Pilotless planes may raise concerns amongst civil and army aviation safety experts but that’s not restricting the US from brining as many as 100 new remote controlled aircrafts into operation. Not one or two, all four branches of the USA armed services deploy them for different causes. Even non army agencies use these pilotless planes for tasks like finding out lost hikers or illegal aliens, forest department uses the planes to fight forest fires, etc. Last in the news, Canada air force is to purchase pilot less aircrafts to help and protect their troops in Afghanistan. There are some serious concerns raised about these pilotless aerial vehicles. On April 2006 U.A.V., a 10,000-pound Predator crashed while undertaking surveillance work for the Customs and Border Patrol. No property was damaged nor any one got hurt, but its worth mentionable that the size of midesized corporate jet, the 10,000 plane while crashing actually missed a house by about 100 yards. Government has declared the incident happened for soma bla bla technical reasons (which engineers have worked upon soon) and chances of such incidents occurring next is less. Link
Archive for January 23, 2012
Remote control airplane that flies at 300km/h
I found this toy that fascinated me a lot. It is faster than most of the cars. It’s a remote controlled airplane that can fly at a speed of 300km/h. The video will describe it much better than I can. The Hole – video powered by Metacafe
Bidding Final Farewell to our Beloved Jets
We all fly frequently and also are emotionally attached to these masterpieces. But like everything in this world these beautiful pieces of architecture also die and are buried. No you are not invited for the mourning ceremony…! All I want you to do is to at least mourn for a couple of seconds and then see the images to find out what all these jets go through after they are taken off air…! Via: knuttz
HYFish: Hydrogen fuel cell propelled aircraft
Aerodynamism is the main line of thought for designers who strive to create intense machines. A lot goes into the thought process especially when deciding the shape of the machine to be created as it is the shape that determines how quickly the machine will cut through the air. A few people prefer being observant than investing their time on the thought process and believe me it pays for a Swiss Designer got the aerodynamism clue from the Tuna , which is the fastest swimming fish under water . It was a dream Koni Schafroth saw back in 2002 and it gained realistic proportion as a battery powered Smart fish( Airplane) emulating the shape of the tuna as the experts at Lausanne’s EPFL Technical University ]observed that it was potentially faster and more potent than a conventional aircraft when they tested it in the wind tunnel . Whilst Schafroth and his team Smart fish had other plans; in five years of its evolvement the Smart fish has changed into a Hyfish, which is a hydrogen fuel propelled aircraft, an outcome of his collaboration with Institute for Technical Thermodynamics of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Stuttgart. The resultant of the collaboration was that the Hyfish took flight for the first time at the beginning of this month and now the company plans to develop a 20-seater aircraft based on a similar concept, which according to them would be more economical and eco-friendly. At a time when the cars are not getting enough motivation to go green, if an airplane based on such a concept is produced it will be a sardonic clout on the faces of the automakers, who give more than one phony reasons for the move on of green projects. Courtesy :Gizmag
Lockheed Martin to develop Spy Airships for Homeland Security
Lockheed Martin has been approached by the government to develop spy airships. The ships will revolve around the earth at a height of 12-miles and each ship will be able to look after an area of 600 miles. If all goes according to plan we can expect to see 11 such ships spying on us by the end of the decade. These ships will be powered by solar energy as they will be having solar panels on top of them. This energy will be able to keep these ships in air for about a year. High-resolution cameras will be installed on these airships so that they can view the area between NYC and Toledo at once. Via: scifi
Alpine Wasp to rescue Everest trekkers
TGR Helicopr and the Everest Rescue Trust have launched a new initiative to rescue Everest climbers. The result is an unmanned helicopter that can operate at 30,000 feet. The base camp for the climbers is at a height of 17,600 feet and the summit is at 29,035 feet. Since traditional helicopters cannot operate above 14,000 feet the rescue mission was not possible. But now with Alpine Wasp the developers believe that many lives could be saved. The reason that the developers opted for an unmanned helicopter is that during such high altitude missions the pilot usually comes in the picture as the pilot may not be acclimated for the altitude and prepared for the extreme climatic conditions so there is nothing that he can do except for staying in the cabin. Moreover removing the pilot cabin from the helicopter has made more room for more rescue gear. The Alpine Wasp is powered by a special diesel engine that is designed by an American Company named DeltaHawk Diesel Engines and it operates on Jet-A1 fuel which is readily available in Nepal. The Alpine Wasp will be donated to the trust later this year. Via: blogspot
Plan your next trip to Space!
We all know that the Alps are beautiful and the Himalayas even more inviting, but I would say the human mind is not limited to these destinations for the world is not enough. Probably in five years time we may see people packing their bags for ‘better destinations’ than the aforesaid, because they would be destinations , conquered only by the astronauts until date. Yes, it is as true as the gospel; the European Aerospace company, EADS Astrium, has developed an aircraft that would pick up passengers from regular terminals and take them sailing right into space. These specially designed airplanes or call them space planes, would resemble a conventional plane but the difference would be the incorporated rocket engines. Indeed, these planes would behave like the conventional ones till an altitude of 12 km, following which the pilot would activate the ultra touring mode/ overdrive mode, call it whatever , as it will make the plane rocket to an altitude of 60 kms , in just 80 seconds. Further journey until the destination would be taken care off by the inertia, as the plane would be shut down after the speedy overdrive leaving it onto nature to do the rest. The passengers wouldn’t have to pack their bags in the real sense as the journey would be a short one, obviously in terms of the time span, not the distance though. On reaching the destination, the passengers would be able to have a peek at the earth and feel zero gravity for three minutes, the best three minutes of every human’s life for sure. Such a journey would obviously mean a lot of expenditure both for the company and the travelers; the critics will find a place here too but they can give a little bit of breathing space at least at the advent of this once unfathomable voyage. This journey would initially be meant for the Baron Roth’s as the tickets would expectedly cost 1, 50,000 to 2, 00,000 Euro. Before the, ‘don’t count your chickens before they hatch’ notion seems applicable here, the ground reality is that Astrium is hoping that the entire project gets funded before the end of this year and Astrium head Francois Auque believes that they would definitely succeed even from the financial point of view His level of confidence in this venture can be assed by this citation: We are counting on some 20,000 space tourists by the year 2020. We want to serve a third of them. We have faith in this market. This aircraft would be ready by next year but the first passengers looking to peek at the earth from a thousand miles would have to wait until 2012. Five years is a lot of time to wait and the wait would become longer or rather futile when I know that the only thing I would do at the advent is to jeer as the tickets are priced good enough to make my return journey pointless for I would be seldom left with anything to subside on . But then, one journey like this in a life time and I would not repent loosing it all! Courtesy :smh.com
Boeing X-488: The Future of commercial aviation
Boeing has developed a new plane named X-488. The company is hoping that this new airliner will be the future of commercial aviation industry. The plane might look like a stealth fighter but when fully developed the company will release the model for military and commercial purposes. The plane has a blended wing design that makes it more fuel conscious as it uses up to 30% less gas as compared to a conventional airliner like the 747. Boeing has planned to release a military version of the aircraft by 2022 and a commercial model by 2030. Via: Gizmodo.
Richard Branson owns the French made, long range, ultra luxe corporate jet Falcon 900EX. Richard Charles Nicholas Branson born Eighteen July 1950 is a good English enterprise magnate, best known regarding his Virgin mobile Gang of a lot more than 400 businesses. Their 1st business enterprise was obviously a journal called College student at Sixteen. In The early 70s, this individual setup an audio file mail-order enterprise. In 1975, this individual popped a sequence of report stores, Virgin mobile Data, later on referred to as Virgin mobile Megastores. Branson could be the Fourth wealthiest resident from the Great britain and also 254th richest part of the planet . Richard Branson manufactured several entire world record-breaking attempts right after 1985, while in your character with the Orange Riband he or she tried out the fastest Atlantic traversing.
U.S Army begins Operational Testing of CH-47F Chinook helicopter
The first production CH-47F Chinook helicopter will soon be seen in a battle field as the U.S Army has begun the OT or Operational Testing of the aircraft. The aircraft has successfully completed acceptance and development flight testing last December. The helicopter will be the first of 452 CH-47F helicopters that will find a place in the U.S. Army Cargo Helicopter modernization program. The helicopter features improved avionics that provide better situational awareness for flight crews with an advanced digital map display. It also has a full load of improved survivability features that includes Common Missile Warning and Improved Countermeasure Dispenser Systems. It is powered by two 4,868HP Honeywell engines. The engines allow the helicopter to reach speeds of 175mph and also carry a payload of more than 21,000 pounds. The engines of this aircraft are made fuel efficient so that it can have a mission radius of more than 400 miles. The OT phase is expected to continue till April and if all goes as per plan then the helicopter will find a place in the U.S. Army in July. Via: gizmag
China to unveil unmanned aerial combat vehicle named ‘Anjian’ at 47th International Paris Air Show
With advancement in technology man has started moving towards methodologies that involve minimum risk life. That’s why we have seen major developments in the field of robotics and weapons which include no human application when to work at dangerous places. China has built a concept model of an unmanned aerial combat vehicle named “Anjian” that will be displayed at 47th International Paris Air Show, to be held from June 18th to June 24th of this year. The aerial combat vehicle was designed by the Shenyang Aeroplane Design Institution under China Aviation Industry Corporation I (CAIC1), for future aerial combat. Via: people