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We report on AirVenture Oshkosh 2016 and the Farnborough International Airshow. As a bonus, David tells us another story about his favorite little Cirrus Suzy, who goes flying with some astronauts.

AirVenture Oshkosh 2016

Rob Mark attended Oshkosh and gives us his thoughts on the event. He tells us about the Martin Mars, Camp Bacon, and the Airbus E-Fan electric airplane.  The EAA celebrated the two millionth Young Eagle and the AOPA Air Safety Institute honored Cirrus Aircraft with the first Joseph T. Nall Safety Award.

Rob took a look at the very interesting 2.5 ounce ADS-B unit from uAvonix. (See his article in Flying magazine.) He also tells us about FlyOtto, a service that makes it easy to find, book, and pay for trips on privately chartered aircraft with a mobile device or from your computer. Rob comments on the Textron Cessna Denali single engine turboprop that debuted at Oshkosh.

The EAA announced that Ihab Awad had won the inaugural Founder’s Innovation Prize presented by Airbus Group for his “Airball” flight display. This creative concept combines a variety of sensor inputs into a graphical ball that the pilot uses to help prevent loss-of-control. The paper submitted to the EAA for Airball is publically available.

See also Hillel’s Oshkosh photo album.

Farnborough International Airshow 2016

Brian Coleman and Micah attended Farnborough this year, and they bring us the first group of interviews from the Airshow:

• Micah and Brian talk with Raul Tenna of Airbus and discuss the capabilities of the new A400M Military Transport.
• Carlos Stebbings and Matt Smith from the Plane Talking UK podcast tell us about their show.
• Brian and Micah team up with Carlos Matt Smith to talk about the engine and capabilities of the F-35B.
• Airbus Captain Al Evans specializes in fear-of-flying and Micah and Brian discuss his techniques that help fearful flyers overcome their anxiety.
• Eoin, a long time listener from Ireland, just moved to England and recently started a new career in aviation as cabin crew.
• Listener Nelson from Portugal talks about his favorite aircraft at Farnborough.
• Brian and Micah speak with Mary B. Lyons, who has been attending and photographing the Farnborough Airshow since 1998. She is the author of Fabulous Farnborough Photos, documenting almost 20 years of the Airshow in pictures.

We’ll have additional interviews from Farnborough in the next episode.

Aircraft of the Week

Suzy Goes to the Stars

David’s favorite little Cirrus Suzy goes flying with some astronauts, and Pilot Rob gets a jaunt in a T-38. Also, we have a new friend at the airport, Jenny.

Some hints about the story:

• NASA Langley Research Center uses a SR-22 as optionally manned aircraft to test UAS integration.

• The NT-38s are named after Christa McAuliffe and Judith Resnick, both of whom perished on the Challenger.

• The Lockheed Vega was made famous by Wiley Post and Amelia Earhart. Post flew it around the world solo using the world’s first pressure suit. Amelia flew it solo across the Atlantic, and non-stop across the United States. Vega also became a division of Lockheed, and this is the reason the Navy used the company code “V” in the PV-1 Ventura,  P2V- 7 Neptune, and the greatest of all military transports, the GV-1.

• Lockheed also built the Altair, designed by Jack Northrop like the Vega. There never was a Denab, (maybe the name wasn’t sexy enough).  Lockheed’s aircraft were named after stars and constellations. Think about it.  Hercules, Galaxy Constellations, Neptune, and Orion.

Mentioned

Max was a guest on episode 20 of the Podcast Engineering Show, talking podcasting tech.

Skydiver Jumps into Net from 25,000 Feet – a skilled professional, or a foolish stunt?

Credit

Intro music courtesy Brother Love from his Album Of The Year CD. Outtro by Bruno Misonne from The Sound of Flaps.