Ten Of The "Different" Happenings We Found In 2004
By ANN Correspondent Aleta Vinas
Here's a list of the most unusual stories we spotted in aviation
this year:
Designer barf bags. "We thought we would
brighten them up and turn them into a talking point," says Lysette
Gauna, head of media for Virgin Atlantic. The top 20 works from 600
entries will be found in the seat pocket in front of you on Virgin
Atlantic flights for six months and on eBay thereafter.
Klyde Morris, aviation's only ant has flown in
space. Klyde, whose exploits can be seen Monday and Friday in ANN,
has been busy flying corporate for some years now. On October 4th
he finally made it into space. Klyde was a passenger on the prize
winning SpaceShipOne flight with Brian Binnie at the controls.
Klyde actually flew as cargo but we're sure he enjoyed the trip.
Klyde now plans to tour wherever he can stimulate an interest in
aviation. Upon his retirement, Klyde may reside at the National Air
and Space Museum as a space artifact.
The weather forecast on October 27th had it
snowing in Hell, which meant that the Boston Red Sox won the World
Series. The Sox ripped the championship away from their hated
rivals, the New York Yankees in the last four games of the American
League Championship Series. Then they pummeled the St. Louis
Cardinals in four games to take the Championship. While this is not
strictly aviation, ANN knows the Red Sox fans are still flying high
on the win. Besides, you know how superstitious flight crew members
can be. So consider the 87-year old curse has been lifted...
gentlemen, start your engines.
Did someone say hurricane? Did someone say it
four times? Charley August 13th, Frances September 4-6, Ivan
September 16-17 and Jeanne September 25-26 flattened General
Aviation over Florida. Charley, Frances and Jeanne rampaged through
Central Florida with the town of Babson Park enduring all three
blowhards. Ivan gave Central Florida a break and slammed the area
near Pensacola. The last state to see this kind of action was Texas
in 1886, when they didn't even have airplanes.
Speaking of hurricanes, I have a sponge; ok more like a
gazillion of them. As reported in ANN, Peter Cordani of Jupiter
(FL) and President of Dyn-O-Mat has a powdered material that
absorbs three thousand to four thousand times its weight in liquid.
The idea was to dump the powder and knock Hurricane Ivan done a
notch or two, perhaps lessening the damage. So, what happened,
maybe he couldn't find a big enough container?
Can a roll cause a heart attack? It can if
you're Mike Melvill in SpaceShipOne and the ship starts to roll.
Thousands of people on the ground start to clutch at their chests,
especially when it continues 29 times. Somebody pass the Pepto
Bismol!
Skycars back on the respectability list? Honda
and Toyota have started looking toward the wild, blue yonder.
BusinessWeek reports Honda is serious about the skydrive—biz.
Also reported by BusinessWeek, Robin Haynes is working on the
Skyblazer. Haynes is in talks with the man who founded the Silicon
Valley venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Tim Draper is
seeking proposals from companies that might one day build flying
cars.
A rose by any other name would still be a
Boeing. Each commercial jet Boeing has introduced, starting with
the 707, had a number in the middle of two sevens. Bucking
tradition, the 7E7 was rolled out. The Seattle
Post—Intelligencer reports a change may be afoot pending the
results of a meeting between Boeing's Alan Mulally and China's
airlines. In China the number eight is considered extremely lucky.
A 787 may be in Boeing's future.
Bangladesh Air Force?? After gaining its
independence from Pakistan in 1971, Bangladesh felt the need for an
Air Force. On September 28, 1973 the Bangladesh Air Force was
official (can you say that with a straight face?). Three major
bases are needed to protect this poor, densely populated and
regularly flooded country. With dozens of aircraft at the ready,
I'm sure no one would mess with Bangladesh!
Parachutes, not just for people anymore.
According to the Cirrus Design website, parachutes are standard in
every Cirrus aircraft. The website credits the chutes for saving
six lives so far. The St. Petersburg Times reports Ballistic
Recovery Systems (one manufacturer of emergency parachute recovery
systems that lower the entire aircraft to the ground in case of
emergency) is working with NASA "to design a new generation of
emergency parachutes that could work on small jets and could be
steered by pilots as they drift to the ground." NASA has given
$670,000 to the company for research. We all know chute
happens.
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.16.24)
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