Word: aircraft
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...side. The FAA's Cheney announced that his agency had decided to study the safety board's recommendations. Insisting that "we are seriously embracing attacking this problem on the flammable-vapor level," he pledged to "take action" on fuel-tank maintenance programs for all U.S. aircraft. Boeing declared that it had been studying fuel-tank improvements since the crash and is considering more thorough insulation and "sweeping" out accumulated fumes during flight...
There has been a lot of publicity surrounding the F-117 Stealth fighter, U-2 missions and the U.S. aircraft carrier groups assigned to the Middle East, but what about the squadrons of A-10 Warthogs stationed in Kuwait, only 50 miles from the Iraqi border? We have been patrolling the skies over the no-fly zone in southern Iraq--in harm's way--every day, faithfully, since late 1994. I suppose it's much more glamorous to interview the flight crews on a carrier [WORLD, Nov. 24], but the real story lies with the airmen and ground crews...
Noise is the least of it. Aircraft exhaust killed a wheat field next to the runway, Pickard says, and several years ago, Pickard's cattle came down with a mysterious affliction--heifers losing weight, their eyes pale and blank. His veterinarian finally traced it to the water supply, Lytle's Creek, which had been contaminated with ethylene glycol from Airborne's de-icing operation. Local environmentalists have met with Airborne's lawyers, and the company is studying the problem. But with winter here, the de-icer is flowing again...
LATEST VERSION: The current aircraft is 40% larger than the original U-2. The single-seat, single-engine, glider-like plane has a length of 63 ft. and a wingspan of 103 ft. Each plane costs an estimated $34 million, and 36 are on active duty...
NOMENCLATURE: The government originally said it was a weather-reconnaissance aircraft and labeled the plane U for utility. U.S. pilots call it the Dragon Lady. The Soviets dubbed the planes the black ladies of espionage. (No, the band, bottom, didn't take its name from the plane; band members just liked the sound...