Random Aviation Thoughts 2/11/09

• Sikorsky is working at improving the helicopter as we know it, with their X2 technology. In a nutshell, they're tweaking helicopter design to get a little more speed and performance out of the platform.
• Check out the Aeroscraft airship. This is a very cool new take on the dirigible, technically, a buoyancy assisted air vehicle, and more of a luxury yacht of the sky. True, a New York-to-LA trip would take almost 24 hours but the accommodations would make it more than tolerable.
• Do you want to cruise around, sight-seeing in a traditional lighter-than-air airship? Make your reservations here.
  
• Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but on my list of beautiful aircraft you would find the F-22A Raptor, Boeing's 747, the F-16, and the Korean-era F-86 Sabre. There are so many beautiful aircraft, it's hard to name them all.
  
• Here's a summary of the research going in to a real flying saucer project, propelled by super-charging the air with electricity. Sure, that sounds safe. There's a lot of excitement for a "helicopter with no moving parts," but we're probably a ways off from flying in plasma-field charged ships.
• Details here about the first F-35 squadrons to be in place in the next few years.