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Above & Beyond: Boeing’s Centennial Traveling Exhibit
By Larry E. Nazimek
Entrance to Boeing’s “Above and Beyond” exhibit. As one walks through the entrance, the B & W Seaplane is the first thing they see. (Larry E. Nazimek)Boeing, whose headquarters is in Chicago, is celebrating its centennial, and their travelling exhibit, “Above & Beyond,” is making its rounds. We visited the exhibit as it opened in Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry.
Marcellus Rolle, of Boeing’s Centennial Anniversary Communications Office, explained, “Boeing does business worldwide, so there are actually three of these exhibits: one for the U. S., one for Europe, and one for Asia, in the appropriate languages. This one is in English, with Spanish subtitles.”
The first thing one sees as he enters the exhibit, is a ¼-scale model of the B & W Seaplane, named after its designers, William Boeing and U. S. Navy Lt. Conrad Westervelt. Made of wood, metal, and fabric, it was the first Boeing product. Its first flight was on June 15, 1916, and its maximum speed was 75 mph.
Editorial: Sharing Airspace with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s)
By Ed Downs
First, the title of this editorial is technically wrong. While many (if not all) readers will recognize the acronym UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), with the immediate image of the lethal “Predator” coming to mind, such an image and use of the term “Unmanned Aerial Vehicle” simply demonstrates the same level of misunderstanding that was held by this writer – more on the acronym later. Fortunately, receipt of a NASA news release and a conversation with the pros at NASA came to my rescue.
But let’s go back to the beginning of this subject and take a look at why it attracted this writer’s attention. As a part time instructor for the well-known aviation school, Aviation Seminars (an immersion training organization that conducts weekend programs around the country), I am privileged to teach Flight Instructor Refresher Clinics (FIRCs). A Certified Flight Instructor must attend a FIRC every 24 months, often not a terribly fun experience, as the same material is often covered time and time again. The last FIRC I taught was different, having been updated to include a good deal of new material and visual aids. One of the key topics covered has to do with “pilot deviations,” or what most pilots refer to as mid-air collision and runway incursion avoidance. A new subject in this presentation deals with the increased use of “UAVs” in the National Airspace System. Basically, this two-slide subject suggests “heads up and watch out!” The presentation includes an actual video taken from a UAV operating in Afghanistan as it whizzes past an A-300 Airbus with less than 50 feet to spare. But that is the end of the presentation. No further discussion is included about what is really going on with UAV’s here in the States.