briefs

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The folks at NASA would like to clarify that their $250,000 Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) Centennial Challenge is seeking out practical ideas for improving personal, on-demand air transportation, and the common concept of a vehicle that transforms from airplane to car is not necessarily the answer to that challenge. “The goal of the PAV Centennial […]

Retired Navy Capt. Roy “Butch” Voris, the founder and original flight leader of the Blue Angels precision flying team, died last Tuesday at his home in Monterey, Calif. He was 86. Voris was a flying ace in World War II and shot down eight Japanese fighters. After the war, he was asked to organize a […]

Building a new general-aviation airport doesn’t fall into the same category as building a freeway or other public project, according to a recent editorial in The Roanoke (Va.) Times. A proposed airport in Franklin County would require taking land from 18 private owners by eminent domain. “Who, exactly, would use an airport limited to private […]

The FAA has agreed to evaluate the safety of the Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 twin turboprop, after several members of Congress from Colorado asked for the airplane to be grounded. Two MU-2s have crashed in Colorado in the last year, killing three people. The FAA will not ground the aircraft, but will examine its record and check […]

An American Airlines MD-80 had to make a go-around at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport last Wednesday afternoon after two helicopters departing with President Bush’s party — but not carrying the president — strayed into its approach path, the local CBS-2 news reported on Thursday. The two helicopters, carrying press and staffers, were heading north near the […]

A Cessna L-19 Bird Dog was recovered on Saturday from the bottom of a Minnesota lake, where it had rested beneath 40 feet of water since 1958. The recovery team used a large winch mounted on a pontoon boat to hoist the airplane, then towed it to shore. Divers also found a flight log, parachutes […]

A Boeing 737 flown by Helios Airways, a Cyprus airline, crashed into a mountainside north of Athens yesterday after the pilot reported problems with cabin air systems. There were no survivors. According to early reports, the jet departed from Cyprus at 9 a.m. and lost contact with controllers at 10:30 a.m. Two Greek F-16 fighter […]

BRAINTEASERS Quiz #97 — Unscramble Your HeadWhen your brain is unfairly teased in flight, how well you score on this quiz may determine your ability to handle unusual aeromedical factors, attitudes, and illusions.