1991 Merion Mid-air Collision
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1991 Merion Mid-air Collision
On April 4, 1991, a Piper Aerostar propeller-driven aircraft collided in mid-air with a Bell 412 helicopter over Merion Elementary School in Lower Merion Township, a suburb west of Philadelphia, in southeast Pennsylvania. All five people in both aircraft were killed, including United States Senator John Heinz, the sole passenger of the Piper. On the ground, two schoolchildren were killed by falling debris and five people were injured. An investigation determined the accident was caused by poor crew judgment and pilot error in both aircraft. Background John Heinz's aircraft departed from Williamsport Regional Airport (IPT) in central Pennsylvania on the morning of April 4, 1991, at about 10:22 a.m. EST. Heinz was in Williamsport for a press conference pertaining to federal funding of U.S. Route 15. Heinz hired a twin-engine Piper PA-60-601 Aerostar from Lycoming Air Services, an air taxi operator based at the Williamsport airport. Heinz and his two pilots, both from Lyco ...
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Mid-air Collision
In aviation, a mid-air collision is an aviation accident, accident in which two or more aircraft come into unplanned contact during flight. The potential for a mid-air collision is increased by Aviation communication, miscommunication, mistrust, error in Air navigation, navigation, deviations from flight plans, lack of situational awareness, and the lack of Traffic collision avoidance system, collision-avoidance systems. Although a rare occurrence in general due to the vastness of open space available, collisions often happen near or at airports, where large volumes of aircraft are spaced more closely than in general flight. First recorded collision The first recorded collision between aircraft occurred at the "Milano Circuito Aereo Internazionale" meeting held between 24 September and 3 October 1910 in Milan, Italy. On 3 October, Frenchman René Thomas (racing driver), René Thomas, flying the Antoinette IV monoplane, collided with British Army Captain Bertram Dickson by r ...
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Air Taxi
An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermore, during the 1920s to the late 1950s, various inventors created their own prototypes. Such inventors included Henry Ford, Waldo Waterman, and Moulton “Molt” Taylor. However, each of these projects faced challenges which included crashes, lack of funding, or technical difficulties. After all this experimentation and challenges faced, the urban air mobility industry had shifted focus on “improving safety and enhancing economic and operational efficiency of vertical flight". The next phase from the 1950s to the late 1980s included urban air mobility services through the use of helicopters within major cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York (state), New York; however, the challenges of fuel costs and safety have made it ...
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Cockpit Voice Recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to colloquially as a "black box", an outdated name which has become a misnomer—they are now required to be painted Safety orange, bright orange, to aid in their recovery after accidents. There are two types of flight recording devices: the flight data recorder (FDR) preserves the recent history of the flight through the recording of dozens of parameters collected several times per second; the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) preserves the recent history of the sounds in the cockpit, including the conversation of the pilots. The two devices may be combined into a single unit. Together, the FDR and CVR objectively document the aircraft's flight history, which may assist in any later investigation. The two flight recorders are required by international regulation, overseen by the Internation ...
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Vertigo
Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspiration, or difficulties walking. It is typically worse when the head is moved. Vertigo is the most common type of dizziness. The most common disorders that result in vertigo are benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), Ménière's disease, and vestibular neuritis. Less common causes include stroke, brain tumors, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, migraines, trauma, and uneven pressures between the middle ears. Physiologic vertigo may occur following being exposed to motion for a prolonged period such as when on a ship or simply following spinning with the eyes closed. Other causes may include toxin exposures such as to carbon monoxide, alcohol, or aspirin. Vertigo typically indicates a problem in a part of the vestibular system. ...
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Flicker (light)
In visual perception, flicker is a human-visible change in luminance of an illuminated surface or light source which can be due to fluctuations of the light source itself, or due to external causes such as due to rapid fluctuations in the voltage of the power supply (power-line flicker) or incompatibility with an external dimmer. Twinkling, also called scintillation, is a generic term for variations in apparent brightness, colour, or position of a distant luminous object viewed through a medium. Flicker exists for other organisms having different perceptual thresholds. Light meters and image sensors can potentially detect flicker at much higher frequency bands than human vision. Shutter speeds used in motion photography can interact with high frequency flicker to produce visual artifacts in the captured imagery that betray flicker that would not otherwise be noted. The spectral sensitivity of the human eye to flicker depends upon the mode of visual perception. Due to the flicker ...
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The Des Moines Register
''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon River. In 1854, ''The Star'' became the ''Iowa Statesman'' which was also a Democratic paper. In 1857, ''The Statesman'' became the ''Iowa State Journal'', which published three times per week. In 1870, ''The Iowa State Journal'' became the ''Iowa State Leader'' as a Democratic newspaper, which competed with pro- Republican ''Iowa Daily State Register'' for the next 32 years. In 1902, George Roberts bought the ''Register'' and ''Leader'' and merged them into a morning newspaper. In 1903, Des Moines banker Gardner Cowles, Sr. purchased the ''Register and Leader''. The name finally became ''The Des Moines Register'' in 1915. (Cowles also acquired the '' Des Moines Tribune'' in 1908. The ...
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The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating daily newspaper in the United States. The newspaper has the largest circulation of any newspaper in both Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region, which includes Philadelphia and its surrounding communities in southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, northern Delaware, and the northern Eastern Shore of Maryland. As of 2020, the newspaper has the 17th-largest circulation of any newspaper in the United States As of 2020, ''The Inquirer'' has won 20 Pulitzer Prizes. Several decades after its 1829 founding, ''The Inquirer'' began emerging as one of the nation's major newspapers during the American Civil War. Its circulation dropped after the Civil War's conclusion, but it rose again by the end of the 19th century. Originally sup ...
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The Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publishing until May 2021, when it was acquired by Alden Global Capital, which operates its media properties through Digital First Media. David D. Smith, the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, closed a deal to buy the paper on January 15, 2024. History 19th century ''The Sun'' was founded on May 17, 1837, by Arunah Shepherdson Abell and two associates, William Moseley Swain from Rhode Island, and Azariah H. Simmons from Philadelphia, where they had started and published the '' Public Ledger'' the year before. Abell became a journalist with the ''Providence Patriot'' and later worked with newspapers in New York City and Boston.Van Doren, Charles and Robert McKendry, ed., ''Webster's American Biographies''. (Springfield, Massa ...
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Radnor, Pennsylvania
Radnor is a community which straddles Montgomery and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located approximately 13 miles west of Philadelphia, in the Main Line suburbs. The community was named after Radnor, in Wales. Radnor is home to Cabrini University and a large office complex by the train station. The southern portion, by Lancaster Avenue, was rapidly commercialized in the 1980s, and it is currently one of suburban Philadelphia's premier office destinations. History The community of Radnor was founded in 1686 at the Radnor Friends Meetinghouse, which was located on Conestoga Road, a bypass of Lancaster Avenue connecting Devon and Bryn Mawr. During the Revolutionary War, the meetinghouse was used as an outpost for General George Washington's Continental Army. In 1872, the Pennsylvania Railroad's Main Line was constructed, which briefly passed through the southern section of Radnor. A station serving the town was established at King of Prussia Road, app ...
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Sun Company Inc
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light and infrared radiation with 10% at ultraviolet energies. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. The Sun has been an object of veneration in many cultures. It has been a central subject for astronomical research since antiquity. The Sun orbits the Galactic Center at a distance of 24,000 to 28,000 light-years. Its distance from Earth defines the astronomical unit, which is about or about 8 light-minutes. Its diameter is about (), 109 times that of Earth. The Sun's mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, making up about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. The mass of outer layer of the Sun's atmosphere, its ''photosphere'', consists mostly of hydrogen (~73%) and helium (~25%), with much smaller ...
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Bell 412SP
The Bell 412 is a utility helicopter of the Huey family manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It is a development of the Bell 212, with the major difference being the composite four-blade main rotor. It is a twin-turbine helicopter that has been popular on the civilian and military markets, and major users include Canada, Italy, and Japan. Several hundred have been produced since its introduction in 1979, and several iterations of upgrades and variations have been produced, such as with upgraded cockpit electronics. It has been manufactured under license in Italy as the Agusta-Bell AB412, in Indonesia by Indonesian Aerospace, and in Japan by Subaru. The Canadian Bell 412 was produced in Canada, but it was already the location of the main Bell Textron factory. Design and development Development began in the late 1970s, with two Bell 212s being converted into 412 prototypes. An advanced four-blade main rotor with a smaller diameter replaced the 212's two-blade rotor. A Bell 412 pr ...
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Propeller Spinner
A spinner is an aircraft component, a streamlined fairing fitted over a propeller hub or at the centre of a turbofan engine. Spinners both make the aircraft overall more streamlined, thereby reducing aerodynamic drag, and also smooth the airflow so that it enters the air intakes more efficiently. Spinners also fulfill an aesthetic role on some aircraft designs.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 480. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. Bingelis, Tony: ''Bingelis on Engines'', pages 196-210. Experimental Aircraft Association Aviation Foundation, 1995. Bingelis, Tony: ''Firewall Forward'', pages 269-273. Experimental Aircraft Association Aviation Foundation, 1992. Piston engine spinners Piston-powered aircraft often have spinners of one of two basic designs. The ''large spinner'' fits over the propeller, while the smaller ''skull cap'' style is directly attached to the propeller and just covers the propeller mounting bolts. The spinner may be c ...
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