Word: plane
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...flight deck for launching up to 30 helicopters of the Hormone type used in antisubmarine warfare. The Moskva is the first Soviet vessel in the Mediterranean equipped with ship-to-air as well as ship-to-ship missiles, and each time a U.S. Navy P-2 patrol plane tries to take a peek, the Russians swiftly swing the missiles below decks on elevator platforms. In a crunch, the helicopters could carry troops. In the future, the Moskva will be able to handle VTOL (vertical takeoff, landing) planes as well as helicopters...
Hole in the Doughnut. Aero-Go's gadget goes to work after ground crews have rolled a plane's wheels onto small, dolly-like platforms. Underneath each platform are air bearings-flat disks made of plastic-fabric materials. When air is pumped into the disks, they assume a doughnut shape, raising the platform and its heavy load from 1 to 3 in. As the bearings become inflated, air escaping through perforations in the doughnut seeps underneath it. That thin film of escaping air suspends platform and plane above the concrete surface...
Floating on air and practically freed from friction, a 160-ton Boeing 747 can be pulled effortlessly around airports; it can even be shoved sideways in a cramped hangar by a small tractor. The awkward task of calibrating a plane's compass* will also be eased by the new device. The big planes will be floated onto a 46-ft. diameter turntable that will be suspended 3 in. above the ground on air bearings. A tractor will then turn the plane to any angle on the freely rotating turntable, eliminating considerable maneuvering and excessive wear on the tires...
...Because an aircraft's metallic structures and its electronic instruments can cause its magnetic compass to give incorrect readings, the compass must be adjusted after installation, as the plane is pivoted through a full circle on the ground...
...white landscape slides irrelevantly back and forth into view like an askew plane in space. You expected beforehand to have a feeling of neat perpendicularity towards the land you were falling to. But as you fall, your mind isn't aware of any geometrical relationship to the ground; it relates only to the airplane...