2009 December 8 updated
(many thx to [MHa] & [RSa])
Wikipedia on Spaceship_Two
Forty years ago from 1969 July 20 — Michael Collins should have been the world's loneliest man. He was the member of the Apollo 11 mission who did not walk on the moon, but rather stayed back in the command module Columbia, orbiting the Earth's satellite, while his cohorts, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, made their historic landing. Collins said of that experience, “I knew I was alone in a way that no earthling has ever been before.” For 48 minutes of each lunar orbit (there were some 20 such orbits), while Collins was out of radio contact range with the Earth, instead of feeling lonely, he said he felt “awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation.”
Quote: “It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” — Neil Armstrong
Gossamer Albatross: human-powered aircraft was flown by Bryan Allenacross the English Channel (1979 June 12)
SpaceShipOne: the first privately funded
and developed spacecraft was launched
over the Mojave Desert and piloted into space
by Michael Melvill (2004 June 21)
"Research should be defined as doing something where half the people think it's impossible." Burt
Rutan |
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
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
http://www.airliners.net/
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)
Airbus 380
(click here for more)
(click
here for official site)
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/
http://www.airnav.com/airport/PHMU
AWAS (Automated Weather and Approach System) ==> 1-808-887-8127
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
