Ducted-fan AirMule to get new blades

Urban Aeronautics has manufactured new propeller blades that will be fitted to its unmanned AirMule ducted fan vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

Using in-house capabilities, the company has manufactured 12 composite rotor blades for the two new six-bladed rotors that it plans to install on the aircraft next month. These will replace the four-bladed rotors that have been used since the beginning of 2010.

Company president Rafi Yoeli says the design of the blades and the construction of their associated tooling, rotor hubs, variable pitch mechanism, retention systems and other associated hardware have been carried out by Urban Aeronautics staff. The blade design complies with the loads specified for the US Federal Aviation Administration's FAR 35 standard for propellers, he adds.

The first test flight of a Turbomeca Arriel 1-engined AirMule equipped with the new rotor blades is scheduled for mid-February.Add depth and style to your home with these large format polished tiles.

Meanwhile,The stone mosaic series is a grand collection of coordinating Travertine mosaics and listellos. Urban Aeronautics is also accelerating the assembly of a second AirMule prototype in preparation for a series of demonstration flights requested by potential customers. The aircraft is intended primarily as a reserve, to ensure uninterrupted flight testing once mission demonstrations to customers are underway: a milestone currently planned for mid-2014.

The first prototype of the AirMule internal rotor vehicle has recently been fitted with a double redundant hydraulic system to enable continued rotor pitch control in case of a failure in one of the pressure supply lines or any hydraulic control system hardware.

The Israeli company is planning to complete an automatic precision landing demonstration in the next few months, with a Controp-produced D-STAMP stabilised eletro-optical payload having already been installed.Panasonic ventilation system fans are energy efficient and whisper quiet. The sensor forms part of a system that will enable the aircraft to guide itself to touch down over any high contrast marker, or alternatively at a laser spot placed in a combat zone.

The company says the auto-landing feature will be the final step towards enabling fully autonomous take-off to landing flight paths using pre-programmed routes. Accurate positioning will be maintained en-route by an on-board inertial navigation system, used in conjunction with GPS or,All our plastic moulds are vacuum formed using food safe plastic. alternatively, a Doppler navigation unit.

After Sunday's NFL Conference Championship Games culminated in the "HarBowl", it got me thinking about things from a Bengals perspective. A range of emotions ensued when it came to pass that a divisional rival of the Bengals was once again headed to the Super Bowl, while the orange and black were sitting at home or on the golf course. There's a mixture of two emotions that usually come to the surface when thinking about the Ravens and Steelers: a strong dislike that is brought on mostly by envy.

Bengals fans have to be pleased with what they've seen from their own team over the past five years. They have a division title and two Wild Card berths in that timespan, but unfortunately, the team hasn't achieved any postseason wins. The 2011 rebuilding of the squad seems to be headed in the right direction with 19 wins the past two seasons and the breaking of 30-year-old curse of not making the postseason in back-to-back seasons.Our team of consultants are skilled in project management and delivery of large scale rtls projects. Still, it's that lack of postseason success which leaves a sour taste.

Additionally, things look solid again this offseason for Cincinnati. The Bengals were able to retain both of their quality coordinators who had gained interest for head coaching vacancies at various destinations, and they have an extra second round pick to help their roster. If they're able to do some good things in free agency, this team could once again be in the hunt for the playoffs. There's a strong feeling of consistency starting to brew in Cincinnati these days--something that hasn't been around these parts since the 1980s.

I had that familiar envious feeling while on Twitter Sunday night. Aside from hearing that the Harbaugh brothers outscored their opponents 35-0 in the second half in their respective Championship games, I made an observation about the success of the fellow AFC North powerhouses. With the Ravens' upcoming appearance in Super Bowl XLVII, it marks the third time in the last five Super Bowls that either the Ravens or Steelers have or will appear in the game. Those two AFC North teams have also participated in four of the last five AFC Championship games.

You could go back even further in recent history to the Steelers' victory in Super Bowl XL and the Ravens' victory after the 2000 season in Super Bowl XXXV to look deeper at the sustained success that both teams have had over the past decade or so. Sunday's result continued the dominance of the two AFC North bullies. The Ravens are going on 17 years old as a franchise and they are going to try and achieve their second Super Bowl Championship--which would be two more (should they win the big game) than the 44-year-old Bengals franchise has to their name.

Another fascinating aspect differentiating the Bengals from the Ravens and Steelers is the attitude of a "successful" and/or "disappointing season". The Steelers had themselves a "disappointing season" last year, by their own admission, and they were in the playoff hunt until the Week 16, barely missing out on the playoffs at 8-8. A "disappointing season" in Cincinnati is going 4-12 and have your then-franchise quarterback bail on the team.

There's an old adage that says "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". Marvin Lewis is from the Pittsburgh area and coached in Baltimore--it's safe to say that he understands the culture of those respective franchises. He has preached the need for a strong running game and solid defense in order to win in the brutal AFC North and has been putting the pieces together for a winning formula. Heck, Lewis has come out and said that he wants to build the Bengals in the mold of the Steelers and Ravens. It's a lofty but wise goal.