Time Capsules from March 1 to September 20, with all entries submitted and received for judging by October 1....

1962 Glenn Addresses Congress - NY Times | Lt. Col. John H. Glenn told a cheering Congress today [Feb. 26] he and the other astronauts of 1962 “are just probing the surface of the greatest advancement in man’s knowledge of his surroundings that has ever been made.” In a 17-minute speech before a joint meeting of the Senate and House, the globe-girdling Marine was at once a...