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The colourful model of a new passenger jet displayed at the Hong Kong air show was a show-stopping crowd pleaser. Not for its looks - though sleek, it was hardly ground breaking - but for what it represents: a new direction for China's fledgling aerospace industry. Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (Comac) surprised industry experts at last month's Asian Aerospace show by unveiling details of its large-body C919 jetliner, including plans to have it in the air by 2014.

SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are both traveling to Copenhagen this week to promote Chicago's bid to host to the 2016 Olympic Games--and they will be making the 3,979-mile trip on separate airplanes." SNIPPET: "As reported earlier by CNSNews.com, a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report cited two cost estimates for an hour of air travel by the president, vice president and first lady. One estimate comes from the White House Military Office, the other from the U.S. Air Force. Using the CRS cost estimates and the inflation adjuster from the Bureau of Labor Statisitcs,...

SNIPPET: "SPOKANE -- Authorities in North Idaho are reporting that sometime early Tuesday morning a small airplane was stolen from the Boundary County Airport. The Boundary County Sheriff confirms they received a report regarding the theft of a 2005 Cessna T182T aircraft around 7 AM Tuesday morning. The aircraft, with tail number N2183P, is a white and blue fixed wing single engine aircraft. It is believed the aircraft was taken from the airport around 5:45 Tuesday. They're not sure in what direction the plane was flown from the airport." SNIPPET: "Authorities are working to confirm if the theft is related...

(CAMANO ISLAND)— SNIPPET: "Experts say if 18-year-old Harris-Moore really did fly two stolen airplanes, he probably had some informal training. San Juan County sheriff believes Harris-Moore took a Cessna 182 and flew to Yakima last year, and stole a plane this month from Friday Harbor and flew to Orcas Island. The proof to link Harris-Moore with the latest flight may be found in DNA evidence recovered from the stolen plane."

Iraq to fetch MiG fighter planes from Serbia (AFP) – 11 hours ago BAGHDAD — An Iraqi military delegation has gone to Serbia to bring back 19 MiG fighter planes that Saddam Hussein's regime sent for servicing 20 years ago, the defence ministry said on Saturday. "General Othman al-Fredji, a defence ministry adviser, and Anwar Mohammed Amin, head of the air force, are in Serbia negotiating the return (of the planes) at the earliest possible date," spokesman General Mohammed al-Askari said. The Soviet-built MiG-21 and 23 aircraft, whose existence has just been discovered, "were sent by Saddam's government in 1989...

Surely House leadership didn't think the prospect of buying an additional four new corporate jets would fly with the American public? But they did. House leaders backed down only after news reports last week, most prominently from the Wall Street Journal, revealed the full details of this purchase. It appeared so routine. Before heading out on summer recess, lawmakers voted to add four more aircraft to an earlier request for four other new planes by the Air Force and Defense Department. The planes were to be added to a fleet of about 24 aircraft that the Air Force maintains for...

"If at first you don't succeed ... wait two decades for a new Congress, and then try again."If that credo isn't matted, framed, and hanging on the office wall of Rep. John P. Murtha, it should be.On July 22, Murtha's Defense Appropriations Subcommittee reported out a $636 billion appropriations bill that included funding for new airplanes in which the Air Force could ferry Members of Congress around the world. The eight new airplanes in the bill were precisely twice as many as the Obama Administration had requested -- but, for some reason, the price tag had more than doubled,...

This Sunday, June 28, National Geographic TV airs Hitler's Stealth Fighter. Set your TiVos or just kick the rest of the family off the TV, because this one should be good. Back when stealth was very, very secret, a few people quietly advised me to take a look at the Horten Ho229, one of WW2 Germany's most advanced designs - a jet-powered flying wing made of wood. In a German book, a British documentary producer had found something even more interesting: the Horten brothers, Walter and Reimar, had planned to use a primitive radar absorbent structure (RAS) in the leading...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- United Airlines operator UAL Corp. said Thursday that it has sent a proposal request to Boeing Co. and Airbus, as the carrier plans to begin replacing its wide-body fleet. In a letter to employees, Chairman and Chief Executive Glenn Tilton said the request could result in a "significant" number of new planes. At the end of 2008, UAL owned 80 wide-body jets and leased an additional 34.

Joe Biden just told people not to ride the subway or ride airplanes. He also called Matt "Sam".

LOS ANGELES, CA—A resident of Orange has been found guilty of willfully interfering with aircraft pilots for intentionally shooting a laser at two commercial airliners that were on approach to John Wayne Airport. Dana Christian Welch, 37, was convicted yesterday afternoon of two felony counts, each of which carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. The evidence presented at trial showed that Welch intentionally aimed a handheld laser at two Boeing 7-series jet airplanes that were preparing to land at John Wayne Airport on the night of May 21, 2008. The first plane, a United Airlines...

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said the world's poor people should not be forced to pay for the global financial crisis. President Lula said white, blue-eyed people - not Indians, nor black, nor poor people - had created and spread the crisis throughout the world.

SNIPPET: "Fourteen years ago today Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas on the Tokyo subway." SNIPPET: "A final note - Aum Shinrikyo operatives, on the order of the cult's leader, underwent flight training in Florida. There is no evidence that they made any attempts to use this training. It is just an odd, disturbing coincidence."

To add to the continual increase in the number of vanity postings I have a question. We are thinking of doing a week or two in England next spring. I checked Orbitz for air fare and found something very interesting. I verified the topic with two different air lines (Continental and Lufthansa) and then again with Virgin Air. Same results. To fly from Newark, USA, to Bristol, UK, and back cost $917 + taxes. But to fly from Bristol, UK to Newark, USA, and back only cost $487. Both prices were in dollars, no Euros or Pounds involved. And the...

Flights at Stansted were today grounded after at least 50 climate change protesters broke into the airport and occupied a runway.Activists cut through fencing and once on the landing strip chained themselves together and surrounded themselves with their security fencing to create a ‘fort’.Members of the Plane Stupid organisation, who are protesting against the proposed second runway, grounded flights after achieving their aim of closing the airstrip. The occupied runway had been due to reopen at 5am. Airlines were told to divert their planes in the skies and, although the airport terminal has been opened to passengers, no aircraft...

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - December 4, 2008 (OWSweather.com) The invisible killer. People believe global warming exists. People believe in a thing called chemtrails. But are chemtrails what people think? What if chemtrails are poisoning us. What if normal contrails are the visible elements of which are poisoning us? Planes have been known to produce contrails. When the humidity is high in the upper levels, with sub-freezing temperatures, lines in the sky form behind planes. These are known as contrails. Many planes take the skies daily, and many atmospheric conditions can form these trails. What is in them? The chemtrail theory states...

FBI Warns of Potential Terror Attacks The FBI and Department of Homeland Security today issued an analytical "note" to U.S. law-enforcement officials cautioning that al-Qaida terrorists have in the past expressed interest in attacking public buildings using a dozen suicide bombers each carrying 20 kilograms of explosives. Authors with the U.S. Office of Intelligence and Analysis added that they have "no credible or specific information that terrorists are planning operations against public buildings in the United States." The FBI and DHS analysts said they were releasing the note because "it is important for local authorities and building owners and...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Armed men stole five small planes from a private airstrip in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa on Tuesday by overpowering a police officer and flying away, security forces said. The group of around 20 men stormed the small airstrip at dawn, seized the officer's gun, tied him up, filled the planes with fuel and flew off, said Emma Quiroz, spokeswoman for the government's anti-organized crime operations in Sinaloa. It was not clear if there was a link to drug gangs who use small aircraft to spirit cocaine through northern Mexico toward the United States. Quiroz's...

Fox Field Air Fair 2008 is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, so drive there, ride there, walk there, fly there. If you like flying and aircraft, you'll like the opportunity to see numerous aircraft up close. It's not an air show, mind you. The last air show at Gen. William J. Fox Airfield was in 1995. "We want people to know that Fox Field is here in the Antelope Valley and want people to see aircraft up close and personal," said pilot and aviation instructor Bob "Stambo" Stambovsky, spokesman for the event sponsored by the...

The security measures on aircraft belonging to Israeli airlines and around them during takeoffs and arrivals abroad have been significantly boosted over the past few days for fear that Hizbullah would act on its promise to avenge the February assassination of its top commander Imad Mugniyah. The number of armed security guards on some of the flights to several destinations has been increased, as was the number of guards surrounding the plane after the landing and before the takeoff. "The threat is extremely concrete, and there is no choice but to do everything possible," a source involved in aviation security...

US aircraft maker Boeing flew a plane earlier this year that was powered by a hydrogen battery in a first for the aviation industry that could herald a greener future, senior company officials said in Spain on Thursday. But the company said that although hydrogen fuel cells could be used to power small planes it did not believe they could become the primary power source for large passenger planes. "For the first time in the history of aviation, Boeing has flown a manned airplane that was powered by a hydrogen battery," Boeing chief technology officer John Tracy told a news...

NEW YORK - A federal appeals court has rejected a law requiring airlines to provide food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers trapped in a plane delayed on the ground. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that New York's new state law interferes with federal law governing the price, route or service of an air carrier. It was the first law in the nation of its kind. The appeals court said the new law was laudable but only the federal government has the authority to enact such a regulation. The law was challenged before the...

The U.S. has built nine navigation systems for Mexico and Canada under the controversial Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America in an apparent first step toward establishing the satellite infrastructure needed to create a North American air traffic control system. The defining vision for North American air traffic control was articulated by then-Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta in a Sept. 27, 2004, statement announcing, "We must make flying throughout North America as seamless as possible if we are to truly reap the rewards of the expanding global economy."

It might harm their reputation, but Israel's air force is considering giving its combat pilots Viagra to improve their performance -- in the air. A recent study conducted by Israeli doctors among mountain climbers in Africa found a link between erectile dysfunction drugs and improved performance in high altitudes, the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot reported on Thursday...

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Two engines on the British Airways plane which crash landed at Heathrow "did not respond" to a demand for increased thrust about two miles from touchdown, an initial report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said Friday. The report describes the Boeing 777 hitting problems 600ft off the ground and descending rapidly but just making it onto Heathrow land The report says: "Initial indications from (crew) interviews and Flight Recorder analyses show the flight and approach to have progressed normally until the aircraft was established on late finals for Runway 27L. "At approximately 600ft and two...

PALMDALE - The latest, and largest, addition to the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark at Air Force Plant 42 is readying for its debut. The massive B-52 Stratofortress bomber is undergoing restoration and reassembly at the airpark at Avenue P and 25th Street East. Thanks to mostly favorable weather conditions and speedy work, the project is expected to be completed by next week, about half the originally estimated time, said Tim Hughes, deputy Public Works director. The city hired Oklahoma-based Turnlow Company to complete the project. "They were highly recommended," Hughes said. The company, one of three which submitted bids to...

Flight testing is expected to resume as soon as next week at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center on an unusual aircraft shape intended to provide a more efficient means of cargo transport. The X-48B is a prototype scale model of a blended wing body aircraft - described as a cross between a conventional aircraft and a flying wing - believed to offer greater fuel efficiency by providing more lift and better aerodynamics. The aircraft is shaped as an elongated triangle, with a smooth line from the fuselage extending out into the wings. The shape is "a very efficient way of...

We want to thank you for visiting our website! We plan on bringing some of the most prolific and beautiful warbird / air racer vintage aircraft to Petaluma to be hosted by the sponsors on Sunday Nov 11 between 8:30 A.M. and 2 P.M. The sponsors are cordially invited to view aircraft up close and personal. You will have a chance to meet active test pilots, air racers, airshow performers, and veterans who have served our country to preserve freedom. Between 1-2 P.M. you will have a chance to see these beautiful aircraft take to the skies for formation fly...

Mobile phone calls on planes within months By David Millward, Transport Editor Last Updated: 12:01am BST 08/09/2007  Airline passengers could be able to use mobile phones on aircraft within months. Join our campaign for mobile-free flightsIndustry safety regulators have always banned their use on board because of fears the signal would interfere with the plane's electronic and communications equipment.But new technology has been developed which means that passengers will be able to make phone calls on mobile handsets safely while in flight.This week Ryanair started trials intended to prove phones can be used on the Boeing 737, which is used for millions...

SOUTH AFRICA: JOHANNESBURG - Rural fires that blazed for weeks in South Africa killed at least 26 people, marking the worst loss of life from such infernos since the 1980s, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday. Ten deaths have been confirmed in the northeastern province of Mpumalanga and 16 in Kwazulu-Natal, where veld and forest fires broke out on July 2, Department of Provincial and Local Government spokesperson Zandile Ratsitanga said. Most of the fires have been contained and were no longer a threat, officials said. Another two deaths were still unconfirmed by police in Mpumalanga. "Work is still continuing...

Wahpeton man killed after planes collide at air show Kim Winnegge, The Forum Published Saturday, July 28, 2007 A Wahpeton, N.D., man died Friday after performing in a Wisconsin air show. Gerald Beck, 58, died after the plane he was flying collided with one flown by Casey Odegaard, 24, of Kindred. The men each were flying P-51 Mustangs, single-seat fighters used during World War II, at the experimental air show in Osh Kosh, Wis., officials said. Dick Knapinski, Experimental Aircraft Association spokesman, identified the deceased pilot as Beck. He said Odegaard was able to climb out of his plane after...

Eclipse Aviation delivered the world’s first very light jet (VLJ) customer aircraft earlier this month, intent on clearing the waiting list of more than 2,500 aircraft. Given the company’s current facilities are designed to support the production of approximately 1,000 aircraft a year, it’s unlikely that joining the waiting list for the US$1.5 million Eclipse 500 will get you one this side of late 2009, but the market for very light jets seems to be getting a lot of attention and we suspect this is just the beginning of a whole new era of personal flight. The first customer Eclipse...

Women at Love Field 'acting suspiciously' Dallas police and federal terrorism officials are investigating two women, both dressed in camouflage pants under their traditional Muslim robes and scarves, who were seen conducting what appeared to be surveillance and acting suspiciously at Dallas Love Field. One of the women, Kimberly "Asma" Al-Homsi, 42, of Arlington, who is on probation for a 2005 Garland road rage incident involving a fake grenade, is said to have long-range assault rifle and explosives training, according to a Dallas police intelligence bulletin issued March 5. "I'm a trained sniper and proud of it," Ms. Al-Homsi said...

S.F. AIRPORT (Map, News) - A Honolulu-bound plane made an emergency landing at San Francisco International on Tuesday due to an unruly passenger itching for a nicotine fix. Delta Airlines flight 511, a nine-plus hour flight headed to Hawaii from Cincinnati, was already over the Pacific Ocean when a passenger was reportedly trying to smoke inside the airplane, according to company spokeswoman Chris Kelly. The captain elected to make an emergency landing. The woman had an anxiety attack while the plane was in the air, locked herself in the bathroom, attempted to smoke a cigarette and become unruly, according to...

Passenger bill of rights proposed Fri Feb 16, 1:00 PM ET Senator plans passengers' bill of rights WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record) says she plans to introduce a "Passengers' Bill of Rights" that would give passengers the right to deplane when an aircraft has been on the ground for more than three hours past its scheduled departure time. "I've been stuck on the tarmac many times in my travel back and forth to California," Boxer said in a statement posted on her Web site. "Sometimes with the weather and traffic, it's unavoidable. But to keep...

Boeing acknowledged Friday that the horizontal tail section of the 787 Dreamliner had cracked slightly during a so-called "bird-strike" test, but described the incident as a routine part of developing the new jet. The Dreamliner program is under intense scrutiny as Boeing prepares to build the first all-composite airliner, so every glitch — or potential glitch — makes analysts and investors skittish. Spokeswoman Lori Gunter said the test was part of the development process and not a certification test, so the company's engineers strongly object to applying "the f-word," meaning failure. "It wasn't a test you pass or fail. It...

The thrill of DIY flying The PressSaturday, 3 February 2007 DON SCOTT, MIKE CREAN PLANE CRAZY? This weekend 200 plane-makers and flyers will descend on Ashburton for the annual national Fly-in. John King says pilots appreciate the country more than other people do. "Watching that glorious landscape unwind less than 1000 metres beneath the aircraft is sheer joy." For a small but committed bunch of Kiwis, the only thing better than flying is doing so in a plane you've built yourself. Mike Crean reports. Kiwis can fly. More than that, Kiwis can build planes and fly. They do so in...

CHICAGO -- After an excellent year, Boeing is counting its blessings, which include its competitor. They also include an anticipated doubling of the commercial aviation market in the next 20 years, which will require 27,000 new planes, costing $2.6 trillion. Americans ambivalent about globalization should note how Boeing, under chief executive James McNerney, is prospering. The Sept. 11 attacks devastated commercial airlines, causing Boeing -- which cut its jetliner production in half -- to rapidly shed more than 40,000 of its 93,000 workers who designed and built the planes. But the revival has added back some 13,000 jobs and raised...

Report says rabbit caused plane crash 3:39 PM 03:39 PM EST on Thursday, January 11, 2007 By WCNC Staff 6NEWS NTSB officials believe a rabbit caused this plane to crash during a landing back in March of 2006. MOORESVILLE, NC -- A small plane hit a rabbit while landing at a private airstrip in Mooresville causing the plane to crash, according to a National Transportation Safety Bureau report. The crash happened at Miller Airpark on March 13, 2006. The pilot of the plane told the NTSB the plane skipped and touched down normally until the nose of the plane began...

The hubbub raised over six Islamic imams being removed from a US Airways flight in Minneapolis for suspicious behavior is the latest in a string of incidents underlining one consistent thread in the war on terror: Muslim terrorists have never given up on the tried and true idea of hijacking airplanes and blowing them up to kill and demoralize the infidels. Police and witness reports suggest a list of suspicious activities and remarks. Some of the imams were discussing in Arabic about “bin Laden” and condemning America for “killing Saddam.” Imams asked for seat belt extenders for the extremely obese,...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Terrorism charges were dropped Wednesday against a suspect labeled as a key figure in an alleged plot to blow up jets flying from London to the United States this summer. A judge in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi ruled that the case against Rashid Rauf, a British Muslim of Pakistani origin, did not "fall in the category of terrorism," and transferred the case to a regular criminal court, a court official said. Rauf now faces charges of possessing explosives and forging travel and identity documents, said a court official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he...

MINNEAPOLIS - Six Muslim imams were removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Monday and questioned by police for several hours before being released, a leader of the group said. The six were among passengers who boarded Flight 300, bound for Phoenix, around 6:30 p.m., airport spokesman Pat Hogan said. A passenger initially raised concerns about the group through a note passed to a flight attendant, according to Andrea Rader, a spokeswoman for US Airways. She said police were called after the captain and airport security workers asked the men to leave the plane and...

Early Boeing 777-200 to be broken up for the first time By Max Kingsley-Jones A Boeing 777 is heading for the breaker’s yard for the first time, just 11 years after the twinjet first entered service. Memphis-based Universal Asset Management says it has acquired a General Electric GE90-90B-powered 777-200 (MSN 27109) - the nineteenth aircraft off the line - for disassembly. According to Flight’s Acas database, the aircraft was originally delivered to British Airways (BA) in January 1996 as G-ZZZE, being one of five non-Extended Range variants that the airline operated. The aircraft was a sister ship of G-ZZZA...

Excerpt - Intelligence agencies have been warned that al Qaeda may be planning to attack air and rail travel in Europe in actions that may occur during the busy holiday travel season, CBS News has learned exclusively. In separate interviews with Arab and other intelligence sources, CBS News has been told that the warnings come from interrogations of al Qaeda suspects who recently left Afghanistan and Pakistan. "One suspect said plans for repeating the Heathrow attempt (a reference to the failed 'liquid bomb' plot interrupted in August) were all prepared. It is now a matter of taking action," said one...

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?verified=1&NNumbertxt=929CD

WASHINGTON, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Boeing Co. (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is weighing options for replacing its best-selling 737 and one scenario might include separate aircraft for two markets, the company's senior marketing official said on Wednesday. The 737 family covers the 110- to 200-seat range and is the most popular commercial plane ever with more than 5,000 produced in nearly four decades. There have been several 737 upgrades, including a major overhaul in the early 1990s. With airlines seeking variety in seating capacity and more fuel and operating efficiency, Boeing is studying how to meet expectations and continue to...

The rash of airline-security incidents since the London terror arrests -- which has diverted or delayed more than 20 flights all over the world -- has more to do with flukes, red herrings or terrorist probes than with actual, imminent threats, intelligence observers and security officials say. "We are constantly being probed by terrorists," Mr. Hagmann said. "We are going to have a limited number of incidents that are just a ploy, a nonevent as a result of misunderstandings or innocuous activity. You can expect that and factor that in. But the extent we are seeing today -- the numbers...

LEXINGTON, Ky. - What is known is that a string of mistakes preceded the deadly crash of Comair Flight 5191, but what is less clear is which one was the crucial turning point. Was the problem the airport itself? The captain had to follow an unfamiliar taxi route that had been changed by a repaving project just a week earlier. Or, was it a decision by the tower manager to break the federal rule that two controllers should be working there at all times? Or even earlier, when the airport built intersecting runways rather than parallel ones? "It just breaks...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryAugust 12, 2006 President's Radio Address       Audio      In Focus: Homeland Security      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week, America received a stark reminder that terrorists are still plotting attacks to kill our people. Beginning on Wednesday night, authorities in Great Britain arrested more than 20 individuals who we believe were plotting to detonate liquid explosives aboard flights from the United Kingdom to the United States. If these terrorists had succeeded, they could have caused death on a massive scale. The plot appears to have been carefully planned and well-advanced. They planned to bring...

This is a compilation reference thread with links to all stories and topics posted on FRee Republic since Wednesday night, 8/9/2006, through today, Saturday, 8/12/2006 concerning the failed bomb plot discovered and quashed by authorities in London, directed towards airline flights from the UK to the US.