Have you ever wondered what it might have felt like to be at Kitty
Hawk, one fateful December day in 1903, when a bicycle mechanic
from Ohio named Orville Wright first took to the air aboard his
fragile powered flying machine and skipped through the air those
few precious feet? Who among us hasn't marveled at photographs and
faded film footage of the great events in aviation history and
longed to know what it was like to be there? The Vintage Aviation
Historical Foundation (VAHF) was established for people just like
you.
Passive device extended from an aircraft to increase parasite drag.
Most common forms are hinged wing flaps or tail cones, and are
mounted in locations where operation causes no significant
deterioration in stability and control at any attainable airspeed.
Also known as dive brakes, air brakes differ from flaps in that
they produce no useful lift.
"I think this will go on for a while as airlines
realign themselves and the FAA adjusts its attitude to be rigorous
with the airlines and not partners with them, not treating them as
customers. I think we can expect more aircraft being pulled out of
service because they weren't inspected when they should have
been... [airlines] have to do a vastly better job of scheduling
their aircraft for maintenance so that work can be done without
inconveniencing the traveling public. It's now reached a crisis
point beyond the inspection dates that they've had to take large
numbers of aircraft out of service in order to conduct the
inspections that should have been done on a routine
basis."
Source: Minnesota Congressman James Oberstar,
who has led the char
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