Posts by Schoofs

New green and quiet jet-engine test results announced

Reverse thrust essential?

"...especially open-rotors configured to deliver reverse-thrust braking after landing. This last is more or less an essential capability nowadays."

Is it really? Published aircraft braking distance calculations do not take into account the use of reverse trust and sometimes reverse-thrust use is disallowed for ... noise abatement reasons. The whalejet (Airbus A380) has only the inner two engines equipped with thrust reversers to minimize foreign object damage to the outer engines located away from the runway.

Yamaha TSX-130 iPod dock

Nice but ...

I bet it doesn't sound as nice as my Yam YZF-R6 running at 15k rpm!

World's first proper flying car makes debut flight

Read the company's FAQ

According to Terrafugia it's a "roadable aircraft", not a flying car. And: "Perfect for trips between 100 and 500 miles, the Transition is not designed to replace anyone's automobile."

In ground mode the front wheels are driven via a CVT transmission (does this make it a DAF?). In air mode power is delivered to the prop through a carbon fiber drive shaft.

Nice to see a company at least trying.

Verizon preps LTE rollout for 2010

Morphing

So WiMAX is slowly morphing into ... WiMIN

ING cuts jobs as exhausted boss quits

How predictable...

I'm sure the 1.35 million Euro he gets for leaving ING will help him to recover his good health! And BTW: it is reported he will remain at ING as an advisor till the first of August. No so exhausted after all then?

I never got payed 1 euro(cent) for leaving a company voluntarily. What am I doing wrong?

Rude Tintin pulls out

@Steve

<And Belgium is frog because they speak froggish.>

For your information Steve: the majority of Belgians speak Flemish, a language closely resembling Dutch. A lot of Belgians are multilingual and also speak French and English as observed by many foreign visitors coming through our country.

And what language(s) do you squawk, Steve?

A skull because there is no brains in them.

Aussie laser-pointer dazzle attacks on airliners: Bad

Stop the nonsense or go-around!

@Ross

Most landings have an ILS guided approach but end with a visual landing. Fully automated landings are certainly not the norm since they require very expensive ground and airborne components. Most airports do not have the necessary equipment supporting the precision required for autolanding.

@Pete

How difficult is it for you to Google for "laser pilot ntsb"????

Johan (PPL(A))

For the skeptics

A little research can do wonders, can't it.

Perhaps the skeptics should read this first:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RS22033.pdf

and this:

http://www.faa.gov/library/reports/medical/oamtechreports/2000s/media/0409.pdf

For the laser wielding idiots, a quote from Frank Zappa: "There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life."

Heathrow 777 crash: 'No anomalies in the major aircraft systems'

The exact cause is still unknown

Careful reading of the published report will reveal the exact cause is still unknown. As long as that is the case nothing and/or noone should be excluded as the potential root cause. Also interesting: the autopilot was disconnected very late in the approach. So it seems manual pilot input was quite a bit less as what was being suggested immediately after the crash. It seems the autopilot (programmers) also deserve a round of applause!

Major Linux security glitch lets hackers in at Claranet

Bring back OpenVMS

If only Digital had allowed Dave Cutler to port OpenVMS to the Intel world. And if only some more energy would be put in writing proper tools and quality code on whatever platform you prefer.

I must be getting old so I'd better get my ...

USB Missile Launcher gets integrated spyscope webcam

The next step

What about some serious ammo for the launchers? I can imagine what the London police force would like to use...

Supersonic stealth jumpjet rolls off production line

White flag shooters

@george

"...The Rafale I have no argument against. Well maybe one, its French so only fires white flags."

Remember the Falklands war, George? If I recall correctly some (initially) floating Royal Navy infrastructure was left somewhat 'scratched' after a close encounter with Exocet missiles. These missiles were launched from Argentinian Super Etendard strike fighters. Both the Exocet and the Super Etendard are ... French-built.

Also nice to know:

"These uprated aircraft, designated Super Étendard Modernisé (SEM) participated in NATO's "Allied Force" operations over Kosovo in 1999, flying over 400 combat missions with 73% of the assigned objectives destroyed : the best performance of all the air forces involved in the missions over Kosovo. The SEM also flew strike missions in Operation Enduring Freedom".

Pretty deadly and accurate white flags. Wanna buy some?

Did MoD chopper buzz sunbathing au pair?

How not to catch a foreign au pair

Perhaps they were trying to winch the au pair up into the helo but the hook caught the atrium? Must be quite a suprise to see an atrium coming up to you instead of an au pair using bold body language!

Boeing delays 787 Dreamliner

Slow aerospace fastener production?

"...due to a "critical shortage of aerospace fasteners to hold the airplane together", as the Wall Street Journal explained..."

So what: ... buy more duct tape!