San Diego is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US with about 3 million people living in the vicinity. However, the city lacks a large airport and the present airport is a small stretch of dangerous runway which handles too many flights than it can handle.

There is also no space for the city to have a second airport. Thus, the nearby Pacific Ocean expanse is the only area where an airport could be built, like they did in Hong Kong. However, the Pacific is too deep for rocks and boulders to be sunk and an airport built over it.

Thus Adam Englund, a local lawyer and visionary ahs come up with the idea of a floating airport or rather, a floating city. The structure would float on the surface of the ocean about 10 miles away from San Diego shore, and it would also come with a free space of 200 million square feet which is enough to have a city in itself.

Thus, it would open up to possibilities of large residential areas, offices, complexes and other business apart from the airport which would sit on the top of the floating structure.

Unfortunately, the guy has not got the permission from regulatory bodies. We shall have to wait and watch if this plan ever takes off. Oh yes, it is also environmentally friendly.

Via: Infrastructurist

Come December, and Sukhoi, which has about 31 thousand employees will begin deliveries of its new Sukhoi. This special Superjet will be developed in collaboration with Finmeccanica of Italy subsidiary Alenia Aeronautica. The good news is that the Superjet 100 will be made at just €19.5 million, which is relatively a lot cheaper than many of the other superjets available.

Their low budget is already creating a lot of anxieties amongst their rivals. Sukhoi’s Superjet will definitely give a tough competition to their rivals such as, Embrader and Bombardier.Besides, the Superjet will also have a more comfortable flying environment. It will have 5 seat rows setup with a combination of style and ergonomics, which are considered to be the largest ever installed on regional transport aircraft.

If all goes well, Sukhoi may also include an even more sybaritic VIP model instead of having rows of seats. As of now, things look quite promising. More information will be available once December comes. So, let’s just wait and watch until then. I wonder what Sukhoi will come up with next! I hope, something as cool as their Superjet 100.

Via: JamesList\Sukhoi\Bombardier

If you are the kind of person who would dream about flying high, but cannot actually own a plane because you never learned how to fly, you could get yourself the Phantom Bar. The Phantom Bar comes with Martin-Baker Mk7 ejection seats from an F4 Phantom. F4 Phantom is an amazing plane, if you did not know and you thought you were a great lover of airplanes.

While the bar looks quite tempting, it costs about $225,000 which means you must either be filthy rich, or really crazy about aircrafts in order to get it for yourself. Instead, I would recommend pubs or high end lounges to get this bar so that they can allow their esteemed customers to experience the joy of using Martin-Baker Mk7 ejection seats from an F4 Phantom.

At $225,000 I think one must get something more than just seats and a bar. I would rather buy a real plane, or invest in a flying course, if possible. What do you readers think?

Via: Crunch Gear

When you think about urban transportation, you might either think about bicycles if you are too green minded, or you just might think of mass transit like the rest of us would. Either ways, they are not efficient or useful to the problems faced by a large urban centre.

The Airbia is a system of airships which would fly from the suburbs to the city centre and would form an additional network of transportation in an urban realm. It allows easy hovering, landing and passenger access. It has the capacity to carry 400 people and would fly at a speed of 150 kilometres per hour. It would fly at a height of about 30 to 150 meters and is safe from all angles. It uses helium to fly and has been inspired by Zeppelin technologies.

Authorities can set up pick platforms anywhere they think is convenient and is thus one of the best urban transportation systems I have come across lately. Airbia is one of the more modern and efficient concepts designed lately by design establishments. It is not known if it would ever be employed in reality.

Antilles Seaplanes G-21 Super Goose is an amazing rich kid’s toy that could send him or her flying into the air. Of course, it is not literally a toy and is a propah high flying plane. It can not only fly in the air but can also navigate through the sea and is the remake of Grumman Goose.

The Grumman Goose carried people like Hemingway and MacArthur many decades ago. It uses the same design and plan but only the technology belongs to the 21st century. It doesn’t matter where you wanna go, you could fly this plane. The Antilles Seaplanes G-21 Super Goose could be used in icy waters and also in blazing sun and hence it all depends on you in the end.

The cool Super Goose is not yet available and it is not known how much it might cost. It would be anything but cheap, trust me. However, you really should not be caring about cash when it comes to something awesome like Antilles Seaplanes G-21 Super Goose.

Via: Uncrate

Parajet SkyCar is being touted as the world’s first road legal flying car which comes with an aggressive design and sporty looks, as the makers claim. Man’s dream has been to fly always and that was fulfilled when the flight was invented. However, most of us have secretly dreamt or fantasized about cars flying in the air.

Many have even gone ahead and designed such cars but none had ever been legally allowed to be manufactured and sold to public. Parajet SkyCar flew from London to Timbuktu in an attempt to trace the early adventurers who lost their lives in the dreary deserts of Saharan landscape.

They are already accepting fully refundable deposits of 10,000 Pounds where as the real cost of the Parajet SkyCar is $81,700. It is expected to be released in 2010. It would be interesting to fly a car but this would call for new kinds of traffic rules. Imagine a car suddenly starts to fly in the middle of a traffic jam in London! Of course, it is clean and green.

Via: Auto Blog Green

Owning Limousines and Porsche was a matter of status symbol once, but the pedestal has been leveraged. It’s all about how many private aircrafts stand under your name. Hawker BeachCraft’s newest creation is worth considering incase you’re planning to upgrade your vehicle and have lots of cash to burn. The leaders of Turboprop have unleashed King Air 350i that has the right score on luxury and comfort.

Having regard to the present economic meltdown, this jet is not suppose to cost a bomb as aganist its earlier siblings. The most flexible and technologically advanced cabin ever introduced in a twin turboprop appears to be one of the hallmark features here.  A spacious cabin with Rockwell Collins Venue high-definition CMS entertainment system (Yeah, that’s the name alone, I wonder what it would actually be like to be in there! ) is what one can look forward to in this jet.

9 passengers can travel on this jet at a time and it can be programmed to shuttle either executive-level employees or special VIP guests. There are two Pratt & Whitney Canada engines that propel the jet skyward from a short 3,000-ft. grass airfield. Its priced at $6.6 million.

Via Jameslist

One of the dangers of flying is that you may not be able to see what is flying overhead or worse, what it is like just above you. Mr. Steele has designed the VirtualHUD which projects images from the plane’s propeller directly to you without obstructing anything. It is a simple and sophisticated bolt-on system which would be great for all prop planes.

It takes readouts from avionics package, GPS system, and thus provides the pilot with overlaying information, graphics, warning and waypoints. The HUD is readable and provides you with good images even when there is smoke, haze and other factors which reduce the visibility. The technology is of course simple but no one perhaps had thought of it earlier.

Mr. Steele is willing to provide the knowledge and technology to anyone who is willing and is eve in the process of getting the technology patented. If the technology can be used in an economical manner, and thus would allow greater safety and control for the pilot. If you have a prop plane, you might want to use it as well.

Via: Gizmag

Moulton B. Taylor in 1949 created the world’s first Aerocar and after that some were created in 1956. It is a transformer and can be used as both a plane and a car. Only five of these are still existing and is now owned by a Coloradian named Ed Sweeny. He had paid $150,000 21 years ago and now can fetch up to $1 million if he decides to sell it.

However, the guy plans to keep it as a family treasure and would not sell it for anything. It can reach speeds of 60 mph and when it is flying it can reach speeds of 150 mph. You would never be able to buy this awesome flying car and thus proves the theory that money cannot buy everything in life.

I am sure you would be greatly disappointed but like certain mental mental states, certain material goods can’t be bought with money either. You could try and build one yourself instead, if you are weird enough to do that.

Now this piece of information left us in a tizzy. Apparently, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has decided to sell two of its luxury birds from Gulfstream for just $65 million. Now, we do not know if they are just trying to get rid of their extravagances in the times of the financial trouble or simply making way for new aircrafts. Even the company reps are not willing to shed a little light on than that.

Frankly if you ask us, the Gulfstream V and the Gulfstream 550 are both up for grabs at $29.25 million and $35.5 million respectively. We hear that the market price of both the aircrafts has come down crashing. Plus let’s not forget the matching paint jobs on both of them and the amazing flight experience they offer.

It’s a little unclear when the planes were put up for sale plus we are also not definite if the two planes are part of a package deal. Of all you know Pfizer chief Jeff Kindler might be in the mood to negotiate. It would have been a little helpful if he was a bit more open about the whole deal.

Via cityfile