On 8 March 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport bound for Beijing. Less than an hour after take-off, somewhere over the South China Sea the plane simply vanished. One eyewitness saw a burning object crash into the sea. But confusing radar signals trace tracked an aircraft taking an erratic course across the Malaysian peninsula, then on to the Andaman Sea. Did it crash there? Or did it fly on to land safely in disputed lands of Central Asia, or the top secret CIA 'black site' on Diego Garcia? Data from the Rolls Royce engines tracked by Inmarsat was said to indicate that it might have ditched in the furthest reaches of the South Indian Ocean. We know more about the surface of the moon than the bottom of the sea there. And the weather and currents are so bad, it may never be found. Convenient? Two years later, the Australians are still search - at the cost of billions - and have found nothing. But was the search in such a remote place part of a cover-up to distract the world's attention because the US Navy had, in fact, shot the plane down?Since the invention of radio, radar, satellite navigation and the internet, the world has become a smaller place. The answer must be out there. Or, perhaps, hidden within the pages of the secret files.

"Rockets and Revolution" offers a multifaceted study of the race toward space in the first half of the twentieth century, examining how the Russian, European, and American pioneers competed against one another in the early years to acquire the fundamentals of rocket science, engineer simple rockets, and ultimately prepare the path for human spaceflight.

Between 1903 and 1953, Russia matured in radical and dramatic ways as the tensions and expectations of the Russian revolution drew it both westward and spaceward. European and American industrial capacities became the models to imitate and to surpass. The burden was always on Soviet Russia to catch up--enough to achieve a number of remarkable "firsts" in these years, from the first national rocket society to the first comprehensive surveys of spaceflight. Russia rose to the challenges of its Western rivals time and again, transcending the arenas of science and technology and adapting rocket science to popular culture, science fiction, political ideology, and military programs.
While that race seemed well on its way to achieving the goal of space travel and exploring life on other planets, during the second half of the twentieth century these scientific advances turned back on humankind with the development of the intercontinental ballistic missile and the coming of the Cold War.

The United States has roughly 19,700 airports that provide critical services to the aviation system and local communities across the country. Commercial aviation transports roughly 650 million passengers annually and moves billions in revenue ton-miles of freight safely and securely across the country. Airports and air carriers connect large and small communities, create jobs and contribute significant benefits to the local and national economy. Airports are not only gateways to the aviation system for millions of passengers who fly commercially, they are important staging points for emergency services, law enforcement, and disaster relief also transporting cargo, and providing reliever runways if necessary. In small and rural communities, airports are life lines that connect their residents to the national and international aviation systems. This book provides an analysis and improvement options for air services in small and rural communities.

With air travel a regular part of daily life in North America, we tend to take the infrastructure that makes it possible for granted. However, the systems, regulations, and technologies of civil aviation are in fact the product of decades of experimentation and political negotiation, much of it connected to the development of the airmail as the first commercially sustainable use of airplanes. From the lighted airways of the 1920s through the radio navigation system in place by the time of World War II, this book explores the conceptualization and ultimate construction of the initial US airways systems.

The daring exploits of the earliest airmail pilots are well documented, but the underlying story of just how brick-and-mortar construction, radio research and improvement, chart and map preparation, and other less glamorous aspects of aviation contributed to the system we have today has been understudied. "Flying the Beam" traces the development of aeronautical navigation of the US airmail airways from 1917 to 1941. Chronologically organized, the book draws on period documents, pilot memoirs, and firsthand investigation of surviving material remains in the landscape to trace the development of the system. The author shows how visual cross-country navigation, only possible in good weather, was developed into all-weather "blind flying." The daytime techniques of "following railroads and rivers" were supplemented by a series of lighted beacons (later replaced by radio towers) crisscrossing the country to allow nighttime transit of long-distance routes, such as the one between New York and San Francisco.

Although today's airway system extends far beyond the continental US and is based on digital technologies, the way pilots navigate from place to place basically uses the same infrastructure and procedures that were pioneered almost a century earlier. While navigational electronics have changed greatly over the years, actually "flying the beam" has changed very little.

After the Apollo program put twelve men on the moon and safely brought them home, anything seemed possible. In this spirit, the team at NASA set about developing the Space Shuttle, arguably the most complex piece of machinery ever created. The world's first reusable spacecraft, it launched like a rocket, landed like a glider, and carried out complicated missions in between. Bold They Rise tells the story of the Space Shuttle through the personal experiences of the astronauts, engineers, and scientists who made it happen--in space and on the ground, from the days of research and design through the heroic accomplishments of the program to the tragic last minutes of the Challenger disaster. In the participants' own voices, we learn what so few are privy to: what it was like to create a new form of spacecraft, to risk one's life testing that craft, to float freely in the vacuum of space as a one-man satellite, to witness a friend's death. A guided tour of the Shuttle--in historical, scientific, and personal terms--this book provides a fascinating, richly informed, and deeply personal view of a feat without parallel in the human story.

The NEW edition of Aviation and the Role of Government, by Harry Lawrence of the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, features revisions of almost all chapters, several completely rewritten chapters, as well as new statutes and cases added throughout. Aviation and the Role of Government includes: updates to cover all significant aviation related government actions and transportation events including NextGen, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Treaties, Alliances, Space Developments and others. an expanded history of Pratt & Whitney and its contribution to American world air superiority by the development of the radial engine. the ongoing contest over slot allocations and ownership between the government and the airlines. patent litigation history and resolution during WWI by the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss. Aviation and the Role of Government chronicles the involvement of government in the evolution of air transportation, including passing mention of early governmental involvement in prior modes of transport, such as the maritime and railroad industries, which formed the foundation of aviation.

This book celebrates the aviators, astronauts, airline executives, and other innovators who have made Texas an influential world leader in the aerospace industry over the past century. Tracing the hundred-year history of aviation in Texas, aviator and historian Barbara Ganson brings to life the colorful personalities that shaped the phenomenally successful development of this industry in the state. Weaving stories and profiles of aviators, designers, manufacturers, and those in related services, Texas Takes Wing covers the major trends that propelled Texas to the forefront of the field. Covering institutions from San Antonio's Randolph Air Force Base (the West Point of this branch of service) to Brownsville's airport with its Pan American Airlines instrument flight school (which served as an international gateway to Latin America as early as the 1920s) to Houston's Johnson Space Center, home of Mission Control for the U.S. space program, the book provides an exhilarating timeline and engaging history of dozens of unsung pioneers as well as their more widely celebrated peers. Drawn from personal interviews as well as major archives and the collections of several commercial airlines, including American, Southwest, Braniff, Pan American Airways, and Continental, this sweeping history captures the story of powered flight in Texas since 1910. With its generally favorable flying weather, flat terrain, and wide open spaces, Texas has more airports than any other state and is often considered one of America's most aviation-friendly places. Texas Takes Wing also explores the men and women who made the region pivotal in military training, aircraft manufacturing during wartime, general aviation, and air servicing of the agricultural industry. The result is a soaring history that will delight aviators and passengers alike.

As aviation is celebrated as one of the world's fastest growing industries, with passenger numbers and cargo volumes projected to double in the next 20 years, Plane Truth sounds a note of caution. In addition to the environmental impact of airport expansion, devouring farmland and wildlife habitats, and aviation's impact of noise and air pollution on communities, Rose Bridger reveals the extraordinary government subsidies for the aviation industry, encompassing government expenditure on infrastructure to tax breaks, all of which serve to support the industry in the face of rising oil prices and global economic downturn. Disavowing 'greenwashing' claims of fuel-efficient aircraft and alternative fuels that will enable growth without climate change, from British Airways to American Airlines, the symbiotic relationship between aviation and the wider socio-economic problems facing humanity is manifest.

In Full Upright and Locked Position, former FAA chief counsel and senior aviation policy official Mark Gerchick unravels the unseen forces and little-known facts that have reshaped our air travel experience since September 11, 2001.

With wry humor and unique insight, Gerchick takes us past the jargon, technicalities, and all-is-well platitudes to expose the new normal of air travel: from the packed planes and myriad hassles of everyday flying to the alchemy of air fares, the airlines endless nickel-and-diming, and the elusive hope of escape from steerage. We find out what pilots do in the cockpit, what s really worth worrying about when it comes to airline safety, and why we get sick on planes. Meanwhile, Gerchick ponders the jarring disconnect between our quaint expectations of "service with a smile" and the grim reality of cramped seats, no-free-lunch, and "watch-yer-knees."

With sympathy for both fliers and airlines, Gerchick shows how the new "business-all-business" airline industry has finally learned to make money, even in the face of crushing fuel costs, and get millions of travelers where they re going every day safely and quickly.

From his singular vantage point as former aviation regulator and policymaker, Gerchick gives us a straightforward insider s view of how hard it is for government to improve the traveler s lot by explaining the vagaries of consumer protection rules as well as the political realities and the economic forces at work. While Gerchick offers reasons to hope for a better future in air travel, he presents an unvarnished look at what we can expect good and bad when we take to the skies. Some of it will reassure you, some will make you cringe, but all will open your eyes to what it means to fly today."

Responding to the need to reliably detect explosives, bomb-making components, and other potential security threats concealed by airline passengers, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has focused on the deployment of whole body scanners and checked-baggage-screening as core elements of its strategy for airport checkpoint screening. This book examines the new technology elements and considerations relating to airport baggage and passenger screening with a focus on advanced imaging technology and explosives detection requirements.

Since the dawn of time, people have been fascinated by the idea of travelling to the stars, which is vividly illustrated by utopian and dystopian works of architecture, the visual arts, and cinematography. In many ways, the designs and symbols associated with space travel also found their way into popular culture in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states. Often spurned as propaganda by the West, they informed the design of mass-produced consumer goods and public art works in the USSR. While in our part of the world space travel largely turned into a political race as a result of the Cold War, its appeal found an aesthetic expression in everyday life in the East. This book presents the results of in-depth research and extensive travels through a total of seven countries. Its prime focus is the impact of space exploration on everyday life in its pioneering age between the late 1950s and the 1980s and the persistence of related concepts and utopian ideas in today's society. Told as a visual story, it combines artistic and documentary photography, portraits of contemporary witnesses, landscape snapshots, and historical documents. It is in part an historical investigation since many of the pioneers of the space age are no longer alive and many of the formerly ubiquitous items have disappeared. Text in English and German.

In Africa, where poor roads, ports, and railways often constrain efficient transportation, air transport holds great potential as a lever for economic growth and development. Yet Africa has suffered several decades of inefficient air services. Uncompetitive flag carriers, set up by newly independent African states, offered primarily intercontinental flights, while the domestic air service market remained underdeveloped and underserved. The 1999 pan-African treaty on liberalization of access to air transport markets, the Yamoussoukro Decision, attempted to address these shortcomings. Yet a decade later, only partial liberalization has been achieved. 'Open Skies for Africa: Implementing the Yamoussoukro Decision' reviews progress made in carrying out the treaty and suggests ways in which the liberalization process can be encouraged. The book analyzes the completed and still-pending steps toward implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision, both on a pan-African level and within various regions. Special focus is given to the challenges posed by the poor aviation safety and security standards that exist in most African countries. Finally, the book measures the impact that certain policy steps of the Yamoussoukro Decision have had and evaluates the economic significance of air transportation and its full liberalization in Africa. The book concludes that the process of liberalizing African air services must continue, and provides policy recommendations for the way forward.

Takeoffs, landings, and movement around the surface areas of airports (the terminal area) are critical to the safe and efficient movement of air traffic. The nation's aviation system is arguably the safest in the world, but close calls involving aircraft or other vehicles at or near airports are common, occurring almost daily. This book examines the recent actions the FAA has taken to improve safety in the terminal area including enhanced oversight and improved availability of risk-based data which could further improve safety.

The majority of Chinese steel has been used to meet domestic demand in China. However, as its steel production continues to grow, over-capacity is becoming a major concern to Chinese industrial policy makers, as well as steelmakers outside China. Although industry statistics indicate that the Chinese steel industry is not export-oriented, its consistently high output keeps U.S. steelmakers concerned that excess Chinese steel might overwhelm the global market once domestic demand is adequately met. These concerns become increasingly acute as the United States and the rest of the world are in the middle of a slow recovery from the economic recession started in December 2007. This book provides an overview of China's steel industry and discusses the issues and implications with regard to the U.S. steel sector.

This book examines aviation security with a focus on the background and policy options for screening and securing air cargo. The air cargo system is a complex, multi-faceted network that handles a vast amount of freight, express packages and mail carried aboard passenger and all-cargo aircraft. The air cargo system is vulnerable to several security risks, including potential plots to place explosives aboard aircraft; illegal shipments of hazardous materials; criminal activities such as smuggling and theft and potential hijackings and sabotage by persons with access to aircraft. Several procedural and technology-based initiatives to enhance air cargo security and deter terrorist and criminal threats have been put in place or are under construction.

Scotland has a worldwide reputation for launching some of the greatest ships ever built, but far less is known about our pioneering work on aviation. Yet in the great industrial cities and remote islands across the country, men and women risked their reputations, resources and lives to advance experiments in flight. Before airliners crossed the Atlantic Ocean and bombers secretly flew into the NATO airbase at Machrihanish, pioneers of aviation worked in the unlikely surroundings of Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow among other places. Their humble flying crafts, made with wood and canvas, would become the luxurious jet-engined aircraft of today. Including the first flight over Everest, the construction of the most northerly airship station in mainland Britain and the experience of civilians and pilots during the Clydebank Blitz of 1941, Scotland's Wings is a glimpse into the dramatic and sometimes controversial adventures within Scottish aeronautics. In Scotland's Wings, Robert Jeffrey tells a fascinating history, highlighting innovators whose ideas heralded the modern age of transport and revealing how the airfields of previous years will once again be used to progress into a daring new age of travel.

Aircraft and automobile manufacturing are considered by many to be the technological backbones of the U.S. manufacturing base. As the Obama Administration and Congress debate how to strengthen American manufacturing, aerospace is likely to receive considerable attention. Like other manufacturing industries, the world-wide recession has affected aerospace manufacturing, with both the defence and commercial sides of the industry facing difficult business conditions for the near and medium term. This book examines the U.S. commercial aerospace manufacturing industry and provides a discussion of major trends affecting the future of this industry.

Flight delays have beset the U.S. national airspace system. In 2007, more than one-quarter of all flights either arrived late or were cancelled across the system, according to the Department of Transportation (DOT). DOT and its operating agency, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), are making substantial investments in transforming to a new air traffic control system, the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen); a system that is expected to reduce delays over the next decade. This book explores the extent to which flight delays in the U.S. national airspace system have changed since 2007 and the contributing factors to these changes. Also discussed are the actions the DOT and FAA are expected to make that will reduce delays in the coming years.

Aviation congestion and delay is an issue of long standing. Statistically, there was a significant increase in congestion and delay throughout the national aviation system in 2007. The situation has been especially noticeable at certain key airports, namely the New York region in general and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in particular. The Department of Transportation (DOT) and its operating agency, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), have promised to take actions aimed at reducing congestion and delay both in the short and long terms. In the short term, DOT is proposing to address the JFK situation through administrative and economic measures that would likely restrict or otherwise provide for the allocation of flights into the airport during specific periods of time. In addition to the proposals likely to be made by DOT, there are other potential near-term fixes that can be considered to add system-wide capacity to the aviation system. These include, but are not limited to: airspace redesign, use of military airspace, and airspace flow control. Over the longer term the FAA is primarily relying on modernisation of the air traffic control system through the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS or NextGen) and the creation of new airport infrastructure to provide major reductions in aviation congestion and delay, although a recent FAA capacity needs study has concluded that these enhancements are needed immediately, especially in the New York region. Regulation of the national air transportation system is legally the domain of the federal government. The operation and ownership of airports, however, is provided primarily by regional, state and local entities.

"Don't Burn our Bridges: The Case for Caribbean Carriers" argues that a tourism-dependent region comprised largely of a group of islands must, in its own best interest, retain ownership of key aspects of its air access in spite of the costs and challenges involved in so doing. Air transportation is the glue that cements the tourism market to the destination, but it is also the aerial bridge connecting the territories and peoples of a single market and economy. Often regional airlines are forced to offer a mixture of commercial and social routes, which makes profitability difficult. The social service they provide is critical, however, and public sector shareholders should not measure their return on investment simply in terms of the bottom line. Holder rejects a widely held view that Caribbean governments, should not support their own carriers financially. Instead, he argues that because of their overall contribution to development generally, the air transportation industry should be counted among those companies in the region which are too big (and important) to be allowed to fail. "Don't Burn Our Bridges" documents the history of Caribbean airlines and attempts to demystify the complexities of such concepts as deregulation, yield management, hedging of oil prices, fare setting, fuel surcharges and a la carte pricing, while making the point that running successful airlines has defeated some of the world's most brilliant business minds. Holder also explores the impact of the global economic meltdown of 2008-2009 on air transportation and Caribbean tourism, and proposes a way forward for air transportation in the Caribbean community.

An airport is a location where aircraft such as aeroplanes, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may also be stored or maintained at an airport. An airport consists of at least one surface such as a runway, a helipad, or water for takeoffs and landings, and often includes buildings such as hangars and terminal buildings. Larger airports may have fixed base operator services, seaplane docks and ramps, air traffic control, passenger facilities such as restaurants and lounges, and emergency services. A military airport is known as an airbase or air station. The terms airfield, airstrip, and aerodrome may also be used to refer to airports, and the terms heliport, seaplane base, and STOLport refer to airports dedicated exclusively to helicopters, seaplanes, or short takeoff and landing aircraft. In some jurisdictions, the term airport is used where the facility is licensed as such by the relevant government organisation (e.g. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transport Canada) This new book brings together important research related to airports.

The book is intended to provide a brief summary and analysis of major legislative provisions under consideration in the ongoing Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization process. The book is organised into six major program areas: aviation system finance; airport finance; FAA management and organisational issues; system capacity and safety; environmental issues; and miscellaneous programs and provisions. In several cases, provisions that appear in various unrelated sections of proposed legislation have been rearranged in this book in an effort to group and discuss related items in an issue-driven or programmatic context.

Few sites are more symbolic of both the opportunities and vulnerabilities of contemporary globalization than the international airport. Politics at the Airport brings together leading scholars to examine how airports both shape and are shaped by current political, social, and economic conditions. Focusing on the ways that airports have become securitized, the essays address a wide range of practices and technologies-from architecture, biometric identification, and CCTV systems to "no-fly lists" and the privatization of border control-now being deployed to frame the social sorting of safe and potentially dangerous travelers. This provocative volume broadens our understanding of the connections among power, space, bureaucracy, and migration while establishing the airport as critical to the study of politics and global life. Contributors: Peter Adey, Colin J. Bennett, Gillian Fuller, Francisco R. Klauser, Gallya Lahav, David Lyon, Benjamin J. Muller, Valerie November, Jean Ruegg.

This book explores the geo-political, technical and economic aspects of the Avro Canada story. Author Randall Whitcomb reveals for the first time anywhere several exciting design proposals of the Avro company while putting the company and its technology into an international context. Global intelligence angles are explored from pre-WW II through the Cold War period. Focus is on bi-lateral issues with the Americans, with some pertinent American statesmen and industrialists receiving special attention for their roles in issues at the heart of our story. Recently released official information on the Avro C-102 Jetliner and CF-105 Arrow present their cancellations in a new light. Over a half-Century of deception by various governments, intelligence agencies and individuals is documented and given relevance in view of today's geo-political milieu. As in the author's first book, Avro's engineering is shown to have been visionary -- and still inspiring in the 21st Century.