Group III, Texas Wing - SWR-TX-030

 Civil Air Patrol     U.S. Air Force Auxiliary 

More than meets the skies . . .

Newsletter - April, 2007 - Tid-Bits

Links or references to individuals or companies do not constitute an endorsement of any information, product or service you may receive from such sources

Stray Items of Interest (even if remote)

1 March Homeland Security to offer states more time on driver's licenses (News Examiner-Enterprise)
1 March New group to coordinate homeland security intelligence (Federal Computer Week)
1 March Homeland Security offers details on Real ID (C/Net)
1 March Air & Space and Power Journal - Spring 2007 Issue (USAF)
1 March Cirrus, Jeppesen Partner In Pilot Transition Course (Aero-News Net)
1 March First Dedicated S-92 SAR Helicopter Unveiled (Aero-News Net)
2 March March Intercom, featuring Air Combat Command now online (USAF)
2 March Pipeline cuts a controversial path (Sky Blue Waters)
2 March Mysteries of Rain and Snow (Science@NASA)
2 March Civil Air Patrol revives for anti-terror war (World Peace Herald)
2 March Homeland Security Issues Specs And Guidelines For Controversial Real ID (Information Week)
2 March SECAF emphasizes Air Force goals with card (Air Force Link)
2 March News: Pacific Shows Signs of Morphing From Warm El Nino to Cool La Nina (NASA Earth Observatory)
2 March US DOT, FAA ban ‘upgrading’ to Windows Vista, Explorer 7, Office 2007 (MacDailyNews)
2 March After Being Fined In 2000, DFW Int'l Wins EPA Kudos (Aero-News Net)
2 March ALERTS System Unveiled At Heli-Expo 2007 (Aero-News Net)
2 March Go West, Big Plane: The A380 Will Land At LAX After All (Aero-News Net)
2 March The State Of Sikorsky: Pino Calls Company's Health 'Robust' (Aero-News Net)
3 March Air traffic controllers: Towers understaffed (The Desert Sun)
3 March US Air Force Battles Aging Planes (Aero-News Net)
3 March Glasair Says 'Two Weeks To Taxi' Has Yielded Surprising Responses (Aero-News Net)
4 March FEMA scrambles to reform before new hurricane season (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
4 March The Case of Denver's Cracked Jet Windshields - Solved! (Aero-News Net)
5 March Microsoft Sweepstakes Offers Chance to Win 10-Hour Marquis Jet Card (Helium Report)
5 March NASA Detects Trends In Rainfall Traits From Drizzles To Downpours (TerraDaily)
5 March Microsoft, DOD to build medical storage model (Washington Technology)

5 March

Katrina subcontracting plans incomplete, GAO finds (Federal Computer Week)

5 March The 'new age' of super materials (BBC News)
5 March Hurricane Can Form New Eyewall and Change Intensity (NASA Earth Observatory)
5 March Aviation Diagnostics' Intelligent Automation Introduces SuperHUMS (Aero-News Net)
5 March Hawking to Make Zero Gravity Flight Next Month (Aero-News Net)
5 March Robinson Helicopter's New R66 Heli To Be Rolls-Powered (Aero-News Net)
6 March Think your network is secure? Think again (Washington Technology)
6 March Slower Gulf Stream a mathematical error (Greenie Watch)
6 March NASA's Advanced Technology Peers Deep Inside Hurricanes (NASA Earth Observatory)
6 March DARPA Strategic Plan - PDF Doc, best downloaded and read locally (DARPA)
6 March FAA May Ditch Microsoft's Windows Vista And Office For Google And Linux Combo (Information Week)
6 March Cessna's Busy Building Citation X Bizjets (Aero-News Net)
6 March USAF Plan To Win Raptor Support: Wow 'Em At Air Shows (Aero-News Net)
6 March Return To Flight, Part Four (Aero-News Net)
6 March New Airport Proposed Near Amarillo, TX (Aero-News Net)
6 March Another Airport Lost: Festus Memorial Airport Shot Down By City Council (Aero-News Net)
6 March Crews Expand Search For Missing RV To New Mexico, El Paso Area (Aero-News Net)
7 March Newschannel 5 investigation uncovers hole in Homeland Security (KRGV - Westlaco, TX)

7 March

DOD intertwines data security, interoperability challenges (Federal Computer Week)

7 March

Mozilla Issues Fixes for Firefox, SeaMonkey Flaws (PC World)

7 March Homeland Security revives supersnoop (Washington Times)
7 March HP joins UC Santa Cruz and NASA in groundbreaking collaborative nanotechnology effort (Nanotechnology Now)
7 March ASF To Pilots: File A Pirep, Please (Aero-News Net)
7 March Waiting For Its JSFs, Australia Will Buy 24 Super Hornets (Aero-News Net)
7 March Four F-14s Seized In SoCal; Three Owned By Museums (Aero-News Net)
7 March FAA Updates Plan For Controller Staffing To Match Increased Traffic (Aero-News Net)
8 March Stuart S. Carter is New Head of Army MARS (eHam.net)
8 March FAA plans to add 15000 controller jobs (Associated Press)
8 March Finding a 'soldier in a haystack' (GNC)
8 March Always Ready - The Coast Guard has much in common with CAP (BIReview)
8 March FAA allows cataract surgery, special contact lenses for pilots (AOPA)
8 March Remembering a Generous Man – The ancient Egyptians believed that immortality resided in having your name remembered for all time. On 23 February 2007, aged 93, Heinz Berggruen died in his native Berlin, a city he managed to leave just a step ahead of the Nazis when he was 23 years old, moving to Berkely, Calif. After a highly successful career as an art dealer first and a collector for the rest of his life, an activity that spanned two continents, he returned to Berlin in 1996. There, he sold to the city the bulk of his art collection literally "for a song." He left many friends. A life well lived. (My thanks to Muldoon Elder for his candid and warm obituary of a great man)
8 March Microsoft tools ease Vista upgrade (InfoWorld)
8 March Deploying Microsoft Office 2007 (InfoWorld)
8 March Fort Sam commemorates first military flight (Air Force Link)
8 March Boeing CFO Acknowledges Airbus Woes Have Helped The Bottom Line (Aero-News Net)
8 March Epic To Unveil Two New Planes At Lakeland 2007 (Aero-News Net)
8 March V-22 Fatigue Test Aircraft Surpasses 20,000 Effective Flight Hours (Aero-News Net)
8 March Raptors To Oshkosh! F-22s Will Grace AirVenture Skies Once Again (Aero-News Net)
9 March In Pictures: Priciest Private Jets (Forbes)
9 March NASA backs quantum-computing claim (ComputerWorld)
9 March X Prize Foundation Holds High-Flying Gala For Charity (Aero-News Net)
9 March It Can Fly! Aero-Vodochody's First L-159T1 Takes To The Skies (Aero-News Net)
9 March Megasized Airport Getting Gigantic Control Tower (Aero-News Net)
9 March 767 Tanker Completes First Fuel Transfer (Aero-News Net)
10 March Real IDs, phony security (The Tennessean)
10 March Next-Generation Pilatus PC-12 Crosses Atlantic (Aero-News Net)
10 March Civil Air Patrol Takes Pride In New Wings (Aero-News Net)
10 March Federal Bill To Tighten Airport Security Introduced (Aero-News Net)
11 March Congress, states and DHS face off over Real ID (Federal Computer Week)
11 March Marines Engage In 'Serious Child's Play' To Ward Off Hypoxia (Aero-News Net)
11 March Vietnam War-Themed Poster Unveiled For Slidell Air Show (Aero-News Net)
11 March Embry-Riddle Offers Summer Academy Courses For Teens (Aero-News Net)
11 March FAA Opens Certification Office In China (AVWeb)

12 March

Army can now jam IEDs without disrupting communications (Federal Computer Week)

12 March Emergency workers at Ala. tornado failed to use new radio network (Florida Times-Union)
12 March DHS Creates National Computer Forensics Institute (InformationWeek)
12 March Air Force Forum Examines Alternate Energy Sources (Aero-News Net)
12 March F-16 Pilot Safe After Bailout Near Florida Keys (Aero-News Net)
13 March FAA updates hiring plan (FedNews Online)
13 March ATG To Exhibit Its Javelin In The Land Down Under (Aero-News Net)
13 March Monday Was A Good Day For Boeing (Aero-News Net)
13 March Winglets Coming For Citation X Bizjets (Aero-News Net)
13 March Pilot Ejects As Second F-16 Goes Down Monday (Aero-News Net)
13 March Navy Says Farewell To Its Last Sea King (Aero-News Net)

14 March

The battle for spectrum (Federal Computer Week)

14 March Positron Expands on Its Entry into Radiation Detection Devices for DHS (Genetic Engineering News)

14 March

AMD Active TV Puts Your PC's Content on TV Screen (PC World)

14 March The coming revolution in commercial avionics data networking (Military and Aerospace Electronics)
14 March Intel debuts 50-watt Quad Core server processors (Military and Aerospace Electronics)
14 March Three Air Force cadets facing court-martial (Air Force Link)
14 March Modelmaker Makes 'Valiant' Effort To Recreate Cold War Bomber (Aero-News Net)
14 March Airline Pilot Hiring Remained Strong In February (Aero-News Net)
14 March Boeing's Blended Wing Concept Ready To Take Flight (Aero-News Net)
15 March US counterterrorism and homeland security status (Spero News)
15 March NASA Recognized for Water Purification and Clean Up Technologies (PRNewswire)
15 March Air Force Implements Energy Initiatives Program (Air Force Link)
15 March Flap Problem, Turbulence Leads To Fractured Back (Aero-News Net)
15 March NTSB Releases Probable Cause Report In 2005 Glider Accident (Aero-News Net)
15 March Boeing Doubts USAF Will Seek New Bids For CSAR-X (Aero-News Net)
15 March FAA Forecast Conference 2007: General Aviation (Aero-News Net)
16 March NASA revises its media policy to protect its scientists and promote unbiased reporting (Space Ref)
16 March Pilot Lost In NM Musketeer Crash (Aero-News Net)
16 March FAA Bestows EACs To Raytheon UAVs (Aero-News Net)
16 March CVW-14 Commander Makes 1,000th Arrested Landing (Aero-News Net)
16 March Europe's Planned Galileo GPS-Rival Runs Into Snags (Aero-News Net)
16 March First F-117s Head For Retirement (Aero-News Net)
17 March FBI sees 'no plot' in school buses (Washington Times)
17 March New tracking system warns pilots of danger (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
17 March UAVs A Familiar Sight In Southern New Mexico Skies (Aero-News Net)
18 March Enhanced licenses cross-border plan to be tested (Seattle Times)
18 March Geoengineers offer far-out ideas on global warming (International Herald-Tribune)
18 March USAF Shows Its Muscle In Afghanistan, Iraq (Aero-News Net)
18 March Boeing Halts Production Of 747-400 Passenger Plane (Aero-News Net)
19 March Age of Affordable Private Jet Travel Launches With Jumpjet (WM Experts)

19 March

Auction Fraud Tops Net Crime (PC World)

19 March Ultralight Guided Whooping Cranes Returning to Wisconsin For Summer (Aero-News Net)
19 March Lockheed Martin Engineers Observe VSTOL OPs On USS Nassau (Aero-News Net)
19 March NMC's First Skyhawks Arrive In Traverse City (Aero-News Net)
20 March China plans to set up company to build jetliner (LA Times)
20 March As costs rise, Future Combat System deal in question (Washington Technology)
20 March 'Wiki' Goes Legit (PC World)
20 March Have a Messy Desk? Congrats, You're More Productive (PC Magazine)
20 March Blue Angels Kick Off 2007 Season In El Centro (Aero-News Net)
20 March 2007 National General Aviation Awards Recipients Named (Aero-News Net)
20 March Homebuilt Plane Fails To Merge Into Traffic On FL Highway (Aero-News Net)
21 March Cancelled hacking demo raises RFID red flag at DHS (Washington Technology)

21 March

Stolen Credit Card Data Used in Florida Crime Spree (PC World)

21 March States rebel against Real ID Act (eWeek)
21 March Homeland Security dismisses Real ID privacy concerns (C/Net News)
21 March Houston's Hobby Airport Celebrates 80 Years (Aero-News Net)
22 March Erroneous ILS Incident - Maj Malcolm Dickinson, NYWG Directory of Safety, submitted this 3-part video of an event in New Zealand that could easily have happened here (when part 1 is over, look to the right for links to parts 2 and 3). Always do a cross check.
22 March FAA Proposal Threatens Small Airports (WLBT-TV)
22 March ExxonMobil Donates $1 Million To Houston Life Flight Agency (Aero-News Net)
22 March Border Patrol Captures Child Assault Suspect, With A Little Help From UAV (Aero-News Net)
22 March NTSB Issues Safety Recommendation Affecting Cessna 150s (Aero-News Net)
22 March EU Approves Open Skies, With British Stipulations (Aero-News Net)
23 March Youthful South Florida pilot has a global mission (Sun-Sentinel)
23 March DHS Plans To Test Unmanned Drones Capability (All Headline News)
23 March FAA promotes runway navigation system (Business Week)
23 March DARPA's Biodynotics program is beginning to bear fruit. The Army says that the "Big Dog" robot is learning and making the grade, the Marines are teaching it some tricks, and "lethal frisbees" don't seem to be far behind. [Editor's Note -- It would seem that Ray Bradbury was right, after all.] (Various sources)
23 March FAA Picks Plan To Make Airspace More Efficient (WBZ-TV)
23 March First Export Eurofighter Typhoon Flies (Aero-News Net)
23 March Russia Gets A Little Closer To EADS (Aero-News Net)
23 March Thielert Receives FAA Approval For Centurion 2.0 Installation In Cessna 172s (Aero-News Net)
23 March He's Off! Florida Pilot Barrington Irving Begins Round-The-World Flight (Aero-News Net)
24 March Robert E. Petersen Dies at age 80 (StreetFire)
24 March TSA Screeners Busted For Theft At LAX (Aero-News Net)
25 March Top 5 Cool Vista Tricks (Redmond Magazine)
25 March Australia Updates Network Centric Warfare Roadmap (Defense News)
25 March Another Week, Another Airbus Walkout (Aero-News Net)
25 March Victory! NY Pilots Defeat Minimum Age Proposal (Aero-News Net)
25 March Chinese Military Officials Give Pace Firsthand Look At Su-27 (Aero-News Net)
26 March Pilot's historic journey stops on Long Island (Newsday - Long Island)
26 March Congress passes 9/11 bills (Federal Computer Week)
26 March FAA to streamline certification to curb incursions (ATWOnline)
26 March US Communications Network in Trouble (Washington Post)
26 March Gone West: Lt. Colonel Chase J. Nielsen (Aero-News Net)
26 March Czech Aircraft Works Says New, Larger Plant Is Up And Running (Aero-News Net)
26 March Subcommittee Looks To The Future of US Aviation (Aero-News Net)
26 March Elmendorf AFB Bids Farewell To Its C-130s (Aero-News Net)
26 March It's Official -- RAC Is Now Hawker Beechcraft (Aero-News Net)

27 March

States need $1B to implement Real ID, governors say (Federal Computer Week)

27 March FAA Wants Word Taken Right Out of Its Mouth (Aero-News Net)
27 March Mooney, AmSafe Bring Airbag Safety To Older M20s (Aero-News Net)
28 March Arthur Thought you might be interested in this listing on eBay Motors. This is a very historic aircraft and actually dropped a bomb on a U-Boat during WWII. I wish I'd hit the lottery as I would buy it and donate it to CAP. (Guess it would help if I actually bought a ticket.) Tip sent to me by 1st Lt Harold Parks – AW
28 March Panel to Scrutinize FAA Procedure on Pilot Fitness (Congreessional Quarterly)

28 March

Washington state to test drive border-friendly driver's license (Federal Computer Week)

28 March UAV pilots cleared for takeoff (Aviation Week)
28 March Louisiana Hospital Adds Fixed-Wing Air Ambulance Service (Aero-News Net)
28 March Jet Grounded Over US, Russian Ownership Dispute (Aero-News Net)
28 March Experimental Aircraft Runs on Fuel Cell, Batteries (Aero-News Net)
28 March AEA Convention Gets Underway Thursday In Reno, NV (Aero-News Net)
29 March 300 Tuskegee Airmen and Their Families in DC for Bestowing of Congressional Gold Medal (Black America Web)
29 March DHS seeks input for anti-missile drones project (Washington Technology)
29 March To Infinity And Beyond (Forbes)

29 March

DOD to set information-sharing strategy (Federal Computer Week)

29 March Can you believe this is inside an airplane? (Clipmarks)
29 March Falling debris was no space plane, says NASA (The Register - London)
29 March NASA Astronaut to Run Boston Marathon in Space (NASA)
29 March High-End Retailer To Exclusively Market Zero-G Weightless Flights (Aero-News Net)
29 March First Australian MRH-90 Helo Takes Flight (Aero-News Net)
29 March AEA 2007: EMS SATCOM Unveils CNX-300 Mobile Access Router (Aero-News Net)
29 March First Two 'Hawker Beechcraft Corporation' Aircraft Delivered (Aero-News Net)
30 March With five private jets, Travolta still lectures on global warming (Free Republic)

30 March

Successful cyberattacks against DOD drop (Federal Computer Week)

30 March Sharper Image Adds Weightless Flights to Its List of Unique Items (Space Mojo)
30 March More Warbirds Heading To AirVenture 2007 (Aero-News Net)
30 March Researchers Confirm Jet Lag Is Worse On Longer Flights (Aero-News Net)
30 March Brazil's Varig Sold To Former Rival GOL (Aero-News Net)
30 March Drunken Rage Results In $12,000 Fine For Passenger (Aero-News Net)
30 March Diamond Aircraft To Exhibit Its DA50 At German Air Show (Aero-News Net)
31 March Spanish Airline Iberia Reportedly Receives $4.54 Bln Takeover Bid (Trading Markets)
31 March NASA sets fires to restore prairie grass (Sandusky Register)
31 March Southwest Airlines Considers Priority Seating... And Food! (Aero-News Net)
31 March Tuskegee Airmen Receive Congressional Gold Medal For Their Service (Aero-News Net)
31 March AEA 2007: Over $100,000 In Scholarships Awarded (Aero-News Net)
31 March AOPA To Provide Revealing First Glimpse Of 2007 Sweepstakes Plane At Lakeland (Aero-News Net)
31 March They're Off And Running: Eclipse Delivers First Three Planes To DayJet (Aero-News Net)

Links or references to individuals or companies do not constitute an endorsement of any information, product or service you may receive from such sources

Found on the Internet (click on link to view the story)

1 March NASA Probe Spies Jupiter's Moons and Storms in Flyby (Space.com)
1 March Old Spanish trail in the path of Spaceport's FAA licence (Flight International)
1 March NASA New Launch Vehicle Slips to 2015 (Spaceports)
1 March Academy cadets prepare to have a blast ... off (Air Force Link)
1 March NASA Planetary Surface Habitat (Gadget Maniac)
1 March NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Monitors Jupiter in Support New Horizons (Space Ref)
1 March NASA's Cassini Returns Never Before Seen Views of the Ringed Planet (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
1 March Titan Features and Interactions (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
1 March Titan Virtual Tour (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
2 March NASA's robotic sub readies for dive into Earth's deepest sinkhole (Space Ref)
2 March Twin spacecraft track solar storms, NASA says (ABC News)
2 March Our view: Reaching the moon (Florida Today)
2 March NASA Says Orion Will Be Delayed Due To Lack Of Funds (Aero-News Net)
5 March The Quiet Side (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
3 March Spacecraft Snaps New Views of Saturn (NASA JPL)
3 March Space Adventures suborbital push in jeopardy? (Personal Spaceflight)
4 March ISS rotated 180 degrees successfully by non-propulsive maneuver (NASA Spaceflight)
4 March NASA Moves Shuttle Back To Hangar For Repairs (KWTX, Waco)
4 March NASA Plans To Roll Atlantis Back Sunday (Aero-News Net)
5 March Pan's Highway (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
5 March The Pioneer 10 and 11 anomalies and Dark Matter (Imagineers)
5 March NASA Can't Pay for Killer Asteroid Hunt (Forbes)
5 March Germany Plans Mission To Moon (Aero-News Net)
6 March Two Spacecraft, One Planet: ESA, NASA Tag-Team Jupiter (Aero-News Net)
6 March Engineering students set to fly NASA's 'Vomit Comet' (Penn State Live)
7 March NASA Ames to Host International Space University Summer Session (NASA)
7 March NASA Mission Finds Link Between Big and Small Stellar Blasts (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
7 March NASA: No Money Available To Hunt Killer Asteroids (Aero-News Net)
8 March NASA Picks Spot for Water Plant (Arcadia Weekly)
8 March NASA's Orion Spacecraft One Step Closer To Assembly (Aero-News Net)
9 March Alien Volcano (Science@NASA)
10 March NASA New Horizons Image: Jupiter's Rings (Space Ref)
10 March NASA Near-Earth Object Survey and Deflection Analysis of Alternatives Report to Congress (Space Ref)

10 March

10 March He's building NASA's taxi to the moon (Chicago Sun-Times)
10 March NASA Mission Finds Link Between Big and Small Stellar Blasts (News Blaze)
10 March NASA robot to repair and refuel satellites (Awesom-o)
10 March Work Continues To Return Atlantis To Launch Pad (Aero-News Net)
11 March NASA’s Mars life-detector (ZDNet.com)
12 March NASA asteroid-tracking work can't get it all done by 2020 (Telegram)
12 March Natural Hazards: Fire: Fires in the Southern United States (NASA Earth Observatory)
12 March NASA Studies True Colors of Evergreen Rainforests (NASA Earth Observatory)
12 March A Hot Start Might Explain Geysers on Enceladus (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
12 March Orbital Express Launched From Cape Canaveral (Aero-News Net)
13 March NASA seeks a near-Earth asteroid sample (EarthTimes)
13 March NASA Report on Asteroids Suggests Nuclear Option (NPR - USA)
13 March NASA catches stereo eclipse (Science@NASA)
13 March When the Sky Falls, Where Will NASA Be? (Scientific American)
13 March NASA Cassini Spacecraft Images Seas on Saturn's Moon Titan (Astrobiology News)
13 March Japanese ISS Module Arrives At NASA (Aero-News Net)
14 March Brief period of intense radioactivity could be the power behind the geysers on Enceladus (Earth Times)
14 March