Tag Archive for: Flight

Alleged spy arrested boarding flight to mainland China – CNN International

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CNN International

Alleged spy arrested boarding flight to mainland China
CNN International
The charges levied include espionage, attempted espionage, prostitution and adultery and together have been designated a national security case. The official said investigators found enough evidence to be able to bring charges, but much more is needed …
Navy Officer Arrested Boarding Flight to China, Charged With Espionagewnep.com
Asia Pacific|Taiwan Denies Role in Spy Case Involving US Navy OfficerNew York Times
Navy Officer Passed Air Defense Secrets to ChinaNewsweek
State of the State KS (subscription)
all 75 news articles »

Espionage China – read more

DOD radar blimp breaks loose, takes out power lines in 160-mile flight [Updated]

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One of the two JLENS aerostats on the ground at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Two aerostats make up a JLENS “orbit”.

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One of the two tethered aerostats that make up the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), broke loose from its moorings today and drifted across the skies of Maryland and  Pennsylvania, before coming down to earth 160 miles away. Two Air National Guard F-16 fighters were scrambled to monitor its movements, while its trailing tether took out power lines in Pennsylvania, causing blackouts across the state.

JLENS’ twin aerostats are (or were) supposed to provide airborne early warning and targeting of low-flying airborne threats coming in from the Atlantic, covering a radius of 300 miles with their look down search and targeting radar. They have been the subject of much controversy because of the cost of the program; a recent Los Angeles Times report called the $ 2.7 billion dollar project delivered by Raytheon a “zombie” program: “costly, ineffectual and seemingly impossible to kill.”

The twin white balloons with their radomes are usually visible from Baltimore and much of surrounding Maryland, flying on tethers at sites in Baltimore County and Harford County near the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground.The 242-foot long JLENS aerostats are designed to operate at altitudes of up to 10,000 feet, and can stay aloft for up to 30 days at a time before being retrieved for maintenance. The tethers, made of Vectran (a substance similar to kevlar), are 1 1/8 inches thick, and are designed to withstand 100 mile-per-hour winds. However, the Harford County tether, near Aberdeen Proving Grounds’ Edgewood Arsenal facility, broke today, about halfway up to the JLENS aerostat, allowing the unmanned, unpowered blimp to be carried off while trailing 6,700 feet of cable. High winds during a storm that passed through the Baltimore region, or perhaps wind shear associated with the storms, snapped the tether just after noon local time, setting the aerostat adrift.

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Ars Technica » Technology Lab

Airplanes grounded in Poland after hackers allegedly attack flight plan computer

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Around 1400 passengers at Warsaw’s Chopin (Okecie) airport in Poland were grounded on Sunday after hackers allegedly attacked the computer system used to issue flight plans to the airplanes. The source of the attack isn’t yet known.

The alleged hack targeted LOT, the state-owned flag-carrying Polish airline. Reuters is reporting that the attack took place on Sunday afternoon, and was fixed about five hours later. 10 LOT flights were cancelled and about a dozen more were delayed, according to a LOT spokesman.

The spokesman didn’t provide any details of what had actually occurred, though he did give away this one tantalising morsel: “We’re using state-of-the-art computer systems, so this could potentially be a threat to others in the industry.” The spokesman said that flights that were already in the air were not affected by the hack and could land normally. Also, the hack didn’t affect the airport itself; it was just the LOT computers.

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Ars Technica » Technology Lab

Crop-dusting unmanned helicopter gets cleared for commercial flight

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An unmanned helicopter that has been used for cropdusting in Japan for over 20 years has gotten clearance for test use in the US from the Federal Aviation Administration. Yamaha’s RMAX is now free to be flown over farms across America under a “Section 333” exemption to FAA regulations governing commercial use of unmanned aircraft.

The RMAX is not a drone, at least in the sense that many think of them—it’s a giant remote control helicopter controlled by a pilot within line of sight, weighing 141 pounds and capable of carrying 61 pounds of liquid spray or granules for crop dusting. The radio-controlled craft is powered by a 21-horsepower two-stroke engine—essentially a riding lawnmower engine.

The RMAX recently gained approval for use in Australia by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), and is also flown for agricultural purposes in South Korea. Overall, RMAX aircraft have logged over 2 million flight hours, and are responsible for spraying about 40 percent of Japan’s rice crop today—so this is hardly an experimental aircraft. The University of California, Davis has been conducting experiments with the RMAX to determine its usefulness in crop-dusting vineyards on terrain not normally suited to traditional crop-dusting operations since 2013.

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Ars Technica » Technology Lab