ICAS Fast Facts -- March 29, 2011

   March 29, 2011                           www.airshows.aero

WALKER DIES IN ACCIDENT

Bill Walker, a member of the Red Thunder Air Show Team, was killed on Saturday, March 26 at the Flagler Warbird Fly-In Show in Flagler, Florida when his Yak-52 failed to recover from a descending vertical maneuver. No one else in the air or on the ground was involved in the accident. The FAA is conducting an investigation into the cause of the accident.

DRISKELL PASSES

Jim Driskell, best known as the announcer for air show legend Bob Hoover for a quarter century, passed away on Thursday, March 17 at the age of 94. Driskell had been battling a number of medical complications related to a fall that he had in mid-December.

Funeral services will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 5 at St. Jerome Church, 5550 Thornbury Street, Los Angeles, California 90045.  In lieu of flowers, Jimmy’s family has asked that contributions be made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Colorado, 3090 N. 12^th Street, Unit B, Grand Junction, Colorado.

© International Council of Air Shows, Inc.

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Indy Transponder 29-MAR-2011 1030z

37th-Annual Sun 'n Fun Takes Flight Today - The Ledger | (LR) Frank Moss, pilot, and Carlos Gomez, a founder of the Historical Flight Foundation Inc.the owner of the aircraft, stand in front of the recently restored 1958 Eastern Airlines DC 7B at the Sun 'n Fun International Fly In & Expo on Lakeland Linder ...

City to explore U.S. navy plans - Windsor Star | The city will move ahead with efforts to bring US warships to the 2012 edition of the Windsor International Air Show. Capt. Patrick Burns of the US navy gave a presentation at city hall Monday night, providing details on the navy's plans to have ...

Weekend of events planned to mark 70th anniversary of the Blitz in Liverpool - Liverpool Echo | A World War II Spitfire plane will perform an aerobatic flying display over the Mersey and veterans of all ages from all conflicts will parade through the streets during the Bank Holiday weekend of April 30 to May 2. There will be a climbing wall in ...

Female high flyers at show - Cambridge News | Daring female pilots will show off their talents in celebration of the role played by women in the development of flight at Duxford's Spring Air Show. The Imperial War Museum Duxford has created a formidable line-up of talented female aviators for the ...

Historic military aircraft find new life at Tucson's 'Boneyard' - TucsonSentinel.com | At Tucson's "Boneyard," row upon row of B-52s, F-4 Phantoms, A-10 Warthogs and some of the rarest military aircraft dating back to World War II provide a panoramic vision of aviation history. But there is more to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and ...

88 YEARS OF ITALIAN AIR FORCE - It was celebrated yesterday the anniversary Ottantottesimo Italian Air Force...

Museums vying for NASA shuttles to meet in Dayton - Dayton Daily News | “On the day of the shuttle announcement, Dayton will be the center of the universe with respect to the museums who want, and may get, a shuttle,” said Tony Sculimbrene, executive director of the National Aviation Heritage Alliance, a Dayton-based ...

Shuttle hopefulls to gather as winners named (Dayton Daily News)  Seattle Post Intelligencer | “On the day of the shuttle announcement, Dayton will be the center of the universe with respect to the museums who want, and may get, a shuttle,” Tony Sculimbrene, executive director of the National Aviation Heritage Alliance, which is promoting the ...

Internet poll wouldn't give Seattle a shuttle, so far - Seattle Post Intelligencer ... Adler Planetarium, in Chicago (6 percent), the National Museum of the United States Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio (4 percent), Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, in McMinnville, Ore. (2 percent), March Field Air Museum, in Riverside, Calif. ...

The Mojave Launch Lab  from Air & Space Magazine 

Meanwhile, at Stately Ward Manor..."  - Last year, I was made aware of a cool web site for the geek in all of us, The Sci Fi Air Show. A passion project of Hollywood visual effects supervisor Bill George, the site is played straight and presented in a "real world" style, offering up air show-type pics of some of the coolest space vehicles from science fiction film and television. In addition to providing "histories" for the vehicles in question, pictures show visitors walking in and around such craft as the Eagle from Space: 1999, climbing up to check the cockpit of a Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper, touring the Orion space plane from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and even checking out the "Flying Sub" from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea…

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Indy Transponder 29-MAR-2011 0209z

A Wild Ride | Movie Monday - Leaving Terra Firma | No doubt many of you are familiar with Fat Albert Airlines, the all Marine crewed support aircraft for the US Navy blue Angels. In addition to carrying everything and everyone required to keep the Blue Angels doing what they do, the Fat Albert Airlines crew put on a great show that shows why the Hercules, a 60 year old aircraft, is still in production and service worldwide...

Lindbergh Foundation to emphasize green aviation at Sun `n Fun - AOPA | The Lindbergh Foundation Day at Sun `n Fun on March 31 features top leaders from general aviation talking about the pressing  issues facing the industry. Forums run from 9 a.m. through 2 p.m. in the cafeteria at the Central Florida Aerospace Academy on the Sun ’n Fun campus...

Blue Angels Featured at Lakeland’s SUN’n FUN - Osprey Observer |  Pilots, aircraft owners and other aviation enthusiasts planning to attend this year’s SUN ’n FUN International Fly–In & Expo have a great deal to look forward to as this year’s event offers one of the strongest schedules of aircraft, people and programs in recent memory.  The 37th annual “Spring Break for Pilots and friends” will be held March 29 – April 3 at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Lakeland...

Canadian Forces Day at 15 Wing Moose Jaw cancelled - Moose Jaw Times | The 2011 Canadian Forces Day at 15 Wing Moose Jaw scheduled for August 6-7 has been cancelled. This includes the scheduled performance of the Snowbirds Air Demonstration Team at 15 Wing as they have been re-tasked to participate in the Cameco Canada Remembers International Air Show to be held in Saskatoon, SK...

Podcast: Uncontrolled Airspace Episode #228 "Big Mess o' Fun"

Union college admissions video - Wasabi Air Racing | Elliot Seguin's Formula One class air race team based out of Mojave, California. Pylon racing at the National Championship Air Races in Reno Nevada. Eight airplanes racing head to head around telephone poles in the desert. Mojave is the best place on the planet to...

Lone Star Air Rally, May 14th - Vand Air Force | New details on the May 14th SARL air race at Scholes Field in Galveston. Please take a look...

Ten years after Sonic Cruiser, slow is still green - Flightblogger | The Sonic Cruiser, which would have accelerated air travel from Mach .84 to Mach .98, turned ten years old, according to the March 22, 2001 date on its patent filing. Its life as an conceptual product was brief, but notable, eventually transforming its design elements into what we know today as Boeing's 787...

Secret X-37B Space Plane Spotted Again by Amateur Skywatchers - Space.com | After an intense search, a crew of amateur satellite sleuths has spotted the U.S. Air Force's second X-37B space plane – a robotic spacecraft that launched into orbit March 5...

WWII: Then and Now - Staff Sgt. Roy Kirby served as surgical technician - Canton Rep | Roy M. Kirby was a son in a Gold Star family from Shawver Mill in Tazewell County, Va., during World War II. He lost a brother — Albert Sidney Kirby — in the fighting when the B-17 bomber, on which the Army Air Corps flight engineer served, was shot down over Italy in 1943...

Latest leak - photos of Chinese "Global Hawk" - Black Horizon 

Indy Transponder 28-MAR-2011 1756z

Blue Angels with the moon in the background - Flightglobal | This week's Image of the Week (featured on page 3 of Flight International), is taken by AirSpace user Vintage Racer. His photo depicts the Blue Angels performing a flyby at February's Centennial of Naval Aviation kickoff at NAS North Island in San Diego.

Behind the scenes story on naming the Dreamliner - Randy's Journal | A lot of you remember the contest Boeing held back in 2003 to name what was then dubbed the 7E7 airplane. Of course, the name “Dreamliner” came out on top and will forever be attached to what is now the 787. What you may not know is just how close the Dreamliner came to being called the Global Cruiser...

New German aerobat gets EASA certification - AOPA #SNF11 | New German aircraft manufacturer XtremeAir GmbH announced that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a type certificate March 21 for its two-place Sbach 342 aerobatic aircraft. With EASA type certification in hand, the company will seek FAA certification of the all-carbon-fiber airplane, said Philipp Steinbach, XtremeAir’s designer and test pilot...

Video: Movie Monday - March 28 - The Birth of the Whittle Engine - Flightblogger | Later this week I'll be heading south to Florida to visit with Pratt & Whitney and see the  PW1524G, the first geared turbofan model intended for the Bombardier CS100 now on the test stand in West Palm Beach. As I did last year leading up to the annual Engines 101 and media brief, I devoted Movie Monday to jet engines. Last year it was Engine Failures 101, this year it's Wonder Jet a 1950 British dramatization of the birth of  Frank Whittle's jet engine design...

Video: St. Louis-Based Wings of Hope Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize - The Aero Experience | Wings of Hope, a St. Louis-based humanitarian organization, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize.  This video, provided by Boeing, celebrates the organization.  Visit www.wings-of-hope.org for more information...

Selfridge Military Air Museum gets new displays - Chicago Tribune | HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich.— The Selfridge Military Air Museum is getting new interactive displays as part of an expansion that's scheduled to be dedicated this weekend...

Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum Expanding, Updating Floor Plan - The Aero Experience | The Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum at St. Louis Downtown Airport is expanding and updating the displays in its 1930 historic Curtiss-Wright hangar.  The museum gallery is undergoing a floor plan update designed to accommodate the increase in historic items received over the last several years, and additional hangar space will be acquired to house current and future aircraft on display...

Goodbye Flight Simulator, Hello Microsoft Flight - Flight school List | If you own a copy of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X, you might want to grab a pen, scratch the name Microsoft off the box and write Lockheed Martin instead...

Airship Ventures and Farmers Insurance Announce the Farmers Airship’s First-Ever National Tour - Sun Herald | MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- Airship Ventures and Farmers® Insurance today announced that in April the Farmers Airship will embark on a six-month journey, “Covering Communities,” which will take the world’s largest airship across the United States and back. The journey will mark the first time a Zeppelin airship has ever barnstormed across the nation...

Possible spy plane getting new role with Kentucky students - Courier-Journal | The small plane's logbook lists dozens of flights from Lahore, Pakistan, to Karachi, Delhi and Calcutta, India, in the 1950s, and its current owner, a La Grange businessman, believes it was a spy plane...

Ladies and Gentlemen, This is Your Captain Speaking. - Baristanet | Attention young Mavericks! This Saturday, at the Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum of NJ, kids (and grown-ups) can enjoy Open Cockpit day, where they can sit in airliners and helicopters:

How I Am Becoming An Astronaut - Damaris Sarria | I'm excited for an upcoming talk I have at Lowell High School!!! On April 5, 2011 I will be talking to Lowell High School students on my engineering career and the cool stuff I do as an engineer...

Lockheed "Spy" Plane visits Christchurch - 1994 - MRC Aviation | Thinking back over my years of interest in aviation and that of overseas visitors, I would have to say one of the more exotic aircraft to grace our skies would be the Skunk Works designed Lockheed U2 spy plane of which one spent time...

Indy Transponder 28-MAR-2011 1030z

Witnesses capture video of St. Pete plane crash - 10 Connects | ST. PETERSBURG, FL - A T-28 Warbird, part of the Honda Grand Prix race opening ceremonies, crashed into the water off Albert Whitted Airport as it was attempting a landing after reporting mechanical difficulties. "I heard some sputtering from the ... Both the pilot and passenger suffered very minor injuries…

Air Show Grounded – WTOK | The Golden Wings Over Meridian air show dodged rain drops Saturday, but showers throughout Sunday, and other unfavorable conditions, grounded all aircraft at the air show. The Blue Angels officially called it a day midway through the afternoon, ...

Air Show could fly in again in 2 years - SunHerald.com | BILOXI -- This year's air show at Keesler Air Force Base was even bigger than the one in 2009, and the base could be getting ready for an encore. “We're trying to plan another show in two years,” said Brig. Gen. ...

Eyes, interest up at indoor air show - Omaha World-Herald | That was the essence of the success of the inaugural Indoor Air Show, which had 1200 people turning their noses to the ceiling Saturday and Sunday at the Strategic Air & Space Museum. Radio-controlled model airplanes and helicopters whizzed around one ...

Air Race Classic June 21-24  by cassie | The Air Race Classic will be flying over Carbon County this year! The Air Race Classic (ARC) is an annual cross country women's air race that carries on a tradition that began in 1929 with the first Women's Air Derby and continued with ...

Commemorative Air Force needs $3200 to fly B-24 to air show - Fort Worth Star Telegram | A Fort Worth group dedicated to preserving North Texas' aviation history wants to re-create a bit of that past during an air show next month at Naval Air Station Fort Worth. The Commemorative Air Force, almost all ex-military, ...

Sucker Punch – Republica | KATHMANDU, March 28: Director Zack Synder, who defines his recent Hollywood release Sucker Punch as “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns, including dragons, B-25 bombers and brothels,” dreams big for all his fantasies to look true. ...

WWII veteran gets medals 65 years later - Tulsa World | While Kaiser has many war stories to tell, some of them humorous, he delights in telling about his exposure to early aviation history. A native of Columbus, Ohio, Kaiser moved around the country quite a bit, largely because his father, a noted aircraft ...

B17 at Flagstaff Pulliam Airport April 5 & 6  from Arizona Aerospan by Aviation News | The EAA's B17 Aluminum Overcast will be at the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport April 5th and 6th.  For more info, and links to Tour Stop Schedule and great images, go to:  http://www.b17.org/tourstops/

Aviation History on Display within the Tokyo 東京 area and northern Honshu 本州  from Travel for Aircraft by travelforaircraft | Aviation History on Display within the Tokyo 東京 area and northern Honshu 本州 | The recent 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (東北地方太平洋沖地震 — Tōhoku Chihō Taiheiyō-oki Jishin), centered near Sendai Japan, initiated a post about aviation history that may be endangered in the immediate area of Sendai. Emails have come in asking where aircraft are on display in the Tokyo area as well as the northern part of the island of Honshu, since this area has been bearing the brunt of aftershocks and probably will for some time to come — my notes indicate the following ten sites, with many in or near Tokyo...

A road trip, and some sobering economic realities  from Bayou Renaissance Man by Peter | Miss D. and I have just returned from a brief road trip, heading up through Kentucky to Ohio and back again. We took the opportunity to visit the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, which was very interesting indeed.  My major complaint about the Museum is that parts of it are not very photographer-friendly. For example, the Cold War display is very dark (including a black-painted ceiling), with spotlights illuminating the aircraft. That makes it very difficult to take pictures, as this one I took of the Convair B-58 Hustler bomber illustrates.

March Airshow Madness Complete  from Randy Rothhaar Photography | Wrapped up a three consecutive airshow weekend run in March with a great day shooting at MCAS Yuma...watch for images from NAF El Centro, Luke AFB, and MCAS Yuma soon.

Spring Break Multi Time Building Trip (ARR-ATL-PNS-MSY-ARR)  from Jetcareers forums by tlewis95 | Decided that I needed a bit of twice-prop time and found someone that was in to pay for half. So why not? Lets do Spring Break the right way. This was a Seminole being rented out of JA at Aurora, IL and just received new paint, interior, and G500 glass cockpit. (Still had a "new airplane smell" when we got back)…

Sky was no limit for pioneer aviator Pinky Brier - San Bernardino Sun | While working with Southern California Gas Co. in San Bernardino in 1934, Pinky took flying lessons from her future husband and aviation partner, Lt. Joe Brier, who was stationed at March Air Force Base. The woman loved flying so much that she quit her ...

Come Fly With Me: 1911  from Shorpy Historic Photo Archive - Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave | Washington, D.C., or vicinity circa 1911. "Senorita Lenore Riviero with Antony Jannus in Rex Smith aeroplane." Please fasten your seatbelts (or skirts) while we prepare for departure. Tony Jannus, the pioneering but short-lived Washington aviator, a few years before his final flight landed him somewhere at the bottom of the Black Sea. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

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Indy Transponder 28-MAR-2011 0340z

Learn, connect with AOPA at Sun 'n Fun - AOPA | Going to the Sun ‘n Fun Expo and International Fly-in in Lakeland, Fla., March 29 through April 3? Don’t miss out on the educational seminars, events, prizes, and new products AOPA has to offer. The association is once again the platinum-level sponsor of Sun ‘n Fun. Attendees can stop by the tent to get...

Superfortress to visit EAA this summer - WLUK | OSHKOSH, Wis. - The world's only airworthy B-29 "Superfortress" is making a visit to Oshkosh this summer. The Boeing bomber will appear at the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual AirVenture convention. The B-29 "Superfortress," is perhaps best known for dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945...

23rd Annual memorial Day Salute to Veterans Corporation Announces Air Show Performers - The Aero Experience | Columbia, MO: The Salute to Veterans Corporation invites the public to be our guests at the 23rd Annual FREE Salute to Veterans Airshow over the Memorial Day Weekend, May 28-29, 2011, from 9:30am to 3:30pm, at Columbia Regional Airport...

Salute Signs Off - WMBB News | Tyndall AFB, Fla: The Gulf Coast Salute Air Show is officially over as senior officials and event planners make a final crowd count. Tyndall Air Force Base will be fully operational Monday, but the sights and sounds of the weekend will still linger in Bay County...

Just a couple of winning Pictures - Windsor Int'l Airshow | Just a few of the great pics we have been sent on the 2010 air show. We have so many to go through from a lot of spectators that we are just going to have to give away quite a few tickets. They ranged from just aircraft to happy families sitting inside with their kids in the pilots' seat. Thanks to everyone who sent us pictures. It kept my email full. 2011 just got a little more exciting...

Listen To 484 MPH Strega Speed! Awesome 21 Second Video! - AirPigz | If you listen to this short but awesome video of the highly modified P-51 Strega qualifying at Reno in 2010, and the sound of 484 mph makes your head tingle, or the hair on your neck stand up, or your salivary glands overproduce (or all three)...

Rolls-Royce develops LiftSystem for the F35-B Joint Strike Fighter - The Engineer UK | When, in December, Britain’s Harrier jets landed at RAF Cottesmore for the final time, the sombre mood weighed on all those present. In a ritual known as the ’walk of honour’, the pilots disembarked from their aircraft and walked away without taking a single look back...

Formation flight Sunday - F-89s | Planeshots

'Miracle on Hudson' co-pilot helps children in New Smyrna Beach - Central Florida News | The co-pilot who helped land a passenger plane on the Hudson River was in New Smyrna Beach, sharing his knowledge of aviation with local children. But the event became even more meaningful, when a survivor of flight 1549 showed up for lessons, with his son. Jeff Skiles was the co-pilot during a plane crash that's come to be known as the Miracle on the Hudson...

Museum exhibit traces Nev. ties to space program - Victoria Advocate | A northern Nevada museum is launching a new exhibit about rockets and the role area residents have played in space exploration. The Sparks in Space exhibit at the Sparks Heritage Museum was developed with the help of the Challenger Learning Center of Northern Nevada and a group of Sparks High School astronomy students...

Space Expo held in Windsor Lock - WWLP | The New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut held their annual space expo Sunday. More than 15 exhibitors, from across New England, brought their space expertise to entertain and educate those who attended the expo. Visitors also got to meet a real astronaut and...

HDR really brings out the nitty-gritty - You like airplanes, too? | HDR really brings out the nitty-gritty in the inner workings of this Airbus 319/320’s wing and spoilers.