The iconic Jeppesen approach charts are filled with the information pilots need to complete a safe approach and landing. The format of the charts has also inspired a series of more than 80 commemorative maps recognizing Jeppesen employees, and honoring pilots such as Jimmy Buffet and Harrison Ford, and events such as Apollo 13 and the Miracle on the Hudson. In 2013, Jeppesen added Santa Claus to the list of honorees with the release of its North Pole Village chart.
People love to watch airplanes. That’s why airshows are one of the world’s most popular spectator events. Aviation enthusiasts will risk sunburn and dehydration to stand at an airport, sunglassed eyes scanning the skies, to watch pilots demonstrate their planes’ performance. Fast-moving and incredibly noisy military jets will make them reach down to cover their kids’ ears, and they’ll haul kilos of photo gear around to “get the shot.”
The clock keeps ticking. It really doesn’t matter what we try to do. Lotions and potions, exercise and nutrition, and even surgery won’t stop the calendar pages from flipping. Every day, we’re getting older, but that’s not stopping us – we’re traveling more than ever. We’re joined on our flights by millions and millions of other older travelers.
OK, I’ll admit it. I’m the one who arrives at the airport hours early. But I’m not worried about missing my flight, since I checked in online and know that it’s only going to take me a few minutes if I go through security on the mezzanine level at YYZ. No, I’m here because I love airports, aircraft and the process of travel. I’m a prepared passenger. I know my airport codes and airline abbreviations, and where in the plane I’ll be sitting.
Brien Wygle could easily be included in a conversation about celebrated Canadian test pilots, such as de Havilland Canada’s Russ Bannock, Avro’s Mike Cooper-Slipper, and Canadair’s Al Lilly. But Wygle isn’t well known to Canadian aviation historians, thanks to a twist of fate that led him across the border to a long and distinguished career with Boeing.
In 2014, Boeing delivered a record 723 jetliners to airline customers. Airbus wasn’t too far behind, with 629 deliveries. But those numbers are nothing, compared to the 983,533 aircraft delivered by Herpa Wings, a company based in the small German village of Dietenhofen. Each aircraft conveniently comes in a box. And is about 6 inches long. Herpa Wings has been making highly-detailed, scale aircraft models since the early 1990s, in both die-cast metal, and plastic.
We’re a chronically sleep-deprived society, thanks to the demands of our jobs and personal life. We’re extending our waking hours, exchanging our sleep for other activities. We try to convince ourselves that “it’s ok, I don’t need to sleep as much.” But when we do this day-after-day, and night-after-night, we end up with a “sleep debt,” and we’re fatigued. “Fatigue is a state that results from sleep loss, continuous hours of wakefulness, disruptions of your body clock, and workload, that affects you both mentally and physically,” says Dr. Melissa Mallis, of M3 Alertness Management.
The Aviation High School opened in 2004 in its first temporary quarters, with a freshman class of 100 students. Gilman became the school’s first principal and led the drive to find a permanent home. “It took us almost a decade to get the funding,” she says. $43.5 million was raised from public and private sectors, including the State of Washington, the Port of Seattle, Boeing, and Alaska Airlines. Recognizing the major contribution of Sherry and James Raisbeck of Seattle’s Raisbeck Engineering, the new school opened in fall 2013 and was renamed Raisbeck Aviation High School (RAHS).
Joe Sutter is a giant in the history of commercial aviation. And he’s also not the least bit reserved about speaking his mind! Sutter, now in his ‘90s, graduated from the University of Washington’s College of Aeronautical Engineering in 1943. After World War II, in 1946, he joined Boeing’s aerodynamics group and was assigned to work of the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, a four-engine propeller passenger plane that would enter service in 1949. Sutter would go on to a life-long career with Boeing, and is famously known as “The Father of the 747.”
It is difficult to tell the difference between Bombardier’s CRJ-200 regional jet and the Challenger 850 corporate aircraft. It is equally difficult to tell the difference between Sean and Eric Gillespie, Vice Presidents of Flying Colours. Along with their father, John, the twin brothers are guiding the corporate jet completion company through an ambitious growth plan - and the Gillespies and the jets are tightly linked.
