Shuttle Discovery

Can't have a respectable flying blog without a tribute to the shuttle Discovery, last flight February 24, 2011. Thanks again to Wired for a great pictorial review of some of its' great moments.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/farewell-discovery-a-look-back-at-the-longest-lived-shuttle/

Also, have to give props to my alma mater, looking to win the Google Lunar X prize by landing back on the moon with their robotic lander. How cool is that?

http://astrobotic.net/

Travel - general aviation style

Stephen Pope, a blogger for Flying Magazine, gives a concise description of his trip in a rented Diamond DA40 from Morristown, NJ to Greensboro, NC. Couldn't have said it better myself, so here's the link:

http://www.flyingmag.com/blogs/fly-wire/only-way-fly-sometimes

Photos from Edwards

here's an amazing collection of photo's from the Edward Air Force Base flyin/open house. It's worth taking a look. (Thanks Jay J.)

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1a/Edwards09/Edwards09.html

One a side note, winter is almost over. Looking forward to flying more regularly again. Hopefully will be dusting the rust off tomorrow (March 1)!!

Opening skies to women

Just doing my small part to promote Women of Aviation Worldwide Week, coming next week, March 7 through 13. To find an event near you, click here, or go to this link:

http://womenofaviationweek.org/rsvp/united-states

About WOAW

"Our community organizes a celebration of all women of aviation worldwide annually in March during international women week.

We encourage anyone involved in aviation to honor the Women of Aviation of the past and the present as well as to reach out and introduce girls and women to the opportunities that aviation has to offer.

Activities such as flying events, factory and school open door events, museum special programs, photo contests, and flight challenges are organized to showcase today’s women of aviation as well as extend a warm welcome to newcomers. View Women of Aviation Worldwide Week’s contests and the planned events."

http://twitter.com/WomenOfAviation

David vs the USPTO

Never before has the issue of how broken our patent system is (and tort law for that matter) been made as clear to me as the case of RunwayFinder. I sincerely hope that Dave Parsons has the perserverance to see this through. A I also hope our legislators succeed in their efforts to change our current system, one that allows patent trolls to profit while adding no value to society.

Drool Factor 9

I'm not doing a whole lot of flying these past two months, just the occasional trip around the patch to keep the rust off. That doesn't mean we can't post about airplanes. Saw this article in Wired with some great shots of Dietrich Mateschitz's, one of the Red Bull co-founders, aircraft and vehicle collection:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/01/peek-inside-red-bulls-toybox/

Wired tribute to the DC-3

Just posting a nice writeup on this venerable aircraft by Wired magazine. Enjoy!

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/12/75th-anniversary-dc-3/?pid=451&viewall=true