<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59b6b1ac609c301d008b63d0-2000/img0575.jpg" alt="Ben Zhang Honda Jet" data-mce-source="Benjamin Zhang" /><p class="source"><span>Benjamin Zhang</span></p><p class="caption">HondaJet and Me!</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>The HondaJet entered production in 2015. </strong></li><li><strong>The jet has a range of around 1,400 miles with four passengers and can go from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in less than three hours.</strong></li><li><strong>I took a ride in the $4.5 million HondaJet and was impressed by how smooth the flight was and how open the cabin felt. </strong></li></ul><p>Honda is a company known for its engineering excellence. It's also a company willing to take its time to get things right. For example, Honda famously spent a decade perfecting its second generation <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/honda-acura-nsx-business-insider-car-of-the-year-2016-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NSX supercar, Business Insider's 2016 Car of the Year</a>. </p><p>Naturally, we weren't exactly shocked to learn that the company spent 30 years getting its first private jet off the ground. In 1986, Honda's aviation team led by a young aeronautical engineer named Michimasa Fujino began work on the company's ambitious foray into the aerospace industry. It was one of the final major projects greenlit by company founder and aviation enthusiast Soichiro Honda prior to his death in 1991.  </p><p>In 2006, the Honda Aircraft Corporation was formed, with Fujino as its CEO, to develop, build, and sell the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cirrus-vision-cheapest-private-jet-2017-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">$4.5 million HondaJet</a>. </p><p><span>"The power of dreams is both the force and the philosophy that guide us at Honda. Now, Honda proudly brings you to the pinnacle of engineering performance- the HondaJet," Fujino wrote on the company's website.</span><br /><br /><span>"The HondaJet is the world's most advanced light business jet."</span></p><p>Recently, Business Insider had the opportunity to take a test flight on board of one of Honda's demonstrators at Morristown Airport in New Jersey. </p><p>Here's a closer look at our test flight:</p>

I flew on Honda's new $4.5 million private jet and it's an absolute gamechanger

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ceefc8511e2052a975bd5c5-2400/ferrarisf90stradale5.jpg" border="0" alt="Ferrari SF90 Stradale" data-mce-source="Ferrari" /><p class="source"><span>Ferrari</span></p><p class="caption">The Ferrari SF90 Stradale.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The new <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/ferrari-stock">Ferrari</a> SF90 Stradale was revealed on Wednesday.</li><li>It's the most powerful production <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/ferrari-stock">Ferrari</a> ever, making almost 1,000 horsepower from its turbocharged V8 engine and three-motor hybrid drive system.</li><li>It's also a plug-in hybrid, and it has all-wheel-drive - a first for a Ferrari sports car.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p><br />On Wednesday, Ferrari revealed the most powerful production car it's ever made. It's called the SF90 Stradale - and it's a plug-in hybrid.</p><div title="Page 1"><p><span>The name "encapsulates the true significance of all that has been achieved in terms of performance," Ferrari said in a statement.</span></p><p><span>"The reference to the 90</span><span>th </span><span>anniversary of the foundation of Scuderia Ferrari underscores the strong link that has always existed between Ferrari's track and road cars," the Italian carmaker continued. "A brilliant encapsulation of the most advanced technologies developed [by Ferrari] the SF90 Stradale is also the perfect demonstration of how Ferrari immediately transitions the knowledge and skills it acquires in competition to its production cars."</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ceefc8511e2052ecf796abb-2400/ferrarisf90stradale2.jpg" border="0" alt="Ferrari SF90 Stradale" data-mce-source="Ferrari" /><p class="source"><span>Ferrari</span></p><p class="caption">The Stradale intensifies the design language seen more recently on the 488 GTB.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The Scuderia Ferrari is the company's racing arm - and the foundation of the brand, started by Enzo Ferrari in 1939 to build cars for competition. </span></p><p><span>The Stradale's hybrid system combines a turbocharged V8 with three electric motors, two on each front wheel and one amidships, collectively making nearly 990 horsepower. The powerplant is the 3.9-liter mill from the Ferrari 488, with the addition of the hybrid, which adds oomph and about 15 miles of all-electric range (in that mode, the SF90 Stradale is not the growling Ferrari of lore, but rather a quiet customer that's suited for urban operation). </span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ceefc8411e205272e21dbc4-2000/ferrarisf90stradale1.jpg" border="0" alt="Ferrari SF90 Stradale" data-mce-source="Ferrari" /><p class="source"><span>Ferrari</span></p><p class="caption">The hatch covers a turbocharged V8.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>This combination - with power sent to the first-ever all-wheel-drive setup on a Ferrari sports car through an eight-speed, dual-clutch transmission - can achieve 0-60 mph in a blistering 2.5 sec, based on Ferrari's testing. Top speed is 212 mph.</span></p><p><span>The design is bold, with the driver's and passenger compartment pushed forward and the transparent engine hatch framed by flying buttresses (Ferrari characterized the compartment as have an "aeronautical cockpit" feel.)</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ceefc8511e20535180ef875-2400/ferrarisf90stradale4.jpg" border="0" alt="Ferrari SF90 Stradale" data-mce-source="Ferrari" /><p class="source"><span>Ferrari</span></p><p class="caption">Dual exhaust pipes are positioned in the rear bumper.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>As far as the lineup goes, the SF90 Stradale will live just below the LaFerrari hypercar, but above the 488 models and the F8 Tributo.</p><div title="Page 2"><p><span>"The new car is epoch-changing from a stylistic perspective as it completely rewrites the ... berlinetta proportions introduced on the 360 Modena twenty years ago, instead taking its inspiration from Ferrari's recent supercars," Ferrari said, referencing the legacy of its mid-engine sports car from the late 1990s while also stressing the more intense styling language that the carmakers has used for vehicles such as the 488 GTB.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ceefc8411e2052a61521f4e-2000/ferrarisf90stradale7.jpg" border="0" alt="Ferrari SF90 Stradale" data-mce-source="Ferrari" /><p class="source"><span>Ferrari</span></p><p class="caption">New touchscreen have been added to the interior.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Inside, the Stradale is compact, with an all-digital instrument cluster and small touchscreens that frame the traditional Ferrari steering wheel, with its F1-derived controls. Those include the Manettino drive selector and a new "eManettino," which Ferrari said would enable the driver to "</span>select one of the four power unit modes, and then just concentrate on driving" with "sophisticated control logic takes care of the rest, managing the flow of power between the V8, the electric motors and the batteries."</p><p><span>Ferrari didn't reveal pricing for the new SF90 Stradale, but we're expecting it to be above $300,000.<br /></span></p></div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/only-10-people-able-buy-ferraris-brand-new-supercar-japan-j50-2016-12">Only 10 people will be able to buy Ferrari's brand new supercar</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/WtP52dWv-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Ferrari just revealed its most powerful supercar ever - and it's a plug-in hybrid

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/53002332.cms" />In a major boost to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=indian+air+force&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Indian Air Force</a>, indigenously built Light Combat Aircraft (LCA),‘<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=tejas&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Tejas’</a>, was inducted today at an event in Bengaluru.<br />
<br />
State-run <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=HAL&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Hindustan Aeronautics Limited</a> (HAL) handed over the first two ‘Made in India’ Tejas aircraft to the <keyword id="15141" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Air-Force">Indian Air Force</keyword> (IAF), which will make up the 'Flying Daggers' 45, the name of the first squadron of the LCA.<br />
<br />
The induction ceremony started early morning at the Aircraft System Testing Establishment in the presence of Air Marshal Jasbir Walia, Air Officer Commanding-in Chief, Southern Air Command.<br />
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The squadron will be based in Bengaluru for the first two years before being moved to Sulur in Tamil Nadu.<br />
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<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=arup+raha&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha</a>, who on May 17 took his in Tejas, had termed the aircraft as fit to be inducted.<br />
<br />
Stating that LCA squadron should be formed by July, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=manohar+parrikar&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar</a> had earlier this month said, "Next year I think two MiG-21 squadrons are being decommissioned; this will go into initially replacing them."<br />
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LCAs are better than the MiGs which are old and their parts are difficult to get, he had said.<br />
<br />
All squadrons of Tejas will have 20 planes in total, including four in reserve.<br />
<br />
As per the plan, while 20 would be inducted under the "Initial Operational Clearance", another 20 will be inducted later with Beyond Visual Range Missile (BVR) and some other features.<br />
<br />
IAF plans to induct over 80 aircraft with better specifications known as Tejas 1A.<br />
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<br />


'Made in India' light combat aircraft ‘Tejas’ inducted in Air Force

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/561bcc839dd7cc04308b5b53-2048/18852329773_5c8378fe58_k.jpg" alt="f35b" data-mce-source="Lockheed Martin" data-mce-caption="An F-35B from Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501), flies near its base a MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina." /><p class="source"><span>Lockheed Martin</span></p><p class="caption">An F-35B from Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501), flies near its base a MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina.</p></div><p></p></div></div>An F-35B just <a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2016/september/160913-rms-f-35-and-aegis-combat-system-successfully-demonstrate-integration-potential-in-first-live-missile-test.html" target="_blank">carried out a remarkable test</a> where its sensors spotted an airborne target, sent the data to an Aegis Ballistic Missile <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defense">Defense</keyword> site, and had the land-based outpost fire a missile to defeat the target - thereby destroying an airborne adversary without firing a single shot of its own.</p><p>This development simultaneously vindicates two of the US military's most important developments: The F-35 and the Naval Integrated Fire Control Counterair Network (NIFC-CA).</p><p>Essentially, the NIFC-CA revolutionizes naval targeting systems by combining data from a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-navy-has-a-new-trick-up-its-sleeve-and-it-could-be-a-game-changer-2016-5" target="_blank">huge variety of sensors</a> to generate targeting data that could be used to defeat incoming threats.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54bfd8be69bedd536746aaec-2400/uss_john_paul_jones_(ddg-53)_launches_rim-174_june_2014.jpeg" alt="Standard Missile-6" data-mce-source="US Navy" /><p class="source"><span>US Navy</span></p><p class="caption">The U.S. Navy Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) launches a RIM-174 Standard ERAM (Standard Missile-6, SM-6) during a live-fire test of the ship's Aegis weapons system in the Pacific Ocean.</p></div><p></p></div></div>So now with this development, an F-35 can pass targeting data to the world's most advanced missile defense system, an Aegis site, that would fire it's own missile, likely a SM-6, to take out threats in the air, on land, or at sea.</p><p>This means that an F-35 can stealthily<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/f-22-f-35-in-a-war-against-china-2016-7" target="_blank"> enter heavily contested enemy air space</a>, detect threats, and have them destroyed by a missile fired from a remote site, like an Aegis land site or destroyer, without firing a shot and risking giving up it's position. </p><p>The SM-6, the <a href="http://www.acq.osd.mil/se/webinars/2013_11_14-sosecie-mcconnell-brief.pdf" target="_blank">munition of choice</a> for Aegis destroyers, is a 22-foot long supersonic missile that can seek out, maneuver, and destroy airborne targets like enemy jets or incoming cruise or ballistic missiles.</p><p>The SM-6's massive size prohibits it from being equipped to fighter jets, but now, thanks to the integration of the F-35 with the NIFC-CA, it doesn't have to.</p><p>The SM-6, as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/navy-expanding-use-of-sm-6-missile-2015-1" target="_blank">effective and versatile</a> as it is, can shoot further than the Aegis sites can see. The F-35, as an ultra connective and stealthy jet, acts as an elevated, highly mobile sensor that extends the effective range of the missile. </p><p>This joint capability helps assuage fears over the F-35's limited capacity to carry ordnance. The jet's stealth design means that all weapons have to be stored internally, and this strongly limits the plane's overall ordnance capacity.</p><p>This limiting factor has drawn criticism from pundits more fond of traditional jet fighting approaches. However, it seems the F-35's connectivity has rendered this point a non-issue.</p><p>Overall, the F-35 and NIFC-CA integration changes the game when it comes to the supposed anti-access/area denial bubbles created by Russia and China's advanced air defenses and missiles. </p><p>"One of the key defining attributes of a 5th Generation fighter is the force multiplier effect it brings to joint operations through its foremost sensor fusion and external communications capabilities," said Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, said in a <a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2016/september/160913-rms-f-35-and-aegis-combat-system-successfully-demonstrate-integration-potential-in-first-live-missile-test.html" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57d84c87077dcc5e1a8b4785-935/screen shot 2016-09-13 at 2.58.37 pm.png" alt="f-35 nifc-ca" data-mce-source="Lockheed Martin" data-mce-caption="Demonstration shows capability to extend the battlefront using Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA)." data-link="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2016/september/160913-rms-f-35-and-aegis-combat-system-successfully-demonstrate-integration-potential-in-first-live-missile-test.html" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2016/september/160913-rms-f-35-and-aegis-combat-system-successfully-demonstrate-integration-potential-in-first-live-missile-test.html">Lockheed Martin</a></span></p><p class="caption">Demonstration shows capability to extend the battlefront using Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA).</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"NIFC-CA is a game changer for the US Navy that extends the engagement range we can detect, analyze and intercept targets," said Dale Bennett, another Lockheed Martin vice president in the statement.</p><p>"The F-35 and Aegis Weapon System demonstration brings us another step closer to realizing the true potential and power of the worldwide network of these complex systems to protect and support warfighters, the home front and US allies."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/f35-pilot-fighter-jet-training-2016-8">This is how pilots train to fly America's most expensive fighter jets</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Job3RueTppm8CNKGf6IKyt9VJF1Mr23N" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'Job3RueTppm8CNKGf6IKyt9VJF1Mr23N',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

The F-35 just proved it can take Russian or Chinese airspace without firing a shot

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e455de14b661b1c85047c94-1040/boeing 737 max 3 2x1.png" alt="boeing 737 max 3 2x1" /><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>The two Boeing 737 Max plane crashes that killed 346 people have been attributed to a faulty automated system that pilots say they were not aware of.</strong></li><li><strong>The crashes have sparked a huge crisis for Boeing, causing it to lose billions, face lawsuits, come under Congressional and regulatory scrutiny, lose plane orders, and lose its status as the world's largest plane maker.</strong></li><li><strong>There is a cruel irony in Boeing's crisis, as the company has a reputation for being traditionally less in favor of automated systems than Airbus, its biggest rival.</strong></li><li><strong>And even though Boeing has used automation for a long time, pilots and experts say the company's philosophy was always to keep pilots informed and give them ultimate control.</strong></li><li><strong>"I think why the pilots were understandably so upset with Boeing because, historically, Boeing insisted that they would keep the pilots in the loop," a former US aircraft crash investigator told Business Insider.</strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</strong></li></ul><p>The global aircraft industry is essentially a duopoly - a decades-long transatlantic rivalry between the US' Boeing and France's Airbus which, as trends change or one is hit by hardship, have continually overtaken each other to temporarily reign as the biggest in the world.</p><p>And over those decades, it has been certain philosophies in design and management that have kept the two distinct. The fundamental difference comes down to how those philosophies cause pilots to fly those planes.</p><p>Over history, Boeing was known for embracing pilot control over fully automated systems, while Airbus, its French-headquartered, but pan-European rival, pioneered such technology. Both viewed their strategy as fundamental to safety, ending up with similar safety records as a result.</p><p>But now, a new automated system that helped bring down two of Boeing's 737 Max planes, and pilots' claims that the company didn't tell them about that system, have caused the biggest crisis in the manufacturer's history. It hemorrhaging cash and trying to appease angry airlines and lawmakers, who could use the crashes to change the rules of aviation forever.</p><h2>When an automated system failed, killing 346 people on two planes, pilots questioned Boeing's philosophy.</h2><p>When the first Boeing 737 Max plane crashed in Indonesia in October 2018, killing all 189 people on board, pilots were concerned.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5db6eec4dee019348a4cce04-1800/gettyimages-1055671206.jpg" alt="Lion Air" /><p>They saw news reports and preliminary information from the investigation that noted that a new automated system in the Max planes had misfired, leaving the pilots on board panicked and unable to regain control of the plane.</p><p>In the US, pilots from the Allied Pilots Association, the union that represents American Airlines pilots, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-played-down-737-max-second-crash-concern-pilots-audio-reports-2019-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">turned their anger to Boeing executives</a>, saying they had no idea the automated system was on the planes they were flying.</p><p>One pilot said: "I would think that there would be a priority of putting explanations of things that could kill you."</p><p>The purpose of the technology - called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS - was, of course, not to kill pilots.</p><p>The system was actually designed to help keep the 737 Max level in the air and prevent the plane's nose from pointing upwards risking engine stalls. It was installed because the 737 Max featured newer, heavier engines than previous 737 models, which had the potential to cause the issue.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d13e6a1e3ecba0137085a43-2400/boeing 737 max 2.jpg" alt="Boeing 737 Max 2" /><p>Boeing then offered assurances that a second crash would not happen, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-played-down-737-max-second-crash-concern-pilots-audio-reports-2019-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">audio from that meeting showed</a>, and said that it had not wanted to "overload the crews with information that's unnecessary" about the plane.</p><p>But then, five months later, a second 737 Max plane crashed in Ethiopia, killing the 157 people onboard</p><p>Separate investigations into both crashes found that MCAS malfunctions meant the pilots simply could not control the plane, with the final report into the Lion Air crash finding the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lion-air-crash-timeline-boeing-737-max-disaster-killed-189-2019-10?r=US&amp;IR=T">pilots tried more than 20 times</a> to stop the plane's nose pointing down before it crashed into the sea at 450 mph (724.2 kph).</p><p>The findings brought representatives for pilots and cabin crew to Congress, where they told lawmakers that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-737-max-apa-head-questions-training-engineering-faa-oversight-2019-6?r=US&amp;IR=T">Boeing not giving pilots enough information about the MCAS system was the company's "final fatal mistake."</a></p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e74df2dc48540307f5e0718-1800/gettyimages-1184172534.jpg" alt="Boeing 737 Max" /><p>Such hearings <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-737-max-american-airlines-flight-attendants-safety-fears-2019-11?r=US&amp;IR=T">prompted flight crews to say they didn't want to fly on the plane anymore</a>, even when it returns to the sky after its updates are approved by global aviation regulators.</p><h2>The irony is that Boeing's philosophy was to put the pilot in control</h2><p>In addition to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-737-max-fatal-crashes-revive-fears-automation-planes-2020-2">wider questions about automation in the industry that the MCAS has raised</a>, a cruel irony has emerged in the aftermath of the crashes: Boeing was known as the planemaker that shunned very powerful automated systems, and trusted the skill of pilots.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d4159fe100a2426f936a8b3-1800/2019-06-17t090049z1655659592rc145eb9fd80rtrmadp3france-airshow-airbus 1.jpg" alt="Airbus Boeing" /><p><a href="https://chsi.usc.edu/events/najm-meshkati/">Najmedin Meshkati,</a> an engineering professor at the University of Southern California who studies the role humans play in aviation safety, described the companies as traditionally having "two design philosophies."</p><p>"The level of control they give to the pilot and transparency - they're totally different. That's why I was unpleasantly surprised when the Max crashes happened. I thought Boeing even violated its own kudos and design philosophy."</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5cf9019111e2053fb638f5f2-1800/boeing 737 max ethiopia.jpg" alt="boeing 737 max ethiopian airlines" /><p>And Christine Negroni, an air-safety specialist and the author of "The Crash Detectives," a book about aviation disasters, said "the great irony is that it was Boeing who held back and had this idea that 'We feel the human in control is the best way to go about it. That's our philosophy.'"</p><h2>Boeing has embraced automation for years, but the MCAS system appears to have been a fundamental break in its philosophy</h2><p>To suggest that Boeing has not embraced automation would be deeply misleading. The company uses it across its fleet, and has done so for decades. The two plane makers have similar safety records, and aviation has only become safer since new technology has been introduced.</p><p>But experts say the key difference is this idea of pilot communication, as well as how had long wanted pilots to ultimately be in control.</p><p>Now, they say, MCAS appears to have totally overthrown that commitment.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d0a404ee3ecba1b18636f8a-2400/ap19073147461984.jpg" alt="Boeing 737 Max cockpit" /><p>Alan Diehl, a former investigator with both the US's National Transportation Safety Board and FAA, told Business Insider: "I think why the pilots were understandably so upset with Boeing because, historically, Boeing insisted that they would keep the pilots in the loop."</p><p>Pilots and aviation industry experts describe the fundamental difference between Boeing and Airbus as being one about pilot control.</p><p>"Boeing always wanted to keep the pilots more in the loop," Diehl said.</p><p>"I think so many of the pilots felt they were betrayed by Boeing when they found out about the MCAS because they didn't know really what the function was, or how it worked, and most importantly how to shut it off, or when to shut it off."</p><p>Indeed, with the Max, Boeing maintains that pilots were able to override the automatic actions and disable MCAS with manual switches. But pilots say they were unaware of the system itself, never mind how to disable it.</p><p>Diehl noted that "automation has crept in to Boeing products" over time. He described MCAS as "a new level of, I don't want to say dis-information, but lack of information. "</p><p>"It was almost a total information blackout," he said. </p><p>Chris Clearfield, founder of risk management consulting firm System Logic, a licensed pilot, and co-author of "Meltdown," a book about handling catastrophes, noted that "both Airbus and Boeing planes have an incredible amount of automation."</p><p>"Both are really fundamentally highly automated aircraft. I think the difference is that Boeing's design philosophy has always been that the pilots have direct access to the flight controls. Airbus has always put a lot of filtering between that."</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d690ca72e22af26411a9f55-1800/gettyimages-1161514565.jpg" alt="Boeing 737 Max" /><p>Mark Goodrich, an aviation lawyer and former aeronautical engineer and test pilot who focuses on automation, said that Boeing and Airbus' philosophies had been coming together long before MCAS.</p><p>"The philosophies were dramatically different. But they're not dramatically different anymore. And they have come together. Boeing took a very traditional approach for a long time," he said.</p><h2>In comparison, Airbus is known for being all-in with automation</h2><p>Airbus' A320 plane, unveiled in the 1980s, was the first plane to have two highly influential pieces of technology - called fly-by-wire and flight envelope protection - still used to automate parts of flight.</p><p>Fly-by-wire - a system that allows pilots to input plane commands into a computer instead of a using mechanical levers or dials - and flight envelope protection, which stops pilots from pushing the plane beyond certain control limits, have now become more or less standard in the industry.</p><p>But Michel Guerard, Airbus' vice president for product safety, told Business Insider that when Airbus introduced them "you had people who didn't like it."</p><p>"There was an argument about this in the early days," he said.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e7803670c2a625eba649a14-800/2020-03-23t003113z1lynxmpeg2m00hrtroptp3airbus-orders.jpg" alt="FILE PHOTO: An Airbus assembly plant in Seville, southern Spain, February 21, 2020. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo" /><p>But now versions of fly-by-wire and flight envelope protection can be found on Boeing planes, and Guerard said that most planes now, including from Boeing and Airbus, "pretty much look the same in terms of automation. "</p><p>What people think about when it comes to the difference between Airbus and Boeing, then, comes from those early approaches, Guerard said.</p><p>"The story about our philosophy being different from Boeing," he said, "comes from the days when we had the A320, which was the first fly-by-wire and flight envelope protected aircraft."</p><p>But even as Boeing embraced some automated systems, it is still holding back more than Airbus.</p><p>Fly-by-wire on Boeing planes still has physical levers and gives feedback to the pilot that feel like older, manual controls.</p><p>And when it comes to flight envelope protection, for example, Boeing can pilots can "push the envelope" - bringing the plane beyond those limits with a lot of effort.</p><p>Guerard describes the envelope system as born from the idea that there a range of controls and actions that are safe to do during a flight, and a range of controls and actions that are not.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e78c4faba85ee58ef00109b-1800/gettyimages-814284108.jpg" alt="Airbus factory" /><p>Pilots have control within those limits, but cannot totally override the plane's authority to go beyond them, because there is apparently no safe reason for them to do so: "The crew is not permitted to crash the aircraft, basically."</p><p>Both approaches have fans and detractors in the industry, and both have been credited for both saving lives and contributing to accidents.</p><p>John Lauber, the former Chief Product Safety Officer at Airbus, told Business Insider that much criticism of automated technology in planes is "nonsense," and that <a href="https://www.airbus.com/content/dam/corporate-topics/publications/safety-first/Statistical-Analysis-of-Comercial-Aviation-Accidents-1958-2018.pdf">Airbus data shows</a> that "each succeeding generation of aircraft is safer than its predecessors" as a result of it.</p><p>But, he said, automation poses its own challenges for safety if not designed and implemented properly, or if pilots are not properly trained. "But the safety record clearly shows that <em>properly done</em> cockpit automation significantly enhances the safety of aircraft operations," he said.</p><p>The 737 Max crisis has allowed Airbus to regain the title of the world's biggest planemaker. But t<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airbus-aims-record-plane-deliveries-boeing-suffers-737-max-2020-2?r=US&amp;IR=T">he boost to Airbus</a> has been minimal thanks to the nature of nature of the industry, where planes are ordered years in advance.</p><h2>Boeing is fixing the Max, but whatever it does now could prove its philosophy has changed for good.</h2><p>Boeing has spent months working on updates to the MCAS system, so it will take information from more than one plane sensor and can only activate once during flight. Boeing also reversed its position <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/business/boeing-737-max-simulator-training.html">after long arguing that simulator training was not necessary</a> for pilots.</p><p>The updates mean giving pilots more control, changing MCAS so it "will never provide more input than the pilot can counteract using the control column alone." Boeing says it will make it one of the safest-ever plane.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d43ff67100a2417e6451de6-2400/gettyimages-1135368518.jpg" alt="Boeing 737 Max Ethiopian Airlines" /><p>Boeing is also reflecting more widely on the very way it builds planes, establishing a committee to review its design and development of planes, including reexamining how the company designs cockpits and expects pilots to interact with controls.</p><p>Peter Pedraza, a Boeing spokesman, said it has resulted in "immediate action" to strengthen safety.</p><p>But the fallout from the Max crashes may ultimately be overshadowed by a new crisis for Boeing, as countries around the world lock down their borders and demand for travel plunges due to the coronavirus, threatening the world's airlines and potentially causing them to cancel orders or stop placing new ones.</p><p>The virus, combined with its existing Max problems, has already pushed Boeing to offer <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-offers-voluntary-layoffs-to-employees-amid-coronavirus-2020-4?r=US&amp;IR=T">voluntary layoffs to employees</a> and note that it is in "uncharted waters."</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e383afa5bc79c34a80bc1d3-1800/gettyimages-1193896172.jpg" alt="Dave Calhoun" /><p>Boeing could also take this moment as a basis <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/max-crashes-strengthen-resolve-of-boeing-to-automate-flight-11577816304">to turn to automation more than ever before</a>.</p><p>In November, when he was still the company's chairman, Dave Calhoun, Boeing's new CEO, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/max-crashes-strengthen-resolve-of-boeing-to-automate-flight-11577816304">said:</a> "We are going to have to ultimately almost - almost - make these planes fly on their own."</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more about the 737 Max crisis:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-burns-through-138-billion-as-coronavirus-complicates-737-max-2020-3">Boeing burned through $13.8 billion of loans in just over a month as coronavirus derails its 737 Max recovery</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-737-max-ethiopian-airlines-302-crash-year-2020-3">The second Boeing 737 Max crash happened a year ago, here's what went down, the unanswered questions, and the ongoing fallout.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-737-max-timeline-history-full-details-2019-9">Nearly a year after it began, the Boeing 737 Max crisis still drags on. Here's the complete history of the plane that's been grounded since 2 crashes killed 346 people 5 months apart.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-737-max-fatal-crashes-revive-fears-automation-planes-2020-2">The Boeing 737 Max crashes have revived decades-old fears about what happens when airplane computers become more powerful than pilots</a></li></ul><p class="tagline">Get the latest Boeing stock price <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/BA-Quote">here.</a></p>

Boeing shunned automation for decades. When the aviation giant finally embraced it, an automated system in the 737 Max kicked off the biggest crisis in its history.

<p>Just the words 'barcodes' or 'QR codes' inspire a certain paranoia among some people. Their uses are many, but until the <a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI)</a> published a recent report, not many Americans were aware of barcodes on the ground across the country.</p>
<p>These two-dimensional images were largely painted in the 1950s and '60s for use by the <keyword id="6354954" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Air-Force">Air Force</keyword> and <keyword id="6360409" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="NASA">NASA</keyword> to calibrate aerial <keyword id="46505" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cameras">cameras</keyword>.</p>
<p>Still used today, the images are clustered around the Mojave Desert where they were likely employed by the A12, SR-71, and U-2 spy-planes that each used highly sophisticated and powerful cameras to spy on nations across the globe.</p>
<p>A 21 year veteran <span>of the USMC Flight Test center</span>, and member of <a href="http://www.strategic.aero/">Strategic Aeronautics</a>, sent this in to clarify the locations in the following pictures:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">In your article today, the first image is Webster Field in St. Indigoes, Maryland (<a href="http://www.airnav.com/airport/KNUI" target="_blank">http://www.airnav.com/airport/KNUI</a>)</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">It is an outlying field (OLF) for NAS Patuxent River used for sensors, helicopter, and UAS test &amp; evaluation.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The panels are used to assess the spatial frequency response of sensor systems (lens, detector, and processor combination).</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Much like the eye chart in the optometrist's office, sensor systems are evaluated at various ranges and environmental conditions to determine which pattern the user can discern (similar to reading the 20/20 line or just the Big 'E') (<em>Ed:</em> Thanks, Jon)<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Check out CLUI's page</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> for greater detail on the mysterious barcodes.</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/512246faeab8eac15000000c-900-598/f3-3.jpg" border="0" alt="TERRESTRIAL TEST PATTERNS" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Google Earth &amp; Center for Land Use Interpretation</a></p></div><p></p></div></div><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/512246faeab8ea105100002a-900-598/f2-5.jpg" border="0" alt="TERRESTRIAL TEST PATTERNS" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Google Earth &amp; Center for Land Use Interpretation</a></p><p class="caption">Fort Huachuca, Arizona</p></div><p></p></div></div><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/512246fa6bb3f7c41e000012-900-609/f1-5.jpg" border="0" alt="TERRESTRIAL TEST PATTERNS" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Google Earth &amp; Center for Land Use Interpretation</a></p><p class="caption">Eglin Air Force Base</p></div><p></p></div></div> <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/512246faeab8ea2651000010-902-599/screen-shot-2013-02-18-at-9.58.57-am.jpg" border="0" alt="TERRESTRIAL TEST PATTERNS" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Google Earth &amp; Center for Land Use Interpretation</a></p><p class="caption">Webster Field in St. Indigoes, Maryland </p></div><p></p></div></div></p>

Mystery Of Immense Barcodes Painted Across American Landscape Explained

<p>Just the words 'barcodes' or 'QR codes' inspire a certain paranoia among some people. Their uses are many, but until the <a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI)</a> published a recent report, not many Americans were aware of barcodes on the ground across the country.</p>
<p>These two-dimensional images were largely painted in the 1950s and '60s for use by the <keyword id="6354954" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Air-Force">Air Force</keyword> and <keyword id="6360409" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="NASA">NASA</keyword> to calibrate aerial <keyword id="46505" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cameras">cameras</keyword>.</p>
<p>Still used today, the images are clustered around the Mojave Desert where they were likely employed by the A12, SR-71, and U-2 spy-planes that each used highly sophisticated and powerful cameras to spy on nations across the globe.</p>
<p>A 21 year veteran <span>of the USMC Flight Test center</span>, and member of <a href="http://www.strategic.aero/">Strategic Aeronautics</a>, sent this in to clarify the locations in the following pictures:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">In your article today, the first image is Webster Field in St. Indigoes, Maryland (<a href="http://www.airnav.com/airport/KNUI" target="_blank">http://www.airnav.com/airport/KNUI</a>)</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">It is an outlying field (OLF) for NAS Patuxent River used for sensors, helicopter, and UAS test &amp; evaluation.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The panels are used to assess the spatial frequency response of sensor systems (lens, detector, and processor combination).</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Much like the eye chart in the optometrist’s office, sensor systems are evaluated at various ranges and environmental conditions to determine which pattern the user can discern (similar to reading the 20/20 line or just the Big ‘E’) (<em>Ed:</em> Thanks, Jon)<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Check out CLUI's page</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> for greater detail on the mysterious barcodes.</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p>
<p><div class="image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/512246faeab8eac15000000c-900-598/f3-3.jpg" border="0" alt="TERRESTRIAL TEST PATTERNS" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Google Earth &amp; Center for Land Use Interpretation</a></p></div></div></div><div class="image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/512246faeab8ea105100002a-900-598/f2-5.jpg" border="0" alt="TERRESTRIAL TEST PATTERNS" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Google Earth &amp; Center for Land Use Interpretation</a></p><p class="caption">Fort Huachuca, Arizona</p></div></div></div><div class="image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/512246fa6bb3f7c41e000012-900-609/f1-5.jpg" border="0" alt="TERRESTRIAL TEST PATTERNS" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Google Earth &amp; Center for Land Use Interpretation</a></p><p class="caption">Eglin Air Force Base</p></div></div></div> <div class="image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/512246faeab8ea2651000010-902-599/screen-shot-2013-02-18-at-9.58.57-am.jpg" border="0" alt="TERRESTRIAL TEST PATTERNS" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration-targets">Google Earth &amp; Center for Land Use Interpretation</a></p><p class="caption">Webster Field in St. Indigoes, Maryland </p></div></div></div></p>

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5441732c6bb3f74a54f1b8bd-840-565/x-37b runway us air force.jpeg" alt="X-37B On Runway" border="0"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Boeing's X-37B, an unmanned and highly advanced space plane, just completed a nearly-two-long year Air Force mission <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/5-theories-about-secret-space-plane-x-37b-2014-10">whose purpose is still not currently known.</a></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Whatever its mission, the plane comes from one of the most legendary pedigrees in all of aviation: the fabled X-series, the line of experimental aircraft that are responsible for some of the greatest milestones in the history of flight.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://history.nasa.gov/x1/appendixa1.html">The X-Plane Program</a> is an ongoing US government effort dating from the 1940s and involving a number of private-sector manufacturers. Its goal is to push the outer limits of aviation technology: </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The X-1 was the first plane to break the sound barrier. And the first human being to go to space twice </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/incredible-story-of-joe-walker-2014-8">did it in a high-flying X-15.</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> The X-planes were used to test rocket engines and pioneer new methods of take-off and landing. They set records for range, speed, and altitude - some of which still stand.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here's a look at the X-37B's illustrious predecessors - its fellow members of one of the greatest families of aircraft ever built.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 1.5em; color: #000000;"> </span></p>
<h2>Bell X-1</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/544539dc6bb3f7852d7d5fbd-840-674/bell x-1 in flight.jpg" alt="Bell X 1 In Flight" border="0"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div> The Bell X-1 was first tested in January 1946, just months after the end of World War II. In October of 1947, legendary pilot Chuck Yeager <a href="http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A19510007000">broke the sound barrier in the X-1</a>, the first time an aircraft had reached that threshold in level flight.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Bell X-2</h2>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54453a5a6bb3f7fa357d5fb3-840-657/bell x-2 crash landing.jpg" alt="Bell X 2 Crash Landing" border="0"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></h2>
<p>The Bell X-2 would triple the X-1's feat by flying at three times the speed of sound, or Mach 3, in the mid '50s. In more than a dozen test flights, the colorfully nicknamed "Starbuster" also <a href="http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A19510007000">broke the existing record for altitude, flying at nearly 24 miles above the ground.</a></p>
<p>But the X-2 was also riddled with problems as it flew on the outer edge of the era's technological capabilities. Its maiden flight saw the plane's nose gear collapse upon landing. Its last flight would break the speed record, <a href="http://www.edwards.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123274801">but at the cost of USAF pilot Milburn Apt's life.</a>   </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Bell X-5</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54453aa5ecad04847e7efb79-919-900/bell x-5 swing wings.jpg" alt="Bell X 5 Swing Wings" border="0"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>The Bell X-5 first flew in 1951, earlier than the X-2. <a href="http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=630">It pioneered variable-sweep wings</a>, or "swing wings," which can be shifted back and tucked closer to the plane's body to allow greater flight speeds.</p>
<p>This design was inspired by the Messerschmitt P.1101, a German prototype designed for eventual service in World War II - but brought to and studied in the Bell factory in Buffalo, New York after the war.   </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Convair X-6</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54453b706da811512081f504-1024-674/nb-36h convair.jpg" alt="NB 36H Convair" border="0"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>The Convair X-6 was meant to test nuclear-powered flight on a modified bomber.</p>
<p>The project was canceled when president Kennedy pulled the plug on further research. "Nearly fifteen years and about $1 billion have been devoted to the attempted development of a nuclear-powered aircraft," Kennedy <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=8554">told</a> Congress in 1961, "but the possibility of achieving a militarily useful aircraft in the foreseeable future is still very remote."</p>
<p>The X-6 never flew.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Ryan X-13 Vertijet</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54453bc169bedd1a1481f504-840-1063/ryan x-13.jpg" alt="Ryan X 13" border="0"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>The Ryan X-13 Vertijet was meant to pioneer vertical takeoff in aircraft, though it didn't have the same approach as today's <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/osprey.htm">V-22 Osprey</a>. Instead the X-13 was a "tailsitter," set up to <a href="http://youtu.be/53iQbz-TQGU?t=1m9s">launch</a> like a space shuttle before tilting forward in flight.</p>
<p>The plane was technologically sophisticated, but of limited practical use - one of the only two X-13s ever built <a href="http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A19600018000">was donated to the Smithsonian Institute in 1960</a>, just five years after the aircraft the model's first flight.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Hiller X-18</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54453c256bb3f7323a7d5fc1-840-590/hiller x-18.jpg" alt="Hiller X 18" border="0"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div> The real ancestor of today's vertical take-off and landing technology is the Hiller X-18, which used the tilt-wings we see in today's VSTOL-capable aircraft. This plane was extraordinarily ahead of its time: the X-18 <a href="http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/hiller_x-18.php">debuted in 1957.</a> The V-22 Osprey, whose design and appearance are <a href="http://www.marines.com/operating-forces/equipment/aircraft/mv-22-osprey">strikingly similar to that of the X-18</a>, wasn't introduced into US military service <a href="http://www.navair.navy.mil/v22/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.detail&amp;id=178">until 2007.</a> </p>
<p>The X-18 was an experimental craft back in the '50s, but the Osprey is now one of the workhorse transport planes of the US military.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>North American X-15</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54453d316bb3f7483f7d5fb4-1121-900/x-15 on boeing b52.jpg" alt="X 15 on Boeing B52" border="0"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p><p class="caption">The X-15 rocket plane attached to its host: a B-52 bomber.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div> Among manned, powered aircraft, the North American X-15 still holds <a href="http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/bna/x15.page">records</a> for highest altitude (67 miles) and greatest speed (Mach 6.7) - and that was all the way back in the 1960s.</p>
<p>The plane took off from the bomb bay of a B-52 (see the above photo). The X-15 <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/incredible-story-of-joe-walker-2014-8">achieved spaceflight twice according to international standards</a>, making it the first re-usable manned spacecraft in history.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>X-20 Dyna-Soar</h2>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54453dc16bb3f763427d5fb3-840-551/x-20 dyna-soar prototype.jpg" alt="X 20 Dyna Soar prototype" border="0"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></h2>
<p>The X-20 Dyna-Soar only lived as a concept in the '50s and '60s, but its approach to space exploration has proven viable today. After spaceflight, the X-20 was meant to return to Earth and land on an airstrip, much like NASA's iconic Space Shuttle or Virgin Galactic's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/spaceshiptwo-breaks-sound-barrier-2013-4?op=1">private endeavors</a>. Even if it never actually flew, the X-20 represented an attempt at working towards aviation technology that was decades in the future at the time - but was eventually firmly proven.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>McDonnell-Douglas X-36</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54453e2a6bb3f7893e7d5fbd-840-643/mcdonnell douglas x-36 planform.jpg" alt="McDonnell Douglas X 36 planform" border="0"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div> The McDonnell-Douglas X-36 was an experiment in minimalism, "designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft" <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-065-DFRC.html#.VEV1OK1g5vk">according to NASA,</a> which contributed to the project.</p>
<p>The X-36 was built to prove that a tail-less fighter jet could have improved maneuverability compared to more traditional designs. The unmanned prototypes, which flew the first of several dozen test-flights in 1997, were built on a 28% scale compared to a "theoretical advanced fighter aircraft configuration," according to NASA.</p>
<p>That full-sized plane was never built. In that respect, the X-36 fits a pattern in the X-planes' history. It's a line that's proven that even the most extreme aeronautical feats are possible - even if they don't always result in aircraft that can be put to any widespread, practical use.</p>

The Air Force's Mysterious Space Drone Is Part Of The Incredible 'X-Plane' Family Of Aircraft

Submarines are increasingly lurking in seas around the world, and the US Navy's high-tech Poseidon is there to hunt them

<table>
<tbody>
<tr valign="middle">
<td>This post was originally published on <a href="http://
www.openforum.com/articles/the-11-most-inspirational-leaders-of-2013/">OPEN Forum.</a>    </td>
<td><a href="http://www.openforum.com/"><img src="http://
static5.businessinsider.com/image/5078351a69beddb91f000004-420-116/amex-
open-forum-logo.png" border="0" alt="Amex Open Forum" width="150" /></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table><p>This year, leaders around the globe made headlines with their important and wide-ranging contributions. A political prisoner-turned South African president, a billionaire entrepreneur, a pastry chef, and more than a few business executives shaped their companies, industries, and even their countries - and changed the world in the process.</p>
<p>Here are the 12 most inspiring people of 2013:</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52a26bcc69bedd07745aaef2-1200-900/mandela-6.jpg?maxX=800" border="0" alt="nelson mandela" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Brendan McDermid</span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<h3>Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid leader</h3>
<p>Mandela recently passed away at the age of 95 leaving behind a world of mourners. The anti-apartheid South African leader spent 27 years in prison for his beliefs before becoming the country's first black president and winning a Nobel Peace Prize.</p>
<p>President Barack Obama called Mandela one of the <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/05/mandela-dies-age-95/">"</a><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/05/mandela-dies-age-95/">most influential, courageous, and profoundly good" people to have ever lived.</a></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52b06f14ecad04687c9b44c9-1200-924/elon-musk-tuxedo-thing-model-s-2011-2.jpg" border="0" alt="elon musk tuxedo thing model s 2011" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Stephen Lam</span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<h3>Elon Musk, tech entrepreneur</h3>
<p>Often included in any list that mentions the most innovative, inspirational leaders, Musk was named <a href="http://mashable.com/2013/11/21/elon-musk-fortune-award/">"Business person of the year" by Fortune</a> because of his "audacity and tenacity." At the age of 17, Musk immigrated to America from South Africa and made his billions after co-founding PayPal.</p>
<p>Later, he invested in startups Tesla and space flight company Space X, which are both now major players in their industries. This year, Tesla posted profits for the first time, and Space X managed to disrupt aeronautics when it launched its first major commercial satellite into orbit.</p>
<p>Musk also made headlines this year when he proposed designs for his Hyperloop, which is a transportation mode allowing people to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes.</p>
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5288388569bedda464b1de85-800-589/jeff-bezos-97.jpg" border="0" alt="jeff bezos" /><p class="source"><span>Businessweek</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></h3>
<h3>Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon</h3>
<p>Bezos has been all over the news in 2013 with Amazon taking in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-no-one-cares-that-amazon-is-barely-making-a-profit-2013-11">$17.1 billion in net sales</a> in the third quarter and increasing active users by 19%. The businessman also <a href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-08-05/national/41085661_1_washington-post-co-jeff-bezos-graham">bought The Washington Post for $250 million</a> in cash earlier this year.</p>
<p>Bezos revealed that Amazon is currently testing drones to deliver packages within 30 minutes in a recent interview with journalist Charlie Rose. He's often dubbed the next Steve Jobs.</p>
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/52b06f4769beddce7e9b44d7-1200-924/sheryl-sandberg-37.jpg" border="0" alt="sheryl sandberg" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>Spencer Platt/Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></h3>
<h3>Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook</h3>
<p>It's hard to discuss 2013 without mentioning Sandberg's book <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sheryl-sandberg-sitting-at-the-table-2013-3">"Lean In,"</a> which encourages women to seek executive positions and ask for more in their <keyword id="6354910" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Careers">careers</keyword>.</p>
<p>The Facebook exec is an inspiration to educated women who understand all too well the struggles of gender bias in the workplace today.</p>
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52b06f5f69bedd3c7c9b44d6-1065-798/pope-francis-child-2.png" border="0" alt="pope francis child" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/ Stefano Rellandini</span></p><p class="caption">Pope Francis, announced as TIME's Person of the Year, hugs a child as he arrives to lead the weekly audience in Saint Peter's Square this summer.</p></div><p></p></div></h3>
<h3>Pope Francis</h3>
<p>TIME magazine named <a href="http://time100.time.com/2013/10/15/person-of-the-moment/slide/pope-francis-is-person-of-the-year/">Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic Church</a>, its Person of the Year in 2013 "for pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world's largest church to confronting its deepest needs, and for balancing judgment with mercy."</p>
<p>He is the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years and also the first Latin American.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/52b06fb46bb3f7be609b44c8-1177-882/dave-gilboa-neil-blumenthal-warby-parker-ceos.png" border="0" alt="Dave Gilboa Neil Blumenthal Warby Parker CEOs" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>Courtesy Warby Parker/Colin Hughes</span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<h3>Neil Blumenthal &amp; Dave Gilboa, co-founders of Warby Parker</h3>
<p>Co-founders Blumenthal and Gilboa were Wharton School classmates who wanted to provide hip, affordable, fashion-forward eyewear to the public. It seems this was exactly what the public needed. Since launching Warby Parker in 2010, business has been booming. This year, they opened Warby Parker's flagship store and are now considered a competitor of Luxottica, a $20 billion company that owns most of the eyewear industry.</p>
<p>The company also donates one pair of glasses to developing countries for every pair sold.</p>
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5123f5b8ecad041a55000018-1200-924/96797512.jpg" border="0" alt="tony hsieh zappos ceo" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>Getty Images/Ethan Miller</span></p></div><p></p></div></h3>
<h3>Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com</h3>
<p>He's already wildly successful as the CEO of online shoe and accessories company Zappos, but more than that, Hsieh strongly believes in transforming Las Vegas into the smartest, most "community-minded" city in the world. So much so that he invested $350 million of his own money into the Downtown Project.</p>
<p>By the end of this year, Hsieh has announced that 1,500 of Zappos employees will relocate to Las Vegas' City Hall building downtown. His project includes an impressive, major new transit service, which incorporates shared electric cars and bicycles, shuttles, and chauffeured vehicles all for a monthly fee.</p>
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/525cfd7f69bedd487fdf33ee-1200-900/angela-ahrendts-6.jpg" border="0" alt="angela ahrendts" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Paul Hackett</span></p></div><p></p></div></h3>
<h3>Angela Ahrendts, retail chief of Apple and former CEO of Burberry</h3>
<p>Being one of the small handful of women CEOs didn't stop Ahrendts from also being the U.K.'s highest-paid chief executive in 2012. After taking the reins as CEO of Burberry in 2006, the brilliant businesswoman rebranded the company as a high-fashion house worth an estimated $10.4 billion.</p>
<p>She was listed on the Forbes list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2013. In October, it was announced that Ahrendts would step down as CEO of Burberry and join Apple as its retail chief.</p>
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/52b07006ecad04737c9b44db-1200-924/netflix-reed-hastings-14.jpg" border="0" alt="netflix reed hastings" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>Getty Images Latam </span></p></div><p></p></div></h3>
<h3>Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix</h3>
<p>This year has been an incredible year for Netflix and a lot of that success is attributed to Hastings' leadership. Netflix's stock surged by 260% this year, and the company's original content picked up 14 Emmy nominations, including a nod for its political thriller "House of Cards."</p>
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/52b0701f69bedd80059b44c4-1200-924/dominique-ansel-4.jpg" border="0" alt="Dominique Ansel" width="800" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=553455008017630&amp;set=pb.293357170694083.-2207520000.1374778877.&amp;type=3&amp;theater">Facebook/ Dominique Ansel</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></h3>
<h3>Dominique Ansel, pastry chef and owner of Dominique Ansel Bakery</h3>
<p>Ansel's cronut - a doughnut-croissant hybrid - turned the pastry world upside down with its exclusivity and notoriously long lines. Dubbed "the cronut wizard," Ansel created a craze in New York City within days of unleashing his cronut during the summer. He has since partnered with the restaurant chain Shake Shack and published his book <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dominique-ansel-dominique-ansel/1116541155?ean=9781476764191" target="_blank">"Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes."</a></p>
<h3 class="p1"><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/52b0791e69beddd5189b44d0-1200-924/malala-yousafzai-gives-a-speech-after-receiving-the-leadership-in-civil-society-award-at-the-clinton-global-initiative-2013-cgi-in-new-york-september-25-2013-5.jpg" border="0" alt="Malala Yousafzai gives a speech after receiving the " Leadership="" in="" Civil="" Society="" award="" at="" the="" Clinton="" Global="" Initiative="" CGI="" New="" York="" September="" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Carlo Allegri </span></p></div><p></p></div></div><br /></strong></h3>
<h3 class="p1"><strong>Malala Yousafzai, education activist</strong></h3>
<p>At the age of 11, Yousafzai was writing under a pseudonym for the BBC, detailing what it's like to live under Taliban rule. In 2009, the New York Times filmed a documentary about her life. Today, as a 16-year-old, Yousafzai is an influential communicator and education activist. In Oct. 2012, she was shot in the back of the head <span>by Taliban gunmen</span>, but survived the assassination attempt.</p>
<p>Yousafzai was the recipient of the UN 2013 Human Rights Prize and is the youngest person to have ever been a Nobel Prize nominee.</p>
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/52b0704eeab8ea70769b44dc-1200-924/marissa-mayer-95.jpg" border="0" alt="marissa mayer" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></h3>
<h3>Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!</h3>
<p>She's the tech genius who became one of the youngest CEOs of a Fortune 500 company. Since joining Yahoo, Mayer has rebranded the company with a new home page and logo and orchestrated 17 acquisitions. This includes the $1.1 billion purchase of blogging service Tumblr.</p>
<p>Since Mayer joined a little over one year ago, Yahoo's stock price has doubled.</p>
<p><strong>SEE MORE ON OPEN FORUM:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href="https://www.openforum.com/articles/5-business-lessons-from-a-peter-thiel-fellow/">5 business lessons from a Peter Thiel fellow »</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://www.openforum.com/articles/the-3-rules-of-eye-contact-etiquette/">The 3 rules of eye contact etiquette » </a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://www.openforum.com/articles/14-dining-etiquette-rules-you-need-to-know/">14 dining etiquette rules you need to know »</a></p>
</li>
</ul><p class="tagline">Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his
personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.</p>

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