Convergence Journalism Project

http://centralhighnews.blogspot.com/

GermanWings Airbus A320 Crashes in France

       On the 24 March, 2015, GermanWings flight 4U 9525 plummeted into the mountains of France, killing all 150 people on board. After a normal departure from Spain, the aircraft headed North, as it was crossing over France, the plane started suddenly descending from its cruising altitude of about 38,000 feet for no apparent reason. After only eight minutes of descending, the aircraft slammed into the mountains of France, pulverizing the plane into pieces no larger than a car. Mysteries surround this plane crash as the black boxes showed no strange mechanical problems or stress from the pilots.

         The latest mystery that has come from the crash is that the co-pilot was suicidal or murderous. The evidence for this argument was found on the black boxes, in the audio of the black boxes, you can hear the captain trying to enter the cockpit after going into the rear of the plane. The captain knocks several times with no answer from the co-pilot, but the black boxes captured the co-pilot breathing and moving the controls so he was obviously conscious. The history of the Co-pilot is currently being looked into.

Crash Site from the Air

      The video far above shows the same A320 that was in the accident taking off one week before the accident. The mystery of this devastating accident may never be solved, we can only hope to better the future of aviation by learning from accidents like this.

FAA Gives Amazon The Go For Drone Testing

      In the last decade, technology for unmanned aerial devices has increased substantially. The technology has gotten to the point of which companies are looking into using unmanned vehicles for their own use. The most recent and famous company: Amazon. Amazon released a commercial in 2014 that showed a multi-rotor delivering a package to a house without ever interacting with a person. They released this commercial showing a hopeful idea that many people don't believe can happen.  

      The drone showed in the video has been named the Amazon Prime Air delivery system. During this week, the FAA or Federal Aviation Administration has given Amazon the all clear to test their aerial system. Many people have low expectations from the system. The technology is still not even close to being possible to deliver packages any further than about a mile. Batteries for even the 

lightest, most efficient multi-rotor a can only last about 15 minutes. 

Bombardier CS300 Airliner Makes First Flight

     On the 27 of February 2015, the Bombardier CS300 left the ground for the first time. The creator, Bombardier is one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world. With many side companies including, Learjet, Bombardier is a big name in aviation. Bombardier has been producing single-aisle airliners for years and they make some of the most popular Regional jets in the world. Their newest jet, the CS300 is the newest addition to the Bombardier family. The CS300 is designed to be more efficient and more economical than the previously used regional jets.

EC300 Taking Off

       The EC300 left the ground for the first time at Bombardiers main facility at Mirabel Airport near Montreal. The flight was a complete success and the plane climbed to an altitude of 43,000 feet before it descended back to Earth. The new EC300 turned the heads of Bombardier employees back to the sky after many delays and problems. Bombardier put all of their effort into this project to ensure its success. They even put the new Learjet 85 on hold until it was completed.

Bombardier proved their technology and innovation on this project. Their employees and designers all worked tirelessly for this new jet that will be around for decades to come.

Wichita Plans Aviation Exhibit in Museum

        When you think of Wichita Kansas, you might not think much of it. For a town in Kansas, it has a huge technology history that many people don't know about. Wichita Kansas is actually one of the greatest places for Aviation in the whole country. For over 80 years, Wichita has been home to the largest and most famous aviation companies and factories. Companies like Learjet, Cessna, and Hawker all have major manufacturing plants in Wichita Kansas. In fact, every single Cessna ever produced has come out of the factory in Wichita Kansas. Wichita is also famous for it's Exploration Center. The Exploration Center is a large science museum in Wichita which offers guests interactive exhibits that vary over many subjects.

The Current Small Aviation Exhibit in Exploration Center

       In about 18 months, the Exploration Center in Wichita Kansas is planning on creating a massive, interactive aviation experience in their museum. Many of the local aviation companies have agreed to contribute planes or plane parts to the museum to incorporate in the new exhibit. The new exhibit is expected to have a large jet fuselage, many pieces of jets that are interactive, and a few smaller aircraft.

Cessna Factory in Wichita

     The hope for this aviation exhibit is to promote aviation by educating the public about it and educating people about the rich aviation history of Wichita Kansas. The way this city is used as an Aviation HQ is not known by many and it is important for people to know about it.

India's First Indigenous Fighter

         When you think of Aviation Technology in India, there isn't much. For India's Air Force and military, most of their aerial vehicles originate from Russia or the U.S. For the past decades, all of India's fighters and other aircraft were foreign aircraft. Their fighters came from Russia and the U.S., and their transport planes were from Airbus. This year, India finally completed the designing and engineering of their first native fighter jet. India's new Tejas jet is their first Indigenous fighter jet to ever come out of an Indian factory. This new jet will make India's dependency on other countries lessen and their Air Force stronger.

Tejas Jet Banking

        The Tejas jet is not new, but it is the first jet to be produced in India. The first Tejas jet flew in 2001, but the first fighter jet made in India flew this year. This jet has been acclaimed for being ultra lightweight and very effective as a fighter jet. Although this jet isn't as advanced as an F-22 Raptor, it still gives India bragging rights for the production of an effective, lightweight jet.

      The Tejas jet is finally ready for production in India. This jet will replace India's aging Mig-21's and F-16's. This time, the jets will be their own creations, they will know how to fix them, maintain them and upgrade them for the future without depending on another country for assistance. India's new Tejas jet will fly them into the future of aviation.

Dassault's New X8 Falcon

      When you think of a privately owned jet, you probably think of about 3 names in the game, the Learjet, Bombardier, and Dassault. For wealthy people all around the world, the choice of brand can be a tough one and the jets are all very similar. For people wanting to chose a jet, they look at cost, effectiveness, and range. The new Dassault X8, the 3 engined private is one of the fastest, most technological aircraft of today.

Dassault X8 Test Flight

; The new Dassault X8 has the longest range of flight of all the Dassault line jets in production. The new Falcon X8 can fly more than 6,450 nautical miles on one tank of fuel. This range of fuel makes the X8 far more tempting to wealthy people who need to go International. Most private jets have to island hop across the ocean which takes much more time and money. The Dassault can make it across the ocean in one trip. 

         The Dassault X8 is very expensive. At about $46 Million starting price, the Falcon is for the elite. Although the X8 costs far more than most other competitors, people who have the money and need to travel international, might consider this new jet.

Boeing 737, The Many Variants

         Since the mid 1960's, the Boeing 737 has been one of the premier airliners of the sky. With advancements in almost every aspect of the jet, this jet remains Boeing's #1 sold aircraft. Even with all of Boeing's newer, larger, more efficient airliners, the 737 dominates the Boeing market by about 5x more than any other aircraft. Of their total orders this year (1,432), the 737 has been 1,104 of those orders. People might wonder why the 737; one of Boeing's oldest jets, remains at the top. The key to the 737's success has been it's modifications over the years.

Lineup of 737s

       The 737 has been one of the most produced airliners in history. The key to this success has been modifying the original popular jet to fit almost any circumstance. With about 5 classes of 737 produced in history, and countless variations to those, the 737 can handle almost anything it receives. From freight to rowdy passengers, the 737 was build to handle it all. So many of these jumbo jets were produced, that at any given time period, there are about 1,250 737's in the air.

      Although the 737 is one of Boeing's oldest airliners, it has been varied and changed so much to the point where it is a completely different plane from the prototype. From more efficient engines, to composite technologies, the 737 has been a completely different aircraft. Even though it was designed for passenger use, this jumbo jet has been varied to carry freight and even military variants have been created to do aerial refueling and submarine scouting. The 737, one of Boeing's original airlines has become their most popular. If you turn your head to the sky, odds are you will see a Boeing 737 soaring high above.

Airbus A350 Makes First Flight With Passengers

     For many years, the aircraft company Airbus has been making the biggest, most fuel efficient planes of the sky. Since their release of the A380, the world's largest airliner with 2 floors and room for up to 850 people, aviation nerds have wondered what is coming next. With Boeing's release of their new 787 Dreamliner, Airbus needed a plane to compete with Boeing. Their answer was the Airbus A350, a plane made of the newest space age materials very similar to the 787.

Airbus A350 test plane

       The A350, originally flown in 2013, is the first Airbus aircraft with wing structures and fuselage made of mostly carbon fiber, a material lighter and stronger than aluminum. The A350 was made to compete directly with Boeing's 787 and 777, both extremely popular jets in the airlines. The new aircraft made it's first flight with passengers yesterday, the 15 January 2015. During the flight, the reaction from the crowd was noticeable, everybody loved the new plane.

      The A350 has very impressive performance standards. Because of it's lightweight construction and powerful engines, it can takeoff and land in very little areas and it can climb at a massive rate of climb. So far, the A350 has over 800 orders upcoming. At a price of over 340 million dollars a piece, Airbus has a very large amount of money incoming.

Cirrus Vision Jet Closer To Completion

      For over 3 decades now, the Cirrus aircraft company has produced some of the most luxurious propeller planes in the world. Their aircraft are some of the fastest and safest aircraft in the skies. Their current best seller, the Cirrus SR-22 has a built in parachute that will catch the whole aircraft if any critical component fails. The Cirrus reputation has been a good one in the last few years and they have decided to start competing with companies like Learjet and Cessna to create a new luxury private jet. Their new jet, the Cirrus Vision will be one of the lightest and most efficient private jets in the world.

The new Cirrus jet is known as a "Very Light Jet". This style of jet is produced to combat high fuel prices and large fuel guzzling engines. It's simple, if the plane is lighter, it will burn less fuel. So the Cirrus Jet uses it's light weigh design, along with an efficient small engine to create an extremely efficient and fast private jet.

       The Cirrus jet first flew in 2008; since then, 3 prototypes have been created and almost 2,000 hours of flight time have been logged in them. The Jet is expected to start production very soon. The starting cost for a Vision will be $2,000,000 and there have already been 550 people who have made deposits to guarantee their aircraft.