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HOW OBAMA HAS IMPROVED HIS CAMPAIGN PLANEJuly 24, 2008Sean Robins NewsBusters has a report today on campaign and reportorial analysis by ABC's Jake Tapper ("Obama Thinks He's President; Denies Media Access") Tapper, who is about as reasonable as an MSMer working for ABC News can be, is all in a snit about how the Obama campaign has been treating reporters, especially those ensconced in Obama One for his "Tour of Duty" through the Middle East and Europe.  Obama, as we've been reading the past few days, has been frightfully unavailable to reporters (I think I've even heard a bunch of...

As part of a month-long aircraft makeover, a painted American flag was removed from the tail of Sen. Barack Obama's official campaign airplane and was replaced with the presidential candidate's trademark "O" symbol. The refurbished 757 was unveiled to members of the news media today, 41 of whom boarded the craft and took off to meet Obama in Amman, Jordan, where the presidential candidate will stop as part of a Middle Eastern and European tour. Obama traveled to the Mideast earlier this week on board a separate airplane. Fox News blogger Bonny Kapp, traveling on Obama's new airplane, reported: "The...

Sally, a nickname bestowed upon Barack Obama’s chartered 757 by some in the traveling press, has returned to service after undergoing a month-long makeover for the general election. Her inaugural flight - sans candidate - will be to Amman, Jordan, with a refuel stop in Ireland. There are 69 passengers on board, including 38 members of the press, Secret Service agents, and Obama staffers, including several of Obama’s top foreign policy advisors. The North American jet that flew Obama and his traveling crew around for much of the primary season was refurbished with new seats and power for each passenger...

A British soldier and jump instructor participating in a parachute competition in Germany got hung up on the landing gear of his jump aircraft, reportedly a Britten-Norman Islander, and was rescued by the only person left on the aircraft -- its pilot...

The FAA has offered an unprecedented $100,000 bonus to air-traffic controllers throughout the country to lure them to the New York area's five understaffed radar centers - and has even begun trolling local high schools to recruit for the jobs. The FAA began its recruitment efforts in high schools and through online ads on MySpace and Craigslist because of a severe staffing shortage and lack of experience among workers at its air-control towers.   (edit) By 2011, 59 percent of all controllers will have less than five years on the job.  

In this edition: The Israel Air Force unveils a new squadron of warplanes said to be capable of striking Iran. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's lawyers say they need more time to cross examine key witness Morris Talansky. Iran test fires a new round of missiles as U.S. vows to defend its allies

5. John F. Kennedy, Jr.- July 16, 1999 Jfk2 John F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the 35th president, died along with his wife Carolyn Bessette when their plane crashed into the Atlantic en route to Martha’s Vineyard. Kennedy was piloting his Pipier Saratoga II HP on a dark and hazy night when the crash occurred. It is believed that Kennedy, who had not yet been qualified for instrument flight rules conditions, was likely disoriented by the conditions.

Local authorities say a flower-laden U.S. cargo plane headed for Miami has crashed near the Colombian capital, killing two people on the ground. None of the plane's crew have been reported killed Monday, although some are injured. It is the second crash in two months of a Boeing 747 flown by Kalitta Air of Ypsilanti, Michigan. advertisement Madrid village Mayor Diego Humberto Sicard says the plane hit a ranch roughly 15 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of Bogota at 3:50 a.m. (4:50 a.m. ET). He says the two people who died, Pedro and Edwin Suarez, lived in a small house on...

[snip]. Well, we do have such a power plant and at the moment it is sitting doing not a lot really, in a Gold Coast workshop at Southport. It is a four-cylinder, 2.4 litre engine which has been independently certified as being the world's most efficient petrol engine. In other words, for a given amount of petrol burned this engine will do more work than any other anywhere in the world. During testing, the engine achieved a repeatable Brake Specific Fuel Consumption figure of 212g/kWh or 38.6 per cent efficiency, best figure achieved being 207g/kWh or 39.5 per cent efficiency....

A year ago, Justin revealed his fear of heights and told us about Kent Couch who has a thing for tying helium balloons to a lawn chair so he can float across the sky. Last year, he made it 193 miles before landing in sagebrush in eastern Oregon. Couch will be at it again tomorrow. This time he wants to fly from Oregon to Boise, Idaho. That's 300 miles. To do this feat, he's attaching 150 latex party balloons to his new lawn chair. This feat is not easy on lawn chairs, so both times Couch has done this, he's...

CRANS-PRES-CELIGNY, Switzerland -- Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's . . . Fusion Man! Make that Yves Rossy, a 48-year-old Swiss daredevil also known as Jet Man, Rocket Man, the Bird Man of the Alps. Thanks to his homemade, jet-powered wing suit, Rossy can flash through the air at a Superman-like 186 mph. Imagine George Jetson, the futuristic cartoon character, pumped up with nuclear steroids and leaving his boy Elroy in the dust. "It's always been my dream, to fly like a bird," Rossy said in an interview at his home in this Swiss...

July 3, 2008 'Fast Lanes' for July 4 Holiday The U.S. military is making its controlled airspace available for commercial airline flights off the East Coast during the July Fourth weekend to help reduce delays for air travelers, allowing air carriers to fly alternate routes in one of the country’s most heavily flown aviation corridors. The Pentagon is releasing the airspace off the eastern seaboard from 6:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 3, to 6:00 a.m. on Monday, July 7. This is similar to what was done over Memorial Day, Christmas and Thanksgiving. The DOD will release airspace off the...

Republicans on Wednesday assailed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's request for access to an Air Force transport plane as an extravagance, though former Speaker Dennis Hastert flew in a military jet as well. Republicans are taking issue with the size of the plane Pelosi has requested. Pelosi had asked for access to a C-32 plane, a military version of the Boeing 757-200. A Defense Department spokesman said Wednesday that the Pentagon informed Pelosi's staff that she would be provided with a plane but that its size would be based on availability. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Pentagon agreed...

PARIS (AFP) - The former German head of aircraft manufacturer Airbus, Gustav Humbert, was detained for questioning by France's financial crime unit Monday in connection with alleged insider trading at Airbus parent EADS, a source close to the matter said. The French financial market regulator, AMF, in April alleged in a report that Humbert sold 160,000 EADS shares in November 2005, earning 1.685 million euros (2.7 million dollars). He is suspected of having benefited from privileged information on EADS' financial prospects as well as delays to the Airbus A380 superjumbo project, which were announced in June 2006 and caused the...

There was a time when Iraqi Airways criss-crossed the globe, operating flights from Baghdad to cosmopolitan destinations including Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Bombay and a host of other cities. But that was nearly three decades ago — before the economically ruinous Iran-Iraq war, two other wars involving the United States and its allies, a no-fly zone and crippling U.N. sanctions. The long slide into decay was both painful and inevitable. By the time Saddam Hussein was toppled from power in 2003, numerous abandoned Iraqi Airways jets sat rusting on the tarmac in at least three regional airports, and the...

MUMBAI: An Air India Jaipur-Mumbai flight flew well past its destination with both its pilots fatigued and fast asleep in the cockpit. When the pilots were finally woken up by anxious Mumbai air traffic controllers, the plane was about half way to Goa. ( Watch ) This nap in the sky took place about a fortnight ago on the domestic leg of a Dubai-Jaipur-Mumbai flight — IC 612 — which had about 100 passengers on board. "The plane took off from Dubai at 1.35am IST and then from Jaipur at 7am. After operating an overnight flight, fatigue levels peak, and...

British 9/11 fears over private planes, Government terror adviser warns By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Editor Last Updated: 9:41PM BST 23/06/2008 Private jets and light aircraft could be used by terrorists to launch attacks on crowds and buildings in Britain, the Government's anti-terror expert has warned. There are an estimated 8,500 private aircraft and up to 500 "landing sites" in Britain, ranging from farmers' fields to regional airports Senior police officers have "real anxiety" about the possibility of terror missions being launched from small airports amid fears over lax security. Jets could be hijacked and used as "vehicle bombs" to...

<p>Provenance Fighter Sales is benefiting from growing interest in WWII-era aircraft.</p> <p>The World War II-era P-38 fighter made an emergency landing on a Greenland ice cap in July 1942 while on a flight from Maine to England. The aircraft eventually was buried under a layer of ice and snow more than 200 feet thick.</p>

Continental Airlines said Thursday that it will switch global alliances, joining United Airlines in a deal giving customers full access to both carriers' networks while allowing them to earn frequent-flier miles. The companies described the deal as more than a traditional code-sharing arrangement, saying cooperation on "frequent-flier programs, lounges, facility utilization, information technology and procurement" will boost revenues and cut costs. Shares of both airlines, burdened like their peers by soaring jet-fuel costs, rose sharply Thursday. Houston-based Continental plans to partner closely with Chicago-based United and join the global Star Alliance, a 20-airline group that includes Lufthansa and Air Canada....

CHICAGO - Baggage fees are fast becoming an unavoidable part of U.S. flying — three of the largest carriers now charge $15 for a first checked bag. No. 2 United Airlines and No. 7 US Airways announced their new fees on Thursday, three weeks after No. 1 American Airlines set the precedent for the charge. Most U.S. carriers already have instituted a $25 charge for checking a second bag — part of a potpourri of new fees that reflect a struggling airline industry passing along record fuel prices to passengers in the form of higher fares, fuel surcharges and service...

US Airways is imposing new passenger fees in the face of rising jet fuel prices, but it's going even further than some other airlines have recently. The Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier (NYSE: LCC), which has a large presence at Reagan National Airport, will start charging $2 for nonalcoholic beverages in coach class on all domestic flights. The fee covers sodas, juices, bottled water and coffee. The charge for alcoholic beverages in coach will increase to $7. Following the lead of several other airlines, US Airways also will charge $15 for the first checked bag for tickets purchased beginning July 9 for...

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — As the C-130E Hercules slowly rolled down the taxiway, fire trucks on both sides gave the big, gray aircraft a shower and dozens of airmen lining its path quickly saluted. It was a final farewell for an old plane with more than 44 years of service and a heroic legacy. The 86th Airlift Wing said goodbye to the plane, which earned an honorary Purple Heart during the Vietnam War. The aircraft, known only by its 63-7865 tail number, left Ramstein on Wednesday for its final resting place at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. Staff Sgt....

The aging planes of United, American, and Delta guzzle more gas and make the U.S. carriers more vulnerable to soaring oil prices—and to their global competitors For a look at one of the biggest headaches facing U.S. airlines, head out to Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport any day and watch the big jets taking off for the U.S. There goes United Airlines to Chicago, American Airlines to Boston, Delta Air Lines to Atlanta, and Air France to New York's John F. Kennedy airport. What's the big deal? Many of the U.S. carriers' planes are Boeing 767s, a model that dates...

A Grupo TACA airplane overshot a runway and slammed to a stop on a city street Friday in the Honduran capital, leaving a pilot and a passenger dead and injuring several others. Television images showed the plane's fuselage buckled and broken apart in places. The cockpit was smashed under a billboard, and firefighters hosed down at least two cars trapped under the Airbus 320's left engine.

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq, May 22, 2008 – As grand accomplishments go, a Task Force Marne aviation brigade’s 200th combat air assault mission during their current deployment to Iraq went off with as little fanfare as possible. An uneventful mission is just fine with the pilots of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, air assault unit. “For us it went exactly as planned,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Nigel Huebscher, the mission’s flight lead. “We hit the ‘time on target’ spot on the [landing zone] and performed the mission as close to flawlessly as...

BEX, Switzerland - A Swiss pilot strapped on a jet-powered wing and leaped from a plane Wednesday for the first public demonstration of the homemade device, turning figure eights and soaring high above the Alps.

Plane's engines quit before crash Federal Aviation Administration continues investigation HAYDEN -- Doug Parker was talking with a friend outside his hangar at the Coeur d'Alene Airport when he called the plane going down Monday at 6:45 p.m. "I heard it quit," Parker said Tuesday. "I knew the guy flying it and it went dead silence under full power." Under normal conditions, there is an audible noise when a plane slows down, Parker said. "I said 'He didn't shut that power off. He didn't abort it.' I said 'There's going to be a plane crash.' And then: boom." Hans...

Those of us who've been dreaming of cheap personal air travel in the Buck Rogers, sci-fi jet-pack mode should turn their eyes towards Vinci, Italy on May 25. That's when Gennai Yanagisawa, inventor of the tiny GEN H-4 personal helicopter, will be taking his lightweight 165-pound whirly-gig on a demonstration flight. Why Vinci? According to the 75-year-old Yanagisawa, "Since the concept of our helicopter came from Italy, I always wanted to take a flight in the birthplace of da Vinci." Indeed, Leonardo's famous notebook drawings from 1493 show an "ornithopter" with a screw-like rotor. Like da Vinci's pioneering design,...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Research on SwiftFuel© Swift Enterprises Ltd. has unveiled a new general aviation fuel that is less expensive, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendlier than any on the market, said co-founder John Rusek. The general aviation industry includes all flights other than military and scheduled airline flights, both private and commercial. Data on Swift Enterprises' 100 percent renewable general aviation fuel was presented April 28 at an annual meeting of an international committee that oversees aviation fuel standards. Unlike current biomass fuels, SwiftFuel is comprised of synthetic hydrocarbons derived from biomass. Rusek said it can provide an effective range...

It was particularly memorable, Craig Williams said, the night he almost died.Williams, 44, is a Concord resident, and, among many other accomplishments, is a former federal prosecutor and the endorsed Republican candidate for the 7th Congressional seat, U.S. Congress, House of Representatives. The year of his near death was 1991, it was the dead of winter and he was flying across the icy North Atlantic with his squadron, the VMFA(AW)-121 Green Knights. He was a first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, flying as a Weapons and Sensor Officer in the back seat of a two-seater F/A-18D Hornet, on...

BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq, May 2, 2008 – An Air Force Reserve pilot deployed here broke his own world record for hours spent flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon when he surpassed the 6,000-hour milestone today. Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Michael Brill, a 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron pilot, prepares to don his helmet at Balad Air Base, Iraq, before flying a combat mission May 2, 2008. Brill broke the world record he previously set for F-16 flying hours when he surpassed the 6,000-hour milestone. Brill is deployed from Hill Air Force Base, Utah. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior...

5/2/2008 - SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Sheppard officials have identified the pilots killed when their T-38C Talon crashed during a May 1 training mission. Maj. Brad Funk, 35, a 90th Flying Training Squadron instructor pilot, and 2nd Lt. Alec Littler, 23, a student pilot in the 80th Flying Training Wing's Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program, died when the aircraft crashed on approach during a training mission at about 7:55 a.m. A board of officers is investigating the accident. More information will be released as it becomes available.

5/1/2008 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Air Education and Training Command officials suspended flights of T-38C Talon aircraft May 1 following a fatal crash at Sheppard AFB, Texas. The crash was the second in two weeks involving a T-38, following an April 23 accident in which two pilots were killed when their T-38 crashed at Columbus AFB, Miss. General William R. Looney III, AETC commander, directed the stand-down. "We have no evidence that these incidents are related," General Looney said. "But until we have a more complete understanding of the causes of both accidents, it's prudent to...

THIS "shredded" and incapacitated F-111 soared across southeast Queensland homes before a spectacular emergency landing at Amberley Air Base. The jet was flying at 900m on a test bombing raid at Evans Head, northern NSW, when a pelican struck the fibreglass nose and was sucked into an engine... The nation's air combat chief, Air Commodore Neil Hart, said the jet's predicament and "precautionary emergency landing" was not serious enough to alert the public... "One engine was working fine, while the other was at reduced power." He described the circumstances of the incident, which happened between 10am and noon, as near...

Delta to Join Northwest to Form World’s Largest Airline By JEFF BAILEY The boards of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announced a deal late Monday that will create the world’s biggest airline and probably trigger other airlines to pursue mergers of their own. Directors of the two airlines approved the deal in telephone conference calls. If they approve the deal, shareholders of Northwest would receive 1.25 Delta shares for every Northwest share that they own, a person with direct knowledge of the arrangement said Monday evening. Seven board members from Delta and five from Northwest would join the board...

A team of European scientists has deliberately triggered electrical activity in thunderclouds for the first time, according to a new paper in the latest issue of Optics Express, the Optical Society’s (OSA) open-access journal. They did this by aiming high-power pulses of laser light into a thunderstorm. At the top of South Baldy Peak in New Mexico during two passing thunderstorms, the researchers used laser pulses to create plasma filaments that could conduct electricity akin to Benjamin Franklin's silk kite string. No air-to-ground lightning was triggered because the filaments were too short-lived, but the laser pulses generated discharges in the...

Three F-16s roared toward Fenway Park, flying wingtip to wingtip. Suddenly a fourth F-16, trailing behind the formation, caught up, flew under the three F-16s, then looped up and over the formation to take its rightful spot for a perfect V formation. The maneuver, performed during the Red Sox Opening Day game Tuesday, came just as the Boston Symphony Orchestra finished playing the national anthem. It elicited roaring applause and cheers from the full-capacity crowd, which clearly appreciated what it thought to be great showmanship. But as it turns out, the maneuver was improper and the Vermont Air National Guard...

Sasol’s synthetic jet fuel is derived from four synthetic streams: Iso-paraffinic kerosene, Heavy naptha kerosene, Light distillate #1 and Naptha #2. Sasol’s synthetic jet fuel, produced by its proprietary Coal to Liquids (CTL) process, has received approval for full, unblended use in international commercial aviation. Sasol’s fully synthetic jet fuel (FSJF) is the first such fuel to be approved. For the past nine years, Sasol has supplied a semi-synthetic jet fuel—a mixture of CTL components with petroleum-derived kerosene—to international airlines operating from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Based on the success of the alternative fuel blend and following...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - American Airlines canceled almost 1,100 flights, or nearly half its schedule, on Wednesday to reinspect aircraft, a disruption that affected about 100,000 passengers and triggered chaos at the busiest U.S. airports. The airline said it expects about 900 cancellations on Thursday.

CHICAGO (AP) — The Boeing Co. has announced another delay involving its 787 jetliner, pushing back its expected debut in commercial service to the third quarter of 2009. It's the fourth time Boeing has had to revise the schedule for the top-selling plane, which has been plagued by supply-chain problems. The latest setback had been expected by analysts as well as customers of the aircraft. It further undermines the company's credibility after failing to deliver on its previous three scheduled plans for the 787. Boeing says the plane's first flight now won't take place until the fourth quarter of this...

LOUISVILLE (WAVE) -- Metro police and firefighters are on the scene of a plane crash near Bowman Field. The aircraft is down in the 2600 block of Valetta Road near the Seneca Gardens neighborhood. The 6-seater Cessna P210N went down shortly before 3 p.m. and police officials tell us it narrowly missed a house in the residential neighborhood. Emergency crews pulled two people from the wreckage. They were taken to the hospital. No word yet on their condition. We have a crew on the scene and we'll have the latest coming up on WAVE 3 News.

9:40 p.m. Guam - Air Force officials are investigating the collision of a B-1 Bomber with emergency vehicles on the taxiway up at Andersen Air Force Base. Air Force Spokesman Capt. Joel Stark confirms that the B-1 Bomber was in transit from Singapore to Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota and had landed at AAFB for an inflight emergency. Capt. Stark couldn't disclose what the emergency was but did say the B-1 Bomber apparently had rolled while on the taxiway and collided into the vehicles just after 12 p.m. Friday. Capt. Stark says there were no injuries since the crew...

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...

THE NSW Government is considering a ban on laser pointers after six planes had to alter their flight paths into Sydney when they were targeted in a "cluster attack" on Friday. The planes changed their flight paths into Kingsford Smith airport after pilots were targeted by four green lasers around 10.30pm (AEDT). Authorities said it was a co-ordinated attack lasting 15 minutes. The laser beams appeared to have originated from the Bexley area, in southwestern Sydney. The attack yesterday was described by an Air Services Australia spokesman as "the worst attack in our experience".

A City banker who shone a high-powered torch at a helicopter while it was preparing to land was jailed yesterday after being told that he could have caused a catastrophe by blinding the pilot. Aldous Voice, 31, beamed the five million candle power lamp from his kitchen window as the helicopter was landing on top of a nearby building on the Isle of Dogs, East London. The foreign exchange associate director was jailed for four months after Judge Simon Freeland said that it was only the skill of Simon Mitchell, a former helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy, that averted...

TOKYO - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is going ahead with its mid-sized regional jet — the first "made in Japan" passenger aircraft in three decades. The announcement from the company President Kazuo Tsukuda came Friday, a day after major Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways placed the first orders for the twin-engine aircraft that seats about 70 to 90 people. ANA ordered 15 of the jets from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. on Thursday for delivery from 2013, with an option for 10 more. Mitsubishi, a Japanese machinery maker, has been testing out the response to the jet — which would face tough...

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."

... The first five helicopters are due in 2010, a year behind schedule, although the White House made compromises on the requirements to cut costs and speed delivery. Twenty-three more-sophisticated versions are to follow, at which point the current fleet and the first five craft would be retired. But the most recent target date of 2015 for these additional choppers has slipped to an unknown date. The problems with the second batch have prompted the Pentagon to issue a stop-work order until it determines what to do and Congress provides more money. The Pentagon conducted a review of the project...

SAN DIEGO, March 19, 2008 – In the months since her last flight in the No. 3 jet for the Air Force’s Thunderbirds, Maj. Nicole Malachowski has had a hard time attaching perspective to being the first woman to fly on a service-level U.S. military flight demonstration team. Air Force Maj. Nicole Malachowski holds her plaque after being inducted into the Women in Aviation International's Pioneer Hall of Fame on March 15, 2008, in San Diego. The major, who piloted the Thunderbirds No. 3 jet, was recognized for being the first woman pilot to be part of a service-level...

Safe and sound: World's largest passenger plane touches down at Heathrow airport Last updated at 19:36pm on 18th March 2008 The world's biggest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, completed its first commercial flight to Europe at Heathrow Airport today. Aviation minister Jim Fitzpatrick was among dignitaries at Heathrow to greet the Rolls-Royce-powered Singapore Airlines plane, whose wings are made in the UK. The 240ft-long aircraft had been given a rousing send-off by staff at Singapore's Changi Airport and it was met at Heathrow by a water cannon salute from fire brigade crews after its 6,800-mile journey. Scroll down for more......