A family of US tourists in Mexico were held up by gunmen in Mexico on Tuesday. The thieves then flew off in the plane, according to police.

The robbers attacked the plane as the American couple and their two young daughters were about to take off from a hotel airstrip in the Baja California beach town of Mulege. The men pulled a car in front of the Cessna Stationair, knocked out one of its windows, and forced the tourists out at gunpoint. They then set fire to the car and escaped in the aircraft.

US officials said they were aware of the incident but had not yet been in contact with the victims.

On April 6, 1973, Pioneer 11 was launched from Cape Canaveral. The 2.9-meter long unmanned spacecraft was the second mission (after its sister probe Pioneer 10) to investigate Jupiter and the outer solar system, and the first to explore the planet Saturn and its main rings. The spacecraft made a success to Saturn flyby and then followed an escape trajectory from the solar system.

Also called Pioneer G, Pioneer 11’s objectives were to study the interplanetary and planetary magnetic fields; solar wind properties; cosmic rays; transition region of the heliosphere; neutral hydrogen abundance; distribution, size, mass, flux, and velocity of dust particles; Jovian aurorae; Jovian radio waves; the atmospheres of planets and satellites; and the surfaces of Jupiter, Saturn, and some of their satellites. Pioneer 11 was developed out of NASA Ames Research Center as part of the Pioneer series of spacecraft.

DALLAS- American Airlines received clearance from Federal Aviation officials to return all of its 300 grounded jets to service on Saturday.

After cancellation of 200 flights, Fort Worth-based American was running a full schedule on Saturday afternoon with no cancellation, according to spokesman Charley Wilson.

American said 226 of its MD-80s were back in service but only received clearance to return in service all the remaining grounded jets to service. Flights were canceled as it grounded 300 MD-80 jets to wrap wiring bundles to meet federal safety standards and prevent fires.

American official said they thought they had the needed repair work completed two weeks ago when it scrubbed more than 400 flights, but the Federal Aviation Administration said the wiring was not secured and stowed properly in wheel wells.

American’s entire fleet averages 15 years in age, making it the second oldest in the industry behind Norwest Airlines, according to regulatory filings by the airlines.

Last April 7, 2008, USS Farragut DDG-99 and its sailors deployed for the first time since its commissioning on May 4, 2006 as part of the George Washington Strike Group in support of the Americas (POA). The USS Farragut was commanded by Cmdr. Scott E. Dugan. Dugan said:

“Deploying is an important event in any service member’s career, but there is a significant amount of pride associated with being the first crew to deploy a ship. A successful deployment will be an excellent opportunity for Farragut to improve interoperability and readiness with our South American partners, essential elements of the Navy’s new Maritime Strategy.”

Farragut, as part of the strike group, will escort USS George Washington CVN-73 during the first portion of its journey to Yokosuka, Japan wherein it will replace the USS Kitty Hawk CV-63 as the Navy’s only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier. The deployment includes bilateral and multinational sea-based exercises and training opportunities, such as UNITAS, having two geographically-focused maritime exercises to improve interoperability between participating navies. Farragut conducted multiple air defense exercises in preparation of becoming the Air Defense Coordinator for the entire strike group.

After escorting USS George Washington, the crews of the Farragut will engage in counter-narcotic and theater security cooperation exercises. Maritime interdiction operations scenarios were conducted during the recent group sail exercise in preparation for Farragut’s deployment.