Amazon Makes First Aircraft Purchase to Expand Cargo Network

Amazon.com is buying 11 used Boeing 767-300 planes, the first time the online retail giant has purchased, rather than leased, aircraft for its fast-growing air cargo operation. From a report: The company on Tuesday said it was buying seven aircraft from Delta Air Lines and four from WestJet Airlines. The WestJet aircraft are currently being converted from passenger to cargo use…

How Toxic Fumes Seep Into the Air You Breathe on Planes

An anonymous reader shares an investigative report by LA Times: The plane had begun its descent into Boston. Inside the cockpit, the captain was slumped in his seat. Sitting beside him, copilot Eric Tellmann was starting to pass out. Tellmann managed to strap on his oxygen mask, then grabbed the captain’s arm and forced him to follow suit. Reviving slowly, the…

Are these the strangest Amazon book recommendations of all time?

The best books to read while crocheting hyperbolic planes, plus outdated tech that lives on and why money can buy happiness in Feedback’s weird weekly round-up Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24833122-800-are-these-the-strangest-amazon-book-recommendations-of-all-time/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Chuck Yeager, Test Pilot Who Broke the Sound Barrier, Dies At 97

jowifi shares a report from NPR: One of the world’s most famous aviators has died: Chuck Yeager — best known as the first to break the sound barrier — has died at the age of 97. Yeager started from humble beginnings in Myra, W.Va., and many people didn’t really learn about him until decades after he broke the sound barrier –…

All Three Monoliths Gone — Two Removed By Activist Vandals

A Reddit user found Google Earth photos showing the Utah monolith may have appeared in its canyon up to five years ago, according to The Daily Beast. But it’s gone now: Last week, a team of four people removed the Utah obelisk. One of them, a Utah adventure guide, explained their actions in an Instagram post. “We removed the Utah Monolith…

Report Claims Huawei Finance Chief Meng Wanzhou Could Be Set Free In Exchange of Admitting Guilt

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBC.ca: The U.S. Justice Department is talking to representatives of Meng Wanzhou about a potential deal that would allow the Chinese telecom executive to return home from Canada in exchange for signing a deferred prosecution agreement admitting criminal wrongdoing, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Meng, the chief financial officer of…

Wasps in Australia are endangering planes by building nests on them

Keyhole wasps, notorious for building nests in manufactured structures, have caused aircraft safety incidents by inhabiting crucial plane parts at Brisbane Airport Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2260775-wasps-in-australia-are-endangering-planes-by-building-nests-on-them/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

The Pandemic Has Created a Middle Class Private Jet Boom

An anonymous reader shares a report: While the commercial airline industry has been largely grounded following various global lockdowns — with outbound international travel from the UK set to be banned on Thursday — private aviation has soared among new customers. Many of them are families. Once the preserve of millionaires and A-listers, business planes have been taken up by holidaying…

AI Has Cracked a Key Mathematical Puzzle For Understanding Our World

An anonymous reader shares a report: Unless you’re a physicist or an engineer, there really isn’t much reason for you to know about partial differential equations. I know. After years of poring over them in undergrad while studying mechanical engineering, I’ve never used them since in the real world. But partial differential equations, or PDEs, are also kind of magical. They’re…

Zoom Deleted Events Discussing Zoom ‘Censorship’

Zoom shut down a series of events meant to discuss what organizers called “censorship” by the company. From a report: The events were planned for Oct. 23 and were organized in response to a previous cancellation by Zoom of a San Francisco State University talk by Leila Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated…