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rip
Sad Ending: Flying Priest Found Dead in the Atlantic, God Positioning System Still Missing
Father de Carli, the flying priest who got lost last April, has been found dead in the middle of the Atlantic. In an effort to raise funds for a local charity organization, De Carli planned to stay for more than 19 hours up in the air using a thousand party balloons, taking a GPS with him to communicate his position in case of emergency. Unfortunately for the generous man, the trip ended in disaster. More »
drone
Research UAV is Preview of Hovering Spy Drones of Tomorrow
Meet STARMAC, the Stanford Testbed of Autonomous Rotorcraft for Multi-Agent Control. Possibly the cleverest remote control mini-helicopter you've ever seen, packed with GPS, sensors and computer power. It's a research quad-rotor that the Stanford team is using to develop algorithms for future aircraft like it. More »
fairies
Disney RC Tinkerbell Ornithopter Redefines the Term "Flying Fairy"
This Disney RC Tinker Bell is one seriously sweet flying fairy. As you see in the video, it's using WowWee's FlyTech ornithopter-type vertical flying system to flutter, glide and dive around this Waldorf-Astoria suite. It'll be out in the fall for $40. [Disney]
biofuel
OK, OK, so the weed in question is actually the jatropha plant, a weed indigenous to India and Africa. But still! Air New Zealand is planning to fill one of the four engines of a 747 with the weed and the remaining three engines with normal jet fuel to test the potential of using jatropha as a biofuel.
More »
Air New Zealand to Power a 747 with Weed
OK, OK, so the weed in question is actually the jatropha plant, a weed indigenous to India and Africa. But still! Air New Zealand is planning to fill one of the four engines of a 747 with the weed and the remaining three engines with normal jet fuel to test the potential of using jatropha as a biofuel.
More »
one-man helicopter
A Japanese company called Gen Corporation has created what people are calling the world's smallest one-man helicopter, capable of flying 50km/h and weighs (by itself) 75kg. As you can see from the photo, it's probably the world's most dangerous helicopter too, as the man has barely any piping to stand on and barely any seat to sit on. Then again, if GTA4 has taught us anything, using a helicopter is the easiest and fastest way to travel, and is useful for locating pigeons and flying under bridges for achievements. [Telegraph]
Japanese Make World's Smallest One-Man Helicopter (Can Fit Three Tom Cruises, Two Brian Lams)
A Japanese company called Gen Corporation has created what people are calling the world's smallest one-man helicopter, capable of flying 50km/h and weighs (by itself) 75kg. As you can see from the photo, it's probably the world's most dangerous helicopter too, as the man has barely any piping to stand on and barely any seat to sit on. Then again, if GTA4 has taught us anything, using a helicopter is the easiest and fastest way to travel, and is useful for locating pigeons and flying under bridges for achievements. [Telegraph]
southwest
Southwest Laptop Seating Areas Get USB Ports!
Reader Daniel emails in with this nice find at the Southwest terminal at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport. USB power ports! Charge your phones! Charge your USB junk! Shove in a USB humping dog! Either way, it's a nice gesture by Southwest. [Thanks Daniel!]
flying
Aircell Gets Two Key Approvals from FAA, Paves Way for In-Flight Broadband
Aircell, a company setting up a broadband network for use while flying, just received two critical FAA approvals that clears the way for the rollout of in-flight broadband in the near future. The first approval allows Aircell to run its network on commercially operating Boeing 767-200 planes, while the second authorizes the company to manufacture aircraft parts in its Bensenville, IL plant. Both are pretty important, clearly, so it's good to see that we're heading in the right direction towards you beautiful people being able to leave comments on Giz from 30,000 feet. [Aircell via SlipperyBrick]
toys
Z-Flyer Hand Command Robot Lets You Play With Your Hand, Negates Guilt
Here's an interesting take on RC flying bots; the Z-Flyer Hand Command Robot hovers right above the palm of your hand, wherever that maybe, you dirty devil. The astronaut shuns a conventional remote control, instead relying on your very own hand; how well it will work is questionable, but it is certainly a cool idea. Hell, for £24.95 ($50) we're willing to bite. If the innovative control system didn't have us sold, the flashing green LEDs should do it for sure. The Z-Flyer will give seven minutes of flying time on a ten minute charge, and it docks into the central space station to get the juice levels up—how cute. [Gadgets.co.uk via NerdApproved]
flying vehicles
Sky Commuter Aircraft Prototype Flies High, Shatters Dreams
A prototype flying car, dubbed Sky Commuter Aircraft, has been listed for sale on eBay. The vehicle, which has an electric gas assisted lexan bubble canopy, electric controlled directional driving and landing lights, electric joystick, dual foot pedals for double pilot based controls and an advanced Carbonfiber and Kevlar front dash shell, marks the potential end to the oft visited, flying automobile dreams. More »
all giz wants: compact flying solutions
All Giz Wants: A Jetpack That Costs $200
We don't ask for much here at Gizmodo, but what we really, really want is a jetpack that costs $200. Sure, we have brought you the deal with jetpacks before, but we want something that lasts longer than two minutes, (so do our girlfriends). Also, we would not mind a Jetsons-type transportation mode that costs less than $200,000; to be exact, a $200 price point would be ideal. So, what would we do with our stratosphere explorers? More »
flying
Helicopter for One Can Be Folded Up, Carried By One Person
This wee helicopter is the Ka-56 "Wasp," a flying vehicle for one that can be folded down and carried by just one person. Designed and created in Soviet Russia in 1971, it doesn't seem to have really gotten beyond the prototype stage. I'm assuming that's because it's horribly dangerous, but it could be for any number of reasons. Guesses, dear commenters? Oh, and the first person to make a "In Soviet Russia, helicopter flies you!" joke gets banned as a Christmas present to me.[English Russia]
we need backup
Sputtering Network Card Strands 17,000 People at LAX
Just to remind you how thin the thread is upon which we hang every day, consider that one faulty network interface card stranded 17,000 people for nine hours last weekend at Los Angeles International Airport. According to government officials in charge of the infrastructure at the airport, a network card inside one computer experienced "a partial failure that started at about 12:50 p.m. Saturday," and then the house of cards that is the LAX Airport computer network came crashing down, stranding a gigantic crowd of people for the better part of a day. More »
flying
Artur Bergman of Six Apart and O'Reilly got a tour of the new Virgin America planes and found some some amazing geek amenities. Every seat includes 110 volt AC current, ethernet, USB ports for charging iPods and phones, but will also accept a QWERTY for the linux-based, thin client, in flight entertainment system. And, it has Doom. But I'm not sure if it has Internet.
More »
Virgin America's In-Flight Ethernet, USB, 110v Power and Doom
Artur Bergman of Six Apart and O'Reilly got a tour of the new Virgin America planes and found some some amazing geek amenities. Every seat includes 110 volt AC current, ethernet, USB ports for charging iPods and phones, but will also accept a QWERTY for the linux-based, thin client, in flight entertainment system. And, it has Doom. But I'm not sure if it has Internet.
More »
green
Is this green flying saucer plane the eco-friendly plane of the future? It's a design from the CleanEra project, aimed at making air travel more economical (in the environmental sense) by using lighter materials and weird ass shapes. Their goal is to get the carbon usage down to less than 50% of current planes. Whether this is light on the Earth is yet to be seen, it looks like something the Green Lantern would fly in. [LiveScience]
Green Airways Flying Saucer Plane Design
Is this green flying saucer plane the eco-friendly plane of the future? It's a design from the CleanEra project, aimed at making air travel more economical (in the environmental sense) by using lighter materials and weird ass shapes. Their goal is to get the carbon usage down to less than 50% of current planes. Whether this is light on the Earth is yet to be seen, it looks like something the Green Lantern would fly in. [LiveScience]
6:30 PM on Tue Jul 24 2007
By Jason Chen
9,626 views,
50 comments
Latest by lightshow: @2MuchBS: This thing got a crash test rating of 4.5 Frisbees more »
gadgets
In This Week's Episode of Lame Airplane Seat Innovations...
...we find our heroes cramped in their seats even more thanks to this extremely awkward "Freedom" concept. The so-called freedom concept would allow planes to add another row of seats thanks to reversed seating arrangements. The reversed seats would reduce needed width by overlapping shoulders. The only way I would consider something like this is if the price of the ticket were, say, half of what it would normally go for with regular seating. I can't wait for the day that airplanes eliminate seating altogether and just do standing room, you know, like the subway. More »
gadgets
World's Largest Gadget, Airbus A380, Completes U.S. Maiden Voyage, 747 Pwned
The monstrous double-decker Airbus A380 made its maiden voyage to the United States yesterday, landing at New York's JFK airport, and a few minutes later, another one landed at Los Angeles's LAX. While these were not the first flights of the world's largest passenger airplane—that happened in April of 2005—it is the first time the plane has flown to the United States. More »
gadgets
