John Glenn has headed west. At 95 years of age, America’s third astronaut into space, and the first American astronaut to orbit the earth has passed away.
Our sentiments, and the sentiments of everyone who remembers those dangerous and heroic first days of space travel are best represented by a tweet that was issued by NASA immediately after his death, which reads: “We are saddened by the loss of Senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. A true American hero. Godspeed, John Glenn." Walter Extra, the famous aerobatics pilot behind the Extra series of aerobatic planes, has set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale world record in the new field of Electric-powered planes. On November 25, Extra flew a battery-powered plane and climbed to 3,000m, that’s just under 10,000 feet, in a time of 4 minutes - 22 seconds. In doing so, he broke the FAI world record for electric-powered planes that weigh between 500 and 1,000 kilograms, which equates to between 1100 and 2200 pounds. The flight was performed in an Extra 330 LE airplane powered by a Siemens electric motor that delivered approximately 230 horsepower, and
weighs only 110 pounds. The Department of Transportation Inspector General's office initiated an audit of FAA’s processes for approving civil UAS operations and overseeing the safe operation of UAS. Among other things, they concluded that the FAA’s process of issuing UAS commercial operator waivers does not verify that operators actually meet or understand the conditions and limitations of their exemptions either before or after the application is approved. All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne!!!
Airborne 12.09.16 is chock full of info in this Daily News Episode, Friday, December 9th, 2016... Presented by Aero-TV veteran videographer and Airborne Hosts Brianne Cross and Christopher Odom, and supported by ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell, Chief Videographer Nathan Cremisino, and Aero-Journalists Tom Patton, and Earl Downs, this episode covers:
- Gone West: Former Astronaut And U.S. Senator John Glenn
- Electric-Flight Record Heralds New Era Of Aviation
- DOT IG: FAA Lacks A Risk-Based Oversight Process For Civil UAS
- Gone West: XCOR Founding Member Loretta 'Aleta' Jackson DeLong
- Barnstorming: Breakfast With A Hero... and Other Memories
- PAM Pearl Harbor Dedicates 1941 Ford Island Aerological Tower
- More Than 100 World War II Veterans Arrive In Honolulu On Honor Flight
- Report Demonstrates Contributions Of NATA Members At Van Nuys Airport (KVNY)
- U.K. Airport Faces Closure
- Flightstar Completes Hangar Project
Get Comprehensive, Real-Time, 24/7 coverage of the latest aviation and aerospace stories anytime, at aero-news.net. And be sure to join us again next week for the next edition of "Airborne Unlimited" here on Aero-TV. Thanks for watching. See you, again, tomorrow!
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