Wings Over New Zealand is having another of our popular Forum Meets, this time at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand, situated at Wigram, in Christchurch on Saturday 30th of June 2018. There will be guest speakers, a chance to mix with fellow aviation fans and special guest Bryan Cox, the legendary WWII Corsair pilot, instructor, author and still flying at 93 years old. This event is NZ$10.00 at the door, but you need to let me know if you’re coming so you will be on the list.
Then the next day on Sunday 1st of July, thanks to a Givealittle Fundraising effort, Bryan Cox will fly in the de Havilland DH82a Tiger Moth NZ1443 that he flew in during his training 75 years ago. This will be happening at Rangitata Island Aerodrome in South Canterbury – about an hour south of Christchurch. All will be welcome to come along, there’s a lot of other things to see there in the Brodie family’s historic aircraft collection at the famous airfield. See the WONZ Forum for more at http://rnzaf.proboards.com
It is an air show, beer festival, rock concert and food carnival all rolled into one. Hangar 24 Craft Brewery’s 10th anniversary will be one to remember at the local Redlands (California) Municipal Airport. The U.S. Air Force will bring F-16s, while the Royal Canadian Air Force will have CF-18s on hand. A beer festival, with 30 fellow breweries, will take place on the taxiway. A full day of bands are on the schedule and at least two dozen food vendors are expected to be on here. It is an aviation party one decade in the making.
The founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic explains commercial supersonic air travel. In the news, we look at a push out of FAA reauthorization, a court ruling on airline seat size, a NASA supersonic demonstrator, a couple of aircraft carriers, and United Airlines.
Boom Supersonic
Guest
Blake Scholl is founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, the Denver startup seeking to build a commercially viable supersonic passenger aircraft.
We talk about the restrictions that have prevented supersonic flights over the United States, and how modern manufacturing methods allow supersonic airplanes to be built with much lower operating costs than was the case with the Concorde.
Blake describes how Boom aims to build a small supersonic airliner that is accessible and affordable, and not “a flying gas can with a billionaire in the front of it.” We look at the tradeoff between loudness and efficiency, as well as propulsion and airframe issues, and the objectives of the “Baby Boom” demonstrator. First flight of that ⅓ scale aircraft is targeted for late 2018.
Boom looks to have the full size 55-seat supersonic airplane in air at the end 2020, with first delivery to launch customer Virgin in late 2023. Blake tells us that Boom has 76 pre-orders across 5 airlines.
Prior to establishing Boom Supersonic, Blake held leadership roles at Amazon.com, and he was co-founder and CEO at Kima Labs, which was acquired by Groupon. Blake is an avid pilot and holds a BS in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.
Isaac Alexander at Boom Supersonic HQ June 2017, looking through the aircraft in virtual reality.
The Flyers Rights passenger group asked FAA to write rules governing seat space. The FAA rejected the request, saying it was a comfort issue, not a safety issue. Now a three-judge federal appeals court in Washington has sided with Flyers Rights and it goes back to the FAA for a better response.
A small-scale model of the NASA/Lockheed supersonic jet was tested in the wind tunnel in June. NASA will take bids in August to construct a 94 ft. demonstration model, and expects to spend $390 million to build and test the demo plane.
The USS Gerald R. Ford launched and recovered its first fixed-wing flight, an F/A-18F Superhornet from the Air Test and Evaluation Squad based at Patuxent River, Maryland. The carrier employs new technology, including the advanced arresting gear system (AAG) and an electromagnetic launch system, (EMALS).
The USS George HW Bush is participating with the Royal Navy in the Saxon Warrior exercise. Lt Cdr Michael Tremel of the Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-87 Golden Warriors shot down a Syrian Su-22 Fitter, the first US air-to-air kill since a USAF F-16 shot down a Serbian MiG-29 in 1999, during the Kosovo campaign.
UAL reported second-quarter revenue of $10.0 billion, net income of $818 million, diluted earnings per share of $2.66, pre-tax earnings of $1.3 billion, and pre-tax margin of 12.7 percent.
Intro music courtesy Brother Love from his Album Of The Year CD. Outtro by Bruno Misonnefrom The Sound of Flaps. All Boom Supersonic photos courtesy Isaac Alexander.
David Vanderhoof’s Aircraft of the Week: the Harbin SH-5, a Chinese turboprop flying boat.
Rob Mark’s Aviation Minute: Women in aviation.
Jack Newman from GetIntoFlying
In this week’s Across the Pond segment:
After recently appearing on Xtended, resident pilot and advisor Fl Lt Jonathan Duke RN, a Sea King Mk 7 Pilot for the Royal Navy joined Pieter to talk about GetIntoFlying. A project all about helping those interested in careers, enjoyment and interest in aviation and aerospace achieve their goals, GetIntoFlying has been a great success. Following last weeks discussion on British Airways careers, here is another great resource for those interested in an aviation career. Follow @GetIntoFlying on Twitter.
