Tag: AIRPLANES

The Solar Impulse is one of the most ambitious projects we've ever seen. The ultimate goal is to fly a solar-powered plane around the world, relying for power solely on the rays of the sun. That might still be a ways off, but the Impulse took to the sky Wednesday morning with an intermediary goal: to survive 24 hours aloft in the night sky (read: often with no sun) without plummeting to the ...

You know that weird, checkered material you see used in cars, bikes, and sporting gear? It's called carbon fiber, and it's super light. Now, Airbus has rolled out its newest plane, made mostly of the material. The result, though still not quite friendly-skies-friendly, could become the way forward for an airline industry suffering from high oil prices and extensive financial problems. "Making ...

Boeing's new 787 may look like most other commercial airliners on the outside, but under the paint, it's a technological marvel. In terms of construction, the thing is lightweight and so more fuel efficient than its predecessors. But the really impressive bits are the computerized ones that keep the thing in the air and pointed in the right direction. The craft has an integrated computer ...

Every time we write about this, we feel a little bit more like the apocalypse is imminent. Air France has officially taken the wraps off its cell-phones-at-30,000-feet service. At first, the service is being piloted on just one type of aircraft on certain routes -- the Airbus A318 on certain European routes -- and with only data capabilities for receiving text messages and e-mail. Then, after ...

The Concorde was one of the most iconic bits of technology of the twentieth century. At its introduction in 1969, the supersonic jet's delta wings and pointy nose screamed speed seemed to herald a future of supersonic air transport. Unfortunately, over its nearly 30 year career, the Concorde would instead remain a symbol of a seemingly missed opportunity, with rather more boring and decidedly ...