2 Million Hours Down

The Boeing C-17 surpassed a 2 million hr milestone on December 10th as it broke ground over Bagram airfield in lovely Afghanistan.  That number is staggering until I think about all the man hours I spent fixing that beast and how much the Air Force fly's them.  Overall the C-17 is a really advanced and powereful airplane that sometimes just needs the power to be reset and a couple of tires kicked.  I'm sure we can expect to see the 3 million mark soon.    

Boeings A160T Hummingbird

When I think of a hummingbird, I think of a small sleek bird that beats his wings fast enough to hover all day drinking nectar.  Boeing's idea of a Hummingbird is an advanced UAV that has a range of 2,500 nautical miles and a service ceiling of 30, 000 ft, 10, 000 more than conventional helicopters.  She can speed along at 140 knots with a max of 180 and can carry up 2,500 lbs of cargo.  Pretty impressive for a little hummingbird....

The Phantom Ray Flown to Edwards AFB to begin testing.

Catching a ride on the back of NASA's 747, the Phantom Ray will start high speed taxi tests at Edwards AFB with the first flight taking place early this year.  The Ray concept had been drafted up a decade ago by the famous Boeing Phantom Works and was finally built in a quick two years.  The unmanned Ray has a 50 ft wingspan and cruises at 0.8 mach just under the speed of sound with a 40,000 ft operating altitude.  The high tech UAV is powered by a GE F404-GE-102D turbo fan engine that can produce up to 17,700 pounds of thrust.  Another great system designed to support the war fighter on the ground and save lives.

Meet the JetLev-Flyer

I can't wait to take this bad boy out on the lake and do some flying.  The JetLev-Flyer uses a 250 hp engine to push low pressure, high volume water through it's two fly by wire nozzles.  You can cruise around the lake for 1-2 hours depending on how much you rap on the throttle.  With up to 500 lbf of thrust and a maximum service ceiling of 28 ft, this thing is cool.  Go check out the flyer here Click and watch some videos. 

Have you seen the Jetman loop?

In 2006 Yves Rossy became the first to fly a jet powered wing.  As his career progresses, so do his great achievements.  In 2008 Rossy took his jet-wing to the skies over the English Channel and in that instant became a legend as he landed on the other side.  His latest achievement can be seen here on the Jetman's website Loop Video as he performs the first jet-wing loop ever.  Individuals like Yves Rossy are the ones that inspire and spur innovation in flight, he has proven to be an amazing aviator.

Spaceport America

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) is currently building the worlds first commercially built spaceport and it's almost operational!  With an elaborate building design that looks like it could suddenly rise from the dirt and take off, Virgin Galactics commander in chief Richard Branson's dreams are becoming reality.  The 225 million dollar project is well underway and should be done in late 2011.  If you want to reserve a seat your going to have to cough up a 20,000 dollar deposit and a space ticket price of 200,000.  I think I will start saving today!