Word: preflight
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...kids, his 91-year-old dad and his 88-year-old mother with him. A Virgin Galactic prototype is taking shape on a hangar floor in California's Mojave Desert. New Mexico is negotiating leases with Virgin for its proposed spaceport, where space tourists could do some preflight vacationing. Designer Philippe Starck has been retained to add chic to Virgin Galactic plane interiors, hotels and spaceports. And despite the ticket price, sales are already closed for the first group of 100 passengers, called the Founders. "I'm absolutely sure that millions of people want to go into space," says Branson...
...about 1:30 in the morning on the 9th, we gathered at the Bockscar, and [Major Charles] Sweeney [the pilot] and the flight engineer ran through the preflight tests. The engineer discovered that the transfer pumps, which transfer gasoline from the reserve tank into the main tanks, weren't working. There was 600 gal. of gasoline there, but we wouldn't have access to it. But Tibbets told him, "You don't need that gas, so there's no reason to delay this...
...television or radio. There is no age limit, and aspirants who reach the final selection process will be screened by a new, less stringent medical standard established by NASA for such civilian projects: free of disease, injury or other condition likely to interfere with the mission or preflight training; eyesight correctible to at least 20/40 in the better eye; able to hear a whispered voice from 3 ft. away (hearing aids are permissible); and a blood pressure reading of less than 160 over 100. "There ought to be a great advantage to prove that any old fart...
Price-conscious trips today require more preflight planning than simply calling one or two major airlines that serve your city, but the potential payoff is huge. The typical fare has dropped 18% since 2000, although flyers might have to arrive at a secondary airport or bring their own dinner. And to the delight of their employees and shareholders, several of the smaller airlines are finding ways to boost revenues and profits in their niches. "What are crumbs for the major airlines are a full meal for us," says Dan McKinnon, CEO of tiny North American Airlines, primarily a charter carrier...
During the preflight briefing, the commanding officer is pounding home the landing advice. "Don't go north of there, don't go east of there, don't go west of there," Lieut. Colonel Mark Casburn tells the gathered crew whose HC-130 I am about to board. "Come in from the south, and leave from the south...