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Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.— Socrates



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Saturday, August 02, 2008

A Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 is seen here taking off from Changi International Airport in Singapore. The Airbus superjumbo, the world's biggest passenger aircraft, Saturday began special flights to Beijing to meet higher demand ahead of the Olympic Games.
(AFP/File/Roslan Rahman)

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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

JRM-2 Mars

Did Aviator Steve Fossett Fake His Death?

Rumors are now swirling around the globe that famed aviator Steve Fossett may have hoaxed the world.

A British newspaper, the Daily Telegraph has reported that Fossett may have been leading a double life, after having affair's with two other women and used his reported "final" flight to make the world belive he had died in a tragic plane crash.

The famed aviator vanished in September of 2007 whilst on a recon flight spotting possible flat terrain for his land speed record attempt.

He departed from a private area field, near Minden, Nevada, owned by his friend Barron Hilton.

After a lenthly and costly search and rescue attempt by the U.S. Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Air Force and civilian searchers throughout the Seirra Nevada, with no results, Fossett was claimed dead.

New findings from a private investigation led by the British based insurance firm, Lloyd's of London provide new information that Fossett had in fact had two affair's with mistresses and that the plane he was reportedly flying on the day he vanished could very easily be dismantled and hidden in a short space of time.

This leads me to the question: Did Aviator Steve Fossett Fake His Death?



Read Comments

Posted by: Joy Location: Chicago
I've always thought this "disappearance" was strange. He's an accomplished flyer, there were no weather problems that day, the plane was never found after exhaustive searches. And, most importantly, his "widow" was very quick to get him declared dead. It's quite possible he disappeared to get away from his wife, who would have been in on the whole thing, and by the way she was handsomely rewarded after he was declared dead. It all seems so plausible to me. I think there should be an investigation.
Posted by: Terri Location: CA
"all in all, if his plane did actually crash, it would have been found by now.." Not true. There are many other planes that have gone missing in that area that have never been found. It's also not uncommon to hear about planes being 'found' decades after they went down. Happens all the time.

Posted by: Grammar Police Location: USA
2 affairs, not 2 affair's

Posted by: Dan Location: Reno
He's a republican, you really can't trust any of them. He's alive, hidden but alive and the plane is dismantled and hidden. Just another conservative wacko.
Posted by: Bob Location: California
I believe that he is Dead and that he is either in a lake or a rough, hard to find canyon. Might be found sometime in the future by hunters stumbling upon the wreckage or a fisherman getting a snag and pulling up a piece of the plane which could lead to the actual discovery of the whole plane and what is left of Mr. Fossett. As for the other issues, everyone with fame and money chases pretty young girls because they can.

Posted by: Carol Location: Reno
There are many ways to look at this. I believe that his wife knew of his private life, which included a younger woman. Now he could have vanishsed to be with her or he could still be on the Hilton Ranch 6' under..check it out who knows..his (wife) does not seem to care one way or the other, she just wanted him declared dead so the insurance money would come through, there are a lot of ways to look at this and it should be throughly investigated. If he is alive he should be brought before World Television and apologize to everyone who looked for him and pay every cent back to those who as said before "put thier lives on the line for him" Really, he seemed intelligent enough to simply ask his wife for a divorce instead of just faking his death, and then there is the speed record, maybe he figured out the time wrap....all in all, if his plane did actually crash, it would have been found by now..

Friday, July 25, 2008

F-35B Lightning II Rolls Out

The F-35B Lightning II rolled off the production line 18 December in Fort Worth, Texas, to the fanfare of customers from the United States, United Kingdom, and Italy. The rollout marked the formal handing over of the first short-takeoff vertical landing, or STOVL, variant of the F-35 from production to flight testing.

"The flexibility the STOVL variant of the F-35 will add to the contemporary Marine Air Ground Task Force is amazing," said US Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway. "This generational leap in technology will enable the Marines to operate a fleet of fighter/attack aircraft from existing runways, from unimproved surfaces at austere bases, or from the decks of ships. We find that capability extremely valuable." The Marines will be the primary operator of the F-35B. [READ MORE]

Boeing B-17 @ Top Gun 2008

Flying lawnmower for sale

This flying lawn mower was custom built for the half time show at TOP GUN about 5 years ago. It has only been flown at the show so it has about 15 flights on it.

Powered by a powerhouse OS 1.08

Has a Futaba 6EXA radio installed

Perfect for airshows or just flying fun! Flies like a trainer!

Will loop, roll, fly inverted, etc with ease

Local pickup preferred as it is rather bulky with the handle attached

$600.00

Click [here] if interested

Probe begins into Qantas jumbo hole



Passengers spoke of hearing a loud bang and debris flying into the first class cabin as the plane’s flooring gave way, part of the ceiling collapsed and the plane reportedly plunged 20,000ft.

The aircraft touched down safely in Manila at 11.15am local time and amazingly all 346 passengers and 19 crew disembarked normally.

Manila airport operations officer Ding Lima told local radio the plane lost cabin pressure shortly after take-off on the Hong Kong to Melbourne leg of its journey and the pilot radioed for an emergency landing. [READ MORE]

Video shot by passenger inside plane

Shows airplane arriving in Manila.

Eyewitness account [here]

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Yves Rossy - Fusion Man

Yves Rossy (born August 27, 1959) is a Swiss pilot, inventor and aviation enthusiast. He invented and is the first person to have flown a jet engine-powered wing strapped to his back. The flight occurred in November 2006 in Bex, lasting nearly six minutes. While work with jet packs to propel humans dates back as far as World War II, his is the first jetpack to also have wings.

Yves has served as a fighter pilot in the Swiss Air Force flying Dassault Mirage IIIs, Northrop F-5 Tiger IIs and Hawker Hunters. He flew Boeing 747s for Swissair and now works as an Airbus pilot for Swiss International Air Lines.

[READ MORE - WATCH VIDEOS]

Monday, July 07, 2008

Northwest Boeing 757 Lands with Dented Nose Cone

July 6: NWA flight 435 to Minneapolis was delayed because of a mysterious dent in the nose.

Fox News:

MINNEAPOLIS — Northwest Airlines says it's investigating after the nose cone on one of its planes was damaged during flight.

The plane had been scheduled to fly to Minneapolis from Tampa, Florida. But that flight was delayed after the plane was damaged sometime during a flight between Detroit and Tampa.

Retired Northwest pilot Richard Duxbury says the plane was likely hit by something, possibly a bird. He says bird strikes can be a significant safety issue.

The airline hasn't confirmed that a bird hit the plane. In a statement, Northwest says none of the passengers or crew members were hurt in the incident.

Friday, July 04, 2008

DC-10 Water Bomber


A DC-10 Tanker drops fire retardant over a fire in Green Valley, Calif.,Sunday June 22nd, 2008. The fire has consumed more than 3500 acres between Napa and Solano county in Northen California.
(AP Photo/Eric Peralta)

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Crash: TACA A320 at Tegucigalpa on May 30th 2008, overran runway and crashed into embankment

A TACA (El Salvador) Airbus A320-200, registration EI-TAF performing flight TA390 from San Salvador (El Salvador) to Tegucigalpa (Honduras) with 124 passengers and 11 crew (5 off duty), overran the runway while landing at Tegucigalpa Toncontin Airport's runway 02 in bad weather and crashed into a shop and cars past the runway.

The fire chief of Honduras has confirmed 5 fatalities, amongst them the captain of the flight and two people on the ground, and 65 injuries. The first officer was said to be in critical condition but is now stable. Passengers in the business class section have been most affected.

Tropical storm Alma was battering Nicaragua and Honduras earlier, but was loosing strength quickly as it moved inland.

The weather data suggest, that the airport may have been below minima, but the actual weather conditions at the time of the approach may have been different to the observation time for the METARs. Official Minima for the VOR/DME approach, that has to be flown as a circling approach (no straight in permitted), are 5620 feet MSL with 2nm visibility.



Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya announced, that only aircraft categories A and B will be allowed into Tegucigalpa's Toncontin Airport in the future. He declared the now military "Soto Cano Airport" at Palmerola to be an international airport with immediate effect.

Within 60 days the airport at Palmerola (ICAO Identifier MHSC) shall take over commercial operations and also handle the international traffic, that was handled at Toncontin so far.

The largest aircraft operating into Toncontin was a Boeing 757 of American Airlines (category D) operated daily from Miami into Toncontin, flight AA953 and AA954.

Reduction to category A and B means, that only aircraft with approach speeds up to 120 knots indicated at maximum landing weight will be permitted into the airport. The largest aircraft matching this specification is a British Aerospace BAe146-300 respective Avro RJ-100, as well as most turboprop airliners like the de Havilland Dash 8.

Category A identifies aircraft with approach speeds less than 91 knots, Category B more than 90 but less than 121 knots, Category C more than 120 but less than 141 knots, Category D more than 140 but less than 166 knots and Category E above 165 knots, always at maximum landing weight. [READ MORE]

[See More Photos]

Local News Coverage of Accident:



American B-757 landing at same airport: