Plane Forced to Land After Pilot Dies

Plane Forced to Land After Pilot Dies

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Pilot Dies in Mid-Air - Plane Landed Sfely

Continental Airlines en route from Belgium landed safely in Newark, N.J., today after the pilot died midflight at the controls of a jet with 247 passengers onboard.


The Federal Aviation Administration says a plane carrying a pilot who died in mid-flight has landed safely at the airport in Newark, N.J.
(ABC News)
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The crew onbord the Boeing 777 included two trained pilots who took control of the plane and landed it at the airport just outside New York City. There were also federal air marshals onboard Continental Flight 61.

The 61-year-old pilot apparently died of natural causes, Continental said in a statement, and the passengers were not immediately told of his death, according to the airline.

"The crew on this flight included an additional relief pilot who took the place of the deceased pilot. The flight continued safely with two pilots at the controls," according to Continental's statement.

NASA ready to explode one of the coolest space missions ever

NASA ready to explode one of the coolest space missions ever: "In an unprecedented scientific endeavor — and what may be one of the coolest space missions ever — NASA is preparing to fly a rocket booster into the moon, triggering a six-mile-high explosion that scientists hope will confirm the presence of water.

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(Via digg.com: Stories / Popular.)

Space shuttle launch now set for Wednesday

Space shuttle launch now set for Wednesday: "NASA has rescheduled the launch of space shuttle Endeavour for 5:40 a.m. ET Wednesday, pushing back the planned launch of a separate lunar mission.

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(Via CNN.com.)

Wild Thing? Not Quite

Wild Thing? Not Quite: "

No it's not another fuzzy image of the Beast of Kandahar. It's a Northrop Grumman concept for a ship-based fan-in-wing VTOL'unmanned cargo aircraft that for a time we all thought was called, however unlikely, the Wild Thing.


Concept: Northrop Grumman

The image was featured in a larger powerpoint slide from a briefing on unmanned systems given at Paris on Monday by Northrop's vp strike and surveillance systems Gene Fraser. The slide was intended to illustrate the company's broad capability to provide a range of unmanned systems operating in a networked environment (hence the yellow 'connectivity' lines).

When questioned about the unknown UAV on the chart, Fraser revealed Northrop has conducted windunnel tests of the beast, which is designed to lift podded payloads of up to 10,000lb from the flightdeck of any air-capable ship. That's about the same load carried by the U.S. Navy's Grumman C-2 Greyhound carrier onboard delivery aircraft - and that needs a full-size flattop to operate from.

And the name? Well a few hours later we were told by Northrop that it's not really the Wild Thing, it's the Mover. Which sounds more appropriate, but way less fun. {UPDATE - okay, sorry, it's MUVR...)

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(Via Ares.)