Credit for this goes to the "To start it off" blog:
"Google is an aviation buff. Type in a flight number like "United 22" for a link to a map of that flight's progress in the air. Or type in the tail number you see on an airplane for the full registration form for that plane."
Angel Flight East is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide free air transportation to financially and medically disadvantaged petients so they may get the treatments they desperately need. They are having a fund raising Vintage Aircraft and Classic Car Show with all net proceeds benefiting Angel Flight East. It will be on Sept 10, 2005, rain date Sept 11, at Wings Field in Blue Bell, PA from 10AM to 3PM. Any pilot wishing to fly in and display his aircraft can contact them for a registration form. Pilots will be provided with breakfast and lunch and admission is free to the public. There is, however a minimal parking fee for vehicles. There will be food and fun for the children.
By now you've probably seen video coverage of the A380 maiden flight. If not, take a look at the Airbus A380 First flight site, which has images and videos of the flight.
A site visitor passed along a link to the USA Today piece, "On-demand airline could alter travel to midsize cities." The concept is brilliant, if it works in the marketplace and the business model is sound. DayJet of Delray Beach, Florida plans to operate a fleet of Eclipse 500 Very Light Jets as an on-demand charter service. Customers would enter city pairs on the DayJet website, and receive guaranteed confirmation if one of the 4-passenger jets are available. Prices are expected to be "slightly more than full-fare coach tickets on those same routes." Sounds like a game changer to me!
The weekly NY Times column (free registration) for April 26 titled "More Baggage Taboos, but Little Security Enhancement" captures the ridiculous side of the TSA. How effective are the screening procedures? Why are matches allowed onboard, but not lighters? Who are these people examining you and your posessions at the airport, and does it really make any difference in security? Good questions. I wish the answers were equally good.
From Reuters:
The world's biggest airliner, the Airbus A380, is set to make its maiden flight Wednesday morning depending on the weather and the absence of last-minute problems, aircraft maker Airbus said Monday...
1. a new chapter in air transport (49%)
2. an achievement of multicultural cooperation (17%)
3. a feat of engineering (34%)
This from ATW and Honeywell:
"More Electric Aircraft," or MEA, technologies offer the first major redesign of aircraft systems in over 50 years. This breakthrough technology will improve mission performance, comfort and availability and provide more design flexibility. Additional benefits include reducing manufacturing time and enabling the use of several new technologies such as fuel cells, full electromechanical actuation and high re-circulation of cabin air.
With MEA technology, the complex, heavy, maintenance-intensive and (in combat) vulnerable hydraulic systems of today will be a thing of the past. Gone, too, will be the miles of tubing, the pumps and valves. The weight in an aircraft will be shifted from plumbing to passengers, fuel or mission payloads. MEA technology could dramatically reduce per-passenger costs and ticket prices for commercial aircraft, while giving military planes more maneuverability and survivability due to less vulnerability to enemy fire.
It's from earlier in the month, but see The Washington Post (free registration): A government plan to embed U.S. passports with radio frequency chips starting this summer is being met by resistance from travel and privacy groups who say the technology is untested and could create a security risk for travelers...
The State Department has asked the National Institute of Standards and Technology to test the chips to ensure they protect travelers' privacy and are not vulnerable to hackers or "skimmers" who might surreptitiously try to read information on the chip...
Google "RFID passport" for more.
AIA and the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) are sponsoring the 2005 Team America Rocketry Challenge, the largest model rocket showcase on the planet. The national finals will take place on May 21, 2005 at Great Meadow in The Plains, Virginia. This year's Challenge is to design, build, and fly a model rocket carrying a raw egg and return it safely to the ground while staying aloft for exactly sixty seconds. A total of 712 teams from 49 states and the District of Columbia - and even an American middle school in Germany- are taking part in the competition. If you're anywhere close to Great Meadow, this will be worth checking out.
From various sources:
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A new kind of Internet scam entices victims with a promise of low-cost airline tickets, in a fraud aimed simply at stealing credit card numbers, an online security firm warned.
Panda Software said the scheme may be effective because it does not use e-mail but paid listings when a Web user conducts a search with an Internet search engine such as Google.
"The real aim of these web pages is not to sell anything, but to get users to enter their credit card details which will then fall into the hands of cyber-crooks," California-based Panda said.
Panda said the sites, which it did not identify, had been shut down, but warned that others may crop up in their place.The websites ask customers to enter personal details, including their credit card number. But once the details have been entered, an error page is displayed telling the user that the transaction has been unsuccessful, to prolong the illusion. Instructions are offered on how to pay for the ticket by postal money
order.
"This, in fact, means that the user could actually fall victim to the fraud twice," Panda said, first through the loss of credit card information, and second, if they send the requested amount by money order.
"This kind of online fraud differs from those witnessed previously," said Luis Corrons, director of PandaLabs, "The malicious user does not contact the person interested in buying the product, but it is actually the buyer, in searching for the best prices online, who goes to the fraudulent web page. This creates a false sense of security that can lead users to proceed with the transaction."
Panda advised Internet users to rely on established and trusted websites and to investigate any new sites offering unusual bargains.
The GAO has released the report Aviation Security - Secure Flight Development and Testing Under Way, but Risks Should Be Managed as System Is Further Developed. (A 1.3 meg pdf file.)
The TSA is developing a new passenger prescreening system called Secure Flight. The GAO report assesses the status of Secure Flight, factors that could influence it's effectiveness, the processes used to oversee and manage the program, efforts to minimize passenger impact, and protection of passenger rights.
In the report, the GAO recommends that the Department of Homeland Security direct the TSA to take actions to manage risks associated with Secure Flight's development.
Also...
The Washington Post (free registration) reports in Panel Urged to Review Passenger Screening - Security System Raises Privacy Concerns:
"A newly formed panel to advise the Department of Homeland Security on safeguarding citizen privacy in a post-Sept. 11 world was urged yesterday to investigate plans for a nationwide computer system to screen airline passengers.
"Privacy advocates told the first meeting of the 20-member panel that the program, known as Secure Flight, amounts to government background checks on passengers by maintaining secret lists of information about tens of millions of Americans."
"Although privacy experts worry about the government gathering personal information on airline travelers, Delta Airlines is handing over electronic lists of passengers from some flights to help stop the spread of deadly infectious diseases.
"The lists will allow health officials to notify more quickly those travelers who might have been exposed to illnesses such as dengue fever, flu, plague, SARS and biological agents, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a congressional panel..."
"The government is seeing that massive amounts of data can be useful for any number of purposes," said Marcia Hofmann, an attorney for the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "There need to be some regulations or restrictions on how airlines can share passenger information like this."
In an informative UAV piece, The New York Times (free registration) reports in U.S. Drones Crowd Iraq's Skies to Fight Insurgents:
"In the skies over Iraq, the number of remotely piloted aircraft -increasingly crucial tools in tracking insurgents, foiling roadsidebombings, protecting convoys and launching missile attacks - has shot up tomore than 700 now from just a handful four years ago, military officials say.
"As the American military continues to shift its emphasis to counterinsurgency and antiterrorism missions, the aircraft are in such demand that the Pentagon is poised to spend more than $13 billion on them through the end of the decade..."
InformationWeek reports in it's extensive article:
Major airlines aim to stay competitive by developing services that tap their reservoirs of customer information:
"There's a reason American Airlines Inc.'s new advertising slogan is 'We know why you fly.' American is trying to do something the airline industry hasn't been very good at since it came up with the mother of all customer-loyalty programs, frequent-flier miles: get to know all its customers and then do something with that knowledge.
"American isn't alone. Backed by fast-evolving customer databases, American, Continental Airlines, and United Airlines are developing services that tap their growing reservoirs of passenger information to keep fliers more informed than ever before and sell them upgrades and extra services along the way..."
