Solar Airplane Completes Cross-Country Flight

by Chris Owen on

If you have been following along on the journey of Solar Impulse, the solar airplane that was set to fly across the United States, we have good news: the journey is over after a successful flight from Washington to New York on Saturday.

The two-month, ground-breaking flight started in California and took 14,000 viewers along for the ride in streaming video. The “Clean Generation” initiative flight of Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg successfully landed at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport at 11:09 p.m. EDT. Flying across the United States, Solar Impulse was powered only by energy that came from 12,000 solar cells installed on its wings and horizontal stabilizer.Making aviation history, the team of Solar Impulse has come a long way but has even further to go. In 2015, they plan on flying around the world, totally on solar power of course.

The Solar Impulse team will be available to the public at JFK International Airport on Saturday July 13 from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday July 14 from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

5 Reasons Why Living In An Airport Might Be Kinda Nice

by Libby Zay on

Taking cues from Tom Hanks’ role in “The Terminal,” a 45-year-old woman has been living inside Mexico’s Cancún International Airport (pictured) for the past week. While we can think of a few reasons this would not be a good idea — no comfortable place to lay down, soaring food prices, etc. — it got us thinking that living in an airport wouldn’t really be all that bad.

1. It’s Secure
Once you make it past security, an airport is probably one of the safest places you can find yourself. There’s not even a pocket knife in sight.2. Free Amenities
If you play your cards right, you could end up at an airport with free Wi-Fi, power outlets, filtered water stations and more. But that’s just at run-of-the-mill airports. Some of the best airports have exercise classes, art exhibitions, libraries, movie theaters, pools and golf courses to stay entertained. Some also have comfy recliners, sleeping pods and even showers. If all else fails, at least you’ll always have access to a bathroom.

3. Unmatched People Watching
Anyone who’s spent a long layover at an airport can tell you sometimes you don’t even need a gadget to stay entertained. Airports — especially international ones — are like a microcosm of the entire human race (and all its eccentricities). Who knows, you might even end up finding a date while you camp out.

4. Options, Options, Options
One of the reasons we love airports is because many of them provide a gastronomical free-for-all. It’s possible to sample a wide range of restaurants, including national chains and local eateries. Plus, where else can you get a beer at 6 a.m. and coffee at midnight?

5. Duty Free Shopping
Essentially, living in an airport is kind of like living in a shopping mall. (And if you have an international ticket, it’s a tax free shopping mall.) From travel-size toothbrushes to Jimmy Choo shoes, pretty much everything you could ever need (or want) is up for sale.

Airport X-Ray Scanner Radiation No Big Deal, Say Scientists

by Gadling Staff on

The topic of overexposure to radiation via airport X-ray scanners comes up from time to time, mostly by frequent fliers concerned for their health. But in a new study out this week, scientists say travelers absorb less radiation from an airport security scan than just standing around waiting for it.

Using two scanners at the Los Angeles International airport (LAX), a traveler would have to take more than 22,500 scans in a year to be in trouble, concluded a recent test.

“We think the most important single take-away point for concerned passengers is to keep an appropriate perspective,” said Christopher Cagnon, PhD, DABR, the chief of radiology physics at UCLA Medical Center in a Travel Daily News report, adding “the effective radiation dose received by a passenger during screening is comparable to what that same passenger will receive in 12 seconds during the flight itself or from two minutes of natural radiation exposure.”The report came from a study commissioned by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), using Rapiscan Secure 1000 SP backscatter X-ray scanners, once common in major airports but removed mostly over concerns for privacy, replaced by machines that emit even less radiation.

Americans Trying To Bring Guns On Planes At Unprecedented Rate, Says TSA

by Adam Hodge on

More and more Americans are apparently attempting to take airline security into their own hands. In data provided by the Transport Security Administration to the AP, there is evidence of a significant increase in the number of firearms that passengers try to take through TSA screening points in airports around the country.

In only the first half of this year, the TSA seized 894 guns from passengers – 30 percent more than the year before. From 2011 to 2012, the number of firearms seized increased by 17 percent.

Many of these weapons were seized from people who claim they simply forgot they were carrying a gun onto a plane. Airports in the south and west of the United States had the largest reported number of gun seizures.
Some of the stories of the seizures in the AP report are genuine head-shakers. To wit:

Raymond Whitehead, 53, of Santa Fe, N.M., was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey in May after screeners spotted 10 hollow-point bullets in his carry-on bag. Whitehead, who is completely blind, also had a .38 caliber Charter Arms revolver in his checked bag that he had failed to declare.

The TSA found the weapons on the passengers’ person, in their carry-on luggage and even in a boot that one man was wearing on his prosthetic leg. Depending on the gun laws of the jurisdiction where the airports are located, some of the gun-toting passengers were arrested and others were not.

If you think 894 guns in six months is a lot, consider that these numbers don’t include BB guns, spear guns, flare guns, stun guns and other ballistic weapons.

Last month the TSA recently reversed their decision to allow small knives onto planes. They have not made any statements reiterating the ban on firearms.

Even the TSA Wants In On The Instagram Craze

by Gadling Staff on

Other than toothpaste in quantities greater than 3.4 ounces, ever wonder what the TSA actually confiscates?

Wonder no more. A TSA Instagram account, dedicated to documenting prohibited items found at airport checkpoints, went live in late June. Its first post, a compilation of seized fireworks and brass knuckles, is accompanied by a hashtag-heavy public service announcement: “#Fireworks don’t fly. (On planes) #july4 #travel #instatsa #firstpost #aviation.”

Read the full article on Huffington Post Travel.