Tag Archives: news

Calls for violence

Posted on March 2, 2011 by David Megginson

At OurAirports, an anonymous visitor has left the same comment for six different Vietnamese airports (including an air force base), encouraging a Libyan-style uprising in Vietnam (the comments should be gone by the time you read this, for reasons that … Continue reading →

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Ottawa TFR for President Obama's visit

Posted on February 12, 2009 by David Megginson

Four and a half years ago I complained about a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) for President Bush’s visit to Ottawa. I like President Obama a lot better than I liked President Bush — and I’m very excited that he’s making … Continue reading →

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No more Microsoft Flight Simulator?

Posted on January 23, 2009 by David Megginson

Rumour says that Microsoft layed off most or all of the Flight Simulator development team this morning (Gamasutra, Gizmodo). Microsoft (originally, Sublogic) flight simulator has been around for 29 years — I first tried it in ’82 or ’83. If … Continue reading →

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Ditching a jetliner

Posted on January 15, 2009 by David Megginson

While we don’t have all the details yet, it sounds like amazing work from a US Airways crew, ditching a jetliner (a 737?) into the Hudson River today (story) right after takeoff from La Guardia Airport. According to witnesses, the … Continue reading →

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Expanding Heathrow

Posted on January 15, 2009 by David Megginson

The British Government has approved adding a third runway to Heathrow Airport (CBC News story). There has been huge opposition to this, mainly from environmentalists. I believe (a) that the environmentalists’ reasoning is completely misguided, and (b) that they’re right, … Continue reading →

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A legal precedent for airspace

Posted on January 7, 2009 by David Megginson

A few days ago, a woman went into labour and gave birth on a scheduled airline flight from Amsterdam to Boston [story]. At the time of the birth, the airliner was in Canadian airspace. The flight crew had considered diverting, … Continue reading →

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Speed *and* fuel efficiency?

Posted on December 30, 2008 by David Megginson

I don’t care that it holds only one person. When can I buy one of these? 190 knots true airspeed at 17,500 feet burning 3.5 gallons per hour — very nice! He can get 50 miles to the gallon at … Continue reading →

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Wow!

Posted on December 8, 2008 by David Megginson

This is going to be some story when we get the details: Pair aboard downed plane from N.L. found in life-raft off Baffin Island (CBC) A small plane ditches in the Arctic, just before the start of winter. Both occupants … Continue reading →

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How we navigate

Posted on September 14, 2008 by David Megginson

This BBC story describes a study about how the human brain navigates. On the street They hooked up London cabbies to an fMRI machine, and observed which parts of their brain were active during different tasks while driving around London … Continue reading →

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Pilot population trends

Posted on April 15, 2008 by David Megginson

In the U.S., AOPA president Phil Boyer wants to know how to stop the pilot population from declining — it has fallen below 600,000, and is still heading downhill. No surprise, really. Flying is a fuel- and land-intensive pastime, when … Continue reading →

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