A Parsippany man accused of pointing a laser at an airplane flying over his home, temporarily blinding the pilot and co-pilot, was indicted Wednesday under the federal Patriot Act, an antiterror law passed after 9/11.
Bill Gates is betting some of his considerable fortune on a new plan: energy-efficient aviation. Speaking at Flight School, an offshoot of the PC Forum here run by News.com publisher CNET Networks, Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn acknowledged that the world's richest man--and his former boss at Microsoft--is one of the many equity investors in the company. Gates holds the second-largest stake, behind another Fortune 500 individual, he said. To date, Eclipse has not formally disclosed its investors. The Albuquerque, N.M.-based company is working on the Eclipse 500, a six-seater that can fly at a maximum speed of 375 knots. Designed for flights of about 300 miles to 600 miles, the plane, which will sell for $1.3 million, will likely be used by companies promoting on-demand flight services. Raburn said he expects the company to get Federal Aviation Administration approval to use the planes in a commercial setting in about a year.
The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered the immediate inspection of all Cessna 402C aircraft, which makes up the majority of Cape Air and Island Airlines' fleets, because of a possible wing defect.
Born-and-bred Northland man Murray Belfield has succeeded in flying from New Zealand to Australia in a small home made wooden aeroplane. He is believed to be the first man to achieve the feat with a Jodel D11 model which took him 10 years to build, at a cost of about $20,000.
A driver accused of driving too fast will tell a magistrate the police mistakenly detected a low-flying aircraft. A mobile speed camera recorded the car travelling at 145 km/h along the Nepean Highway, Dromana, Australia, on February 22 last year. Pilot Andrew Lott was at the winery for his brother's 50th birthday, winemaker Andrew Hickinbotham said yesterday. Mr Lott had flown his Cessna 182 in from South Australia, landing at the airstrip beside the winery.
A Brazilian company has delivered the world's first ethanol-burning production aircraft to a crop-spraying company.
