Also: Air Ambulance Bill, HAI and AEA, Goglia v FAA, Air Wisconsin, Col. Fred Cherry, Miracle Flights, Supersonic Jet

 

The Apollo 11 command module Columbia—the only portion of the historic spacecraft to complete the first mission to land a man on the moon and safely return him to Earth—will leave the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum for the first time in 46 years for the traveling exhibition “Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission.” The exhibition’s two-year national tour will celebrate the approaching 50th anniversary of the mission and explore the birth and development of the American space program and the space race. Even with a legal challenge pending led by the NBAA, the Santa Monica City Council night had several items on its agenda that would move the city towards its goal of closing Santa Monica Airport (KSMO) by 2028. The council considered a resolution directing the City staff to "take all actions necessary and proper to ensure that SMO will cease to operate as an airport” by the end of 2028. The restored B-29 "Doc" made its third flight last Saturday, and was able to raise its landing gear for the first time, allowing the airplane to reach its top speed of about 222 knots. Doc departed from McConnell AFB just before 10:30 local time, and arrived at what will eventually be her permanent home at Wichita's Eisenhower Airport about two hours later. Jim Murphy, project manager of the Doc Restoration Project, told the station that the airplane "performed flawlessly." All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne!!!