In Flight USA Article Categories

 In Flight USA Articles

Featured Annamarie Buonocore Featured Annamarie Buonocore

Combs Gates Award

Submission Deadline for National Aviation Hall of Fame’s Annual Combs Gates Award is June 13, 2016

$20,000 juried prize to be presented at 2016 NBAA Convention in Orlando

Earlier this spring, the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) publicly issued a nationwide “call for entries” for its 14th Annual Combs Gates Award. Submissions to be considered for the prestigious $20,000 cash award are due June 13, 2016. The Combs Gates Award is presented each year to an individual or group for a submitted project judged to be exemplary in the promotion and preservation of America’s air and space heritage. The subject of submitted projects ideally spotlights one or more of the 229 men and women aviation pioneers who have been inducted, to date, into the Congressionally chartered, nonprofit NAHF.

The 2016 award ceremony will take place during a special session of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) annual meeting and convention. The NBAA convention is the largest civil aviation event in the world, and this year takes place on Nov. 1-3 in Orlando, Fla. Officials from the NAHF and NBAA will present the award, joined by several previous enshrinees of the NAHF.

Read More
Featured Annamarie Buonocore Featured Annamarie Buonocore

Unmanned and Sunny Drone Education Event

Unmanned and Sunny Drone Education Event

Aerospace Center for Excellence will host Unmanned and Sunny on Wednesday, July 13, 2016 from 1 – 4 p.m. at Aerospace Discovery at the Florida Air Museum, located on the Sun ‘n Fun Expo Campus 4175 Medulla Rd., Lakeland, Fla.

Unmanned and Sunny is a free drone education and awareness event for the public to learn about safe drone operation and the upcoming career opportunities that exist in the drone industry.

Read More
Featured Annamarie Buonocore Featured Annamarie Buonocore

CPK Cars, Planes, and Kids in Compton

A Free Open to the Public Event To Benefit a World Record Teen Solo Flight Across the USA

Sponsored by California Pizza Kitchen, Taylor Lynn Foundation, www.taylorlynn.org

On Sunday May 22nd from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m., Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum – TAM (www.tamuseum.org) will be hosting hundreds of kids for a free lunch (while supplies last) sponsored by California Pizza Kitchen (www.cpk.com) at the Compton/Woodley Airport with a dynamic event called CPK (Cars, Planes, and Kids) to benefit a world record teen solo flight across the USA. Fifteen super cars (Bugatti, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, and McLaren) wrapped in super hero themes will be joining planes, helicopters, drones, and one of the worlds largest Instagram – Insta-Meet gatherings. #CPKCARSPLANESKIDS

Read More
Featured Annamarie Buonocore Featured Annamarie Buonocore

Editorial: The “Flying Season” and Safety

By Ed Downs

Okay, not an exciting title, but give it chance. There really is a “Flying Season.”  Logically, it takes place between May and October, obviously due to improved weather vacation travel. Generally, up to 70 percent of the flying hours flown during a year occur during these months, and the same percentage applies to revenues earned by aviation- related businesses. Regrettably, the NTSB and FAA also have to gear up, as accident rates increase with activity. No magic to those stats, more planes, more pilots, more accidents. So let’s see if there are any lessons from the past or new programs that might reduce this predictable trend.

The FAA came to an interesting conclusion early in this century. New technology airplanes were hitting the market, advanced GPS-based navigation systems came into play, and auto-flight control systems became increasingly sophisticated. This trend has accelerated. Many students learning to fly today begin their experience in planes like the Cirrus and new Cessna, which are fully decked out with advanced, integrated auto-flight and navigation systems. 

Read More
Featured Annamarie Buonocore Featured Annamarie Buonocore

Tuskegee Airman Reflects on Diversity

By Airman Jenna K. Caldwell, 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

 (This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story.) 

Retired Maj. George BoydIt was 1944, and the U.S. was in the midst of two battles – a war on two sides of the world and the onslaught of cultural changes on the home front.

Meanwhile, a young African-American Soldier picked up trash on the white sandy beaches at Keesler Field, Miss. He had been briefed that although he was in the service and evidently may fight and die for his country, he could neither walk on this beach unless he was working nor could he swim here because it was for whites only.

Now retired Maj. George Boyd, a 28-year combat veteran and Tuskegee Airman, will never forget the hypocrisy of that order. Boyd, now a resident of Wichita, Kan., was part of the service during the transition from the Army Air Corps to the Air Force.

Boyd served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. He witnessed the roots of social equality shift within his country and his service – from the integration of the armed forces by President Harry S. Truman in 1948, to the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s.

Read More
Contrails: Hanging Out with Dwayne
Featured Annamarie Buonocore Featured Annamarie Buonocore

Contrails: Hanging Out with Dwayne

By Steve Weaver

“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” – Leonardo da Vinci.

This was a surprising statement to be made in the 15th century, when most of the world’s population was too busy trying to stay alive to think many profound thoughts. But given da Vinci’s genius, it isn’t surprising that he said this, for flight has always fascinated man. I would imagine that down through time many humans have had such feelings but not the ability to put them into such eloquent words.

Socrates came close, almost 500 years before Christ, when he said, “Man must rise above the earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond — for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.”

Read More