Flight International - 04

Straight & Level
“When they told me it was some
kind of pilotless fighter project,
I didn’t think they meant this.”
A Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion from the US Marine
Corps’ Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Sqn
performs an external load certification lift of an
inoperable Lockheed Martin F-35 at NAS Patuxent
River, to help inform future lift capabilities
Say again
Real-time transcripts – where an individual, or possibly
an AI device, simultaneously types what a speaker is
saying – are notorious for mishearing certain words.
At Boeing’s recent earnings call, the Truss-braced
Transonic Wing project appeared as “trust-based
transonic win”.
Roo-d response
The person behind Ryanair’s Twitter account is a
genius of sarcasm.
“Ryanair, where’s the pouch? Can I pay extra for
one?” demanded one user, with a picture of the Irish
airline’s minimalist seatback.
The reply? “It’s a seat not a kangaroo.”
1973 Pass the sniff test
50
A device to detect explosives by sampling the air
nearby has been developed by Stanford Research
Institute. This could eliminate the need for a physical
search of airline passengers and their baggage,
although it should be used in conjunction with
a metal detector. A vacuum hose is passed over
passengers’ clothes, skin and hair, the air then being
passed through a small oven which breaks down nitro
groups to form nitric oxide. When mixed with oxygen
or ozone, the nitric oxide produces light which is
amplified by a photomultiplier, an alarm being set off
if the concentration exceeds a preset value. Dr Sidney
Benson, who has patented the device, is confident the
equipment will detect explosives even inside a new
bullet which has not been inside a discharged gun.
25
1998 Alenia’s Zappa is frank
The president of Alenia’s aerospace division, Georgio
Zappa, has criticised France, Germany and the
UK for their continued failure to define the future
shape of the European aerospace industry. Zappa
also attacks Aerospatiale, British Aerospace and
Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) for not including
Alenia Aerospazio in the talks leading up to the
transformation of Airbus into a commercial Single
Corporate Entity (SCE). “I believe they have made a
big mistake... I cannot understand why we have not
been invited to join the SCE,” he says. He stresses
that Alenia is not “anxious” to enter Airbus, and hints
that if the current situation is not resolved it will
continue its hitherto successful policy of establishing
bilateral alliances “as the market dictates”.
April 2023 Flight International 79