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December 18, 2023

Airborne 12.18.23: New Shepherd Returns, AirVenture Jets!, Massive ICAS 2023

Also: Sierra Space Dream Chaser, Southwest/Thrive, Elixir Aircraft, JAL A350-1000

New Shepard’s 24th mission was on track for launch on today, Monday, December 18th at 08:30 CST/ 14:30 UTC. The West Texas launch site will be home to a stream featuring the takeoff, showing a fully-laden New Shepard take to the skies to rack up its scientific payload count. Once in flight, it will have brought more than 150 projects into space. A bevy of military aircraft demo teams and a unique private jet group have been added to the air show lineup for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024. AirVenture 2024 has received commitments from the F-22 Raptor demo team, the F-16 Viper demo team, and the F-35B Lightning demo team from the U.S. Marine Corps. In a

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New Shepard Plans Mission 24

33 Science Payloads Spacebound on December 18th

New Shepard’s 24th mission is on track for launch on Monday, December 18th at 08:30 CST/ 14:30 UTC. The West Texas launch site will be home to a stream featuring the takeoff, showing a fully-laden New Shepard take to the skies to rack up its scientific payload count. Once in flight, it will have brought more than 150 projects into space, with the narrow majority of them being sourced from NASA programs. The rest are a mix, some from K-12 schools, colleges, and STEM groups.

Convention "Surpassed All Expectations"

The recent International Council of Air Shows convention brought out the best and brightest in the field, setting a "positive tone for the upcoming North American air show seasons in 2024 and beyond." The convention was held at the ritzy Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, with about 1,500 attendees present. That number included 781 event organizers from 188 distinct air shows, primarily from the US and Canada. The schedule for the next airshow season in North America was largely solidified throughout the 4-day conference, with announcements filling the wire throughout the week.

Spacecraft Getting Ready for Operations in 2024

Sierra Space's "Dream Chaser", the "world's only commercial spaceplane", has begun its final testing phase ahead of planned operations in 2024. Dream Chaser nestled into the NASA test facility to join Sierra's cargo module, the Shooting Star. Both will be unified in a launch stack for testing in the coming weeks, evaluating their resilience to forces, vibration, and wear. NASA's Mechanical Vibration Facility will provide "rigorous" testing to emulate the "extreme conditions of launch vibrations" using a large shaker table.

Boeing 717 Replacement On the Way for Regional Subsidiary

Australia flag carrier Qantas took delivery of its very first modern A220, one of 29 on order. The delivery makes it the 20th operator of the type. The aircraft are expected to be put to use in Qantas Group's QantasLink operation, a regional airline serving metropolitan and regional destinations across Australia. The new regional's livery will sport Aboriginal artwork across the fleet, providing strong brand identity and helping differentiate them from the aged Boeing 717 fleet currently operated there.

Commitments Abound from Fighter Jet Demonstrators

A bevy of military aircraft demo teams and a unique private jet group have been added to the air show lineup for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024. Next year will, as always, take place at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, using the extensively prepared grounds and spacious accommodations. The 71st edition of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s fly-in convention will be held from July 22nd to the 28th. AirVenture 2024 has received commitments from the F-22 Raptor demo team, the F-16 Viper demo team, and the F-35B Lightning demo team from the U.S. Marine Corps.

Classic Aero-TV: Homer Holb’s Genius Lives On-Kolb A/C’s Time Tested SportPlanes

From 2015: One Of The TRUE Classics Of The Ultralight Movement Continues To Fly Into The Future

Just in case you think ultralights are a thing of the past, ANN’s News Editor Tom Patton, attended the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida earlier this year to show you that they’re still around. One of the earliest producers of ultralights, Kolb Aircraft, was at Sebring to show off their ultralight legal 103 Firefly. Tom meets up with Bryan Melborn the Owner and CEO of the Kolb Aircraft Company. Kolb has been around since the 1970s, and Melborn took over the company in the late 80s. He says that the recreational flying market has had

Pilot Attempted To Extend The Landing Gear, But Did Not Receive A “Green Light”

On November 28, 2023, about 1828 eastern standard time, an experimental, amateur-built, Lancair 235, N235N, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Stuart, Florida. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot reported that about 5 months prior to the accident, he experienced a landing gear anomaly with the airplane. Specifically, the landing gear would not extend via the normal procedure and the pilot had to perform the emergency landing gear extension procedure. He subsequently landed uneventfully.

Aero Linx: The Venice Aviation Society Welcome To The Venice Aviation Society. VASI is the voice of Venice General Aviation. VASI is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting both general aviation and community interests in our airport. From Angel Flights, to Agape Flights, Flight Training, Business and Leisure Travel, the VASI goal is to promote safe, sustainable General Aviation at the Venice Airport.

Pilot's Discretion When used in conjunction with altitude assignments, means that ATC has offered the pilot the option of starting climb or descent whenever he/she wishes and conducting the climb or descent at any rate he/she wishes. He/she may temporarily level off at any intermediate altitude. However, once he/she has vacated an altitude, he/she may not return to that altitude.