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coondoggie writes: It will be one of the largest gatherings of flying WWII aircraft in history as 56 famous vintage warbirds will fly through restricted airspace over the National Mall Friday in remembrance of the 70th anniversary of VE-Day or Victory in Europe Day. The huge flyover, dubbed the "The Arsenal of Democracy," of so many different types of aircraft – from seaplanes to fighters and the only flying B-29 Superfortress – was no easy undertaking. The first plane should be visible along the National Mall around 12:10 p.m. With roughly 90 seconds between formations, the Flyover will end by 1 p.m. Reagan National Airport will be closed to commercial traffic from 12 noon to 1 p.m. to accommodate the flights. The Flyover will be streamed live here.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

via Slashdot
FAA: Big Tech Challenges For Massive Washington, DC Warbirds Flyover

One of America’s most delicate ecosystems is invaded with swarms of giant, non-native Burmese pythons. They’re big. They screw up the ecosystem. And they’re hard to find. But researchers may have finally learned how to round ‘em up, thanks to radio and GPS.

The easily camouflaged, semi-aquatic Burmese python can easily hit 20 feet and 200 pounds, and they like to snack on endangered mammals dwelling in the Everglades—making them both hard-to-nab and a serious threat to the local ecosystem. They were first spotted in the region back in 1979.

In a study led by the U.S. Geological Survey, published last month in the journal Animal Biotelemetry, researchers explained how the use of tracking technology over many years has narrowed down the size of the huge snakes’ dwelling range in Florida’s Everglades National Park. It also better explains the animals’ movements and migration. This can help authorities neutralize this threat to the Everglades’ biodiversity.

This study started back in 2006 with 19 wild-caught adult pythons, which were implanted with radio transmitters or GPS devices. Sixteen were radio-tracked with VHF tags for three years, and the other three snakes were monitored with GPS tags for one year. The results determined where the pythons like to hang in the park (on tree islands and near roads, in an average range of around 14 square miles), and that they tend to move to wherever there’s surface water. Before this study, the predators’ movements and habitat ranges within the park were pretty unknown.

This multi-year effort was the largest and longest-running python-tracking study ever (both here and its native habitat of Southeast Asia). The National Park Service says that since 2002, only about 2,000 pythons have been removed from the park—“likely representing only a fraction of the total population.”

In 2013, the state kicked off the inaugural Python Challenge. It was a snake-snatching contest that awarded regular folks thousands of dollars to comb through the Everglades, wrangling and exterminating Burmese pythons. (There’s a second installment set for 2016.) Hopefully this new study can better put the task in tech’s hands.

[USGS via WashPo]

via Gizmodo
Pythons Take Over Florida, Are Busted By GPS

As unnerving as it is to hear, air traffic control has always been pretty piecemeal. Relying on a combination of instrumentation—namely, radar, radios, and GPS—as well as good old fashioned eyeballs, pilots do a pretty good job navigating the sky. But they’re about to get a lot better with a new satellite-based system.

Appropriately named NextGen, the new system being deployed widely this year by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) promises to improve every single air traveller’s experience. The key is constant connectivity to precise satellite technology that gives all aircraft and controllers in flight towers access to real-time-data from the time the plane leaves the gate until it arrives at its destination. This means weather problems are more easily spotted and avoided—which is a huge deal since weather causes 70 percent of all delays. Beyond that, the entire air traffic control system is becoming more automated and modernized. The FAA already has a list of NextGen success stories, too.

The NextGen system will get even better as more planes use it, too. “All you need is one aircraft to land and the benefits begin,” said the FAA’s Warren Strickland in a statement. “With connections, the benefits are exponential.” Heck, even an incremental benefit would be nice at this point!

via Gizmodo
Thank God the FAA Is Switching to Satellites for Air Traffic Control

3D printing has just reached another major milestone as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has officially approved GE’s T25 as the first 3D printed part cleared for use on a commercial jet engine.

GE is now working with Boeing to retrofit over 400 of its GE90-94B engines—used on the modern 777—with the new part.

But before you get second thoughts about ever flying again, it’s important to note that this part wasn’t created using the consumer-grade 3D printers that churn out toys, smartphone cases, and other plastic trinkets. The fist-sized silver metal housing designed to protect a compressor inlet temperature sensor from icing was created using a 3D printer using additive manufacturing techniques. But instead of extruding plastic from a heated nozzle, a highly-accurate laser is directed at layer after layer of cobalt-chrome powder to slowly build up the part over time.

What you’re left with is a part made from lightweight cobalt-chrome alloy metal that’s just as strong and durable as parts made with more traditional manufacturing techniques like metal stamping or milling. Except that using a 3D printer means these parts are actually faster to produce and refine, they can be far more complex in their design, and they result in little to no wasted material during production.

[GE via Gizmag]

via Gizmodo
This Is the First 3D-Printed Part That’s Approved for a Jet Engine

No one, not even these fighter pilots, can’t resist a chocolate bar when the munchies strike. This video shows how the pilot in the front passes a Snickers bar to his colleague just by opening his hand and letting it float to the back of the cockpit dragged by the acceleration forces. So cool.

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via Gizmodo
This is how fighter jet pilots pass snacks in the cockpit while flying

You can zoom in this 48-megapixel image of the USAF boneyard in Tucson, Arizona—stitched from Bing Maps satellite images—and try to identify all those airplanes. Or you can watch this USAF documentary on how the US stockpiles thousands of planes in deserts around the country to keep the active fleet flying.*

Or you can do both.

* And in case the aliens invade us and we have to fight back.

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SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

via Gizmodo
A fascinating view into the US Air Force boneyards

This cool promotional video uploaded by Virgin Australia shows how they repaint one of their Boeing 737. They do all by hand and, in this case, it took them 11 days, 18 painters, and 260 liters of paint to get the job done. My favorite part is when the paint melts, I could spend hours watching just that.

But not all airlines do this job by hand. This video by Boing shows that they also use robots to paint their aircrafts.

via Gizmodo
Removing paint from a Boeing 737 is one of the trippiest things ever