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Aviation enthusiasts come from all walks of life, some are even famous...like Bruce Dickinson, of Iron Maiden fame. In fact, music is not his only career, in case you didn't know already, he is also a pilot an aviation entrepreneur, as you can see in this video of a recent visit he made to a Boeing's training facility...

The dream of flying has always captivated humans and, while aircraft and other machines have made this possible, some have not totally given up on the idea of human-powered flight.

This is actually what Jem Stansfield, presenter of the BBC's "Bang Goes the Theory" has achieved. Assisted by an exoskeleton and using only the impulse generated by pedalling, he has managed to take up and stay in the air for a few seconds in a test flight conducted at Lasham aerodrome, in the UK.

If you wish to see a video of how this happened, you can find it on the BBC website.

 

Why not head down to Tucson, Arizona, to see the latest exhibition in the Boneyard Project later this month?

Artists have used abandoned aircraft from the US Air Force to create works of art from the "eccentric shapes" from the metal.

Later this month (January 28) until May 31 you can see what the artists have created at the Pima Air and Space Museum in the Round Trip: Art From The Boneyard Project exhibition.

many of the artists have used nose art, made popular during the Second World War, and one graffiti artist, Nunca, has brought an abandoned DC-3 to life with a striking picture of an eagle.

The first part of the Boneyard Project, Nose Job, made its debut last summer of 2011 with an
exhibition of nose cones taken from military aircraft and given to artists to use "canvases" at Eric Firestone Gallery in East Hampton, Long Island.

In a release about the upcoming exhibition, it says that "Nose Job enjoyed critical success as the work tapped into both the broader cultural resonance of this history, and the very personal ways one relates to such a narrative.

"Some artists investigated the streamlined symmetry of the forms themselves, producing
eloquent, elegant and even whimsical hybrids of sculpture and painting.

"Other artists addressed the positive and negative associations we each carry towards the difficult history of war, and many spoke more directly to their own individual relationships to this material including memories of parents who were air force or civilian pilots."

The second installment in the series: Round Trip: Selections from The Boneyard Project, will
include selections from the previous Nose Job exhibition along with more than a dozen cones
interpreted by artists new to this project. It will feature five monumental works created on
military aircraft by a dynamic selection of popular graffiti and street artists from around the world.

More than 30 artists took part in Round Trip using a number of disuased aircraft including DC-3, a C97 cockpit, a C45, and a Lockheed VC 140 Jetstar.

 

Passengers flying with KLM can select who to sit next to on flights using social media such as Facebook.

The airline believes that your air travel experience can be affected by the person you are seated next to and is proposing that passengers can opt to select their seat mate using tools like Facebook.

The airline says the "meet and seat" programme can be used for networking or to find passengers who share similar interests.

See this Taiwanese animation (by Next Media Animation) showing how the concept might work.

Have you ventured out into the misty, cold and darkness and waded through the Autumn leaves to begin your Christmas shopping?

Flightglobal has a better idea. Why not stay at home and do your holiday shopping online?

This is especially appealing if you know certain friends or family members are excited by aircraft and things aviation. 

Look no further than the Flightglobal Image Store which houses a whole host of modern and vintage images placed in categories to make it easier to find what you're looking for:

Iconic Front Covers, Women In Aviation, World War II - 1939-45 Cutaways Pre 1914 1930s Civil 1930s Military, Post WWII, Experimental Prototypes, Air Races and Modern Aircraft Flight Collection

 

 

You can choose to have any of the images in a variety of formats from different canvas print sizes, turned into a jigsaw, have it emblazoned on a t-shirt, as a fridge magnet, mousemat or even a key ring, which would make super presents.

Take advantage of a 20% discount throughout the holiday season on the Flightglobal Image Store quoting discount code FGCD11 at checkout.

Happy shopping and happy holidays

 

 

Irish low-cost carrier, Ryanair, has launched the latest edition of its popular charity calendar, which features various members of its cabin crew in glamorous attire and poses.

Now in its fourth year, the calendar continues to attract much attention from enthusiasts around the world.

This year's edition features 13 members of Ryanair's cabin crew staff in swimwear and lingerie.



The calendar is helping to raise money for charity organization DEBRA, which provides patient support services and research into treatments and cures for children suffering from EB (epidermolysis bullosa) - a genetic skin condition.

Ryanair's 2012 cabin crew calendar will be available onboard Ryanair flights, on ryanair.com and from DEBRA's Irish and Spanish charity shops (and websites) for €10, with all proceeds going directly to help children and families living with the EB condition.

Related Links:

• Gallery of images from the Ryanair 2011 Charity Calendar
  
• Gallery of images from the Ryanair 2010 Charity Calendar
• Pictures & Video: UK charity to benefit from 2010 Ryanair Cabin Crew Charity Calendar sales
• Gallery of images from the Ryanair 2009 Charity Calendar
• Ryanair launches Girls of Ryanair 2009 Calendar
• PICTURES: Ryanair girls strip off (again) for 2009 charity calendar 
• Gallery of images from the Ryanair 2008 Charity Calendar

What do you get if you have a journalist and/or author setting up camp in an airport terminal? A hopeful revival in airport fiction

Man and Boy author Tony Parsons became the writer in residence at London's Heathrow in early August to talk to airport staff and travellers for inspiration to write a new work of fiction.

Architect and philosopher Alain de Botton took part in the project in 2009 and wrote a book called A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary which shows the different human emotions, events, and experiences that occur within a busy environment and how many fail to appreciate what goes on right infront of us.

What do you think of Parson being a writer-in-residence? Did you see him? Did you speak to him? Is it an invasion of privacy? Would you make an interesting character for his novel?

 

This blog post was written by freelancer Rebecca Springate.

 

Remember when you could smoke in the aircraft cabin? Remember when the cockpit door was always open and you could request to go and have a chat with the pilot? Remember when you could show up five to 10 minutes before your flight, purchase your ticket and go, and air hostesses were hired for their looks over their other attributes?

Well sadly, it's all a bit before my time, but the 1960s was a different era. Flying was the fun part of getting to your destination, if you can believe that. Imagine a world without security checks?

Air travel was for the few not for the many. Air fares were extortionate back then.

A new television series is about to start in the US called Pan Am on ABC this Autumn and will land on UK screens on BBC2 sometime soon.

Sleepy Hollow actor Christina Ricci who plays stewardess Maggie said: "A big part of the flying experience during the era of "Pan Am" was the stewardesses.  

"These stewardesses were looked at as glamorous symbols." And little girls aspired to being one when they grew up.

Pan Am facebook page  

Is this a Mad Men (HBO) spin off? Maybe yes, but as long as the writer gets everything right and the storyline and dialogue is believable, then it won't receive such criticism as the writer of the UK's The Hour about a British newsroom set in the 1950s who had to admit "anachronisms".  

Enter this caption competition to win a copy of The 100 Greatest Women in Aviation by Liz Moscrop and Sanjay Rampal, which includes profiles of the first woman to have a pilot's licence, Elise Raymonde Deroche, Amelia Earhart, Nancy Bird Walton and Amy Johnston.

What is going on in this picture? Post your caption in the comment box.

More on Women in Aviation: 

• PICTURES: Women in aviation gallery on AirSpace 
• PICTURES TO PURCHASE: Women in aviation gallery
• VIDEOS: Women in Aviation - The ATA girl and the display pilot