AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association)
A not-for-profit organization in Dayton, Ohio operates a Wright “B” Flyer look-alike called the “White Bird”. Listen in as chief pilot Richard Stepler talks about the airplane, and it’s similarities to the original design by Orville and Wilbur Wright.
Wright “B” Flyer, Inc.
A not-for-profit corporation that seeks to increase awareness of Dayton, Ohio, and the surrounding region as the Birthplace of Aviation.
Just Have a Think with Dave Borlace
Battery technology is developing at breathtaking speed all over the world, but China still leads the way. Now they’ve created batteries with such high energy density that they’re using them to develop a commercial aircraft with a range of 2,000 miles – enough for most commuter flights in the US or Europe. So, has battery chemistry reached yet another previously impossible milestone?
Scientists and engineers at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University has developed an innovative wearable fabric that is flexible but can stiffen on demand through a combination of geometric design, 3D printing, and robotic control, the new technology, RoboFabric, can be adapted for applications such as medical devices, soft robotics, drone limbs, or control surfaces of advanced design craft for water and air.
“You never change something by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes
the existing model obsolete.”
― R. Buckminster Fuller
It took more than nice slogans and superficial corporatism for Honda in particular and Japan on the whole to become the absolute 🐐 of motorcycle manufacturing.
Traditional TBL Tractors scoop up the nose landing gear, lifting it off the ground, avoiding the complexity and time penalty of connecting/disconnecting a towbar because the aircraft’s nose wheel weight provides the necessary downward force.
TBL systems are much shorter than conventional tug+towbar systems because they have a single pivot point instead of one at either end of the towbar, making its geometry simpler for more precise control with a wider variety of aircraft, requiring less maneuvering space.
RoadEdge Shepherds™ are wireless powered, semi-autonomous, electric TBL tractors capable of moving any aircraft from the smallest single-engine type to narrow-body airliners, military cargo and airline-sized business jets. Though the majority of aircraft do not require adapters, an automated tool changer enables a wide range of adapters for unique craft and circumstances.
The Velocity inspired Maelström scale-model will utilize a durable rectenna array film applied to the bottom of the wings and fuselage, providing main flight power within the TMA/TCA.
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
NRL Conducts Successful Terrestrial Microwave Power Beaming Demonstration
https://navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/3005894/nrl-conducts-successful-terrestrial-microwave-power-beaming-demonstration/
RoadEdge™ Modules are low-profile, adaptive smartgrid-to-smartroad devices for semi-permanent, seasonal, and emergency deployment as the name implies alongside of the path, road, runway, on the periphery of forest or field, requiring no time-consuming and costly replacement or refurbishing of existing infrastructure. REMs are by design are extremely rugged, fault-tolerant, hot-swappable, quickly and inexpensively repaired and upgradeable.
Advanced motion capture give us precision metrics of the aircraft position and attitude for enhanced situational awareness at a reduced workload for pilot to ATC staff. This real-time data informs the modular system of emitters that employ phased-array beam focusing and steering, while also creating virtually instantaneous beam occultations (eclipses) when any person, animal, or object impinges upon the space between the aircraft and emitters.
Scale Model Demonstrator Project
In this application, the term applies to a semi-autonomous ecosystem for underserved airports dedicated to general aviation and small to medium scale commercial aviation, providing features that would otherwise be economically unsustainable, with increased safety, reduced pilot workload and aircraft power requirements.
Instead of focusing on ever more advanced hardware for individual planes, affordable only by a few, we strive to democratize runway infrastructure for the common good of all aviators, through social and technological innovation in precision motion capture and precision directed energy for airborne and ground support vehicles.
While cruising at altitude consumes the greater overall fuel or battery power consumed, takeoff and climb stages consume energy at the highest rate in the shortest time. During these phases, the maximum effort is demanded of motors to generate thrust needed to reach cruising altitude. Hybrid aircraft with expensive onboard generators are not introduced to save the environment, but to save the escalating profit margins of aviation tech monopolies.
The near-term solution is proven, safe, secure beamed energy for Power Assisted Taxi, Takeoff, In-Pattern Loitering, Assisted Landing, thereby reducing onboard power requirements, increasing available launch power, load capacity, extending vehicle range, increased flight crew and passenger safety, a conservative solution that accelerates adoption of electric aviation.