rick felty - rotation speed

Recently published on YouTube, this video explains ICON Aircraft's spin resistant design elements. Their press release announced that their A5 will be the first production aircraft in history to be designed to and completely meet the Federal Aviation Administration's full-envelope Part 23 spin-resistance standards once production starts (although it is not a Part 23 certified aircraft). They comment that this is a tremendous safety advancement that can significantly reduce the number of loss-of-control accidents resulting from stall/spin scenarios, which are the most significant cause of fatal General Aviation accidents. Thanks to Sam DeBartolo for bringing this to my attention.

Here is a fascinating aticle from the Telegraph in England about what really happened on the flight deck of Air France 447.

In the early hours of June 1 2009, Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went missing, along with 216 passengers and 12 crew. The Airbus A330-200 disappeared mid-ocean, beyond radar coverage and in darkness. It took a shocked and bewildered Air France six hours to concede its loss and for several agonising days there was no trace. It was an utter mystery. No other airliner had vanished so completely in modern times. Even when wreckage was discovered the tragedy was no less perplexing. The aircraft had flown through a thunderstorm, but there was no distress signal, and the jet was state-of-the-art, a type that had never before been involved in a fatal accident. What had caused it to fall out of the sky? (More)

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This video has made the rounds, but worth a look if you haven't seen it.  For some reason two experienced pilots ignored the warning horn that their gear was not down all the way to landing.  Not sure if for some reason they couldn't hear it, but these dafetly features are in planes for a reason.  Hard to watch but interesting never-the-less.