Weekend Sikorsky seminar

The Bradford Camps is offering a weekend-long seminar July 6 - 8, 2007 devoted to the life of Igor I. Sikorsky. The event will include photos and Sikorsky family speakers, and will look at Igor's Russian years in aviation, his World War I aircraft, his large commercial amphibian aircraft of the 20's and 30's, and his helicopter development.

Given by Sikorsky's son and grandson, the cost is $275 per person and includes a flight with Igor Sikorsky, III. Lodging and meals are included at a remote fishing lodge in northern Maine.

The Bradford Camps is a sporting camp on Munsungun Lake in northern Maine offering fishing, hunting, swimming, canoeing, opportunities for photography, and just relaxing on the porch.

Flight tracking with SMS

Travel Weekly (free resistration) in Google: Just text 466453 for flight status describes the Google flight status checker for mobile devices with SMS (Short Messaging Service).

If you send a message to 466453 (the Google number) from your mobile phone with the airline name or abbreviation and flight number, you'll receive the flight status. This works for all flights departing or arriving in the U.S.

Another source for flight tracking on your cell phone is 4INFO. (They provide a variety of stuff for your phone, such as live sports, business, travel, local, and entertainment information.) The 4INFO Flight Status page demonstrates the results you get on your cell phone if you message 4INFO (44636) with Airline + flight number, or Airline + dept. and arr. cities, or Airline + airport codes. It's pretty slick.

If you're interested in a Star Alliance flight tracking, you can sign up for SMS flight notifications at the page for their Flight Tracker Service. After you subscribe, "Flight Tracker will send you (or someone you nominate) text messages with any significant change to the scheduled departure/arrival time of the flight you have selected to track."

A survey about aging pilots

The National Institute of Aviation Research (NIAR) and Wichita State University are looking for participants ages 18 and over to part take in exploratory research. The goal of this study is to identify how aging affect pilots’ flying habits and to identify strategies pilots used to compensate for age-related changes. If you are interested in participating in this study, you can access it through this link:

http://PILOTSURVEY.notlong.com

This came in from Libby Culpepper, a graduate student completing a doctorate degree in Human Factors Psychology at Wichita State University. Her research interests include human performance modeling, workload and cognitive assessment, and crash investigations. Habit accommodation is a study investigating the age-related effects of cognitive and sensory abilities on daily and flight performances.

The survey should take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete and by participating you will have the option to enter in a prize drawing for a Sporty’s Pilot Shop gift certificate or cash. There will be four drawings in all.

For more information, you can contact Libby Culpepper at alculpepper@wichita.edu.

Blended wing aircraft

What combines fuselage and wing, and has no tail? Answer: a blended-wing aircraft. Why do that? Less drag means less fuel consumption and that translates to lower operating costs for an airline. With fuel costs now representing the largest element in the airline equation, anything that reduces consumption gets attention. The Boeing 787 vs. Airbus A350 competition proves the point.

CNNMoney.com in Business 2.0 Magazine says a one tenth scale prototype is at Edwards Air Force Base, ready for flight this month (March 2007). Boeing looks to launch a military version by 2022, and a commercial version by 2030. Factor in the usual unexpected development delays, and I don't think I'll be flying in one of these. I might still be alive, but I'll probably too old fly. Rats.

Anyway, if you want to see some blended wing pictures, have a peek at Google Images. You'll find quite an assortment. There is also a website called The Wing Is The Thing (or T.W.I.T.T.) at http://www.twitt.org/. There's a members only section, but the freely accessible content is quite extensive with blended wing drawings, data, and resources. The Flight to the Future page contains old (April 1999) material reprinted from Wings, but it holds fascinating sketches, drawings, and detailed blended wing concepts. Pretty cool.

Femininity in Flight

Kathleen M. Barry has authored the book "Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants," which is available through Amazon.com. Ms. Barry was recently one of the guests on the Diane Rehm show on National Public Radio. Joining them was Betty, of the Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase! blog and podcast. Betty, a Flight Attendant for a major U.S. airline, has created a wonderful podcast that all crew and air travelers will find a delight.

From the Amazon Book Description of Femininity in Flight:

Barry argues that largely because their glamour obscured their labor, flight attendants unionized in the late 1940s and 1950s to demand recognition and respect as workers and self-styled professionals. In the 1960s and 1970s, flight attendants were one of the first groups to take advantage of new laws prohibiting sex discrimination. Their challenges to airlines’ restrictive employment policies and exploitive marketing practices (involving skimpy uniforms and provocative slogans such as “fly me”) made them high-profile critics of the cultural mystification and economic devaluing of “women’s work.” Barry combines attention to the political economy and technology of the airline industry with perceptive readings of popular culture, newspapers, industry publications, and first-person accounts. In so doing, she provides a potent mix of social and cultural history and a major contribution to the history of women’s work and working women’s activism.

You can listen to the NPR show through a link on the WAMU page. Highly recommended for flight attendants and others who are interested in what it means to be a flight attendant.

Win a tour of an A380

Lufthansa is conducting a sweepstakes. Answer six questions correctly about the A380, and you'll be entered in a drawing:

...one winner plus a guest will be selected on March 13 to attend an exclusive reception and VIP tour on board the A380.

This is associated with the A380 visit to JFK Airport in New York the week of March 19, 2007. Enter by March 13!

In addition to the JFK visit, another A380 will be arriving at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) March 19 as part of the inaugural visit to the U.S.

A380 Sweepstakes Entry
Airbus A380's First Flights to U.S. to Include Landing at LAX