Boeing has found debris in the fuel tanks of 35 of their 737 Max aircraft. After inspecting just 50 of the 400 planes which were awaiting delivery to customers, Boeing found debris in “about two-thirds” of them reports the Wall Street Journal, citing both federal and aviation-industry officials. “The revelation comes as the plane maker struggles to restore public and airline…
Tag: airplanes
Today is Chuck Yeager’s 97th birthday
Chuck Yeager, first pilot to break the sound barrier, personified what it meant to have “the right stuff.” Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/this-date-in-science-chuck-yeagers-birthday…
Are solar storms dangerous to us?
Activity on the sun affects Earth’s magnetic field. It can cause geomagnetic storms, the same events that create the beautiful aurorae, or northern and southern lights. Are these storms dangerous? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/are-solar-storms-dangerous-to-us…
Boeing Officially Stops Making 737 Max Airplanes
Boeing confirmed that it has stopped building 737 Max airplanes in Renton, Washington, as it waits to get permission for the plane to fly again following two deadly crashes that killed 346 people. CNN reports: Boeing will not furlough or lay off workers because of the shutdown, but pain will ripple through its supply chain and could hurt America’s economic growth….
Lithium-Sulfur Battery Project Aims To Double the Range of Electric Airplanes
Oxis Energy, of Abingdon, UK, says it has a battery based on lithium-sulfur chemistry that can greatly increase the ratio of watt-hours per kilogram, and do so in a product that’s safe enough for use even in an electric airplane. Specifically, a plane built by Bye Aerospace, in Englewood, Colo., whose founder, George Bye, described the project in this 2017 article…
NASA Partners With General Electric To Advance The Future Of Electric Flight
“Electric flight is becoming a tantalizingly close reality for shorter-range service,” writes ZDNet. “But increasing passenger carrying capacity and flight times to economically accommodate longer routes will require a major rethink of crucial components.” pgmrdlm quotes their report:
GE is partnering with the NASA Advanced Air Vehicles Program on a new generation of inverter using GE’s silicon Carbide technology. The project aims…
As Criticism Grows After Crashes, Boeing Committee May Recommend Organizational Changes
McGruber summarizes an article in the New York Times: A small committee of Boeing’s board is expected to call for several meaningful changes to the way the company is structured. The commitee may recommend that Boeing change aspects of its organizational structure, call for the creation of new groups focused on safety and encourage the company to consider making changes to…
A Boeing Code Leak Exposes Security Flaws Deep In a 787’s Guts
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Late one night last September, security researcher Ruben Santamarta sat in his home office in Madrid and partook in some creative googling, searching for technical documents related to his years-long obsession: the cybersecurity of airplanes. He was surprised to discover a fully unprotected server on Boeing’s network, seemingly full of code designed to…
First E-Bikes, Then Flying Cars: a Do-Anything 3D Printing Tech
Tekla Perry shares an interesting story from the IEEE’s “View from the Valley” blog: Arevo was aiming to get into the aircraft parts business when it started developing software and hardware to print 3D structures using a composite containing continuous carbon fibers. Its technology lays out the lines of the material in ways to maximize strength and minimize the amount of…
Airplane Contrails Will Do Triple the Damage They Do Today By 2050, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Scientist: The contrails left by airplanes last only hours. But they are now so widespread that their warming effect is greater than that of all the carbon dioxide emitted by airplanes that has accumulated in the atmosphere since the first flight of the Wright brothers. Worse still, this non-CO2 warming effect is set…