Site Offers "Aviation Ring Tones" For Phones

A site name, appropriately enough, AVIATIONringTONES.com offers for sale cell phone ringtones of recorded cockpit sounds like the classis "whoop!, whoop!, whoop!" sound you hear just before CFIT; the Boeing altitude alert sound; auto-pilot disconnect; and even an F-16 low fuel "Bingo-Bingo" warning.

Is This the Future of General Aviation?

A consortium of European designers and companies are working on a radical redefinition of what a general aviation aircraft is. Modeled after a tuna, the SmartFish flies without slats, spoilers or flaps.

The SmartFish project intends to create a totally new kind of airplane type that can be used for everything from light sport aircraft to business jets to commercial puddle jumpers that carry up to 20 passengers. The goals include fuel economy, safety, visual beauty and a minimization of moving parts. Who's involved? According to the SmartFish web site:

The SmartFish proof of concept will be realized in collaboration with following companies: Extra (world leader in aerobatic aircraft) for system integration and test flights, Leichtwerk for interpretation statics and dynamics, LTB Borowski for composite manufacturing, Liebherr Aerospace for Landing Gear System development, DLR (German Aerospace Center) for flutter analysis and inlet optimization, RUAG Aerospace for wind tunnel testing, and EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (they did a great job for Alinghi) for overall design optimization.

The group even has a working prototype. They're also working on a fuel-cell version.