The pilots can now take their charts with them and replace those old paper charts with the digital ones stored the iPad. Weight savings is a big deal for airlines and the paper charts the iPad replaces weight in at 35 pounds. The iPad is only 1.5 pounds, and can be updated with more current data than paper charts.

That seemingly small weight savings is worth $1.2 million per year in fuel, according to seattlepi. The iPad will take off this Friday on American Airlines flights. The iPads will be used first on the Boeing 777 aircraft and will be electronic chart and digital flight manual readers.

These findings basically mean that there is no reason at all for them to force you (or Alec Baldwin) to turn off an iPad while sitting on the runway.

[via ZDNet]

Kidding aside, the technology is Boeing’s way of “bringing science to the art of firefighting.” When I read “water balloons,” the first thing that popped into my head were the type of water balloons that I used to throw at my sisters (to piss them off) when I was much younger. Obviously, the ones used for Boeing’s firefighting system, Precision Container Aerial Delivery System (PCADS), are much larger, more durable, and environment-friendly. Each water balloon can hold about 250 gallons of water or fire-retardant. Not only is this method of fighting fires more accurate, but a regular C-130 cargo plane can be used to drop them, and can drop water at a higher altitude than traditional firefighting airplanes.

PCADS is still in its test phase, though, so forest fires will still have to be fought the traditional way for now. But I’m interested to see how big of a difference using PCADS will actually make in fighting such fires.

[via Dvice]

Their 3D-printed aircraft is named Sulsa, and it runs on an electric motor. It cost just over $8,000 to produce. Its wingspan is 5 feet, can hit a top speed of almost 100mph and its maiden flight lasted for about 10 minutes. All in all, that’s not bad for something that was printed on a 3D printer.

Sulsa was printed on an EOS EOSINT P730 nylon laser sintering machine, which can fabricate either plastic or metal objects, layer by layer. Even the control structures and wings were printed. Of course, the plane’s motor and battery were added separately.

Just imagine what this could mean. In a few years, you might be able to print out your own airplane and start flying it – or better yet, print your own car, get inside, and drive off.

[via NewScientist via DVice]

This thing is a little capacitor with a motorized propeller on the opposite end. The idea is that you can put the Power Up inside your paper airplane and it will propel your creation for up to 90 seconds at a time. The capacitor is charged using a pack with three AA batteries inside. A 90-second flight takes 20 seconds of charging. The propeller is in the back of the airplane making it a “pusher” design.

The Power Up is made by Tailor Toys and it’s available on Amazon for about $15 (USD). I wonder if my poorly folded planes would be improved at all by this thing.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Gizmag]

The plane is supposed to be twice as fast as the Concorde, but the commercial version isn’t expected to be finished until 2025, so that’s a letdown. With a top speed of 2,664mph, that’s Mach 3.6, it will fly at 62,000 ft allowing passengers to see the curvature of the Earth. Expected travel times are about 2 hours to get from New York to London or 5 hours to get from New York to Sydney. That’s 25% of the time it usually takes via commercial airliners.

This is still future tech, because HyperMach’s S-MAGJET plasma fuel engines needed to power this aren’t yet in existence, but should be completely by 2020.  Then it will take another 5 years to get this jet built.

HyperMach plans to fly their first test flight sometime in 2021. That’s a long time, and I’m sure that between now and then, other companies will be working on their own their speed-defying jets.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Daily Mail]

Siemens has teamed up with a couple other companies including EADS and Diamond Aircraft to build the cool hybrid electric plane you see in this photo. The aircraft is called the DA36 E-Star and it’s design is based on the powered glider made by Diamond Aircraft called the HK Super Dimona. The battery packs the hybrid plane uses are from EADS and Siemens provided the other tech for the plane.

The aircraft has a 70kW electric motor from Siemens that drives the propeller. Similar to the Chevy Volt, battery packs that hook to the motor can be charged by a Wankel combustion engine to keep the plane in the air. The electric system can be scaled for use in larger commercial planes too and promises to save 25% in fuel consumption. That means less pollution and lower flight costs.

[via CNET]

A guy named Dan Reeves from Pennsylvania decided to build his own homebuilt airplane and chose the popular Vans RV7A airplane. He didn’t have a lot of room outside apparently, so he opted to build the airplane in the basement of his home over the course of the last nine years. The catch was that once the fuselage was built, he didn’t have any way to get it out of the house.

Reeves decided that the way to get the airplane out of the house was to knock down a wall of his basement. More pics here and video here. It looks like he landed a new garage out of the deal too.

[WGAL via Gizmodo]

U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Ron Walker is a jump master, responsible for overseeing parachute jumps. As he looked out of the side of the plane to inspect the scenery before his team jumped on a recent flight, he stuck himself out of the side of the plane. Flying about 1,000 feet above the ground, and at a speed of about 150mph, the fierce draft caused a Velcro seal on his pocket to open up – and out flew his iPhone 4. As the phone flew through the air and tumbled to the ground, Walker assumed the phone was lost forever – or at least smashed to bits.

Later, he shared his story and a colleague decided to try and use the Find My iPhone app to track down the missing phone. To their surprise, the phone showed up on the map, and they tracked it to a location in the woods. Incredibly, when they found it, the phone was completely intact. Not only was the phone still functional – it didn’t have any cracks or scratches on it.

That all said, the phone was wrapped in a Griffin Motif case at the time of the fall, not just a naked iPhone. Still, it’s impressive that it could survive a 1,000 foot fall and live to make another call. Perhaps it was all the soft tree leaves and needles that cushioned the fall, or maybe it was just luck. If it was me, I’d drop my phone the 18 inches from the couch seat to the floor, and it would shatter into a million pieces. Then I’d pick it up and cut my hand.

So, depending on how you look at this story, it’s either a really good testimonial for Griffin cases, or a really bad testimonial for Velcro.

[via TUAW and iLounge]

Each of the flash drives looks like the tailfin off a commercial aircraft. They are about 2-inches high, and they have a USB plug on the bottom. Other than looking cool, the things have flash storage inside so you can keep up with backups and other data on the go.

It apparently doesn’t matter what logo you choose, the pricing is the same. A 4GB drive will cost $53, 8GB is $63, 16GB is $79, and 32GB is $120. The company doesn’t offer any information on what sort of NAND flash or hardware is used inside the drives. Some of them even have jet engines attached depending on the type of aircraft tailfin you choose.

The AD-1 Oblique Wing Aircraft was made in the mid-1970s because engineers were curious about the aerodynamic quality of such a plane. The main objective was getting better fuel economy since wind tunnel tests at NASA have shown that oblique wings will use half of the fuel of conventional jets at supersonic speeds.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This particular plane also had poor handling, which explains why it was ultimately abandoned in 1982. Logic dictates that if there is money to be saved, airplane companies may try and replicate this, but ultimately, large jetliners might be too heavy to be able to pull something like this off.

[via DVice]

The guys then tied their PARIS VULTURE 1 plane to a helium balloon and let it go where it climbed to 90,000 feet before the balloon popped and the airplane started its tumbling, nauseating flight/fallback to earth. The plane had a camera with sound on-board to record the flight.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can check out the video here to see the entire flight. The first 50 seconds are so, you will be all like “WTF am I looking at?” and then the balloon pops and you’ll still wonder the same thing. Still it’s really cool. I am pretty sure that red and white thing in the video above is one of those bobbers you use when fishing. The plane apparently made its way back with nothing but a small hole in the wing to show for its trip.

[via MNN]

If any of you have ever tried to use your laptop on the tray table of an airplane, you know how irritating it can be to get the screen angle to work where you can comfortably view it.

Ben’s simple, yet clever design lets you float the screen above the keyboard so you can view the display at a more comfortable angle, while still being able to type. Check it out in action in the video below…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Of course, you need to be able to touch-type in order to use the thing, but overall, I think it’s a design that deserves to be incorporated into a production laptop PC.

[via Ben Heck]

It has all sorts of home theater gear hooked to it that might make your TV in the living room jealous. The screen has multiple Blu-ray players connected and gets satellite TV. I wonder how the satellite is able to keep a signal locked, moving as fast as a jet can go.

Other cool features of the jet include a cabin lighting system, attendant call functions, and iPod docking stations. An extra 20-inch screen and a 10.2-inch personal screen are also inside the jet. There is no word on how much the jet cost, but I’m guessing the thing was not cheap.

[via Born Rich]

Thrustmaster has unveiled the new HOTAS WARTHOG joystick and throttle set that is just like the one from the A-10C combat jet. This controller is aimed at the flight simulation and flight gamer that wants the most realism possible anywhere. The throttle, panel joystick, and bases for the gear are mostly metal and weigh in at 14 pounds total.

There are 15 programmable buttons, dual 4-way hat switches, and a push button on each of the hat switches as well.

The controller is set to launch at the end of October and serious fans will need to save up though, as it will sell for a pricey $499.99(USD). Still, that’s way cheaper than an actual A-10C.

Created by Kolja Clemens of Germany’s MOM, these cool aluminum airplanes are just the right size and shape for hanging up your leather bomber jacket or flak jacket.

While this particular wall of little metal aircraft were created as a tribute to the closing of Berlin’s famous Templehof airport, I really think somebody should mass-produce these for our closets.

Are you listening out there, closet organizer manufacturing boss-people (I bet there’s actually a German word for that, something like klosetorganiserstellungmachenbosspersonlicher.)

[via Designspotter via Bottlepets]

The madmen over at MotoArt have taken the engine nacell from a decommissioned 747 jet engine and turned it curvy metal headboard. The bed has an 84″ diameter round mattress and boxspring that set perfectly inside the bifurcated engine jacket. And to make sure you don’t slice your head open on the aluminum edge, they’ve thoughtfully cover the sharp metal edges with some Plexiglas. For each bed, MotoArt cleans up the engine cowl’s paintjob and carefully polishes each one to a shiny mirror finish so you can look at yourself first thing in the morning.

Engine not included.

This Snoopy Flying Ace USB hub connects up to three of your USB devices while the battling beagle takes on the elusive Red Baron. And this isn’t just one of those boring inanimate USB hubs. When plugged in and switched on, Snoopy’s Sopwith Camel starts rocking back and forth, its propeller spinning in the breeze.

10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more… Now I can’t get that Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron song out of my head.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can get the Snoopy USB hub over at Strapya World for ¥5,280 (appx. $56 USD). Be sure to check out Astronaut Snoopy while you’re there.

[via 7 Gadgets]

The guys over at Motoart took this seat from an authentic Vietnam-era F-4 fighter jet, and turned it into a cushy, padded desk chair. The seat has been upgraded with a sturdy aluminum base, durable double-wheel casters and upholstered with clean new fabric. Plus, those armrest look like they could be a little uncomfortable.

Are you a bomber, not a fighter? Do you just need a little extra upper-back support? Then you might like this disproportionately tall B-52 ejector seat instead:

Of course, the big flaw in the design of these things is the fact that they’re meant to be desk chairs. Really, why would you need to eject yourself from your own workspace? I’d much rather have a pair of visitors’ chairs that I could use to eject annoying co-workers from my office. I could use that today – and yesterday – and tomorrow.

To check out the complete collection of these airplane office seating and other cool furniture crafted from antique aviation parts, fly on over to Motoart.

[via MadeMan]

A modder going simply by the name of Brett got his hands on an old Black Box (actually, it’s sorta reddish-orange) over on eBay, ripped out its guts, and mounted a fully-functional computer inside the compartment. For some reason, I think that the holes he had to cut for the PC ports and cooling fan might have compromised the integrity of its crashworthiness a little bit.

Oh yeah, and when Brett first cracked open the case, he discovered a healthy dose of fiberglass and asbestos, so you probably won’t want to try this at home unless you want to contract a case of Mesothelioma.

Surprisingly, the interior of the box is so cramped that he could only fit a Mini-ITX motherboard inside, so it’s only got an 800MHz Via C3 CPU under the hood. Still, that should be plenty to perform basic server tasks like serving files, web pages and the like. In keeping with the “Crashproof” theme of the mod, Brett installed a bare-bones install of Slackware Linux, which should stay online indefinitely, assuming the computer itself doesn’t overheat in the cramped quarters of the Black Box case.

You can check out the full build log over on Brettsprojects.

The fan plugs into your USB port, and has a soft “propeller” that’s designed to not slice your digits off if you happen to get in its way. The little aircraft isn’t built to be aerodynamically sound since it would fly off of your desk otherwise. (Although that would be really cool, IMHO.)

The airplane fan should be landing soon from Kikkerland. I’ll post back when I have more details on when and how much.