The V-22 Osprey, built by Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., performed superbly in its first combat missions with the US Marines, having flown in Iraq.

Lt. Col. Paul Rock, the commander of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, praised the hybrid helicopter-airplanes and the pilots who flew them.  Rock said:

“We did the full spectrum of what the aircraft was meant to do.  It was very satisfying to see how well it performed.”

The Osprey’s design allows it to fly quickly like a normal airplane then switch to helicopter mode to land and has proven its worth on the two occasions it came under fire.  Lt. Gen. George Trautman III, the Marine Corps deputy commandant for aviation said the machines logged less than a third of the repair time required to keep Vietnam-era CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters in the air.  Some technical problems arise during the deployment, such as the failure of electrical distribution systems for the sensors on a number of Ospreys in a short period.

Gen. Trautman called the deployment a test but not “the final exam.”  He said the Air Force is “leaning forward” in plans to use a modified version of the Osprey, which mat include the addition of a belly-mounted turret to give the aircraft a better field of fire.

Col. Rock, when asked about the lack of a turret-mounted weapon on the Marine variant, he quipped, “Never ask a Marine if he wants more guns on his airplane.  More guns is good.”

Cessna employees celebrated the roll out of the first production Citation XLS+ last Friday at the Cessna Aircraft Company’s primary design and manufacturing facilities in Wichita, Kansas.

The XLS+ is the latest version of the world’s best-selling business jet model. The first production unit will now go to paint and interiors, while two flight test aircraft will continue to work toward type certification.

The upgrade to the mid-size Excel/XLS will feature the fully integrated Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite and electronically controlled (FADEC) engines from Pratt & Whitney Canada. Exterior and interior restyling is also integrated into the new model, most notably the extended contour of the nose and expanded seat widths.

Among the well-known Citation airplanes are Cessna Citation, Cessna Citation I, Cessna Citation II, Cessna Citation III, Cessna Citation Mustang, Citation X Business Jet, and Cessna Citation X.

We are all aware that the fastest way to go places that are miles away from each other is to travel by aircraft. Planes fly thousands of feet above the ground and move undoubtedly fast. But unknown to all mankind, there are these giant birds that can actually go for not just hundreds but thousands of miles in an hour. Here are some of the fastest aircrafts on Earth.

• Citation X, also considered as the fastest business jet, can go up to 607 mph.

• The fastest operating commercial plane, Boeing 747 has a speed of 605 mph.

• F-15 SMTD flies 1,650 mph

• F-111 Aardvark is known as the fastest US/Australian strategic bomber and with 1,850 mph

• F-15 Eagle can go 1,875 mph. It’s the fastest US jet fighter.

• MiG-31 Foxhound flies as fast as 1,868 mph.

• XB-70 Valkyrie tops the chart of fastest aircrafts as it goes 2,056 mph

• The fastest jet fighter in the world is MiG-25 Foxbat, having a capacity of 2,115 mph

• Another speedy aircraft is SR-71 Blackbird with 2,293 mph making it the fastest jet aircraft in the world.

• X-15 has 4,520 mph world record, and is considered the fastest manned aircraft. Aside from this, it also hold the record as the highest flying aircraft.

 Air Force officials plan to use synthetic fuel blends by 2011 which is made up of 50/50 blend of synthetic and petroleum gases.   

The Air Force program aims to help the environment and to use a fuel produced domestically.  Air Force officials are still in the process of evaluating and certifying the alternative fuel derived from natural gas using the Fischer-Tropsch process and it will be enforced for use on every Air Force aircraft.  Air Force officials have previously tested the fuel blend in the B-52 Stratofortress and the C-17 Globemaster III, which were one of the first aircraft to use the synthetic fuel.  A B-1B Lancer from the 9^th Bomb Squadron became the first Air Force aircraft to fly at supersonic speed using an alternate fuel which flew over Texas and New Mexico on March 19, 2008.

 The Air Force is the single largest user of aviation fuel, with an estimated use of 3 billion gallons per year.  Synthetic fuel created using the FT process costs an estimated $30 to $50 less per barrel than its petroleum counterpart. Alternative fuels can be produced from domestically available hydrocarbon products like natural gas, coal and shale and then gasified and converted into any number of liquid fuel products.  The use of synthetic fuel is not only cost efficient and that, this innovative domestically-produced fuel will also help alleviate our dependence on foreign energy sources.  These alternative fuels also burn cleaner which reduces combustion-related emissions and particulates in the air, without compromising performance.