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Perseverance's descent stage was also fueled up last weekend, just before the helicopter integration, NASA officials said. The descent stage is the rocket-powered sky crane that will lower Perseverance onto the Martian dirt via cables in February 2021. Gassing up the crane was no trivial task; the craft's four tanks hold a total of 884 lbs. (401 kilograms) of hydrazine propellant, agency officials said. "The last hundred days before any Mars launch is chock-full of significant milestones," David Gruel, the Mars 2020 assembly, test and launch operations manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, said in a...

A hunter and his wife take to the air to help eradicate invasive feral pigs, fulfill bucket list dream. It had been on my bucket list for a long time. I’ve been fortunate to do a lot of cool things from helicopters. I've parachuted out of them, rappelled out of them, and have even been in a low-speed crash landing in one (no injuries, but we ran like hell!). But the one thing I hadn't done, and had always wanted to, was shoot from a helicopter. Lean out the door with a rifle and engage some targets! So, when I...

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida -- In a demonstration Thursday for the U.S. Army's top civilian official, a Sikorsky-Boeing team flew experimental helicopter prototypes that could one day become the service's next scout and assault rotorcraft under the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program. The SB-1 Defiant helicopter prototype performed a series of aerial maneuvers to show off its unique X2 technology, which features a coaxial rotor blade system and a large propeller in the tail section of the aircraft designed to aid in forward thrust. This was the first flight demonstration of the Defiant for Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. Sen. Tammy...

Short video. LoL

The owner of the helicopter company reached out to the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu when the aircraft didn’t return from a tour of the Napali coast, the Coast Guard previously said. One pilot and six passengers were on the helicopter and two of those passengers are believed to be minors. The last communication came around 4:40 p.m. local time, Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Sara Muir told CNN Friday, about 40 minutes before the helicopter was due to return. At that time it was leaving Waimeia Canyon, Muir said. Muir identified the helicopter company as Safari Helicopters. When...

An investigation has begun into how the two helicopters hit each other. Thousands of French troops have been deployed in Mali since 2013 after militants overran parts of the north. Mali's army has since recaptured the territory but insecurity continues and the violence has spread to neighbouring countries. France now has 4,500 troops deployed to support the forces of Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad against the jihadists. French Defence Minister Florence Parly vowed that her country would not turn its back on the fight against terrorism after the deadly collision. It happened in darkness around 19:40 local time...

neighborhood dispute over a resident’s comings and goings had to be decided in court. The answer to whether helicopters can land on private property is not clearly defined in Jefferson County Zoning Regulations. Jonathan Sawyer lives on several acres of unincorporated land in Jefferson County. He occasionally charters helicopters for trips to the airport. According to Sawyer, the trip is about double the cost of a rideshare service, significantly faster and safer than driving. “Because it’s not mentioned, the county says it’s forbidden and they get to choose whether or not to enforce it,” explained Sawyer. According to the Jefferson...

An experimental attack helicopter that looks like a flying saucer has been unveiled in China. The strange flying machine, dubbed the Great White Shark, is loaded with an arsenal of high-tech weaponry and could take to the skies as early as next year. Pictures of the UFO-like aircraft with an unusual central cockpit first began to circulate online last week after it featured at an air show near Beijing.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. - Virginia State Police say they arrested a Mountain Valley Pipeline protester Monday morning. Police found the protester attached to a contracted pipeline helicopter at a work site on Cove Hollow Road, near Route 460 in Montgomery County, according to the Virginia State Police. Authorities removed and arrested Galen Sol Shirman-Grabowski, 24, of Tuscon, Arizona. Pipeline security found Grabowski masked and attached to the rotor mast of the helicopter by a Sleeping Dragon device, refusing to leave. There was a banner on the helicopter that said, "DOOM TO THE PIPELINE," according to Appalachians Against Pipelines. Grabowski is...

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice confirmed Cline’s death on Twitter but offered no details on how it happened. “Today we lost a WV superstar and I lost a very close friend. Our families go back to the beginning of the Cline empire - Pioneer Fuel. Chris Cline built an empire and on every occasion was always there to give. What a wonderful, loving, and giving man,” Justice said. “Cathy and I are praying for his family and all those involved in this tragedy,” Justice said. Cline died the day before his 62nd birthday and was a native of Beckley, West...

PHOENIX – The Phoenix mountain rescue of a hiker in her 70s created a stir Tuesday when video showed her rescue basket spinning wildly under the helicopter that carried her to safety. Video of the Piestewa Peak rescue on ABC15’s Facebook page had more than 2 million views within six hours of being posted. First-responders with the Phoenix fire and police departments said extreme spinning was rare during what’s called a hoist rescue, but they’ve seen it before and have a plan for how to handle it. “Sometimes when we bring the helicopter up from the ground, it will start...

The Mars 2020 rover is set to land in Jezero Crater, which scientists estimate was once filled with water. Photo by NASA/MRO ================================================================= May 28 (UPI) -- A new photo captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and shared online this week features the landing site for the space agency's Mars 2020 mission. The Mars 2020 rover, scheduled to launch next year, is expected to land in the Jezero Crater, located in a region of Mars known as the Syrtis Major quadrangle. The crater is thought to have once been filled with water, and its watery history is visible in the...

Officials with the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve near Lancaster never thought they'd have to warn people not to land a helicopter in the middle of the fields -- that is, until one actually did. "We never thought it would be explicitly necessary to state that it is illegal to land a helicopter in the middle of the fields," the post stated. "We were wrong." Apparently, a couple landed the helicopter in the field and began hiking off a nearby trail. The hike didn't last long however, as law enforcement immediately intervened, according to post. They tried to contact the...

Army to name new attack helicopter after Elizabeth Warren Published 12 hours ago on March 13, 2019 By Jim Bowie FORT RUCKER, Ala. — The U.S. Army will honor Elizabeth Warren and her Native American ancestry with the latest addition to its helicopter fleet, the AH-68 Warren, sources confirmed today. The Warren will join the Black Hawk, Kiowa, Apache, and Lakota in the Army’s impressive legacy of combat aircraft named after Native American tribes. The Warren conquered its two chief competitors, the AH-67 Redskin and V-23 Columbus, to win the Army contract. “The Redskin just offended too many white people,...

Turkish Aerospace's new attack helicopter exhibits the same configuration as the company's T129 Atak, but is considerably larger and more powerful. (photo: Turkish Aerospace) Turkey’s Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSB) signed a contract with Turkish Aerospace Industries on February 22 as part of the country’s effort to indigenously develop a new 10-tonne heavy attack helicopter, which is likely to compete in the future with the Boeing AH-64 Apache. The contract for the Heavy Class Attack Helicopter project has an undisclosed value, and how much this initial contract covers in terms of program deliverables has also not been released. Details so...

This is helmet cam footage of a rescue made during firefighting operations. The pilots are amazingly calm in a very hazardous rescue.

he MH-60 Seahawk hit the flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan shortly after takeoff around 9 a.m., according to a statement released by the Navy’s Seventh Fleet. All injured are in stable condition and are being evaluated by medical staff. The Navy did not say how many people were injured but that some “will be medically evacuated ashore” without specifying a location. An investigation has been opened into the cause of the crash, according to the statement. The incident occurred during routine operationsi

Russian Helicopters presented a new version of the Mi-28N attack helicopter that improves combat survivability and firepower and implements manned-unmanned teaming capability for the first time. The “Night Hunter” was used extensively in the Syrian theater, used both by the Russian and Syrian forces. Some of the improvements address lessons learned from these operations. “We are constantly improving military helicopters because the requirements of our customers change, and we always aim to meet them. Due to the experience of using Mi-28 machines during military operations, we knew how to further develop this project. The modernization considerably increased the capabilities of...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would cancel the planned purchase of eight military helicopters from the United States as part of cost-cutting measures.Lopez Obrador, who handily won this month’s presidential election on pledges to fight corruption and cut government waste, said there had been plans to pay 26 billion pesos ($1.36 billion) for the helicopters to be used by Mexico’s navy. “This purchase is going to be canceled because we can not make this expenditure,” Lopez Obrador told reporters on Wednesday after meeting with incoming legislators from his MORENA party. Lopez Obrador is...