Avion issue 1 summer 2014

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Friday Night Lights ULA launches Delta IV Richard Weakley Advertising Manager On May 16 at 8:03 p.m.

EST, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV roared to space at sunset, lofting America’s newest GPS satellite to orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37B. ULA attempted to launch this vehicle the day before, but the launch countdown was halted when the weather in the area did not present conditions acceptable for launching.

The weather system moving through the central Florida region produced several severe thunderstorms but did bring cooler and very clear conditions for the launch on May 16.

Launch occurred on time at the beginning of the launch window. The vehicle quickly accelerated off the launch pad due to the solid rocket boosters’ flight characteristics. Mach one was reached less than a minute into the flight. The two strapon solid boosters burned for approximately 90 seconds before being jettisoned.

The RS-68 main engine fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen burned for just over four minutes into the flight before the first stage (Common Booster Core)

was separated seven seconds later. Fifteen seconds after the Common Booster Core was separated, the second stage engine ignited, propelling the satellite until a little after 15 minutes into the flight.

Ten seconds after this burn was initiated, the payload fairing was jettisoned since it is not needed anymore. The payload fairing protects the satellite while the launch vehicle is propelling it through the atmosphere.

Approximately 15 minutes after liftoff, the upper stage engine shutdown, placing the rocket and satellite into a three hour coasting orbit. In order to change the orbit from elliptical into circular, the upper stage burned for another minute and half with spacecraft separation occurred a few seconds later.

This type of mission profile allows for the satellite to be placed into the desired orbit directly, without using a sequence of orbit changes to place the satellite into an operational orbit for the mission.

The Boeing-built GPS 2F-6 satellite is the sixth satellite and the latest addition to newest constellation of satellites on orbit. The GPS 2F constellation will have twelve satellites onboard when all are launched by 2016. The

new 2F GPS satellites offer greater precision, better timing and a longer operational life than the current generation of GPS satellites.

This enhanced capability will improve the functionality of the vast array of GPS devices in the world today from car GPS receivers to GPS-guided weapons. GPS 2F-6 will replace an older GPS satellite launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a Delta II. The GPS satellite constellation is operated by the United States Air Force Space Command.

ULA is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin that is responsible for engineering, integration and infrastructure for the Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles. The Delta IV was first launched on Nov. 20, 2002 with a commercial communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The Delta IV is an evolved expendable launch vehicle that can be configured with varying numbers of solid rocket boosters, Common Booster Cores and different payload fairing sizes. The engine on the Common Booster Core, the RS-68, is an American-built engine.

Continued on A2 >>

Friday 86 75

Saturday 90 0% 75

Richard Weakley/The Avion Newspaper

New Planes Bring New Benefits Zachary Wilkinson Editor-In-Chief The Flight Department’s fleet replenishment is scheduled to begin over the 2014 summer, and a few of the aircraft have already arrived. A contract signed by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with Cessna Aircraft Co. highlights the purchases of 57 Cessna 172 Nav III’s with G1000 Avionics for both the Daytona Beach and Prescott campuses. Approximately half of Daytona Beach’s new Cessna fleet, comprising 21 aircraft, will be delivered over the next two months. The remaining half will follow next summer. The Cessna aircraft on the ramp today were acquired after the Christmas Day Tornado ravaged the fleet in 2006, and are due for replacement. The new planes will arrive painted in the same scheme currently displayed by N405ER, and are configured with three seats to increase their functionality as a trainer aircraft. The third seat allows an observer to easily witness what goes on up front. Observation is a vital part of training, for it can save a student money by giving them additional

experiences at no cost. .

“Our data shows that students who observe flight activities finish their flight training fast and cheaper”, said Flight Department chair, Ken Byrnes. Observation benefits a student by allowing them to see things the flight crew may not see, and in doing so they witness error trends and learn to recognize them. Specifically, It can

also make CFI applicants sharper when it comes to watching for student errors. Students in the FastTrack CFI program are paired with a partner, and observation is an element of their training. A total of five new Piper Arrows will also arrive, each with the modern paint scheme so attractively displayed

by N102ER. Continued on A2 >>

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New EAGLEcard Circulating Executive Board Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Advertising Manager

Zack Wilkinson Michael Wildes Matthew Rutowski

Edit Staff Front Editor Campus Editor I&T Editor Comics Editor Entertainment Editor Perspectives Editor Copy Editor

Zachary Wilkinson Zachary Wilkinson Zachary Wilkinson Matthew Rutowski Michael Wildes Zachary Wilkinson Michael Wildes Zachary Wilkinson Suzanne Fernandes

Staff Contributors Reporters

Photographers

Anthony Carpeneti Michael Wildes Matthew Rutowski Zachary Wilkinson Richard Weakley Zachary Wilkinson

Correspondents Name 1, Name 2, Name 3, Name 4, Name 5

Matthew Rutowski Advertising Manager ERAU students here on the Daytona Beach Campus can look for some new changes at the Eagle Card office. New Eagle Cards have been launched since the beginning of this summer semester, boasting a new design along with some improved technology. Now utilizing newer integrated RFID technology, the new Eagle Card will change the way we access campus.

Information and Technology has been utilizing them through the spring semester while slowly integrating them throughout campus.

The new technology will allow door access to now be accomplished by simply putting your card up to a receiver, which reads the card number just as the blackboard magnetic swipes did previously. This change will prevent excessive card damage due to the magnetic strip wearing out and misreading as

many students, faculty and staff encounter on a regular basis. Food service will still remain the same, for now at least, requiring you to swipe the card at checkout.

Eagle Cards will also look a bit different now as well, moving some key graphics and text around for a fresh look. With the classic Embry-Riddle eagle holding the background, the word ‘EAGLEcard’ now appears along the left edge from bottom to top while the name, ID number, and photo have been shifted to the right. Headed now by the cardholders ‘status’ (Student, Faculty, Alumni etc), the words ‘Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University™’ have been moved to the bottom of the card.

The EagleCard office says that the university will be transitioned over to the new cards and new system by the upcoming Fall ’14 semester, so be sure and stop by the EagleCard office to pick yours up!

Photo Courtesy: Daryl LaBello/ University Communications

The New Eagle Card design is more modern looking, it incorporates the Updated Embry-Riddle Eagle Eagle logo.

The cards are in the process of being printed up and students are welcome to stop by and get their new card from the Eagle Card Office located where the old Parking and Traffic Office was.

President’s Final Spring Speaker

Staff Advisor Wesley Lewis, Asst. Director, Media & Marketing

Contact Information Main Phone: (386) 226-6049 Ad Manager: (386) 226-7697 Fax Number: (386) 226-6727 Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor News Editor Business Manager Photography Editor Advertising Manager

editor@theavion.com managing@theavion.com news@theavion.com business@theavion.com photo@theavion.com advertising@theavion.com Zack Wilkinson/The Avion

Website: theavion.com

In the much-anticipated ‘Other side’ of the story presented by John Matusitz on March 6th, Hassan Shibley, the President of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) spoke on the Muslim Faith on May 8th. Productive discussion was held on elements of the Muslim religion often misunderstood by the American people. While emotions rose occasinally on the topic of 9/11 and radical Muslims, it was a positive show, and was the most well attended of the season. The Speaker series will resume on September 9th.

New Planes Continued from A1 >>

The Avion is produced weekly during the fall and spring term, and bi-weekly during summer terms. The Avion is produced by a volunteer student staff. Student editors make all content, business and editorial decisions. The editorial opinions expressed in The Avion are solely the opinion of the undersigned writer(s), and not those of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Student Government Association, The Avion, or the student body. Letters appearing in The Avion are those of the writer, identified at the end of the letter. Opinions expressed in the “Student Government” and “Student Life” sections are those of the identified writer. Letters may be submitted to The Avion for publication, provided they are not lewd, obscene or libelous. Letter writers must confine themselves to less than 800 words. Letters may be edited for brevity and formatted to newspaper guidelines. All letters must be signed. Names may be withheld at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

The Avion is an open forum for student expression. The Avion is a division of the Student Government Association. The Avion is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press. The costs of this publication are paid by the Student Government Association and through advertising fees.

The Avion distributes one free copy per person. Additional copies are $0.75. Theft of newspapers is a crime, and is subject to prosecution and Embry-Riddle judicial action. This newspaper and its contents are protected by United States copyright law. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, in print or electronically, without the expressed written consent of The Avion. Correspondence may be addressed to: The Avion Newspaper, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd., Daytona Beach, Florida 32114. Physical office: John Paul Riddle Student Center, Room 110. Phone: (386) 226-6049. Fax: (386) 226-6727.

The Piper Arrows’ are used to satisfy the Complex requirement in the Commercial-Single Initial, Commercial-Single add-on, and CFI courses. The aircraft will arrive directly from the manufacturing plant in Vero Beach, Florida equipped with Garmin G500 glass cockpit displays.

Glass cockpits increase situational awareness for the pilots monitoring the instruments and aid in traffic avoidance via ADSB technology. Ironically enough, the highly advanced avionics suite is less expensive than the older ‘round-dial’ instrument panel, because

far fewer manufacturers produce them today. The flight department will be retaining three of the currently flying Pipers, (102ER, 710ER, 712ER), though they will be leaving intermittently to be retrofitted with the G500 avionics system.

When each plane arrived, it first spends time in the Maintenance hanger being rechecked and getting some components added before it flies on our line.

The Arrows for example, require the gear warning system and ADSB receivers. Once the final additions are made, the FAA must approve it for flight.

When August arrives and the dust settles, the last of the old Arrows will have received the G500 and the

new paint, then Embry-Riddle’s fleet of training aircraft will be all glass for the very first time, just in time for the fall semesters’ newest students.

Delta IV Continued from A1 >> The vehicle that launched on Friday was in the Medium+ (4,2) configuration with two solid rocket boosters manufactured by ATK in Utah and a payload fairing measuring four meters in diameter. In this configuration, the vehicle has 1.2 million pounds of thrust at lift off.

The next launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will on May 22 between 8:45 and 10:15 AM with a ULA Atlas V flying in the 401 configuration. This configuration has a four meter diameter payload fairing, no solid rocket motors and one RL-10 upper stage engine. The flight will be placing a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload into orbit. Why not plan on watching this launch from your home? you won’t regret it.

Zachary Wilkinson/The Avion Newspaper

A3 Travel The Home of the Wright Brothers

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Mark Fetters Staff Writer The worlds most famous aviators Orville and Wilbur Wright came from a small town in Ohio called Dayton where they had their bicycle shop and built the Wright Flyer on the side. Over a 110 years later we have one of the largest aviation museums at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The National Museum of the Air Force host one of the best collection of Military Aircraft in the world.Currently they have 3 hangars at the public museum and 1 hanger on the base which requires a ticket. They begin to give out a limited number of tickets starting at 9am which is worth the visit for some of the aircraft housed. The museum is open daily from 9am to 5pm and free to the public.

They also offer free tours of each hangar where you can learn not only about each specific plane but it’s role in history.

The first hangar exhibits consist of early era planes followed by World War 1 and World War 2.

The Word War portion is home to a famous plane

The Avion

not many know of, a Boeing B-29 named Bockscar.

The name of the plane may not be familiar but it was the plane that dropped the second atomic bomb over Hiroshima that pretty much ended the second World War. The other two hangars of airplanes hold a variety of Military aircraft from the past to the present. From the B-1B Lancer to the B-2B Spirt Bomber, the SR-71 Blackbird and the F-22 Raptor. Any fan of Military aviation or not will be amazed at all the planes and history that is offered.

From the vintage warbirds to the most moderne and the smallest to the largest the variety on display shows the advancements that have occurred in so little time.

The only hangar not accessible to the public is the presidential gallery but with a limited number of tickets given out it’s still possible to visit. Inside the presidential hangar the main attraction is a highly modified 707 know as SAM 26000. It was used for many years by past presidents and when ever he was on it, it was know as Air Force One. SAM 26000 was the plane JFK used on his trip to Dal-

las, after his assassination they made a slight medication to the interior to allow the casket to be flown inside instead of the cargo hold. All of the previous Air Force One planes are open and free to walk through.

The history behind each of the aircraft and what it has done for America is worth the visit. Also include in the presidential galley is the experimental gallery with one of the most diverse and strangest aircraft ever designed. The North American XB-70 Valkyrie a super sonic plane used for weather research, and the only plane I have ever heard of in this area, is a more unique plane then another other. It’s looks like a Concorde and also something you might see in a Sci-Fi movie.

Mark Fetters/The Avion Newspaper

I highly recommend a trip to Dayton and visit to the museum rather you are into military aviation or not you will still be amazed by the collection that they have housed. As the semester draws to a close I will still be traveling the world like I am as a write this or if you plan to take summer classes. I hope everyone has a safe summer and safe travels.

Mark Fetters/The Avion Newspaper

Hanging Out In Belfast Dayton Drugovich Correspondent

Dayton Drugovich/All Photos

The capital city of Northern Ireland which sits just above the Republic of Ireland offers many things to see and do; for me, the chance to squeeze in a quick trip to Europe for a three day weekend without breaking the bank. This is one of my favorite places to go. I’ve always gotten Business/First both ways, as the taxes are super cheap for the UK, specifically, only $35 departure tax compared to the $150+ for most other UK destinations. The amazing Irish culture and hospitality remain mostly untouched by many tourists.

It’s a direct flight on United out of EWR on a 757, which isn’t my favorite transatlantic cruiser, but I can’t really complain much, since it’s in the international configuration and has the lieflat seats up front. The 757’s were not originally built to do north Atlantic crossings.

In the early 2000’s Continental with their hub in Newark began to pioneer the use of

757’s to give secondary markets in Europe direct access to the New York area with Belfast being one of their first new routes. The flight time is short for an ocean crossing. Most of the time, the flight is under 5 hours and 45minutes, which is a blessing and a curse in that, it’s a short flight, but you don’t get much time to sleep, and the result is that you arrive pretty tired. I normally have trouble making it past 8 p.m. without falling asleep in the hotel.

On a descent through the gloomy low clouds and mist into Ireland, which luckily cleared up later on in the day, you immediately notice the brilliant shades of green and rolling hills of which the country is famous for. The airport is quite small, only having one gate. From there, it’s a short walk to customs, which was fully staffed with only 3 agents.

The hotel I like to stay at is literally right outside the door of the airport; maybe a 50 feet walk. It has pretty good prices at about £40-£50 and decently sized rooms.

I grabbed a shower and a

quick nap and made my way over to pick up the rental car I reserved earlier. I planned on spending my day visiting one of nature’s wonders, and entangled with Irish folklore Giants Causeway that is one of Northern Ireland’s most popular attractions. There are other ways that you can get there, but I would recommend renting a car. If you’re the more adventurous type, given that it’s a right had drive country, it makes for some interesting moments, to say the least. You can take the motorway up, but I stuck with some of the B roads, stopping every so often to get out and enjoy the countryside. After an hour and a half of driving, I pulled into the car park and went up to the visitors’ center. It only cost £15 and you get into the Causeway.

If you only remember one thing, bring a jacket, and a heavy one at that. Being right on the coast, there are very strong winds which, when combined with the usually cold temperatures, makes it absolutely freezing.

Even though being a popu-

lar tourist attraction all the times, I’ve never been there.

The crowd was reasonable.

From the visitors’ center, you pick up your handset to guide you, and start the ¾ of mile walk downhill to the formation. There is a shuttle that will take you to the bottom and back up for a small fee. I walked down but took the shuttle back up; it’s quite the hike back up to the car park. As you make your way down, you learn about the history of how an ancient volcanic eruption formed the over 40,000 hexagonal interlocking columns. You also learn about the legend that is associated with it.

The legend says that there were two giants, Finn MacCool on the Irish side who was challenged to a duel by Benandonner Fionn on the Scottish side, and how he built the causeway as to have a place to meet. If you travel over to the Scottish side you will see the exact same columns that formed. I have no trouble spending hours here doing a little bit of people watching and admiring the natural beauty of the area of

which my pictures do not do any justice. By then, it was getting a little late and I still had one more stop to make, and was in need of caffeine, so I made my way back to the car and put Bushmills into the GPS for directions.

Bushmills is a famous brand of Irish whiskey; it’s also the oldest licensed distillery in the world. You can take a tour of the distillery, which I did on a previous trip. It’s an interesting thing to learn how whiskey is made, and the samples and the end make it even more worthwhile. Today was just a quick pit stop to grab a couple of bottles. Getting hungry, I stopped in at “The Bush House,” a little pub in the center of the town of Bushmills. I kept it pretty plain and ordered fish n’ chips, and of course, no trip to Ireland isn’t complete without a pint of Guinness. It was a quick trip on the motorway back to the hotel to a nice warm bed, where I did end up falling asleep around 9 p.m., which was good, because it was an early flight back across the pond.

Private Pilot Certificates:

AARON HEMET PATEL ABIGAIL NICOLE GRIPPIN ANTHONY LEE CHAPA AUSTIN RICHARD SCALES BLAKE EDWARD GORDON BRIAN KIGOTHO WAMBUGU BRITTANY LYNN KACZOR CHAO LI COLLIN ROSS LIEBENTHAL DANIEL MARK SCHAEFFER DANIELA CASTANEDA RUIZ DOMONICK JOSEPH COLLETTI DONALD GRANT HANSON II DUSTIN WILLIAM GIBSON ERIK LARSON EVAN MICHAEL KOPIN Fernando Luis Viera GARRETT JAMES LEDDY GINO JOSE GUALTIERI PERDOMO HANS OSKAR VILHELM NILSSON ISAIAH WILLIAM CARLTON JACOB DENNISTON JARRELL JAE SUK JUNG JOHN CHARLES BALL II JONATHAN DAVID ANGLIN JORDAN GINES MARTINEZ JOSEPH PAUL NEWMAN JOSHUA CARL SWAIN JUSTIN DOUGLAS OUTTEN JUSTIN MICHAEL IRELAND KEVIN MATTHEW EMMETT KYLE ANTHONY PRESOGNA KYLE BELIZAIRE LINDSEY NICOLE KREBS MARK PHILIP UMBACH STILES MATTHEW JOHN MEYER Meena Alexandra Bennett MICHAEL CARL SAVAGE MICHAEL CROATTI NATHAN WILLIS MITCHELL PHILLIP RYAN MCCLURE RILEE KJESTINE WHITAKER ROBERT AARON ARTHUR BLEYHL SERGIO SEBSTIAN SOVERO SU HWANG YOO TAE WON JUN TRENTON MITCHELL HAWKS TSZ HIM YEUNG TSZ HIM YEUNG TYLER JACOB STENGELE TYLER REED RAFFERTY VLADYSLAV TSALKO WILLIAM ALEXANDER MERCER WUEYOUP KOO

Private Multiengine Add-on Rating:

MARK NATHANIEL BRUNELLE

Flight Instructor Instrument Certificate: BRYAN MICHAEL DAUCHY GYUTAE HWANG JORDAN DALE HEUERMAN MICHAEL THOMAS SOWELL

Instrument Rating Certificate:

ADAM GABRIEL DOMINGUEZ ADAM WILLIAM DEXTER AHMED SHAMSULDEN M SAYED ANNA NICOLE ROBINSON ARAMIS ARIEL HERRERA BENJAMIN WILLIAM MURPHY BERK ONEREN BRANDON JOSEPH LOURO MENDONCA CHANGJI LU CHRISTOPHER ANTHONY ANZIDEO CHRISTOPHER SVEN KOCHLING CHUN LAM RONALD LEE DANIEL GRAY MOHS DANIEL LEON STEIN DIMITRIOS GKARIS DYLAN JOSEPH DE SIMONE GALAPPATTIGE DE SILVA GEHRIG ISAIAH RIBEIRO GIOVANNI JANED GONZALEZ GIRI PRATOMO HENRIQUE ALEJANDRO SOSA RODRIGUEZ JARRETT MICHAEL WEISS JESSE TAYLOR PIERCE JESSICA ORTEGA JOSE CARLOS PEREZ JR. JOSEPH CHARLES WHEATLEY Joshua Charles Holmes JOSHUA JEROME PHILLIPS JUSTIN KAZU LEGALL KA KIU AMBROSE CHU KENNETH DEAN HENNINGER II KOUSHI UEDA MASAHIRO MATSUMORI MATTHEW LOUIS DIPASQUALE MEGAN MARIE TIEMAN MOHAMED ABDELHADAY FARAG NICKOLAS ALEXEI BOWERS NORRIS CHUKROW WONG RICHARD LUCAS COLE ROBERT ADAM MULLIKEN RYAN PATRICK MCCORMICK RYAN PETER IERARDI SEAN ROBERT TEAGUE Shane Marion Joseph Williams STEPHEN ELISHA HARDING STEPHEN EVERETT WOOLHISER ZACHARY JAMES WEHR

Commercial Multiengine Add-on Rating:

ALEXEI IGOR KROCHIN YEPEZ BRIAN ANDREW HAIMA JR, DEVON DUANE BURRIS DYLAN JOHNATHAN SMITH KALE DAVID AUGER KELSEY LYN TEN HOEVE MATTHEW DAVID MILLER MICHAEL AUSTIN BRESHEARS MICHAEL DANIEL COBB NADER SAMI ANIS NICHOLAS GARRETT MOYER

Commercial Pilot Certificate:

ABIGAIL KIMBERLEY RITA PASMORE ALEX THOMAS BLYMIRE ALEX THOMAS BLYMIRE ALISTAIR SANDERSON MEEK ANDRE JAVIER PRESCOTT BRIAN ANDREW HAIMA JR. CHRISTOPHER BLAIR MAXWELL CHRISTOPHER BLAIR MAXWELL CHRISTOPHER RYAN DEAUGUSTINE CONNOR PATRICK WILM CRISTHIAN JEFFERSON LOZANO MARTIINEZ ERIC SCOTT MCDONALD JR. FRANK JOSEPH NOSEK FRANK JOSEPH NOSEK IAN MATTHEW STRINGER JEONGSEOK HA JORGE ANTONIO QUINTERO JOSE EDUARDO SUGER SARAVIA MARK ANDREW FETTERS MICHAEL THOMAS DERRICO NATHAN FRANCISCO POWELL RAKAN AYED N ALMOTAIRY SEAN MATTHEW HENRY SEAN MATTHEW HENRY STEVEN JOHN EWING TEVYN R CHARNEY YANN BOEHLER BOSCH Yu-Chen Liu ZACHARY MELBOURNE BOHLIG

Commercial Single Engine Add-on Rating:

ALEXANDER JOHN CAMACHO ANDREW DONGHYUN NAM CHRISTOPHER MARINO UGOLINI ERIC JACOB ADLER JAMES MATTHEW KING JONATHAN ROBERT LEONIK JORDAN LEIGH KYNAST KRISTIAAN WILLEM HEREIJERS KRISTIAAN WILLEM HEREIJGERS MATTHEW FRANCIS KONZIER MATTHEW FRANCIS KONZIER MATTHEW THOMAS COLAPRETE OSCAR DANIEL PIMENTEL IMBERT SONE RANDALL ALEXANDER MILLS RANDY WILLIAM RUTKOWSKI RENE HEINS WILLIAM PATRICK TRACY

Flight Instructor Airplane Certificate: DENNIS HSU GANDHI ROMEO PAZMINO AGUILAR JOSEPH ROBERT STREBLE RYAN ALLEN HOFFMAN

Photo Courtesy: Richard Weakley/The Avion Newspaper

Spruce Creek

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Born Of A

Dream Historical facts and figures Courtesy of Carlos Bravo, www7fl6.com.

Zack Wilkinson Editor-in-Chief For me, the first impression I ever had of Spruce Creek Fly-in was given to me by one of my first flight instructors at Embry-Riddle. I was told to “watch out”, because there’s “a bunch of crazy old guys in airplanes” that fly out of that place who don’t talk over the radio or use their transponders.

Whether that’s completely true, I can’t claim to know, but lately I’ve grown quite fond of these men (and women) and their magnificent flying machines.

Before I moved into the Fly-in on April 29, I lived in Waters’ Edge; a sprawling maze of an ICI community brushing against the land claimed by the Fly-in.

On Saturday mornings, I would stare wide-eyed out of my window at the constantly passing planes, and listen to the unknown aviators on 122.975 Mhz with my transceiver. “Someday, I will live there”, I thought.

As with many of the airports in Florida, the Flyin was first constructed during WW2 as a Naval Air Operational Training base. The field was finished in 1943, and consisted of 4 runways and a small tower facility. It never had any aircraft based there, but Navy T-6’s often passed through on training missions. After the war, the Field went largely unused until it was sold to the City of Daytona Beach in 1957. During the 60’s, it was known as the “Samsula Airport”, and was used by locals as a place to drag race, camp, and socialize. It was even offered to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Institute in 1964 as a possible location to move to from the Miami campus. As we all know, the move was made instead to the Daytona Municipal Airport, where we reside to this day.

The concept of a residential Airpark was envisioned by McKinley Conway, a Navy test Pilot who

worked at Moffet Field in California as project engineer for the Ryan FR-1 jet. The Ryan F-1 ‘Fireball’ was a fighter with a Wright Cycle radial engine, which was unique that it also had a turbojet mounted in the rear fuselage. After the war, Conway began his own business pursuits, and purchased a Cessna 1970 to travel around the country and visit clients. While in the air, the Cessna Performed great for traveling to meetings, but Conway found it hard to get to his clients businesses once he arrived at an airport.

He thought: “Wouldn’t it be great if I could taxi my Cessna right up to the offices and factories I wanted to visit?” Thus began his journey to survey the use of surplus Military airfields in the Northeast, West Coast, Southern Georgia and Florida for development of Fly-in Commercial centers.

Conway McKinley promoted his vision largely in the early 70’s and wrote a book on the concept titled, “The Airport City”.

Conway gathered a group of friends and investors to pool their money and form a corporation; they all shared his vision and love for everything flight, and called their plan the “Fly-in Concept”. After a deal between the City of Daytona Beach and the State of Florida to use the Samsula Airport for a University fell through, Conway knew it was time to seize the chance to implement his plan at Samsula.

The location was among his favorite in the area. The Flyin Concept partnered with a Florida developer and proposed to purchase the Samsula Airport from the City in 1969. In 1970, the site received final approval from the FAA, local zoning boards, and the county. A transfer ceremony was held on the airport, and a ribbon was cut with the propeller of a Bonanza.

In the midst of the post-Vietnam 1970’s finan-

cial crisis, the Spruce Creek Property failed to gain enough development financing from investors to get off the ground in the manner Conway envisioned it. Thompson’s Properties, Inc, a local company owned by Jay Thompson, purchased the 1,400 acre airport with the plan of developing it to meet Conway’s vision. Thompson adjusted the original master plan by cutting the living units in half and the industrial allotment to a tenth of what it was first planned. Thompson wanted to create a lower density, higher value community which would thrive around the airpark. Then he threw in a Country club and an 18-hole Championship Golf course just to shake things up.

The Spruce Creek that I woke up in today boasts 1,312 homes, 500 hangars, 4,894 residents, and nearly 600 aircraft. Beyond those numbers, It’s a lively community centered around the 4,000 x 150 ft asphalt runway. Runway 5-23 is the only remaining of the original planform from 1943, and two of the previous runways now exist as taxiways. The airport has a GPS approach and lighting, allowing access around the clock.

I’m now a resident of Spruce Creek Fly-in, as I’ve previously dreamed, and I’m just beginning to feel the culture wrapped up in this incredible community. I’ve signed a 1-year lease with several friends on a beautiful house in the Creek and I can’t imagine any better place, short of where I grew up, to call home. The resident’s of the Fly-In have been involved in every facet of aviation, from military serves, to airlines, and even Hollywood. Sit down on a clear breezy Saturday morning and talk one of them; like Dexter, who I met this morning. Dexter flew for TWA and holds types in the 707, 727, MD-11. He now

enjoys daily rounds of golf.

You should come by and experience the Fly-In this summer, I assure you you’ll fall in love with it. There’s a pretty good restaurant on site called the Downwind café. Guests are welcome to come to the restaurant as long as you show your ID at the gate. Why don’t you visit sometime and enjoy a Barbeque chicken pizza and Garlic Knots? Or join the crowd of Creekers on Saturday mornings and watch one of the famous Gaggle Flights, where a dozen or more aircraft of every type takeoff in unison. The Flyin Community is unlike any other, born out of a dream. Man will always be infatuated with the heavens and grasp toward that which is just out of reach, and the Fly-in is just one community which refuses to quit reaching.

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All photos: Zachary Wilkinson/The Avion Newspaper

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Flagler’s Flattering Figures Disaster Averted On Airshow Center Pensacola Beach Airshow Pensacola, FL July 11-12

• The USN Blue Angels host a home show in Pensacola on the 11th and 12th of July, also featuring Team Aerodynamix, Gary Ward’s MX2, and Gary Ward in his “Prometheus”.

Head over to the panhandle and see what they have to offer. _________

ERAU Flight Team: Nationals Results

The Ohio State University May 12-16 The team placed 8th overall, and second in ground events.

Events began on Monday May 12, and concluded by May 16 followed by a banquet for all in attendance on the 13th.

•COMPACC: Peter Weber- 2nd Luke Bucknett- 5th Josh Holmes- 8th •SCAN: Luke Buckett- 6th Ben Eve- 8th Devon Burris- 11th Vivek Jadav- 15th •RECOGNITION: Ryan Leeward- 1st Liam Dermady- 11th Abhishek David- 16th •IFR SIM: Angie Inman- 6th •NAV: Ben Eve, Peter Weber- 11th •PREFLIGHT: Vivek Jadav- 8th •GROUND TRAINER: Ben Eve- 18th •MESSAGE DROP: Liam Dermady, Tyler Rafferty13th

This Week in Aviation History May 20, 1978

McDonnell Douglas delivers its 5,000th F-4 Phantom II aircraft, twenty years after the first flight of the prototype.

May 21, 1956

A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress drops the U.S.’s first air dropped hydrogen bomb, a 3.75 MT device on Bikini Atoll

May 24, 1988

TACA Flight 110, a Boeing 737. suffers dual engine failure due to water ingestion; the aircraft lands safely at NASA’s Michoud Assembly facility in New Orleans; all on board survive

Matt Rutowski Advertising Manager Florida’s unique climate, attractive destinations, and worldwide accessibility brings the sunshine state lots of business. As students at Embry-Riddle see firsthand, a large percentage of that business is in the aviation industry. The greater Daytona Beach/Orlando area in particular is a hot -spot for airlines, flight schools, manufacturers, design and test facilities, as well as sales reps. Specifically, Flagler County Airport (KXFL) in Palm Coast is one of the busiest facilities in the region Flagler has some great attributes when you consider the proximity to both the greater Daytona Beach area and Jacksonvillle, long runways, and full service FBO’s. In 2013, XFL completed 164,027 operations, 98.9% of which were General Aviation. XFL has already logged over 30,000 operations in 2014. Out of

252 contract towers in the U.S., KXFL is the third busiest in the nation, and the first busiest in the state of Florida. Activity is always a-buzz in the small-town airport ranging from their day to day operations even to Flagler’s very own airshow which took place earlier this spring: ‘Wings Over Flagler’. With thousands in attendance throughout the weekend, Flagler County Airport certainly made a mark on the season. Let’s not of course forget the Hijackers Restaurant. The $100 hamburger has also found a home at this bustling field, filling the ramp more often than not.

With this steady rate props and jets paying regular visits to the smalltown field, Airport Director Roy Siegler believes that some changes are in order.

According to Siegler, overall infrastructure at Flagler County needs some major improvements with a new runway even making the list.

“In the last five years, we’ve completed or are going right now, almost $18 million in projects to bring better infrastructure to this airport” Siegler mentioned in an interview with News 13.

All of this money has been appropriated either through airport fees or federal grants. Included in this $18 million figure is the money that was spent to construct the current air traffic control tower built back in 2009. Siegler has proposed another significant change for Flagler County Airport as he hopes to rename the field to ‘Flagler Executive Airport’.

This move, similar to that of Jacksonville Executive at Craig (formerly Jacksonville Craig), is supposed to better represent the growth and impact of the local airport while encouraging new business in the area. While some residents will still gripe, the fact is that Flagler is continuing to expandfast.

USN X47-B; Certified For Carrier Ops Matt Rutowski Advertising Manager The U.S. Navy recently announced that the long forgotten about X-47B project is making leaps and bounds yet again. The X-47B is an unmanned stealth combat aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman for the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) System proposed to be on all commissioned carriers by the year 2019. The X-47B celebrated it’s 1 year anniversary since it’s first carrier launch after being released in 2008 After many failed attempts and diverted landings, the X-47B recently became certified for carrier based landings bringing it one step closer to its spot on deck in the Nimitz-class carrier fleet by 2019. In early April, the X-47B completed its first night flight.

This milestone is an important step towards integrating the UAV cooperatively with a manned fleet. Further testing is scheduled to be completed this summer on the USS Theodore Roosevelt (ironically also built

by Northrop Grumman), in order to have the craft land and clear the deck in 90 seconds or less, brining it on par with its manned counterparts. Officials say that ideally the X-47could actually clear in 60 sec-

onds, placing it ahead of the pack. Developmental testing will also be underway to have the craft operate with a jet blast deflector thus enabling launches without the disruption of other operations on deck.

The successful completion of these flight tests will be yet another step towards integrating the unmanned systems onto the carrier flight deck.

With all of these remarkable advances and milestones being made by the team at Northrop Grumman, some would say an award is in order. The National Aeronautic Association would have to agree with that. Last April the association announced that the U.S. Navy’s X-47B UAV would be the 2013 recipient of the coveted Robert J. Collier Trophy. The Collier Trophy is awarded annually “for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improv-

ing the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year” (National Aeronautic Assoc). Some may recall when Embry-Riddle was listed as one of the winners of the Collier Trophy in 2007 for their work in the collaborative effort in the development of ADS-B. The NAA notes that the X-47B is the “first unmanned, autonomous air system operating from an aircraft carrier”. This is the second time a UAV has won the trophy, and is the second year in a row that an unmanned system takes the award after the Mars Curiosity Rover was awarded the prize last year.

The up and coming months will tell where the program goes after an estimated $1.8 billion has already been spent on the UCLASS program since its inception in 2003.

Photo Courtesy: Adam Clark Estes/www.gizmodo.com

Commerical Airliner

U.S. Airways CRJ-200 Has Near Miss With R.C. Plane Over Florida Michael Wildes Managing Editor his year stands to be one of the most definitive in the on-going discussion on how the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will have to address the increasing calls for the regulation and inclusion of drones for commercial and civilian use in its airspace.

There has been a growing amount of incidents where drones have either struck, or nearly collided with people, buildings, and airplanes, and these episodes have forced the FAA to come to terms with the demand that there needs to be a revision of the regulations concerning airspace use, as far drones are concerned.

Recently, at an Unmanned Systems Business Expo in San Francisco, the director of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems department brought to light a serious incident where a drone nearly collided with a commercial aircraft over Florida in March of this year.

On March 22, U.S. Airways flight 4650 was going from Charlotte, North Carolina to Tallahassee, Florida. As it was descending through 2300 ft for landing, it nearly collided with a “remotely piloted aircraft,” according to the pilot of that airliner.

The pilot reported that the aircraft was small and camouflaged, and that it came so close to his aircraft that he was sure he had hit it. Upon landing safely however, commuter jet, a CRJ200 with a capacity of about 50, was inspected and no damages were found. The pilots still filed a report, and the matter has been under investigation since.

Mr. Williams spoke about the matter as an example of the danger that unmanned aircrafts pose to general and commercial aviation.

He also pointed out how the FAA needs to be more “responsive to the entire industry”, while highlighting other cases where the unsafe operations of drones

injured people at other events across the country.

While the close call which the U.S. Airways flight had with the smaller aircraft may have been rare, according to the FAA, the implications of a drone being ingested by an airliner’s engine and causing a deadly accident could leave the FAA reeling from it’s oversight and sluggishness for not keeping up with

“

It’s unquestionable that...a drone with hazardous materails being sucked into an engine is a case for calamity

“

Major Airport Developments Underway

the pace at which commercial drones are populating the most complex airspace in the world.

Bird strikes are infamous for bringing down jumbo jets, so it is unquestionable that a more complex system such a drone with hazardous material such as plastic/ metal propellers and lithium batteries being sucked into an engine or hitting a windshield is a sure case for calamity.

The case of the FAA versus hobbyist, and somewhat of an expert, Raphael Pirker, has led the news on drones for the pass two years.

Recently, he was cleared of a cumbersome $10,000 charge handed down to him by the FAA when a judge ruled that his model aircraft didn’t fall under the jurisdiction of the FAA’s regulation for larger aircrafts.

While that ruling may be seen as a small victory for civilian drone operators and hobbyists all around, it points to the gaping inadequacy of rules to serve and direct civilians how to use the airspace above them.

In light of the recent event of the U.S. Airways flight however, it will be interesting to see how the FAA takes steps to maintain its first mandate, which is to maintain safety in the air, and now to create a space for UAS users.

Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia.org

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Godzilla Comes Close but Never Lets Loose

GODZILLA

Matthew Liddell Correspondent The best thing that can be said about this new Godzilla film is that it is almost a good movie.

Somewhere, deep down, is a movie that balances the fear and tension of a disaster movie along with the youthful exuberance of monster-on-monster action to create a movie like we’ve never seen. Unfortunately, most of what the movie does, or sets out to do, only sound good on paper, because the final result is a film largely without energy, fear, or fun.

Godzilla 2014 is the second attempt at Americanizing the famed monster star after Roland Emmerich’s panned 1998 film. In a brave and admirable move, Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures chose small-time director Gareth Edwards, who had previously worked in visual effects and had

only one film up his sleeve.

His debut in 2010 was a film called Monsters, a small story about two people travelling across the Mexican border in order to escape the massive quarantine zone the nation had become thanks to gigantic alien creatures roaming the forests. It’s far from perfect, but it’s a fine first effort, especially considering that all of the effects were done

by Edwards himself.

Edwards promised in many interviews that he was not going to blow all of the money for this new film quickly, and that the film was going to use a slow burn in the vein of Jaws or Alien. This is an interesting idea, and probably could be done right given a better human cast, but in Edwards’ film, there’s nothing to keep us entertained until things start to go awry across the globe. While not outright terrible, the cast is rather placid and not well-written

or executed.

Bryan Cranston plays nuclear physicist Joe Brody, who is on the hunt to expose a massive government cover-up after a series of earthquakes in 1999. The film picks up 15 years later as his son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), is now married, has a son, and wants to stay as far away from his conspiracist father as possible.

They eventually are forced to meet in Japan, and as they do, something wakes up that has not been on this Earth for quite some time. Two MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Objects) emerge from radioactive locations and begin to tear up everything in their path and suck up energy from nuclear plants and atomic weapons as their food source. Plans to nuke them or lure them into the ocean are discussed by the military, but Dr. Serizawa (Ken Wantanabe) has a different plan; to use a massive predator known as Gojira/Godzilla to fight the MUTOs and stop them from reaching each other in San Francisco.

The cast is pretty impressive for a film of this nature, also including Sally Hawkins as scientist Vivienne Graham and Elizabeth Olsen as Ford’s wife, Elle Brody, but nobody is given much to work with. Neither Edwards nor writers Max Borenstein and Dave Callaham can make out the characters into something relatable for when the destruction begins. It also doesn’t help that the film switches focus early on from a character it has spent all of its time building to a relatively new and much blander role. It’s a move that is surprising, but the surprise isn’t worth the lack of emotion that should have driven the rest of the movie.

So while the characters are not unbearable, the movie doesn’t have focus in the right areas and lets many of its characters slack.

It also would’ve been

Photo Courtesy: http://thoughtsonfilm.co.uk/

interesting to see a focus on something other than entirely military-based operations. We establish pretty early on that guns and missiles have no effect on Godzilla or the MUTOs, and yet we are still subjected to numerous scenes where this is all that happens. Godzilla is supposed to be an unstoppable force of nature, yes, but I would have found it far more interesting to focus on average people on the ground during the destruction or even more focus put on the scientists. What would have happened if they had made Elizabeth Olsen the main character, following her plight to keep her son safe as monsters tear apart the city? I have to imagine that would have been much more interesting and in line with the kind of disaster film that Edwards was trying to make. The whole point of the movie is that humans are powerless against nature, so I just didn’t see the point in continuing to show the futile efforts in fighting back Godzilla.

But the biggest issue with the film is that it relentlessly tries to build up tension scene after scene with teases and set-ups for things we hope will come, but it takes nearly an hour and 40 minutes doing so. Yes, Godzilla only shows up somewhere around the hour mark, but when he enters the frame, he is locked, loaded, and ready to go to town and wage war against the MUTOs, and so are we. We’ve waited long enough, and we’re ready for an exciting and brutal fight!

And then it’s gone. No grandiose brawl as we are teased, no terror on the streets as chaos ensues, just a 20-second news report of monster fights seen on a small TV screen in the background by another character. The film loves to utilize this idea of teasing, but it never feels genuine or exciting. It just feels like we’ve been tricked into thinking that we’re about to have fun and then it’s all just snatched up from us in order to get us excited for when a fight actually does break out in full glory.

Once the film finally reaches the climax and the gigantic beasts are ready for their final battle, Edwards loosens up tremendously.

He switches to mostly wide shots of the monsters fighting, toppling skyscrapers left and right, and for a few brief moments, it’s all about the monsters. There are still quite a few cuts back to Aaron Johnson as he does his work on the ground, but it feels a little less boring as we’re also being treated to what we have been hoping would happen for over an hour and a half. It doesn’t make up for the insane amount of build-up we get, but it’s still very cool and very visceral, and would have worked well as a halfway point fight.

Before seeing the film, I had seen many comparisons to last year’s Pacific Rim, which was a comparison that I felt was unwarranted. They are both monster movies, but they are tonally different and set out to do different things.

However, the various teases and the last act of Godzilla

change all of that and allows for the critiquing to come in. One side of this movie wants to follow in the footsteps of the original Gojira, in which the monster is a metaphor for the atom bomb and is meant to be scary. The other side of the movie wants Godzilla to be the hero and to be the one we root for. When these two ideas are merged, they try to instill the same type of awe and excitement that the fights of Pacific Rim had, but the rather grim and humorless world of this Godzilla film prevents us from completely letting go and having fun with the action. It also comes down to the fact that Godzilla has maybe 10 minutes total of action, and the action feels like it came from an entirely different movie.

After watching the movie, I kept thinking to myself, “If they had only had just one fight early on, then maybe it wouldn’t be as boring.” The movie always feels like it is on the verge of being good, as if all the pieces are laid out in front of you and they just need someone to put it all together. Unfortunately for us, Godzilla chooses to stay out of order in an attempt to build tension and anticipation, and just leaves its audience worn out from waiting. Now that we’ve all seen the monster in his full glory, perhaps next time around we can just cut to the chase and have a fun clash between gargantuan beasts. It may not be the subtlety that Edwards tries to go for in this film, but at least it’s something interesting happening.

Perspectives

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Where in the world is MH370?

Anthony Carpeneti Staff Reporter

Zack Wilkinson Editor-In-Chief I’ve been compiling thoughts on the disappearance of Malaysian 370 for some time now. Specifically on how the story was treated in the media, looking back, we’ve waded through a lot of nonsense for several weeks; and now, nothing. As a student at Embry-Riddle , I’m the guy everyone among my family asks: “What do YOU think happened to that one airplane?”. I’m sure many students here can identify with being in that position. The longer this search drags on the more disappointed I am with the News media, and in general, the people who pretend to know a lot about aviation which have flooded the media.

Reporters love to interview the ‘experts’ and blow up their ego’s with thoughtful guesswork and theories. I’m left to wonder: Since when did educated speculation become the last word in news? If there’s another incident in the future, will we have learned anything?

No one seems to be willing to admit that we still know next to nothing about what occurred that night. Because the awful truth is truth is: we know next to nothing about what occurred that night.

A Trace

We watched theory after theory pass into the spotlight and then be rejected by the next one to be thought up. It’s humbling isn’t it? In all of Man’s technological superiority, we’ve lost an aircraft which represents the pinnacle of that advancement; and we are no closer to finding it than we were on day one.

As of the time I write this, it’s been 70 days since the aircraft went missing with all 239 souls aboard.

It makes you feel small, doesn’t it? It’s the principle of that fact: Not being able to give an answer, that cuts so deep into the human psyche.

We have to know what happened, and we have to know it now in HD LED TV with full surround sound. Not knowing the truth leads to defense mechanisms such as rationalization and fantasy. Did you know that people exist who think the airliner’s gone into orbit? Or that it snuck inland and landed under the radar shadow of another aircraft?

I believe we need to take a refreshed look at this tragedy, and how we treat future ones like it. This is not a missing aircraft case; it’s a missing person’s case.

The one facet of this story that has yet to be well represented is that of the families who have lost loved ones. I think it would be a

Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia.org

first class act if one of the International news agencies would talk to a few of them.

Their own governments are keeping them in the dark and mistreating them. If they were given a platform to speak, It would give a face to the loss which has gone unrepresented. What I most want from this search is closure for the thousands of family members who lost someone on Flight 370. I couldn’t care less “Who did what” to directly cause the plane’s disappearance, even if it was terrorism driven, which looks quite unlikely.

For Context: In 1970, Southern airways 932, a Chartered DC-9 carrying the Marshall University football team, boosters, and athletic staff crashed into terrain short of the runway at Huntington Tri-state Airport in Huntington, KY; killing 75 aboard. Seventy children lost at least one parent in the crash. Eighteen children we’re orphaned. Also lost were two of the towns Physicians, a Senator, and a state representative. The toll on the town of Huntington, KY was enormous and will never be forgotten by them. Scars remain on that community.

By comparison; MH 370 had 239 people aboard, more than three times

the amount of casualties, and though the effect of their disappearance will likely not be known for sometime, and the geographical distance of that suffering is far away from our individual eyes, It is, undoubtedly, immense by comparison to Southern Airways 932.

Furthermore, Don’t get me started on the course jokes which have emerged about the flight. It’s definitely not a laughing matter, so I hope we can all agree to be more sensitive to the issue.

In times like this, I think it’s best to remain silent on the speculating until real facts arise. I try my best to respond first with gentleness, and not blame. The time for that will come after the investigation is complete and the dead are mourned.

It may be a long time before the families of those who we’re aboard that triple-7 have closure, and all of us who have lost someone close to us know that process is a very long and painful journey. The best we can offer is first our condolences and second, our support.

As demonstrated with Lindbergh’s crossing of the Atlantic in 1927, aviation unites us all in our greatest times, so why should it not also unite us in the lowest times?

At Right: A map detailing the possible search areas for MH370, taking into account the satellite which recieved the pings from the aircraft Above: The same type of Airpcraft which disappeared on March 8th, a Boeing 777-200.

Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia.org

The man leading the hunt for Malaysian Airlines flight 370 says the search is the most difficult in human history, but modern technology greatly increases the chances of finding the missing plane.

“The four underwater signals that search teams detected are still the most promising lead” investigators have in search for the Boeing 777, Angus Houston told CNN’s Anna Coren on Monday. But not all the pings might have even of came from the plane, as two of those pings were at a frequency of 27kHz and the other two were at a frequency of 33.5kHz. While the higher frequency pings are significantly lower than the 37.5kHz frequency that the Black Box beacons are designed to emit, the searchers are saying that the 27kHz frequencies might not even have been from the plane at all.

Houston told CNN the hunt for the plane is much more difficult than the search for Air France Flight 447, which disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. One of the big differences between AF447 and MH370 is that the last known position for MH370 is at the top of the Malacca straits and than MH370 continued to fly for an extended period of time after that. Whereas for AF447, they had a very good last known position, which turned out to be very close to where the aircraft was found on the ocean floor. The other big difference between the two is that while no wreckage has ever been found in 3 months for the MH370 search, it took only a week to find floating pieces of wreckage from AF447, which included an almost perfectly intact vertical stabilizer.

In other news related to MH370, a United Nations aviation agency agreed on May 13 that global airline flight tracking is needed in the wake of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370’s disappearance and established a September deadline for “near-term implementation plans for applicable solutions.”

Olumuyiwa

Bernard Aliu, President of the U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization or the ICAO, made the announcement after officials from more than 40 countries met in Montreal to examine a framework for worldwide standards aimed at preventing similar mysteries. “ICAO will continue to provide the necessary leadership to ensure all issues are considered expeditiously to enable a ‘performance based’ International Standard for global airline flight tracking” Aliu said

“

The four underwater signals that the search team detected are still the most primising lead.

“

may

in a statement.

The key consideration at this week’s ICAO meeting was developing protocols for tracking aircraft.

The members listened to a brief presentation about several flight tracking technologies, but do not plan to prescribe a specific one. One potential standard could be preventing anyone from being able to turn off the flight tracking systems, and this is not the first call for such international standards.

The ICAO changed some standards after the Air France accident, which will go into effect in November. In what documents describe as “initial steps,” airlines were told to make better use of existing communication links, introduce mandatory warnings sent to air traffic control when a plane deviates from the cleared route, and improve procedures to ensure better connections.

Separately, a satellite communications company proposed a free global tracking service ahead of the meeting. Inmarsat, the company whose satellite had the last known contact with Flight 370, said the service is offered to the 11,000 passenger aircraft already outfitted with an Inmarsat connection. It said the tracking would cover “virtually 100% of the world’s long haul commercial fleet.

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