Browsing: Vehicles

A Brief History On March 27, 1794, the United States Congress authorized the building and purchase of a fleet of 6 frigates, ships that would become the core of what became a standing US Navy, a naval fighting force that would eventually rule the oceans for many decades, ruling the waves from World War II to the present. Digging Deeper After fighting and winning the American Revolutionary War against the greatest military power in the world, Great Britain, the US fought valiantly at sea with a tiny Navy against the greatest naval power in the world, albeit with the help…

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A Brief History On March 24, 2015, we more or less found out the answer to the question, “What if your pilot (or co-pilot) hijacks your airliner?” In this case, he dies, along with all 150 people on board the airliner! In this terrifying scenario come to life, co-pilot Andreas Lubitz flew Germanwings Flight 9525 into the French Alps, the first fatal plane crash in the airline’s 18 year history to that point. Digging Deeper The Airbus 320-211 had taken off from Barcelona, Spain, headed for Dusseldorf, Germany, an economical air trip on an airline owned by Lufthansa as a…

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A Brief History On March 3, 2005, Steve Fossett of the USA made a non-stop, unrefueled solo flight around the globe, the first person in aviation history to achieve that particular milestone.  Already 60 years old at the time of his historic flight, Fossett died tragically only 2 ½ years later, predictably in a plane crash. Digging Deeper Born in Tennessee, Fossett grew up in California, attending Garden Grove High School and was educated at Stanford University for undergraduate work and at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri for grad school where he earned an MBA. Like his father, Fossett…

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A Brief History On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 flew into the annals of History when it became “The Miracle on the Hudson.”  An Airbus A32-214 jet liner had just taken off from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport, bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, when the twin jet powered airliner ran straight into a flock of Canada Geese, causing both engines to fail.  With no chance to return to the airport, the pilot had no choice other than to attempt a water landing (“ditching”) in the Hudson River. Digging Deeper Piloted by Chesley Sullenberger, age 57, a former US…

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A Brief History On December 18, 1981, the Soviet Union put into flight the largest combat airplane ever made, the Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack heavy bomber.  The Blackjack (which the NATO name, Russians call it White Swan) is also the largest Mach 2 supersonic airplane to ever fly, and is the largest variable swept wing airplane to fly.  It remains the longest and heaviest bomber ever built, with a length 18 feet more than a B-52.  Although built only in small numbers, the development of this giant, fast bomber stoked panic in Western democracies during the Cold War and provided fuel…

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