Here’s a cool airplane hack on how to land a 747 just in case.

Main Checklist

1. Get on the radio, and tell whoever’s listening that you are landing a 747.
2. Engage a single channel of the autopilot — light one of the buttons labeled “CMD.” Point the heading indicator in the direction indicated to keep the plane straight and level.
3. Find the checklists in the side pocket of the pilot’s and copilot’s seat. If the plane is a 747-400, engage the Automatic Landing System (ALS). If it is not a 747-400, see below under “Landing Without ALS.”
4. If you can’t find the checklists, use these:
   1. Before Descent
      1. EO’s system check completed.
      2. Pressurization set.
      3. All a/c packs on. Set the airfield altitude so the plane is depressurized on landing.
      4. Humidifier off.
      5. HSIs: Radio. Switch horizontal situation indicators to radio navigation mode.
      6. Auto brakes: set.
   2. Approach Checklist
      1. P.A. cabin call: “Cabin crew 15 minutes to landing.”
      2. Cabin signs and exit lights: on.
      3. Ignition: on. This sets the engine igniters for landing.
      4. Fuel system: set for landing.
      5. Fuel heat: check/off
      6. QNH: Set. So the altimeters read the airfield altitude on touchdown.
   3. Landing Checklist
      1. Gear check: handle down, handle in, light green.
      2. Speedbrake: armed.
      3. Hydraulics: checked.
      4. Landing flap: set at 25 degrees.
      5. SCCM’s report: received. The cabins are secure for landing.
      6. Find the Jeppeson charts. Locate the radio frequency.
      7. Find the flight management system’s buttons on the glareshield marked LNAV and VNAV.
      8. Put the Jeppeson map on a 100 mile scale using the EFIS control panel on the front panel. You’ll get a yellow FMC message on the middle screen when it’s time to land.
      9. On the control display unit between the pilots’ seats, twist the knob until the little numbers go down to 100 ft. above field elevation in the Jeppeson notebook.
      10. Get the aircraft set to land: press the LOC and G/S buttons on the glareshield. All three CMD lights will go on, and the system will automatically tune to the right ILS frequency.
      11. 1Turn on the autobrakes when the plane starts descending.

via sampottsinc

I will probably never figure out the original name for Go-Karts but here’s a really cool DIY electric go-kart someone has made and you might want to refer it if you want to make your own in the near future.

This year, the Summer Engineering Workshop team was interested in making an electric go-kart. (Some kind of obsession with things you can ride…) But to make things more interesting, we decided to add a 110F ultracapacitor into the mix. Capacitors store electrical potential energy; much less than a battery, but you can charge and discharge them more quickly. Research into automotive applications of capacitors (in hybrids, for example) has led to development of ultracapacitors with increasing energy density and decreasing price.

Research is research. We were also interested in having some fun. So, we wanted to see if we could very simply integrate an ultracapacitor into a stylish electric go-kart. One of the simplest ways to do so is to use it exclusively to store energy recaptured from the kart as it brakes. Then, put this energy at the driver’s fingertips in the form of a power “assist,” or, less formally, boost! While it’s likely not the best solution for full-size autos, we wanted to make a tangible demonstration that the technology is closer to reality than many might think.

The site is very informative and even provides free circuit schematics for the electricity parts, I highly suggest you to check this one out.

via make, DIY Page

Concorde may be one of the fastest airplanes that most of us will ever ride in our lifetime and someone has made a 1:1 real life-size replica of the Concorde engine using what he learned from a $10 Concorde engine repair book he bought on eBay.

This engine might not run but I am sure the guy who made it knows almost every detail of what went into making the Concorde engine.

Design firm PostlerFerguson has created Olympus, a 1:1 model of one of Concorde’s engines, which will be on display in the window of Selfridges until October 22.

via crblog, Designer’s Page

Japan intros a really fast train that goes up to 217MPH.  Although this is nothing compared to the French train that can go about 357MPH, it wouldn’t hurt to have one in the U.S., where it takes me at least 5 hours to get to L.A. from San Francisco.

Yes, Japan needs to get it a little faster still…(catch up to the French but where’s U.S. in this world train race god darn it!)

Kawasaki Heavy Industries is developing the country’s fastest train. How fast is that? A speedy 217mph, a nice increase over the previous fastest, which moved at 186mph.

via dvice

Here’s some fun Porsche racing for this weekend. Watch the vid and see how many drivers skid out of contention.

And now they race in the Porsche Supercup series, where they wonder what would happen if you put a couple dozen race-tuned, rear-engined 911s on a rain-soaked grand prix track and told their drivers that there’s a prize waiting for them at the finish line. Follow the jump to see what happened.

via autoblog

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Wow, check out this funky motorcycle with 24 Chainsaw engines.  Although this thing is not fuel-efficient nor powerful, it would be an honor for anyone to drive the god-lovin’ thing while the sounds of 24 chainsaws scare off any by-standers.

The combined power of 24 DOLMAR chainsaw engines is fed into to a 5-speed Harley-Davidson transmission by a series of twelve toothed belts.
The engine in question is the one used in the PS-7900 professional chainsaw, which currently boasts the best power-to-weight ratio of any professional petrol chainsaw in the world – just 1 kg per PS. In standard trim each of these high-performance air-cooled 79 cc units generates 4.6 kW of power (6.3 PS) at 9500 rpm. A specific output of 59 kW per litre is outstanding for a chainsaw, and the secret lies in DOLMAR’s High Performance Combustion (HPC) technology. This term refers to the special design of the six gas exchange ports in combination with the asymmetrical combustion chamber head and the crankcase configuration: the result is a highly efficient combustion cycle with low exhaust emissions.
For use in the Dolmette the engines were tuned and tweaked to deliver 5.2 kW of power (7.1 PS) at 10,000 rpm. Maximum torque delivery is 5.5 Nm at 7,750 rpm. When all 24 are combined, the result is a 24-cylinder power plant with a total displacement of 1.9 litres, a power output of 125 kW (170 PS) and 130 Nm of torque at the centrifugal clutches.

via hackedgadgets, Product Page

A testing woman on the Di-cycle

Di-Cycle is a concept bicycle that could potentially help bikers travel over water and land.  There’s no info on when and how this concept is available so keep your fingers crossed.

This two-wheeled vehicle was specially designed to function as a mode of transport over land as well as water, although it won’t protect you against splashes and rough storms no thanks to a lack of a canopy. No idea on what other features are available with the Di-Cycle concept, but parking this is going to be quite tricky.

via ubergizmo

Moller has been building flying cars for decades now based in Davis, California, the same town that I went to college.  I remember hearing about my friends who “saw” a flying car in the field at least couple times a month before I found out about it blogging.

Anyways, Moller has a new type of flying car called the Autovolantor which can “fly” over traffic occasionally but it’s not designed for full flights.

I like this new hybrid model as I found it useful to “fly” over a bad traffic area sorta like that Shell commercial back in the day.

via ohgizmo, PDF of Autovolantor Download

(Click to enlarge)

I am usually in the business of riding real scooters (that people call motorcycles), but here’s a Super Scooter that comes with GPS, display, and enough power to keep all your gadgets/devices charged.

We needed to use what space we had as carefully as possible while maximizing our airflow. The logical solution was a vertically mounted system of mounting plates with all the major components stripped out of there plastic shells. We used some extra motherboard mounting posts we had laying around so we could simply screw the components onto the frame. This not only created a very modular system but a afforded us the ability to have a lot of features in a small space.

via dvice, DIY Page