To Aviate or Not to Aviate

Few aviation firsts are in the offing this year.

A solar power only aircraft completed its maiden leg on a round the world journey this week by flying from the gulf nation of Abu Dhabi to another called Oman (ironically both nations exist due to oil revenues). The plane and its crew of two pilots plan to circumnavigate the planet over the course of the year finishing back in Abu Dhabi.

The wingspan is wider than a Boeing 747 but it is a light aircraft powered only by solar rays. It will be an achievement in the sense of testing out the kinks of only utilizing renewable form of energy. Not so much because of finding a way to end fossil fuel burn to prevent global warming or some mumbo jumbo but to allow the possibility that we can breathe cleaner air one day.

Another first about to happen is a massive blimp will be ready for takeoff this year. It will be the largest aircraft ever. This is a helium filled balloon that will take off from England for a test flight. It is likely only usable by military or some form of surveillance operation.

Being filled with helium it is light and can fly long hours with minimal use of fuel.

Over 100 years after Kittyhawk, NC, I still am waiting for a fast airliner though that could take people safely from one point on the planet to the opposite under four hours. If that means Mach 5 then so be it - surprising that we have not been able to make Machs work.

Forget exploring MARS for now and let us get commercial aviation to the point it is comfortable (not because of in flight amenities but the expediency) to get from A to B.

Comments

New England is gleaming in the fall

This autumn the weather gods cooperated as we took a family trip in the northeast to see six states that qualify or makeup what is known colloquially in America as New England. Mass, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island (tiniest state in the union). The outing helped tally up the states we either lived in, visited or have worked in to 47. Guess which three have eluded this intrepid traveling family. Any rate the drive was all in about 1,800 miles and included some memorable geographic wonders or points of interest. Easternmost part of state of Massachusetts being one. Furthest drivable road east in Mass being another. Visit to all Ivy League schools (term harkens to a collegiate athletics conference and generally regarded as elite academic institutes of some repute worldwide) is another random bucket list item of which this trip afforded the chance to knock two more of the list. Dartmouth in Hanover, NH and Brown (and its sister institute the RISD - school f

Searching for a lavish 'fill in the blank with other adjectives and gender' in bed

Many of the readers of this blog have experienced this. Strange sounding messages popping up in your text or WA or emails all day long from some exotic sounding locale with an out of this world individual looking for love, sex, money or other paraphernalia to get a high. I mean granted that electronic spamming is a low cost enterprise and all but the sheer volumes and the variety in these exhortations is beyond imagination. Having a desire to engage you in some sort of sexual payola or invest in some arcane crypto scheme must be a profound algorithm that someone from Oklahoma to Odessa is cranking on through the night and watching one in a few million fall for. Otherwise this nonsense would not exist I suspect. It would be funny to watch the lifecycle of some such persona that creates said content and that of a prospect for this invite becoming an unwilling or willing participant. Then that whole thing could go on some social channel and earn likes and subscriptions for someone else a

Lakeside frivolities

We moved to the Charlotte area not knowing where exactly our new home would be. Turns out it was by a popular lake formed by the damming of the Catawba river which flows north to south in the Carolinas. Local electricity generation utility built a series of dams along the waterway for hydro and couple nuclear plants as well to supply the state grid. The lake our house butts into is Lake Wylie. While tract home build has picked up in the Carolinas the developer often carves out parcels that they can get their hands on leaving behind privately owned lots that the individual owner may not want to sell. Our house is part of a subdivision but backs into actual lake front yardage that has always been part of legacy family owned properties who chose to build a cabin or getaway and did not sell to a corporation wanting to build in the hundreds. As such we can see the water through the year but it does not afford actual water access. That privilege is to our neighbors who still maintain thei

Brown Motion

Search This Blog