by Phil
28. February 2010 23:59
The open source flight simulator project has just released Flightgear 2.0.
...FlightGear is a free flight simulator project. It is being developed through the gracious contributions of source code and spare time by many talented people from around the globe. Among the many goals of this project are the quest to minimize short cuts and "do things right", the quest to learn and advance knowledge, and the quest to have better toys to play with.
The idea for Flight Gear was born out of a dissatisfaction with current commercial PC flight simulators. A big problem with these simulators is their proprietariness and lack of extensibility. There are so many people across the world with great ideas for enhancing the currently available simulators who have the ability to write code, and who have a desire to learn and contribute. Many people involved in education and research could use a spiffy flight simulator frame work on which to build their own projects; however, commercial simulators do not lend themselves to modification and enhancement. The Flight Gear project is striving to fill these gaps.
It looks great and the price is right so check it out!
FlightGear Web Siite
by Phil
9. June 2009 08:29
According to a recent article in the Economist:
SPYING is a sophisticated and expensive business—and gathering military intelligence using unmanned aircraft can be prohibitively so. Predator and Global Hawk, two types of American drone frequently flown in Afghanistan and Iraq, cost around $5,000 and $26,500 an hour respectively to operate. The aircraft themselves cost between $4.5m and $35m each, and the remote-sensing equipment they carry can more than double the price.
The article is about how blimps will be used in future surveillance and worth a read.
Full Article
by Phil
5. August 2008 01:42
FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany — Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin launched his first flying machine from Lake Constance here in 1900.
Thus began a chapter of aviation history that would propel Friedrichshafen onto the world stage, make it a prominent target for Allied bombs during World War II and ultimately bequeath to the city a sizable foundation financed by the successor companies to Count von Zeppelin’s original enterprise.
According to the city, the foundation generates between $60 million and $80 million a year for a population of just 57,000. That largess supports projects as varied as school lunches for underprivileged children, sports teams and a new library. It was the threat of losing the foundation that nudged the town fathers to get back into the zeppelin business two decades ago.
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by Phil
31. July 2008 23:52
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and SkyHook International Inc. today announced a teaming agreement to develop the JHL-40 (Jess Heavy Lifter), a new commercial heavy-lift rotorcraft designed to address the limitations and expense of transporting equipment and materials in remote regions. Boeing has received the first increment of a multiyear contract from SkyHook to develop the new aircraft.
"SkyHook secured the patent for this neutrally buoyant aircraft and approached Boeing with the opportunity to develop and build the system," said Pat Donnelly, director of Advanced Rotorcraft Systems for Boeing. "We conducted a feasibility study and decided this opportunity is a perfect fit for Advanced Systems' technical capabilities."
The neutrally buoyant feature allows SkyHook to safely carry payloads unmatched by any rotorcraft in existence today. The helium-filled envelope is sized to support the weight of the vehicle and fuel without payload. With the empty weight of the aircraft supported by the envelope, the lift generated by four rotors is dedicated solely to lifting the payload, leaving the aircraft neutrally buoyant.
The SkyHook JHL-40 aircraft will be capable of lifting a 40-ton sling load and transporting it up to 200 miles without refueling in harsh environments such as the Canadian Arctic and Alaska. Currently, conventional land and water transportation methods in these undeveloped regions are inadequate, unreliable and costly. With its lifting capacity and range, the SkyHook JHL-40 aircraft changes that for a variety of industries around the world.
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by Phil
11. June 2008 02:26
They're not going to replace the 747, but it looks like the airships may be making a comeback.
As the search for petroleum-free transportation intensifies, several companies are promoting the next generation of airship technology. Britain's SkyCat is licensing its heavy-lift airship design and the Zeppelin NT, built with funding from the Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin endowment, recently completed its maiden flight.
Full Story