Yesterday British stuntman Gary Connery became the first person to successfully land in a wing suit without using a parachute (video). Connery jumped out of a helicopter at an altitude of 2,400 feet and dropped for 40 seconds before landing in a massive “runway” of cardboard boxes laid out for him in the English countryside. He was unharmed.

via The New York Times

video via ITN News, photo by Eddie Keogh/Reuters

Airport Security on Wulffmorgenthaler

via The High Definite

This 1955 newsreel clip from British Pathé shows a demonstration flight of the Hiller Flying Platform, an experimental manned hover craft then in development by the US Army and Navy. The military ultimately ruled the platform impractical and it never entered service.

photo via The Smithsonian

Canadian kite maker Steve Polansky of Light Hearted Kites performs a beautiful kite flying display on the beaches of Toronto. The video was captured by photographer Patrick Colpron.

via Colossal

A recently opened restaurant in Chongqing, China gives diners the experience of eating in a first class Airbus A380 airplane cabin, without ever leaving the ground. The interior is custom made to look like an airplane and they have ‘flight attendants’ for waitstaff. Interestingly, this is not the first A380-themed restaurant, there is also the A380 Sky Kitchen in Taipei, Taiwan.

China.org has images and more information (online translation):

Imagine dinner in the cabin of the A380 without buying a plane ticket. Recently, a new restaurant decorated in the Airbus A380 has attracted the interest of users in Chongqing. Follow us to discover this extraordinary restaurant. All decorations of the restaurant are inspired by aircraft: the windows, seats, carpets and even the cabin lighting. Most notable is that the restaurant seats can be adjusted as the plane. The head of the facility revealed that the most expensive seats are the four corner tables, which cost about 10,000 yuan a table. Ovoid in shape, this table is a favorite of lovers. The restaurant has hired 18 employees, “including 9 sales assistants,” the official said. Assistants, dressed in uniforms like those hostesses, have indeed had a vocational training. “The restaurant hostesses invited to teach them the makeup, the habits and skills of the hostesses,” revealed the manager.

via Oddity Central

images via China.org

On The Colbert Report, host Stephen Colbert cracked jokes about Richard Branson’s vanity ice cubes (which are only available to Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class passengers). He offered up a humorous alternative to passengers seated in coach: ice cubes shaped like Branson’s ass.

via Eater

“The Expanding Airport” by Charles and Ray Eames is a 1958 educational animation about the novel design of Washington Dulles International Airport, the country’s first airport designed to accommodate jet aircraft. The film coincided with the beginning of the airport’s construction—the airport would go on to open in 1962.

via Cartoon Brew

The Daily Mail is reporting that Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson now has an ice cube in his likeness. All Virgin Atlantic passengers that travel in the new Upper Class cabin will now be served beverages with these custom ice cubes starting in May 2012. The ice cube is being called the “Little Richard.” According to vtravelled blog, the mold for this custom cube “took a team of four skilled designers a painstaking six weeks to create using detailed photographic techniques and laser scanning technology to create the perfect likeness of Sir Richard.”

Steve Ridgway, Chief Executive of Virgin Atlantic said: “While Richard would love to be able to sit and enjoy a drink with all of our passengers, his schedule means that it simply isn’t possible. Now he is able to join our guests ‘in spirit’ on one of the Upper Class Cabin’s first flights as they raise a toast to their trip and the exciting times ahead.”

images via vtravelled blog, Virgin and Daily Mail

The Transition is a street-legal airplane that operates as both a car and aircraft (video). It completed its maiden flight in March, and is expected to be on sale to the public sometime in 2013. The Transition is being developed by Massachusetts-based Terrafugia.

via Wired

Virgin Atlantic has collaborated with bareMinerals to produce Upper Class Red, a lipstick that matches the uniform of Virgin Atlantic’s cabin crew. It is available for sale at several Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse Spas “before being made available for pre-order on board Virgin Atlantic flights through Retail Therapy.”

via Flavorwire and Design You Trust

On March 21, the PIMA Air & Space Museum successfully launched a 45 foot long paper airplane from a helicopter in the skies over Arizona (video).

via CNET News

This 2011 public service ad for Ramon Rubial Institute Ideas Foundation conveys the message that drug-smuggling on airplanes is as ridiculous. The ad was created by J. Walter Thompson Barcelona.

If you’re carrying drugs, the stewardess cooks you lobster and the pilot lets you fly the plane. If you really believe that smuggling drugs is the answer to your problems, you’ll believe anything.

via Ads of the World

Flight attendant Mandy showing off a finished “Key Lime Cookie Dough Sort Of” recipe on Southwest flight 1200

On my Southwest Airlines flight to SXSW 2012 conference, I snagged the front row bulkhead seat. Little did I know, I would soon be in the middle of a very fun experiment put on by our flight attendants, Mandy and LaDonna. My seatmate Susan and I watched as they filled up ten vomit bags with various food items found in the plane’s galley. Mandy then announced that she wanted volunteers as she had been wanting to try out airplane food recipes with passengers for a long time. Volunteers were chosen (including my seatmate) and she began to tell us how to prepare the recipes.

Mandy called the first recipe “Key Lime Cookie Dough Sort Of” and it consisted of crushed airplane-shaped cookies, Coffee Mate creamer and a wedge of lime. The next was simply peanut butter and several passengers attempted to crush peanuts to a smooth consistency. It got even better when the pilot came out and offered up an unexpected suggestion: Chocolate Mousse. It was a simple recipe made of powdered hot chocolate mix and Coffee Mate creamer. We ended up dipping our mini pretzels into the (somewhat delicious) finished “mousse”. Winners were announced and much fun was had by all involved. In fact, it may have been the most fun I’ve ever had on a commercial flight.

Here are some of the images from that fun flight and the rest can be found here:

Yours truly trying out the finished “Key Lime Cookie Dough Sort Of” recipe

Flight attendant LaDonna showing the bag of Plane Cookies needed for the “Key Lime Cookie Dough Sort Of” recipe

My seatmate Susan making the “Key Lime Cookie Dough Sort Of” recipe

Passengers making peanut butter

Mandy and the pilot checking out the flight-made peanut butter

My seatmate Susan dipping a pretzel into the finished “Chocolate Mousse” recipe

photos by Rusty Blazenhoff and Susan Taylor

Special thanks to Mandy and LaDonna!

A paper airplane designed by paper aviation enthusiast John Collins was thrown 226 feet by former college quarterback Joe Ayoob (video). If confirmed, this will be a new world record.

via The Next Web

These nano quadrotor robots can fly in sophisticated formations, though given their angry bee-like buzz, “swarms” is really a better term. The quadrotors were developed by KMel Robotics, and the flying formation experiments are by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Lab.

via Rob Sheridan

photo via KMel Robotics

“The Boneyard Project: Return Trip” is an art exhibition of scrapped military aircraft that have been repurposed as canvases for contemporary artists. Created by Eric Firestone and organized by curator Carlo McCormick, the exhibition features work by more than 30 artists including Shepard Fairey, Andrew Schoultz, Faile, and Nunca. The exhibition is on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, through May 31. The Flop Box has many wonderful photos of the exhibition and the artists at work.

via Archie McPhee’s Endless Geyser of Awesome & My Modern Metropolis

photos 1 and 3 via Eric Firestone Gallery, photos 2, 4, and 5 by The Flop Box

“Passing Cloud” by architect Tiago Barros is a design concept for a giant cloud-shaped balloon aircraft made up of a bundle of spherical balloons. The aircraft would harness prevailing winds to leisurely transport passengers on random journeys around the United States.

This project envisions a distinct approach towards moving around the United States being also a revival of the act of traveling. Why traveling at high speed? Why having the final destiny always defined? And why always departing and arriving on a tight schedule? Nowadays, everything is set and everyone is always running around. It is time to reconsider the act of traveling and start enjoying it accordingly.

via Inhabitat & The Awesomer

Red Tails is a new action-packed flick from Lucasfilm about the Tuskegee Airmen, the African-American Army Air Corps underdogs that fought “against all odds and became heroes” in World War II. Interesting side note, the Airmen’s aerial dog fights are what inspired George Lucas to create the Star Wars space battles. The movie, directed by Anthony Hemingway and starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Bryan Cranston, opens in theatres on January 20, 2012.

1944. To help win the war, the Pentagon brass has no choice but to consider the untested African-American pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program.

Just as the young Tuskegee men are about to be shut down and shipped back home, they are given the ultimate chance to show their courage. These intrepid young airmen take to the skies to fight for their country – and the fate of the free world.

USA Today recently talked with executive producer George Lucas on why it took 23 years to make this movie and why it’s self-financed:

Delta Air Lines sent a hardcase with six outward-facing video cameras as checked baggage aboard a flight from Atlanta to New York City to show the behind-the-scenes journey of checked baggage.

via Hipmunk

Prompted by the unfortunate experience Lori Dorn had with TSA along with many other similar experiences, TSA has announced the launch of their new TSA Cares Helpline to assist passengers with disabilities and medical conditions prior to their flights. According to TSA they “established this new helpline because we are committed to treating each passenger the way they deserve to be treated – with dignity and respect.”

Starting today, travelers can call the toll free helpline number for TSA Cares before traveling if they have questions about screening policies, procedures or what to expect when they arrive at the airport security checkpoint. This line is available not only to passengers with disabilities and medical conditions, but also to their family members and travel companions who can speak to a knowledgeable representative from the TSA Cares helpline to answer questions about airport security prior to travel.

Air travelers can call TSA Cares toll-free at 1-855-787-2227, Monday through Friday, 9am-9pm EST.

Flyboard is an amphibious water-powered jet pack that propels the wearer up to 30 feet in the air (demo video). A large hose channels high pressure water to the Flyboard from a nearby jet ski. Two large jets at the wearer’s feet provide the propulsion, with two smaller handheld jets providing control. Flyboard was designed by French jet ski racer Franky Zapata of Zapata Racing.

via Gizmodo

“Jetman” Yves Rossy recently flew in formation over the Swiss Alps alongside two jet aircraft from the Breitling Jet Team. We’ve written previously about some of Rossy’s other feats, including his crossing of the Grand Canyon and his aerial acrobatics.

via Daily Picks and Flicks & The Daily What

photos via Breitling

Team Black Sheep created this impressive video of a remote-controlled, camera-equipped plane performing stunts around the University of Virginia, Charlottesville campus.

via The Awesomer

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Pleated-Jeans presents this extremely accurate Airplane Seating Chart.

In late October, Thomas Senkel completed the first manned flight of an electric multicopter. The 16 rotor, battery-powered e-volo was designed and built by Senkel and the e-volo team in Germany.

via The Verge