Archive for the ‘airplane’ Category

Three Tesla employees killed in twin-engine plane crash

Very sad news to report this morning related to a plane crash in East Palo Alto, California, on Wednesday. A plane owned by Doug Bourn, senior electrical engineer for Tesla Motors, veered off course just after taking off in heavy fog and crashed into a neighborhood killing all three Tesla employees on board. Although four houses were damaged, no one on the ground was injured. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla issued the following statement:

“Three Tesla employees were on board a plane that crashed in East Palo Alto early this morning. We are withholding their identities as we work with the relevant authorities to notify the families. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Tesla is a small, tightly-knit company, and this is a tragic day for us.”

Although not technically rock stars, the engineers that produced the Tesla Roadster, the first production electric vehicle manufactured around lithium-Ion batteries, certainly rocked the automotive world. Tragic, indeed.

Three Tesla employees killed in twin-engine plane crash originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The True Odds of Airborne Terror Chart [Terror]

After the crotchbomb there has been a lot of noise about airplane security again—you can see how stupid the leaked new flight rules are here. But what’s the actual risk of an airplane attack? Here’s the definitive chart:

As you can see, the chances are very slim. As slim as the chances of the new security rules having any real effect in preventing any new attacks, sadly.

USAF Confirms New Secret Stealth Plane [Airplane]

The existence of a new secret plane photographed this week has been confirmed by the United States Air Force. The secret aircraft now has an official denomination: The RQ-170 Sentinel, a flying wing developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works.

The RQ-170 is a stealthy unmanned aircraft designed to “provide reconnaissance and surveillance support to forward deployed combat forces.” It’s flown by the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at Tonopah Test Range, Nevada, under the Air Combat Command’s 432d Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.

The aircraft has a 65-foot wingspan, with a fat body and a blended wing design. It’s unarmed, and—according to David A. Fulghum at Ares—its light color is unusual for high altitude UAV. [Ares]

Southwest builds first ‘green plane,’ Ma Earth shows her gratitude

Southwest Airlines may not own a plane with a headrest infotainment system, but it’s still far and away the most enjoyable commercial flight you’ll find in the US of A (save for Virgin America, naturally). Granted, we’d like to see in-flight WiFi offered on a few more of its flights (read: 100 percent of them), but hey, we’ll take free checked bags and friendly employees any day of the week. We’ll also take fuel savings and environment stewardship, both of which Southwest is aiming to give us by creating the planet’s first “green plane.” By utilizing recyclable InterfaceFLOR carpet, weight-saving seat covers and life vest pouches, a lighter foam fill in the seats and aluminum (as opposed to plastic) seat rub strips, the newfangled Boeing 737-700 ends up some 472 pounds lighter than a conventional one. The savings? 9,500 gallons of jet fuel per year. We’re not sure when the bird is expected to take her first voyage, but here’s hoping a few others are hatched in the near future.

[Via DailyFinance]

Read – Southwest press release
Read – China View’s fuel calculations

Filed under: Transportation

Southwest builds first ‘green plane,’ Ma Earth shows her gratitude originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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