Larry’s Log

I’ve been excited about electric cars for a couple of years now. No, not hybrids that require a fuel tank an an internal combustion engine but cars that have an electric motor and a battery pack that is plugged in to recharge. I believe electric cars and nuclear power plants are the key to our […]

This is possibly the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. I know y’all have seen these people jumping out of airplanes in these wingsuits and the camera shows them flying around with no close background to use to really judge what they are doing or how fast they are traveling. The guys are base […]

Another couple of weeks have gone by with me sitting in the Hartsfield-Jackson Intl. Airport. Last week my flight to Philly was diverted due to ground fog to Newark. This week I get to the airport and my flight is cancelled. I’m waiting on my later flight now.
I got into a conversation about customer satisfaction […]

An Airbus A380 took off for the first time from France’s Toulouse-Blagnac airport this morning. This was a test flight only, actual passenger service for the plane is another year away.
I’m not sure the world needs the A380 at this time. It’s design is to carry huge amount of passangers between airport hubs. I […]

Burt Rutan may have been the private concern to launch a man into space but Aera Corp intends to be the first private concern to put paying customers into space. They plan to do this by next year (2006), one upping Virgin Galactic, which is using the Rutan design for their fleet, who won’t be […]

All Nippon Airways has just placed an order with Boeing for fifty of their new 7E7s. What is significant about this is that this is the first commitment any airline has made to purchase this plane. It’s also the largest initial order Boeing has ever received for a new airliner.
The 7E7 is Boeing’s first new […]

The Bumble Bee was the world’s smallest piloted airplane. I saw it at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. Some of it’s statistics follow:

Wing Span…….. 6ft.6in.
Length……….. 9ft.4in.
Cruising Speed… 150 mph
Top Speed…….. 180 mph
Stalling Speed… 75 kts.
Gross Weight….. 756 lbs.
Engine……….. C-85
Fuel Capacity…. 3 gal.

I think the fellow at the Pima Air and Space […]

AVWeb is reporting that an Air Force Thunderbird went down Sunday afternoon around 3:15pm at an airshow in Idaho. The pilot successfully ejected.
While crashes like this are rare I’m afraid it won’t be long before safety concerns ground aerobatic displays like this altogether. That would be a loss to everyone.

From Voice of America News:
The Sudanese foreign minister says Tuesday’s plane crash in Sudan, which killed at least 115 people, was the direct result of U.S. sanctions.

The claim is that since they couldn’t buy spare parts for the plane due to US sanctions against their country the airplane was unairworthy and crashed.
Bullshit! If the plane […]

If you’ve ever played with Microsoft’s Flight Simulator you are familiar with Meigs Field. This was the GA airport on Chicago’s lakefront that is featured in that software package as the default location. It’s also the only way you’ll ever take-off or land at that airport again. Meigs field is now closed.
Just before midnight Sunday, […]

A month or so after the terrorist attack on 9-11 and not long after GA aircraft were allowed back into the skies Mark Winton was flying his Beech T34 Mentor when he looked down and noticed that football practice was going on at his son’s school and he knew his son was amongst the players […]