Since the origins of the "Dogfight" in World War I, military's have been questioning a way to get the same dog fight without having the risk of losing a human life if the plane gets shot down. In recent years, many Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) have been developed to go into use in military's all around the world. Recently, drones like the Predator, Reaper, and Global Hawk have been in use in war. These drones can be flown longer, further, and higher than an equivalent plane with a human inside of it.
The newest aircraft in the military is going to the US Navy. This new aircraft called the X-47 is an unmanned carrier capable unmanned fighter jet. The X-47 has recently completed its first carrier testing in which it successfully took off and landed on a moving aircraft carrier. This new UAV will substitute and possibly replace the F-18 in the future. The new jet is still in the developing stages so not much information is known about it yet except that it is a carrier capable fighter jet.
The Common but Deadly USAF Predator UAV
The UAV's in the USAF are some of the most effective in the world. In the Middle East, the air force uses the Predator and similar drones everyday to monitor and target enemies safely and effectively. If a UAV gets shot down, it is not as bad as if it were an attack aircraft because no pilot loses their lives in a drone.
Since the 1960's the US has been doing almost constant missions into space. Since the moon landings in the 60's most of the flights have just been routine research flights to the International Space Station in orbit around Earth. After the cancellation of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, the only way for US astronauts to get to the space station has been to pay Russia for a seat in their spacecraft. Today the new era of NASA took off from the launch pad in Cape Canaveral. The new spacecraft called Orion takes a modern spin on the style of the old Apollo rockets in which a capsule at the top detaches and parachutes down into the ocean rather than landing like the shuttle.
Orion Spacecraft Leaves Cape Canaveral 5 December 2014
The Orion capsule built by Lockeed Martin is capable of leaving low Earth Orbit and traveling a much greater distance than what has been possible in the past with the Space Shuttle. NASA hopes to use this shuttle in the future to go to asteroids and possibly Mars. The maiden flight lasted a little less than 4 and a half hours and went flawlessly. NASA hopes to do a manned flight by 2021.
The Mooney aircraft company, a Chinese owned, American based manufacture was founded in 1929. Since their introduction, Mooney created some of the fastest, most efficient aircraft in the 70s-80s. Their claimed specialty tail designs such as their V-tails and forward swept tails brought them into the light. The Mooney company went bankrupt for a long period of time before coming back this year. When they came back, they did it right; their first plane in production when they came back was the fastest production piston plane in the world. On the other end of the speed spectrum, Mooney recently released a new trainer aircraft onto the market. In the last 45 years, the Cessna 150 has been the premier trainer for almost all student pilots. Many companies have tried hard to replace the 150, but with high prices and almost no advantage, they have failed. The new Mooney may, or may not work well as a trainer, only time can tell a plane's value.
Mooney M10T
The new Mooney M10T is critiqued as to having a cheap engine for an expensive plane. The plane incorporates carbon fiber, digital avionics, and composite technology but people are saying it uses a cheap diesel engine. Mooney chose the diesel engine because it is not as loud, fuel efficient, and jet/diesel fuel is much cheaper. People however, are saying that they should have used a standard Lycoming engine since they are much more reliable and are known for lasting more than 60 years.
The M10T Has Amazing Avionics For a Trainer Aircraft
The Mooney M10T is supposed to be released in 2017 to the public market. Mooney wants to have a mix of American and Chinese consumers purchase this aircraft.
This Thursday, the 13 of November, China unveiled it's newest technological achievement at an air show in China. The new "stealth fighter" is most likely created to compete with the US Air Force F-22 Raptor, if a war ever broke out. Aviation experts are actually strongly opposing the jet though. In a statement made by Reuben F. Johnson, a correspondent for Jane's Defense Weekly, he stated "it is impossible to tell just how "stealthy" it is without knowing how it was built". Johnson also said that the plane performs very poorly, it looses lots of energy in turns, and looses altitude quickly. He believes that if weapons were added, it would only perform worse.
USAF F-22 Raptor
The FC-31 Looks Very Similar To The USAF F-22
Many people believe that China was strictly building the FC-31 to compete with the new F-22 and F-35 USAF fighters. Since they were building them to compete, they also built it to look just like them. Many people believe that China copied Lockeed Martin's F-22 design to build the FC-31. Though they may look alike, the F-22 has technology that will last for at least 30 years and remain dominant. The FC-31 is known to fly very poorly and does not perform anywhere near as well as the F--22. Below is a video of the F-22 Raptor, the American competitor of China's new fighter.
On October 28, 2014, the NASA resupply rocket deemed "Antares" exploded about 10 seconds into the launch. The rocket had a planned destination of the ISS (International Space Station) for a resupply. Antares was full of supplies and new materials for experiments, and other necessities for the ISS. Luckily, nobody was killed or even hurt on this deadly launch since it was an unmanned flight.
About 2 miles away at the press site, where all of the news and cinematographers sit and watch, there was panic and confusion as the rocket unexpectedly dropped from the sky and caused a major shock wave. About 10 seconds after the rocket hit the ground, a very distinct loud explosion was heard at all of the press sites. Seconds later, NASA launch teams sent out recovery crews and firefighters to put out the blazes caused by the blast. The rocket failure was caused by one of it's 2 engines suddenly losing thrust. Shortly after, to prevent further destruction, the Antares operator opted to self destruct the rocket.
People Leaving the Launch Site After the Accident
The Cygnus rockets (Antares) have only had 5 totals launches since their introduction in 2013. This was their first failure and until they find out what caused the problem, it is expected that their competitor, Space X is going to take over the resupply missions. The Antares rockets have had good success until now and Orbital Sciences hopes to fix their hurt reputation by improving Antares and finding out what caused the disaster.
Since WWII, Mitsubishi has produced more than cars and UTV's. Mitsubishi has been a famed producer of planes since WWII. In the war, Mitsubishi was most famous for their "Zero" fighter. This is the kind of fighter that attacked Pearl Harbor. In modern times, the manufacturer is planning on releasing the first major Japanese jet in 50 years. The newest jet will be produced for Regional Airlines like Allegiant, and American Eagle.
MRJ Before It Receives It's Paint Job
The MRJ is considered by many to be the most advanced regional jet ever produced. The jet produced by Mitsubishi has 4, large computer displays in the cockpit, and a heads up display (HUD) in front of each pilot in the cockpit. The jet also integrates new turbine technology. The engines have larger blades, and fewer of them, cause for reduced noise, and efficient thrust quantities. The new engines produced by Pratt and Whitney produce far more thrust to the amount of weight than most current regional jets.
The Cockpit of the MRJ Is Very Technology Based
The new jet is scheduled to take it's first test flight in the second quarter of 2015. Mitsubishi hopes to have the jet in the airlines by 2017, Since almost all of the regional airlines jets are nearing the end of their service, Mitsubishi has already had 400 orders.
Since the 1970's the Virgin Group founded by Richard Branson has been making technological advancements and amazing feats of engineering. The Virgin Group owns many companies including Virgin Atlantic (airline service) Virgin Mobile (cellular service) and recently Virgin Galactic (spacecrafts). Founded in 2004, Virgin Galactic has been creating and designing new spacecraft including the Spaceship One, and the new Space Ship Two. Their newest spacecraft is supposedly going to offer the chance for people to buy tickets to take a ride into space.
The space ship called "Space Ship Two" is carried into the lower atmosphere by a twin boom, four engine aircraft called "White Knight Two" built specifically for the challenge. Once the craft arrives at a set altitude, the smaller spacecraft is released from the belly and a large rocked sends it into the lower altitude of space. This design reduces cost and makes the journey easier for the smaller craft by giving it a piggy back ride half way there.
The Smaller Shuttle Hangs Between the Wing of the Large Carrier Aircraft
This space craft is capable of flying into the lower extents of the upper atmosphere. This is technically going into space and passengers will feel reduced gravity effects. People who desire to go to space will actually be able to pay for a ticket for a ride into space. Virgin Galactic is currently building a second spacecraft since their first was for research only. Hopefully in the upcoming years, all of their research goes as planned and they can start taking passengers up for the ride of their lives.
Since the 1940's, air travel has continually grown. More and more people every year get to their destinations by traveling through the sky. But in recent times, regional airliners are having more trouble finding pilots to fly their aircraft.
American Eagle CRJ-900
Ever since September 11, 2001, air travel has been more secure and more restricted. Since air travel has become more restricted, the number of new pilots per year has gone down about 2% per year. Every time there is an accident with a commercial jet, the FAA seems to add a new law or change the minimum requirements to become a pilot. Although you only needed 250 hours of flight time to get into the airliners before, now you need 1,500 hours. To get this amount of flight time, it will take you about 2 years of flying every chance you get and it will cost you about $80,000. Since it costs this much to train for a job that starts at an annual salary of $20,000, many people aren't too excited to be a new pilot.
A Cessna 172, a Common Plane for a Student Pilot
Since people are reluctant to become pilots because of cost and low benefits, very few people are getting their pilot's licenses in modern times. If people do get their licenses, they don't go into the Regional airlines in fear of getting paid less than a fast food worker and never paying off debt. Since the regional airlines are the bottom of the chain that you move up to get to the big time jets, people never start the chain and that is where the shortage is coming from.
Since the origins of aviation, people have always looked for a cheaper alternative to actually flying. In the last twenty years, the aviation hobby community has grown exponentially and the technology has become amazing. Though this technology seems to have an unlimited amount of usefulness and endless possibilities, the FAA has recently pulled in the reigns on the hobby and really limited it's use.
The above video was taken on a GoPro mounted on one of my home created planes. This is the activity that the FAA has recently outlawed. The act of shooting live stream video from an unmanned aerial aircraft is called FPV (First Person View). Thousands of hobbyists around the world have recently taken up FPV for it's amazing feeling of virtually flying a plane. The pilot wears video goggles that display a live stream video from the camera mounted on the plane. Though some people buy already created planes, many hobbyists like myself, create their own planes from various foam and composite materials. Though FPV has many uses like search and rescue in dangerous areas, and filming agriculture for farmers, the FAA has decided FPV is too dangerous and too much of a cause for concern.
My Quadcopter That Can be Used for FPV
Although the FAA has only allowed Hollywood production companies to use FPV for now, many hobbyist organizations are suing the FAA for their quickly made law. One organization called "FliteTest" told everyone who saw their post to put a bad review on the FAA's Facebook page. Since they made that statement, the FAA now has a very low review and most are complaints about the FPV ban. Although this technology has continued to advance for years, the recent law has put the hobby to a standstill and is taking us into the past.
Known to almost everyone who looks at aviation videos on the internet; a new movie called "Aviation-The Invisible Highway" is coming out in 2015. This movie, directed by Brian J. Terwilliger has taken the aviation community by surprise and it's trailer has spread like a virus on aviation sites and blogs. Since aviation has become such a "sacred" thing that the public is very uneducated about, Terwilliger's goal is to show the public what aviation has become and how amazing the technology has become. Terwilliger has recruited Harrison Ford to do the narration since Ford is an aviator himself and he supports the cause of educating the public about flying.
The producer; Brian J. Terwilliger, has directed another film that aviators crave called "One Six Right" that is aimed more towards pilots, this new film is aimed towards passengers and the general public. This film, is aimed towards making the public more aware of how they are getting from A to B in the air and how everything works together.
The movie is highly anticipated by almost everyone who loves and lives to fly. Though there is no way to fully capture aviation on film, most aviators are hoping that this movie will stimulate aviation since it is a quickly dying industry.
When an airliner reaches the end of it's life; the most common option is to take the plane to the desert in Pima Arizona, and scrap it for parts. Though this has been the case for over 75 years, recent airliners have began to take a different path to give these airliners a new life after they are past their expiration date. Recent airliners have been donating their old, fuel guzzling, planes to aviation technician universities.
A Depressing, Yet Common End to an Airliner's Life
Although these airliners may be past their airworthiness life, they have recently gained a new appreciation for universities learning how to work on modern airliners without working on real, flying planes. Universities like Purdue University need to have real aircraft for the students to work with. Since the students have not graduated yet, they are not legally allowed to work on airworthy aircraft. If any of the students worked on a flying aircraft, that aircraft would be legally, indefinitely grounded, so they have to work on planes that have already been grounded.
A Delta CRJ100, The Same Type That is Being Donated to Purdue
A FedEx Boeing 727, was a past donation to the Purdue University aircraft technician school. This plane is very old and outdated, and another airliner, Delta Airlines has pledged to donate a CRJ100, a common modern plane that will help them learn more about new systems in modern airliners. This CRJ100 was delivered to Delta in 1996, and left service in 2012. Instead of letting it decay in the Arizona desert, Delta decided to give the aircraft a second chance to serve a new purpose.
Though most planes that retire are still being sent to the desert to rot away, more and more airliners have started donating their planes to Universities. Hopefully in the future, all old aircraft will be given a second chance at the end of their life.
For over 75 years Boeing has been one of the top producers of American made planes. With a variety of planes from the WWII B-17 to Boeing's new unmanned helicopters, Boeing is the company to go to for any aviation needs. Although almost every airliner that they've produced in the "700" series was a hit, Boeing's newest high-tech airliner seems more like a rotten egg.
Boeing's newest airliner, the 787, took it's first flight on the 15th of December, 2009. Everyone at Boeing and airline owners thought Boeing's newest creation would be the most fuel efficient, high-tech plane to ever come from Boeing. The airline owners definitely felt confident when Boeing received over 1,000 orders for their new $297,000,000 jet. Although Boeing received so many orders initially, airliners have really slowed interest in the high tech, composite jet. The total number of 787 orders this year is only 18, while Boeing's most popular jet, the 737 has 663 orders scheduled for this year.
Although it is the most technologically advanced airliner ever created, the 787 has had many flaws that keep appearing and slowing the progress of Boeing. One recent problem that has come up 3 times now is the Lithium-Ion battery that is used to power the 787. Since the 787 relies on so much technology and computers, the 787 has to have a battery 10 times larger than Boeing's jumbo jet, the 777. In three different flights, the batteries have started smoking and caught on fire. Luckily, every time this happened, the planes were near airports for an emergency landing. Another major problem was discovered this March. Boeing found hairline cracks in the 787 wing. Since the 787 is made of composite materials like fiberglass and carbon fiber, this was very scary to Boeing engineers, if the wing cracks continued to grow, the wing could separate from the plane in flight. After a few weeks, Boeing reinforced all cracked areas and haven't found any cracks since.
Even though Boeing's new jet has some problems, hopefully in the future Boeing can fix all of the problems to make the new jet what it was meant to be; the most advanced airliner ever created.
On July 10, 2014 the Sonex JSX-2 took flight for the first time. This revolutionary jet takes the home building market to the next level as a kit plane that the customer purchases and builds at their home or shop. This small-single-seat-jet is relatively cheap for it's class and will provide the owner with a whole new home built plane experience. This jet is capable of speeds in excess of 240 mph with a maximum weight of only 1,000 pounds.
Sonex has been creating planes for aviation enthusiasts for many years with 5 models currently produced. Until the JSX arrived on the market, Sonex only produced small piston powered planes. Most of their planes were in the $20,000-$60,000 range until the JSX was released. Though Sonex originally expected the new jet to cost only $60,000, the price was released mid-August at a staggering $130,000. Though the price was quite a bit off Sonex's original estimate, many people are still excitedly pre-ordering the kit for it's 2015 release.
The reason for everyone's excitement on the release of this new toy is it's similarity to the old BD-5J jet that was created in 1971. The BD-5J is the record holder for the World's Smallest Jet. Since only a few BD-5J's remain in existence, their value has gone way higher than almost anyone can afford, that is why the new JSX-2 that is relatively cheap is so appealing to pilots. Both aircraft use the same engine and have similar size and weight characteristics, the key difference on the two is the way their engines are mounted. On the BD-5J, the engine is tucked away under the skin out of site, on the JSX-2, the engine is mounted on top of the fuselage.
Although the Sonex jet takes thousands of hours of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars, many future jet pilots are ready to give Sonex their money in exchange for the fun jet. Many people who want to be commercial jet pilots in the future will also show interest in this jet. In order for many airliners to hire pilots, they have to have a certain amount of jet flying time to get the job. Since this jet is about the cheapest jet currently around, pilots might think about investing in this jet to get their required jet flying time.
This July 2014, there was a major shortage of pilots everywhere in the world; the majority of them were in Oshkosh Wisconsin for the World's Greatest Air Show. For over 60 years, pilots have flocked from all over the globe to see this amazing week long aviation celebration that over 500,000 people attend annually. This year's show had over 10,000 aircraft and over half a million pilots attend. The majority of the show is on the ground; all of the major aircraft manufacturers show off their newest space-age technology and aircraft that only CEO's and actors can afford. The favorite part of the show for most is the daily air show, where the world's top aerobatic pilots show off their amazing talent with death-defying stunts. Pilots like Sean D. Tucker, Skip Stewart and Kirby Chambliss fly their high precision planes that are equivalent to Nascars at low altitude with no room for error. This year the new aspect to Airventure was the first Air Force demonstration team to fly there; the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds are a group of 6, F-16 Fighting Falcons that fly in tight formations with amazing precision. Though there are many people who love large aircraft at Airventure, many people come to see and build homebuilt planes. These are aircraft that are shipped to a home in a box and the customer assembles them. This year a group of 100's of volunteers built one of these planes in the week of the show; (these planes usually take many years to complete) they called it "The One Week Wonder". This is another reason why people were amazed by this show. The homebuilt planes are the foundation that built EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association). Since a lot of pilots from around the world come to Airventure, many celebrity pilots also come to the show. A few celebrities that come to the show are Harrison Ford and John Travolta who has his own 1960's jet airliner. From the daytime show to the night show with the largest fireworks I have ever seen and a 3,000 foot tall, 5,000 foot long explosion, this show has got to be the best anyone has ever been to. Although many argue that last year's show was better, this air show will forever go to the top of my list as the greatest air show that I have ever been to.
