Boeing Finds Significant Damage To 787 Electric Panel

A large contactor used to switch large electrical loads in the airplane appears to be at the center of the problematic smoke that caused the first emergency landing of the Dreamliner. (www.manufacturing.net) More...

New Ground Based Electronic Lasso to Pull Planes to the Runway

"This new system delivers a cost-effective solution to increase airport capacity, decrease air traffic noise and reduce weather-related delays." I am all for a precision approach, but doesn't this take too much plain old piloting away from the people in the cockpit? What happens if the military switches off the GPS birds, or a sloar event turns them off for us? I always liked the red and green boxes on the runway to let you know if you are on the correct slope. (www.gpsworld.com) More...

EADS Salesman John Leahy to Face Trial for Insider Trading

Two companies and seven individuals will be tried in France because they traded EADS shares with insider information. John Leahy is said to have had information concerning problems with the A350 and A380 programs when he sold shares in 2006. He faces a sentence of 2 years in jail and a fine of about $ 2 million. The A380 program has not shown a profit. (www.bloomberg.com) More...

Two Decades After Last Flight Dinner is Served on Pan Am 747

City of Industry is now home to a vintage Pan Am 747 first class traveling section with the upper deck. The builder recently served dinner "in flight" for guests prepared in a working galley and served on authentic plates, linens, and silverware in the classic Pan Am style by former flight attendants in uniform. This is the work of a collector who works for United but has been gathering Pan Am artifacts since UAL bought the Pacific routes from the shrinking Pan Am. (www.whittierdailynews.com) More...

United bracing for massive job cuts

United and its unions have circulated a letter that without quickly getting substantial aid from government they will slash payroll inline with the 60% reductions flight operations. The industry is asking $58 billion with half being outright grants. The other half loans. I wish I could get a similar deal on a S Class. (www.cnbc.com) More...

United 869 Dumps Fuel and Returns to Gate One Hour into Flight.

United Flight 869 was about an hour into its flight to Hong Kong Saturday when a cracked cockpit window forced the pilot to turn around and land at San Francisco. United needs to click safelite.com (sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com) More...

China Wants to Build a Jet Engine

China has wanted to build an in-house jet engine since the revolution. They have not been able to make a stable engine and have relied on engines supplied by "foreign devils" (literal translation of characters for outsiders)for their civil and military aircraft. Will 16 to 49 billion buy them a jet? (www.aviationweek.com) More...

Fire Truck in Santiago takes out EC135 helicopter

A fire truck responding to a drunk driver smashing into a police car drives into the rotors of a helicopter that brought a paramedic to help 3 injured policemen. The crash was caught on camera. (howtoflyahelicopter.com) More...

X47B refuels in the air all by itself.

The X47B is a carrier based drone research aircraft. Autonomous refueling has huge potential for commercial airplanes. Long haul heavies and supers use 20% of their fuel to carry the fuel. Imagine the savings if they could meet a tanker enroute to take on enough to complete the flight. Perhaps a bit of the savings could be slipped in the pilots pay packet? (electronicdesign.com) More...

CBS -Person of Interest TV show. Tonight (1/14) 4C

Billionaire Finch helps Reece protect a passenger in 4C. Finch is in an abandoned NYC library and takes control of a jet by hacking into the control computer and controlling the plane with a desktop simulator yoke and throttle. Solid fiction, pilots will have a few laughs. (www.cbs.com) More...