Used aircraft prices rise due to demand

Aviation Week features a story on the demand for business jets and how manufacturers and suppliers are trying to keep up.

Business jets are needed around the world, but getting them done has created a backlog of orders.

Because new jets are not available, the prices of used jets is going up. Some used jets have been sold for 110% of their price.

A flight in an open-cockpit airplane

The Portage Daily Register features a story on a recent gathering of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

As pilots arrived at Portage Municipal Airport for the annual fly-in breakfast, one reporter was offered chance to take a ride.

Reporter Todd Krysiak took a ride in a home-built airplane flown by Bill Rewey: a pilot with over 62 years experience.

Rewey and Krysiak flew in an open-cockpit plane, a two-seater powered by a single engine and the second built by Rewey.

Aerospace workers are in demand

HeraldNet.com features an Associated Press story on the growing demand for new workers in the field of aerospace.

Older aerospace workers are retiring in large numbers. Boeing and other companies need new talent. By using websites popular with college students, like Facebook.com, they are getting the word out.

Journey around the world by helicopter completed

KansasCity.com features an Associated Press story on Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill, the first pilots to complete an around the world flight by helicopter from North to South poles.

The pilots made the journey in a single trip, stopping for fuel 101 times, flying 37,000 miles, and passing through 26 countries.

You can read more about the trip at www.polarfirst.com.

Bill seeks to criminalize aiming laser pointers at aircraft

According to Photonics.com recent bill passed by the House of Representatives would criminalize the act of aiming a laser pointer at a passing plane.

There have been hundreds of reported incidents of lasers aimed at aircraft. Inexpensive lasers pointers are sold as keychains, toys, and for use during business presentations. Light from a handheld laser is powerful enough reach from the ground to aircraft. The glare can distract or even temporarily blind a pilot.

While no crashes have been attributed to lasers, the new bill is meant to prevent such a disaster from happening.

Aspiring pilots learn to fly at Pennsylvania flight school

A story in The Leader Times in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, reports on beginner pilots taking flight training at McVille Airport in South Buffalo.

According to the story, if you can learn to drive, you can learn to fly.

Students in the flight courses vary in ages and want to learn to fly for different reasons. Some want to become professional pilots, while others just want to fulfill the dream of flying.

A witness to aviation history

TimesArgus.com features a story on Anne Condelli, who witnessed the takeoff of Charles Lindbergh on his historic flight across the Atlantic.

Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, N.Y. on May 20, 1927.

Condelli describes the takeoff as a tense moment. Lindbergh's plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, made an awkward takeoff and there were some fears that the plane might clip nearby phone lines as it ascended.

Are electric supersonic aircraft possible?

Could a plane fly faster than sound powered only by electric motors? An article on EVWorld.com explains how it could be done.

The motors that would drive such and aircraft would not be like the one inside a hybrid car. Most likely, they would be powered by special superconducting cells that could store enormous amounts of electricity.

Before an electric plane breaks the sound barrier, it is more likely that electric motors would find use in smaller commuter aircraft first.