Latest Stories in Aviation - Page 4
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Student Makes History with First Ever Human-Powered Ornithopter Flight
Photo via Todd Reichert A Canadian university student has done what Leonardo da Vinci had only dreamt of: piloted a human-powered "wing-flapping" plane! Called an ornithopter, and the inspiration for modern day helicopters, the machine was first sketched
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Flying Cars Just Around the Corner for Eighty Years
When Daniel covered the Terrafugia, he wrote "the rest of us here now on a heating planet could use more efficient cars and airplanes, not wacky combos of the two built for the super rich."
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Ryanair Boss: Scientists Have "Nearly Always Been Wrong"
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary may come close to rivaling arch-climate skeptic Lord Monckton when it comes to craziness. Having ranted and raved about eco-loonies in the past, he's now laying firmly into the scientific
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SkyRider Seat Squeezes In More Passengers , Saves Fuel
The more people you pack into an airplane, the less fuel per passenger consumed. Since we have noted already that standing on planes won't fly, Italian seat design company Aviointeriors proposes the SkyRider, a sort of saddle-like perch seat.
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Wretched Excess Dept: The Interiors of Private Jets
We do go on that flying is dying, and have complained before about the carbon footprint of private jets. We often complain about ostentatious monster homes. But I have never seen anything like a slideshow in the Telegraph of the interiors of the
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Could Going Green Mean Trashing Our Landscape?
Environmentalists may spend a lot of time battling against the fossil fuel lobby, but the awkward truth is that there is plenty of fighting between "green" groups too—perhaps most notably when it
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6 Incredible Low-Carbon Airships: From Concepts to Reality
As Lloyd reported a while back, Zeppelins are back—and not without good reason. Silent, stylish and low-carbon, many of us who fly regularly have been dreaming of the day when airships will once again grace the skies. (When
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Zephyr Solar Plane Lands After Over 2 Weeks (!!!) in the Air, Setting New World Record
Photo: Qinetiq Update: Zephyr Solar Plane's 3 World Records Confirmed! Thanks to Solar Power A week ago we wrote about the Zephyr "Eternal Aircraft", an unmanned solar plane that had just broken many records by staying up in the air for 7 days. Well,
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World's First Flight Powered by 100% Algae Biofuels Completed
A new and notable world's first in the realm of aviation biofuels: EADS, maker of the Airbus and lots of defense and transport aircraft, has announced the completion of the first flight powered entirely by algae-based biofuel.
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The 'Eternal Aircraft' Zephyr Solar Plane Aims for 14 Days in the Air
Photo: Qinetiq Update: Zephyr Solar Plane Lands After Over 2 Weeks (!!!) in the Air Update 2: Zephyr Solar Plane's 3 World Records Confirmed! Breaking All Kinds of Records A couple weeks ago we wrote about the Solar Impulse, a solar airplane that flew
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Boeing Unveils Hydrogen-Powered Phantom Eye Unmanned Drone
First Flight: Early 2011Boeing has just unveiled the hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye unmanned airborne system, and aircraft that should be able to stay up at 65,000 feet for up to four days without refueling. Of course Boeing's first
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Standing Seats On Airplanes Are A No-Fly Zone
Four years ago we wrote about the idea of standing seating on airplanes, and noted that "there could be a TreeHugger case that more people crammed in means less fuel burned per person, and we also suspect that it will end
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German Government Proposes Eco-tax on Air Travel
Everyone knows by now that the European member states have started a belt-tightening kick. Germany's Chancellor Merkel has presented an austerity plan that includes an eco-tax on air travel. And the air is already heating up:
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A Boeing 777 Hypermiled Across the Atlantic
How Many MPG Does a Boeing 777 Get?Hypermiling has gained a lot of popularity these past few years. It was even the Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year for 2008 ("'Hypermiling' or 'to hypermile' is to attempt to maximize gas mileage
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Spirit Airlines Says "Check Out The Oil On Our Beaches"
When Spirit Airlines last graced the pages of TreeHugger it was during the election, when they advertised: "We believe in offshore drilling and other plans that will help keep fares low for you" with a well-formed tush in the foreground (below the
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Protesters Who Occupied Runway Prepare to Stand Trial
When anti-aviation activists stormed Aberdeen airport for a game of putt-putt (mini-golf in the UK), one commenter pointed out that they would have been shot on sight in the US. The same group had previously occupied the roof
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Virgin America Tops Greenest US Domestic Airline Rankings
If you're already fan of Virgin America here's another reason to like them: Greenopia has just ranked them the greenest US domestic airline of the ten major airlines they surveyed. Alaska Airlines and Continental took
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No Third Runway But Here's an Architectural Bunker to Block It
Much to the joy of environmentalists, in its first week the new coalition government in the UK announced that the third runway at Heathrow Airport was being cancelled.
