Even from the airport terminal it’s hard to make out the tiny people packed into a modern jet, but if you strain your eyes you can see expectant faces waiting for takeoff… or anxious to get off and stretch their legs. Photographer John Schabel’s series captures just that, travelers in the space of time after seating and before takeoff. [Read more...]
Will your next flying trip be more like going on a luxurious cruise? Aeros, a modern day airship company, is in the midst of testing their gigantic new Aeroscraft which the company plans to use to transport passengers, cargo and for military applications. You only get a sense for the scale of this “subscale demonstration version” when you notice the parked truck in the picture above… and yes you read that correctly, this is a “small” test version of what they plan to build next – a series of 3 Aeroscraft models ranging from 310 to 787 feet and lifting 20 to 500 tons! [Read more...]
It’s hard to believe that humans have been flying for well over 100 years. Even when we take into account that the Wright brothers took to the air in 1903, that isn’t even old when compared to the first flights. Before the Wrights there was Octave Chanute and Otto Lilienthal, pioneering glider inventors; and before them there was Henri Giffard, creator of the first powered flying machine – a steam powered airship. [Read more...]
Looking like a sublime mix between flying, snorkeling and wake boarding, the new Subwing has got to be the coolest new toy I’ve seen lately. The twin winged device — which looks like something out of a Keaton era Batman flick — allows the user to fly and roll underwater much like a stingray. Propulsion for the Subwing is provided by a tow rope from a boat on the surface; either a power boat, jet ski or as its developer Simon Sivertsen first used, even a sailboat. That last option would make this not only extremely cool looking, but also fuel friendly too. [Read more...]
Ah, the Transportation Safety Administration. When an organization designed to keep us safe causes so much hassle and pokes or prods us so often, it’s only fair that we occasionally poke back. Fred Trotter of O’Reilly Radar recently had just such a chance when he was about to take off his shoes at Orlando International Airport. Spotting a Spanish language TSA sign in line, he scanned the posters QR code to see what boring site awaited him. To his surprise, no TSA site arrived, but rather Justinsomnia, the personal blog of Kiva software engineer Justin Watt came up on his phone. Was it a mistake? A fault of the phone? No, it scanned the same each time. Was it a sticker, some prank QR code designed to send the safety passionate to learn the design and food preferences of a known and vocal TSA critic. [Read more...]
Whether the world was predicted to be peaceful or full of war, this roundup of illustrations from yesterdays Japan sees people streaking through the future in fantastically styled machines. It makes you wonder how closely the futuristic drawings of today will compare to the world of tomorrow?
View more of these forward thinking illustrations at Dark Roasted Blend [Read more...]
General Electric recently conducted a study that could be saving financially troubled airlines some real bucks. This interactive visualization shows how modifying the existing flight patterns at 46 mid-sized airports could drastically reduce the amount of fuel used during approach to an airport and save a sizable $65.6 million annually. Additionally the changes would reduce carbon emissions and flight times for passengers. What’s not to like?
Ever since seeing the Facebook friendship map, Nathan Yau at Flowingdata has been itching for an excuse to play with great circles again. Yau was inspired by Aaron Koblin’s classic Flight Patterns map, but instead of looking at all flights (above); he wanted to break the map down by each individual airline and see where each one flew.
Your daily links after the jump [Read more...]
More tasty links after the jump [Read more...]
