Something Special In the Bank

In a move certain to foment increased informational picketing outside the hubs and headquarters of its competitors, American Airlines has offered its pilots pay increases of up to $64,000. The move sets a new benchmark in the orgiastic cash-grab into which the post-COVID airline industry has descended. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom has outlined a proposal entailing a 16.9% pay-raise for the carrier’s fourteen-thousand pilots. If implemented, the measure would see a $2-billion increase in the airline’s pilot payroll.

In the Year of '39 Came a Ship in From the Blue …

After repeated safaris through Federal Aviation Administration red-tape and preposterously pedantic environmental impact assessments, SpaceX has hinted that its Starship-24 and Booster-7 may be nearing operational readiness. Photos shared by the company on 02 July revealed that crews have nearly finished installing 39 upgraded Raptor engines on the new Starship and its Super Heavy booster. Differences are observable between Starship 24 and its Starship 20 predecessor, the most notable of which is the addition of a metal framework covering the entire breadth of Starship 24‘s aft section. Probably the framework will support thermal insulation intended to shield  sensitive engine, pl

Also: Bombardier Contract, Embraer E-Jet Freighter, 122nd Fighter Wing, Virgin Orbit Launch Window

Justin Falls, a full-time pharmacist is converting and customizing a Zenith STOL CH-750 to hand controls. Justin intends to purchase the customized CH 750, and plans to share his airplane with fellow pilots. Incidentally, Justin is a quadriplegic, a pilot, and by all accounts, a darned good one. Recently, Justin did some flying with fellow-pilot and eminently able paraplegic John Robinson. The occasion may well have marked history’s first instance of what Justin called, “ … a quadriplegic pilot and a paraplegic pilot get out of their wh

Also: HAV Airlander Airships, Skystar-330 Aerostat, Psyche Asteroid Mission, BMFA Centennial

Archer Aviation, the San Jose, CA-based designer of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, reports flight-tests of its Maker demonstrator aircraft are proceeding apace. Most recently, the test program saw the first use of the company’s Tilt Propeller System (TPS), which actively controls Maker in hover. The system, which facilitates transition from hover to wing-borne flight, comprises a series of independent actuators, sensors, and software that articulates the vehicle’s forward six propellers relative its single, high-mounted wing

Also: HAV Airlander Airships, Skystar-330 Aerostat, Psyche Asteroid Mission, BMFA Centennial

Archer Aviation, the San Jose, CA-based designer of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, reports flight-tests of its Maker demonstrator aircraft are proceeding apace. Most recently, the test program saw the first use of the company’s Tilt Propeller System (TPS), which actively controls Maker in hover. The system, which facilitates transition from hover to wing-borne flight, comprises a series of independent actuators, sensors, and software that articulates the vehicle’s forward six propellers relative its single, high-mounted wing

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s …

Researchers at Embry-Riddle, the private aeronautical university with campuses in Vero Beach, Florida and Prescott, Arizona—have received a $371,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to study the inflight, air-traffic detection systems of un-crewed aerial systems (UASs). The research seeks to determine means by which to improve the safety of such systems as their widespread implementation looms imminent. The research will inform the development of standards and requirements for the sensitivity and accuracy of TCAS-style, detect-and-avoid systems, which will improve safety—especially in instances comprising contemporaneous operation of multiple UAS in a common airsp

I’m the Drone-In-the-Box …

Founded in Israel in 2014, Percepto is a leading provider of autonomous, drone-in-a-box systems. The company’s AI augmented, cloud-based operating system—which it calls AIM  (Autonomous Inspection and Monitoring)—is a field-proven software that employs drones and robots to automate inspections of industrial facilities and infrastructural installations.

Also: Bombardier Contract, Embraer E-Jet Freighter, 122nd Fighter Wing, Virgin Orbit Launch Window

Justin Falls, a full-time pharmacist is converting and customizing a Zenith STOL CH-750 to hand controls. Justin intends to purchase the customized CH 750, and plans to share his airplane with fellow pilots. Incidentally, Justin is a quadriplegic, a pilot, and by all accounts, a darned good one. Recently, Justin did some flying with fellow-pilot and eminently able paraplegic John Robinson. The occasion may well have marked history’s first instance of what Justin called, “ … a quadriplegic pilot and a paraplegic pilot get out of their wh

Plausibility In the Raiments of Incivility

NASA administrator Bill Nelson believes China is militarizing its space program for purpose of making the moon a Chinese exclave. That Mister Nelson entertains such a supposition is understandable; that he framed it in language and trotted it out before the German media is somewhat less understandable. Nelson went on to state that China’s Tiangong space station is being built to “learn how to destroy other people's satellites." The perceptive but imprudent administrator of the world’s preeminent space agency further posited the moon’s south pole is "hotly contested" on account of its potentially harboring water deposits conducive to the production of rocket fuel.

Aerospace Enterprise Sparkles In the Sunshine State

UAV Corp, the parent company of Skyborne Technology and Sentinel mobile communications, has awarded the contract for the construction of its new, lighter-than-air drone hangar to Winfield Construction of Fairburn, Georgia. Plans and building permits for Florida’s first, one-hundred-foot high, three-hundred-foot long, lighter-than-air drone hangar are expected to be finalized by August, 2022. The completion of the facility—which will house and support operations of UAV Corp’s Skyborne Technology subsidiary—is a major step for the respected builder of unmanned aerial systems.

Thirteen-Years a UAS

The U.S. Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator (BAMS-D) is a high-altitude, remotely-piloted surveillance aircraft built by Northrop Grumman. The vehicle is the Naval iteration of the U.S. Air Force’s celebrated Global Hawk. Originally acquired by the Navy for purpose of developing doctrine and concepts of operations for large, persistent unmanned air vehicles, the BAMS-D has aided the service in refining tactics, techniques and procedures specific to the maritime environment. In 2009, the Navy deployed BAMS-D for a six-month concept demonstration in the Fifth Fleet—a command comprising the U.S. Navy’s principal presence in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. The mission was extended drama

Law Enforcement Received A 911 Call That The Helicopter Had Crashed In The Driveway Of The Pilot’s Residence

On June 7, 2022, about 0940 eastern daylight time, an Enstrom F28F helicopter, N600TA, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Greenville, Ohio. The private pilot and his wife (a student pilot) were fatally injured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot owned the helicopter, which was also used for agricultural spraying on his family farm. The helicopter was based at a private hangar facility in Greenville. According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, who visited the facility after the accident, the pilot, and his

AD 2022-13-15 Prompted By A Report Of Cracks In The High-Pressure Turbine (HPT) Disk Posts

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Williams International Co., L.L.C. (Williams) FJ44-2A, FJ44-2C, FJ44-3A, and FJ44-3A-24 model turbofan engines. This AD was prompted by a report of cracks in the high-pressure turbine (HPT) disk posts and failure of an HPT disk post, resulting in the contained fracture of an HPT disk post and blade. This AD requires removing the HPT disk, part number (P/N) 67093, from service before reaching defined cycle limits and replacing it with a part eligible for installation. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. This AD is effective August 9, 2022. 

Read More