Flying

British aviation legend Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown has died at 96.

When he went to receive an honor from King George VI, the reigning British monarch of the time reportedly said to Brown, “What, you again?”.

Oh my, Michael Lind writes in Tablet exactly what I’ve been thinking, so forgive the extensive quoting:

… The Western elite culture of transgression is an example of antinomianism … Derived from the Greek words meaning “against” and “law” or “norm,” the term antinomianism refers to the view that all laws and norms are oppressive always and everywhere, and that the act of transgression in itself is virtuous, if not holy.
…
The three saints of transgression are the illegal immigrant, the transsexual, and the woman who proudly celebrates abortion. All three are idealized by our revolutionary ruling class precisely because they violate traditional norms ⁠— the traditional norm of patriotism, based on the legitimacy of the city-state or nation-state or kingdom and its laws and borders; traditional gender norms; and traditional family norms, which celebrate the capacity of women to give birth and to nurture their infants and of men to provide for them. Most of what is called “progressivism” today is really transgressivism.
…
By now the antinomians in Western nations have won their war against tradition in every realm.
Having vandalized every premodern tradition, the elite antinomians of the modern West now don’t know what to do next. What should rebels against the bourgeoisie rebel against when the bourgeoisie has fallen?
The answer, it is increasingly apparent, is to rebel against the proletariat.
…
Whatever working-class “normies” believe and enjoy, the most influential tastemakers of the trans-Atlantic ruling class denounce and seek to ban, using one of their three or four specious all-purpose justifications. If non-college-educated Americans were to take up square dancing as a fad, the powers that be in the media and academia would solemnly inform us that square dancing is problematically racist or sexist or worsens climate change.

At Oshjosh, Boeing’s Wisk flies!

Lilium’s electric aircraft demonstrator takes off and lands vertically, achieving mid-flight transition. The first and last moments of the video are I guess the most important. Lilium stock rises 6%, seemingly as a result.

For those not yet cognizant of the fact that eVTOLs are coming soon and coming fast, Jeff Scallop writes up the rationale at “Still No Flying Cars? eVTOLs Might be the Answer” in Market for Ideas.

The main attractiveness of eVTOLs is their ability to reduce transit times in metropolitan areas, especially those routes subject to heavy traffic jams. Given current battery autonomy, ideal distances for eVTOLs range from 15 to 150 miles.

eVTOLs also offer many advantages when compared to helicopters, such as a lower cost per seat per mile (currently at $3.00, which is comparable to ride-hailing apps even). They also have much lower noise levels, allowing them to fly at lower altitudes and significantly reducing the necessary infrastructure costs (vertiports vs helipads), which could help boost adoption.

At Leeham News, Bjorn Fehrm critiques the efficacy of the Lilium eVTOL. His chief criticism:

The Lilium project is in its seventh year, yet it has not transitioned from hover to forward flight during this period. The widely proclaimed transition in early June was a main wing transition, not a transition for the vehicle (canard + main wing). Such a transition is yet to be made.

The fact that a VTOL developer makes such noise about a transition from hover to forward flight of a part of the vehicle tells you a lot. Other VTOL OEMs transition to forward flight within months of the first hover flight. Why is it such an issue for Lilium?

The use of jets voids Lilium of help from a rotor wash to attach the flow around wings and movables. The integration of jet thrust and movable also voids Lilium of a fast movable control surface to counter the pitch disturbances that are part of a transition. The canard design augments the pitch control problem by forcing a nose-heavy design.

Managing Editor of eVTOL News Dan Gettinger rounds up recent developments by eVTOL leader Archer, Beta, Eve, Joby, Lilium, Volocopter and Wisk.

Volkswagen has announced an eVTOL, reports Germany’s IT Times.

Israel views Iran’s new suicide UAVs as a top-level, strategic threat, argues the JISS thinktank:

UAVs are precision weapons, hence it is not enough to kill some of them or even many of them: The operational requirement is to kill them all ⁠— in the language of missile defense, to achieve a zero or near zero leakage rate. Defending against swarms of UAVs arriving simultaneously from every direction at treetop levels is a formidable challenge to any air defense system, a challenge that may well require the development and fielding of new technologies and operational doctrines.

Hitting a nice pair of personal enthusiasms: coffee and aviation:

In recent years, new partnerships between airlines and craft coffee brands have started to emerge. In many cases, this has been a way to offer an improved product and put more of a focus on customer experience in airport lounges and on flights.

Germany’s industry-leading Lilium demonstrates both vertical take-off and landing with its Phoenix 2 eVTOL technology demonstrator, reports eVTOL.com.

Elon Musks has said the problem with flying cars is the noise. (I think he’s also said he’d love to be working in the field.) Meanwhile Joby has just announced its eVTOL aircraft registered the equivalent of 45.2 A-weighted decibels (dBA) from an altitude of 1,640 feet (500 meters) at 100 knots airspeed. According to eVTOL.com’s article, “NASA said it also plans to conduct similar acoustic testing with Wisk Aero”.

As an antidote to the war in Ukraine, not far away, in Germany, development of the Lilium eVTOL continues apace. It’s perhaps the most exciting of the upcoming electric planes. The eVTOL Innovation YouTube channel has just dropped a video The Insane Engineering behind The Lilium Jet.

A compilation of all eVTOLs.

A flying car story has broken through to mainstream news. Boeing has invested a further $450m in Wisk, which it co-owns with Larry Page. Boeing’s Chief Strategy Officer Marc Allen told Reuters:

Our view is that is the big strategic advantage of Wisk, going straight to a self-flying aircraft, building those principles in at every level of the design and development.

The Wisk Cora eVTOL seems to solve the vertical vs. efficiency trade-off nicely, with a set of six vertical props on the wings for lift, and a single big one at the back for propulsion.

A flying car story has broken through to mainstream news. Boeing has invested a further $450m in Wisk, which it co-owns with Larry Page. Boeing’s Chief Strategy Officer Marc Allen told Reuters:

Our view is that is the big strategic advantage of Wisk, going straight to a self-flying aircraft, building those principles in at every level of the design and development.

The Wisk Cora eVTOL seems to solve the vertical vs efficiency trade-off nicely, with a set o f six vertical props on the wings for lift, and a single big one at the back for propulsion.

Happy day: rivals British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flew synchronized flights from London to New York to mark the end of Covid-based travel restrictions to the USA, reports Airline Geeks.

A pilot’s account of the first American flight into Newark after 9/11, originally published September 2004.

My eyes, as though drawn by some magnetic force, strain to view the skyline. My mind flashes to the horrific scene of an exploding airplane penetrating the World Trade Center building. I know I had flown that very airplane. I had used that airplane to unite families, friends, and business people. It had become a weapon of mass destruction. I feel violated.

The Aviationist reports on Israel’s new airborne anti-drone laser system. Motherfuckers necessitate invention.

El Al and Etihad have launched codesharing and reciprocal frequent flyer points. Warms the cockles.

The first successful aerial refueling of a manned aircraft by an unmanned tanker has been achieved by Boeing’s MQ-25 Stingray.

With this panegyric to airport culture, Eva Wiseman riffs on a Vice story about young Britons going to the airport to get (earthly) high and hang out. As a Briton I find this awesome, even while as an Israeli I find it a bit pitiful (ie, just go to the beach!).

Great long piece in The Guardian on the aviation meltdown.

Israel Aviation Industries’ long-established Heron flew to Ben-Gurion, marking the first ever landing of a drone at a civilian airport.

Marc Andreessen: Build, baby!

Two interestingly contrarian pieces in the Daily Mail by authorities in their respective fields: “Ja, we Germans are jealous of Brexit” by Alexander Von Schoenburg, editor-at-large of Bild; and “Why woke diets featuring superfoods such as avocado are leading to a surge of distressing gut problems” by Luci Daniels, former chairman of the British Dietetic Association.

11 Brilliant Ways To Redeem Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Miles by Spencer Howard at GodSaveThePoints. Most are not actually flying Virgin Atlantic but their partner airlines

September 25th, 2019, a Virgin Atlantic plane landed in Tel Aviv for the first time. Airplane travel writer Gilbert Ott was aboard.

New business jets for 2019.

James Ketchell completes his “gyrocopter global circumnavigation”:jamesketchell.net, apparently the first person to do so. Awesome.

The bastards finally did it: Sde Dov Airport, within walking distance from Tel Aviv, closes. You’d have thought that enough powers-that-be would have liked a nice little airfield within 5 minutes of town. Well, hopefully eventually they’ll build another one in the Med. Update: They’re still talking. Umpteen objections submitted regarding the existing plan.

McKinsey offers suggestions for lean airline operations. I find this oddly exciting.

This Globes article reports interesting stats re Israeli air traffic. After the domestic carriers, Wizz Air is the top airline by flights, Turkish Airlines by passengers. They’re followed by EasyJet and Aeroflot. Nasty rhetorical exchanges between the national leaders notwithstanding, the Turkish national carrier will soon operate 10 flights a day to Israel!

This 1-hour Smithsonian production is a history of America in the Roaring 20s, with amazing newly-colorized footage. Richly effortlessly narrated by Liev Schreiber, it remedies our black & white impression of this not-so-distant mirror. There are things I should have learned about in school but did not, particularly the Greenwood massacre.

Enjoy this superb little series on contemporary American commercial aviation by Slate, from security theatre to the pilot shortage.

In this report on Ryanair’s service between Budapest and Eilat, anna.aero lists the low-cost airlines flying to Israel. All the others fly to Ben-Gurion. So that’s Eilat to Budapest in February roundtrip for 85€!!!

Life meets Goblin. Franky Zapata flies his Flyboard Air in Monaco during the Grand Prix on May 29th, 2016 [via my Dad].

Some strategic implications for Israel of Hamas’s tunnels and rockets by JCPA.

The stuffed former pet cat looks eerily alive reborn as a remote control helicopter. I just don’t know what to think or feel or say about this.

“Nation on the Move” is the magnificent second episode of the America Revealed PBS series. Interestingly, the show is British-made.

Francis Fukuyama builds a drone. Yes, that Francis Fukuyama.

Today: a world where big stuff can never get done.

Conrad Black, facing more jail time, remains irrepressible.

The reprap, a self-replicating 3d-printer. Most mind-boggling thing ever.

Fox News slideshow from the 49th Paris Air Show.

Al Schwimmer, founder of Israel Aircraft Industries, dies at 94. Haaretz obit.

GAGA-1, a hobby balloon satellite.

O reason not the need ⁠— give us the Immersive Cocoon.

Over at The Atlantic, this is perhaps the piece and subsequent conversation in the comments on applying the Israeli airport security method in the USA. “I’d say, as a generalization, screeners here possess above-average intelligence, whereas your average TSA screener seems to be a working stiff.” Yes, and working stiff seems an overstatement.

Climategate so far.
Just how close were we to catastrophe at Copenhagen?