After F135 test engine automatically shut down, Pratt & Whitney checks the said engine during ground testing for the short take-off and vertical landing variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The incident occurred on 30 August on a test stand at Pratt & Whitney’s West Palm Beach, Florida facility, where the company is working towards initial flight release of the STOVL F135 to support the planned May 2008 first flight of the F-35B.

P&W says the F135 was “completing a control model validation qualification test in powered-lift mode… when it automatically powered down based on a stall indication”.

Read the full article: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/09/11/216723/pratt.html

Early September saw the aerial delivery of relief supplies to victims of Hurricane Felix in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. USS Wasp (LHD-1), USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) and the World Food Programme collectively provided much needed food and water to the hurricane victims. Delivery of relief goods began from Wasp on September 7. Two days later, Samuel B. Roberts took over the mission with its embarked SH-60B Seahawks from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light (HSL) 48.

On its first day of the relief effort, Samuel B. Roberts and its helicopters flew 11 missions and delivered nearly 10,000 liters of water to the hardest hit areas, one of which was Sandy Bay. Helicopter crews and ground support personnel directed distribution and loaded relief supplies.

Said Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron (HM) 15 Commanding Officer Commander Frank Dowd, “Our helicopters flew over the region Thursday and saw many communities that received the worst of Felix’s wrath. The crews marked each position, and we relayed the information to coordinate the distribution efforts. It was easy to see we could make an immediate difference as soon as we could deliver relief supplies.”

Close to 16,000 people were without fresh food and water, and very little medicine. Thus when help arrived, there was a bit of a commotion. The locals, unaware of the potential dangers of hovering helicopters delivering supplies by air, came swarming forward as soon as they saw water. Other emergency relief supplies, most of which were provided by the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance, were hygiene kits, blankets and plastic sheeting to provide cover from rain.

Marvin Hendriquez, a resident of Sandy Bay, said that while it will take three years to rebuild, eventually they will. He said local communities were grateful to the US military for providing aid.

Six years ago, the 9-11 (pronounced as “nine eleven”) tragedy took place where two airliners were crashed into the two twin towers of World Trade Center in New York City. Approximately 3,000 lives were lost during the said catastrophe. This includes 2,750 at the World Trade Center site.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum launched a grassroots effort to help build an eternal tribute to honor the innocent lives lost in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and preserve the memory of those events for future generations. The Memorial & Museum have created a traveling exhibition to pay tribute to those who were killed on September 11 as well as to support the heroic first responders whose selfless acts saved thousands.

In commemorating of its sixth year anniversary, the heroic firefighters who helped rescue New Yorkers on Sept. 11 — and later, recovered the dead — read victims’ names for the first time Tuesday at the sixth anniversary ceremony.

Reference:
http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=7017
www.national911memorial.org

Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida held a NASA Space Day celebration on September 10, 2007 in honor of the seven astronauts who flew aboard space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-118 mission. Outside the Mission: SPACE attraction at Disney’s Epcot theme park, a glass plaque bearing the words of astronaut Barbara R. Morgan was unveiled as a crowd looked on. The smoke and confetti cleared to reveal the simple yet inspiring, “Reach for your dreams… the sky is no limit.”

Throughout the day, students and theme park visitors gathered to listen to Commander Scott Kelly, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh, Mission Specialists Tracy Caldwell, Rick Mastracchio, Barbara R. Morgan, Alvin Drew and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Dave Williams as they answered questions and shared their experiences.

Local fourth and fifth graders attended a special education session alongside students from Oak Ridge High School Aviation and Aerospace Academy Magnet Program, and Osceola High School Aviation Academy. When asked what was the most difficult and challenging obstacle the astronauts encountered, Mastracchio answered, “I kept putting in astronaut application after astronaut application, and eventually got selected as an astronaut and got to fly in space two times.” He went on to give some advice, saying, “So even though you meet obstacles, there are always ways around those obstacles to achieve your goals and make your dreams come true.”

Towards the end of the day, the Endeavour crew members served as honorary grand marshals at the Magic Kingdom’s afternoon parade. Despite the drizzle, families gathered along Main Street to watch and applaud the astronauts.

To learn more about the STS-118 mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts118/main/index.html.