Also: 1st of 20 PC-12 NGXs, IMU #1,000,000, Revised 2023 NDAA, Mars Helicopter Update
On 16 August 1960, 32-year-old USAF Pilot,Captain Joe Kittinger, kitted out in a pressure-suit and a specially constructed and rigged parachute—boarded a gondola tethered to a helium balloon, ascended to 102,800-feet above the New Mexico desert—and jumped. During the ensuing four-minute 36-second free-fall, Kittinger’s body accelerated to 614-miles-per-hour. At 14,000 feet, Captain Kittinger deployed his 28-foot main parachute and—in addition to setting records for the highest parachute jump and longest free-fall the world had yet seen—provided the Air Force data that would help save the lives of innumerable pilots. The most recent parachut
Cessna Skymaster Testbed to Serve as ARPA-E SCALEUP, E-Bird Programs
Ampaire's work in electrified aviation bore some fruit with NASA funding under its Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program. The money, somewhat small in comparison to the kind of venture funding so often seen in the sustainable aviation field, is somewhat modest, perhaps more 'award' than actual booster funding. The Phase I award granted $150,000 for the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program, mean to fund "fund sizing, architecture and other analytical studies over six months as a prelude to a potential Phase 2 award that would fund the system’s installation and testing on Ampaire’s Cessna Skymaster testbed," per Ampaire PR.
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The Pitch Up And Reduction Of Engine Power Were Not Commanded By The Pilot
On November 25, 2022, about 0800 eastern standard time, a Cirrus SF50 airplane, N15VJ, was substantially damage when it impacted a retention pond after a deployment of the whole airplane parachute system near Mount Comfort, Indiana. The pilot was not injured. The flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a positioning flight. The pilot reported that the preflight and pretakeoff checks of the airplane were normal and he proceeded to takeoff from runway 25 at the Indianapolis Regional Airport (MQJ), Greenfield, Indiana.
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