WICHITA — Brian FitzGerald of FitzGerald Video spent 18 months producing his latest documentary, Ultralight Flying Millennium 2, or UFM2 for short.
FitzGerald made the film to chronicle the current state of ultralight flying in the U.S., he said. He’s added music he’s written and recorded.
The film features the five areas of flying an ultralight — fixed wings, trikes, powered parachutes, powered powergliders and helicopters, he said. FitzGerald completed extensive interviews with flyers in each of the areas.
Music video segments are sprinkled throughout the video to provide what he calls the “romance of flying.”
The film is three hours and 15 minutes long. For information on the video, visit his website www.fitzvideo.com.
WICHITA– Flint Solutions in Wichita received authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration for its Aerosonde unmanned aerial vehicle to fly over Crisis City.
The Certificate of Authorization (COA) is a major step in supporting unmanned aerial systems project at Kansas State University and will help applying UAV technology in emergency response situations, Dennis Kuhlman, dean of K-State College of Technology and Aviation said in a statement.
Crisis City is part of the Great Plains Joint Training Center next to the National Guard’s Smoky Hill Weapons Range.
Until now, the Aerosonde has been limited to flying in restricted airspace over the Smoky Hills Weapons Range. The ability to fly over Crisis City will allow it to be involved in more extensive search and rescue operations through the use of training sites.
The COA is a waiver that represents a procedural interim mechanism that authorizes UAV flight as the FAA evolves regulatory airworthiness, collision avoidance standards and certification requirements to be implemented through Special Federal Aviation Regulations, Kulhman said.
WICHITA– Spirit AeroSystems and its engineering union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, plan to finish discussions on non-economic contract articles on Monday, SPEEA told members.
Members of a SPEEA/Spirit work force subcommittee met on Thursday. They, along with an employee relations subcommittee plan to discuss proposed changes today and on Monday.
On Tuesday, June 16, the talks are expected to move to economic issues.
Main table negotiations began Tuesday. The current contract, which covers about 700 Spirit engineers, expires July 11.
Dressed in pin-striped suits and bowler hats, five members of an environmentalist group called “Plane Stupid” broke through a perimeter fence of the London City Airport this week and chained themselves to the wheels of a private jet, reports say.
Police and people with cutters were called out.
The actions were designed to highlight the “selfishness” of private jet use, reports said.
Trade groups point out, however, that aviation contributes about 2 percent to global emissions. Of that two percent, business aviation is responsible for 1 percent of that.
