“We have more than 600 resumes from former Eclipse employees [who] want to come back to work,” Press said. “We won’t hire back any of the old executive management, but we will re-hire engineers and the people who actually built the jet. There are a lot of high-quality, highly trained workers ready to come back to work.”
Friday, August 28, 2009
Eclipse Aerospace not wasting any time
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A buyer for Eclipse?
The bankruptcy court for Eclipse Aviation seems to have but one offer to buy the remaining assets: Eclipse Aerospace. They've put in a $40 million bid and the bankruptcy sale is now scheduled for August 20, 2009.
See: One bid for Eclipse as deadline set.
For detailed analysis, see the Eclipse Aviation Critic NG.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
AirTran 100% Internet equipped
AirTran promised in May that 100% of their fleet would be equipped for inflight Internet, and it seems they have delivered. Gogo Inflight Internet is now on all 136 of AirTran's aircraft.
"Promise made, promise delivered," said Bob Fornaro, chairman, president and CEO of AirTran Airways. "When you get onboard an AirTran Airways jet, you know exactly what you're going to get -- an assigned seat on a full-sized, new Boeing jet with Business Class, a friendly crew, complimentary XM Satellite Radio and now Wi-Fi. It's that consistent, low-cost, high-quality experience that sets us apart from our competitors."
With that accomplished, the airline is rolling out an “Internetiquette” campaign to teach people how to surf the Web in-flight without offending or annoying their neighbors. You can catch some of these tongue-in-cheek Internetiquette tips and videos by logging onto http://www.airtran.com/internetiquette/.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Rise and Fall of Flying Boats
Author Jamie Dodson, of www.nickgrantadventures.com fame, sent the following:
All Y'all,
Experimental Aircraft Assoc (EAA) confirmed that I'll be presenting the "Rise and Fall of Flying Boats" at Oshkosh, WI, 2:30 - 3:45, July 31 and 11:30 - 12:45, August 2d. I'll also be at the author's corner for a "Flying Boats & Spies", book signing, Saturday August 1st and Sunday the 2d. OnStage publishing will release "China Clipper" in September. As with FB&S, I will donate a portion of my sales to ACS.
http://www.eaaapps.org/presenterinfo.aspx?id=982
I hope to see some friendly faces in the crowd. Please stop by if you can, I'd love to see you there.
An Airbus A380 novel
This book summary was sent in by the author of a French novel about the Airbus A380:
Koursk, a Russian billionaire, bought a highly sophisticated Airbus A380. His goal? Owning a mobile Radio/TV station, allowing it to consolidate its empire of information being the only one, when an event occurs, to send an on-site production studio. He doesn't know he is in pursuit of a commando of Spanish terrorists, former victims of some of his business and determined to destroy the aircraft and its owner. Can an autonomous commando, equipped, and motivated shoot down a giant aircraft, protected by a group of ex-KGB agents?
The rest of the story based on a police story. The readers will discover the world of modern aviation.
For more see:
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Airplane Geeks Come and Airplane Geeks Go
Evanston, IL June 22, 2009 - A change has come to the top, the top of aviation geekdom that is. Courtney Miller, one of the daring-duo founders of the Airplane Geeks podcast (www.airplanegeeks.com) one year ago this week has produced his final show for the world famous radio program as he moves on to a new job in Canada. Airplane Geeks is the always relevant - often irreverent - look at the previous week's aviation industry news.
Replacing Courtney Miller are two bloggers and podcasters already well known to Airplane Geeks listeners. One who will valiantly attempt to fill Court's shoes is Rob Mark, CEO of CommAvia, a commercial pilot, writer and editor of the award-winning industry blog Jetwhine.com - (www.jetwhine.com). Rob was also just named an Aerospace Journalist of the Year for 2009 at the Paris Air Show. Dan Webb, a sophomore at Bryant University writes the Things in the Sky Blog at (www.thingsinthesky.com).
While listeners expressed sadness at Miller's decision to leave the podcast, co-host Max Flight said, "Courtney's leaving? Really?" Jetwhine editor Rob Mark said, "Although I learned quite a bit about being an airplane geek long before I met Court and Max, my daughter says I'll still fit right in." Webb added, "My coverage of both the shiny bits and the smudges within the airline industry should provide Rob and Max plenty to keep the discussion going."
Some industry competitors, obviously fearing for their own jobs now that Max, Rob and Dan have teamed up, piped in with their two cents. Flightblogger's Jon Ostrower said, "The world will never be the same," while Aviation Week's high priestess of the aviation world online, Benet' Wilson, said, "I am delighted to hear that my old friend Rob Mark will become the new co-host of the Airplane Geeks podcast. His segments are sure to kill the podcast giving the rest of us a chance to do our own version of the show. Just kidding. Good luck guys."
New episodes of the Airplane Geeks become available online and via RSS and iTunes each Tuesday afternoon. Airplane Geeks has also forged a new program syndication agreement with Flight Line Internet Radio - (www.flightlineinternetradio.com) - to run regular show segments.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Aviation museum articles
Thirty Thousand Feet has begun publishing a series of sponsored Aviation Museum Articles. Each article provides information about a museum, including the museum’s mission, exhibits, program offerings, location, and admission prices. There is also a link to the museum’s web site.
Three articles kick off the series:
The Frontiers of Flight Museum located in Dallas, Texas. This museum provides a fun, interactive, and thorough walk through aviation history.
The Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum at Martin State Airport in Maryland. This museum has a general aviation focus, but is more broadly dedicated to the promotion and preservation of aviation and space exploration in the State of Maryland.
The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington has a vast collection of aircraft, exhibits, interactive displays and workshops.
More articles will be added in the near future.
Visiting and supporting these and other aviation museums helps keep our aviation heritage alive, and its a great way to introduce our youth to the field of aviation. Find a museum near you and go have a great day exploring history!
Paris Air Show 2009 video
Flightglobal has produced some great video at the 2009 Paris Air Show. The flight display highlights features the Eurofighter Typhoon, Airbus A-380, F-18 Hornet, F-16 Fighting Falcon, C-130J Hercules, LH-10 Elipse, Bobin R-2160, and a beautiful old Lockheed Constellation.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields
My aviation website pick of the week from Episode 50 of the Airplane Geeks podcast:
