The NASA Mars Phoenix Lander is scheduled to land on Mars today. According to NASA’s blog, confirmation of the landing’s success or failure could come by 4:53 PM PDT.
Links:
You can visit www.nasa.gov/phoenix for updates.
~Capt’n Chris
Filed under: TidBits | 
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While browsing the net the other day, I came across this beauty- The Sukhoi Su-47, nicknamed the ‘Berkut’ (Golden Eagle). It is a forward swept wing advanced prototype from Russia. Sukhoi designed and developed the Su-47 in the late 1990’s and started flying it as a demonstrator at airshows earlier this decade. (Photo credits: Dale Volkov-http://www.airwar.ru)
I don’t know what it is really that caught my eye about the Su-47, as I’ve seen forward swept wing prototypes before; Most notably the Grumman X-29 shown at left (photo courtesy of NASA); of which two were built in the 1980’s and tested for a decade. In fact, the X-29 was the first forward swept wing aircraft to fly in level supersonic flight, by the way.
I guess I just always found the forward swept wing design concept fascinating, with a kind of ‘counter-culture’ influence that once manifested, created something that we all kind of just looked at in a dumbfounded gaze. I hadn’t given the X-29 any thought though in years and so when I saw Sukhoi’s variation of the concept, I found myself being lured back into that same gaze again!
There are plenty of websites out there with great info on the Su-47, most notably below. Interesting though, a quick sweep of Sukhoi’s website yields absolutely nothing.
More Info on the Su-47
Su-47 Quick Specs
It’s worth mentioning that the word Berkut has been used to name an aircraft before. Also in the mid 1990’s, a variation on Burt Rutan’s Long EZ design hit the market as a kit and you can check that out here. For the sake of this post though I won’t get into that ‘Berkut’ except to say that at the time I feel in love with it and wanted one, so perhaps I’ll do a blog post in the future on it.
That’s all for now!
~Capt’n Chris
Filed under: TidBits |
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With all the media coverage of Yves Rossi’s flight the other day, you’re probably wondering why I haven’t posted anything here about it. One reason’s rather obvious- It’s been covered pretty extensively already.
The other is that I’ve covered Yves before. In fact, he was the subject of the very first PlaneMadness Podcast on May 2, 2007. You can check it out, if you don’t mind a real trip back to yesteryear, a USB mic, or quite a nervous host.
I can’t help but find it somewhat coincidental though that in PlaneMadness’s one year anniversary month, Yves is back out before the cameras again. Perhaps I should do a full episode about him and pursue an interview now, but since I’m not reporter Megyn Kelly, the opportunity for that was probably more of an option for Episode #1! (Capt’n Chris would be forever indebted though, if someone out there reading this just happened to know Yves and could provide the hookup…).
You can find Yves’s latest video here, but personally (and aside from the barrel roll and a reported loop?) I happen to like the video below a little better.
Maybe it’s the pulsating rif from Moby that adds just the right amount of awe to a jawbone that’s already on the ground? I don’t know, but there’s one thing I do know- I definitely want my own jet wing now!
~Capt’n Chris
Official Website: http://www.Jet-Man.Com
Filed under: Videos |
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Air Traffic Controllers
This show is completely dedicated to Air Traffic Controllers. In that respect I have, with permission from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), included in this episode actual ATC recordings of flight assists or “saves”, where Air Traffic Controllers truly saved the day for pilots who were in real trouble.
And, all of the recordings you’re about to hear are the basis for this year’s Archie League Awards, where NATCA honored the controllers in these recordings for their outstanding work.
You can check out the official awards program here.
You can also click on the links below for expanded information overall, and specifically, for more detailed information on each of the riveting audio clips you’re about to hear.
I think you’ll find this episode of the PlaneMadness Podcast fascinating!
~Capt’n Chris
Filed under: Podcast |
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When I’m not able to produce a PlaneMadness Podcast for whatever reason, I still like to update PlaneMadness.Com as much as possible. One of the ways I can do that is through making blog posts, like this one.
What I want to discuss today is the subject of crew hotels. I’d expect that most folks who aren’t in the airline industry would probably be surprised to learn that to crew members, the subject of what hotels we stay in is a very important topic.
To understand this, one has to imagine spending half their life in hotels. That’s right. For a typical crew member, a 15 day per month schedule could be called average. For more senior folks (see Pilot Seniority), that number’s less while for the more junior folks, it’s more. But for an average amount of time that a crew member spends in a hotel per month, 15 days away from home seems like pretty typical schedual. So you can see why crew members care quite a bit about where their airline decides to put them up - These hotels can become like our second homes.
First let me mention that when a union is involved, there are contracts in place which determine to a large extent what hotel accommodations are utilized. This is true in many cases for non-union carriers as well who have verbal agreements with their employee groups. These contracts may stipulate things like:
But let me turn away from the legalese contract mumbo-jumbo and just focus on some basic tenets of crew hotel worthiness. When you ask two crew members what they think of the same hotel, they may disagree on certain things, but they’ll probably all agree on the following:
The debate could rage on, but I think you can see what crew members care about and what makes a good crew hotel. By the way there is no one particular hotel chain in my opinion that provides a better crew hotel then another. They all seem to have their pluses and minuses. A lot of the time what makes or breaks a hotel is location anyway. I’d rather have a fair hotel in a great location then a great hotel in a fair location, but that’s just me- On my overnights I try to get out of the hotels as much as possible!
And with that, I’ll wrap it up. Fly safe.
~Capt’n Chris
Filed under: About the Job |
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The Offspring: Hammerhead Newest Offspring single, off their upcoming album. |
