She’s already up, up, up in the air, as the Solar Impulse plane starts her coast-to-coast journey across the USA, so we thought this was – quite literally – “high” time to share this annotated graphic about her journey.
Her design form, necessitated by solar-panel function, may look a bit bonkers (part Playmobil glider, part dragonfly), but her ambition is real. God speed you, solar empress!
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
Solar Impulse plane to cross U.S.
Finally, some good news for Boeing, as the US Federal Aviation Administration approves its proposal to fix battery issues on the beleaguered 787 Dreamliner.
E&T also has our dedicated Boeing Dreamliner news page, which is dynamically updated every time we run a new story. It creates a neat timeline for the Dreamliner saga, one which is likely to run on for some time to come.
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
Boeing 787 battery fix
An entertaining story of military archaeology today, with the news that a British search team is continuing its hunt for up to 140 RAF Spitfire fighter planes, buried in channels 10 metres deep in the Burmese mud in 1945 at the end of World War II by US military engineers. Thanks, Septics!
At the time, the planes were deemed surplus to requirements and the Spitfires were buried in their original transport crates. Seems crazy now, eh?
The good news is that the team has uncovered 60 planes so far, with approximately 80 left to find.
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
Search for Burma Spitfires
After a tweet from Boeing Airplanes drifted through our social media transom earlier today [We’re working closely with @NTSB, our customer & other agencies regarding Monday’s 787 incident in Boston. http://ow.ly/gEtt4 #Boeing], we thought we’d share this infographic about the Dreamliner’s troubled evolution thus far.
It details nine notable incidents thus far, from nose to tail, over the period November 2010-January 2013, with the latest snafu being the fuel leak in Boston yesterday (8 January).
E&T also has a detailed news story today about the Dreamliner’s problems, which is well worth reading to guage the level of support Boeing has from its customers worldwide.
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner problems
North Korea is apparently readying her second rocket launch of 2012, attempting to ping satellites in to orbit using ballistic missiles. Island neighbour Japan is a trifle nervous about it and is readying Patriot missiles to islands close to the areas where the three rocket stages are expected to crash land.
There’s a fair amount of such military posturing and space activity going on in that part of the world, which goes some way to explaining this, this and this.
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
North Korea rocket launch trajectory
As if China’s stealth fighter developments wasn’t enough Far East military action for one day, let’s give the South Koreans a hand as they roll out their $7.2 billion contract for 60 next-gen fighter jets. It’s all getting a bit tasty over on that side of the planet, eh? Someone, somewhere is getting immensely wealthy from all this national insecurity, but it’s not us, that’s for darn sure. Oh well!
What happens to all the old-gen fighter jets, we wonder? Do they have a fire-sale out in the parking lots of Lockheed Martin, EAD, Boeing et al every time a new fighter plane is revealed? Is now a good time to jump in and snap up an outgoing model at rock-bottom prices? Suggestions welcomed!
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
South Korean warplane upgrade
Today we step aside from Olympics mania for a moment to consider an equally heavyweight smackdown in the aviation sector, as Boeing Max takes on the Airbus Neo to be declared the ultimate passenger airplane. Let’s commence preparations for rumbling!
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
Boeing Airbus Max-neo battle
While we’re in the military zone today, what with our earlier post about gigantic blimps hovering over battlegrounds in Afghanistan, it seemed opportune to post this reflection on the decision by India’s defence ministry to buy 126 French-made Rafale combat aircraft. Costing a whopping $11 billion, it will further strengthen India’s position as the world’s fourth largest air force. No, we didn’t know that, either!
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
Dassault Rafale factfile
The US army is to deploy a huge hybrid airship as large as a football pitch to watch over battlefields in Afghanistan. Capable of carrying very heavy loads, it can stay in the air for up to three weeks at a time.
Strange days, indeed.
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
Giant unmanned airships to patrol Afghanistan
The Airbus A380 wing cracks story continues. Now the European Aviation Safety Agency has ordered the entire global fleet of Airbus A380 superjumbos to be checked for cracks inside the wings.
The EASA last month ordered “a detailed visual inspection” of a third of the planes, but yesterday announced it was extending the checks to the entire fleet of 68, currently flying with seven different airlines, after Qantas grounded one of its A380s after discovering wing cracks.
Read E&T‘s news story on these latest Airbus A380 developments.
We also offer here an updated version of the graphic we posted yesterday.
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
Global check on Airbus A380s
E&T is the IET's magazine covering science, engineering and technology.
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