As part of their work at MIT's Humans and Automation Lab (HAL, heh), the team thought about ways to improve on the suitcase-sized controller that soldiers must currently lug around to control hand-thrown Raven UAVs.

The iPhone app they developed sends GPS coordinates to the craft, which then in turn can send photos and video back to the iPhone.

We had the idea in June," Cummings told Danger Room. "In six weeks, we went from the idea to a real flight test," using MIT's indoor robot range. (See video.) The total cost? $5,000 for a new, commercially available, quad-rotor robot - plus the cost of iPhones for her crew.

[Wired Danger Room] DoD photo by Tech. Sergeant Russell E. Cooley IV, U.S. Air Force.

We don't really know anything about the giant "toy" helicopter, except the model it's based on, but the video below shows that it really works, and that we really don't want it falling into the hands of any kids. [LiveLeak via Craziest Gadgets]

Thanks to 45 different software programs running on 14 different computers, the simulator allows Sheil to fly to and from 27,000 different airports around the world with breathtaking realism.

Sheil is part of a growing network of enthusiasts from around the globe that serve as pilots and air traffic controllers in a virtual word. This network is amazingly complex:

In Sheil's simulator, computer screens replace the windows and if he is flying in the virtual world behind a person in Melbourne, and they are using a Qantas 767, "we actually see a Qantas 767 out the window - the software puts it in there for us - and he sees us".

Moreover, if Sheil flies through Russia, he is greeted by a volunteer Russian air traffic controller. Cars can be seen on the road when he comes in to land and people wave at him from the terminals.

What's even more amazing is that he managed to build the simulator for around $300,000 AUD (around $197,000 US) whereas professional training simulators can cost upwards of $40 million. This was made possible largely through donated parts given to Sheil because of his charity work. In return, all of the money he earns renting out the simulator is donated to the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). Still, this remarkable feat earned him the Guinness record for the "world's most expensive home flight simulator" (because Guinness will give out records for anything nowadays). As far as the cheapest is concerned, it would be hard to beat the $30,000 bedroom 747 simulator in terms of value. [SMH via Fark]

Thanks to Travis Cole for the photos and to the crane operator for taking them!

This is one serious UAV, one that puts most others to shame. Just look at these specs:

With a payload of 318kg (700lb) per single 31km (57nm) radius sortie, each Mule will be capable of delivering about 3,180kg over 24h, including the ferrying on return trips of casualties where medevac flights are needed. Mule's maximum operating altitude is 12,000ft (3,660m).

[FlightGlobal]

All the major navies in the world are now building them. The Russians have one of their big carriers, the Admiral Kuznetsov, back at sea and have stated that they plan to build 12 carrier battle groups. The Chinese and the Indians are also under way with plans, the Japanese are building a destroyer that will act as a helicopter carrier and the US are working on new-generation carriers. We’re an island nation and we have global interests so we need these four acres of moveable sovereign airfield that we can deploy wherever we want, whenever we need them.

The world is an unstable place and, post-Iraq and the global war on terror, access to other nation’s territory or airspace is more difficult.

Great. When have I heard this before? Maybe knowing that Dr Willett is head of the Maritime Studies Programme at the Royal United Services Institute, helps in understanding that maybe he has an special interest in this two mobile naval airbases.

The carriers—which will cost $5.9 billion, a lot less than the $14 billion that the US spends on their super-carriers—will host 36 F-35s and two EH-101 Merlin multi-purpose helicopters each.

Constructed in modules all across Britain, which will be later assembled in a very complicated process in a central shipyard—will be almost fully automated, requiring only a 1,500 crew. Here is the fact sheet:

• The surface of the16,000sqm flight deck is covered in a grainy,heat-resistant paint,similar to very coarse sandpaper. The entire painted surface amounts to 370 acres - slightly bigger than Hyde Park.

• Two huge lifts, each with a 70-ton capacity, are capable of transporting two aircraft from the hangar to the flight deck in 60 seconds.

• The ground-breaking twin-island layout allows more deck space for aircraft and better visibility of the flight deck. The forward island is for navigating the ship; flight control is based in the aft island.

• The ship's 29,000 sq m hangar is 150 metres in length and has 20 slots for aircraft maintenance.

• There are 11 full-time medical staff on board managing an eight-bed medical suite, operating theatre and dental surgery.

• Onboard water treatment plant produces over 500 tons of fresh water daily.

• Two Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines and four diesel generator sets produce 109MW.

• Cabins are spacious and cruise-liner style, with en-suite toilets and shower facilities. Officers and senior ratings have single or two-berth cabins. The maximum number of crew in a cabin is six.

• The carrier will carry more than 8,600 tons of fuel, enough for the average family car to travel to the Moon and back 12 times. This gives a range of up to 10,000 nautical miles.

• Top speed will be in excess of 25 knots, sufficient to cross from Dover to Calais in an hour.

• The two five-blade propellers are each 30ft in diameter - that's one-and-a-half times the height of a double-decker bus.

Head to the Daily Mail for more details. [Daily Mail]

The blip was burning a hole in the radar with its incredible intensity. It was similar to a blip I had received from B52s and seemed to be a magnet of light. It had the proportions of a flying aircraft carrier.

According to the Ministry of Defense, it all happened over Norwich in 1957. The 26-year-old Torres was called along with his wingman, taking off the Royal Air Force base in Kent. But something strange was happening: He was ordered to shoot the UFO down before they scrambled off to intercept it, something that had never occurred before.

I shall never forget it, and for the last 50 years I have been waiting for an explanation, but I've never had one. On that night I was ordered to open fire even before I had taken off. That had never happened before. I was ready to hit the target with all 24 rockets: it would have been like buckshot out of a shotgun. I asked for authentication of the order to fire and I received it.

To make things even stranger, the now 77-year-old Torres has declared now that he received a visit the next day from an American. The man, wearing a trench coat, waved his badge and claimed to be working for the National Security Agency. He said to him that what happened the day before was to be kept under complete secret. Or else.

UFO experts say that, while all this could be explained by the existence of Project Palladium—the experiments that the CIA was conducting during those years to create false radar readings in the Soviet Union—this won't explain why the pilots were ordered to fire all the rockets loaded in their planes. Or why the blip appeared over British air space in the first place.

There's another interesting case in the newly-declassified files: An account of a near-fatal accident at 22,000 feet, 17 years ago. In this file, Alitalia Flight AZ 284 almost had a direct collision with an UFO while approaching London's Heathrow airport. Fortunately, nothing happened because the object vanished just before the impact. [The Age and BBC]

That was yesterday at the AugustaWestland facility in Yeovil, UK. It'll be shipped stateside by a C17 to U.S. Naval Air Station Patuxent River sometime in October for more outfitting and testing. Phase two production is due to total 23 more choppers with "increased range and upgraded navigation and communications systems." Who knew the Pres needed 28 helicopters? [LockheedMartin]

A very expensive one: The 330-knots single-engine jet won't come cheap at $1.35 million, so it's not the skycar we were all hoping for.

[Red Ferret]

This amazing system can also show you a view forward from the nose, and straight down beneath the plane. I'm pretty sure if you're trapped in a center-aisle seat it may well make up for your lack of window view. And it's a great chance to freak out (just a little bit) your nervous-flyer partners or parents... well, if your Mom is like mine, anyway. [Irintech via New Launches]

[Editor's Note: Definitely a jet RC model!]

That extra 1,000 pounds of water (25% more than usual) means the aircraft will have to carry more fuel, which may weigh heavy on your environmental conscience. Or maybe lying in your massage bed in the private first class room, with remote-control doors and mini bar will make you forget your woes. [Mail on Sunday]

From the sales pitch: "an executive could conceivably take off from the helipad of a country house outside London, fly in comfort to a meeting in Frankfurt in just 60 minutes, then fly on to Zurich, Milan and back home for early dinner" you can guess that these luxury choppers are going to cost quite the packet. Somewhere between a corporate helicopter (which is simpler in design) and a corporate jet (which is more complex.) So, tens of millions then, but you'll have to wait a bit as the aircraft isn't yet certified.

Plus, with all that rotating-engine tech aboard, they'll cost more to maintain than your average helicopter. And if you're a rich business type thinking of buying one, you'd better get your pilots well trained. Remember how tricky the V22 has been to develop?

[TheRegister via ]