The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner was the first fully pressurized airliner to enter service anywhere in the world. Being able to fly 20,000 feet higher than the 5,000 to 10,000 foot-altitude unpressurized airplanes a that time, it was said that it could "fly above the weather." It carried five crew members and 33 passengers and had a nearly 12-foot wide cabin for overnight berths. The Stratoliner was also the first land-based airplane to have a flight engineer as a member of the crew.
Air Force Dismantles Crashed C-130 in Military-Style: With Lots of Explosives
What do you do with a C-130 cargo aircraft that has made a crash-landing in an insecure area of Iraq? If you're the 447th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron you wire it with explosives and you blow it up. Again and again and again... until it's in small enough bits to load onto a flatbed and ship back to an air base. Apparently it's pretty rare for an aircraft to make emergency landings in the field, which is good news. Though if it resulted in more videos like this, we wouldn't complain.
Near Miss At JFK
Remember the near-miss at JFK July 6, 2008? Here is a Fox News animation and an interview with an air traffic controller from JFK Tower. Scary.
Inside Air Traffic Control
Why do we still have the world's safest skies? Check out these Sky Symphony Conductors and you'll know who to thank next time you land in one piece.
Lockheed's C-141 "The Hanoi Taxi"
The Hanoi Taxi (tail #66-0177) was retired from active service in May 2006. She was the last of the 285 C-141s built by Lockheed to leave active service. She flew 100 POWs out of Hanoi on 12 February 1973, some of them tasting freedom for the first time in six years. Each POW put their shot-down date on the face of the oxygen panel during their flight to Clark AB in the Philippines. For her retirement ceremony, the POWs she brought home were brought back for the ceremony and one last flight by this gracious lady. Most of them are old men now but their enthusiasm, emotions, and excitement were evident during this flight and retirement ceremony. She was then flown to Dayton, OH where she will spend her final days in the Air Force Museum.
Runway Incursion - No one has the flick here!
Here is a good example of how situational awareness avoided a possible disaster: This is incredible. The First Officer is a female who was recently hired with extremely low experience. The Captain has failed several check rides. The female tower controller gets confused and doesn't realize what's happening. The only smart guy in the bunch is the U.S. Air Pilot who is waiting for takeoff. Listen to what he decides to do! Although this is about 9 months old, it illustrates how runway incursions can ruin your day.
Virgin Galactic Overview with Richard Branson
Overview of Virgin Galactic space travel. Hosted by Richard Branson, featuring Burt Rutan, winner of the X-prize.
There's a new geo-map at the bottom of our home page that shows where the last 200 visitors came from. It just looks at ISP locations, not your specific location. It's interesting.
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