Built from a JetRanger airframe, the bidding ends on eBay in 1 day, 21 hours.
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I guess a lot of kids thought it was way cool. Maybe I was too old, but I just never liked the TV show. I was in the “Sky King” generation.

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ATLANTIC OCEAN (May 13, 2008) An AV-8B Harrier prepares to launch from the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) during night vision flight operations. Iwo Jima and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are participating in the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group integration training. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Christopher L. Clark

I’ll be getting on Qantas next week, flying into Brisbane. I’ll work for a couple of weeks at the day job, and then a week holiday. My tracking software tells me I have a few readers in Australia. I do plan on a day at a local airport, and I’ve got a Cessna 172 ride arranged. In particular, I want to find out how User Fees have damaged Australian GA. If anyone has any suggested destinations, let me know.
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Image from Google Earth.

I just received an e-mail alert from AOPA president Phil Boyer about the User Fee battle in the Senate.
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Last week, the U.S. Senate failed to garner enough votes to limit debate on the FAA funding bill — one that would have meant the end of user fees in this Congress. Instead, a number of nonaviation-related provisions became obstacles that prevented the bill from reaching the floor for debate. And this leaves our future uncertain, meaning we need your help now more than ever!
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Making matters worse, the Bush Administration is threatening to veto any FAA funding legislation that does not fit their model — a model that forces user fees on GA pilots and hands the airlines greater control over the air traffic system.

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AOPA is asking for immediate donations into their Political Action Committee, and I’ll be doing so at the AOPA web site (that link requires membership - if you’re not a member, you should join).

The Russian Roskosmos and European Space Agency are seriously considering partnering up for moon flights, with the first unmanned test flights in 2015.
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A couple of interesting tidbits from the Reuters article:
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The new spacecraft, with wings and a cone-shaped module, would be launched by a Russian booster rocket from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East region of Amur, Roskosmos said.

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Obviously the “spacecraft with wings” is for re-entry purposes, not moon landings. It sounds like they’re discussing a replacement for the 60’s vintage Soyuz.
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Also mentioned:
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But crews returning from the space outpost suffered from huge gravitational forces and rough landings after Soyuz capsules slid off into so-called “ballistic descents” twice in a row in October and April.
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In the latest case, the Soyuz-TMA capsule with South Korea’s first astronaut Yi So-yeon, U.S. commander Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko made a rough landing hundreds of kilometers (miles) off target on April 19.
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“One of the two modules attached to the capsule failed to separate from it on re-entry, and for quite a while the capsule was plummeting upside down and its hatch — normally on top of the capsule — was exposed to extremely high temperatures.”
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“As they were falling, Peggy saw the unseparated module dangling by the capsule. Then it fell off somehow.”
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Scary stuff. I had heard about the long landing, and I had suspected that it was far more serious than they let on, but this is the first details of the incident I’ve seen. The temperature was so high that the outside metal antenna for radio contacts burned out, the source said.

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PHILIPPINE SEA (May 8, 2008) The guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) moves behind the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) to act as plane guard. The plane guard, usually a frigate or destroyer, would recover aircrew from crashed a plane or helicopter. Kitty Hawk and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 are on a spring deployment — the ship’s last before being replaced by USS George Washington (CVN 73) as the Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier. Kitty Hawk operates from Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Anthony R. Martinez

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Two F-22 Raptors from the 3rd Wing at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, fly beside a KC-135 Stratotanker May 8 prior to refueling. The aircraft are part of the more than 120 participating in Northern Edge 2008, the largest military training exercise in Alaska. Aircrews train in counter-air, close-air-support and air-interdiction missions. An Alaska Air National Guard KC-135 from Eielson Air Force Base’s 168th Air Refueling Wing, delivered the fuel during the mission. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Mikal Canfield)

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Deadline is May 31 for entry! I’ve procrastinated getting the Lanciar going for months now, so I’ve got to crank it up.
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Sometimes you need a better excuse to participate in the flying game besides “100 dollar hamburgers”. One of the racers at a past AV-Cup race said that air racing “gave his airplane a mission”. I now have a mission, to get the Lancair back in the air and go after the gold!

This year the race will be from Mitchell SD to Lomira WI, just south of Oshkosh (ignore the info on the AVC web site about Dayton, that was last year and the web site hasn’t been updated).

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GULF OF THAILAND (May 8, 2008) A Marine MH-53 helicopter, assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 265 (HMM-265), takes off May 8, 2008 from the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2). Essex is the lead ship of the only forward-deployed U.S. expeditionary strike group and is participating in Cobra Gold 2008, a joint military exercise sponsored by the United States and Thailand designed to enhance interoperability between joint U.S. forces and the combined forces of the Thai, Singaporean, Japanese and Indonesian militaries. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David Didier

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ATLANTIC OCEAN (May 6, 2008) Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 3rd Class Darcee Pakla directs an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the “Valions” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 15 towards catapult two during flight operations aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Snyder

We just got back from the “Red Onion” the local bar and grill nearest AZ82, Mogollon Airpark, where we hoisted a few in honor of friend, neighbor, pilot and great aircraft mechanic Jim Siemens, who died last week from natural causes. Jim was one of the nicest people here at the airpark. He spent time up here in the cool pines at 6600 feet during the summer, and winters in Yuma Arizona, where I believe he once owned the Harley Davidson dealership.
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Jim built two airplanes that I know of, a Lancair 320 and a Rotorway Helicopter. And he also spent considerable time in the 1990’s restoring the Aeronca “City of Yuma” to flying condition, a record breaking airplane that set a worlds record in 1947, flying non-stop for 46 days. He will be missed by a whole airpark full of friends.

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Jim is in the white cowboy hat, making pancakes at the 2006 Mogollon fly-in. I wish I had a better picture of him with his great smile that was the normal decoration on his face.

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The best memories I have of being in the Air Force was working swing shift repairing F-4C Phantoms in the Arizona desert at Luke AFB Arizona. This could be a scene from back then, except the F-4C is now an F-16 and they’re using portable lighting instead of the large ramp lights they had in Arizona. They’re wimps at Luke today, with sun shades over the aircraft on the flight line. They issued us gloves back then to work on the airplanes, not for the cold, but for the heat of the airplane skin that would burn you at mid-day as you swung up on the 370 drop tank and onto the wing (we weren’t supposed to do that, of course). Getting up on the jet like that was so easy to do back then, but I think I would fall and break my neck today. Thinking about me jumping down the intakes today? LOL!

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A member of the 148th Fighter Wing works on an F-16 Fighting Falcon during an October 2007 Operational Readiness Exercise in Duluth, Minn. The 148th FW was selected by Occupational Health and Safety Administration officials for the Voluntary Protection Program Star Award. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Don Action)

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The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds fly in formation over California in preparation for an upcoming air show. The Thunderbirds are the Air Force’s premier demonstration squadron and represent the Air Force throughout the nation and abroad. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Matthew Smith)

Early A-10s were built literally with “thin skin” on their wings, and initially rated for an 8,000 hour life. The Air Force recently contracted with Boeing (who else?) to build 242 sets of wings to retrofit onto early Thunderbolts and extend their life to 16,000 hours. Full story at AF Link.
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A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from the 354th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., fly a training mission over the Berry Goldwater Range in Arizona. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Jesse Shipps)

Back in 2000, asteroid 2000 SG344 was seriously believed to be on a collision course with Earth, with an arrival time around Sept 21, 2030.

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A collision is now ruled out, but NASA now believes that a 3 to 6 month manned mission to 2000 SG344 (which needs a real name now) would be a good rehearsal for later flights to Mars. It would also lead to the development of asteroid handling technology that might come in very handy some time in the future. This particular Yacht sized rock has almost no gravity, and the manned vehicle would have to attach to it physically in some way. No doubt doing all this monkey motion will change it’s orbit slightly. Hopefully NASA will ensure that any such change is in the right direction.
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Story in the Guardian.