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MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. — Search teams combing a rugged part of eastern California for any sign of Steve Fossett, the adventurer who vanished on a solo flight more than a year ago, have spotted what appeared to be wreckage Wednesday, authorities said. Erica Stuart, spokeswoman for the Madera County Sheriff's Office, would not reveal the exact location of the reported aerial sighting, which she said was called in around sunset. Searchers had been combing a 10-mile radius around the spot where a hiker had found what appeared to be a pilot's license and other items belonging to Fossett earlier in...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― An American Airlines jet overshot the runway at O'Hare International Airport Monday afternoon, and the Fire Department was sent to the scene. American Airlines said the affected plane was Flight 268, which was headed from Seattle to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. It was diverted to Chicago for an unknown reason, and city Aviation Department officials said the plane was experiencing "electrical problems." After landing, the plane was poised at an angle about halfway off the runway. Passengers on the 757 plane were to exit using air stairs and be brought to the terminal on...

Airframe Chute's Failure Forces Real-Live Bail-Out... ANN has learned sume surprising details surrounding the recent loss of a non-conforming flying prototype of the Cessna SkyCatcher LSA during exclusive conversations with personnel from Cessna Aircraft and BRS Parachutes. Cessna's prototype Model 162 SkyCatcher light sport aircraft crashed thursday afternoon near Douglass, KS on what was described as a routine test flight, but a Cessna spokesperson now describes as an extensive evaluation of the aircraft's smpin matrix... this particular test being devoted to "Full-Power, cross-controlled spins." (snip) Cessna has been pretty open adn up-front with the matter, at least to the extend...

Excerpt - All flights in Pakistan have been suspended after a major security alert at Islamabad airport, according to reports. The country's civil aviation authority is said to have instituted a state of emergency. A huge search is underway at Islamabad airport after a phone call saying the building would be blown up at 12.40pm local time (7.40pm UK time), say local TV reports. ~ snip ~

Fleet Week 2008 Press Releases FLEET WEEK HAS A STELLAR LINE UP The Blue Angels Return along with the Canadian Snowbirds SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Sept. 2, 2008 -- Fleet week is proud to announce that the Navy’s Blue Angels will be returning to the skies of San Francisco. Fleet week makes its 28th annual appearance, October 9-14, 2008 -- attracting an estimated one million spectators along the San Francisco waterfront. The show will be bigger and better this year with the Canadian Snowbirds joining the Blue Angels. The Snowbirds’ performance features nine jets showcasing remarkable tactical aviation. Their show...

After capturing his seventh championship at the Reno National Championship Air Races, Bill "Tiger" Destefani says he's laying off the throttle.

Marfa, Texas (AP) -- A plane carrying the U.S. and Mexican heads of the International Water and Boundary Commission disappeared Monday while touring floods along the Rio Grande. Commissioners Carlos Marin, of the U.S. section, and Arturo Herrera, from Mexico, were flying to Presidio, Texas, from El Paso but the plane did not land as scheduled, Presidio County Judge Jerry Agen said. The plane carried the pilot and one other passenger, he said. The chartered Cessna 421 propeller plane left about 10 a.m. and was to fly over a reservoir in Mexico so the men could see a dam where...

Private aviation group works on own attack-helicopter design By: Martin Zhuwakinyu Published: 12 Sep 08 - 9:00 South African aviation and defence company Advanced Technologies and Engineering (ATE) has embarked on conceptual planning for the development of what is to be known as the New Attack Helicopter (NAH), external affairs director Lorris Duncker tells Engineering News. This comes on the back of the successful upgrade of the Russian-made Mi-24 helicopter, now in production for the air force of a North African country and the demonstration of another upgraded Russian stalwart – the Mi-17 combat helicopter – to an unnamed potential...

ARLINGTON, Va. (Army News Service, Sep. 8, 2008) -- The Army kicked off a celebration recognizing 100 years of military aviation during a Sept. 6 ceremony at Fort Myer, Va. Despite heavy rains and flooded streets due to Tropical Storm Hanna, hundreds turned out to Conmy Hall to see the first public starting of the engine on a replica of the 1908 Wright Model A. The original of that aircraft flew Sept. 3, 1908 at Fort Myer. That flight was the first in a series that led to a $30,000 Army contract awarded to the Wright brothers in July 1909...

A spokeswoman with the National Championship Air Races confirms to Channel 2 News that a pilot was killed in a plane wreck Saturday morning at Reno-Stead Airport...

JUNEAU, Alaska — When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin sought to illustrate her frugality and flair to delegates at the GOP convention Wednesday, she described how she disposed of a corporate jet acquired by her unpopular predecessor. "That luxury jet was over the top," Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said to loud cheers. "I put it on eBay." Palin's statement implied the plane was sold through the online auction site revered for empowering millions of small entrepreneurs, and Palin's spokeswoman insisted Thursday that the transaction occurred. But the plane failed to sell on eBay. Instead, the 23-year-old 10-seat Westwind II...

Searched for this after going to Iron Maiden's website.

Anchorage, Alaska - Gov. Sarah Palin is keeping her campaign promise not to become part of the jet set. Without setting foot on the state's Westwind II, Palin directed Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to put the jet up for auction on the Internet auction site eBay, which the state has used in the past to sell a ferry and various aircraft. The Murkowski administration bought the Westwind II for $2.7 million just 13 months ago. In her campaign, Palin said the purchase of the aircraft in defiance of public opinion became a symbol of an arrogant administration.

United Airlines has said that it will not end free meals in coach class on international flights, as announced earlier this summer. The carrier had said it would trial a program on transatlantic flights from Washington Dulles International Airport, in which travelers in coach class would be charged for food, and meals in Business and First Classes would be free......

It has been 25 years since Korean Airlines Flight 007, carrying 269 passengers and crew, including Congressman Larry McDonald of Georgia, was fired on by a Soviet fighter jet off the coast of Siberia. At the time, McDonald was chairman of the John Birch Society (a subsidiary of which publishes THE NEW AMERICAN). Although several speakers eulogized McDonald at a Washington, D.C., memorial service 10 days following the September 1, 1983 attack, the words most remembered by both this magazine’s editor, Gary Benoit, and this writer were delivered by the late Senator Jesse Helms, who passed away on July 4....

Even though my country, Sweden, isn't a NATO-member, I'm beginning to feel somewhat annoyed over the behavior the Russian Air Force displays towards my dear neighbor country Norway. I think the Nordic countries, as well as the whole of "Democratic" Europe will have to fight Russian Expansionism within a generation. Russia will lose. Russia stands no chance against a united Western Europe - and if Russia does not wish to realize this, we will make them highly aware of their inferiority in terms of population size, technological know-how, production capacity and overall management skills. Compared to governments like those of...

Marilyn Dash of Hayward, who took her first flying lesson nine years ago on her 37th birthday, is now tearing around pylons at 180 miles per hour, 50 feet off the ground in her souped-up biplane, surrounded by a swarm of other planes all dashing to a finish line in the air. Dash will be one of more than 150 pilots competing in six classes of aircraft - from biplanes to jets - when the National Championship Air Races and Air Show take off Sept. 10 to 14 in Reno. In addition to dozens of wingtip-to-wingtip races at as much...

Russian, Delta Jets Nearly Collide Over Caribbean WASHINGTON (AP) ― Federal authorities say two airliners were a minute away from colliding when they turned away from each other over the Caribbean this week. The National Transportation Safety Board says the Delta Air Lines flight and a Russian-registered passenger jet were heading toward each other north of Puerto Rico on Thursday when cockpit alarms went off. In a statement Friday, the NTSB says the pilot of the Russian plane -- a Transaero Boeing 737 -- descended 200 to 300 feet to avoid Delta Flight 485. The planes were 33,000 feet over...

Sen. John McCain’s surprise choice of running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, has a positive association with general aviation. Considering that GA is the primary form of long-distance transportation in the forty-ninth state, it’s not surprising that Gov. Palin has taken a stand on the user fee issue. In May 2007, she signed a resolution in opposition to the FAA’s plan to increase avgas taxes, impose user fees, and slash airport funding. AOPA and the Alaska Airmen’s Association had worked together to move the resolution through the Alaska legislature. There is a family connection as well. Palin’s husband, Todd,...

McCain VP nominee has GA connections By AOPA ePublishing staff Sen. John McCain’s surprise choice of running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, has a positive association with general aviation. Considering that GA is the primary form of long-distance transportation in the forty-ninth state, it’s not surprising that Gov. Palin has taken a stand on the user fee issue. In May 2007, she signed a resolution in opposition to the FAA’s plan to increase avgas taxes, impose user fees, and slash airport funding. AOPA and the Alaska Airmen’s Association had worked together to move the resolution through the Alaska legislature....

ALERT - Sudanese plane hijacked: pirates want to go to Paris TRIPOLI - The hijackers who hijacked on Libya a Sudanese plane, with more than 100 people on board, require fuel to go to Paris, said in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday a Libyan airport source. ALERT - The hijackers claimed to belong to the SLA Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur TRIPOLI - The hijackers who hijacked on Libya a Sudanese plane, with more than 100 people on board, belonging to the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLA) Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur who lives in Paris, said on the night from...

MONTREAL - An Air France Boeing 747 skidded off the runway at Montreal's Trudeau International airport after it landed Tuesday afternoon. Early indications are there were no serious injuries and video of the airplane shows no signs of major damage, Montreal police confirmed. Emergency vehicles surrounded the jumbo jet at the airport as crews worked around the aircraft, which was stuck in the grass beside the runway. The airport remains open and television footage shows planes continuing to take off and land. More to come © Canwest News Service 2008

Foxnews Alert: Foxnews says it started on the East Coast. Shep says Massive Communications Problem. www.faa.gov

A computer failure in the system that processes flight plans has delayed flights nationwide, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed to FOX News. "The system that processes flight plans is backed up," said FAA senior spokeswoman Laura Brown. "Planes must file a flight plan to take off. Without that they sit on the ground." Brown said that there was no safety issue, but noted that all flights in Boston were grounded, and the FAA's website shows all flights bound for the East Coast grounded at their destination airports. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Tuesday that the delays were not terror-related."There...

Fox News Alert MAJOR problem with national air traffic...specifically flight plan system....All air traffic halted, nationally.

Some 140 people were killed today when a packed passenger jet caught fire and overshot the runway as it tried to take off from Madrid airport, official sources said. The Spanair plane, with 173 passengers and crew aboard, crashed and broke apart as it tried to take off from Terminal 4 at the Barajas airport. It was heading for Las Palmas airport on the island of Gran Canaria. The Reuters news agency quoted sources in the emergency services as saying that all but about 25 of those aboard had been killed - far ahead of initial death tolls given by...

At least seven people have died in an accident suffered by a Spanair aircraft after taking off from T-4 at the Barajas airport in Madrid. [Excerpt; my translation from the Spanish.]

The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the controversial Unification Church, has been hurt as a helicopter he was in attempted an emergency landing in South Korea. The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the controversial Unification Church, has been hurt as a helicopter he was in attempted an emergency landing in South Korea. Moon, 88, was among several people on the aircraft when it made an emergency landing at Gapyeong, 25 miles east of Seoul. News agencies quoted officials as saying Rev Moon's injuries were slight. The casualties were taken to Cheongshim Hospital, which is owned by the Church,...

GLENDALE, AZ -- A plane carrying a pilot and two United States Secret Service agents for Senator John McCain crash landed in a West Valley field on Tuesday morning, according to officials from the Arizona senator's campaign. No serious injuries were reported at the scene near 99th and Northern avenues. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the single-engine Cessna 206 took off from Glendale Airport just after 10 a.m. The pilot noted a rough-running engine and tried to land in a vacant lot two miles from the runway, but hit a fence. The plane sustained substantial damage. According to...

Obama has distorted a criticism in order to refute it. He was roundly criticized when he REMOVED the huge American flag painted on the tail of his plane and REPLACED with his personal logo, "the Big Fat Zero". When criticized for REMOVING the flag, the "Fight the Smears" website re-framed the criticism as: "Barack Obama has been attacked for not having an American Flag on his campaign airplane." But that was NOT the wording, or intent, of the alleged "attack". He was "attacked" for replacing the (huge) American Flag on the tail with his own personal logo, not for having...

A real ride back in time. One of my fellow passengers flew these in WW2. Click on the link for a few more pictures.

The Civil Air Patrol resumed their search Sunday for a missing Texas family last seen when their private plane took off from Steamboat Springs, Colo., in poor weather conditions, MyFOXColorado.com reports. Tommy Jacomini, who was piloting the Cessna 182 carrying his wife Susie, and their 7-year-old son Thomas and 5-year-old daughter Vivi, reportedly lost contact with ground control 15 minutes into the flight on Friday. Summit County sheriff officials say radar detected the four-seater airplane Friday near Green Mountain Reservoir, about 30 miles northwest of Sunday's search area, according to MyFOXColorado.com. Seven ground crews were reportedly searching an area stretching...

It's said that dead men tell no tales. But a severed arm and hand that emerged from a Wrangell Mountain glacier nine years ago just might -- with the help of two pilots, several forensic and genetic scientists and a raft of state and federal officials. Their combined efforts, detailed at an Anchorage press conference Friday, have determined that the human remains belong to one of the passengers on board a DC-4 airliner that slammed into the side of Mount Sanford 60 years ago last spring. More specifically, they belong to Francis Joseph Van Zandt, a 36-year-old merchant marine from...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― After an emergency on board Barack Obama's airplane on a recent flight out of Chicago, the pilot felt he no longer had 100 percent control of that plane. This new information contradicts the initial reports. CBS 2's Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports that they were headed for North Carolina but only made it as far as St. Louis. Senator Obama joked about it at the time, but tonight, it appears, the pilots considered it no laughing matter; going so far as to ask for crash teams and the "longest runway you have." Barack Obama couldn't have been...

The End Of Aviation What will happen when America can't afford to fly? Bradford Plumer, The New Republic Published: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 As the age of cheap oil comes to a close, it's springtime for gloomy futurists. Visions of a brutish world marked by violent squabbles over dwindling reserves, of junkyards littered with abandoned cars, of suburban slums overrun by weeds, of the collapse of industrial agriculture--none of this sounds as outlandish as it once did. Still, most of these horror stories are likely overstated: Energy experts tend to agree that, with a little ingenuity and a generous helping...

The incident involving Sen. Barack Obama's campaign plane last month was much more serious than the airline or the Federal Aviation Administration said, according to FAA control tower tapes obtained by ABC News. At the time, an FAA spokesperson said the pilot did not declare an emergency and the airline owner, Midwest Airlines, said safety "was never an issue." [Snip] Just 41 seconds after discovering he no longer had full control of the plane's up and down movements, the pilot told an FAA air traffic controller "at this time we would like to declare an emergency and also have CFR...

A Kerrville pilot walked away unscathed after an emergency landing Tuesday morning at the Louis Schreiner Field. According to Texas Department of Public Safety reports, David Wampler made the landing after the front landing gear of his Cessna 177 Cardinal RG did not deploy. He landed on runway 30 and slid about 600 feet before coming to a stop. “The pilot did a textbook job of an emergency gear-up landing,” said interim airport manager Bruce McKenzie. “He remained very cool during the whole ordeal. He has been trained well.” According to DPS, Wampler took off from the Gillespie County Airport...

WIMAUMA — In the middle of a grassy 40-acre airfield bordered by a cow pasture, an orange grove and a two-lane road in rural Hillsborough County, Steve Hall was steward recently to three small airplanes that will soon be delivered to airports in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. With a roster of a dozen pilots who have an unusual knack for navigating pint-sized, single-engine planes across the Atlantic Ocean, Hall's aircraft delivery business is booming these days. Customers around the world are snapping up small airplanes from the United States, thanks to the weak American dollar. And...

Barack Obama’s new campaign plane is nothing short of grand. Well, for the candidate that is. Obama’s section of the plane rivals that of any first class. Recently the front cabin of the Boeing 757 was retrofitted to install four individual chairs that resemble La-Z-Boys. They are free-standing and made of plush leather with pockets on the sides. There is also a booth which seats four for a meeting or a meal. His chair has his name and campaign logo embroidered on the back top -- “Obama ‘08” on one line and “President” underneath. To one side is a small...

A Qantas Boeing 747 was forced to make an emergency landing at Manila Airport on Friday after a midair incident. CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said the Australian Transport Safety Bureau would be focusing on whether an onboard oxygen tank had exploded, ripping a hole in the plane's fuselage. -snip- He confirmed an oxygen cylinder was missing from the plane and this would be a key focus of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's(ATSB) investigation into what happened.

Adventurer Steve Fossett 'may have faked his own death' Round-the-world flying adventurer Steve Fossett may have faked his own death, investigators have claimed. By Chris Irvine Last Updated: 12:22PM BST 27 Jul 2008 Fossett, a friend of Virgin boss Richard Branson, and the first man to fly non-stop round the earth in a hot air balloon, went missing last September when his final flight in a light plane over the Nevada desert went missing. However, Lieutenant Colonel Cynthia Ryan of the US Civil Air Patrol has said Fossett, whose body or plane was never found, could still be alive. She...

MANILA (AFP) - A Qantas Boeing 747 flying to Melbourne made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after a dramatic mid-air rupture that left a "gaping hole" in its fuselage, officials and passengers said. Stunned passengers reported how the jumbo, which had taken off from London and stopped in Hong Kong, plunged 20,000 feet (6,000) metres in what one said was an "absolutely terrifying" ordeal...

HOW OBAMA HAS IMPROVED HIS CAMPAIGN PLANEJuly 24, 2008Sean Robins NewsBusters has a report today on campaign and reportorial analysis by ABC's Jake Tapper ("Obama Thinks He's President; Denies Media Access") Tapper, who is about as reasonable as an MSMer working for ABC News can be, is all in a snit about how the Obama campaign has been treating reporters, especially those ensconced in Obama One for his "Tour of Duty" through the Middle East and Europe.  Obama, as we've been reading the past few days, has been frightfully unavailable to reporters (I think I've even heard a bunch of...

As part of a month-long aircraft makeover, a painted American flag was removed from the tail of Sen. Barack Obama's official campaign airplane and was replaced with the presidential candidate's trademark "O" symbol. The refurbished 757 was unveiled to members of the news media today, 41 of whom boarded the craft and took off to meet Obama in Amman, Jordan, where the presidential candidate will stop as part of a Middle Eastern and European tour. Obama traveled to the Mideast earlier this week on board a separate airplane. Fox News blogger Bonny Kapp, traveling on Obama's new airplane, reported: "The...

Sally, a nickname bestowed upon Barack Obama’s chartered 757 by some in the traveling press, has returned to service after undergoing a month-long makeover for the general election. Her inaugural flight - sans candidate - will be to Amman, Jordan, with a refuel stop in Ireland. There are 69 passengers on board, including 38 members of the press, Secret Service agents, and Obama staffers, including several of Obama’s top foreign policy advisors. The North American jet that flew Obama and his traveling crew around for much of the primary season was refurbished with new seats and power for each passenger...

A British soldier and jump instructor participating in a parachute competition in Germany got hung up on the landing gear of his jump aircraft, reportedly a Britten-Norman Islander, and was rescued by the only person left on the aircraft -- its pilot...

The FAA has offered an unprecedented $100,000 bonus to air-traffic controllers throughout the country to lure them to the New York area's five understaffed radar centers - and has even begun trolling local high schools to recruit for the jobs. The FAA began its recruitment efforts in high schools and through online ads on MySpace and Craigslist because of a severe staffing shortage and lack of experience among workers at its air-control towers.   (edit) By 2011, 59 percent of all controllers will have less than five years on the job.  

In this edition: The Israel Air Force unveils a new squadron of warplanes said to be capable of striking Iran. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's lawyers say they need more time to cross examine key witness Morris Talansky. Iran test fires a new round of missiles as U.S. vows to defend its allies

5. John F. Kennedy, Jr.- July 16, 1999 Jfk2 John F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the 35th president, died along with his wife Carolyn Bessette when their plane crashed into the Atlantic en route to Martha’s Vineyard. Kennedy was piloting his Pipier Saratoga II HP on a dark and hazy night when the crash occurred. It is believed that Kennedy, who had not yet been qualified for instrument flight rules conditions, was likely disoriented by the conditions.

Local authorities say a flower-laden U.S. cargo plane headed for Miami has crashed near the Colombian capital, killing two people on the ground. None of the plane's crew have been reported killed Monday, although some are injured. It is the second crash in two months of a Boeing 747 flown by Kalitta Air of Ypsilanti, Michigan. advertisement Madrid village Mayor Diego Humberto Sicard says the plane hit a ranch roughly 15 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of Bogota at 3:50 a.m. (4:50 a.m. ET). He says the two people who died, Pedro and Edwin Suarez, lived in a small house on...