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EVERETT, Wash.—Boeing Co.'s long-delayed 787 Dreamliner made its first flight on Tuesday morning under cold, cloudy skies, marking a milestone for the company's marquee commercial jetliner program that is running more than two years behind schedule. The first Dreamliner test aircraft rolled down runway 34 Left at Paine Field at 10:28 a.m. and smoothly lifted off, heading northbound. Thousands of people, including hundreds of Boeing employees, plane enthusiasts and media, gathered at the airfield, which is also the site of Boeing's wide-body jet factory, where the Dreamliners are assembled.

(Editor’s Note: Doug Hagmann’s popular site, the Northeast Intelligence Network is currently under transition to another server and will be back online later today.) It happened again on Wednesday, December 9, 2009, less than a month after the incident aboard AirTran Flight 297. United Airlines Flight 227, scheduled to depart Denver International Airport at 1:50 pm Wednesday for Los Angeles was disrupted when several passengers who were described as Middle Eastern in appearance, confirmed by this investigator to be a group of Muslims traveling together, were removed from that aircraft due to suspicious behavior that originated in the terminal and...

This story has not made headlines and may never be told by the lying media but we are trying to get the following account out to the public. It is important to know Homeland Security is NOT taking care of its job and seems to be more concerned about political correctness than passenger safety. This was sent directly to us from the individual who had the experience.  The information has been verified.  Here is the story. One week ago, I went to Ohio on business and to see my father. On Tuesday, November the 17th, I returned home. If you read the papers...

Police say a woman went to great lengths to make sure her boss didn't miss his flight Wednesday -- she called in a bomb threat. Her delay tactics weren't taken lightly. Police on Thursday arrested Claudia De La Rosa, 31, of Sunny Isles Beach, on a charge of false report of planting a bomb. Here's what happened, according to the arrest affidavit. On Wednesday, a call and e-mail came into Miami International Airport, saying in Spanish there was a bomb on an American Airlines plane. It listed the flight number and departure time. ``The flight was delayed while MDPD searched...

WWII Vets Take To The Sky For Flight Of Honor101 Local Veterans Visit WWII Memorial UPDATED: 9:31 pm EDT October 3, 2009 GREENSBORO -- With family and friends looking on in anticipation, 101 local veterans took to the sky Saturday morning for a daytrip visit to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. These were the men and women who 65 years ago stormed the beaches in France, battled at sea, liberated Paris, marched to Berlin and served on the home front, all to squash the surge of tyrannical Nazism and preserve freedom in the world. The veterans, now...

9/3/2009 - KABUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- Test pilots, engineers and ground crews from Alenia North America performed an initial test flight of the first of 20 programmed Afghan C-27A "Spartans" recently in Italy. The medium-sized tactical military transport remains on schedule for delivery to Naples in late September. Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan is currently refurbishing these C-27As, which will be added to the Afghan National Army Air Corps' fleet in November. Currently, the Afghan National Army Air Corps operates seven refurbished Soviet-era fixed-wing aircraft that are familiar platforms to the aircrews and maintenance personnel. The transition to the...

In 2007, Flight 93 Advisory Commission member Tim Baird told me that everyone at the meetings he attended is fully aware that the giant crescent, originally named the Crescent of Embrace, really does point almost exactly at Mecca. Professor Baird says they all just assume (himself included) that the Mecca orientation must be an innocent coincidence. Pretty crazy, when they have also been told the meaning of a crescent that Muslims face into to face Mecca. Every mosque is built around a Mecca-direction indicator called a mihrab, and the classic mihrab is crescent shaped. Geometrically, the Crescent of Embrace...

A few minutes into our conversation, Buzz Aldrin makes it clear that we won't be spending much time reliving the day that began a new chapter in the history of the human race and made him one of the most famous people on – and off – the planet. It's not that the Second Man on the Moon doesn't want to talk about his space odyssey; it's just that he thinks he should be suitably rewarded for doing so. Sharing his extraterrestrial experiences is, he concedes, "an appropriate and necessary thing: it's what people want. But I can't just keep...

US ambitions to send astronauts back to the moon as a prelude to missions to Mars have been put in doubt by budgetary constraints 40 years after man's triumphant landing on Earth's nearest neighbor. After the Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003, former president George W. Bush decided to phase out the shuttle flights by 2003 and set a more ambitious mandate for America in space. Launched in 2004, the so-called Constellation program aims to take Americans back to the moon by 2020 to use as a launch pad for manned voyages to Mars.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A cross-country US Airways flight was diverted to Albuquerque after a male passenger removed his clothing mid-flight. Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Albuquerque airport, said 50-year-old Keith Wright of New York disrobed Tuesday while sitting in his seat in the back of the aircraft. He said Wright was unresponsive when a flight attendant asked him repeatedly to get dressed and refused to be covered with a blanket. Jiron said law enforcement employees who were passengers on the plane helped subdue and handcuff Wright before the flight landed. The FBI said Wright is in federal custody on...

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2009 – When an “honor flight” from Long Island, N.Y., lands here tomorrow with 31 mostly World War II veterans aboard, it’s likely to be met in the same manner as others before it: with much applause and fanfare. Dr. Jack Griffeth, left, served as a medial guardian on the May 4, 2009, ‘honor flight’ for veterans from Atlanta. World War II veteran William Glavic, right, who also participated in that flight, survived the sinking of the USS Yorktown during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Photo courtesy of The Honor Flight Network  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution...

Russia welcomed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday on his first trip abroad since his bitterly disputed re-election, a show of support for a leader facing massive protests at home and questions from the West about the legitimacy of the vote count Ahmadinejad arrived in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg and sat down for talks at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes Russia, China and four Central Asian nations. Iran has observer status in the grouping, widely seen as a counterbalance to U.S. interest in the region.

I just finished listening to a podcast where an avionics engineer goes over the final messages sent by the Air France Flight 447 plane before it crashed. The error messages sent by the plane show that multiple computer failures happened simultaneously, starting at 02:10 GMT, when a series of 14 warnings and failures emerged at once. Addison Schonland, president of Innovation Analysis Group, and Michael Ciasullo, IAG's managing director of consulting services, led the podcast discussion. The engineer, who went only by Darryl, and his interviewers were careful not speculate. Darryl is introduced as an engineer familiar with the the...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and his wife have been placed in quarantine after a passenger on their flight to China exhibited flu-like symptoms. Nagin's press office said a passenger had "signs and symptoms of an influence-like illness suspected to be of the H1N1 subtype." This comes amid continued global concerns about swine flu. The office said Sunday the couple and a security guard were placed under quarantine in Shanghai as a precaution and were exhibiting no symptoms.

An Iraqi Soldier watches as Iraqi Lt. Amar K. Gaad, nurse and flight medic instructor, marshals the litter into the C-130 Hercules during aero-medical evacuation transport training at New Al-Muthana Air Base, Iraq, June 2. The four-week course, once taught by U.S. instructors, is now instructed by Iraqis. Photo by Senior Airman Jacqueline Romero. NEW AL MUTHANA AIR BASE — As U.S. forces withdraw in the future, the Iraqi Air Force will assume new missions and responsibilities. One such mission is the Aero-Medical training of flight medical technicians, also known as "flight medics."The four-week training course is now taught by...

Two Pennsylvanian’s quit the Flight 93 Memorial Commission last week, protesting Park Service plans to condemn five crash-site properties that it never negotiated for in good faith. Consider the case of the Lambert family, who have been on their land for three generations: "It's absolutely a surprise. I'm shocked by it. I'm disappointed by it," said Tim Lambert, who owns nearly 164 acres that his grandfather bought in the 1930s. The park service plans to condemn two parcels totaling about five acres — land, he said, he had always intended to donate for the memorial. "To the best of my...

Iraqi Air Force and Army members strap a person on a litter inside a UH1 Huey helicopter during the aero-medical evacuation class at New al-Muthana Air Base, Iraq, April 20, 2009. Photo by Senior Airman Jacqueline Romero. NEW AL MUTHANA AIR BASE — Air Force flight surgeons continued their mission to train Iraqi Air Force and Army flight surgeons here recently, better preparing the Iraqi officers to eventually take over the aerospace medicine mission. "The Coalition Air Force Training Team is conducting a flight surgeon training course here in Iraq," said Col. William W. Dodson III, Multi-National Security Transition Command...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, April 20, 2009 – While troops on the ground risk their lives fighting terrorism, Air Force Capt. Susan McCormick provides emergency care to wounded troops so they can return to the fight or return to their families back home. Air Force Capt. Susan McCormick gives medicine to Air Force Airman 1st Class Brent Noah during an aeromedical evacuation flight to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, March 26, 2009. Noah dislocated his hip and was being flown to Bagram Airfield from Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan, for treatment. McCormick is a flight nurse with the 455th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Flight...

Animal Flight Control: Where’s the Evolution? April 12, 2009 — A couple of articles in Science last week discussed the marvels of flight control in birds.  “Being earthbound save for the ability to fly airplanes and helicopters, humans stand in awe of animals that power their own movement through the air by flapping their wings, and of the spectacular maneuvers that some of these animals can achieve,” wrote Brian Tobalske in a Science Perspective.1  His article was listed under the category “Evolution,” but neither his summary nor the original paper said anything about evolution.2  Tobalske’s opening paragraph sets the tone...

In this week's installment: 1. PhysOrg: “In Search of the Original Flapper[—]New Theory on Evolution of Flight” Can evolutionists rescue their own model of bird origins? 2. ScienceNOW: “Oldest Stone Blades Uncovered” Stone blades from more than 500,000 years ago: the work of an alleged human ancestor or someone playing Survivorman? 3. BBC News: “Jews Celebrate ‘Dawn of Creation’” People around the world celebrated a recent, literal creation this week. 4. The Local: “Creationists Taking on Evolution in Germany” In February we noted a Der Spiegel article on European creationists (which followed a Guardian article that covered British creationists). Now...

Confirming that liberals have no sense of irony, April Fool’s Day this year will be commemorated with a new slew of confiscatory taxes assembled by the imbeciles in Sacramento who cannot grasp the most rudimentary economic principles. On April 1st, Californians will be sentenced to higher sales, personal income taxes and vehicle taxes.

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq - Training days: 19. Flying days: zero. That tally changed to 20 and 1 as six Iraqi rotary-wing student pilots moved from the classrooms and briefing rooms to the tarmac and OH-58 helicopters--and the air--Feb. 15. Led by Soldiers, civilians and contractors from the U.S. Army Security Assistance Training Management Organization, Iraqi Air Force Squadron 2 is comprised of 12 student pilots, whom began ground academics when the course started in January and is scheduled to graduate here late July. The three-phase flight course will include basic aircraft handling, flight instrument use and tactics application....

-------------------------- I said yesterday that I would summarise what the crew went through the other day so here goes... Reports state geese were flying at 2900'. This would imply that the A320 would have already cleaned up from its original take off flap setting (most likely config 1 which would have a small amount of flap on the trailing edge and a small amount of slat on the leading edge) to a clean configuration and acceleration to 250 kts indicated airspeed, the maximum permitted speed below 10,000' in the US. The engines would have been in the 'climb gate' which...

Once I got done aggravating pinheaded rentacops I did take a few pictures! BTW, you can't take a camera into a Social Security office either. It's on the list with Swiss Army knives and cellphones.

From the noisy and lovable Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to the time-traveling DeLorean in "Back to the Future," flying cars have been a fixture of movies and science fiction that never quite cut it in the real world -- until now.A flying car devised by a British inventor and a team of engineers took off from London on Wednesday on an epic journey to Timbuktu, Mali, in West Africa -- a trip they hope will prove the fantasy has become reality. The "Skycar" is a road-legal all-terrain buggy with a huge rear propeller and a fabric wing, the result of...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 13, 2009 – For nearly a year, Air Force Maj. Kevin Mantovani, Combined Air Power Transition Force engineering director, has provided the Afghan National Army Air Corps with the best engineering advice the Air Force has to offer. Air Force Maj. Kevin Mantovani, left, Combined Air Power Transition Force engineering director, an Afghan air corps maintenance soldier, center, and Air Force Maj. John Beurer, Combined Air Power Transition Force team member, right, pose for a photo before boarding an Afghan Mi-17. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. For this and his many accomplishments at...

t wasn't the usual takeoff from Torrance Municipal Airport. When the cream-and-maroon Citabria Adventure broke its bond with Earth, George Butts pulled back hard on the stick. The little aerobatic plane shot skyward at a near vertical angle, like a roller coaster making its first ascent. In back, G-forces shoved 12-year-old Jon Miller of Los Angeles into his seat. Then he was momentarily weightless as Butts quickly leveled off at the top of his climb. By the time they returned almost 30 minutes later, Jon had experienced dives, banking turns and low-level passes over Santa Monica Bay. It was the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2008 – While on patrol in northern Iraq last year, Army Spc. Kevin Hardin of Jupiter, Fla., was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. He suffered injuries to his hands and arms. As a result, some of his fingers were amputated. Shrapnel penetrated his skull, leaving inoperable injuries. Army Spc. Kevin Hardin, far right, poses with his father, Charles, right, and brothers Kyle, left, and Keith, far left, in Washington, D.C. Courtesy photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Twenty surgeries later, and while recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here, Hardin wrote to Luke's...

A passenger's laptop computer is being considered as a possible cause of the Qantas incident off Western Australia on Tuesday. The Airbus A330-300 was flying from Singapore to Perth when it suddenly plunged thousands of feet, leaving more than 50 people injured. The plane was forced to make an emergency landing at an air force base near Exmouth in WA. A computer malfunction involving the auto-pilot system is being blamed for the incident. 'There certainly was a period of time where the aircraft performed on its own accord as it pitched over nose forward,' said Julian Walsh from the Transport...

A man whose original flight was delayed seven hours is facing disorderly conduct charges today because he allegedly sprayed fellow passengers with foot powder after landing in Boston. "This is what your airline gets for treating me bad," Arthur Nicolson allegedly yelled, according to a State Police report, as he shook a 7-ounce bottle of Dr. Scholl's Foot Powder on other travelers as he ran off the plane. The 42-year-old Framingham resident was arrested in Terminal A at Logan International Airport shortly after US Airways Flight 67 landed at 3:30 p.m. Nicolson had originally been booked the day before on...

September 22, 2008 Later this week FusionMan Yves Rossy will attempt the first solo jet-propelled flight flight across the English channel. Using a new single jet wing he unveiled in May, and which has already been tested over the distance (Rossy flew 35 kilometers in ten minutes during the test – an average 210 mph). The event will be broadcast live by National Geographic national geographic Channel in 165 countries and will also be streamed live online. Check out the image gallery – quite simply amazing. Good luck FusionMan! We’ve previously covered Rossy’s exploits here, but he's done so much...

Fox says there is an AA plane circling LAX with a blown tire, burning fuel before it attempts an emergency landing.

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....

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

This video was arranged and animated to the song, “One Day”, sung by Evangelist, Ezekiel Cash. The Merlin falcon and its song are arranged in autumn scenery.

AIRLINES are desperate. With jet fuel over $4 per gallon and still climbing, American, United and other major carriers are raising fares, cutting flights, trimming fleets and laying off pilots. They're also ordering fuel-efficient Boeing 787s and Airbus A350XWBs — the new generation of plastic planes. These new aircraft promise 20-percent-lower fuel consumption. Replacing heavier traditional aluminum alloys, 50 percent of their skins, panels and load-bearing structures are comprised of lighter, stiffer carbon-fiber-reinforced-plastic (CFRP) composites. Then add the latest, most fuel-efficient engine technology. Sounds good. But beneath these advantages danger lurks — novel maintenance challenges for which neither airlines nor...

Imagine two scales at the airline ticket counter, one for your bags and one for you. The price of a ticket depends upon the weight of both. That may not be so far-fetched. "You listen to the airline CEOs, and nothing is beyond their imagination," said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, a Washington, DC-based trade group. "They have already begun to think exotically. Nothing is not under the microscope." He declined to discuss what any individual airline might be contemplating, including charging passengers based on weight. With fuel costs almost tripling since 2000, now accounting for...

This video was arranged and animated to the song, Hallelujah, sung by: The Five Blind Boys of Alabama. The Merlin falcon and its song are arranged in autumn scenery.

This video was arranged and animated to the song, Hallelujah, sung by: The Five Blind Boys of Alabama. The Merlin falcon and its song are arranged in autumn scenery.

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2008 – They last donned their uniforms nearly 70 years ago, but the veterans appeared as proud as if they were still wearing them as they set out for their visit to the nation’s capital to see the memorial in their honor. As guests of Honor Flight Michigan, 40 World War II veterans traveled to Washington, D.C., on May 17, 2008, to visit the memorial built in their honor. Former soldiers Eddie Johnson (left) John Reiff (center) and John DeNardo wait with their Honor Flight guardians, Kim Stafford, Virginia Reiff, and Norm Van Sparr, respectively. The...

BEX, Switzerland - A Swiss pilot strapped on a jet-powered wing and leaped from a plane Wednesday for the first public demonstration of the homemade device, turning figure eights and soaring high above the Alps.

Congressman Jim Ramstad (R-MN) gave a House speech this month, supporting Mr. Burnett's opposition to the crescent design. The speech is entered in the Congressional Record here, along with supporting statements from Tom Burnett Sr. (father of murdered Flight 93 hero Tom Burnett Jr.). That makes two Congressmen now who have come out publicly against the crescent memorial. (Tom Tancredo took the lead last November, asking the Park Service to choose a completely new design.) News coverage revs up confrontation at this Saturday’s public meetingRamstad's speech, and our ongoing petition drive, netted a full width banner headline on the...

This video was arranged an animated to the song, Hallelujah, sung by: The Five Blind Boys of Alabama. The video pictures are of a Merlin falcon and its song, in autumn scenery, the background photo is of Butchart Gardens; Canada. Autumn is my favorite time of the year.

LONDON (AFP) - Flights began operating at Heathrow airport's new terminal on Thursday, slightly clouded by a few teething problems and a protest at the London air hub. Terminal Five, which cost 4.3 billion pounds and is the first addition to Heathrow in 20 years, was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II earlier this month. On Thursday the first flight to land was from Hong Kong, and while the British Airways aircraft landed 10 minutes ahead of schedule, some passengers reported delays while signs were also criticised. "It took an hour for our bags to come through from the time we...

You have heard of white flight. Now consider black flight Next month the Burning Bush Baptist Church will hold its first service in a converted Sears department store. When the church was founded, in 1995, it had a congregation of 12. About 750 now attend Sunday services, and more are joining all the time. One reason for the church's growth is the oratorical skill of David Denson, its pastor. Another is that Burning Bush is a mostly black church, and there are a lot more blacks around these days. Between 2000 and 2006 the black population of Victorville and Apple...

KIRKUK — Pull back and the trees get smaller; push forward and the trees get bigger. It’s a simple explanation for flying that pilots give when talking about the similarities between flying different airplanes. It’s also a foundation that former Iraqi pilots work from since returning to the Iraqi Air Force as flight instructors in the country’s first flight school since Operation Iraqi Freedom began. The Iraqi Flight Training School, located in Kirkuk, is training officers to fly fixed and rotary wing aircraft, producing the future pilots of the Iraqi Air Force. “After the war, I felt sad for my...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A teenage passenger from California was arrested in Nashville for plotting to hijack a plane from Los Angeles to Nashville, the FBI said Friday. FBI spokesman George Bolds told The Associated Press the 16-year-old boy was removed from Southwest Airlines Flight 284 Tuesday night by authorities at Nashville International Airport and found with "suspicious" items. Bolds said the teen had handcuffs, rope and duct tape in his bag and was believed to be traveling alone. The juvenile's name has not been released. "His plan had a low probability of success," Bolds said. Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Brandy King...

This is the first craft that is set to make regular tourist flights into space. The Virgin Galactic spacecraft, which was being unveiled in New York today, is already under construction. Test flights are expected to begin in June, with commercial flights starting 12 months later. More than 200 potential astronauts are believed to have already paid deposits for the £100,000 flights, including actress Victoria Principal, scientist Stephen Hawking, and Princess Beatrice. Flights will last for two hours and will include four and a half minutes of weightlessness. The 60ft ship is expected to reach an altitude of 110km -...

'White flight' increasing, race chief says By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor Last Updated: 1:41am GMT 15/01/2008 The flight of the white middle classes from the inner cities is accelerating, the Government's race relations chief has said. Trevor Phillips said so-called ''white flight" - an American phenomenon now increasingly seen here - was deepening racial segregation. Mr Phillips has warned in the past of the growing polarisation of the country along ethnic lines. But his use of the emotive term ''white flight" will fuel the controversy triggered by the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester. He said last...

DALLAS - Up to three American Airlines jets carrying passengers will be outfitted with anti-missile technology this spring in the latest phase of testing technology to protect commercial planes from attack. An American Airlines spokesman said Friday that the test will determine how well the anti-missile system holds up under the rigors of flight. The first Boeing 767-200 will be equipped in April or later, said the airline spokesman, Tim Wagner. American operates that Boeing model mostly between New York and San Francisco and Los Angeles.