AIN Blogs

AIN Blog: Last Shuttle Flight Marks End of an Era
July 22, 2011 - 8:16am
Curt Epstein
The July 21 landing of the space shuttle Atlantis marked the end of a 30-year...

After a span of 30 years the space shuttle program ended on July 21 when Atlantis landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The landing represented the conclusion of the 135th flight of the reusable space plane, and for me, the end of the only manned space program I had ever really known.
AIN Blog: Biojet Cocktail May Produce a Big Hangover
July 20, 2011 - 10:54am
Mark Huber

At this year’s Paris Air Show, some big players bellied up to the biojet bar. Boeing flew one of its new 747-8s from the U.S. to the show fueled by a mix of 85-percent jet-A and 15-percent camelina plant oil derivative; Honeywell–the jet-engine and avionics manufacturer–made the trip using a 50-50 mix in a Gulfstream G450.
AIN Blog: Solar Impulse Impresses, Even When Not Flying
July 19, 2011 - 6:22am
R. Randall Padfield

The electrically powered Solar Impulse (HB-SIA) is an amazing airplane and I was anxious to see it fly during the Paris Air Show. Unfortunately for me and probably many others who attended the biennial event, the weather did not cooperate until the last day of the show, June 26.
AIN Blog: Saving an Aviation Institution
July 19, 2011 - 5:33am
David A. Lombardo

I was rearranging the contents of one of my bookshelves to make room for a stack of books that had been read but had no permanent residence. As I rapidly made space reassignment or discarded decisions about the flotsam and jetsam of 20 years of life in the same house, I came across my pilot log book from the late ’60s and early ’70s. 
AIN Blog: What Remains of Dubai’s Aerospace Dream as Airbus Orders Are Cancelled?
July 14, 2011 - 9:44am
Charles Alcock

What does the future hold for Dubai Aerospace Enterprise in the wake of this month’s news that its leasing arm, DAE Capital, has cancelled all remaining airliner orders with Airbus?
AIN Blog: President’s Bizav Blast Affects Entire Industry
July 8, 2011 - 8:46am
Paul Lowe

Just days after commending President Obama for his June 28 visit to an Alcoa plant in Davenport, Iowa, Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) president and CEO Marion Blakey found his next day broadside against business aviation “baffling and disturbing.”
AIN Blog: Torqued: Maintenance Errors Could Be Fatal
July 8, 2011 - 8:43am
John Goglia

Some days I feel like Richard Clarke the fateful summer before the tragedy of 9/11, when his hair was all on fire as his warnings about the mounting threats by Al Qaeda against the U.S. fell on deaf ears. We all know how that turned out.
AIN Blog: Behind the Scenes at Business Jet Traveler
July 8, 2011 - 8:38am
Jennifer Leach English

Here at Business Jet Traveler magazine, we know that it’s officially summer because our 2011 Buyers’ Guide has shipped.
AIN Blog: The Final Shuttle Mission Looks Down on a Vastly Changed World Beneath
July 8, 2011 - 8:22am
Nigel Moll

At 11:29 this morning, the final space shuttle flight got under way as Atlantis rose from the launch pad on a column of fire from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The threat of thunderstorms had remained at bay, and, some 2.5 minutes later than planned, STS-135 headed skyward to punch through an overcast on its way to spending 12 days in the void above.
AIN Blog: China Is Making a Big GA Mistake
July 6, 2011 - 11:49am
Matt Thurber

Now that Caiga has finalized its purchase of Cirrus Aircraft, it is more than abundantly clear that Chinese companies (most owned by the government) are making huge investments in general aviation (GA) infrastructure. But the Chinese government is making a gigantic mistake that will make it difficult for these investments ever to pay off.

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