Bird strikes are an unescapable risk of aviation. Fortunately, most strikes result in only minor damage, but combine high speeds and large birds (or lots of them) and the outcomes deteriorate. We received a few pictures this week which show a close call between a Piper Arrow and turkey vulture which happily ended without human injury.
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We received a powerpoint slideshow presenting a plausible scenario for the Embraer Legacy / GOL 737 mid-air collision which occured over Brazil on September 29th, 2006. The presentation is in Portuguese, but the key points are well illustrated. While the author is anonymous, the first slide claims that the source is a ‘credentialed’ (certified) by CENIPA the Center for the Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents which is part of the Brasilian Ministry of Defense.
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We’ve posted a set of five videos showing the fun qualities of the Zenair CH-701 STOL aircraft. In this case, we are flying a kit-built CH-701 with Zenair 950 Amphibious Floats and the 80hp Rotax engine. We have since upgraded the engine to the 100hp Rotax 912S and performance is even more impressive. The videos demonstrate normal land takeoff, normal land landing, pilot’s eye view of a water landing, ‘hover’, and STOL takeoff and landing. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all 5 videos.
One of the most distinctive jet fighters of all time, the F-14 Tomcat was officially retired in Navy ceremonies today. Its career spanned over 30 years since its inception in the mid-70’s. While not the 1st swing-wing US fighter, it outlived the Air Force F-111 (which at one time contented against the F-14 for Navy use) by quite a bit.
Distinctive bits of F-14 Lore:
PlanePlaces.com Correspondant Larry Z filed the following report and photos on his attendance at MERFI 2006 held at the Marion Municipal Airport (KMRT) in central Ohio:
Wow, what a couple of years and a change of leadership can do. I just came back from the annual MERFI (Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-in) in Marion Ohio. In years past I’ve always been a little disappointed in the communications and services once you’re on the ground there. This year was just a wonderful experience.
My dad pointed me to a very nice AirVenture photo essay posted at http://silvairehair2.home.comcast.net/072806/. Some very nice aerial imagery from their trip and around the grounds at Oshkosh AirVenture 2006.
Amazing things are being done with Google Earth. We discovered a worldwide realtime METAR feed today.
Provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, it maps the Aviation Digital Data Service’s (ADDS) database of over 3000 world METAR reporting stations to Google Earth. Observation data is updated every 5 minutes and they have adopted a symbol set reminiscent of older paper weather charts to quickly convey current conditions at each airport.
Download the Google KMZ file HERE.
Use the link below to get the current version of Google Earth:
Use the link below to get the current version of Google Earth:
For some great, free extra maps for Google Earth check out -
We also Recommend:
Aircraft designer Walter Extra and airshow legend Mike Goulian co-announced the Extra 300 SHP at a morning forum during AirVenture Oshkosh. The 300 SHP (Super High Performance) is an advanced version of the recent 300 HP.
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Our CH-701, N701ST has had quite a life in photos- including features in EAA Experimenter, Water Flying, and other online and print venues. The latest is the August 2006 issue of the EAA Sport Pilot magazine in an article about light seaplanes. Great shot of Sarah and Larry out for some fun during AirVenture 2005.
