2008 June 15 updated
(many thx to [MHa] & [RSa])

Gossamer Albatross:  human-powered aircraft designed & built by
American aeronautical engineer  Dr. Paul B. MacCready's   AeroVironment
was flown by  Bryan Allen  across  English Channel  (1979 June 12)

Boeing 787 (“Dreamliner”)==> photo gallery



 Flight time from Brussels to Sydney would be about 4.6 hours, 
 compared with the  current 22--about a quarter-century from now.

The monstrous double-decker Airbus A380 made its maiden voyage to the United States yesterday (2007 April 19), landing at New York's JFK airport, and a few minutes later, another one landed at Los Angeles's LAX.  While these were not the first flights of the world's largest passenger airplane—that happened in April of 2005—it is the first time the plane has flown to the United States.

Steve arrived at Bournemouth airport, UK unannounced
as he made an emergency landing.

Success

26,389 miles

Final drama: electrical failure forces landing at Bournemouth but record secure
11 February 2006, Manston, Kent UK / Bournemouth, Hampshire, UK 17:07 GMT:
Steve Fossett set a new world record today for the longest flight by any aircraft in history – 26,389 statute miles.
But not without a final drama.

As Steve began his descent from 40 000 feet thirty minutes before an expected arrival
at Kent International Airport at Manston, the GlobaFlyer suffered generator failure.
With only battery power, Steve declared an immediate mayday and was directed to Bournemouth
where accompanied by the Citation X chase plane he made a safe landing despite suffering 2 blown tires.

After a brief visit with his medical team (as well as with the Bournemouth fire crew)
Steve flew with Sir Richard Branson on to Manston in the Citation X and received a great welcome
on the tarmac followed by a press conference.

Steve;

“Great to be here at Kent International… sorry I didn’t bring the aeroplane.”
For all the detail please visit www.virginatlanticglobalflyer.com

[from ==> http://www.stevefossett.com/]


Find out what happened to the GlobalFlyer

Congratulations to Steve Fossett, who has broken the
world record for the longest ever flight in history
and made a dramatic landing through the sunset - at Bournemouth Airport.

He travelled 26,389.3 miles and had a flight duration of 76 hours 45 minutes.

Just miles from his destination at Kent International Airport, Steve’s generator failed,
which meant a total electrical breakdown.

He was forced to make an emergency Mayday call through to Bournemouth Airport,
and was given a short window through which to land.

Chief Executive of Virgin Atlantic, Steve Ridgeway said: "If we didn’t get him down in fifteen minutes,
he would have had to have ditched the plane."

The major problem occurred just after Richard had called Steve to congratulate him on his world record,
which he actually broke when be flew over Shannon after covering the 26,000 miles required.

On landing, Steve burst two tyres, and his windscreen was iced up
so much that he couldn't see even metres in front of him.
Not only all that, but he had only 200lbs of fuel left;
which if he had continued may well have turned into another emergency!

Sir Richard and Steve’s wife Peggy are with him at Bournemouth.
After health checks a very tired Steve will make the journey to
Kent International Airport to celebrate his amazing adventure.

Steve reported a mayday over Hampshire because he had lost electrical power.
He was urgently diverted to Bournemouth, where he added to the drama
by bursting two tyres on landing; but he did
land safely and broke the world record for the longest flight ever.

GlobalFlyer was headed for Kent Airport, UK
Kent PR document

Yahoo Slideshow

Welcome to 'The Ultimate Flight

Having been the first to fly round the world, solo in 2005,
Steve Fossett and the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer
now attempt to fly further than any other aircraft in history.



“Generator problems with aircraft”
“Mayday declared by Steve”
“Diverted to Bournemouth”
“Steve avoided having to ditch”
“Steve safely on ground”


Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer by Scaled Composites (Burt Rutan)

click here to goto ==>PRoComputing Aviation Archive

Paris Airshow 2005

News.Com (with photos)                Official Paris Airshow Site (using

“Gems” from Ralph [RSa] (.rtf   or  .txt)

Billings Gazette article on Ralph Sallee [RSa]

“yesterday is history — today is today — tomorrow is a mystery”
-Ralph Sallee

(click here for larger picture of Ralph in D18 [Montana 2004])
click here for close-up

Ground Crew Humor (.rtf   or   .txt)

"I Speak Blonde" (.pdf)

Airbus 380


(click here for more)

(click here for official site)

(click here for forum on 380)

The following links are live audio feeds, and require either Windows Media Player or RealAudio players.
You can download Real's player at www.real.com, and the Windows Media Player
(Microsoft's player comes bundled with most recent versions of Windows, so you may already have it.)

Listen to LIVE Air Traffic Contol, Bankstown, Australia

Hong Kong Approach

Near-live display of all traffic within the AirportMonitor coverage zone (10 minute delay for security)
Flight ID, aircraft type, altitude, origin, destination
Color coding for: arrivals, departures, in-transit, nearby airports, selected track
http://www.passur.com/sites.htm
http://www.passur.com/am_airport.htm

AirportMonitor LAX
http://www4.passur.com/lax.html

Louisville International Airport (SDF)
http://www4.passur.com/sdf.html

http://www.flightarrivals.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Flights

Concorde Final Flight
(check out the five Photo Galleries)

http://www.cheaptickets.com/trs/cheaptickets/flighttracker/flight_tracker_home.xsl

http://www.flytecomm.com/cgi-bin/trackflight
http://www.flytecomm.com/cgi-bin/trackflight?action=select_random

http://www.airnav.com/airports/

US Air Force G5 Doing “Touch & Go's.”  Where?
Click on this image (below) and look at the background.

[photo courtesy William George]

I guess it's “Take Your Kid To Work Week” at Boeing