Take to the skies just like aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright did at Kitty Hawk with this high flying Kitty Hawk Kite. Designed to look just like the original 1903 design of the Wright Flyer, this kite has a 46″ wingspan and comes with enough string to fly up to 200 feet in the air (which by the way is 190 feet higher than the Wright Brothers flew!)
Designed by kite artist Joel Scholz, the biplane kite requires minimal assembly to get up and flying. The frame is made of fiberglass while the wings and fuselage are made from ripstop polyester. It’s definitely a unique kite with some appeal to aviation and history buffs too.
Kite Shaped Like the Wright Brothers’ Plane
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We’re not super crazy about the tiny windows on planes anyway, so we won’t shed a tear at the idea that the upcoming Spike S-512 supersonic business jet is planning to ditch them altogether. But don’t imagine its well-heeled flyers will stare at a blank wall. Instead, the plan is to have large panoramic displays mirror the outside view, through cameras placed all around the plane’s exterior. Not only will the view be more spectacular, it can be replaced with anything else at the touch of a button. Want to catch some Z’s under a calm starry night? No problem.
Not only is it a novel and impressive idea, the company also informs us that shedding the windows will also save weight. That should help it along in getting to its cruising speed of Mach 1.6. That’s 1,218 mph for those of you keeping count, and if you thought a supersonic business jet with panoramic displays instead of windows would cost a pretty penny, you wouldn’t be wrong: the expected price tag will be somewhere around $60 million and $80 million, when it supposedly comes out in 2018.
[ Manufacturer Website ] VIA [ Engadget ]
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Four months after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with an emergency airworthiness directive, United Airlines is putting the fuel-friendly plane back in the air today. The Dreamliner had overheating issues with its lithium-ion battery, which saw two notable failures prior to its January grounding, but a recent revamp of the battery system might put some fliers' fears to rest. It's worth nothing that the FAA approved the battery fix despite the fact that it doesn't quite address the root cause of the problem, but airline executives don't appear to be overly concerned -- both Boeing CEO Jim McNerney and United CEO Jeff Smisek will be on today's Dreamliner flight from Houston to Chicago. For the moment, United's Dreamliner is limited to domestic flights but if all goes well, it'll return to international travel on June 10th, with a flight from Denver to Tokyo.
Filed under: Transportation
Via: Business Insider
Source: United Airlines
It takes a certain degree of skill and a whole lot of dedication to build what Mindstorms user hknssn13 built: a machine made entirely from LEGO that folds paper into airplanes and then launches them! Granted, it’s a relatively simple thing to do–if you’re doing it with your hands. It’s a completely different story when you’re trying to automate the process with nothing but a LEGO machine.
About 6,000 to 7,000 LEGO bricks were used to build the paper airplane folder and launcher. The moving parts at the bottom required two NXT Intelligent Bricks, five NXT servomotors, four NXT color sensors, and a Touch Sensor Multiplexer.
VIA [ Cnet ]
It's no secret that Google has an interest in the automotive industry, but over the years the popular search giant has also managed to amass quite the collection of aircraft. So many, in fact, that the company is in the process of inking an $82 million construction deal that would bring its fleet to San Jose International Airport. Pending city council approval, the privately funded facility would generate an annual $2.6 million in rent and around $400,000 in fuel revenues, while also creating some 236 jobs. If agreed upon, the 29-acre Googleport will take up to two years to build and will include an executive terminal along with hangars to house the company's fleet. Google currently parks its jets at Moffett Federal Airfield, where the company has offered to renovate NASA Ames' Hangar One in exchange for two-thirds of its facility space. There's no word if either deal will affect the other, but as it stands San Jose's city council is expected to vote on its proposal sometime in April.
Update: Initially, we incorrectly reported that Google owns a fleet or 747 aircraft. We have corrected the error.
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Mercury News
The nation's top wireless dog has told the Federal Aviation Administration's head that it should "enable greater use of tablets, e-readers, and other portable devices" during flights, according to the Hill. That was the gist of a missive sent from Julius Genachowski, chairman of the FCC to the FAA's chief, Michael Huerta yesterday. He went on to say that doing so would let individuals "stay informed and connected with friends and family," while helping large and small businesses be more productive, which would "boost US competitiveness." While it sounds like not doing so would be un-patriotic with a pitch like that, the FAA has already formed a committee to revisit its current portable electronics policies and hasn't arrived at any decisions yet -- safety first, after all.
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Transportation, Mobile
Via: CNET
Source: The Hill
It’s airmail! Send an airplane in the mail with the Suck UK Postcard Aeroplane
Postcard Airplane is Truly Airmail
Airbus has been crafting its plane of the future for some time now, and while earlier visualizations focus on see-through aircraft with shapeshifting seats, the aviation company's latest ideas have the environment -- and passengers' precious time -- in mind. Airbus just unveiled its "Smarter Skies" conceptualization of what air travel will look like in 2050, and all signs point to shorter flights and less energy consumption. For one, the aircraft manufacturer imagines an assisted takeoff, dubbed "eco-climb" mode, where smaller, lighter airplanes would depart from shorter runways and reach cruising altitude faster. Once in the air, planes could pinpoint the most direct route and travel en masse -- a la a flock of birds -- along "express skyways" to reduce emissions and arrive at their destinations sooner. (That idea's totally gonna fly, right?) And when it comes time to land, aircraft could descend into airports with engines running in idle, allowing for reduced noise and emissions. Take a look at all five concepts in action in the video below the break.
Continue reading Airbus imagines 'smarter skies' by 2050: reduced emissions and shorter flight times
Filed under: Transportation
Airbus imagines 'smarter skies' by 2050: reduced emissions and shorter flight times originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 05:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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