I know I'm being irrational. After all, I find it normal that NASA launches a rocket or the Space Shuttle after clearing a security perimeter from commercial flights. The Chinese obviously do the same, but somehow their perimeter seems smaller than NASA's:

Or maybe it's just my imagination, and my instinctive fear of China taking over the world to make us all wear Mao shirts. [Break]

The RQ-170 is a stealthy unmanned aircraft designed to "provide reconnaissance and surveillance support to forward deployed combat forces." It's flown by the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at Tonopah Test Range, Nevada, under the Air Combat Command's 432d Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.

The aircraft has a 65-foot wingspan, with a fat body and a blended wing design. It's unarmed, and—according to David A. Fulghum at Ares—its light color is unusual for high altitude UAV. [Ares]

That's the kind of troubleshooting that will result in my brain getting a kernel panic. Fortunately for all the passengers, the 60 year old captain and his copilot have steel cojones and, after the airport firefighters foamed the runway, they landed the airplane without any significant problems. [Aviation Herald—Video from Bild.de]

This is Funchal Airport's runway, in the Island of Madeira. It was one of the most dangerous in the world because its runway was just too short for large airplanes. It had to be extended and engineers had two options: Extend the ground base with extra soil and concrete, or build a platform on top of 180 230-foot pillars. The answer just looks spectacular.

And probably as safe as it is scary. [Premier Holidays via Dark Roasted Blend]

Don't get me wrong. If I had a car, I would love it to fly. But more like in a Back to the Future way than on this awkward let's-get-these-big-honkin'-wings out and do the Koji Kabuto. Stephen Harris and his father like the idea enough, so much that they are going to put their company—Leigh Aerosystems, which has created drones and weapons for the Air Force before—on it. These is the design they have came up with.

The specs are good:

• FAA certification for instrument flight operations
• 100LL fuel
• 180 mph cruise speed at 15,000 ft.
• 20,000 ft ceiling
• 500 mile range

And on the road:

• 25 mpg fuel consumption
• 500 mile range

They claim they tested their model at the San Diego Low Wind tunnel and it can fly. Of course, there's a big gap between testing a model and actually getting it to fly and in production. [Leigh Aerosystems via Born Rich]

The airplane was a Q400 Bombardier aircraft that was flying from Newark to Buffalo Niagra. It crashed into a suburban home at around 10pm, just ten miles from the airport in Buffalo. The reason for the crash is not yet known.

Update: A reader tipped us off that the Q400 had been previously banned in Scandinavia, after two crashes involving the plane - one in Lithuania and one in Denmark. In those cases, the landing gear had allegedly corroded. [AP]

1. Your last bastion of Internet Free peace is gone. Forever. You'll be forced to work on flights instead of valium napping or reading comic books, and your boss will expect you to be checking email. Time to plan a camping trip.
2. Total bandwidth is not as fast as Cable Modem, but it seems faster than slow DSL. (We were sharing 3.6Mbps down and 1.8Mbps up, which isn't bad at all, on this Virgin America test flight, and it felt this fast when benching.)
3. But bandwidth is shared between customers. Aircell's GoGo a 3GHz EVDO-Rev A related tech modded for ground to air, started crawling as soon as other passengers signed on. (I got a test result measuring 66kbps down at one point, but Ryan showed about a mbit down. )
4. You have to pay. Virgin America charges, for example $9.95 for flights under 3 hours, and $12.95 on flights over 3 hours.
5. You will still need to close your laptops and shut off your devices until you reach cruising altitude.
6. Most airlines, even those that are not blocking ports, are blocking known VOIP ports. For our sanity. Although I WAS able to initiate a really solid iChat video session, but they may filter this on real flights. (See Below, courtesy of Nick Bilton from the NYTimes.)
7. Although plenty of airlines will have Wi-Fi by the end of next year, I prefer Virgin America because they've got 110v AC power plugs in coach.
8. WiFi porn won't be blocked by Virgin America (or American Airlines according to a test we performed earlier this week). But blocking porn is silly — people can easily play porn on DVDs or predownloaded files, but people generally have refrained so there's no reason to think they'll do otherwise now.
9. Flights using Go Go service will be able to connect to a VPN.
10. You can file share with other computers on the 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi network. That's good for gaming, but also, make sure your firewall is up.

Most of this applies to Virgin and GoGo's set up, but since GoGo will be providing service for companies like Delta and AA and eventually more, much of this will apply to other airlines.

The tube-shaped variation of the buckminsterfullerene molecule is dispersed in liquid and then filtered through a fine mesh, creating a very thin but very powerful film, now called buckypaper. The peculiarly shaped molecule has a huge surface area, leading to incredible strength: when stacked to become a composite, it can be 10 times lighter but possibly 500 times stronger than steel, but conducts and disperses heat like copper. It's far from being commercially available, but its uses may be as far-ranging as aviation, computers, batteries, military stealth armor, and fuel cells. Specifically mentioned is the possibility that it might dissipate heat from crotch-burning laptops, so fingers crossed it gets here sooner than later. [AP]

Both Air Canada and Alaska are safe havens for unfettered access, at least for now. (VoIP is blocked though.)They're both holding off to see how things go without a content filter, and hope you read their terms of use. Virgin America is the best though, since they seem to be more philosophically opposed to a content filter than the others—their spokesperson said that they don't block content on their entertainment systems, so they plan to keep that in place for Wi-Fi.

Of course, no one can filter what you bring on the plane in your hard drive. And most airports have plenty of nudie magazines for sale all around the terminal. You know, if you're really that determined to look at boobs on a plane, but you could at least watch an arty movie with boobs to be somewhat less gauche. [MSBNC]

The original C-17 is 174 ft, has a wingspan of 169.8 feet, and can carry 102 troops, a payload of 170,900 lb (77,519 kg) of cargo "distributed at max over 18 463L master pallets or a mix of palletized cargo and vehicles." Its remote-controlled counterpart is made at a 1/10 scale. According to its creators, the model weights 264 pounds.

It was presented at the EURO Flugtage 2008 RC show byt the Aero-Club Rheidt. [Aero-Club Rheidt — Photos from Flickr]

Despite the weirdness, it works. Not only that: this design allows for very steady flights and attack angles which are not possible in other aircraft without losing stability. The fan lets the aircraft to almost float in the air, with the capability of moving very slowly, resisting turbulence and winds with ease. The company claims that it also has a very low carbon footprint for "projected manned applications." As the gallery shows, they are not stopping in UAVs: they want to do ultralight aircraft, planes for short-range delivery, fire fighters, crop dusting, short-haul passenger service and even a Vertical-Take-Off version.

[Flight Global]

Head to Popular Mechanics to see the official timeline of the crash. [Popular Mechanics]

Parking
Road signs pointing to garages were said to be misleading, and some signs inside the garages were inaccurate. Furthermore, there were complaints about problems paying for parking and exiting the structures.
Check In
On day one, check in counters were not open at 4am, meaning some ticketholders had to start lining up, causing a backlog that certainly didn't help the launch. By noon, 20 flights had been canceled because of baggage handling problems.

Baggage
Here's the heart of the issue at Terminal 5's launch. The luggage system was designed to be streamlined as a checkpoint for travelers, on the way to the plane.

BAA also enthuses about technology like the baggage drop, which hoists suitcases to an underfloor belt, enabling passengers to walk forward to departures rather than turning around. "It's on the way, not in the way," quips Ms. Kearney.

Exaggerating all of this, the belt system jammed at one point. Sometime on day one, the airlines had no choice but to only check in those without baggage.

To add insult to injury, the Terminal 5 system has also lost the luggage of a passenger who died traveling back from Hong Kong, who is a son of an ex British Airways employee. He said, "To lose the luggage of a dead person is unforgivable."

In the end, British Airways has claimed responsibility for 15,000 bags were stranded at Heathrow. There is speculation that this number may have been has high as 20,000.

Flight Control
Not much went wrong here. Thank god. Last I checked, there were weather related delays, but that's not something you can plan to avoid. But the problems with check ins, resulting from lines and baggage problems, did result in 34 flights being canceled on day one.

Security
"Twenty security lanes promise speedier passage, though domestic travelers will now be fingerprinted."
Since people couldn't get through check in and baggage handling issues, security was probably not taxed.

Testing

In truth, they'll get this stuff ironed out. Eventually.

Terminal 5, by the numbers:

Cost: £4.3bn
Construction: September 2002 to March 2008
Number of passengers annually: 30 million

Phase 1: opening 2008 Terminal 5A and B
50 aircraft stands (total)

Phase 2: opening 2010 Terminal 5C
60 aircraft stands (total)

Terminal 5A dimensions: 396m long x 176m wide x 40m high
Levels above ground: 4

Terminal 5B dimensions: 442m long x 52m wide x 19.5m high
Levels above ground: 3

Multi-storey car park: 3,800 spaces
Sofitel London Heathrow Hotel: 605 rooms (opens June)

Rail links: Heathrow Express
London Underground Piccadilly Line

Check-in self service kiosks: 96
Check-in fast bag drops: over 90
Check-in standard desks: 54

Security zones: 2 (north and south)
Security lanes: 20
Baggage reclaim belts: 11
Length of bag conveyers: 17 km
No of bags processed per hour: 12,000

Number of lifts: 192
Number of escalators: 105
Number of seats: 9,140 (excluding catering outlets)
Number of toilet blocks: 112
Number of toilets: 800
Number of baby change facilities: 32
Childrens' play areas: 3 (for toddlers to 7 year olds)
Number of retail facilities: 112 (including 25 food and drink outlets)

[CS Monitor, Forbes, NYTimes, NYTimes, BBC, Airport-Technology, BAA]

Jesús Díaz: How much time has Boeing invested in this project?
Francisco Escartí: We have been working in this project for approximately five years.

JD: What's the advantage of this system against traditional engines?
FE: First, this technology only has one byproduct: water. There's no CO2 contamination of any kind. The energy efficiency of these hydrogen cells is double the efficiency of combustion engines.

JD: How does this advantage translate into commercial aviation?
FE: It's difficult to project the energy savings in big aircrafts, but in small airplanes the fuel savings will be important.

The airplane cruised for 20 minutes at 62mph using only hydrogen cells. The bad news, however, is that this technology may never reach large passenger airplanes. At least, not as a main source of power:

According to Boeing researchers, PEM fuel cell technology potentially could power small manned and unmanned air vehicles. Over the longer term, solid oxide fuel cells could be applied to secondary power-generating systems, such as auxiliary power units for large commercial airplanes.

The good news is that Boeing Research & Technology Europe in Madrid—part of Boeing Phantom Works advanced R&D unit—will keep researching to see how much these cells can be pushed for commercial aviation. A sign that aircraft companies are working to make their planes more efficient because airlines are fighting in prices and, therefore, they need cheaper flights. The objective of Boeing and other companies is to get more efficient planes that use cheaper energy sources.

Meanwhile, while we wait for the hydrogen fuel cells to arrive, we can only hope that International Air Transport Association makes Spanish wine and Iberian ham a requirement for all classes in all airlines worldwide.

Boeing Successfully Flies Fuel Cell-Powered Airplane

MADRID, Spain, April 03, 2008 — Boeing [NYSE: BA] announced today that it has, for the first time in aviation history, flown a manned airplane powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

The recent milestone is the work of an engineering team at Boeing Research & Technology Europe (BR&TE) in Madrid, with assistance from industry partners in Austria, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"Boeing is actively working to develop new technologies for environmentally progressive aerospace products," said Francisco Escarti, BR&TE's managing director. "We are proud of our pioneering work during the past five years on the Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane project. It is a tangible example of how we are exploring future leaps in environmental performance, as well as a credit to the talents and innovative spirit of our team."

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts hydrogen directly into electricity and heat with none of the products of combustion such as carbon dioxide. Other than heat, water is its only exhaust.
A two-seat Dimona motor-glider with a 16.3 meter (53.5 foot) wingspan was used as the airframe. Built by Diamond Aircraft Industries of Austria, it was modified by BR&TE to include a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell/lithium-ion battery hybrid system to power an electric motor coupled to a conventional propeller.

Three test flights took place in February and March at the airfield in Ocaña, south of Madrid, operated by the Spanish company SENASA.

During the flights, the pilot of the experimental airplane climbed to an altitude of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) above sea level using a combination of battery power and power generated by hydrogen fuel cells. Then, after reaching the cruise altitude and disconnecting the batteries, the pilot flew straight and level at a cruising speed of 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) for approximately 20 minutes on power solely generated by the fuel cells.

According to Boeing researchers, PEM fuel cell technology potentially could power small manned and unmanned air vehicles. Over the longer term, solid oxide fuel cells could be applied to secondary power-generating systems, such as auxiliary power units for large commercial airplanes. Boeing does not envision that fuel cells will ever provide primary power for large passenger airplanes, but the company will continue to investigate their potential, as well as other sustainable alternative fuel and energy sources that improve environmental performance.

BR&TE, part of the Boeing Phantom Works advanced R&D unit, has worked closely with Boeing Commercial Airplanes and a network of partners since 2003 to design, assemble and fly the experimental craft.

The group of companies, universities and institutions participating in this project includes:
Austria — Diamond Aircraft Industries
France — SAFT France
Germany — Gore and MT Propeller
Spain — Adventia, Aerlyper, Air Liquide Spain, Indra, Ingeniería de Instrumentación y Control (IIC), Inventia, SENASA, Swagelok, Técnicas Aeronauticas de Madrid (TAM), Tecnobit, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, and the Regional Government of Madrid
United Kingdom — Intelligent Energy
United States — UQM Technologies.