It’s a four-place, 320 knots (cruise), glass cockpit jet and you’ll pay only $611,628 for it. No, it isn’t one of the new crop of very light jets. In fact, it’s a very old jet in one sense, having been designed in the 1960s. In another sense, though, it is virtually new, says Greg Webster […]
The outsiders
Alan Klapmeier gets a lot of grief because he’s selling planes. Well, it’s not because he’s selling planes — it’s who he’s selling them to. “Our company gets beat up for trying to sell airplanes to people outside the industry,” says the co-founder and CEO of Cirrus Design Corp., which produces the SR-20 and SR-22. […]
‘Hoover’s Fighting Spitfire’ nears completion
If you have been following this series about the creation of a Sam Lyons painting, you have seen his latest work progress from its earliest sketches to a full, 24-inch x 30-inch canvas featuring a Spitfire flown by Bob Hoover during World War II. As we rejoin Sam Lyons, the airplanes are complete in every […]
Omlie, not Amelia
The average high school textbook gives the impression that Amelia Earhart was the only female pilot during the 1920s and 1930s. Rarely do you read about Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie. Born in 1902, she was one of the first women to become a licensed pilot in the United States and the first to receive an aircraft […]
Jimmy Doolittle: A noteworthy test pilot
In addition to being able to put an airplane through its paces and get out alive, test pilots have to be good communicators. Their notes help aircraft designers and engineers fine tune and improve designs. But during the Golden Age of aviation, test pilots sometimes flew stunts to benefit their reputations rather than improve aircraft. […]
A passion for fashion
NASA has awarded a $100,000 grant to the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium (NDSGC) to design and build a prototype Mars planetary suit. The year-long project, which involves students at several universities and colleges around North Dakota, will culminate in the production of a prototype spacesuit in March 2006. College teams from around the state […]
‘Glacier Girl’ makes her Sun ‘n Fun debut
“Glacier Girl,” the famous P-38E salvaged from beneath Greenland’s ice cap and restored to perfection, arrived at Sun ‘n Fun early on opening day of the fly-in in Lakeland, Fla. Despite the hour, she was surrounded immediately by admirers. “She’s like a rock star,” said advance man Richard Buchanan. “She gets a lot of attention […]
Tom Davis Education Center opens at Sun ‘n Fun
The new Davis Education Center is ready for visitors. “We’ve been planning the center for years and it’s exciting to see it finally come to fruition,” said John Burton, president of Sun ‘n Fun. The center is the focal point of year-round education programs, both for young people and adults, on the Sun ‘n Fun […]
Travel around the world — without leaving your desktop
Now you can fly around the world without leaving your computer, courtesy of NASA. Indeed, you can see Earth from space and zoom all the way down to street level, just by downloading World Wind at Worldwind.arc.nasa.gov. World Wind lets you zoom into space, fly around the globe, dive to the surface, track volcanic plumes, […]