https://fordauthority.com/2026/07/illinois-village-to-celebrate-ford-hangars-100th-anniversary
Showing posts with label airport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label airport. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
your feel good story for the week - James Blair, a U.S. Navy veteran who has spent the last two decades working at John Wayne Airport, was seen limping across the airport tarmac
plans to continue working, as he has for as long as he can remember, so that he can pay for his 90-year-old mother's hospice care.
He was recorded limping, visibly struggling, by a woman traveler who knew that someone in that position shouldn't have to continue putting so much wear on themselves.
So she started a fund raiser, and the GoFundMe raised more than $170,000 for him
Posted because it's awesome, it's charity, and it's an airport. I post all three of those things
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
the New York Times reports that the FAA is making a recruiting push aimed at avid video game players to fill a national shortage of air traffic controllers. (or, they could simply off to pay them a lot more money to get more applicants!)
The FAA’s new campaign aims to reach young adults who possess useful skills that are transferable to a career in air traffic control, including:
Demonstrated high cognitive functions
Multitasking
Spatial awareness
Strategy and problem-solving
With only about 25 percent of controllers holding a traditional college degree, this effort is focused on reaching talented young people pursuing alternative career paths, many of whom are active in gaming. Feedback from controller exit interviews reinforces this, with several controllers pointing to gaming as an influence on their ability to think quickly, stay focused, and manage complexity. Approximately 65 percent, more than 200 million, of Americans regularly play video games.
Demonstrated high cognitive functions
Multitasking
Spatial awareness
Strategy and problem-solving
With only about 25 percent of controllers holding a traditional college degree, this effort is focused on reaching talented young people pursuing alternative career paths, many of whom are active in gaming. Feedback from controller exit interviews reinforces this, with several controllers pointing to gaming as an influence on their ability to think quickly, stay focused, and manage complexity. Approximately 65 percent, more than 200 million, of Americans regularly play video games.
one step closer to a terminator robot... but - is this also one step closer to robots being used as bomb defusers, deep sea welders, and other high dollar and high danger work (but it's not likely, as human labor is often dirt cheap... robots like this will never clean hotels)
Japan Airlines will introduce the robots for trial run at a Tokyo airport amid country’s surge in inbound tourism and worsening labour shortages, with a view to deploying them permanently as a solution to the country’s chronic labour shortage.
The Chinese-made humanoids will move travelers' luggage and cargo on the tarmac at Haneda, which handles more than 60 million passengers a year.
The president of JAL Ground Service, Yoshiteru Suzuki, said using robots to perform physically demanding work would “inevitably reduce the burden on workers and provide significant benefits to employees”, according to the Kyodo news agency.
Monday, March 23, 2026
news flash... LaGuardia ATC has got a lot of explaining to do
2 pilots of Air Canada dead, the airliner collided with a fire fighting vehicle
The pilot and copilot of the Air Canada plane were killed, and 41 passengers and crew members, some with serious injuries, were taken to local hospitals. Of those injured, 32 have since been released
The fire truck was traveling across the runway to respond to a separate incident on board a United Airlines flight that reported an odor issue. Moments before the crash, audio of an air traffic controller revealed that they gave clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the tarmac. Moments later, a controller can be heard saying, “Stop, stop, stop, truck 1 stop, truck 1, stop.”
Later in the audio transmission, a distraught controller is heard saying, “We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”
Preliminary data show that the Air Canada plane was traveling between 93 and 105 mph when it collided with the fire truck
Later in the audio transmission, a distraught controller is heard saying, “We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”
Preliminary data show that the Air Canada plane was traveling between 93 and 105 mph when it collided with the fire truck
Follow up,
A flight attendant was found alive on the ground by rescuers, still strapped to her seat with the seatbelt - which had fallen through the floor of the damaged planeAnd we will never hear the end of that from airlines about wearing the damn seat belt during landing UNTIL the plane has reached the terminal. God damn it. They now have proof
Friday, March 06, 2026
Saturday, February 28, 2026
£1.8 million worth of gold bars discovered at the airport, and seized by police,
Officers stopped a man carrying the bars in his hand luggage as he prepared to fly abroad in May 2025, and a court ordered that the £1.8 million worth of gold bars can be retained by police under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
I admire this effort to help just ONE employee ( he must be amazing!) A US-based tech firm stepped up to help one of its employees of 3 years, leave the Mexico safely.
Cloud platform company Vercel arranged seats on every available flight headed to the United States from Guadalajara in a bid to ensure their employee and his wife could get out of Mexico pronto.
The Chaos in Mexico on Sunday forced flight cancellations, with flights called off at several of the country's busiest airportsTheir strategy ultimately succeeded. Barba and his wife were able to board one of the flights that took off and later arrived safely in Dallas, Texas.
Thursday, February 19, 2026
TSA agents were sometimes permitted to keep a percentage of travelers’ cash they helped seize
TSA has stripped more than 10,000 travelers of their money since 2014, but the supposed “criminals” are almost never charged after their cash is taken.
A class-action federal court case could finally end this outrage.
“TSA has secret policies that tell its screeners that they must seize travelers’ cash,” Dan Alban, the lawyer leading a nationwide class-action suit against the agency, tells me. Alban is with the Institute for Justice, which is fighting to stop airport checkpoints from being Constitution-free zones.
But traveling inside America with hefty amounts of cash is perfectly legal. That doesn’t stop TSA from plundering passengers on any and every BS pretext.
In August 2019, 57-year-old Brown was flying out of Pittsburgh International Airport carrying her father’s life savings — $82,373 — which he wanted her to deposit in a joint bank account near her Boston home.
A TSA agent noticed the Tupperware loaded with the cash while scanning Brown’s luggage and summoned a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, who speedily announced he was seizing the money.
There was never any allegation Brown came by the money illegally.
After the media publicized a lawsuit challenging the seizure, the TSA returned the money seven months later.
Until recently, TSA seizure efforts partnered with the Drug Enforcement Agency, whose asset-forfeiture program’s unofficial motto is “You make it, we’ll take it.”
The government doesn’t have to prove the person is guilty. Instead, the feds simply take the cash, and private citizens must engage in a long, expensive fight to attempt to get their money back.
TSA condemns travelers for concealing money even though more than 500 TSA agents have been fired for robbing passengers.
https://nypost.com/2026/02/17/opinion/a-class-action-lawsuit-seeks-to-stop-tsa-from-unlawfully-seizing-flyers-cash/
Sunday, February 08, 2026
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Sacramento City College will be the first California college to join a federal air traffic controller training program. Only 12 colleges have joined the program across the country. Huh. Not very popular
according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Ami Bera, a Democrat who represents Sacramento County, the enhanced designation will allow qualified students to bypass the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City and help address the national air traffic controller shortage.
Saturday, January 17, 2026
this is interesting... sueing for mental anguish, distress, and such - because an airline lost his luggage, and like all airlines, won't find it even when you tell them the location via Airtag
On December 28, 2023, American Airlines had a failure to deliver his checked luggage, which caused a severe mental health decline, due to the absence of essential clothing and prolonged stress from the baggage loss
According to the lawsuit, the traveler was exposed to the extreme cold of a Zurich winter without appropriate clothing, as all winter wear and personal items were inside the missing luggage.
He claims this situation directly contributed to a rapid deterioration of his mental health.
During his stay in Switzerland, which lasted several months, KR states that he was admitted to 3 different psychiatric hospitals. He spent more than one month as an inpatient receiving treatment.
Without any form of health or travel insurance, he received medical bills totaling over $50,000 from the Swiss healthcare system.
He had placed Apple AirTags inside the bags and shared precise location data with the airline.
Despite providing this information, KR alleges that the airline did not act on the tracking data to recover his belongings in a timely manner.
Because, airlines have not decided to be careful with your luggage, as they really don't care to be responsible for what happens at an airport. They have enough to deal with just flying airplanes, and getting maintenance on schedule, and past inspections.
It would be incredibly interesting if someone found a legal way into getting the airlines, and airports, to be vigilant about taking care of everything they are responsible for, and not losing luggage
Thursday, December 04, 2025
Tuesday, December 02, 2025
one of the Costco locations in San Diego, is the first / oldest of the business, was bought in 1976 and Price Club began. The first Costco was opened in Seattle in 1983, it merged with Price Club in 1993. The building was either a hanger, or a warehouse, for Hughes Aircraft manufacturing
Further digging result:
The structure, along with five other hangars, was part of a larger aviation industrial area.
However, there was a nearby airfield, just up the hills in Clairemont
Morena is at the bottom of the photo, this is all South of Balboa Ave, about a mile or two south of Costco.
This earliest depiction which has been located of San Diego Airpark was a 1947 Howard Rozelle aerial view (courtesy of John Fry).
Old Orchard Airpark is a private airstrip, home to the Hudson Valley Hornets Flying Club.
In 1999, the Hornets decided to build their own private airport, after 25 years of moving from one airport to another to another due to rising costs.
The club started in 1974 as Chapter 474 of the Experimental Aircraft Association. Its first home was Warwick Airport, then Orange County Airport and eventually Kobelt Airport in Wallkill.
A 24 acre defunct apple orchard in Modena became available, and work began.
Hornet members with heavy-equipment experience and surveying and construction backgrounds, joined in a six-year task to build Old Orchard Airpark.
Trees were cleared, the land was graded, access roads were built and a site plan for a Clubhouse/Shop, 40 privately built and owned hangars, and a tiedown spaces was developed.
Sunday, November 23, 2025
Saturday, November 15, 2025
photos of celebs at airports in the 70s
Burt and a Mopar
Phil Jackson in a Checker taxi
How much free publicity did rock and roll musicians give Jack Daniels in the 70s and 80s?
Marlon Brando in 1959
Elton John, hell of a gifted musician, and I don't think much of his last couple decades of music, but damn, in the 70s? Saturday Nights All Right for Fighting, Philadelphia Freedom, and Tiny Dancer.... ? Loved those. Island Girl, I'm Still Standing, I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues, Sad Songs (Say So Much), Blue Eyes, and Little Jeannie
How about that Dodge ladder truck?!
Friday, November 14, 2025
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Hugo Mathis of Switzerland is the owner and one of the pilots of the Classic Formation Team, which features a 1943 DC-3 and three Beech 18s, circa 1952 - and now, a B 25
and Ron Kaplan, owner of Warbird Aviation Art, painted the Doolittle Raider crests on it, and the name.
The War Bird Shop in Madras says the plane is the oldest flying B-25 bomber in the world.
The mechanics found some surprising discoveries were made along the way.
“It’s amazing going into some of these aircraft. The one that just took off — as we were taking all the panels apart, we’d start to see signatures of the Rosie Riveters that put it together, in lead pencil in some cases.
Erickson's Warbird Shop is becoming the 'go-to' place for bomber maintenance and restoration, they have three B-17s and three B-25s!
and the story really takes off from their - Ron is also the founder and executive director of the Ohio Air & Space Hall of Fame (OASHF) and Learning Center
Ron’s father was a B-25 instructor pilot during WWII and kept flying after the war.
“We flew out of Ohio State [University]’s Don Scott Field [KOSU],” Kaplan said of his father, who had been the fencing coach at OSU and later, as a professor, was also able to rent the school’s aviation department aircraft.
[Former] Governor [Jim] Rhodes kept ‘Buckeye One,’ the state of Ohio’s C-53, there.
(Since I've never heard of a C -53, I had to look it up)
Douglas C-53, A military transport aircraft during World War II, a variant of the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner, specialized for carrying troops with bucket seats and a single entry door, lacking the large cargo door and reinforced floor of the more versatile C-47 Skytrain.Ron attended OSU for graphic design, started a lucrative T-Shirt career, and transitioned to full-time aviation art and writing, which led to him being recruited onto the staff of the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) in 1998.
He spent 19 years at the NAHF, making connections in the aviation world, especially in the warbird community, then founded the OASHF while simultaneously creating a business around aviation artwork, such as nose art painted on metal or stoneware coasters with images of WWII aircraft.
At the 1981 Doolittle Raider Association reunion in Columbus, Ohio Ron was introduced to General [Jimmy] Doolittle and the attending Raiders, and in 1992 he painted an A-2 flight jacket with the Raiders’ crest and an illustration of Doolittle’s B-25 and gifted it to them at their 50th reunion in Columbia, South Carolina.
His occupation and talent resulted in opportunities to know and work with many such legends and icons of aviation such as Joe Foss, Paul Tibbets, Robin Olds, Bob Hoover, Tex Hill, and dozens more.
https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news/madras/oldest-flying-b25-bomber-restored-madras-takes-flight/article_2ddda9a9-911b-4d90-b601-024fca73603f.html
The Ohio State University played an integral part in advancing the aeronautics field, while evolving into one of the nation’s premier aviation programs.
The university built a second airport on East Broad Street “near the country club,” while also using other local airports such as Sullivant Field on Neil Avenue.
In support of its pilot training program, the university, in May 1942, purchased property for the development of an airport. The new facility was located on the outskirts of town, seven miles north of campus in northwest Columbus.
It became a public-use airport in 1959 upon receipt of federal funding for runway improvements.
The Ohio State University played an integral part in advancing the aeronautics field, while evolving into one of the nation’s premier aviation programs.
Less than 14 years after the first flight, World War I created the need for qualified military pilots. In spring and summer 1917, the War Department established Schools of Military Aeronautics at eight universities, including The Ohio State University.
The School of Aeronautics opened to teach cadets aircraft construction and maintenance on May 21, 1917, when the first "squadron" or group of 16 cadets reported. As the story goes, the cadets built the aircraft in the aeronautics building, the planes would then be rolled down the hill to the field just east of the Olentangy River, where flight tests and training would ensue.
The School of Aeronautics opened to teach cadets aircraft construction and maintenance on May 21, 1917, when the first "squadron" or group of 16 cadets reported. As the story goes, the cadets built the aircraft in the aeronautics building, the planes would then be rolled down the hill to the field just east of the Olentangy River, where flight tests and training would ensue.
The university built a second airport on East Broad Street “near the country club,” while also using other local airports such as Sullivant Field on Neil Avenue.
In 1939, Ohio State was one of a number of universities that took part in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, sponsored by the Civil Aeronautics Administration, for the purpose of fostering private flying
The first plane to utilize the new airport landed at the field on November 5, 1942. The airport's first two buildings in the spring of 1943, and two 2,200 feet, hard-surfaced runways, taxiways, and aprons in early 1944. Ohio State began offering flight instruction in 1945.
Four Columbus women pilots formed a chapter of the Ninety-Nines organization in 1946. Helen Linn was the assistant coordinator of pilot training at KOSU in 1946.
Ruth Gouthey was Ohio State's first female flight instructor, and helped form the first Columbus chapter of the 99s.
In the 1970s, the University used Douglas DC-3s at the airport to transport university sports teams, faculty, and administration to and from Columbus.
It's now the 5th largest airport in the state of Ohio, and ranks fourth in Ohio in the number of take-offs and landings and within the top 100 general aviation airports nationally.
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