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TRENDING NEWS

FOCUSING ON AFRICA

By Heidi Gibson   Focus Africa, a dedicated International Air Transport Association (IATA) initiative aimed at finding solutions to the complex challenges faced by the

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FOCUSING ON AFRICA

By Heidi Gibson   Focus Africa, a dedicated International Air Transport Association (IATA) initiative aimed at finding solutions to the complex challenges faced by the African aviation sector, came under the spotlight during a hybrid media briefing event held recently. Accepting that there had been ‘challenges’

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SAUDI ARABIA, SIERRA LEONE SIGN AIR SERVICES AGREEMENT

The agreement aims to establish regulatory frameworks for safe and efficient air transport between the two countries Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Riyadh: Minister of Transport and Logistics Services and Chairman of the

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DECEMBER 7 IN AVIATION HISTORY

2020 – United States Air Force Test pilot Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to ever break the sound barrier, dies at age 97 in Los Angeles, California.

2009 – SA Airlink Flight 8625, operated by Embraer ERJ 135 ZS-SJW, overruns the runway at George Airport, South Africa, arriving from Cape Town. The aircraft sustains substantial damage when it runs down a bank onto a road and may be declared a write-off.

1995 – The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, just more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.

1990 – An Alaskan Airlines Boeing 727 takes off from Seattle International Airport in visibility of only 500 ft (150 m), the lowest for any airliner takeoff in the US.

1980 – Pan Am‘s Boeing 747, the China Clipper, arrives from JFK International Airport in New York, to Beijing, after a stop in Tokyo. It marks the first time since 1949 that a commercial flight between the United States and mainland China is completed.

1972 – Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew take the photograph known as “The Blue Marble” as they leave the Earth.

1962 – First flight of the Aérospatiale Super Frelon.

1955 – First prototype Martin XP6M-1 Seamaster, BuNo 138821, c/n XP-1, first flown July 14, 1955, disintegrates in flight at 5,000 feet (1,500 m) due to horizontal tail going to full up in control malfunction, subjecting airframe to 9 G stress as it began an outside loop, crashing into Potomac River near junction of St. Mary’s River, killing four crew, pilot Navy Lieutenant Commander Utgoff, and Martin employees.

1951 – The 6555th Guided Missile Squadron at Cape Canaveral, Florida, launches Martin B-61 Matador, GM-547. Lift-off and flight were normal, but the missile did not respond properly to guidance signals, and it finally went out of control and fell into the Atlantic 15 minutes and 20 seconds after launch. The flight covered a distance of 105 miles.

1945 – New Zealand National Airways Corporation is founded with amalgamation of Union Airways, Air Travel and Cook Strait Airways.

1944 – The sole Northrop JB-1A Bat, unofficially known as the “Thunderbug” due to the improvised General Electric B-1 turbojets’ “peculiar squeal”, a jet-propelled flying wing spanning 28 feet 4 inches (8.64 m) to carry 2,000 lb (910 kg) bombs in pods close to the engines, makes its first powered, but unmanned, flight from Santa Rosa Island, Eglin Field, Florida, launching from a pair of rails laid across the sand dunes. It climbs rapidly, stalls, and crashes 400 yards from the launch point.

1944 – A major earthquake in Japan badly damages aircraft factories, including the Aichi factory, the Mitsubishi plant at Nagoya, and the Nakajima plant at Handa.

1944 – The Convention on International Civil Aviation is signed in Chicago, Illinois.

1942 – First flight of the Bell P-63 Kingcobra

1941 – First flight of the Nakajima A6 M2-N

1941 – The Imperial Japanese Navy makes a devastatingly successful surprise attack on the US Navy fleet at Pearl Harbor. Six aircraft carriers launched a total of nearly 400 warplanes which claimed five US battleships and ten other vessels, and damaged three other battleships.

1940 – First flight of the Fairey Barracuda prototype P1767.

1936 – First Boeing Y1B-17, 36-149, c/n 1973, first flown 2 December, makes a rough landing at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington, on third flight, when Army pilot Stanley Umstead touches down with locked brakes, airframe ends up on nose after short skid. Pilot had used heavy brake applications before take-off, then immediately retracted the overheated undercarriage instead of letting air stream cool it, whereupon the bi-metal brakes fused. Repaired, Flying Fortress departs for Wright Field on 11 January 1937.

1928 – First flight of the de Havilland Hawk Moth

1926 – A Stinson Detroiter being delivered to Canadian Air Express is the first airplane inspected (and passed) by the Federal Government.

1922 – DH-4B, AS-63780, departs Rockwell FieldSan Diego, California at 0905 hrs bound for Fort Huachuca, Arizona, piloted by 1st Lt. Charles L. Webber with Col. Francis C. Marshall aboard for an inspection trip of cavalry posts and camps. When plane never arrives, one of the largest man-hunts in Air Service history is mounted but when search is finally given up on 23 February 1923 nothing had been found. Wreckage is eventually discovered 12 May 1923 by a man hunting stray cattle in the mountains. Flight apparently hit Cuyamaca Peak just a few miles east of San Diego in fog within thirty minutes of departure.

1913 – A Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2a, 235, flown by factory test pilot Lt. Norman Spratt, crashes at the Farnborough Aerodrome, pilot surviving.

 

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FEATURE

PERATON LABS TO HELP DEVELOP AI AND MACHINE LEARNING FOR UNMANNED GROUND VEHICLES

In a bid to empower artificial intelligence (AI) systems with adaptability to unforeseen circumstances, U.S. military researchers have turned to Peraton Labs Inc., based in Basking Ridge, N.J., for a groundbreaking solution. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently announced a substantial $9.3 million contract awarded to Peraton Labs for the Learning Introspective Control (LINC) project. This initiative

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