Week on the Web

Flight International issue 27th January - 2nd February

This week you'll find a video of a Tipsy Nipper light aircraft performing a spin that went wrong with great footage from the camera mounted in the cockpit.

See also, a video of the airborne deployment of a MAV. Under a US Air Force contract, a team lead by System Dynamics developed an autonomous munition-deployed micro air vehicle (MAV) for bomb damage indication applications.

Contained within a modified MK20 bomb it is released from a Saab Draken and 35s after release a parachute-equipped dispenser housing the MAV is ejected from the MK20. The parachute decelerates the dispenser to release the camera equipped MAV. The MAV autonomously stabilises and enters a holding pattern to acquire a GPS signal.

VivaAerobus, which has links with Ryanair, has unleashed a charity calendar.

Flight International's deputy editor recently visited the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre in Hertfordhsire, UK, and uploaded some images including a Comet and the Mosquito prototype.

FlightBlogger posted a photograph showing the ditching button on an A320 following the ditching of a US Airways A320 into the Hudson River, New York. In his post, FlightBlogger Jon Ostrower explains that "the ultimate purpose of the system is to seal the aircraft to prevent water from undermining the buoyancy of the aircraft to keep it afloat in the event that the airframe remains intact after impacting the water." But the question is - did the crew press it or not? 

The flight from Chicago to Washington DC, was widely covered right up until he reached the cabin door, though National Geographic took over filming to witness President-Elect Obama's first official trip to Washington aboard an Air Force C-32 (Boeing 757) aircraft on January 4th and our FlightBlogger posted the footage onto his blog.

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