Black airplanes, UFOs, and Cloaking Devices

I love conspiracy theorists. Sometimes they seem wacky, and sometimes they promote concepts that seem plausable, but usually they present ideas that make you think, or at least wonder. That's healthy.

Over at AboveTopSecret.com you'll find a conspiracy discussion forum and lots of information of interest to aviation enthusiasts. In the Aerospace section, for example, there are pieces on the US Air Force Future Weapons Proposals: hypersonic attack aircraft, stealth airlifter, strke UAV, orbital combat vehicle, the airborne holographic projector (!), and lots of other near-SF proposals.

In the Aircraft section, you'll find the the Lockheed X-22A antigravity fighter disc, the Aurora Project, and more.

The UFO section covers the CIA's role in the study of UFOs. If you need more to ponder, you can learn about an "exchange program" where beings from the Zeta Reticuli star system provided the American government with discs in the 1970s. [Ahh, the '70s! What a great time that was. I know I had way too much fun in the '70s, although I'm a bit fuzzy on many of the details. I wasn't aware of this deal with the ZRs!]

Anyway, have a look, broaden your thinking, and draw your own line.

Whistleblowing at Anchorage International Airport

From dictionary.com:

whistleblower: "One who reveals wrongdoing within an organization to the public or to those in positions of authority."

There is a group called Whistleblowers Australia and they produce a monthly newsletter called "The Whistle." (Cleaver, eh?) Click the November 2005 link for a (618kb) .pdf version of the newsletter and look on page 9 for the piece, "Speaking about airports" by John Suter.

Mr. Suter tells a story about his plight as a whistleblower while an employee at Anchorage International Airport that makes you sit up and take notice. Things like unlocked doors that allow people to bypass security, and signs used for target practice with aircraft down range.

For those of you who may not be familiar with American culture, a popular (mostly rural) pastime is shooting guns at roadside traffic signs. Generally, there is no bad effect beyond the defacing of the sign. However, as Mr. Suter recognized, when the sign is along an airport and there are aircraft beyond the sign, you don't really want people shooting guns at the sign. Being labeled a "troublemaker" for pointing this out seems like an example of bad management.

But you can read the article and draw your own conclusions.

Aviation magazine back issues

A site visitor is trying to complete a collection of Flight International magazine back issues. If you have any of these, please contact me and I'll connect the two of you:

9 June 1984
30 June 1984
7 July 1984
22 November 1986
13 May 1992

If you otherwise know of good sources for aviation magazine back issues, let me know and I'll add them to the Directory.

Thanks.

Boeing 747-8

Boeing has a site introducing the new 747-8 aircraft that describes both the 747-8 Intercontinental and the 747-8 Freighter. In addition to the space of a 747-400, these airplanes feature the technology of the 787 Dreamliner and the architecture of the 777.

You can download a 747-8 screensaver, view artist drawings that clearly show the flexibility of the wings, and see flash demos. Videos are shown as "coming soon."

Coffee, tea, or a little Opera?

The New York Times reports in Opera browser to take flight that:

"Opera Software has inked an agreement to license its Web browser and related software for next-generation, in-flight entertainment systems built on Web technology, the company said on Tuesday."

"Under the one-year agreement, Oslo, Norway-based Opera is partnering with Thales, a French firm that makes in-flight entertainment systems for airlines. Thales specializes in video-on-demand and broadband services for Boeing and Airbus aircraft."

The Opera press release, Surfing at 30,000 feet says:

"The Opera browser offers flexibility for in-flight entertainment systems due to its internationalization features, which includes support for Bi-Directional scripts. This makes global deployments in multiple languages, including Arabic, possible with the Opera browser."

If you haven't taken a look at the Opera browser yet, you might want to give it a spin. Opera has been my browser of choice for years. It's very compact, very fast, and has consistently had features years before others, like tabbed browsing, popup blocking, RSS feeds, and cookie control. It is highly configurable and has features that let you take control of the browsing experience, including the all-important security control. Personally, I think it is more powerful than Foxfire, and you don't need a bunch of plugins to add the functionality you want. It blows I.E. away. And it's free now.