Free Republic

Using actual New Horizons data and digital elevation models of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, mission scientists have created flyover movies that offer spectacular new perspectives of the many unusual features that were discovered and which have reshaped our views of the Pluto system – from a vantage point even closer than the spacecraft itself. This dramatic Pluto flyover begins over the highlands to the southwest of the great expanse of nitrogen ice plain informally named Sputnik Planitia. The viewer first passes over the western margin of Sputnik, where it borders the dark, cratered terrain of Cthulhu Macula, with...

Melinda Byerley, founding partner of TimeShareCMO a startup marketing firm, wants to make it perfectly clear what she thinks of Flyover America: Dear Melinda, I see you’re making progress; 8 weeks and you’ve already moved on from “denial”to stage two in the grief process – anger. That’s okay, let it all out, we can take it. Heck, being your intellectual inferiors we probably won’t even understand what you’re saying, so let it fly! And although you’re in the business of marketing yourself, I see you’re blinded by your grief so perhaps I can help you simplify your message so the stupid...

**SNIP** A flyover state is the huge region between the coasts. As opposed to the eastern seaboard, northern post-industrial states and Pacific Ocean states. They’re overwhelmingly Republican, stanchly conservative, regressive right wing, evangelical Christian and working class, well, the loudest, most ill-informed of them are. The term wasn’t commonly used in a political manner until recently with the emergence of the Tea Party and the election of Obama. **SNIP** Since the inception of the term silent majority almost 50 years ago, and all of its iterations since, this block of voters was hardly a majority and never silent. This group...

Hey Guys, I've been checking out some military fly-overs this week in eastern Pennsylvania and today a noteworthy flight took place : I had 5 fighter jets, 3 up front 2 in the back. External tanks, flying about 3000-5000 feet. Throughout the week I've spotted one of these flights everyday. I got a tail marking on one, but it appears they are all different. Can someone help me with a tail ID ? It was yellow on the bottom, Orange on top. It was slanted at less than a 45 degree angle, sloping towards the back. Does this marking ring...

KOLKATA, India — When Sonali Mehrotra realized that a hulking overpass would come within arm’s length of her third-floor balcony, she took refuge in black humor, telling relatives to look at the bright side: Instead of lugging suitcases up the stairs when they came to visit, they could toss them into a bedroom as they drove in from the airport. Anyway, work on the overpass occurred so sporadically — generally, when elections were coming — that a project originally promised in 18 months was unfinished after seven years. At this rate, she joked, the project might not be completed in...

They use Oklahoma bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols as a pretext. What they hate and fear is the Warrior class, whose primary motive is honor, and who therefore can't be used as pawns. The anti-armed citizenry Tryannocrat Elites are from the Intellectual class, who are content to dictate unreasonable policies to the people then sit back dispassionately and watch as an experiment. They say, How Interesting. A primarily honor-bound veteran class is first in the way of their program and must be the first group disarmed.

One of the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angel pilots recently flew right over the Golden Gate Bridge during rush hour, and the moment was perfectly caught on camera by a fan. Tiburon, California, resident Rich Shelton captured Lt. Cmdr. David Tickle fly his F/A-18 right above San Francisco traffic Oct. 9 during Fleet Week. “They don’t always make many passes between the towers, so I was very lucky to catch this shot with my relatively slow camera!” Mr. Shelton told Navy Times. Navy Times reached out to Blue Angels for comment and was assured that all necessary safety precautions were taken...

What’s the matter with Kansas? It’s a decade since Thomas Frank launched a thousand headlines with his book of that title, itself a reference to a famous 1896 essay by Kansas journalist William Allen White. Frank’s thesis was simple: Kansans, and by extension the rest of the red states, vote against their economic interests. Or as he puts it in the first page of his book: “People getting their fundamental interests wrong is what American political life is all about.” Is he right? Do voters in the great middle of the country ignore their economic interests to vote for the...

Two Air Force Pilots, Major Howard V. Andre Jr. and Major James E. Sizemore, were buried in 2013 at Arlington National Cemetery and were honored with a flyover by civilian pilots — the US Air Force claimed budget cuts prevented an Arlington flyover. But the civilian pilots stepped in to make it happen.

Frank Buckley, Jessica Holmes and Mark Kriski were live from the Tournament of Roses House in Pasadena. They watched in awe as the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds rehearsed their Rose Parade flyover with six F-16s soaring in formation along the Colorado Blvd. parade route.

Regarding World Series opening game #1, did anyone notice that the FOX11 TV network COMPLETELY IGNORED the 'fighter jet flyover' as Mary J. Blige sang our National Anthem? I could HEAR THE JETS but no attempt was made by FoxTV to show them as they roared overhead! Was this a slap in the face to our troops, or what? This really P*SSED ME OFF!!!

The sequester cuts have grounded the Thunderbirds and other U.S. military flight demonstration teams, but it hasn’t stopped Air Force Academy graduates from getting their own ceremonial flyover. With the help of donations, nine World War II era planes, flown by pilots from the Texas Flying Legends Museum and the National Museum of World War II Aviation, performed at the U.S. Air Force Class of 2013 commencement ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Before thousands of civilian drones begin flying in U.S. skies, Congress should take steps to protect the public's privacy and prevent terrorists from hacking or jamming signals that control the aircraft, lawmakers said Thursday. House members from both parties said at an oversight hearing that they're worried about potential privacy and security threats as the use of small unmanned aircraft becomes widespread. The Federal Aviation Administration forecasts an estimated 10,000 civilian drones will be in use in the U.S. within five years. Even Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, co-chair of bipartisan group of lawmakers promoting greater domestic use...

NEW YORK (CBS-New York) -- Space shuttle Enterprise will soon begin its final voyage to its new home in New York City. The shuttle is being airlifted on the back of a 747 from Washington’s Dulles Airport. It will then fly over New York City before landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Enterprise was the first shuttle ever to be built by NASA. It never flew into space, but Enterprise paved the way for others that did. NASA engineers used the Enterprise to figure out how to land a shuttle, launching the glider from the back of a modified...

Resourceful Japanese engineers did not let a small matter like a lack of space deter them when they needed to begin a new construction project and managed to build a road through an office block in the city of Osaka. The 16-storey building Gate Tower Building has a busy fly-over running straight through the ground floor as this amazing picture shows Locals have nicknamed the building the 'beehive' referring to its appearance as a 'bustling place.' The highway is the tenant of those floors and actually pays rent. The lift even passes through the floors without stopping, floor 4 being...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry sounds more like a presidential candidate by the day. This weekend he gave a rousing speech at the Republican Leadership Conference in which he blasted the Obama administration as a bunch of smarty-pants busy-bodies. “They clearly think they know best,” said Governor Perry. “And let me tell you, I vehemently disagree. They don’t know best.” As he kept speaking he was interrupted by audience members chanting “Run Rick, Run!” But here’s a question: Is it too late for Gov. Perry to throw his drawl into the ring? It gets late early when it comes to running...

Some things you just can't control... Glenn Beck had been trying for weeks to get a military fly-over with fighter jets to start the event, but the White House blocked it saying it was "restricted airspace". The rally started at 10:00 am, but at precisely 9:59am, God gave us His fly-over that could not have been better. I still get Goose bumps when I watch this. Everyone who was there witnessed a miracle You got to remember that GOD is still in charge!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2-QQoehT8c

Four pilots at Vance Air Force Base in Enid are under investigation to determine if they flew too low over Kennick Stadium in Iowa before the Hawkeyes played Ohio State back in November. "The gentlemen involved are instructor pilots and part of this was a training mission," said 1st Lt. Katherine Roling. Although the fly over was authorized, pilots with the Air Force are required to fly at least 1,000 feet above congested areas such as a sports stadium. Nearly two weeks after the flyover, the Air Force is still trying to determine exactly how low the pilots flew. Since...

Despite environmental organizations remaining oddly mum on the BP oil spill, one environmentalist took it upon himself to conduct a flyover of the Gulf region to get a glimpse of what was really going on at the site of the accident. Sea Shepherd CEO, Steve Roest, flies at an undisclosed altitude to examine the situation of Deepwater Horizon. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is considered a radical environmentalist movement known for their blunt, direct tactics. The video is dated as July 6, 2010. Watch as he narrates his account.

Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal. In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran. To ensure the Israeli bombers pass unmolested, Riyadh has carried out tests to make certain its own jets are...