Tag: Aviation
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Jetpack Fails To Make First Intercontinental Flight
By Evan Ackerman When it comes to the future, I don’t care that much about flying cars… Just get me a jetpack. We’ve been following Yves Rossy’s flying jet wing for about a year, and on Wednesday, he tried to fly from Europe to Africa across the straits of Gibraltar, a distance of about 23…
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Video Friday: Fly Powered Airplanes
By Evan Ackerman No flies were harmed in the making of these airplanes. [ AirSpace ] VIA [ Neatorama ]
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VirtualHUD Creates A Heads-Up Display For Single Prop Planes
By Andrew Liszewski Now here’s another clever idea. VirtualHUD is an easy to install device that attaches to the windshield of a small plane and creates a virtual heads-up display for the pilot by projecting an image onto the aircraft’s spinning propeller. (A white strip of paint added to the back of the prop increases…
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F-4 Phantom Ejection Seat Office Chair Is The Perfect Way To Dramatically Exit A Meeting
By Andrew Liszewski This office chair made from an authentic F-4 Phantom ejection seat is a fantastic way to exit a meeting where things aren’t going the way you’d like. Instead of storming out and slamming the door, you can simply pull the ejection lever and blast your way out. Although… I guess it would…
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What’s Inside Half A Billion Dollars Of Private Jet
By Evan Ackerman A couple years ago (before the economy went belly up), we posted an article about custom airliners. Not just private jets, but giant luxurious monstrosities like personalized Boeing 747-8s. At the top of the heap is of course the Airbus A380, one of which was purchased for nearly half a billion dollars…
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Jet Pack Speed Record
By Evan Ackerman The Martin Jetpack we showed you last week isn’t technically a jetpack, but Jetpack International has the real thing, and they’re confident enough with it to start trying to break airspeed records. This is not especially difficult to do, considering that jetpack airspeed records don’t really exist yet, but when you only…
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Video Friday: Martin Jetpack
By Evan Ackerman We posted about the Martin Jetpack Ducted Fanpack last year, and since then, Martin has been getting some criticism for the fact that in most of their demos so far (including the one we saw), the jetpack has only been seen operating a foot or so off the ground, accompanied by a…
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Airbike Provides A Pedal-Powered Boost For Hang Gliders
By Andrew Liszewski Pedal-powered flight is not for the faint of heart, and that’s probably why the Airbike is designed to work in conjunction with a hang glider. On its own, the Airbike’s propeller doesn’t produce enough thrust to get a hang glider into the air, but once airborne it does provide an extra bit…
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Flying Car Takes Off
By Evan Ackerman Terrafugia Transition is a flying car. Or maybe it’s a driving plane. Whatever you want to call it, it’s probably not what you were picturing as the vehicle of the future… But while it’s not nearly as slick as the Moller Skycar, the Transition has the important distinction of not being total…
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You Sleep In A Car Bed? Pfft! I Sleep In A Jet Engine Bed
By Andrew Liszewski Well that’s not entirely true. I don’t actually sleep in a jet engine bed yet, but that’s because Motoart has only recently announced their 747 Jet Liner Bed that uses an authentic 747 engine nacelle crowning as the headboard. It also features an 84-inch diameter round mattress (since according to them, round…