Airplanes

Editor's note: This story originally ran in 2009. In the spirit of the holidays, we thought we'd run this touching piece again.

On a recent Christmas Eve, Jeff Martin found himself forced to explain to a Canadian general why, when Santa Claus passed through Toronto that night, Google Maps had placed the city in the United States.

Martin, then a senior marketing manager in Google's Geo group, was part of a huge team of people involved in the joint U.S.-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command's annual NORAD Santa tracker program, a long-running effort to … Read more

commentary It's been eight years in the making so far, and has gone through any number of delays and problems, but Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is still one of the most-anticipated commercial airplanes in history. And with the plane's testing program under way for almost exactly a year, it is edging closer and closer to carrying its first passengers.

Now, fans of the innovative plane--it is made from 50 percent composite material and is expected to offer carriers up to 20 percent savings on fuel--can get a fix unlike any offered before. With Edgar Turner's new book, &… Read more

There is tension in the air. Well, even before you manage to get into the air.

Stories have abounded concerning new screening procedures and their overly personal nature. Why, just the other day, a woman decided that the only way to maintain her dignity was to go through screening wearing only matching bra and panties. (I have embedded her here.)

And yet, as one might imagine in a land in which the enthusiasm for self-expression and the invention of the Internet merge to create a dynamic cocktail, some of the stories told are simply not true.

So the TSA has … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--If you've ever taken Lincoln Boulevard through the Presidio here, you almost certainly didn't know that you passed within feet of one of the best-preserved World War II-era anti-aircraft machine gun nests in the country.

In fact, all around the Presidio are dozens of these original trenches and fox holes, most of which are completely grown over with weeds and other vegetation, but many of which still have the pillars on which Army crews once mounted their .50 caliber guns in preparation for an aerial or sea-based attack that, thankfully, never came.

As part of my Road Trip at Home … Read more

Boeing said today that the fire Monday aboard a 787 Dreamliner test aircraft started when an electronics bay power panel failed, igniting a nearby insulation blanket.

The fire forced the 787 to make an emergency landing in Laredo, Texas, and the immediate indefinite suspension of the test program. Boeing also said yesterday that because of the incident, it did not know if its plan to make the first Dreamliner deliveries to customers in the first quarter of 2011 was still viable.

According to a statement it issued late today, Boeing said that the P100 panel--one of several power panels in … Read more

Boeing today said that it has decided to halt tests of its much-anticipated but beleaguered 787 Dreamliner after an onboard fire during an evaluation flight.

The fire took place aboard ZA002, the second test 787, as it approached Laredo, Texas, Boeing said. The plane lost primary electric power but was able to land safely due to deployment of its backup systems, including its Ram Air Turbine. Boeing is investigating the electrical fire and said that early indications are that a power control panel in the plane's aft electronics bay must be replaced. Other repairs may also be required. An … Read more

Law enforcement officials may be able to monitor crowds with low-flying cameras for more than 12 hours, thanks to what could be record-breaking laser beam-powered technology.

Two companies, Germany's Ascending Technologies and Seattle's LaserMotiv, say they set a new standard for flying time for what's called a quadrocopter, a small electric-powered helicopter.

While the concept of a camera mounted on a quadrocopter has been around for some time, the companies said in a release today that until now, law enforcement had not been able to use them for more than 20 minutes.

But Ascending Technologies and LaserMotiv … Read more

The time has come to jettison the traditional chemical rocket propulsion system and move to one powered by beamed microwaves, say a group of researchers.

For decades, even as rockets have gotten lighter and more powerful, the basic system for putting them in space hasn't changed. A combustion chamber is loaded with propellants, which are put through a chemical reaction, causing hot gases to accelerate and be ejected through a nozzle at very high velocity, which in turn, provides momentum to the rocket's engine.

But a team led by 25-year-old CalTech Ph.D. student Dmitriy Tseliakhovich thinks that … Read more

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif.--The flames were raging, and the cries of people trapped inside the plane were audible, even from well over a hundred feet away.

Yet despite the fire crews wearing heavy-duty proximity suits, blasting water from a pair of hoses, and a collection of fire trucks gathered near the burning fuselage, no one looked particularly worried. No lives were actually at stake.

This was firefighter training at Moffett Field, part of an annual process that the crews from the NASA Ames Fire Department and the nearby Palo Alto and Sunnyvale Fire Departments have to go through in order … Read more