The flight of the Solar Impulse-2 around the world has had its challenges, and the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean was planned with the utmost care because of this final long-distance overwater leg of the journey.
As it turned out, things went so well that the aircraft arrived in Seville, Spain ahead of the original planned schedule. At one point during the flight, pilot Bertrand Piccard blogged that he felt quite tired at the 44 hour point, and that he had to cope with some turbulence over the Azores Islands. Later in the flight he spent some time chatting with Sir Richard Branson. We may be getting closer to a Terrafugia flying car as the FAA has approved a Petition for Exemption filed in 2014 allowing a vehicle in the Transition street-legal airplane configuration to be certified as a Light Sport Aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of 1,800 pounds. Terrafugia says the 1,800 pound weight is necessary to accommodate structures and systems directly related to the unique safety features of the vehicle. The Stratolaunch airplane designed to carry rockets that will deliver satellites to orbit is near completion, according Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who is bankrolling the effort. The twin-fuselage airplane
uses engines, avionics, landing gear, and some other components from a pair of Boeing 747s as the airframe foundation, but it was built by Northrop Grumman's Scaled Composites located in Mojave, California. All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne!!!
Airborne 06.23.16 is chock full of info in this Daily News Episode, Thursday, June 23rd, 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:
- Solar Impulse 2 Lands In Spain
- FAA Approves Terrafugia Petition For Exemption
- Stratolaunch Near Completion
- Medical Plane Makes Winter Landing At The South Pole
- AMA Congratulates FAA On Release Of Final sUAS rule
- ‘#OSH16Coolest’ Program for AirVenture
- FAA Issues Ruling On Control Of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport
- Canada Is Recruiting Astronauts For Future Space Missions
- U.K. CAA Investigating Hidden Airline Fees
- NASA: Next SpaceX Cargo Launch No Earlier Than July 18
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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NTSB Final Report: Cessna 177B
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