Sky Blue Radio

Disco queen Donna Summer dead at 63

Legendary singer Donna Summer, whose powerful voice and string of hit songs like "Bad Girls" and "Hot Stuff" provided the soundtrack for the disco era, died Thursday, her family confirmed. She was 63.

"Early this morning, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith," family of the singer said in a statement.

Pentagon limits F-22 fighter jet flights

Fox News reports that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Tuesday ordered the Air Force to take new steps to address an undiagnosed safety problem with its F-22 fighter jet, including limiting the distances it can fly between landing zones.

The new restriction does not affect the war effort in Afghanistan because no F-22s are deployed there. The fighter has never flown in combat with the only F-22s operating overseas in the United Arab Emirates, where they recently arrived for training missions.

Investigation launched into crash of Sukhoi SuperJet Crash

Russian investigators have launched a criminal probe into the crash of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 during a demonstration flight in Indonesia on Wednesday. A law enforcement spokesman said the investigation would focus on crew training and the technical condition of the aircraft before it left Russia.

As many as 50 people were killed when the plane apparently crashed into the sheer face of a mountain during a flight meant to show off the Russian-made twin-engine jetliner to potential buyers. Rescuers at the remote crash site say they have found no survivors, but accounts of how many people were on board have differed.

Early questions have focused on why the pilot of the aircraft requested to descend below 6000ft amid the mountains shortly before crashing. Indonesian aviation experts say a pilot typically would have ascended to avoid bad weather.

The crash is a major setback for the Superjet, with the Russian government having invested heavily in the project as part of a bid to revive the country’s moribund aircraft manufacturing industry. President Vladimir Putin has hailed the aircraft as a “national champion” that would help return Russia to its Cold War-era prominence. But even before the crash, the Superjet has struggled to find buyers outside of Russia, with Alitalia canceling a $500 million deal due to production delays.

The Superjet received type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency in February. Indonesian regional carrier PT Sky Aviation has ordered 12 in a deal worth US$379 million at list prices.

AVSIM: Town Hall Meeting with Austin Meyer

AVSIM will be hosting a LIVE Town Hall meeting with Austin Meyer, President of Laminar Research, the producers of the X-Plane series on May 19 at 1830 GMT.

The Flying Hovercraft

A future like the Jetsons may not be too far away with the introduction of the flying hovercraft. American retailer Hammacher Schlemmer has just released their latest product, the flying hovercraft. Described as "the hovercraft that glides over land and water yet also soars in the air up to 70 mph with the aid of integrated wings."

GSX 1.5 released

The FSDreamTeam are happy to announce the release of a new major update to GSX, the 1.5 version, which introduce a big new feature, a Scenery Graphical Editor, that will allow users to customize all parking spots at every airport, both default and 3rd party, to create a perfect integration with GSX, and share their creation with other users too.

The editor is entirely graphical, very easy to use, and it's running inside FSX, using the familiar "Slew" keys commands, to position each GSX vehicle around the parking spot, allowing for a precise integration of GSX with the scenery used.

Any scenery can be customized: default, 3rd party and even sceneries that were already customized in GSX (like FSDT ones), removing the previous limitation that prevented customization of sceneries internally supported by GSX.

To get the new version, download and install the latest version (2.9.0.3 or later) Stand-Alone Addon Manager for FSX, which will update your GSX installation to the 1.5 version. You'll get also a major Live Update notification by GSX.

If you downloaded the full GSX installer after May 12th 2012 and the installer reads 1.5 or later when it starts, you don't need to update to get the new feature.

You can view the full announcement by clicking HERE

F-16 jets intercept small plane as Obama leaves Los Angeles

Two F-16 fighter jets intercepted a small private plane that violated restricted airspace Friday as President Barack Obama was about to depart from Los Angeles International Airport aboard Air Force One, authorities said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled the two jets that intercepted the Piper 28 aircraft over northeast Los Angeles at approximately 9:45 a.m. PDT, and followed it until it landed about five minutes later and was met by local law enforcement, NORAD said in a statement.

Fighter plane from World War II found

A fighter plane from World War II that crashed in the Sahara 70 years ago has been unearthed, and holds clues to a missing pilot.

The Telegraph reports that the intact American-made Curtiss Kittyhawk P-40, which had remained untouched since its crash landing in 1942, was discovered by a Polish oil company worker, Jakub Perka, who was exploring a remote region of the Western Desert in Egypt, about 200 miles from the nearest town.

JetBlue Removes Toddler in �No-Fly List� Error

JetBlue cited a “computer glitch” on Thursday as the reason it removed an 18-month old girl from a plane bound for New Jersey earlier this week.

The toddler and her parents were flying from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to Newark, N.J. on Tuesday when they were asked to get off the plane they had just boarded, ABC affiliate WPBF reported.

Unruly Passenger Forces Emergency Landing in Boston

A plane made an emergency landing at Boston’s Logan Airport Thursday after a passenger became unruly and attempted to open a cabin door in flight, ABC News affiliate WCVB reported. Michael Ensalaco, 40, of Mooresville, N.C has been charged with interfering with a flight crew.

The passenger had to be restrained by other fliers, according to Massport, the agency that runs Logan Airport.