Resident of the Grandmont Rosedale area are digging in to fight the flight and hold their community together.
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Detroit Journal: Trying to Save a City, or at Least a Part
Passengers on this flight must have breathed a sigh of relief. Two Kuwaiti men were caught with 40 pythons in their carry-on. Airport security stopped them at the checkpoint and checked their luggage. “The officers caught two Kuwaitis trying to smuggle…
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Attempt to Smuggle 40 Pythons Foiled
by Alan Klapmeier To the charge that I am an “airplane nut” how do I plead? Guilty, your honor. As with most of us, and all of Jim’s guest bloggers, our choices and passions give us a particular view on issues. For me these issues include not just aviation, but also the relationships between productivity and the economy (more later), the economy and business, and business and integrity. I can’t remember a time when I was not interested in aviation. I have spent most of my life educating myself about, building and flying airplanes. My office is full of airplane models and my bookshelves are filled with aviation books (with a particular tilt towards Spitfires and the Battle of Britain). I travel by personal aircraft, whether for business or pleasure, averaging over 500 hours of flying per year. Yes, I live and breathe aviation–it is one of my passions. Do you remember the dreams of flying, and the feeling of freedom that you had as a child, and the ability to look out over the landscape and know what’s beyond the horizon? I think there is something inherent in all of us that drives us to desire freedom. Flying is a manifestation of that desire. But of course flying is more than just a dream. So let’s start with this question: Why don’t more people fly? Sure, they may not find it as consuming as I do, but I believe that many would find it valuable, given the opportunity to experience it the way I do. Unlike some in aviation, I’m okay with people learning to fly and participating in this industry only because they need to travel, not because it is their passion. Besides, that’s an easier economic justification than trying to quantify joy, and I expect that those who enter into flying for economic reasons will ultimately fall in love with it anyway. There are many reasons to learn to fly. However, today I will focus on the value of flying for transportation rather than the enjoyment of flying. It’s not that enjoyment is any less compelling; it’s just that it requires a better writer than I to properly communicate the joy of flying. For your consideration let me suggest the writings of Richard Bach or Lane Wallace . As a practical point, flying can be a solution to the problem of transportation. I suspect that one of the reasons more people don’t make more use of general aviation is that they don’t understand what it is like today. For example, Friday afternoon I was chipping ice in northern Minnesota (a brief warm spell had caused just enough of the snow to melt to create a layer of ice on driveways, roofs and in front of the barn). Unfortunately, this meant I was several hours late in leaving for a trip. I needed to be in Maine to participate in a presentation on Saturday. The flexibility provided by my small airplane meant that the flight didn’t leave without me that morning as originally scheduled. I didn’t lose my bags along the way. I didn’t have to spend day and night driving after missing the flight. And most importantly–I didn’t miss the meeting. It took me just under four hours to fly from northern Minnesota to Portland, ME, that afternoon. Portland to D.C. on Sunday night was three hours. Late Tuesday night, with the flexibility of staying two hours past my original deadline, we flew to Savannah. Melbourne, FL, was another two hours Wednesday morning. A quick flight over and back to Bartow that afternoon, and an evening flight from Melbourne to Venice, FL, to meet my wife at her sister’s house concluded a day of travel that would not have been possible by any other form of transportation. Today we came back to Duluth, MN, after one stop for fuel. Total time in the air was just over seven hours. House-to-house could not have been done faster by airline even though I was “only” flying my Cirrus with headwinds for half the trip. From just a transportation point of view, general aviation trips like this example represent tremendous flexibility and efficiency. In today’s hectic world, flexible transportation is ever more important. GA aircraft allow you to get more places to get more done. It also makes it easier to bring the extra people that may be necessary to get more out of a meeting at virtually no increased cost. Getting more done with less (the definition of improving productivity) is one of the key ingredients to improving your economic situation. General aviation is an economic engine. For many reasons, that engine is relatively misunderstood and often misjudged. Most industries took a beating through this recent recession. Not many took the economic beating and were so widely criticized as GA. Real estate has suffered by any metric. The boating industry has been devastated. But neither has been held up as an example of corporate and individual excess like general aviation. This past Tuesday, the General Aviation Manufacturer Association (GAMA), an industry trade group, announced the 2010 aircraft shipments. In spite of the recession, the numbers are still impressive. Just over 2,000 new aircraft were delivered world wide with a value of $19.7 billion. The U.S. value was $7.9 billion with over 61% being exported. That means jobs and positive balance of trade impact. Pretty good numbers, but they still do not compare well with 2007, for example. In 2007 the industry delivered over 4,000 airplanes worth $21.8 billion. Several segments of the industry showed disproportionate losses from 2007 to 2010. For example, single-engine piston aircraft deliveries fell from 2097 to 679–a drop of 66%! But these are only first-level economics–the direct sales numbers. Behind these are what economists would call the “multiplier effect” numbers. These are true for any industry. A customer buys a product. A business hires someone to make the product. Then the employee uses his income (the customer money) to buy a car. He is the new customer that pays someone else’s salary. Basic economics, but a truly powerful concept. I believe that with general aviation there is an expanded multiplier effect since the use of the product can so greatly leverage productivity. In a world of digging ditches with shovels, airplanes are the equivalent of a CAT 390 excavator (yeah, 198,000 pounds!). The most precious of our scarce resources is time. We only have a certain number of years on this earth. General aviation is one way to leverage that time. It is the multiplier. In Jim’s book Free Flight (shown on the column to the right), he describes a future for aviation that is bright. This future is based on new technology that makes flying easier and more comfortable and more reliable and safer and…. So how are we doing towards achieving those goals? I think pretty well. As one of the entrepreneurs described in the book, I’m often asked about Jim’s description of the future general aviation. While we haven’t seen the volume yet, the air taxi industry is still in its infancy, and the FAA’s and NASA’s goal for a new air traffic control system (called NextGen) is still in the planning phase, I believe we are clearly on the path to that future. One of Jim’s earlier guest bloggers was Bruce Holmes, also part of the book, who can detail for you the continued efforts towards a smarter, more productive air transportation system. It is not quite the same path we envisioned 15 years ago, but the same destination is still in sight. Much of the technology we were talking about then is now common equipment. Of course, GPS drives the navigation systems, displayed on large screens for clear presentation to the pilot. Aircraft traffic, weather, airspace borders, and your flight path are all easily displayed and easily understood by the pilot. For a simple analogy think about the difference between watching a weather forecast on TV vs. listening to a description on the radio. In today’s modern GA aircraft what we have is a transportation tool that delivers higher performance with lower workload. The performance/workload improvement is true from small training aircraft up to the most sophisticated business jets. While some people may disagree with me, new general aviation airplanes are easier to fly. What has not changed is the requirement for the pilot to exercise proper judgment. There are some weather systems you cannot fly through. There some things an airplane cannot do. And of course, any uncontrolled contact with the ground will not have a happy ending. But what we do have, as described in Jim’s book, is an emerging set of technologies and tools that will make GA more accessible and a better value. The industry is still trying to implement the tools. The industry is still trying to reduce barriers to entry. The industry is still trying to educate the public about the positive (essential?) economic impact of general aviation. That is the bright future of Free Flight. And then, everyone will love aviation and live happily ever after. So, again, guilty as charged. Alan Klapmeier is founder of Cirrus Design Corp co-founder and CEO of Kestrel Aircraft.
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General Aviation Continues to Fly
Lyricists work their magic from the world around them, like anybody else. And that means that they often mention the technologies of their day. Given my interests, I can’t help but track these references, and I’ve finally decided to start sharing them with you. Here, we see Talib Kweli’s “Mr. International” from his new album, Gutter Rainbows . Here, he’s got the internal mad/iPad/sad rhyme reinforcing the iPad as an elite, luxury item for the world traveler. You can hear his delivery below. When I’m in commuter traffic I’m never worried or panic First class travel I’m flying Virgin Atlantic I’m already checked in I’m ready to settle in Going places I’ve never been I get my Rosetta in Racking up the sky miles and getting them upgrades And you hate the only place that you visit is upstate Don’t be mad cause I’m writing this rhyme on my iPad Don’t be sad cause tomorrow I’m catching the flight back
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Tech in Lyrics: The iPad and Talib Kweli
I am glad to see the new week’s guest team off to a strong start. Before leaving the stage fully to them (and getting on the flight to Beijing), a few matters that won’t properly keep until I resume normal operations here: 1) The Pentagon Labyrinth . The Obama Administration’s new budget was released this morning, as you just possibly might have heard. The part of it least likely to receive serious attention is the DOD budget, which will be officially announced this afternoon. Depending on how narrowly or broadly you categorize military-related expenditures, they range from well over $550 billion this year to as much as $1 trillion. To see that math explained, go here . Political discussion of public spending is detached from reality in almost all realms, but perhaps most alarmingly so when it comes to the military. If you would like to prepare yourself to have informed opinions on where to spend less and more, and why, the most valuable way you can spend the next hour is by reading some of the ten short essays collected here , in a free book called The Pentagon Labyrinth from the Straus Military Reform Project . The authors are familiar figures to those who have followed the defense reform debates, including Chuck Spinney, Pierre Sprey, Thomas Christie, and an all-star list of others. I have had a chance to see these people’s analyses tested against reality for 30 years now, and they have stood up very well. Do yourself a favor and read what they have to say. After the jump, a few samples. 2) The Philippines and Egypt . Twenty-five years ago, the peaceful democratic revolution that thrilled the world was the “EDSA Revolution” in the Philippines that led to the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos. I spent time in the Philippines soon thereafter and wrote what became a very controversial article (” A Damaged Culture “) on why so much of the idealism of the Cory Aquino era soon petered out. Michael Mirasol, of The Filipcritic site, has written ” A Letter to Egypt ” that explicitly applies the positive and negative lessons of the Philippine experience to the next steps in Egypt. Worth reading. 3) I mentioned earlier a site called TSA Status , which was collecting reports on where “advanced imaging” machines for airport screening were and were not in use. The site is back, in a much-improved form. It now makes it easy to search for airport information before you travel, and to file reports after you’ve been screened. Worth checking out here . It’s helped me know what to expect at Dulles Airport shortly. Sadly there is no comparable ” Cheese-Beagle Status” site to let me know what to expect on the other end. Again, my thanks and welcome to the guests. _____ From a flier for ‘The Pentagon Labyrinth’ How many times does one read articles stating the cost of a weapon-the F-35 is a contemporary example-as described by a hired consultant for a manufacturer or an advocate from inside the Pentagon? That price tag is published as if it were authoritative; there’s not a hint that more objective sources would cite a very different figure. The handbook’s essay on journalism (” Penetrating the Pentagon ” by George Wilson), as well as the one on costs, might help journalists reporting on weapons serve their readers better, and those essays might help readers more effectively identify the journalists they may want to read more, or less, from in the future. It is not just conventional wisdom but biblical text that the F-22 is a world class fighter aircraft; almost no one believes anything else. The ninth essay in this handbook (” Evaluating Weapons: Sorting the Good from the Bad ” by Pierre Sprey) can start the reader on an adventure that leads to a very different conclusion. Herds of analysts, each with decades of experience inside the Washington Beltway, read with great seriousness the Pentagon’s periodic “Quadrennial Defense Review” and opine on its contents-without appreciating that it is fundamentally a sham analysis of the Pentagon’s problems. The first essay here (” Why Is This Handbook Necessary ?” by Chuck Spinney) will explain. Seasoned staffers on Capitol Hill have taken offense at the suggestion that senior Pentagon civilians and high ranking military officers would lie to them. Yet the Constitution’s system of checks and balances and the separation of powers in our federal government were conceived on just that premise: that interested factions in the Pentagon bureaucracy could-and do-go to great lengths not only to mask what is going on inside DOD but actively to present an alternate picture. The essay ” Congressional Oversight: Willing and Able or Willing to Enable ?” seeks to explain further. ”
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Another Message From Your Host: ‘The Pentagon Labyrinth’
As what promises to be a crippling winter snowstorm moves across the United States, threatening areas from New Mexico to New England, NASA captured this photograph using GOES-13, one of a series of satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Heavy snow is expected today in portions of northern Iowa, southern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Snowfall from the system extends from Michigan west to Montana, Idaho, Utah and Arizona. A mix of rain and snow also stretches into the Ohio and Tennessee valleys, and it is all moving east,” NASA explained , covering most of the American heartland. “This system appears to be as large as 1/3rd of the Continental U.S.” Click on the image above for a larger version. Image: NOAA/NASA GOES Project.
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Orbital View: Crippling Snowstorm Moves Across the U.S.
Some celebrities aren’t just pretty faces. A few of them are also touched with that Yankee prowess for tinkering and invention. In this weekly series, we introduce you to the Patents of the Rich and Famous. And maybe you learn a little bit about how patent literature works along the way. Inventor: James Cameron Known For: Cameron wrote and directed his way to fame, beginning with the 1980s sci-fi thriller The Terminator . After that he pumped out some more hits — Aliens , Terminator 2 , True Lies — throughout the 80s and early 90s. And then there was Titanic , which basically broke the box office. As if grossing over $600 million weren’t enough, the film went on to tie Ben-Hur for the most Academy Awards (11) given to one film, including the Best Picture award, making it one of the highest-grossing Best Picture Oscar winners . And, while the movie cost around $200 million to make, it was well worth it because for 12 years it held the title as the highest-grossing movie of all time. That was until another super-expensive, super-successful James Cameron film – Avatar – knocked it down to number two. Even though Cameron is pretty good at making critically-acclaimed blockbuster films, after Titanic ‘s success, it took him 12 years to release his next directorial project. What exactly was Cameron doing for all of those years? Well, apparently the time that he spent surrounded by water filming a movie about a sunken ship inspired the next decade of his life. Not only did he get into undersea documentaries — Expedition: Bismark , Ghosts of the Abyss — but he also invented an underwater contraption. Invented Apparatus: ” Apparatus for propelling a user in an underwater environment ” Cameron has gone underwater with his profession. By attaching propellers to a dolly, Cameron created a diving suit that allows a camera operator to move effortlessly through the water while filming his surroundings, regardless of his direction of travel. It’s put together like this: The apparatus comprises a hull assembly for maintaining the apparatus at the desired level of buoyancy. The hull assembly for propelling the apparatus through the water. The thruster means are positionable at the desired angular orientation relative to the longitudinal axis of the hull assembly. The hull assembly is angularly oriented independently of the direction of the movement of the apparatus. Means are provided for connecting the thruster means to the hull assembly. Rationale Behind Invention: Given that Cameron has spent much of his film-making career surrounded by water, he found a void in the underwater camera industry: For underwater photographic purposes, there has been a long felt need to have a personal propulsion vehicle with increased maneuverability. Specifically, there has been a need for a vehicle which has the capability of aiming the lens of an attached underwater movie camera in one direction while the device, as a unit, is being propelled in another flight attitude. Such capabilities have been lacking in current propulsion vehicles, resulting in cinematic limitations for underwater photography. The invention gives the camera operator better positioning to best capture underwater scenes. Off-Label Uses: As the patent explains, the propelled-dolly concept isn’t limited to underwater filming. It can be used for other underwater events: Although particularly adaptable for use with underwater cameras, it is understood that this vehicle is not limited to such a function and may be used for any type of recreational or utilitarian purpose in which enhanced maneuverability and ease in travel is desired. Future Directions: We’re thinking this contraption needs a waterproof GPS to guide Cameron to his next underwater documentary: Atlantis. Peruse more celebrity inventions .
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Celebrity Invention: James Cameron’s Underwater Dolly
Enter to win a round-trip flight, iPad and CH Edition Rickshaw bag set Advertorial content: It wouldn’t be surprising if after reading our recent round-up of great travel bags that some of you were bitten by the travel bug. Luckily, Virgin America is offering Cool Hunting readers a chance to win a round-trip flight from any of their U.S. hubs. As if the great RED entertainment system in front of your seat wasn’t enough, they’re throwing in an iPad and free WiFi each way to help make the trip even smoother. In addition, Cool Hunting is providing the lucky winner with one of our CH Edition Rickshaw messenger bag and iPad case sets, perfect for toting all your in-flight essentials and spiffy new iPad. ENTER TO WIN HERE Stay up to date on all Virgin America news and earn points every time you fly by signing up for Elevate .
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Virgin America’s Mile High Sweepstakes
Political leaders in Tunisia launch efforts to end widespread chaos and form a unity government, following the flight of President Ben Ali.
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Tunisia aims to fill power vacuum
China took its latest powerful toy, a new stealth fighter jet, out for its first test spin Tuesday, leading U.S. Defense Secretary Gates to wonder whether the flight was scheduled to coincide with his visit.
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China stealth fighter takes first flight
Passengers aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Oslo overpowered a man who tried to hijack their flight to Istanbul on Wednesday.
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Air passengers thwart hijack attempt
Passengers on a Turkish Airlines jet have overpowered a man who tried to hijack their flight from Norway to Istanbul, security sources say.
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Passengers thwart Turkish hijack
The Sun looks the same to everyone on Earth: bright and yellow. But using special instruments designed to filter UV light, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center can generate these incredible STEREO spacecraft images, highlighting the different materials making up the star. Each STEREO image filters the Sun into four wavelengths of extreme UV light. Each frame is colorized so that scientists can instantly recognized which wavelength they are observing, and each wavelength is imaging different material at different layers and temperatures. Image: NASA/GSFC/STEREO/Flickr . View more Pictures of the Day
A judge sentenced a man who hijacked a plane from New York to Cuba four decades ago to 15 years in prison Tuesday, citing the fear that must have spread among passengers and the flight crew when he put a knife to the throat of a flight attendant and a gun to her back and then entered the cockpit.
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15-Year Sentence for 1968 Hijacking
In response to yesterday’s post on the first fixed-wing aircraft carrier , a reader reminded us that the USS Birmingham was not the first ship to serve as a temporary floating host to airborne military units. The deployment of gas-filled balloons from a makeshift vessel in the Potomac river by the Union Army during the Civil War was one of the first successful marriages of airborne and maritime forces in military history. Beginning in 1861, the Union Army had an active balloon corp . The Union Army Balloon Corp, led by presidential appointee Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, consisted of seven vessels, the largest at 32,000 cubic feet, used primarily for reconnaissance and surveilling Confederate troops. Most of these units were launched from ground bases; seaborne balloons had only been utilized once before, in 1849, when an Austrian vessel, Vulcano , launched a failed attempt to bomb Venice with manned hot air balloons. The Union did not utilize a maritime vessel as a staging area until August of 1961. Lowe, with the assistance of fellow aeronaut John LaMountain, directed the construction of the first real aircraft carrier. The two rebuilt a coal barge, the George Washington Parke Custis , gutting the deck of its rigging to accommodate gas generators and a flight deck superstructure. The Custis was part of its own battle group, towed by the Stepping Stone and accompanying sloop Wachusett , the gunboats Tioga and Port Royal , and the armed transport Delaware during the course of its operational lifespan. While it looks like little more than a manmade atoll in the middle of the Potomac, the Custis paved the way for the integrated operation of air and sea units. According to the Smithsonian’s U.S. Centennial Flight Commission , she towed one of Lowe’s balloons for 13 miles (21 kilometers) at an altitude of 1,000 feet (305 meters) while Lowe made continuous observations on Confederate troop movements. Other barges were converted to assist with the other military balloons: Apart from the Custis, LaMountain frequently used the deck of the small vessel Fanny to launch an observation balloon 2,000 feet (610 meters) over the James River in Virginia. The Smithsonian notes that word of the Americans’ achievements even reached Europe, where the Prussian army sent Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin ( yes, that one ) to study Lowe’s military balloons. While balloons were used again for aerial observation during World War I, the seaborne staging vessel fell into disuse until the use fixed-wing aircraft necessitated the development of the modern aircraft carrier. An interesting side note on American military balloons in general: While Lowe was initially proposing the use of balloons to the Union army, LaMountain was also attempting to provide balloon services for the Union. He wrote to Secretary Cameron in 1861. According to the Smithsonian , the commander of the Union Forces at Fort Monroe, Major General Benjamin F. Butler, asked LaMountain for a demonstration. LaMountain made two successful ascents at Fort Monroe in July 1861 in his balloon Atlantic. The New York Times reported that LaMountain had been able to observe Confederate encampments, making the first aerial reconnaissance of the Civil War and also was the first to gather intelligence by free balloon flight rather than from a tethered balloon. With Lowe and LaMountain’s aeronautical achievements, the history of American innovation in aviation precedes the Wright Brothers by at least a generation. Top: A reconnaissance balloon is launched from the coal barge George Washington Parke Curtis, during the American Civil War. Credit: 2001 National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution (SI Neg. No. 76-17385). Bottom: John Wise, John La Mountain, and Thaddeus Lowe fight a storm in the Atlantic. Credit: 2001 National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution (Videodisc No. 2B-30739). H/t beansiej .
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Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Union Army Balloon Corp
