People
The aviators, scientists, engineers and astronauts who have shaped the story of air and space flightDiscover Air & Space articles about the people who have shaped the history of flight – and those who will shape its future.
Assembly (Nearly) Complete
NASA's space station manager looks back with satisfaction at one of history's greatest construction projects.
May 2011 |
By Paul Hoversten
Stealing the Wright Flyer
Back in 1951, sci-fi author Jack Finney had a few questions for the Smithsonian, like: How exactly would someone break in?
March 24, 2011 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Time for a Check-Up
I'm just back from recurrent training — two days of fun and games in the simulator. It's kind of like a trip to the dentist: not something you look forward to, but it feels pretty good when it's over. And it's definitely worthwhile.Each day we showed up at 5 a.m. for the briefing, then went into th...
March 11, 2011 |
By Steve Satre
100 Years of Naval Aviation
The Navy's first pilot and 10 more milestones.
March 2011 |
By The Editors
The Unrecognized First
Emory Malick, the first African-American pilot, wasn't known to historians until recently.
March 2011 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Running Out of Time...
I should be in Stockholm right now, but instead I'm sitting at home typing this. We had several delays last night and ultimately timed out —i.e., we couldn't make the flight to Stockholm because we would have been on duty more than 16 hours by the time we landed, which is against the rules.The firs...
February 24, 2011 |
By Steve Satre
Spin Down
Thousands of Air Force pilots trained on the Holloman centrifuge. Now a better ride is coming.
February 11, 2011 |
By Mark Betancourt
The Long Ride Home
I had a nice trip over Christmas, which ended with the red-eye flight back from Las Vegas on Christmas night. We arrived in New York where the forecast was for blizzard conditions later in the day. I was happy to see that not one flake had yet fallen when we landed early on the morning of the 26th....
January 07, 2011 |
By Steve Satre
Happy New Year!
I was in Stockholm for New Year's Day and I had never been in Sweden before. It's still kind of cool to visit a new place, and I think Stockholm is a city I'd like to see a lot more of.Knowing that it's located far to the north, I checked the times for local sunrise and sunset before leaving on my ...
January 04, 2011 |
By Steve Satre
Bella Luna
Some pilots hate flying the red-eye flights, but I kind of like them. There aren't as many planes in the air in the wee hours, and the controllers are quick to give us direct routing. Out of Las Vegas, we're often cleared direct to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, before we've even gotten to Bryce Canyo...
December 22, 2010 |
By Steve Satre
It Doesn't Always Go Smoothly
There was some pretty good winter weather this past weekend, and it caused a lot of cancellations and delays. I arrived in Detroit Saturday night, flying in from São Paulo, Brazil and I was scheduled to fly right back to São Paulo at 7:30 on Sunday evening.The forecast in Detroit was for three to s...
December 15, 2010 |
By Steve Satre
Windsocks and Checklists
When I'm taxiing around airports worldwide, I'm always amused to see that they still have windsocks. It's maybe the only thing from the first days of aviation that you'll still find at modern airports. It's low tech, but it gives a clear indication of wind strength and direction...at least to anyon...
November 30, 2010 |
By Steve Satre
You Think You Have a Bad Commute?
I live in a suburb of Washington, D.C., and heavy rush hour traffic is a common source of complaint around here. Downtown office workers often have drives that are routinely in excess of an hour and sometimes far longer.A long commute is a fact of life for a large percentage of airline pilots and f...
November 24, 2010 |
By Steve Satre
Over the North Atlantic
I'm writing this longhand as we fly back from Frankfurt, Germany. We're over the North Atlantic, a few hours from landing in New York. Out here there are no controllers to talk to, and not much to do except monitor the instruments and make the occasional position report.It's been a routine trip. Go...
November 19, 2010 |
By Steve Satre
NASA v. The Scientists
A band of space scientists and engineers take their fight for privacy all the way to the Supreme Court.
September 24, 2010 |
By Mark Betancourt
Glamour Boy
The day Claude Grahame-White thrilled the crowd at the Boston-Harvard meet.
September 08, 2010 |
By Gavin Mortimer
John Freeborn: 1919-2010
In a 2004 interview, an RAF hero recalled encounters with friends and enemies during the Battle of Britain.
September 03, 2010 |
By Gavin Mortimer
