How do you drop ~$2m worth in a pond of water in a jiffy?  This is how they do it (at least one man did it successfully) in Texas.  Read along this twisted version of a Pelican Brief style thriller ( though no murder of human beings involved, it involves a very expensive &  rare automobile)..

A man blamed a low-flying pelican and a dropped cell phone for his veering his million-dollar sports car off a road and into a salt marsh near Galveston. The accident happened about 3 p.m. Wednesday on the frontage road of Interstate 45 northbound in La Marque, about 35 miles southeast of Houston.

The Lufkin, Texas, man told of driving his luxury, French-built Bugatti Veyron when the bird distracted him, said La Marque police Lt. Greg Gilchrist. The motorist dropped his cell phone, reached to pick it up and veered off the road and into the salt marsh. The car was half-submerged in the brine about 20 feet from the road when police arrived.

The story reported by Chris Paschenko @ The Galveston County Daily News has some interesting details. The man was uninjured after escaping the partially submerged Bugatti Veyron as it came to rest in about 2 feet of saltwater. The man, who refused to give his name, was looking at real estate in Galveston.

About 3 p.m. a low-flying pelican distracted him as he traveled north on Interstate 45 just south of the hurricane levee near Omega Bay. The man jerked the wheel, dropped his cell phone, and the car’s front tire left the frontage road and entered a muddy patch, which foiled his attempt to maneuver away from the lagoon. Chris’ report says Veyron’s powerful engine gurgled like an outboard motor for about 15 minutes before it died.

(Soureces: AP Via Google; The Galveston County Daily News; The Inquisitr)

(Source: New York Times)

Car-to-car communication is a dream of traffic researchers. Radar, video and other sensors in a car would understand the environment around it and communicate such information as sudden braking, rainfall and speed to the receptors in other cars, enabling other drivers to avoid accidents and congestion.

High-tech car-to-car communication is already here in France, but the object is avoiding fines of 90 euros ($140) or more for speeding. Several companies have introduced devices that will alert drivers to the presence of mobile radar units set up by the police. One such device is made by Coyote, a French company, which plans to bring its product to the United States early next year.

Coyote’s best-selling model is the Mini Coyote. It costs around $225, which includes three months of service. After that, there’s a monthly charge of $15.  Business Wire says Coyote has already expanded to Italy, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Belgium and will be available in the United States in January with its main service and an iCoyote application for iPhones.

The Mini Coyote is the size of a cellphone and fits on a car’s dashboard. When a subscriber to the system spots a mobile radar unit beside the road, the driver pushes a button on the device that sends a signal to a central computer giving the location and direction of travel being watched. Three seconds later, the computer sends a warning to all other subscribers within 12½ miles of the point.

Jean-Marc Van Laethem, chief executive for Coyote, started the company with a partner in 2006. Today, there are 250,000 subscribers in France.

Click here to read the entire article.

Transportgooru Musings: As rightly pointed out in the source article, I wonder how this product would compete against the ones that are already in the market place, especially those that are already doing what exactly the  Coyote is designed for.  One particularly popular application on the ever expanding iPhone market is the “Trapster“, also relies on the same principles (crowd sourcing) and has made serious inroads with roughly 50,000 downloads per day, ranking it the 2oth most popular application in the iPhone’s App store.  Even if Cayote starts todays, it still has a long way to go before catching up with Trapster and its ilk that have firmly established themselves.  Maybe it was a good sell in France and some European markets where there is little competition from SmartPhone market applications such as Trapster but in the US it will be a bloody battle before Cayote even makes a mark.  Me thinks, Cayote is a tad bit too late to enter the US market. Also, I think the days of walking into a store to buy a product that is exclusively designed to detect radar signals are fast coming to an end and the future of such “busting” applications are pointedly looking at mobile smartphone platforms such as the iPhone and Droid.  It would be interesting to see how the company takes that subscription-based business model from European markets and applies that to the US market.  That said, Cayote must have some compelling data that convinced them to make the product for sale at brick and motor stores. Let’s see how they do it in the days ahead…

When

Thursday, November 12, 2009 – Friday, November 13, 2009

Add to Calendar

Where

Keck Center The National Academies 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, District of Columbia 20001 202-334-2003

Get Location Map

Supported by U.S. DOT Research Innovative Technology Administration (RITA)

Many elements of the U.S. surface transportation infrastructure are in deteriorating condition. Facilities are aging, and some are stressed more heavily than ever expected. Traffic volumes have exceeded forecasts, trucks and rail cars are heavier and operate in greater numbers than ever before, and control systems have outlived their functional lives. The burdens of preservation and rehabilitation are growing at a time when revenues from user fees are rising only slowly, and the costs of energy and materials are increasing rapidly.

Because major failures are rare, transportation infrastructure preservation is easily overlooked. But infrastructure components require regular monitoring and management; continuing, fact-driven reinvestment to maintain condition and assure performance, safety, and security; development and application of effective and efficient materials, technologies and tools to meet cost-effectiveness and sustainability goals; and targeted capacity expansion. This conference will bring public and private infrastructure owners and managers together with researchers to discuss infrastructure preservation problems, needs, and achievements, and to identify priority opportunities for both basic and applied research. The conference will encompass a broad range of topics focused on aspects of surface transportation infrastructure preservation. Presentations and posters are invited in these and related areas:

a.      Infrastructure condition assessment, including technologies for intelligent structure health monitoring, remote, automated sensing and reporting, and advanced models of infrastructure deterioration processes.

b.      New materials and methods for preservation, restoration, and construction of transportation infrastructure.

c.       Methods to identify and secure critical transportation infrastructure components.

d.      Strategies for rapid repair and rehabilitation, including contracting, new materials, incentives, and project management.

e.      Methods to estimate costs and benefits of infrastructure preservation and models of deterioration processes.

¹ For TRB Sponsors only (including State DOTs). You must be a Sponsor prior to conference registration. To see if your organization is a TRB Sponsor, you may view a listing of all TRB Sponsors.² Full time students, age 35 or under.  Must present Student ID onsite.

Refunds will be issued, less a $50 cancellation fee, for all cancellations received in writing three weeks prior to the conference start date. No refunds will be issued thereafter.

Click here to register and learn more about the event. (PDF of Final Program for the conference below, courtesy of TRB)

(Source: Mashable & Guardian, UK)

Could the satnav (Satellite Navigation, for those not in know) – the saviour of many a long car journey – about to be consigned to the dustbin of history, alongside Betamax tapes and HD-DVDs?

After enjoying years of seemingly unassailable popularity with gadget fans and travelling salesmen, those little gadgets hanging on your vehicle’s Dashboards could become redundant excesses because of the threat from a new breed of mobile phones that feature the sort of mapping technology that wouldn’t look out of place on the most expensive TomTom. Google just released a beta version of Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0. operating system, a new tool, based on Google’s existing road maps platform, that will provide turn-by-turn directions, automatic re-routing and 3D street-level views. In short, pretty much everything your satnav can do, but without the need to worry about an extra bit of kit when you load up the car.

The share prices of leading satnav manufacturers, such as TomTom and Garmin, nosedived on the news. Garmin’s share price dipped by 18 per cent, TomTom’s by 13 per cent – a huge hit, and a clear sign that the market is taking the threat posed by Google very seriously indeed.

Here’s a quick overview of the features:

• Search in plain English – quickly search and navigate to places, businesses, landmarks
• Search by voice
• View of live traffic data over the Internet.
• Search along route – find locations near your current path
• Satellite view – you can view the same satellite imagery you’ve seen Google Maps, on your phone
• Street View – check out what the exact surroundings of a location look like
• Car dock mode – when you place certain devices in a car dock, a special mode activates that enables easier operation

GPS turn-by-turn navigation has historically always been something you had to pay for. Creating and maintaining a map of the entire world, together with points of interests and traffic info, plus developing the algorithms that make sure you don’t take a wrong turn, costs millions of dollars. But Google is now offering it for free. The result was devastating for shares of GPS navigation companies: Garmin’s shares fell by 16.4%; TomTom’s by 20.8%. We’re talking billions of dollars of market capitalization, gone in one day, just because Google presented another free product (they release new products on a monthly, if not weekly basis).

(Sources contributing to this hybrid report:  The Hill, Guardian, UK & NY Times)

Refiners Warn of ‘Staggering’ Costs, Job Losses From Senate Climate Bill

A Senate climate change proposal could add 77 cents a gallon to the price of gasoline, according to Domestic oil refiners.  A group of refiners used the possible price hike on Wednesday to launch the latest in a series of attacks against the proposal. The CEO of refining giant Valero Energy Corp. also warned today that the Senate climate legislation would give a competitive advantage to foreign refiners and cost U.S. jobs.

But Democrats on a key Senate panel shot back, saying the industry’s estimate is based on an inflated projection of the price of permits companies will have to hold to cover their carbon emissions. A cost containment mechanism will keep the price from approaching the industry’s estimate, supporters said.

The lawmakers said the bill will spur industry innovation and that will create millions of new “green” jobs. The chief complaint from refiners is that they wouldn’t get enough free pollution allowances to cover emissions they are on the hook for under the legislation. The Senate bill would give refiners 2.25 percent of the allowances available to cover emissions at their plants. But the industry is also responsible for the emissions from vehicle tailpipes.

To make up the difference, refiners would have to buy emission permits on the market created under the legislation.

Addressing the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Valero’s Bill Klesse alleged that the Senate bill and its House counterpart would create large new costs that would drive domestic gasoline and diesel production offshore, cause job loss, and reduce U.S. energy security. He spoke on behalf of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, the industry’s main trade group.

“You must remember we are a global business,” Klesse said. “You will simply be driving the carbon dioxide emissions overseas.”

Klesse said Texas-based Valero — a large independent refiner with 16 refineries in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean — would face “staggering” costs even at a carbon price of $20 per ton, he said.

For instance, he said the company’s Corpus Christi, Texas, plant would face costs of up to $92 million per year. The industry as a whole, if held responsible for its process emissions and consumer emissions of its products, would face more than $67 billion in annual costs, he said.

But EPW Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a co-sponsor of the bill (S. 1733 (pdf)), attacked Klesse’s conclusion that the bill would harm U.S. security. “The opposite is true,” Boxer said. She cited multiple analyses that conclude global climate change creates national security risks.

The bill would set up a cap-and-trade system under which facilities that produce carbon dioxide emissions must obtain permits for their emissions. Boxer said the bill includes provisions to cushion the effects on refiners. The bill provides 2.25 percent of the free emissions allowances to the refining sector.

Overall, Reicher and other backers of the congressional energy and climate efforts say the effort will increase jobs. “The job creation potential in energy efficiency is extraordinary,” Reicher said.

A major provision is the authorization of so-called border adjustments, or carbon tariffs, on imports from countries that do not adhere to emissions-cutting measures.

The provisions, a priority for lawmakers from manufacturing states, are aimed at preventing “carbon leakage,” in which energy-intensive manufacturing and jobs migrate to countries that do not impose emissions-cutting mandates.

The Senate bill also joins the House bill in providing free allowances to these trade-exposed, energy-intensive industries, although the formulas differ slightly.

The Senate plan provides these sectors with 4 percent of the cap-and-trade program’s freely distributed allowances in 2012 and 2013, rising to 15 percent in 2014 and 2015 and then phasing down after that.

The epic confrontation about how America will power the economy of the future formally got underway on October 27 amid stark warnings from the Obama administration of the costs of inaction on energy reform.

The first of three blockbuster sessions in the Senate held on Oct 27th can be held as a last heave by administration officials and Democratic leaders to advance a bill to reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions before an international climate change meeting at Copenhagen, now just six weeks away.

American legislation on climate change is seen as essential to reaching a meaningful deal at Copenhagen. But the White House held up action in the Senate on a climate change bill to focus on healthcare reform. The proposed law, which now stretches for more than 900 pages, would cut America’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20% over 2005 levels by 2020 and encourage the development of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. Democratic leaders in the Senate are now struggling to advance a bill – which does not have solid support even among their own party – before the meeting in Copenhagen.

Click here to read more on this topic.

(Source: PR News Wire)

Yesterday Southwest announced at its annual Media Day a “green plane,” an innovative idea that marries efficiency, environmentally responsible products, Customer comfort, and reduced waste and weight. This plane, a Boeing 737-700, will serve as a test environment for new environmentally responsible materials and Customer comfort products.  All of the initiatives being tested on this Green Plane, when combined, will equate to a weight savings of almost five pounds per seat, thus saving fuel and reducing emissions, along with adding recyclable elements to the cabin interior and reducing waste.

“Southwest is committed to continuing to lead the industry in emissions reductions through fuel efficiency. Efficiency in fuel consumption benefits our Company as well as the environment, and this has been part of our business model since the beginning,” said Gary Kelly, Southwest’s Chairman, President, and CEO. “As we look to the future, we know climate change remains of vital importance to our industry, our Company, and our Customers, so Southwest works hard every day in every area to be a responsible steward of the environment.”

Southwest has designated one aircraft to serve as a test for eco-friendly products, which include:

• InterfaceFlor Carpet – reduces labor and material costs because it is laid in carpet squares, thus eliminating the total replacement of areas such as aisles. The carpet is totally recyclable and the manufacturing process is dedicated to being completely carbon neutral.
• Seat covers – offers more than twice the durability than the current leather seats as well as a weight savings per seat of almost two pounds. They are recyclable and have an environmentally- friendly manufacturing process.
• Life Vest Pouch – more environmentally friendly because it offers a weight savings of one pound per passenger. The smaller pouch creates more room under the seat for carryon items.
• Foam Fill – A lighter weight fill from Garnier PURtec in the back of the seats that reduces weight while providing increased customer comfort.
• Wind Screen – bulkhead product that lasts longer than the current leather product, thus reducing labor costs and waste.
• Aisle Rub Strips – switching from plastic to aluminum will help with durability, which reduces waste, as well as being recyclable.

In addition to the green plane, Southwest also announced the Nov. 1 kickoff of its more robust onboard recycling program, which is a co-mingled system that will allow the airline to capture more recyclable material and divert it from the waste stream. This 18-month process involved team work from all areas of the Company to implement the program on the ground at its Provisioning Bases and re-working of waste collection procedures in the cabin. The following are what Southwest calls “Doing the Right Thing”, published on their website:

Recycling And Waste Recovery: Southwest is implementing a more robust, systemwide recycling program. This systemwide co-mingled recycling program will take our current recycling efforts to the next level. By identifying opportunities to reduce, eliminate, or recover energy from our waste streams, we improve our waste management efficiencies and divert a substantial amount of material from landfills.

Water Conservation: Water is one of our most valuable resources and reducing our consumption is important to Southwest Airlines. We implement water savings ideas, including low flow water saving plumbing, auto shutoff water faucets, meeting LEED™ standards for efficient water use at new facilities, landscaping with native and drought-tolerant plants, and recycling the water used in our engine wash program. Along with reducing our water use, it is important that we keep water sources pure and support pollution prevention by reducing the chance of contamination.

Energy Savings: We are committed to pursuing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) standards in new construction. By taking steps to reduce the amount of energy we consume, and to purchase our energy from renewable resources. We are proud to be a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Leadership Club for our purchase of renewable energy credits.

Noise Reduction: Southwest strives to be a good neighbor in every community we serve. We have taken steps to mitigate noise by ensuring our entire fleet meets current aircraft noise standards. The addition of our winglets and engine modifications have yielded a quieter aircraft that creates less noise when taking off and landing, plus our Pilots typically use noise abatement procedures that enable us to minimize noise impact in communities near the airports we serve.

Click here to read more. Also, click here for an interesting Green Plane FAQ published on the airline’s website.

(Source: NPR)

NPR’s three part special series titled ” Flight Mechanics: The Business of Airline Repairs” examines the industry practices to cut costs and how they  are battling to survive the economic downturn.  The short blurb of the special report says “Recent maintenance mistakes raise questions about a growing practice at U.S. airlines: Since an economic crisis began shaking the industry in 2002, most major airlines have stopped repairing and overhauling most of their own planes. Instead, they are sending the planes to be fixed for less money by private repair companies — often in developing countries.” Here is an (Text and Audio) excerpt from Part 2 of the three-part series.

———————————————————————————————–

“Shortly before sunrise on Jan. 23, 2009, passengers on US Airways Flight 518, who were flying from Omaha to Phoenix, were startled by a terrifying shriek.

The pressure seal around the main cabin door was failing, and that shriek was the sound of air leaking through. The plane diverted to Denver. Everybody was safe.

In the weeks before the door seal started to fail, US Airways had sent that Boeing 737 to be overhauled at Aeroman, a repair company in El Salvador. And mechanics installed a key part on the door — a “snubber” — backward.

Source: FAA Inspector General, Aeronautical Repair Station Association Credit: NPR

But that was before 2002 — when US Airways filed for bankruptcy, American Airlines slashed flights, and other airlines teetered at the brink. Since then, airlines have been trying to survive by cutting back on any expenses they can control — including the little bags of peanuts.

One of the biggest areas airlines can cut costs is maintenance. Consider this: If an airline fixes its own planes in the U.S., it spends up to $100 per hour for every union mechanic, including overhead and other expenses, according to industry analysts. The airline spends roughly half as much at an independent, nonunion shop in America. And it spends only a third as much in a developing country, such as El Salvador.

Since the airline crisis hit seven years ago, the statistics have flip-flopped: The industry is now sending most of its planes to be overhauled and fixed at private repair shops both in the U.S. and overseas. And roughly 20 percent of planes are going to facilities in developing countries, according to industry surveys.

Industry analysts say there are roughly 700 FAA-approved repair companies in other countries — including repair shops in Argentina, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Kenya, China and Indonesia. The Aeroman company in El Salvador is becoming one of the more popular, drawing business from US Airways, JetBlue, Frontier, Southwest and other U.S. carriers.

The way the system works, the airlines fly empty planes needing an overhaul to Aeroman’s hangars at the international airport near the capital, San Salvador. Salvadoran mechanics strip the inside of the plane down to the bare metal. They fix cracks and rust and bad wiring. Then they put everything back together, and the plane is flown back to the U.S.

When people hear that U.S. airlines are getting their planes fixed in developing countries, they often raise their eyebrows and ask, “Should I worry?”

—————————————————————————————————-

Part I – To Cut Costs, Airlines Send Repairs Abroad: Recent malfunctions affecting US Airways planes raise questions about a controversial and growing practice at most U.S. airlines: The industry is sending almost 1 out of every 5 planes needing overhaul or repair to developing countries, from Central America to Asia.

Part II – Crossed Wires: Flaws In Airline Repairs Abroad: Mechanics have made some mistakes fixing US Airways planes at an FAA-approved facility in El Salvador. Industry executives and the FAA say the maintenance work is just as safe as any work done in the U.S. But airlines and the FAA don’t make maintenance problems public.

Part III – Bucking Trend, Airline Keeps Repairs In-House: As many major U.S. airlines shift their repair and maintenance work to outside firms, American Airlines is taking a different approach. The airline has its own crew of 6,000 mechanics based in Tulsa, Okla., who service its fleet and even contract for outside business.

Click here to read/listen the entire series. Don’t forget to check the interactive map while you are reading the special report.

(Source: Autoblog)

Earlier this week, Brammo’s director of product development Brian Wismann along with Dave Schiff of Crispin Porter Bugosky, began a ten-day journey meant to take them from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Washington, DC. The 520 mile trip, which is being chronicled on the site shockingbarack.com, is intended to raise awareness of the company’s new electric motorcycle, the Enertia, and electric vehicles in general.

The trek began at Zingerman’s deli in downtown Ann Arbor, MI, which just happens to be a a few blocks from this blogger’s office. Brian and Dave swung by the office for a visit to show off the bike – which they prefer to call a powercycle – and chat about what it can do. Along the route to the capital, they’ll be making plenty of similar stops, partly to demonstrate the bike but mostly out of necessity. While the Enertia is undoubtedly a neat ride, it underscores two of the major problems with EVs. They are expensive ($11,995 for the Enertia) and have limited range. This bike only has a 42-mile range and then takes four hours to charge. That means plenty of short hops to cover the 520-mile distance to DC.

The Brammo team has built a nice website that has a plenty of brilliant ideas to get the community involved (not just transportation geeks and gear heads with greasy finger nails). Here are some ways you can help the  Brammo team achieve their goals:

• Share an Outlet (to charge their battery packs)
• Spare a Couch (The team says: “If you live along the route and we can crash on your couch or floor let us know. We’d be genuinely happy to meet and hang out with you, and we’d be considerate guests in your home. You can email us or use or use couchsurfing.com.”)
• Help them meet Barack (The team says: “If you know Barack Obama, or you know someone who knows him, or you’re friends with someone who knows someone who knows him, please contact us. We’d be grateful for any help you can give us in meeting him.”)

So, are you ready ShockBarack (Oh man, won’t the republicans would die for that chance?)? If yes, just visit the team’s website to follow their progress. As we speak, the Google Map shows they are somewhere near Aurora, OH.   The team’s video logs of the journey are quite interesting and it is nice to see what all they endure as they make their way to Washington, DC battling some really nasty weather.  At least they will have a great story to tell their grand children someday, if not to Barack.

NOTE: Guys, Transportgooru would love to have a cup of coffee with  you when you arrive here in DC .  That is what you will be craving for before you even shake hands with Barack after driving in this damp & cold miserable weather (Tweet me @transportgooru).

(Sources: Washington Post, Fuel Cell Today & Huliq News)

The hydrogen car may have legions of fervent fans, but Energy Secretary Steven Chu apparently is not among them. Earlier this year, the Nobel prize-winning scientist essentially zeroed government funding for the clean vehicles and came close to mocking their potential, saying the technology needs four “miracles” before it can become widely adopted.

“Saints only need three,” he cracked in a magazine interview.

But the hydrogen car is back. On Thursday, the Senate agreed to restore nearly all the money for hydrogen car research that the administration had proposed to cut.

The measure, part of an appropriations bill previously approved by the House, is expected to be signed by President Obama.

“It’s the right set of priorities,” said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), a leader in the effort to fund the technology. “If you discontinue the research, you shortchange the future.”

This year’s revival of government funding is unlikely to end the broader dispute over hydrogen cars, however. Before the cars can become much more than an experiment on American roads — it is estimated that there are fewer than 200 operating in the United States — the industry may need as much as $55 billion more in government support over the next 15 years, according to industry sources and a National Research Council report last year. That money would pay for more research and subsidies to build fueling stations.

By comparison, the amount appropriated Thursday is meager: $187 million. But even that level of government support has critics, who say the possibilities and benefits of the technology have been wildly exaggerated. In a press release published on the Fuel Cell Today, the USFCC said ” The bill approved by Congress is a significant win for fuel cells overall. The Obama administration requested $68 million for the EERE program. Under the final Congressional compromise, funding for fuel cells and hydrogen will receive $174 million, or $106 million higher than the Obama administration’s request.”

Funding for research into production of the hydrogen car is highly controversial. There are currently less than 200 of these cars operating in the United States.

The issue is the additional funding that will be required to establish fueling stations across the country to support these vehicles. It is currently estimated that an additional $55 billion of government support could be required to make that a reality.

Nevertheless, hydrogen cars might represent the future for automobiles in this country. These cars are fueled with hydrogen gas which combines with oxygen in the air. The only byproduct of this fuel is water vapor. This means that hydrogen fuel cell cars may provide the best means of reaching the goal of emission-free vehicles.

The reality of hydrogen powered vehicles is really not such a stretch. In Iceland, the first country to begin making a truly concerted effort to break free from the constraints and costs of fossil fuel, hydrogen powered cars and ships are already a reality. Iceland has been working on this technology for years, and does have an advantage over many other countries in the world because so much of the energy sources in Iceland are from renewable sources, such as geo-thermal and hydro-electric power.

The governments of Norway, Japan and Germany also are investing hundreds of millions in the technology, with the Germans aiming to build 1,000 stations by 2015, according to auto industry sources.

Here are some articles on the investments around the world:

• Europe’s love affair with hyrdogen technology continues; Germany Launches H2 Mobility Initiative to Expand Infrastructure for Refueling Hydrogen Vehicles
• Norway leaps ahead with its love for Hydrogen fuel – Dedicates 580 kilometer hydrogen highway

Click here to read more.

(Source: Esquire)

In a brilliant article, Esquire’s Brian Mockenhaupt goes deep into the world of UAVs (aka Drones) and those who operate them for the US military.   Here are some interesting excerpts from this lengthy, 5-page article, which is a MUST READ material if you are a tech junkie or an aviation nut..

Image Courtesy: Esquire - Dan Winters: The Predator's big brother, the Reaper, is a third bigger, flies three times as fast, and carries a much bigger payload

At this very moment, at any given moment, three dozen armed, unmanned American airplanes are flying lazy loops over Afghanistan and Iraq. They linger there, all day and all night. When one lands to refuel or rearm, another replaces it. They guard soldiers on patrol, spy on Al Qaeda leaders, and send missiles shrieking down on insurgents massing in the night. Add to those the hundreds of smaller, unarmed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles being flown over the two countries by the Army, the Marines, and coalition countries, and a handful of missile-laden planes owned by the Central Intelligence Agency circling above Pakistan. Efficient and effective, the planes have fast become indispensable assets, transforming today’s battlefields just as profoundly as the first airplanes transformed warfare during World War I.

Every so often in history, something profound happens that changes warfare forever. Next year, for the first time ever, the Pentagon will buy more unmanned aircraft than manned, line-item proof that we are in a new age of fighting machines, in which war will be ever more abstract, ever more distant, and ruthlessly efficient.

The Air Force now has 138 Predators and 36 Reapers. The military’s overall UAV inventory has swollen to seven thousand, from hand-launched Ravens to jet-powered Global Hawks, which can fly twelve miles high and monitor a swath the size of Kentucky in a day. And the revolution has just begun. Within the next twenty years, the Air Force envisions unmanned planes launching tiny missiles in hypertargeted strikes, swarms of bug-sized UAVs, and squadrons of networked unmanned fighters, bombers, and tankers, many of which will fly autonomously. And the enemy will have unmanned planes, too. More than forty countries currently fly them. In February, an American F-16 shot down an Iranian drone flying over Iraq. And Hezbollah has used them to spy on Israel and attack a ship during fighting in 2006. They can be built cheaply, with off-the-shelf software and hardware, a natural progression for insurgents who have been building increasingly sophisticated bombs.

Much of the U.S. Air Force Predator and Reaper fleet for Afghanistan is maintained out of a small cluster of buildings and tents next to the runway at Kandahar Airfield. It is here that I saw the planes up close for the first time. Where fighter jets are at once sleek and muscled, these planes look emaciated. Rap a knuckle on a rib cage and hear the hollow reply. It’s hard to see how this is the plane that’s revolutionizing warfare. Perched on twiggy landing gear, it looks less like a piece of deadly, cutting-edge military hardware than an oversized version of the windup balsa-wood planes boys build from kits. Twenty-seven feet long, with a forty-nine-foot wingspan, the Predator weighs just twelve hundred pounds without fuel or missiles. A four-cycle snowmobile engine mounted in the rear propels it with a high-pitched whine. The Reaper, a third bigger than the Predator, seems far sturdier, and with a larger engine it flies at three hundred miles per hour, three times faster. The next generation will be jet-powered with a three-thousand-pound payload. Yet even the wispy Predator has a menacing quality. Glass-bubbled cockpits remind us that man controls the killing machine.

The planes are also much cheaper to buy and fly. A Predator costs about $4 million and a Reaper $11 million, half as much as an F-16, one of the Air Force’s workhorses. In Iraq and Afghanistan, jets and UAVs are often called on for similar missions that support ground troops. The drones can’t do strafing runs or intimidate with a low, fast, ear-splitting flyover, but they use a fraction of the resources, a moped instead of a monster truck. F-16’s, which fly in pairs for safety, burn about a thousand gallons of fuel an hour. At that rate, they can stay over a target for about an hour before they must swap out with other planes or fill up at an aerial tanker. A Predator carries a hundred gallons of fuel with which it can stay aloft for twenty-four hours. As the Air Force likes to point out, a bomb from an F-16 killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but the final strike against the Iraqi insurgent leader came after Predators had gathered six hundred hours of surveillance footage in the hunt for him and his associates. Keeping two F-16’s in the air that long would require about 120 tanker trucks’ worth of fuel.

Although they have never set foot in Afghanistan, Nelson and Anderson make effective counterinsurgents. They have spent hours watching the same roads, the same villages, the same people. “You gradually gain a better understanding of who they are and how they live,” Nelson says. He felt the same during his Mormon mission to the Dominican Republic, after his sophomore year at the Air Force Academy. For two years he walked or rode his bike on unpaved roads through villages and talked to people twelve hours a day. There he saw homes made of coffee cans and palm fronds. Now he gazes at houses made of mud bricks. To balance out the lack of human interaction, he has taken Afghanistan-familiarization courses offered by the Air Force. “You can picture them more as a people and a civilization,” he says.

Indeed, they see many things meant to be secret, like men having sex with sheep and goats in the deep of night. I first heard this from infantry soldiers and took it as rumor, but at Bagram I met a civilian contractor who works in UAV operations. “All the time,” he said. “They just don’t think we can see them.” Which sums up a major allure of UAVs: Though they should know better by now, many insurgents still feel safe working in darkness or in the shelter of distant mountains and valleys, so they are exposed again and again. The unmanned planes have eroded their freedom of movement and simple early-warning systems, two of their few assets when outmatched in weapons, technology, and resources. Helicopters can be heard a mile or more away. Spotters watch vehicles leave bases and follow the slow advance of dismounted patrols. Surprise is a rarity for U. S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The insurgents almost always know they’re coming, with at least several minutes’ notice. So they toss weapons behind a rock and become, in an instant, civilians. But with a camera parked three miles overhead, last-minute subterfuge doesn’t work.

Enter the Betas, the future armchair fighter jocks. The Air Force is now training a first-ever test group brought straight into the Predator program. After six months of screening and basic flight instruction, the Betas started a nine-week initial qualification course at Creech, the same taken by pilots, which includes forty hours in a simulator and nine or more actual flights. The eight Beta students were still in the academics phase when I visited Creech, but the nonpilots, who came from jobs like military police, civil engineering, and acquisitions, had so far performed as well as trained pilots, Gersten says. For this type of work, how they grew up might be more important than whether they’ve logged a thousand hours flying supersonic. “This generation, where were they when 9/11 started? They were in junior high and high school,” Gersten says. “And they grew up with the very technology that we fly with here.” Those who dreamed of being fighter pilots might never get the chance as the skies unman, but America’s pool of gamers, texters, and TV watchers is certainly vast and deep. The Betas’ progress is being closely tracked by the Pentagon, which can build plenty of planes if it has the people to fly them.

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