From The Digital Aviator:

A UK-built solar-powered plane has set an unofficial world endurance record for a flight by an unmanned aircraft. The Zephyr-6, as it is known, stayed aloft for more than three days, running through the night on batteries it had recharged in sunlight.

I guessed everyone has heard or read by now about the successful demonstration of the Zephyr-6 recently.

Not just that this unmanned aircraft has stayed in the air longer than any other aircraft it did so without depending on fuel.

Is there an option for a new era in which solar energy would decrease flight costs and increase efficiency in similar aircrafts? I certainly hope so.

courtesy of deshuth\

I thought you might enjoy reading about the hang gliding event. You can read the post here or if you really love photos do directly to this page and check them out.

I can’t imagine an event here that would bring one of every six pilots to the same place but it sure can be fun to meet, have fun and even compete.

courtesy of kozumel

Maybe it’s just me but I can’t remember so many plans accidents in just one week. The Spanish one was the biggest and the most serious incident but there were other smaller cases too.

When a small airplane that carries two or three people crashes it is usually due to the pilot error or to his inexperience but when a big plane that belongs to civilian aviation suffers the same destiny it is usually presumed to be a mechanical issue or safety violation.

Just yesterday the accident of the Boeing 737-200 is probably the result of the weather.

Check out the Aviation Safety Net statistics on all occurrences during 2008, reading the description of the accidents and the reasons is something that might be important for any person in the field.

Courtesy of francoisroche

Reading Cockpit Conversation for some time now I have to say that I’ve learned that even for pilots it is not always easy to do what they want.

There is some distorted image on many people’s mind that being a pilot means that you’re going to have it easy when in fact getting a regular job in a prestigious civilian aviation company on a regular basis is probably not so easy even for qualified pilots.

I’m usually in favor of working the less steady jobs and being a contract pilots would probably be my choice had I been a pilot but I can’t really speak for anyone else as I really educate myself from blogs and this is hardly getting the full picture.

No I wasn’t there this year but still it is one of the biggest events that I know of in the field.

If you want to really feel what was going on I can recommend Hal posts that describe it day by day and probably in a day or two there would be a nice story at Flight Sim Blog.

Such big events are always fun and I plan not to miss it again as there are so many new things to see.