It starts with a tip, a scrap of intelligence, a fingerprint lifted from a suspected terrorist’s home. It ends when a person is forbidden to board an airplane — a decision that’s in the hands of about six experts from the Transportation Security Administration. The no-fly list they oversee constantly changes as hundreds of analysts […]
Category Archives: Air
USAF vehicle breaks record for hypersonic flight
An experimental aircraft has set a record for hypersonic flight, flying more than 3 minutes at Mach 6 — six times the speed of sound. The X-51A Waverider was released from a B-52 Stratofortress off the southern California coast Wednesday morning, the Air Force reported on its website. Its scramjet engine accelerated the vehicle to […]
Dreamliner Makes First Overseas Landing
Boeing Co’s new 787 Dreamliner touched down in Britain on Sunday on its first trip outside the United States, thrilling hordes of eager planespotters who came out to see the breakthrough carbon-composite plane. A media circus ensued as Boeing executives, including CEO Jim McNerney, emerged smiling from the plane, though McNerney did not actually fly […]
Unfriendliest airlines in the U.S.
America’s Meanest Airlines Simply put, flying can be a stressful activity. A lot of the time it begins with the airports: dizzying parking garages, overpriced food and a series of long lines have a way of making even the most serene travelers a little bit agitated. And that’s even before the airplane leaves the ground. […]
Shuttle’s Descent May Be Visible Across U.S
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – Early risers across the United States may have an unusual opportunity to see the space shuttle on Monday as it glides through the atmosphere, heading toward a landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle Discovery is returning from a resupply and servicing mission at the International Space […]
Spectacular sky show coming
In the pre-dawn hours of April 22 (1:00 – 3:00 am), be sure to look up. If you do, you’ll likely be treated to a spectacular celestial show in the form of the Lyrids meteor shower. Why bother to wake up at an ungodly hour to gaze at the sky? Several reasons. First, the Lyrids shower […]
Growing Number of Aircraft Near-Collisions
The growing number of aircraft near-misses in US skies is making civilian aviation authorities increasingly concerned and has prompted them to reexamine air traffic control procedures. “Over the last weeks there have been a number of instances where separation was lost between aircraft and in some cases there was a bit of a delay of […]