Thursday, October 29, 2015
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Fwd: [WP0165233] FREE WEBINAR - Get a Better Preflight Briefing! - FAASafety.gov
| FAA Safety Team | Safer Skies Through Education | |
| You have asked us to notify you when a seminar is scheduled that meets your criteria. The following seminar may be of interest to you: "FREE WEBINAR - Get a Better Preflight Briefing!"Topic: How to prepare for and receive a better preflight briefing. On Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at 16:30 Location: ONLINE ONLY--Webinar 16501 Sherman Way Van Nuys, CA 91406 Select Number: Description: In this 90 minute webinar you will significantly improve the quality of your briefings and your understanding of the information provided to you. You'll also learn what the briefer needs to know in order to provide you exactly what you want and need. Lastly, you will learn the differences in various forecasts and what to look for to begin to identify hazardous weather conditions. Click here to register. To view further details and registration information for this seminar, click here. The sponsor for this seminar is: FAASTeam The FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) is committed to providing equal access to this meeting/event for all participants. If you need alternative formats or services because of a disability, please communicate your request as soon as possible with the person in the 'Contact Information' area of the meeting/event notice. Note that two weeks is usually required to arrange services. The following credit(s) are available for the WINGS/AMT Programs: Basic Knowledge 3 - 1 CreditAdvanced Knowledge 1 - 1 Credit Master Knowledge 1 - 1 Credit | |
Fwd: [NR0364577] Cross Country Challenge - FAASafety.gov
| FAA Safety Team | Safer Skies Through Education | |
| You have asked us to notify you when a seminar is scheduled that meets your criteria. The following seminar may be of interest to you: "Cross Country Challenge"Topic: Cross Country Challenge On Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at 19:00 Location: Southern Museum of Flight 4343 73rd Street North Birmingham, AL 35206 Select Number: Description: To view further details and registration information for this seminar, click here. The sponsor for this seminar is: AOPA Insurance Agency The FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) is committed to providing equal access to this meeting/event for all participants. If you need alternative formats or services because of a disability, please communicate your request as soon as possible with the person in the 'Contact Information' area of the meeting/event notice. Note that two weeks is usually required to arrange services. The following credit(s) are available for the WINGS/AMT Programs: Basic Knowledge 3 - 1 Credit | |
Fwd: "FAA Safety Briefing Departments- All Things IFR" - FAASafety.gov
| FAA Safety Team | Safer Skies Through Education | |
| FAA Safety Briefing Departments- All Things IFR The September/October 2015 issue of FAA Safety Briefing focuses on IFR Operations. Articles review things that might be helpful to all IFR pilots whether you just got your instrument rating or you've been flying in the soup for decades. In this issue's Jumpseat department (p. 1), Flight Standards Service Director John Duncan looks at the importance of "A Stabilized Approach," while Checklist (p 21) examines ways a pilot can stay current. Nuts, Bolts, and Electrons focuses on preflight items that require special emphasis when getting ready for IFR operations. Angle of Attack (p 29) reviews the FAA's #FlySafe campaign which is aimed at helping prevent Loss of Control (LOC) accidents. | |
Friday, October 16, 2015
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Monday, October 5, 2015
What is with this hellish airplane seat arrangement from Airbus? [feedly]
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What is with this hellish airplane seat arrangement from Airbus?
// The Verge
Don't be fooled: this isn't a torture device, nor is it a geometric painting from one of the abstractionist masters. It is, somehow, a proposed seating arrangement for aircraft brought to you by the sadists at Airbus, who have now resorted to physically stacking passengers on top of one another.
What?
As near as I can tell, one "advantage" of this setup is that at least some of the seats can be configured to lie flat — but that doesn't change the fact that there are people on top of people. If there was any doubt in your mind that we are merely cargo when we board a flight, this should take care of that.
The airline industry's never-ending push for brutal efficiency has brought us ridiculous seating arrangements before, and I imagine this won't be the last of it. The silver lining, if there is one, is that this is only a patent application right now — there's no sign that this is making it into real aircraft, at least not any time soon.
The Onion had it right all along.
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Flying Robot Bees Can Now Swim, Too [feedly]
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Flying Robot Bees Can Now Swim, Too
// Popular Science
Robot Bees
Robot bees as seen in 2013, soon after they first achieved controlled flight.
When given the choice between sinking and swimming, these RoboBees will swim every time.
We first wrote about Harvard scientists' invention of robotic bees back in 2013. In some ways, not much has changed. The bees are still leashed to their power supply, too small to carry onboard computers and batteries. But in the past two years, they've picked up a new trick: they've learned how to swim.
The bees are so small and light that the surface tension of the water prevents them from delicately sinking into a glass. But the researchers found that if the bees cannonball into the water, they turn into very happy swimmers. As it turns out, moving through the air and moving through water aren't that different for the RoboBees—they simply flap their wings more slowly underwater.
See the robot bees in action here:
Video of Harvard RoboBee Diving, Hovering, Swimming
Needless to say, real bees and water don't mix quite as well, and though RoboBees and real bees are similar sizes, they still have very different functions. Robot bees may one day be capable of pollinating crops, but that day is at least 20 years in the future.
For now, the researchers are focused on expanding the RoboBee's basic capabilities, including new tricks like swimming. And even if we got to a point where RoboBees were able to pollinate crops, the robotic option would remain far more expensive than the natural, biological source of inspiration.
In the absence of good robot alternatives, researchers are still focused on saving bee populations, which have been in decline for the past several years. Looking into a whole host of scientific research from conservation methods, to bee illnesses, and alternative pollinators, means that we probably won't have to rely on RoboBees to pollinate our food anytime soon. But they're still incredibly cool.
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Airline Captain Dies En Route [feedly]
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Airline Captain Dies En Route
// AVweb Top News
The captain of an American Airlines A320 died during a flight on Monday from Boston to Phoenix, according to an airline official. Few details have been released about the pilot, but officials said the death was due to an illness. The flight diverted to Syracuse, N.Y. and landed shortly after 7 a.m. An ariline spokesperson told ABC News they were "incredibly saddened" and are focused on taking care of the family members and crew involved.
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