Pocket Telescope, Lens Celebrate Hubble Mission

From a model of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to a patch from the New York City Sanitation Department, the STS-125 mission astronauts are marking the flight by taking a wide variety of mementos with them into orbit.

During Balikatan ‘09, every member of every unit has a role to play. One of the most vital roles takes place on the flight line. The Marines of Marine Helicopter Squadron Medium (HMM-262) are responsible for service members participating in Balikatan getting equipment, supplies and transportation to provinces that can’t be reached by car.

Boeing's LONG-awaited Dreamliner has moved to the flight line. Fuel testing - the first in the next phase of extensive checks the airplane must undergo - will begin in the next few days.

MFDs Are Just The Beginning Of The Goodies Coming Soon From Aspen

Completing the vision... that's what Aspen's Doug Cayne was telling Aero-TV about during the 2009 AEA Convention and Trade Show. And the next step on the road to Aspen's revolutionary aims is to get the EFD 1000 (and its little cousin, the EFD500) out on the market.

The Aero-Economic Collapse Logs Another Casualty

FMI: www.klydemorris.com

Unique, Exciting Warbird Experience

We ran into one of our good friends, Bruce Moore, from North American Top Gun the other day while refueling our Cirrus G3 Turbo at Palatka, FL, (possibly the cheapest 100LL in the state, BTW -- and a VERY cool little airport) and got updated on the latest and greatest in the NATG universe. NATG offers one of the most exciting of the "Air Combat" programs available these days in that they conduct their program in real live Texans of the SNJ/At-6 persuasion.

ANN Daily Touch-And-Go: 05.04.09 (ANN's Short-Form Daily News Program) ANN Daily Aero-Briefing: 05.04.09 (ANN's Long-Form Daily News Program) ANN Special Feature: CFI Bob Miller: Recurrent Ground School - 05.04.09 (ANN Special Report, with CFI Bob Miller)

Master Instructors LLC and its Board of Review tell ANN that they take pride in announcing a significant aviation accomplishment on the part of some very special aviation educators. Recently, they were all accredited as Masters by Master Instructors LLC, the international Master Instructor accrediting authority.

Mi-35 Downed Sunday

A Russian built Mi-35 helicopter has gone down in Venezuela, killing 18 crew and passengers on board. Ostensibly involved in border patrol, the Mi-35 was carrying soldiers to patrol the 1400 mile border with Colombia and stopped communicating for no published reason about mid-day, near the town of El Alto de Rubio.

The FAA Gets Serious About CRM

The Helicopter Association International has looked over a recently issued, proposed, rule from the FAA that would require all certificate holders conducting operations under part 135 to include in their flight training programs crew resource management for crewmembers, including pilots and flight attendants, and is providing some counsel on the matter.

NASA has selected Jacobs Technology of Tullahoma, Tenn., to receive the manufacturing support and facilities operations contract at the Michoud Facility Assembly in eastern New Orleans.

  Air Mass Thunderstorm Generally, a thunderstorm not associated with a front or other type of synoptic-scale forcing mechanism. Air mass thunderstorms typically are associated with warm, humid air in the summer months; they develop during the afternoon in response to insolation, and dissipate rather quickly after sunset. They generally are less likely to be severe than other types of thunderstorms, but they still are capable of producing downbursts, brief heavy rain, and (in extreme cases) hail over 3/4" in diameter. 

Aero-Linx: Girls With Wings Girls With Wings is an e-commerce merchandising and public awareness project that focuses its efforts on introducing young girls to their role models in aviation-related careers and hobbies. Website activities and inspirational stories of women involved in various aspects of aviation will motivate girls to pursue their own skyward adventures.

  "These results give us confidence in our ability to move into further gauntlet testing using either ground power or the airplane's engines or auxiliary power unit. This is a significant milestone on the path to first flight." Source: Scott Fancher, Vice President and General Manager of the 787 Dreamliner program, commenting on the movement of the first 787 test flight vehicle to the flightline, after completing a rigorous series of tests including build verification tests, structures and systems integration tests, landing gear swings and factory gauntlet, which is the full simulation of the first flight using the actual airplane. With Chief Pilot Mike Carriker at the controls, the simulation tested all flight controls, h