The Air Data Inertial Reference System, which supplies position and attitude information to the plane's electronic instrumentation system, starting producing bogus data due to an internal error, not external interference. As funny as the ideas of an A330-controlling iPhone app or an Autopilot-B-Gone are, the general consensus of experts that spoke on this issue is that commercial jets are unlikely to be affected at all by personal electronics, let alone driven into the ground. [ABC AU via Slashdot]

This wouldn't be the first time Qantas has blamed passengers' gadgets for an in-flight mishap; in July, a Bluetooth mouse was said to have resulted in a Qantas jet's autopilot being thrown off course. Passengers on Tuesday's ill-fated altitude drop will now be questioned regarding what electronics they may have been using at the time of the incident.

The issue of whether everyday personal electronics can actually cause any significant problems on board an airliner is clouded, to say the least. On one hand, it's hard to see how such common devices that meet FCC and UL interference standards can affect airliners that are designed to be able to withstand lightning strikes—critical components on a commercial jet are shielded to prevent any kind of interference getting through. On the other side, claims of the insulation degrading in older jets making them more susceptible to interference make sense. Then of course there is the perfectly rational "why chance it" argument.

This Wiki page delves into the issue in more detail, and Patrick from Ask the Pilot, one of my favorite online columns, gave the issue a characteristically sober and level-headed look earlier this year (verdict: interference technically possible but highly unlikely). So why Qantas would be making a push for this line of reasoning is kind of a mystery.

[UPDATE: Nick from Giz OZ has let us know that this story may be in fact a result of a misunderstanding—apparently a reporter got the jet's onboard computers (for navigation, etc) mixed up with the computers of actual passengers in his original report. The NTSB is still not ruling out interference from passenger gadgets, though.]

What about you guys? Do you heed the warnings to turn off everything, or fly in the face of danger with iPod blaring away during takeoff. Must admit I've been guilty of the latter, occasionally.

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[NZ Herald via Slashdot, Photo: Daquella Manera/Flickr]

After being herded like cattle (a common metaphor, yes, but never so true) to your gate's waiting area which has no seating, bare overhead fluorescent bulbs and a stench not amenable to life, and then after fighting for an unassigned seat and buying your hair-of-the-dog Bloody Mary for $9 US, you can call home and tell everyone how much fun you're having. All for $4 per minute on service provided by Euro carriers O2 and 3. What a wonderful world. [The Register via Gadget Lab, Image: jon gos]

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]

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 ]

Created in collaboration with New York artist Peter Coffin, the 23-feet aluminum UFO is covered with 3,000 individually controlled Color Kinetics LED nodes, and gets its power from an on-board 6kw generator. And get this: you really can "phone home" with this UFO, as its displays are remote-controllable via SMS messaging.

It was flown in by mountain-rescue pilots, sweeping in from the Polish coast and circling over central Gdansk just after sunset. The whole performance was part of Gdansk Festival of Stars, and was the first showing of the artwork. And I really, really wish I could've seen it. [Cinimod Studio]
(Photo credits: Peter Turo, Dominic Harris, Michal Szlaga.)

Update: According to Dominic himself, the UFO was greeted with everything from cheers to laughs to screams. And here's an interesting bit of news: discussions are underway to bring the flying saucer to the US. Once they've worked out all the pesky FAA details of course. —Thanks, Dominic

Couch brought GPS but he also brought along a satellite phone, altimeter, and a second GPS device attached to his chair for redundancy. Then there was his pole with a hook, for bringing wind-whipped helium balloons into firing range, and containers of Kool-Aid, which served as ballast. His in-flight meal consisted of boiled eggs, jerky and chocolate. Video:

For his efforts and meticulous preparation, Couch, a 54-year-old gas station owner, was able to keep the balloon rig at 200 feet for most of the 200-mile journey.

"If I had the time and money and people, I'd do this every weekend," Couch said before getting into the chair. It was his third balloon flight in three years. "Things just look different from up there. You've moving so slowly. The best thing is the peace, the serenity." And landing, Couch, landing. Right? [CNN]

His body was found yesterday by the Anna Gabriela, a tug working for Brazilian oil company Petrobras, 683 miles (1,100 kilometers) from Father De Carli's starting point. His trip started on April 20 after a mass, and his last contact was a desperate attempt to learn how to use his GPS and communicate his position as the wind took him deep into the Atlantic Ocean.

I need to contact someone who can teach me how to operate this GPS, so I can give the latitude and longitude coordinates, which is the only way that people on the ground can know where I am.

An Petrobras official spokesman said that "his clothes and shoes indicate that it's him." And now I don't know if I should say "Godspeed, Padre" or "this is another candidate for the Darwin Awards," so I would just say rest in peace.

[Editor's Note: I commend you for finding your way out of this world while trying to do some good for the rest of it. Rest in Peace, De Carli. -B.L.] [Bloomberg]

The algorithms the team develops will allow hovering 'bots like STARMAC to navigate, deal with collisions or avoidance and even to work as a team, sharing info on their environment and navigating around each other.

That has all sorts of cool implications for things like future automated search and rescue drones, able to search large areas efficiently and quickly. But it also means spy 'bots. And when you've watched the video, you'll have to agree that the way the things move reminds you of the flying cameras in (insert name of sci-fi movie of your choice). [Danger Room]

It's a clear sign of the desperations airlines are feeling with the prices of jet fuel rising to, ahem, stratospheric levels. With jatropha costing 20-30% less than fuel, it looks like an attractive alternative. It's not derived from a food source like ethanol is, which is a big plus for ANZ. It's also a hearty plant that can cope with poor soil and a lack of water, making it easy to come by. You know, because it's a weed. What did you think the headline meant? [FlightGlobal; Thanks Jason!]

The concept racked up the expenses, to date it has had $6 million spent on bringing it to fruition; an expense which the developers, Boeing, are now viewing as a great waste. The project began in the 1980s, has had sixty investors and the production plant produced only three concept aircrafts before the facility was closed down for unknown reasons. The entire works, however, are all present in the one prototype that is now for sale, which escaped destruction as it was not based at the main plant when everything was systematically destroyed.

If you have a few million dollars lying spare, why not get yourself in on some vertical flight and landing action? Here is hoping the purchaser keeps the development going. After all, what do we have to look forward to in our meaningless lives if we cannot pin our hopes on living life like the Jetsons? [eBay via Boing Boing]

The first assignment for jet packing team Giz would be CES 2008. Picture the scene; the whole squad lands right into the main hall, everyone gasps in amazement, people flock from all over, reporters would leave Steve's keynote to come and see us, Mark would launch us all into the excellent elf dance, we'd blog the bejeezus out of CES and then we'd power up our astro packs and fly right back to Giz HQ. We would probably have a race along the way, which, naturally, we would live blog for your pleasure. It would be awesome. Hey, it would beat my flight into CES—the 12-hour wait at Minneapolis airport I have to sit through is going to be a killer. If anyone is around, come and say hello. If anyone has a jetpack that will fly me from London to Las Vegas, thus negating the 12-hour wait, drop me a line.

What kind of system is this that can completely fail when just one relatively tiny piece isn't quite working properly? It makes us wonder what other important pieces of infrastructure hang by such a delicate thread. Sure, the LAX computer system is destined to be updated by October, 2008, but that won't be a minute too soon.

Incidentally, on a personal note, I was just on board a flight on Monday whose hydraulic system completely failed at 37,000 feet. Fortunately, there were two backup hydraulic systems on board the Bombardier CRJ-200ER regional jet, allowing the plane to turn around and fly back to the airport whence we came, a one-hour round trip altogether .

Although that mechanical failure resulted in a total 12-hour trip home rather than the normal two-hour jaunt, thankfully it resulted in no loss of life. Good thing some systems are worthy of backup. Even so, how expensive could it be to enjoy a bit of redundancy on support equipment as well? [LA Times, via Boing Boing]

I wonder if that Ethernet is actually Internet-active. Probably not, which could be the killer, esp when American Airlines rolls their WiFi, but as a random aside, check out that purple mood lighting. More cool facts: The servers have about 3000 MP3s, and if you create a playlist, it links it to your profile, and the next time you book a flight, your playlists will reappear on your new flight, at your new seat. And, the system, called "Red", was developed in house and does the standard movies, sat TV, mp3s, and games. But it also has a plane wide chatroom, per-channel chatrooms, and private messages.

[Photos and Reporting by Artur Bergman]

Airplanes to become even more uncomfortably close [Gearfuse]

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.

It's part of a publicity tour of the Airbus A380, showing people that this gigantic tin can stuffed with 300 miles of wires inside and a wingspan the size of a football field can actually fly. Airbus officials may feel a little antsy because none of the planes have been bought by U.S. airlines, which prefer smaller planes carrying fewer passengers on more nonstop flights. But yes, the gargantuan flying machines actually made it to the U.S.; Check out the video and see one of them landing at LAX for yourself. – Charlie White

World's largest passenger airliner comes to L.A. [native intelligence]

Check out this octet of astonishing action pics in our gallery:

You control the throttle and steer the vehicle, but we can't imagine there's a whole lot of guidance involved. It's $96 for a 25-minute ride, and then, well, there's that plane ticket to New Zealand. – Charlie White

Fly By Wire [Queenstown Fly By Wire Ltd., via Sci Fi Tech]

It's amazing to me when an airport doesn't have free wi-fi. I know it's another way to make money, but in an industry that goes bankrupt every few years anyway, why not give fliers golden EVDO cards upon entering a carrier's terminal?

Wi-fi Free Spot posted a list of airports with free wi-fi. Biggies like Dallas and Chicago (Midway and O'hare) aren't on the list - which is a shame. In fact, most airports with free wi-fi are smaller (which on one hand makes sense - expense - and on the other hand does not - resources).

Hit the jump for their best tip to find free wi-fi at any airport. And let us know if you have any wi-fi tips for travelers. – Mark Wilson

Free Wi-Fi in Airports [via randomgoodstuff]
ImageLink

"A Pilot has told me that most FBO's (Fixed Base Operators are the service stations for corporate aircraft) which are located at almost all airports large and small are offering unrestricted WIFI service in their facilities. Go to the general aviation facility for any airport, ask where corporate aircraft arrive and depart, go into the facility and ask them if you can use the WIFI capability. Most of these FBO's have waiting areas and some provide separate computer rooms (like a large phone booth) as well as the ability to print."

I just flew first class from Seattle to Dallas and it was horrible. I was upgraded during a full flight only to get drink service once (I'm actually using their horrid vocabulary) in 90-degree cabin heat. The only luxury was a seat designed for a normal human being. Next time I go first class, it will be on the United Arab Emirates. You get a luxury cubicle, full movie selection, noise-canceling headphones and lots of neat buttons. Just give me the buttons. – Mark Wilson

[via uberreview]

Meanwhile, back on terra firma, Mike Elegan at Personal Tech Pipeline talks some sense into us with his missive about how flying cars are a fantasy, how there's no such thing as a flying car, just a "roadable airplane," and shows us why the whole idea doesn't make a lick of sense anyway.

The guy makes some good points, such as, with all the shitty drivers on the road these days, do you really want them flying around, crashing into other flying cars, houses, and even commercial airliners? Maybe until these things can be completely computerized, flying cars should stay where they are now, in never never land. – Charlie White

The Myth Of The 'Flying Car' [personaltechpipeline, via The Raw Feed]

Product Page [Via Gridskipper]

The mission starts when the brave soul wearing this birdman outfit takes a flying leap out of an airplane at 33,000 feet—hopefully equipped with warm clothes and oxygen—and flies the jet wing wherever he's going until he gets to an altitude of about a mile. At that point, somehow our intrepid hero sheds his wing and opens a parachute, letting that wing dangle below him as he floats to the ground. Better you than me, buddy. Tailwinds. – Charlie White

James Bond-style strap-on jet pack flying wing to extend special forces' reach [Flight]