During the test, people and vehicles were placed in a 5 x 1 km area where they had to be detected and tracked with the drone. Thanks to the efficient fixed-wing flight mode, the Songbird has a small acoustic signature. A high altitude and a large distance to the target object can further help to remain undetected while the observation is carried out with the powerful stabilized camera.
The VTOL technology has some unique advantages for security operations in large areas:
- Flexible like a copter. The UAV can take-off and land on a narrow dirt road or a small parking lot. The sensitive payload is well protected thanks to the gentle takeoff and landing procedures.
- Long duration. Even with complex camera- and live transmission systems aboard, the UAV can achieve a flight time of 70 to 80 minutes. A target which has once been identified by a Songbird, can’t shake it off anytime soon.
- Fast flight. At a normal cruise speed of 70 km/h and a top speed of more than 100 km/h, any point-of-interest can be reached quickly. And because the UAV can travel on a direct route through the air, it has advantages over vehicles even if they manage to drive faster.
- Flight Distance. Airspeed and endurance add up to a mileage beyond the ability of any copter, making the VTOL the ideal tool for covering large areas. For example, equipped with a typical video surveillance payload, the Songbird can travel 80-90 kilometers!
Therefore, users can focus entirely on their job. For various tasks and demands, Germandrones offers different camera- and streaming solutions. There are powerful transmission systems for long range and high band width applications from VTQ, Silvus and via cellular networks. See here.
Dr. Klaus Scho, CEO
Tel. + 49 (0)30 34 78 12 81


Michael J. Quiello
Vice President Corporate Safety
Aviation safety: Identifying and managing errors through the use of technology to transform your organisations safety programme
With safety at the forefront of United Airlines business, building a proactive security program was pivotal in consistently ensuring a zero fatality rate. Learn how they used data visualisation to transform all of their data sources into a predictive risk management tool.
Michael Quiello is Vice President Corporate Safety for United Airlines, the world’s leading airline. Quiello is responsible for managing worldwide all aspects of aviation safety, ground safety, quality assurance, corporate medical and clinics, workers compensation, managed care, business continuity, family assistance and emergency operations for United Airlines and its 90,000 co-workers.
Quiello joined United Airlines in January, 2009. Prior to that, he served as Vice President Corporate Safety, Security and Compliance at Delta Air Lines in Atlanta, Georgia. Quiello began his aviation career and started flying while in high school, earning his private pilot license at age 17. After graduating from college, he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and was designated a naval aviator after completion of U.S. Navy flight school in Pensacola, Florida and Meridian, Mississippi. He served both stateside and overseas while in the Marine Corps, including a Far East tour aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Midway. He began his commercial aviation career with Delta Air Lines in 1981 as a B-727 Flight Engineer and served in areas of increasing responsibilities during his 28 years with that airline. In the mid 1990s, he was appointed as the Assistant Chief Pilot in the New York domicile and progressed to Chief Pilot-New York, General Manager of International Operations, General Manager and Chief Technical Pilot, Director of Fleets and Director of Flight Safety before assuming the role as Vice President of Safety, Security and Environment in 2005. Quiello has been qualified and flown various commercial and military aircraft to include the Grumman A-6E Intruder, Grumman EA-6A, the electronic warfare version of the Intruder, McDonnell Douglas TA-4 Skyhawk, Grumman TC-4C Academe, McDonnell Douglas MD-88, Boeing 757, Boeing 767-200. Boeing 767-300, Boeing 767-400 and the Boeing 777. He is also seaplane and glider rated.


artificial satellites that have been discarted, fuel tanks that shuttles have ejected,
waste produced during the space station construction. A vast ammount of thrash floats
in space around planet Earth.
Thrash, also known as space debris, has become a great threat, it orbits Earth at a speed
of 8 km/s, when this debris collides with a spaceship, it could lead to a big disaster. So people were faced with the neccesity of retrieving the debris.
This is a story of when thrash in space become a problem.


Who Are the Space Privateers?
People are used to saying that the sky is the limit. However, it appears that it will soon change, since more companies every day announce plans of expanding their business beyond those limits. Some even base their whole business model on this notion.
One of those companies is Steve Wozniak's Privateer Space. The co-founder of Apple and a known philanthropist takes the term "innovation" to new heights. His new company plans to clean space debris.
What is Space Debris?
Space junk, or space debris, is any piece of machinery or debris left by humans in space. It can be big objects like dead satellites, ones left in orbit at the end of their mission. It can also refer to smaller things, like chunks of debris or paint scraps that have fallen off a rocket.
The space debris increases the potential danger to all space vehicles, like the International Space Station and other spacecraft with humans aboard, such as SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
According to NASA, the potential of collision has to be taken seriously, especially after the radical increase of space debris in the last years. There are more than 23,000 pieces of debris larger than a tennis ball orbiting the Earth. Travelling at speeds of up to 281 km/h makes even the smallest of these pieces very dangerous for a satellite or a spacecraft.
Privateer Space - The Space Waste Collectors
Wozniak tweeted a short Youtube clip on 13th September, where he teased the public with his message, "A Private space company is starting up, unlike the others".
The clip depicts a wildfire, a burning mannequin, and smoke coming from a power plant, which more than hints at our environmental crisis. The video description explains that Privateer is "working to keep space safe and accessible to all humankind," a bracing message in an era in which the number of billionaires racing toward the stars is going up.
The Privateer's plans are as cryptic as Wozniak's tweet, as the details of the company's mission, customer base, and product offerings are yet to be disclosed. It was expected that some details would be revealed at the AMOS (Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance) 2021 conference, yet we're still kept in the dark on their precise intentions.
However, it is safe to assume that innovation in business keeps pushing the boundaries successfully. Let us continue working together in finding new ways to do good business on this planet and hope that entrepreneurs will do good innovative business in space too!
Are you interested in entering the UKB&IA '22? If so, apply for the Awards by 5th November to get a price reduction on the standard entry fee.


ERIC PARREN 2008-2019
The Last Flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour is a live coding audio performance. It uses the original audio from the official NASA video that documents the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour's last trip to the International Space Station. The performance is an homage to the scientists and engineers who have worked on space shuttle missions and it commemorates the 25 flights the Endeavour took in its lifespan. In the performance the audio is manipulated in a live coded environment, meaning that nothing that happens to the sound is pre-programmed. The performance builds from a speech sample to a wall of sound to mimic the astronaut's experience of being launched into a space.


Shortly before the crack of dawn in New Mexico on July 11, 2021, billionaire Richard Branson, along with five Virgin Galactic employees, boarded the SpaceShipTwo, a winged plane with a single rocket motor that the company has spent nearly two decades developing. Attached beneath its massive, twin-fuselaged mothership, dubbed WhiteKnightTwo, the spaceship took to the skies at 8:30 am and climbed to about 50,000 feet in the air.
About 45 minutes later, the SpaceShipTwo detached from its mothership and dropped momentarily before the vehicle swooped upward. On board, the passengers experienced up to three Gs of force from the burst of extreme acceleration and watched the blue sky fade into the darkness of outer space. At the top of the flight path, more than 50 miles high, the aircraft was suspended in weightlessness for a few minutes, allowing the passengers to enjoy panoramic views of the Earth and space as SpaceShipTwo flipped onto its belly. It then deployed its feathering system, which curls the plane's wings upward, mimicking the shape of a badminton shuttlecock, to turn the spaceship rightward as it flew back into the Earth's atmosphere and glided back down to a runway landing.
Co-piloting the aircraft was Mike “Sooch” Masucci, a 1981 alum of La Salle College High School who has more than 30 years of civilian and military flying experience and over 9,000 flight hours in 70 different aircraft.
A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAF), Mike took flying lessons while at the Academy and earned his Private Pilot certificate, while majoring in Astronautics. After graduation, he attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base and then remained there as a T-38 instructor pilot as a First Assignment Instructor Pilot (FAIP).
After three years as a FAIP, Mike was selected to fly the U-2 high-altitude long-endurance airplane. He eventually became in an instructor in the U-2 as well as the T-38, while still serving in deployments. His longest mission was 12 hours (13 hours in a space suit).
He was selected to attend the USAF Test Pilot School and became a U-2 test pilot, where he was instrumental in the development and testing of the aircraft’s glass cockpit and power upgrade programs. After a few years as a U-2 test pilot, he returned to Test Pilot School as an instructor and served as Branch Chief. In that role he flew the T-38, the F-16, gliders, and glider tow ships.
Mike retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel and joined XOJET Inc., a private airline, where he flew a Citation X (CE750), accumulating 750 hours every year in Part 135 operations. He did that for several years, then received a call from Virgin Galactic. He is multi-current, flying the White Knight as well as the space ship (both aircraft have identical cockpit designs). Mike was selected to fly the second mission into space and earned astronaut wings on February 22, 2019.
“Virgin Galactic is truly a world-class organization with unique flight opportunities that you just won’t find anywhere else,” Masucci said. “I’m proud to be a part of this team and look forward to contributing to this revolutionary program.”
View the flight at https://youtu.be/RTpWYWIfP7Y


To keep myself current, every now and then I rent an airplane for a local flight. Sometimes I do some Touch & Go’s to practice my landing skills, and sometimes I just fly around for a bit of sight seeing. The last thing is what I did on the 5th of July 2018. From Hilversum via my hometown Alphen aan den Rijn to the coast at Noordwijk and back. Full flight, uneddited with all the bla bla bla, coughs and ATC en route can now be seen in this video.


With the Mavic Air, the Mavic Pro and the Mavic Pro Platinum, DJI's mid-range drone line is starting to get a little crowded. They're all decent machines, but what are the differences between the three and which one is best for you? New Atlas compares the specs and features of the current Mavic drones. Mavic 2 Pro vs. Phantom 4 Pro full spec comparison. There is much more to the story than just the specs. The devil is in the details, and there are many details. It was only last Wednesday, June 6, 2018, when French drone manufacturer Parrot launched its Anafi. This device will fight against DJI Mavic Air and Mavic Pro to prove which drone should catch the top spot. DJI Mavic Air Starting with the DJI Mavic Air, this drone weighs approximately 15 ounces only. It. DJI has just announced the new Mavic Air today, you can pre-order at DJI.COM/B&H Photo/Adorama. Here are specs, image quality comparisons of Mavic Air with Mavic Pro, Spark and Phantom 4 Pro. Full comparison of the DJI Mavic Air, DJI Mavic Pro, and DJI Spark consumer-level drones. We cover the major advantages of the Mavic Air, relative to the other two drones, including slow motion footage, improved obstacle avoidance, more compact design, new recording modes, and more!
In this article, we would have a proper full review of DJI Mavic Air. We will cover everything, you need to know about DJI Mavic Air including camera quality, design, flight performance, Mavic Air Vs. Mavic Pro and much more. The drone is foldable and easy to deploy. In case, you have any doubt, don’t forget to let us know in the comments below. DJI Spark vs Mavic Air vs Mavic Pro [Updated Fall 2019] When it comes to high-end drones, let’s face it – DJI reigns supreme. We certainly can’t get enough of their Phantom line of larger videography quadcopters, and like the rest of you we here at Dronethusiast are eagerly awaiting the launch of the impending Phantom 5. Mavic Pro Platinum VS Mavic Pro: What’s the Same? Obstacle Avoidance. The Mavic Pro Platinum shares the same Forward Vision System and Downward Vision System as the Mavic Pro. When encountering obstacles with clear patterns and sufficient lightings in front of it, the aircraft will hover automatically to avoid any accidents. The DJI Mavic Pro has a 4K camera, ultra-precise 3-axis gimbal, and a max transmission range of 4.1 mi 7 km. Learn more about the Mavic Pro with specs, tutorial guides, and user manuals. Download the DJI GO app to capture and share beautiful content. Mavic Air vs Mavic Pro – Welke is beter?. Als het gaat om specs en functionaliteit is de Mavic Air op de meeste vlakken beter of gelijk aan de Mavic Pro. Als je graag langer wilt vliegen op een batterij of heb je al een Mavic Pro dan is dat waarschijnlijk de betere optie.
DJi mavic pro Price and specs. Mavic pro vs Mavic air vs Mavic 2 Pro -Camera quality. Here is my video and photo comparison and commentary on the differences between the 3 Mavics in 2019. You might be surprsied of the results, but it’s really up to your personal prefference. DJI Mavic Pro. DJI Mavic Mini. Weight and size: Mavic Mini wins with 249 grams vs 430 grams for the Mavic Air. Flight time: 30 minutes for the Mavic Mini vs 21 minutes for the Mavic Air. Mavic Air has better specs but this Mavic Mini is really good and provides a sharper and cleaner image.
30/01/2018 · DJI Mavic Air vs. Mavic Pro vs. Spark: Which is right for you? DJI now has three consumer camera drones under $1,000 made for different users. Here's how to get the features you want. 24/01/2019 · You won’t find either on the Mavic Air. The same general factors apply to stills photography, with the Mavic 2 Pro offering noticeably higher quality across the board. DJI Mavic 2 Pro vs DJI Mavic Air – Verdict. They might have similar designs and names,. 19/08/2019 · Before DJI new product - DJI Osmo Mobile 3 release, we all expected the new drone will launch. After all, DJI is the lead of drone manufacture in Chinese, even in the world. Rumors that DJI will combine the DJI Mavic series and DJI spark series. So the DJI Mavic Mini is probably the combination of DJI Mavic air 2 and DJI Spark 2. As. Spark vs Mavic Air vs Mavic 2 Pro Comparison Table. In terms of specs the Spark controller is quite similar to the Mavic Air & Pro controllers, although the spark might be lagging behind a bit. They all make use of WiFi to move the drone around but only the Mavic Pro has a telemetry screen.
DJI Spark vs DJI Mavic Air vs DJI Mavic Pro March 10, 2018. small size, the Spark is very stable in the air, but its stability can waver when Gesture Mode is activated. Both the Mavic Air and Mavic Pro can impressively withstand wind speeds between 29-38 kph. Camera quality & specs. 13/03/2018 · DJI is the king of drones, and offers a number of models in its range, including pro models like the Inspire along with more entry-level models like the Spark or the Phantom series.Somewhere in the middle lies the Mavic Pro, a foldable drone with impressive spec that has become incredibly popular with photographers and indie filmmakers. Flight Time Mavic Air’s flight time is only 21 minute, which is 6 minutes shorter than Pro. Especially when compared to Mavic Pro Platinum’s improved 30-minute air time, Air’s flight time may be seen as a drawback for those who need to soar above the sky longer. Storage Unlike Mavic Pro. DJI Mavic Air Specs & Details. The Mavic Air is half the size of a Mavic Pro, totaling at around 15 ounces. Funnily enough, it was introduced on Tuesday by Michael Perry, the executive of DJI, by pulling it from his pocket during the New York press event.
28/02/2018 · The Mavic Air weighs 430g, the Bebop 2 weighs 500g, and both Mavic Pro models weigh around 740g. The Mavic Air is also the smallest drone. It can also fold down to the size of a smartphone. If you want a high tech aircraft that can easily slip in your pocket, then the Mavic Air is the best option. 1 for the Mavic Air. Price.
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The climate impact of aviation is great. The number of foreign flights has skyrocketed since the beginning of the 1990s.
The increase in the number of international flights since 1990 means that the climate impact has increased significantly beteween 1990 and now. In the wealthy parts of Europe, we fly more than five times as much as the global average..
Different ways to measure the climate impact of aviation
The climate impact of aviation can be measured in several ways. International reporting to the UN and the EU is based on refueling fuel in many places. The figure for international flights is then based on the amount of fuel that the flight operators refuel within a specific country’s borders and is used for flights leaving the country. This is regardless of the country in which the airline is registered. However, these emissions do not include either the full climate impact of the emissions at high altitude or the complete emissions resulting from residents’ flights abroad.
Greenhouse gas emissions from aviation’s international bunkering were 2.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2016. This is almost 90 percent higher than in 1990. Greenhouse gas emissions from international flights are not covered by countries’ climate plans to reach the Paris Agreement and are thus not included in the targets adopted, under the UN.
Territorial emissions and greenhouse gas uptake (reported to UN and EU)
We fly abroad more and more.
The number of trips abroad has more than doubled since the beginning of the 1990s. Due to the technical challenges that the aviation industry is facing when it comes to switching to sustainable flying and that the biofuel supply is limited, the trend is that we need to reduce our air travelling.
International action is needed
The ability to travel far and cheaply by air at a low cost is important for the well-being of many. Since there are still largely no viable and effective solutions that can eliminate the climate impact of aviation and when air travel is expected to continue to increase rapidly, aviation is one of the greatest challenges in both local and international climate work.
Due to international agreements, a tax on international aviation fuel is not allowed, which would be desirable as the rapidly growing international aviation emissions are a global problem. In some countries, a passenger tax has been introduced for the passenger. However, more measures will be needed to reduce emissions from our air travel.


Seeing is believing. But seeing a huge rock half the size of Earth smash into Jupiter in July 1996 was incredible. Can you imagine what would happen if Earth collided with a huge space rock? It would be disastrous. In fact, it is thought that a meteor killed the dinosaurs millions of years ago.
A rock like the one that hit Jupiter could split Earth in two. Doing nothing about it is like waiting for the end of the world. So scientists plan to start a project to identify all space rocks that could hit Earth.
眼见为实, 但目睹一颗有地球一半大的巨大石块在公元一九九六年七月撞向木星却令人无法置信。你能够想象地球如果撞上太空中的一颗巨大石块会怎么样吗？那后果将不堪设想。事实上, 有人认为在数百万年前就是一块陨石造成所有的恐龙灭绝。


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Allied Air was founded in 1998 by Valentine Tongo â€“ Chief Executive and principal owner of Allied Air.Â Valentine Tongo as an airline pilot has operated many types of jet aircraft which include; Boeing 747, 707, HS-125, BAC 1-11 and DC-10 he has a wealth of aviation knowledge from a lifetime in the industry. Learn more about Allied Air


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AirMark supplies the most advanced stenciling and cutting technology to the aircraft industry, making it easy and affordable for customers to increase uptime, reduce maintenance requirements and promote their brands all in the course of normal business.
With partnerships with some of the world’s largest restoration companies, private aircraft makers and the U.S. military, AirMark is the preferred solution for aerospace design.
AirMark supplies what others can’t
- The only stencil cutter that integrates tangential cutting and pen drawing. AirMark is the first and the only in this class.
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Producing labels, decals and signage of all kinds has never been easier through a partnership with AirMark, as we equip you with eco-friendly, highly durable aircraft marking technology that’s simple to use.
Apply placards and stickers to rough or rigid material on aircraft interiors to maximize safety, organizational and instructional labeling through a number of flatbed cutter options.


Enter the MEGA Constellation
Part IV in an exploration of the promise and perils of Starlink and planetary-scale internet service providers
IIridium and similar generations of satellites constellations that were deployed in the late 1990s and early 2000s consist of 25 to 75 satellites operating at an orbital height of 780 km to 1400 km, which allowed these network to provide low-bandwidth data and voice connections with relatively high latency (60ms to 120ms) using just a small number of satellites (see part II of this series for details).
At the time, deploying and managing a network of 75 satellites in constant communications seemed like an engineering marvel. Fast forward twenty years to today, and the scale of the deployed and planned satellite constellations has increased by several orders of magnitude to thousands and even tens of thousands of satellites!
These so-called Mega-constellations are designed to provide low-latency, high-bandwidth data service to consumers (potentially tens of millions of customers). To accomplish these goals, the orbital height of the satellites is lowered to 550km or even 340km. This lower orbit results in a much lower travel time for the signals between satellites and the earth, substantially reducing the connection's latency.
But reducing the orbital height comes with a cost: the area that each satellite can cover is also reduced substantially. More satellites are needed in each orbit to compensate for the reduced service area, and the number of orbits must also be increased. More satellites are also needed as the number of users increases, as each satellite has a limited amount of throughput.
Mega First Mover: Starlink
Not all future mega-constellations will be designed the same way, nor will they try to compete to deliver data services to consumers (several others will target defense or industrial users). However, the implications for our planet will be similar. Therefore it is worth examining Earth's most successful mega-constellation, SpaceX's Starlink, in detail.
After an initial test of three Starlink satellites in 2018, SpaceX developed a satellite production facility and started planning for the first phase of their networks. The figure below shows the orbits for the first phase. Starlink's configuration provides coverage for most of the earth's population without having many satellites flying over the uninhabited areas of the poles (there are a few in an elliptical orbit to provide coverage for the poles).
Starlink satellites orbiting at 550 km high travel at 27,000 km per hour or more, circling the globe every 90-110 minutes. The lower the orbit, the faster the satellite moves to maintain its height. The Table below shows Starlink's plan for their network and the status of the Starlink Constellation.
Rather than launch LEOs individually, Starlink satellites are typically launched in large batches (except when just a few are hitching a ride on a ride-share mission). Currently, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket can launch 60 Starlink satellites simultaneously. Once operational, SpaceX's Starship system might launch as many as 400 at a time.
Before takeoff, the satellites are loaded into a carrier that holds them securely during the strains of launch and releases them once in space. The satellites are "flat packed" with solar panels and antennae unextended to minimize the space they take up.
Once the rocket and its payload are in an "injection" orbit (very close to the desired final orbit but not quite there yet), the individual satellites are released from the carrier attached to the front of the delivering stage of the rocket (usually the second stage).
To save fuel, thereby extending the useful life of the satellites, the devices slowly space themselves out and lift themselves (via onboard rockets) into the final operational orbit. Typically, a Starlink satellite will come into service three months after it is launched.
Living in LEO
There is no hard line between where earth's atmosphere ends and space begins. Even past the Kármán Line, there is a thin atmosphere, especially for objects traveling tens of thousands of miles per hour. The small amount of atmosphere these objects encounter makes them slow down, thereby losing altitude until they eventually fall back to earth. The lower the orbit, the worst the problem of atmospheric drag becomes.
The International Space Station has been in Low Earth Orbit for over two decades and has a lot of surface area, so its orbit is constantly decaying. To solve this problem, the ISS is periodically lifted back into higher orbit using either the ISS's two main rocket engines or the engines of docked spacecraft. Yearly, the ISS burns about 7.5 tonnes of fuel to maintain its orbit, costing $210 million to sustain its orbit (the fuel cost is minimal, but getting it to the ISS is very expensive).
While fuel can be delivered to the ISS, it is impractical to refuel an LEO satellite, so once it uses up the fuel it is launched with, a satellite in LEO will experience orbital decay until it burns up on reentry (hopefully within 5-10 years after its useful life). So no matter how robust the electronics and other components are, the useful life of a LEO satellite is limited. As such, spare and replacement satellites must be delivered into orbit to maintain a satellite constellation.
The need for constant replacement is one significant difference between satellite internet infrastructure and fiber optic cable installed on earth. Fiber optic cables deployed in the 1990s along the highways of my home state are still in use today and just as fast (the electronics that connect to the fiber is the "slow" part of any fiber connection, and this part of the system has been upgraded many times since 1990).
Satellite to Satellite Communications
The first generation of Starlink satellites act as a relay between users and ground stations and can communicate via radio between satellites (similar to the Iridium constellation described in part II). Newer generations of the Starlink satellite use light from small lasers to communicate with one another, increasing the connection's bandwidth and speed.
New satellites are being added to the Starlink network monthly, if not weekly. Several excellent websites track the development of Starlink and similar systems (OneWeb, for example) and provide the current status and location of each satellite in the network up to the second. The image below shows a screenshot of the status of the Starlink network from one of these websites, satellitemap.space. Here are some of the sites for tracking Starlink and the development of other mega-constellations.
Back on Earth
Starlink customers use a terminal with an antenna for communicating with the network overhead. The form factor can vary, but the smaller terminals use an antenna on a motorized mount and beamforming technology to focus on the satellites as they zoom overhead. Other designs are large, flat antennas for mounting on an aircraft, recreational vehicle (RV), or ship.
Starlink systems have been authorized for use in various applications besides residential and commercial use. They are especially popular with people who spend a lot of time traveling or living in an RV.
Commercial aircraft are also an emerging customer for Planetary ISPs. Commercial airlines that offer onboard internet access often do so via a connection to ground stations, which offer spotty and slow connections (the plane essentially acts as a high-flying hotspot) or through existing satellite systems. Starlink and similar services can substantially increase the bandwidth and reduce the latency for in-flight Wifi. Starlink has signed a contract to deliver onboard WI-FI for JSX airlines (a short-haul carrier in the southwest) and has conducted several tests with Delta airlines.
Quality of Service
Connection quality is directly related to the number of satellites over an area, the number of ground terminals those satellites have to service, and the usage of the service by end users. As such, bandwidth and latency experienced by Starlink customers vary with location and time. As more customers come online, the bandwidth can decrease, and latency can increase since the limited number of satellites overhead have to service more terminals. Likewise, when more satellites come online, the network capacity increases.
Adjustments to the constellation can also change the quality of the connections. Currently, the orbital height of Starlink satellites is 550 km, but the next generation of Starlink satellites will operate at a shallow orbit (340 km), dramatically reducing users' latency.
As of the end of 2022, Starlink has over 1,000,000 customers in 40 countries, with more customers and countries coming online quickly. SpaceX can't launch satellites fast enough to meet the demand for service, and as of this writing, they are floating the idea of data caps in some locations to limit high-volume users during peak demand times; data caps are already used for RV customers since they might roam into a geographic area that is already saturated with users.
Applications Beyond Internet
Besides providing internet access, there are several other services that Planetary ISPs can provide.
SpaceX has received approval from the FCC to deploy “direct-to-cellular” technology in its satellite fleet and has signed a deal with T-Mobile to deliver cellular services (at least data services) using existing smartphone handsets. This service might not include voice services at first, but would be allow for texting and low-bandwidth data services. Specialized handsets would allow for more applications.
In addition to allowing the passengers to keep up with their slack messages and emails, Planetary ISPs will allow better tracking of airplanes in uninhabited or sparsely inhabited parts of the world. When Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in 2014, it was well outside any radar tracking and was initially presumed to have crashed somewhere in the South China Sea. Eventually, data from an Inmarsat satellite in GEO orbit indicated that it was last in the southern Indian Ocean, a vast area that is not monitored.
Even though there are no Internet consumers in the southern Indian Ocean, that area is now well covered by mega constellations like Starlink. These mega constellations could be used as a transponder network to locate aircraft and boats of all sizes.
In an interesting development, researchers from University of Texas at Austin have been able to use the radio emissions from Starlink satellites to determine one's location on planet earth. Lead researcher Todd Humphreys had originally approached SpaceX in attempt to co-develop an alternative GPS system based on Starlink, but was rebuffed, perhaps understandable as such a project was a distraction for Starlink. However Mr. Humphreys continued his work sans Starlink and has developed a basic GPS system based on Starlink.
Hundreds of Millions of dollars are spent by high-frequency traders to improve the speed of long-distance networks between exchanges. The Wall Street Journal reports that several trading firms are looking at Starlink as an alternative to land-based microwave and fiber networks. One startup is looking to launch a satellite constellation just for high-speed trading.
J Cooke, founder of London-based startup Azuries Space Mission Studios Ltd., has designed a satellite constellation that he projects will typically be about 20% faster than subsea fiber. Unlike Starlink, which plans to launch tens of thousands of satellites, Azuries’ proposed Angel network would have just 111 satellites. Mr. Cooke’s stripped-down constellation would be optimized to deliver data from New York to London, from Chicago to Tokyo and on several other routes important to traders.
The total price tag, he estimates, would be $155 million. Mr. Cooke, who is still raising money and has yet to launch any satellites, says his network could be up and running within three years of the startup closing its seed round.
Can we put the Internet in Space?
Content Delivery Networks or CDNs are ways for platforms and providers of streaming, photo sharing, and other high-bandwidth services to buffer or store content at locations closer to the user. For example, a popular Netflix movie will be automatically stored on a CDN, whereas a rarely watched film will be stored only in the platform's primary data center.
Currently, all the servers and services that a Starlink customer is accessing (including content on a CDN) are located back on earth, requiring an eventual connection to the land-based Internet and incurring the delay needed for the signal to travel back to earth. Placing CDNs in space would bypass the need to return to earth for the content.
It might seem far-fetched, but "unmanned" data center technology already exists. In 2018 Microsoft placed a data center in a waterproof container and sunk it off Scotland's Orkney Islands as an experiment to see if cooling costs for a data center could be reduced by placing it in the ocean and if data centers could be operated entirely remotely, after two years of operation, the project has been deemed a success. Microsoft wants to expand this idea into production data centers for its Azure cloud service.
Such a system could be deployed in space and would not need to be particularly complex—lots and lots of fast storage is required, not high-performance computing. Placing CDNs in space would save bandwidth and enhance the user experience. And in countries with many Starlink or other mega constellation users, using a data center directly tied to the network would be a logical choice. [Note: You might also have seen that there are several efforts to return humans to the moon. One company is already trying to figure out how to put data centers on the moon: Florida Startup Moves Closer to Building Data Centers on the Moon.]
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The idea that there may be life on Mars has been around for centuries, but the theory got a dubious boost when the NASA Mars Exploration Robot spotted no other than the legendary Sasquatch (also known as Bigfoot) on the Mars surface! Well, at least the recently released photos of the surface of Mars are showing a human-like figure that has an eerie resemblance to this legendary creature… I guess this explains why nobody has managed to capture Sasquatch in all those years, he went up and joined the space program! Below I have posted the real size picture taken by the NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover, see if you can spot the furry dude yourself!
Sasquatch blends in perfectly with the Mars’s surface and is actually really hard to spot. Open the picture below in full resolution and try looking at the bottom left, behind that piles of rocks. Can you see it? Also, what do you think Bigfoot is doing on Mars? Could he have worked his way up the ranks as a Martian Overlord…planning an alien primate invasion as we speak?! Well, we’ll continue to follow this unsettling possibility and keep you updated on any future Bigfoot sightings on the red planet. Also feel free to share your own conspiracy theory in the comment section below!


ANDOVER, MA--(Marketwired - June 10, 2014) - WSI Corporation, the global leader in disruptive weather and aviation decision support, today announced substantial global coverage expansion for aircraft being tracked within WSI Fusion. An essential platform for critical flight decisions at over 80 airlines globally, WSI Fusion enables flight operators to fly safer and more efficiently through earlier insight into disruptive weather and operational conditions and proactive decision making.
Recent events shed light on the subject of global flight tracking, further identifying that international flight tracking data is inconsistently available. WSI Fusion provides cumulative data from several sources including Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B), Multilateration (MLAT), FAA, Eurocontrol, and customer specific flight data. WSI fuses this information together with schedule and flight status from airlines and airports to empower global flight tracking.
How does it work?
1. An aircraft gets its location from a GPS navigation source (satellite)
2. The ADS-B transponder on the aircraft transmits signals containing the location and other flight data
3. The ADS-B signal is picked up by the global ground-based receiver network
4. Receivers feed data to be centrally processed and delivered to WSI Fusion for operational use WSI Fusion users will now have:
These features extend WSI Fusion's existing industry-leading flight tracking capabilities to include:
"WSI is always working to extend the capabilities of our industry-leading WSI Fusion platform to provide airlines with a gate-to-gate solution that improves safety and efficiency through all phases of operations. The addition of global flight tracking is one more example of our commitment to innovative and customer-driven enhancements to streamline workflow and ensure common situational awareness among key flight stakeholders," says Mark D. Miller, SVP and General Manager of Aviation, WSI Corporation.
About WSI Corporation
WSI Corporation is the world's leading provider of weather-driven business solutions for professionals in the aviation, energy, insurance and media markets, as well as multiple federal and state government agencies. WSI is a member of the Weather Company and is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts with offices in Madison, Wisconsin and Birmingham, England. The Weather Company is owned by a consortium made up of NBC Universal and the private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital.


Step into virtual reality that will launch you into space. VR ISS allows you to learn more about life on the International Space Station (ISS) and experience the feelings of astronauts living there!
Experience what it’s like to be an astronaut on the International Space Station and walk through one of the most iconic structures in space. In this virtual experience, you have the opportunity to explore movement in zero gravity and various modules of the station, such as sleeping quarters, laboratories, and the control cabin.
Additionally, you can go on a spacewalk to observe the entire International Space Station and enjoy stunning views of Earth!
Recommended age: 8+


NASA Fund Researches the Potential of Blockchain Technology in Space
NASA recently awarded a grant of $330,000 USD (approximately $413,000 CAD) to the University of Akron to research the potential of blockchain technology to improve space communications.
Dr. Jen Wei, assistant professor of computer engineering at the University of Akron, leads a team of researchers to develop a Resilient Networking and Computing Paradigm (RNCP) for space exploration.
The further we explore into space the longer it takes for the machines we use, such as satellites, to receive command signals from Earth. NASA wants ways to reduce the time it takes for their exploration vehicles to receive signals and react to potential threats in space. One possible solution may come from Dr. Wei’s research.
“The work done by [Dr.] Wei will advance cognitive communications for NASA science and exploration by developing a resilient networking and computing paradigm that will improve the efficiency of space communications,” noted a post on the University of Akron’s website.
NASA using Ethereum in space
The team plans to use the Ethereum network as the backbone to run the RCNP. Their research aims to combine the decentralized and robust nature of blockchain technology with AI and deep learning techniques.
“We will employ the blockchain technique to design a secure and decentralized infrastructure for processing the massive data for space exploration and related science,” according to a synopsis of their research.
A major hurdle of space exploration today is the distance between the machines in space and their Earth-based controllers. The distance creates a time lag between machine and operator. Semi-autonomous machines eliminate some of the barriers created by this time lag, by allowing the machines to make some decisions for themselves.
Avoiding space junk
Collision with man-made space debris is one of the biggest threats to machines in space. The RCNP will use blockchain technology to track space debris. The network could then automate the course corrections needed to safely move space vehicles out of debris paths.
The RCNP would also use collected data to allow space vehicles to predict and react to other operational threats.
This automation would drastically reduce the need for human operators to manage the safety of space vehicles. It also by-passes problems created by the immense distance between operators on Earth and satellites in space.
Safe data collection
The team is also looking at ways to use the RCNP to improve the robustness of data collection in space. A decentralized blockchain would ensure there is no degradation or loss of the critical data collected by vehicles in space.
The team led by Dr. Wei has only just begun research on their RCNP, however, the technology looks very promising. The power of decentralized blockchain networks may lead to a new era in space exploration.
Image credit: Pexels
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The layer of gases that surrounds a planet.
The gases of the atmosphere are held in place by the planet's gravity. Close to the surface the atmosphere is relatively dense. On Earth, three quarters of the atmosphere's mass is within 11 km of the surface. The atmosphere becomes less and less dense with the distance from Earth and finally fades away completely into space. Sometimes, an altitude of 100 km is regarded as the boundary between the atmosphere and outer space.
Earth's atmosphere contains four gases in significant amounts. Nitrogen is by far the most abundant gas. It comprises 78.08 percent. Oxygen takes up about 20.95 percent of the space in the atmosphere. Argon 0.93 percent. Finally, carbon dioxide (CO2) comprises about 0.038 percent. Other gases are only present in the atmosphere in very small amounts. All these gases combined make up dry air.
There is also a significant amount of water vapor in the atmosphere near the surface of the Earth. Water vapor is the gas phase of water. It is much less uniformly distributed in the atmosphere than the four gases mentioned above.
The atmosphere of the Earth is divided into four layers. Closest to the Earth is the troposphere. This layer stretches from the surface of the planet up to an altitude of around 14 km.
Above the troposphere lies the stratosphere. The stratosphere reaches about 50 km in altitude. The ozone layer is located in the stratosphere.
The mesosphere reaches from the top of the stratosphere up to almost 90 km. Most meteors heading for Earth burn up in the mesosphere. Further away there is the thermosphere and finally the exosphere which fades diffusely into space.
The ionosphere stretches the mesosphere and the thermosphere, but in spite of its name the ionosphere is not really a sphere or a layer. The structure of the ionosphere is strongly influenced by the level of Solar activity and the number of sunspots.
These layers together protect life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, and by keeping the surface warm while at the same time reducing temperature extremes between day and night through the greenhouse effect.
There are no physical barriers between the layers. They can be distinguished by the way temperature relates to increasing altitude within the layers.
When levels of CO2 rise in the atmosphere due to human activity the greenhouse effect is enhanced. This leads to global warming.


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Low Voltage 0402 MLCCs now in ESA QPL
CEC and CNC series of low voltage ceramic capacitors have received the QPL certification for the 0402 case size. It is the smallest QPL-certified case size completing Exxelia’s MLCCs QPL-listed ranges.
Exxelia ranges of low voltage MLCC for surface mounting, CEC19 and CNC19, have achieved the Qualified Part List (QPL) status under the criteria of the European Space Component Coordination’s (ESCC) 3009/042 and 3009/043 respectively. The case size 0402 QPL-qualified parts are available from 10V to 25V, enabling substantial miniaturization and cost-saving. Dielectrics are based either in the very stable NPO (type 1) or the high capacitance X7R (type 2). CEC and CNC series combine high capacitance values with high thermal and voltage stability. Versions with polymer terminations are also QPL-certified.
These ranges of versatile chip capacitors are intended for use in a wide variety of aerospace applications requiring the highest level of reliability: satellites, launch vehicles, payloads, etc.
- very stable NPO dielectric
- maximum capacitance values: 330pF in 10V, 120pF in 16V and 100pF in 25V,
- large operating temperatures: -55°C to 125°C
- high capacitance X7R dielectric
- high capacitance rating values: from 68pF to 12nF in 10V, 8.2nF in 16V and 5.6nF in 25V
- large operating temperatures: -55°C to 125°C
Space & Military Grade Passives at CMSE - booth # B13 -
CMSE is one of the most recognized conference dedicated to the use of component in military and space systems. As a key supplier of highly reliable passive components, Exxelia will be displaying in booth B13, a wide variety of military and space-qualified capacitors (ceramic, tantalum, film, electrolytic aluminum), wound magnetics solutions and EMI/RFI filters. Two new ranges of MIL-qualified tantalum capacitors: MIL39006/22 & MIL39006/25 The recently introduced ranges of MIL-qualified tantalum capacitors will be showcased on the company booth (B13). MIL 39006/22 and MIL 39006/25 respectively equivalent to CLR79 and CLR81 types feature hermetically sealed cylindrical tantalum cases and axial leads are available in T1, T2 T3 and T4 cases with extended capacitance and voltage ratings. MIL 39006/22 is qualified for voltages from 6V to 125V and provides from 1200µF @ 6V to 56 µF @ 125V. MIL 39006/25 is qualified for voltages from 25V to 125V and delivers from 680µF @ 25V to 82 µF @ 125V. Both ranges combine high energy density with a large operating temperature range of -55°C - +125°C and H vibrations and shocks resistance. Alsic 20G, Aluminum Electrolytic capacitors with large operating temperatures Alsic 20G is a range of radial leaded aluminum electrolytic capacitors for typical use in military and aerospace high frequency switch-mode power supplies requiring advanced performance under all operating conditions. Alsic 20G operational rated life is 8,000 hours at rated voltage and 105°C, and provides from 330µF @ 500V to 80 000μF @16V. The range features ruggedized design with insulating aluminum case and tin coated leads. With capacitance stability at high temperature, low inductance and impedance, competitive ESR and high ripple current, these capacitors are perfectly adapted for mission-critical applications. C48X dielectric: NPO and X7R advantages combined Under working voltage, C48X dielectric provides equivalent capacitance values to an X7R material with the advantage of a very low dissipation factor (less than 5.10-4). It can also withstand very high dV/dt, up to 10kV/µs which makes it perfect for pulse and charge/discharge applications for firing units. Exxelia’s C48X capacitors, available from 200V to 5kV with EIA sizes from 1812 to 16080, are ideally suited for power applications where heat dissipation may be detrimental to performances and reliability, such as 400Hz Aircraft, Ignition systems, and Space, or as Precision/filtering capacitance in thermally challenged environment for AC or DC voltage.
Larger Batches of High Q-Factor Dielectric Resonators
Dielectric resonators are designed to replace resonant cavities in microwave functions such as filters and oscillators. Exxelia with the support of ESA and CNES developed the E7000 series that provides a narrow bandwidth with smaller size. E7000 is Ba-Mg-Ta materials based that combines an ultra-high Q-factor and the possibility to get all the temperature coefficients upon request. E7000 features the high-performance requested for space use in the frequency range from 5 to 32 GHz, and guarantees up to Qxf > 250 000 at 10GHZ. Being one of the few manufacturers producing its own raw materials, Exxelia perfectly masters the production of dielectric resonators. Induced by the success of this new range, the company is now able to provide larger batches (up to 20kg of powder) of its E7000 series while keeping the exact same product properties, resulting in opportunities for cost-effective volume fabrication. Typical applications for the E7000 series: Satellite multiplexing filter devices, radio links for communication systems (LMDS), military radars.


Physicist Michael Johnson is drumming up support and funding for his project, to launch tiny spacecraft into space and to the moon
Ever wanted to explore space with your own spacecraft? Now is your chance – and you don’t have to be a multi-millionaire.
For just £99 (HK$1,160), Pocket Spacecraft is offering the public the chance to send personalised CD disc-like spacecraft – known as Scouts – into earth’s orbit. For £199, the Scout will go all the way to the moon and you can monitor it every step of the way.
Let’s be clear, the spacecrafts are tiny. Made of polyimide, the same material as space suits, they are paper thin and slightly smaller than an actual CD. Those who back the project will be able to personalise their spacecraft by adding a photograph or message. The more technically minded will be able to customise it to run their own software.
Thousands of the Scouts will be loaded into an Interplanetary CubeSat mothership, a 30cm long satellite. Physicist Michael Johnson, founder of Pocket Spacecraft, describes the process as like stacking Pringles potato chips in a canister. The CubeSat will then piggyback on a commercial rocket that’s heading in the right direction. Some will be released into space and flutter back to Earth and others will be released months later, when the mothership reaches the moon.
Johnson studied at Imperial College London and then spent a decade running a software development company before returning to his real passion four years ago. He has taught workshops on small satellites at Cornell University, MIT and California Institute of Technology. The Pocket Spacecraft project is a labour of love until it gets funded.
He’s hoping to raise the £290,000 needed for the project through the crowd-funding platform Kickstarter, and that will mean at least 2,000 people signing up. It’s not the first time he’s raised money this way. Two years ago he and his team raised US$74,586 on Kickstarter – more than double their goal – to send postage- stamp-sized satellites into space. That mission is due to be launched by Nasa at the end of the year.
Crowd funding isn’t just a means of getting cash. He sees it as integral to the project’s philosophy because it gives everyone the opportunity to get involved in space exploration. And after more than 1.2 million people signed up to have their name etched on a computer chip that went with Nasa’s Curiosity Rover to Mars last year, he’s sure there’s a public thirst for being personally involved in space exploration.
So far the bulk of interest has come from engineering students in universities around the world with project proposals ranging from the seriously scientific to the fun and quirky. ”
People are thinking about control systems – how you steer these spacecraft in space, different kinds of communications. Some are trying to record the solar winds, the sounds of space, and others want to do measurements to see how cosmic rays affect the spacecraft. People have also wanted to send messages on behalf of humanity, we’ve had marriage proposals,” says Johnson.
The Pocket Spacecraft team is a healthy mix of techies and creative types, which explains why alongside the earnest scientific proposals the website also suggests some less high-brow options, such as laser tag in space – that idea courtesy of the onboard game designer.
“Just because it’s a science mission doesn’t mean you can’t have fun,” says Johnson.
And the project has plenty of fun elements. Everyone who takes part will be able to download a Pocket Mission Control app and monitor the mission’s progress on their smartphone, from the lab and out into space.
For the environmentally minded, Johnson says that the Pocket Spacecraft’s impact will be very small, almost insignificant compared to the other craft that have been sent into space, as it is so light. And when it comes time to bring the mission to an end, they will crash responsibly, staying well clear of the lunar landing sites that are designated heritage sites by Nasa.
Of the 200 to 300 proposals that are submitted each time Nasa puts out the call for scientific proposals for an upcoming mission, only one or two are chosen.
“We’re hoping this will give scientists who perhaps weren’t successful in applying to the bigger missions the chance to apply for a small amount of funding and do these scientific interests. This sort of complements Nasa, it doesn’t in any way compete,” says Johnson.
Last summer he ran a workshop on small satellites at the California Institute of Technology and says half the participants were from Nasa. “They were very excited about the prospect of this small spacecraft and came up with half a dozen ideas for how these can be used for science missions,” says Johnson.
In the future, the small satellite strategy – as used in the Pocket Spacecraft mission to the moon – could even prove useful for Nasa. Curiosity’s first images from Mars were undoubtedly exciting and the rover’s findings remarkable, but it hasn’t covered a huge amount of physical ground. Johnson says all the rovers that have ever been sent out into the solar system have only actually covered about 80 kilometres.
“If you dropped 10,000 of these [small satellites] on Mars, you could get pictures from 10,000 points around Mars and then it would be useful to find out where you might want to send the next rover,” he says.
He has big plans for small satellites. One of the most exciting is sending them into the rings of Saturn. The distinctive rings are made up of billions of particles that orbit the planet, making it too dangerous for a large spacecraft to get close and have a look. A job well suited to small satellites, in other words.
“Because they are so small and inexpensive, it doesn’t matter if they get destroyed as they pass through the rings. The pictures that would be taken could be stunning,” he says.
The Kickstarter clock is ticking. A little more than two weeks into the campaign and Pocket Spacecraft has raised £32,624.
Original Link: SCMP


The term is used in the real and model turbine engine world to describe the engine control unit or ECU as many people might call it. The F-A-D-E-C is a small computer that monitors and controls various functions on the model jet engine to start it, keep it running safely and efficiently, and shut it down.
Full Authority Digital Engine Control
Additionally, what is fadec turbine engine? The term is used in the real and model turbine engine world to describe the engine control unit or ECU as many people might call it. The F-A-D-E-C is a small computer that monitors and controls various functions on the model jet engine to start it, keep it running safely and efficiently, and shut it down.
Furthermore, what is the difference between fadec and EEC?
EEC is a supervisory system which controls engine parameters and operation to prevent parameter exceedance (temperature, RPM, etc.),and comes into operation at certain engine speeds. FADEC is a full authority system, i.e. it controls engine operation and parameters at all speed regimes. It has no backup system.
How much does a fadec cost?
Continental estimates the cost for retrofitting a FADEC system will be between $2,500 and $7,500, depending on engine and aircraft type. FADEC has the potential of bringing a whole new perspective to piston-engine flying.
What is the full name for fadec?
full authority digital engine
What is electronic engine control?
An electronic engine control system is an assembly of electronic and electromechanical components that continuously varies the fuel and spark settings in order to satisfy government exhaust emission and fuel economy regulations.
What does LEAP engine mean?
LEAP stands for The CFM International LEAP (formerly called LEAP-X) is a high-bypass turbofan engine. It is currently under development by CFM International, a 50-50 joint venture company between GE Aviation of the United States and Snecma of France.
What is hydromechanical unit?
Hydromechanical: A combination of a flyweight governor and several sensors including compressor discharge pressure, burner can pressure, and exhaust pipe pressure. In most cases the engine’s fuel pump is integrated in to the fuel control.
What is Eicas aviation?
An engine-indicating and crew-alerting system (EICAS) is an integrated system used in modern aircraft to provide aircraft crew with aircraft engines and other systems instrumentation and crew annunciations. On EICAS equipped aircraft the “recommended remedial action” is called a checklist.
What is the principle purpose of a fuel system in an engine powered aircraft?
The purpose of the aircraft fuel system is to deliver a uniform flow of clean fuel under constant pressure to the engine under all operating conditions. To accomplish this task, the fuel system must be properly maintained.
What is the most expensive part of an airplane?
∴ Six 787 engines are worth nearly as much as the rest of the 787 combined. You get the gist of it: an airliner’s engine is the most expensive part of the airliner.
How much does an aircraft APU cost?
We’ve seen these APUs go from $200,000 to $350,000 in the matter of a year. Before you go into any APU purchase, know the supply and demand environments.
How much does an airplane wing cost?
Costs. Depending on the place, condition, and age of the aircraft, customers are able to buy them from $10,000 to $30,000. Generally modern airliners are around 100 feet (30 m) long and the wing span is about the same. That means that there is a minimum land requirement of about one acre (4,000 m2).


Benefits of Getting VREF Services for an Aircraft Appraisal.
VREF has been relied on by aviation professionals so as to offer an accurate report regarding the aviation market. It has been the driving force in providing transparent, trusted and knowledgeable data to the aviation industry. This is the grounds why vref has many banks, insurance companies, operators and also owners of aircraft owners rely on their services.
As part of membership VREF offers standard aircraft valuation services to the members of AOPA as they have partnered with them. To familiarize yourself with the pricing of aircraft aopa aircraft value will be a good point to start. VREF together with aopa will enable one access these services if you are a member of AOPA. There is a wide range of information regarding aircraft values on their homepage and the services they offer are top notch.
The technique used by parties involved in aircraft transactions to ensure they are comfortable is the aircraft appraisal. There are three aircraft valuation calculator of aircraft appraisal that is the pricing digest appraisal, desktop appraisal and the on-site or physical appraisal. The pricing digest valuation has been personalized for aopa members by vref and there is more of the information on this website. VREF appraisal has been used by most transactions but the main hurdle regarding this is the possibility of outdated information. Also there is some inaccuracy in demand and supply as the pricing digest valuation does not integrate such important information. If the mass production of an aircraft was less and the demand for these aircraft increases the price is correlated and is likely to go up but the pricing digest valuation will not take this to account.
There is a correlation between the history of an aircraft and the value of the aircraft and that’s why a vref verified value report is important. The information provided by vref is of true nature and accurate since their database has over 7000 aviation asset information as opposed to relying on internet searches that can provide inaccurate or false information.
The basis on why you should consider VREF for aircraft appraisal is because they offer an in-depth valuations that will be key to know the current market value and the forecasted residual value and more information on this visit their homepage. The experience they have garnered over the last 50 years in aircraft values show that they are good in what they do. Their highly experienced staff have appraised thousands of aircraft as they offer exemplary services to their esteemed clients and more information is available on their web-page.
The aopa aircraft value is well grounded and in-depth and it is only accessible to their members. This is an advantage to the members as they can access freely the services offered by VREF.
Recommended reference: pop over here


NASA’s Cassini mission and Hubble Space Telescope provided information that suggest a form of chemical energy, that life can feed on, appears to exist on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Read more…
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The six space scientists and engineers who live and work in the International Space Station are always travelling at a speed of five miles per second, orbiting Earth once every 92 minutes.
The space scientists and engineers get to spend an average of six months living and working with a multinational crew in what’s arguably the coolest office in the solar system.
So what is it like to spend 6 months on the International Space Station?
Construction of the International Space Station began in November 1998, through a partnership between Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the United States. Pieces of the station were sent to space on 42 assembly flights, 37 US space shuttles and five Russian rockets. The last major instrument sent to the space station, an Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer that’s mounted on the side to facilitate particle physics experiments, was sent on a shuttle in May 2011.
The ISS is a Laboratory.
The space station is huge – around 100m across – but much of that is filled with equipment and supplies, with passages that twist and turn so you have to move around by slithering in between it all from place to place. Left and right aren’t the only options in zero gravity; you have to remember up and down as well. It can be a bit disorientating.
Heating, cooling and the movement of air all have to be done by machines – there’s no gravity and so no convection to make the air circulate. This makes for a noisy environment.
The standard mission is around six months, and some astronauts can stay in space for up to a year. The need for teamwork in an isolated environment is why big characters don’t necessarily do so well.
Astronauts work nine-to-five
Well, not nine-to-five exactly. The space station runs on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) and astronauts don’t operate in shifts – they get up together, go to work together, and clock off together, turning the lights up and down to reflect that.
In reality, the space station has a sunrise and sunset every 90 minutes, because it travels around the earth 16 times a day.
During the working day, everything astronauts do is monitored from the ground – it’s like being in a lab with controllers in the next room.
Often, astronauts will work separately, focusing on their own experiments. They come together for space walks, when they get suited up and do experiments on the outside of the station or repair hardware. This doesn’t happen every day because it’s quite dangerous. If a large piece of space debris were to hit an astronaut, their space suit would offer very little protection.
In the evening, some astronauts hang out in the cupola, the observatory module in the space station with big windows that allow you to look out over the space station and watch the world (literally) go by.
Astronauts have regular contact with their families through email and videoconferencing. There’s a high bandwidth from the space station because it’s only 400km away from the earth, so you can have a good video conversation – often much better than with someone else on earth.
Then it’s bedtime. Each astronaut has his or her own cubicle, a small space with a sleeping bag which they zip themselves into to avoid floating around.
There’s no bread in space
Crumbs would get everywhere in zero gravity, and keeping the space station clean is really important. That’s why there’s no good bread on board.
That’s not to say that there’s no fresh food – every couple of months or so, we have resupply vehicles that go up with fresh vegetables and fruit. Most of the time, however, the daily diet is heat-stabilised food from a can, or re-hydrated powdered foods.
You need to be careful about food waste and dirt, because fungi can grow very easily among those twisting wires and racks. You can’t just open up the doors and let the air into a spaceship for a good spring clean.
Astronauts don’t have beards
Our astronauts are medically trained, and there are escape vehicles on board if anyone became unwell and had to get back to earth quickly.
One of the phenomena of being in zero gravity is that the immune system becomes weaker. This is one of many things that we are investigating on the ISS. There are groups of genes in the immune system that for some reason need gravity to operate. Examining the reasons for this offers insight into why immune systems might fail on earth for other reasons.
There are no showers on board the ISS. Washing is done with a little water, liquid soap and dry shampoo. They do, however, have a hair-cutting machine with a vacuum. That’s another reason why not many astronauts have beards.
Astronauts need to speak Russian
All astronauts learn Russian, no matter where they are from. English and Russian are the working languages on board, and they speak a mix of the two. Russian is particularly important because the Soyuz capsules that you use to get back to Earth from the ISS are Russian-made. This means the buttons are in Russian; if nothing else, you need to know which ones of those to push.
The International Space Station is international in every sense
The idea of the ISS came out of the Cold War. During détente in the 1970s, American and Soviet capsules linked up in space. In the late 1990s, when the ISS was eventually launched, it was a symbol of cooperation between East and West – literally at the highest level.
There is also the practical question of cost. No country on its own could afford the kind of projects that we carry out on the ISS – in reality, there can be no ‘national science’. To carry out projects like these, the whole ethos must be to work openly and transparently and share information.
The ISS also involves the Japanese space agency, the Canadian space agency and, of course, the European Space Agency.


Join Defense News Editor Vago Muradian and a panel of industry experts as they discuss and take your questions on the perspectives of the leaders of the global defense industry as published in the Defense News "Outlook 2016" Special Feature.
Join Defense News Editor Vago Muradian and a panel of industry experts as they discuss and take your questions about the results of the Top 100 rankings.
In today's highly competitive defense market, the aerospace and defense industrial base must innovate faster while continuously cutting costs. Cloud computing is one way to break down the barriers of collaboration and find overhead savings. But while Cloud Computing offers many promises for the defense industry and its workforce, it is not without its risks.
An hour-long discussion featuring: COL Mike Milner, PM AMPV, COL Jim Schirmer, PM Armored Fighting Vehicles, Mr David Dopp, PM SBCT, Analyst Maren Leed of the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Join Defense News Executive Editor Jill Aitoro as she speaks to defense leaders about the obstacles to maintaining air superiority, and what the US and its allies must do to overcome the aerial threat posed by today’s adversaries. This Defense News Webcast will address the shrinking gap between the US military’s air superiority capabilities and potential adversaries’ network of capabilities, how ally nations contribute to the global threat response, and the common goal to develop capability options that can hold off or defeat the common enemy. During this one-hour event, we will discuss how the US can ensure air superiority, and how global allies can strengthen their own capabilities, to prevent insurgency and weakening of western alliances
Join Defense News Executive Editor Jill Aitoro and a panel of industry experts as they discuss and take your questions about the results of the Top 100 rankings.
Join us as defense thought leaders from the US and Moscow discuss changing global competition across the defense industrial base and the need for greater international partnership and cooperation in a transformative time.


MOON, MARS, AND BEYOND -------------------- John Pazmino National Space Society New York City Chapter firstname.lastname@example.org 2004 April 7
Dr Neil Tyson, director of the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York, spoke before the National Space Society about the new national initiative for future human space missions. His presentation was at the NSS NYC Chapter meeting at New York University on Saturday 13 March 2004 with an audience of about 70. Tyson sits on the Aldridge Commission established by US President George Bush to realize his new vision in late January 2004 to resume human exploration of space. The plan includes flights to the Moon and possibly Mars. Tyson explained the function of the commission, named for its chair Edwin Aldridge. The formal name is 'President's Commission on Moon, Mars, and Beyond'. The team must make within 120 days of commencement a final report to the President; this is in late May 2004. The commission runs for 180 days so it can receive comments and discussion on this report. It must accept the Bush mandate of Moon missions and propose ways they can be actualized. It doesn't specify particular projects or programs, but only methods of working toward the first lunar flight. The target date for this flight is 2020, hardwired in Bush's speech. He compared this new commission with the one he sat on last year or so, the Walker Commission. That one studied ways to revive the American aerospace industry, including astronautical pursuits. At that time there was no ongoing goal for human space projects. Now the task is to move toward implementing a definite goal, to land humans on the Moon again within some fifteen years. Curiously, the words 'man' and 'manned' are still prevalent in the space jargon, despite the intervention in the late 20th century of neuter-phrasing in almost all other sectors of American society. Neil repeatedly said things like 'manned spacecraft', 'man on the Moon', in front of an audience of about 1/4 female. The Aldridge Commission has two potentially crippling constraints. First is the preexisting Columbia Accident Investigation Board's report about the Space Shuttle. The other is the International Space Station. The former relates to the use and fate of the three Shuttles. NASA interprets the report by proposing to disband the Shuttle fleet by 2010. It could be replaced by a new human vehicle, but there is nothing on the drawing boards that can be operational by 2010. The International Space Station so far proved to be rather functionless for science, except biology and medicine. No major physics, chemical, electronic, or other science as yet exploited ISS for experiments. In addition, the hoped-for use for industrial manufacturing never materialized. NASA will complete ISS in its central section only, not to its full extent as envisioned in the 1990s. Crew capacity will remain at three, not the seven of the fully consummated station. After 2010, with the retirement of the Shuttles and with no other means to lift and assemble more large ISS components, the space station will be abandoned. LIkely it'll decay from orbit. Tyson repeatedly mixed up 'space shuttle' and 'space station' thruout his talk. These were obvious slips of the tongue and no one seemed to mind. One killer for any government project such as the Bush plan is money. Can NASA get the funding and can the American public pay for it? Tyson assessed that the plan would require about $12 billion per year to accomplish for just the lunar mission and its preliminary flights. He noted that it is unrealistic to hope that NASA will suddenly and steadily get this additional input form Congress. However, NASA can draw heavily on Dept of Defense expertise, which is on a par with NASA's. DoD's own astronautical programs run into the tens of billions per year, at times buried in umbrella projects. By getting DoD to share or cooperate more closely with NASA, perhaps $10 to $11 billion per year can be allocated to the Bush vision. This is funding already in place or far more easily justified under defense reasons. Congress should have to pony up only one extra billion for NASA each year. An other killer is continuity . The American political government can change every four years; it must change after eight. The present administration is up for election in November 2004 with no certainly at all that it will remain in office for the next four years. It is completely plausible that the next president -- even if it be the one now in that office! -- can abandon the Bush plan. With the first lunar visit not before 2020, there are four chances for the Bush vision to be derailed. Neil emphasized that if there is no reasonable longterm continuity, across administrations, for the nest fifteen years, we spacefaring enthusiasts better just give up and go home. There simply will be no sustained human or robotic occupancy of space. He addressed some criticism that the US public is losing interest in the space program. He reported that all in all NASA's budget since the late 1960s was about the same, in constant dollars, with only modest rises and falls over the decades. There was the singular peak of funding in the mid 1960s for the Apollo project, but since then there's no long term trend of decrease as is sometimes claimed. He cited assorted public opinion surveys as indicating ongoing public favor for the space program. When, in one example, people were asked to give the most important achievements of the 20th century, every answer included the Apollo lunar landings. He reminded the audience, all space enthusiasts, of the public fervor over the Mars rovers and the acreage of newspaper space given to them. Neil stressed that Bush actually did not mandate flights to Mars as a direct target. He was vague on where to go beyond the Moon. Some space fans took the Bush scheme as a manifesto to head for Mars like right now. Tyson favors 'solar system' exploration without hitting on Mars as an end in itself. He also favors a mix of automated, robotic, uncrewed ships and those with humans on board. The latter would be for the missions to the Moon and perhaps a close-approaching asteroid. Beyond that it really is a bit much in the early 21st century to send humans to Mars and beyond. As a scientist, Dr Tyson reminded that taken all together, the world's space program delivered virtually all of its scientific results and discoveries from the automated spaceprobes with human craft offering up only a sliver. Need less to say, most of the targets of the robot craft are plain out of reach for humans and will remain so for many many decades to come. Any mass mobilization of US society to resume human lunar visits would require myriads and myriads of scientists and engineers. Tyson claimed we don't got them now or in the near future. One part of the Aldridge report may be a strong push for increasing science and engineering education so there will be a stream of new skilled trained people to build the lunar bases and send crews there. This is a replay of Neil's platform with the Walker Commission, the 'scientists in the silos'. He alluded to the rise of other nations to become spacefaring powers, like China and India. He said that combined, these two countries today have more scientists and engineers on deck than the entire American population. He mused on about the need to give incentives and promotion to students in high school today to take up science and engineering in college. They'll be ready for the lunar project in the 2010s. The crucial importance of science and engineering was brought out by a candid opinion of society. Who really moves civilization forward? Scientists and engineers. Poets, historians, artists do not. Nor do doctors. Tyson explained that it's the physicist who invents the devices and tools that physicians use. Chemists develop the medicines he prescribes. The one hot-button of the Bush plan is the Hubble Space Telescope. Right after Bush handed NASA his plan, NASA declared that it will not do the final visit to HST. HST will live out its life by 2007 and then decay naturally out of orbit. The timing could hardly be worse, due to the assimilation of the HST decision into the Bush scheme. NASA 'killed' HST to get money for the Bush lunar flights. The Hubble cancellation came from NASA's reading of the Columbia report. The Shuttle flight to HST has no provision to inspect the ship or rescue the crew. One reason for keeping the Shuttle only for ISS mission is that the craft can be docked at ISS and inspected for damage. If the ship is deemed unsafe for return to Earth, the crew can hole up in ISS until a second Shuttle can come for a rescue. In this new Shuttle procedure, two working vehicles must participate in each mission. The one makes the flight with the crew, The other is on hot standby in case it must be sent up for a rescue. The rescue trip may take several weeks to prepare, so the crew must be in some shelter able to sustain it for that long. International Space Station is simply the one and only option. As history fell out, HST is a very public satellite, more so than perhaps any other. It is also the most famous one that linked human space presence and science. Everyone saw the previous service visits, demonstrating how humans can do repairs and upgrades in orbit to a major science satellite. Everyone sees, almost monthly, the imagery sent home by HST. Some in the audience had with them, from newspapers and Internet, the Ultra Deep Field, captured by Hubble in the days before the meeting. Neil recalled the brutal fact that the benefit/cost ratio for human-based science in space was far out of bound. It is plain too costly and risky to send people into space to do the science that robots can do. The only genuine science he sees in ISS is biomedical. And that is just a side benefit. The crew can be wired for biomedical data collection while they spend almost every waking minute keeping the station alive and afloat. Even for the Hubble repairs, the crew was more of a mechanic doing a scripted task. But the videos and pictures of astronauts actually 'doing something' in orbit was deeply emotional to the public. The Aldridge Commission is completely neutral on the Hubble flap. Hubble is an existing project that does not lead to the eventual Moon and beyond missions. It's just that it, like the President himself, is caught up in the public -- and scientists's -- furor about the service visit's cancellation. Tyson has a disturbing fear that the very scientists who would prosper by fulfillment of the Bush scheme may agitate to curb it in order to save Hubble. The situation is a bit critical for the Shuttle. Apart from the concern about crew risk. going to HST takes out one Shuttle flight to ISS. ISS needs about 20 more visits, with cargo and crew, to supply it before the fleet is decommissioned. An other consideration is that now, with various new constraints on Shuttle procedures, like only launches in daylight and extra safety procedures and devices, a Shuttle flight will now cost about a full one billion dollars each! That's half the cost of the entire HST project up to first light. When the Shuttle is gone by 2010, there are still ten years to go before the first of the lunar flights. Here Tyson hazards that the lunar flights will be on single-shot rockets, not a reusable vehicle. He noted that the Saturn-V rocket was actually an effective and efficient means of accomplishing the Apollo missions because none of it had to return intact to Earth for reuse. The Space Shuttle is not due to the requirement to bring back the whole craft each time in one reusable piece. It may have been far cheaper to have the crew cabin separate as a capsule for return and let the bulk of the craft incinerate by reentry. An other problem with the Shuttle is that it was both a crew and cargo vessel. He checked previous Shuttle flights and found that most of them were for crew functions only. The cargo bay was empty. When the cargo bay was occupied, many times it was only for deploying a satellite, with HST being one such example. This is a task best done by single-shot uncrewed rockets. He postulates, that the new 'shuttle' will be more like a Soyuz capsule to carry only people to a base, like on the Moon. Cargo can be sent to the base by single-shot rockets. He mused that it may look like a shortened Shuttle without the cargo bay. International collaboration is a will-o-the-wisp in American space policy. There are perhaps two dozen countries 'in space'. But there are only five big spacefaring players. These are NASA, ESA, RSA, China, and Japan. The only ones that matter for the Bush plan is RSA and ESA, which have stake in ISS. Never the less, most of ESA's member countries now see that ISS is a goner and their euros are better spent in cheaper, more productive, robot spacecraft. Hence, NASA may simply announce that as at such-&-such date, it will abandon ISS, so the other countries better start getting their stuff home from there. Russia, once the prime partner in ISS, more or less is broke and would probably be glad to relieve itself of the International Space Station anyway. He closed with a reminder that the last of the five Aldridge Commission public hearings is in early May at the Hayden Planetarium. Details will come in April. Dr Tyson attracted a lengthy Q&A after the meeting and was thronged by the audience as he took down his computer and projector.


Ever since the first sea planes operated between Southampton and Funchal in 1949 and landed in the bay, a lot has changed.
Nowadays there are great direct flights to Madeira from the UK and other parts of the world. From the UK the flight time is just under 4 hours. There is a new international airport on Madeira and another one on nearby Porto Santo island.
Getting to Madeira
FROM THE UK: There are several airlines; Jet2, Easyjet, Thomson and British Airways that fly direct from Gatwick and other regional airports to Funchal in Madeira. FROM THE USA AND CANADA: There is a direct service with SATA Air Azores from Boston. If you're flying from Toronto with SATA Air Azores, you will have to change in Lisbon and there will be several connecting flights a day to Funchal on either SATA Air Azores or other airlines. FROM LISBON: There are daily flights from Lisbon with TAP Air Portugal, SATA Air Azores and Easyjet to Funchal with connections from many major cities around the world. FROM THE REST OF EUROPE: There are direct flights to Madeira on a number of airlines from Reykjavik, Bergen, Helsinki, Stockholm, Aarhus, Berlin, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Basel, Bucharest, Toulouse, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Porto and Faro.


Shenzhen Jing Si Dun Mechanical Equipment Co., Ltd. is a leading OEM manufacturer, supplier, and factory of high-quality CNC turning machining parts in China. We specialize in providing precision-engineered components for a wide range of industries including automotive, aerospace, electronics, and more. Our CNC turning machining parts are manufactured using state-of-the-art equipment and cutting-edge technology. With our extensive experience and expertise in the field, we are able to deliver exceptional accuracy, durability, and consistency in our products. We pride ourselves on delivering parts that meet the highest industry standards and customer specifications. Whether you need custom-made components or standard parts, we can fulfill your requirements efficiently and reliably. Our team of skilled engineers and technicians work closely with our clients to understand their specific needs and deliver solutions that surpass their expectations. At Shenzhen Jing Si Dun Mechanical Equipment Co., Ltd., we are committed to providing superior quality CNC turning machining parts at competitive prices. Our dedication to customer satisfaction and flexible manufacturing capabilities have made us a trusted partner for many renowned companies. Contact us today to discuss your CNC turning machining parts requirements.


Satellites rarely get much attention, but they’re the hubs that keep our modern world connected. Just how many satellites are orbiting around Earth? Who’s launching them? And, what exactly are they doing up there anyway? These are good questions. Let’s dig in.
There are now nearly 1,500 satellites in orbit in 2017, and if SpaceX’s plans for a 4,425-satellite communications network come to fruition, our planet’s exosphere will become even more crowded.
What do satellites actually do?
Satellites are launched into space for a number of reasons.
They do everything from military reconnaissance to keeping our GPS systems working properly. The truly global scope of telecommunications wouldn’t be possible without our expansive network of orbiting satellites. For example, O3b Networks’ 12 satellites provide broadband internet service to emerging markets.
Who’s launching satellites?
The United States, with nearly 600 operating satellites, has clearly won the space race in this sense. That said…
View original post 1,256 more words


Tagged with 'boeing'
Boeing Test Pilot Capt. Emily Bliss will share her real-world aviation experiences at the Des Moines Activity Center starting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 5, in a presentation hosted by retired Flight Test... [Read more]
Architect's rendering of the proposed new Aviation High School campus. Des Moines Aviation High School received $7 million in grant money this week, to be used toward construction of a new facility... [Read more]
The Seattle Times is reporting that Gino Turrella, a Des Moines man, has been convicted of 19 felony counts for threats he made against Boeing, Shell Oil and Chevron Oil. Turrella was convicted Friday... [Read more]
Four students from Des Moines’ Aviation High School graduated from the 2009 Washington Aerospace Scholars Summer Residency program this summer, and we here at The Waterland Blog would like to give... [Read more]
On Monday (June 15th), students from Des Moines’ Aviation High School’s senior class, along with members of the school’s Airline Career Experience (ACE) Club hitched a ride on the delivery... [Read more]
Aside from making airplanes and being blasted by Sir Richard Branson, Boeing has a collection of talented musicians who make up the Boeing Orchestra of Flight. They’re seeking more musicians, and... [Read more]


LeRoy Homer Foundation
The LeRoy W. Homer Jr. Foundation was founded in 2002, in memory of LeRoy Homer, First Officer of United #93 which crashed in Shanksville, PA on September 11th, 2001. The mission of the LeRoy W. Homer Jr. Foundation is to encourage and support young adults who wish to pursue careers as professional pilots and increase awareness to the field of aviation. The Foundation awards flight scholarships to obtain private pilot certification. Courtney “Voodoo” Vidt received a scholarship in 2006. Following in LeRoy’s footsteps, she attended the US Air Force Academy and graduated in 2011. Courtney is currently the Director of Wing Training for the 62nd Airlift Wind, and is a member of the C-17 West Coast Demo Team. My name is Melodie Homer and on behalf of the LeRoy Homer Foundation, I would like to thank you for selecting us as your CFC campaign charity. With your help we will be able to continue to support young adults with a passion for flight and help them become the next generation of aviators. Thank you.


Transport Canada today announced new rules that will make it easier to use portable electronic devices, including electronic games, tablets and computers as well as cameras, during flights in Canada. The change, announced by Minister of Transport Minister Lisa Raitt, will allow passengers to use their devices during all phases of flight, including while an aircraft takes off, climbs, descends and lands, as long as they are in a non-transmitting or flight mode. That means no phone calls or use of Wi-Fi (unless you use services offered by the airline).
According to Minister of Transport Minister Lisa Raitt,
“This is great news for air passengers, and an exciting day for the Canadian aviation industry. By collaborating with our aviation partners, we are able to offer airlines the tools they need to safely enable passengers to use portable electronic devices on airplanes, while still maintaining the highest standards of aviation safety.”
Airlines will need to meet certain Transport Canada safety conditions to prove that their aircraft will not be affected by the use of the devices before they can allow their passengers to start using devices thoughout their flights. It’s not clear how long this process will take but we can expect airlines to make announcements once they get approval to go ahead.
Before this announcement, passengers were require to turn off their devices before take-off and before landings. The new rules follow similar ones in both the U.S. and Britain.
Source : Transport Canada


The Royal Flying Doctor Service has 63 national aircraft covering the length and breadth of the country.
The RFDS website has a flight map that shows, in real-time, the planes that are in the air and providing vital services to country Australia. To check it out, click on this link – RFDS Flight Map
To gain a quick insight into the vital work undertaken by the RFDS in rural Australia, and the remarkable men and women who make up the RFDS, take a look at these video clips.
RFDS Royal Flying Doctor Service – National Video
The RFDS – 80 years of saving lives
What is an RFDS emergency like?


Island Coastal Aviation Inc is committed to providing professional flight instruction to pilots seeking a career in flying, looking for unique adventures, or just the freedom and excitement that only flying can provide!
Please explore the links to the left to learn more about our programs.
If you cannot locate the information you are looking for, please Contact Us.
Welcome to the
Freedom, Serenity and Beauty of Flying!
202 - 18799 Airport Way, Pitt Meadows Airport
Pitt Meadows, BC Canada V3Y 2B4
Office: (604) 465-5560 Mobile: (604) 454-8162
All our aircraft are maintained to higher than Transport Canada's Commercial Air Services safety standards,
and are used for flight training, aerial telemetry surveys, fire patrols and aerial photography.