OK, so none of us probably have any use for a flying bike, but it’s alright to want one. It’s perfectly natural. So just let the wild envy wash over you as this Frankenstein machine takes flight.
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Many of us avoid flying with checked baggage when possible, and for good reason: even a simple delay can sour a whole trip. Airbus’ new Bag2Go prototype could save us from having to pack light, however. The smart luggage carries a raft of sensors that work with an iOS app to bypass the usual airport drudgery. Its RFID chip lets travelers check in their bag and link it to every step of their itinerary; in theory, couriers can ship baggage to the hotel at a lower cost than usual. Bag2Go should also provide some reassurance through GPS tracking and alerts to any possible tampering. Airbus is still early into development, but it foresees a business model where customers can either buy a Bag2Go suitcase at a premium or rent one for a long vacation. As for us? We’ll just be happy if our luggage avoids an unexpected detour to Belize.
Filed under: GPS, Transportation
Via: MacRumors, Australian Business Traveller
Source: Design Q (Vimeo)
Flying your way soon* is the AeroSight-carried pizza of your choice, courtesy of Domino’s and the conceptual creators at the group T + Biscuits. Working with Domino’s directly – for real, that is – as well as the UK-based drone group Big Communications, T + Biscuits have created the flying pizza. This machine is known
This week CEO of Solar Impulse André Borschberg is piloting a solar-powered airplane from Phoenix Arizona to Dallas Texas in a record-breaking 18 hour flight. SlashGear got the rare opportunity to participate in this flight earlier today in an interview with Borschberg while he flew over Highway 85. This was an in-flight interview done from a Samsung Galaxy Note II to Solar Impulse’s base station and up with a satellite connection to the plane.
The flight took off Wednesday May 22nd at 04:47AM MST (UTC-7) from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and is scheduled to land at 01:00AM CDT (UTC-5) at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The total distance covered will be 868 miles (1396.8 km) – and as you might be aware, the speed at which this plane travels this distance isn’t exactly speedy – you can drive between these spots much quicker.
But that’s not the point – instead it’s traveling this distance without fuel – without non-sustainable energy, rather. Have a peek at our in-flight interview here and read all about it below – and stick with SlashGear for more information on this flight as it continues across the USA.
AB: It’s an unbelievable feeling to see how this technology works. You have to imagine that I am sitting in an airplane, I will be flying in it all day – I will be climbing to 27,000 feet, and at the same time I will be filling up the batteries.
So the more I will be flying, the more energy I will be able to collect. This is for us a good demonstration of what this technology can do.
To be able to fly this airplane, and to be able to fly this airplane day and night – we worked hard to reduce the energy consumption of this airplane, and developed technology that can be used on the ground. It can be used with solar sets in homes, batteries in cars, the insulation materials in refrigerators.
AB: We believe that these technologies have a great future – to develop new products, to develop new jobs, to develop new industries.
The largest buyers of our parts – by far – do not come from the aviation world. These companies, like Solvay, like Bayer, like Schindler, like Omega – are in completely different industries. Their interest is to develop new products for their own applications, for their own customers.
We have insulation materials that we developed here which insulate better than what we had up to now, that are lighter. These insulation materials are going into cars, some of them are going into refrigerators, so I think there are opportunities for the direct use of many of these products.
The flight today is a step toward making flight around the world possible. It was important to test this airplane in different kinds of weather, different weather systems in the United States – I mean, you saw what happened in Texas [in the tornado on the 15th] and Oklahoma [in the tornado on the 20th] as it’s not easy to steer such an airplane in difficult conditions. So that is for us a first important goal.
AB: It’s a good opportunity to discuss with media, and also with partners – and with schools. I had many discussions with schools where children could ask questions and we could discuss what we are doing and why we are doing it.
Of course it all depends on the flying conditions. Currently the weather is extremely good, so it’s not extremely difficult to talk to news.
The arrival in Dallas will be challenging, because it’s windy. It’s windy on the ground and it’s windy around the airport, so getting to this approach phase, we will not be able to give interviews.
AB: This airplane is fully sustainable, but the big challenge is to make the pilot sustainable. That’s why we are constructing a second airplane – which is being constructed in Switzerland – and this second airplane will be designed for travel over long distances, over the ocean, and we plan to do the next trip 5 days and 5 nights, non-stop, with one pilot onboard only – with this second plane.
With this one, we limit ourselves to 24 hours because the airplane has to be manually steered all the time.
You can continue to watch Borschberg make this flight live at Solar Impulse Live – tell him we say hello!
Solar Impulse: interviewing a man on an 18-hour solar-powered flight is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
After a four-month-long grounding due to a battery issue, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is back in action in the US, with United Airlines announcing that the first flight since the grounding occurred today and took passengers from Houston, Texas to Chicago, Illinois. Boeing has fixed the battery issue, and is sticking with lithium ion, but they have changed the design to prevent overheating.
Interestingly enough, the 787 Dreamliner’s first flight in the US was also from Houston to Chicago, so it seems that United is essentially starting all over again from the beginning with its flight schedule. United Airlines tweeted the news today, along with a photo saying, “I’m back by popular demand,” referring to the 787 coming back from its four-month hiatus. However, we’re not sure a lot of passengers are going to be too crazy about boarding a plane that was once grounded for malfunctions.
The Dreamliner’s lithium ion battery had overheating issues in multiple planes, leading to emergency landings and then eventually to a fleet-wide grounding by the FAA in order to further investigate the issue and fix the problem. The FAA grounded all 787 aircrafts back in January, and the planes were then clear to fly again in late April.
As for what the future holds for the 787, let’s hope the battery fixes hold up, or else Boeing will face even more scrutiny. It’s not unheard of for the same aircraft fleet to experience multiple issues, but we’re sure that Boeing and airlines flying 787s don’t want to have to deal with such a problem again, especially with such a new plane that comes with new technology.
The fix for the 787s was estimated at $23.5 million for the entire fleet, which the airlines themselves didn’t necessarily have to pay for, but we’re guessing United Airlines and others lost a bit of money due to canceled flights and the need to reschedule future flights that were planned to take the Dreamliner to their destination.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner back in service in the US is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Responding to an invitation or checking in for a flight soon won’t require any typing at all, assuming you’re using Gmail to manage your inbox. When the situation calls for it, new quick action buttons will pop up in an email, letting you accomplish simple tasks without reaching for the keyboard. For event RSVPs, you can even mark your attendance from the main inbox view — a preview with all the key details will pop up, letting you respond with a simple Yes, Maybe or No. On the air travel front, flight confirmation emails will now display your flight status in real time, along with a check-in box, which will boot you directly over to the carrier’s site. As you’ve probably guessed, Google will be rolling out these new features gradually, so if they haven’t already appeared in your browser, you’re certainly not alone.
Filed under: Google
Source: Gmail Blog
As drones become more controversial, the government is digging deeper into the technology to make it more useful. Case in point: the US Navy make history by developing a specialized drone that can takeoff and land from and aircraft carrier. The X-47B, as it’s called, is in its prototype stages, and it marked the first time that an unmanned aerial vehicle has taken off from an aircraft carrier.
The X-47B is fully autonomous, meaning that it’s controlled automatically with computer software so that there doesn’t need to be a pilot to fly it, although someone could take control if need be. The new prototype drone is also designed specifically for aircraft carriers, and it’s made to take off and land just like a normal fighter jet would on an aircraft carrier.
The drone has a maximum altitude of over 40,000 feet with a range of more than 2,100 nautical miles. As for the speed of the drone, the Navy doesn’t disclose exact figures, but simply refers to its top speed as “high subsonic.” However, the drone is the size of a full-size fighter jet, and looks quite similar to a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk.
There has been increasing controversy over drones, though, and some countries say that the drone strikes are causing widespread civilian deaths since they operate with little human interaction, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping the US military for advancing the program and sending out more drones overseas. Plus, people here in the US are even concerned themselves over the privacy issues that drones create.
In any case, the next step for the X-47B drone is to land on the aircraft carrier, which is a much more difficult task than taking off, but there’s already video proof of the new prototype drone making a test landing on the ground to see if it could land on such a short runway on an aircraft carrier, and from the looks of it, a landing looks very much possible at this point.
VIA: CBS News
SOURCE: Navy Live
US Navy makes history with first drone takeoff from aircraft carrier is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Boeing‘s unmanned X-51A WaveRider broke the record for the longest hypersonic flight ever, doing so on its fourth successful jaunt in the sky. The total scramjet power flight time clocked in at 3.5-minutes, with its speed topping out at a neck-breaking Mach 5.1, with the total flight time lasting in excess of 6-minutes. The flight came to an end with a controlled decent into the Pacific Ocean.
Early this morning, Boeing’s X-51A was released at an altitude of 50,000 over Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range, taken to such a height via the USAF’s B-52H Stratofortress. Upon its release, the Boeing craft was propelled by a rocket booster to Mach 4.8, at which point the booster and an interstage were both tossed aside, leaving the scramjet engine to take it to Mach 5.1.
During the flight, the X-51A consumed all of its jet fuel, at which point it dived into the ocean. This was its fourth flight, a test run for the USAF’s Research Laboratory. Before today, the previous hypersonic flight record was established back in 2010. The project is also in conjunction with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Boeing Phantom Works President Darryl Davis said: “This demonstration of a practical hypersonic scramjet engine is a historic achievement that has been years in the making. This test proves the technology has matured to the point that it opens the door to practical applications, such as advanced defense systems and more cost-effective access to space.”
[via Boeing]
Boeing X-51A WaveRider achieves longest hypersonic flight ever is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Early this morning at Moffet Air Field in Mountain View, California, Solar Impulse finally took off on the first leg of its barnstorming tour across the US. Of course, this isn’t the first time the sun-powered plane and its pilots, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, have flown long distance, but it is the first time it’s taken wing through American airspace. Why has it come across the pond? To raise pubilc and political awareness about the benefits of going green and increasing energy efficiency — and perhaps pick up an additional sponsor or two for its second-gen aircraft (currently in development) meant to fly around the world in 2015. “With the technologies we have onboard, we can divide by two the energy consumption of our world, and produce half of the rest [energy we need] with renewable sources” according to Piccard.
Gallery: Solar Impulse Across America
This first portion of the journey will end in Phoenix, and it’ll take around twenty hours to get there, as the plane’s meager output limits its average speed to around 40MPH. Should any of you want to join along with Piccard and Borschberg as they fly across the country, you can hit the Solar Impulse Across America website to see a livestream from the cockpit, along with real-time altitude, air speed and battery status of the aircraft. And, you can watch a video of Solar Impulse taking off on its North American journey and hear Borschberg talk about learning to fly it after the break.
Filed under: Transportation, Alt
A major milestone for solar technology is coming up, as one pilot will be taking on the task of flying from San Francisco to New York on a plane that’s powered only by solar energy. Bertrand Piccard will be taking off in a plane that he and his design partner André Borschberg call Solar Impulse, which has been in the works for almost 10 years.
Solar Impulse has a wingspan of 207 feet, which is 2/3 the length of an American football field and the same wingspan as many commercial jets. The plane also sports 12,000 solar cells and 900 pounds of batteries to keep it going for a prolonged period of time. The team of two tested-flew the plane in 2010, and it was able to stay in the sky for 26 hours straight.
However, only Piccard will be making the journey across the country, but it won’t be as fast as what a commercial jet could make the trip in. Solar Impulse has a top speed of around 50 miles per hour, so it’s expected to take a few days for the plane to reach New York, whereas a jumbo jet could make the trip in just a few hours.
If the Piccard name sounds familiar, than you’re on to something (no, not Star Trek). In 1999, Piccard circled the globe in a gas-powered balloon, and his father, Jacques Piccard, was the first person to descend to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 1960. After Piccard completes the flight across the US, his next goal is to take the plane around the entire world, just like he did with the balloon.
[via Smithsonian Magazine]
Pilot to fly across US on solar-powered plane is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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