We've all heard the viability of biofuels for land transportation and sea, but when it comes to jet fuel, that's another story. Virgin Atlantic set out to prove that the idea of biofueled jumbo jets are plausible and flew a four jet-engine aircraft from London to Amsterdam to make a point. More details at the full story.

While most people in the U.S. would try to sell old, beat-up cars or give them up to scrap heaps just to get rid of them, one man in Nigeria thinks old clunkers can still fly- literally. Mubarak Abdullahi has successfully created a working helicopter made of used car parts and it has made six successful flights so far.

Powered by a Honda Civic engine, a body fashioned from a Boeing 747 carcass from a nearby crash site and fitted with seats from an old Toyota saloon, Abdullahi's helicopter has all the basic functions for it to qualify as a basic mode of aviation.

This four-seater helicopter is a pretty large model measuring 29 feet in length, about 22 feet tall, and about 16 feet wide. It has never exceeded an altitude of seven feet, but hey, it still works.

Abdullahi says he got most of the know-how from the Internet. From the building process to the flying techniques, everything was built with customization and improvisation on the core design of modern choppers.

"I watched action movies a lot and I was fascinated by the way choppers fly," recalls Abdullahi. "I decided it would be easier to build one than to build a car."

Abdullahi is currently trying to convince the Nigerian government and his wealthy countrymen to sponsor his project for further development. Sadly, the response has been underwhelming so far as nobody seems to show interest. "No one from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has come to see what I've done. We don't reward talent in this country," he concludes.

Rafi Yoeli, founder of Urban Aeronautics and had once worked for Boeing and Israeli Aerospace Industries, is currently building a new type of battlefield ambulance able to rescue wounded soldiers where land vehicles and bulky helicopters can't get to.

Dubbed the "Mule," the vehicle Yoeli has designed is sort of what you'll get if you cross a sled with a hovercraft. Light and fast, these little critters land and take off vertically, making it ideal and strategic for its purpose: search and rescue amidst the chaos and danger of a full on battle.

Each Mule can carry two persons at a time and is controlled by air flow instead of being entirely dependent on surfaces. It requires no driver and can speed up to 100 mph without passengers. It has been raised that a patient being transported with proper medical care while on the vehicle would be dangerous, but it was pointed out that there might be no other alternative, especially if the patient is in critical condition.

Janina Frankel-Yoeli, Rafi Yoeli's wife and marketing director, says that there might be some psychological factors that might affect the Mule's task. "The problem is overcoming the natural fear of entering a vehicle without a pilot," he added, but both civilian and military outfits in the US and other countries have already shown interest.

Image by Peter Bollinger.

Sometimes, you just have a need to get somewhere fast but have a bad case of diarrhea. If it's been happening a lot, then here's the perfect port-a-potty for you. Moving at speeds of more than 70mph, this amazing toilet built by Paul Stender is a marvel to behold.

The world's fastest toilet is powered by a 1,000bhp Boeing Jet engine and costs a whopping £ 10,000 (US$ 19,937). Paul Stender piloted the vehicle himself. One of the added "features" of the toilet, is the fact that it actually spews a giant fireball to a range of about 30 feet behind it. We can just imagine taking this to the streets and having a tailgater barbecue with this little beauty. We know it's been said before, but we feel that its imperative for our readers to know: the fire isn't caused by the pilot farting. (*snicker*)

While we weren't able to secure shots of the interior of this port-a-potty (it had better have a gold plated toilet seat given the price of this vehicle), we do have a few pics and even a video of the said toilet, so be sure to check those out.

  

Boeing is teaming up with the people who gave us the PackBot to develop and deliver a new next gen Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) to military, civil and commercial users. The new robot, named SUGV Early, will let users conduct remote reconnaissance and secure real-time intelligence while remaining out of harm's way.

The SUGV Early will be based on iRobot's combat-proven PackBot design. It'll be a smaller and lighter version, though, and will weigh less than 30 pounds. This will supposedly allow its "life-saving robotic technology" to be used by a broader group of users than current gen PackBots.

"The SUGV Early is light enough to be carried long distances and easy enough to operate so that we believe it could become a standard tool for infantry squads and SWAT teams," said retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Joe Dyer, president of iRobot Government & Industrial Robots. "By teaming with Boeing, we can leverage their system-of-system capabilities and global marketing strength to quickly get these life-saving robots into the hands of our troops, first responders and allies worldwide."

One of the brains behind Tabula Rasa, Richard Garriott, and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking are teaming up! Unfortunately, they're not gonna put their heads together to concoct a kickass MMORPG, these two guys are going to be travel buddies. Where would they go, you may ask. Well, they're off on the "vomit comet" - a zero-gravity flight that goes up roughly 24, 000 feet and induces weightlessness and queasiness.

The duo would be travelling on April 16.

Said Hawking when asked about this unusual trip, he wanted to show "that people need not be limited by physical handicaps, as long as they are not disabled in spirit". Lord British is of course not a newbie in this field - he is a space enthusiast and has gone on three zero-gravity flights before. In fact, Richard Garriott is an investor in Zero Gravity Corporation, a company who sells the flights on a modified and amped Boeing 727.

According to Mike Crouch, a NCSoft spokesman, Mr. Garriott is "very excited about it...He's read all of his books, watched as many programs on Professor Hawking as possible".

Well, hopefully after this trip, he'll give us more updates on Tabula Rasa.

It looks cool, and if it works, it'd be a boon to the environment as well. Needless to say, a lot of hopes are riding on Boeing's new blended-wing aircraft: the X-48B.

With the blended wing aircraft system , the fuselage and wings are combined onto one frame, taking away the need for a tail, as well as reducing drag and fuel consumption. This fuel-saving design could reduce fuel consumption by 30% and even allow for different types of military and commercial uses.

While conventional uses for the aircraft are far from feasible at the moment, it could be used as a fuel tanker and commercial airplane in as little as 20 years' time. Hopefully, this current test flight will pass with flying colors and get us all one step closer to a more fuel-efficient airspace.

Wanna hear some shocking news? Okay, here's one: in light of recent events, it seems that Boeing is following in Starbucks' footsteps.

But wait, before you start thinking that Boeing is shifting into the coffee industry, let us clear things up. Remember when we told you guys about the incident at Starbucks Corp. where they lost four laptops which had employees' info? Well, Boeing has suffered the same fate.

Apparently, one Boeing employee has lost his laptop which contained personal information about nearly 400,000 retired and current company employees.

The files stored on the laptop included salary information, Social Security numbers, home addresses, phone numbers and birth dates. Might seem like harmless stuff to be leaked out, but when placed in the hands of the wrong person, this could yield very alarming results. Unfortunately for the employee, this was a breach of company policy which requires that data should be encrypted once it has been downloaded.

Jim McNerney, Boeing's chairman, president, and chief executive, reportedly sent out an email to all employees saying that:

"We have very strict and clear policies and procedures about how employee information is handled. An employee, despite proper training, failed to comply with those requirements and as a result is being dismissed from the company."

Needless to say, the major bummer news for the employee with the lost laptop is that not only has he suffered a laptop loss, now he's also lost his job. McNerney also said that this breach of company policy is of serious gravity that some Boeing managers will also be disciplined. There have been a lot of similar reported laptop theft which have endangered tons of people (remember the one with the YWCA program administrators?) Perhaps more companies should be looking into having company-owned computers and laptops installed with data theft recovery programs, don't you think?

Here's one for the paranoid jetsetter: Boeing has a patent pending in Canada for a new anti-terrorist system that they believe will help improve the survivability of passengers and crew in the event of a terrorist takeover. The device takes the form of a  "uninterruptible" auto-pilot system, that once turned one, automatically locks the  controls and redirects the plane to the closest runway, ensuring that hijackers can't use the plane for other purposes.

The device, running on an independent power source to prevent tampering, activates either at the flick of a switch by either the pilot or co-pilot, by pressure sensors on the door reading forced cabin entry, or by ground control in the event the first two fail.

"There is a need in the industry for a technique that conclusively prevents unauthorized persons from gaining access to the controls of the vehicle and therefore threatening the safety of the passengers onboard the vehicle, and/or other people in the path of travel of the vehicle, thereby decreasing the amount of destruction individuals onboard the vehicle would be capable of causing," said Boeing regarding this device.

No details on how the system works yet, though a recent issuance of a $1.9 million U.S. Federal Aviation Administration contract to Raytheon for an Advanced Route Evaluation System does give clues as to how Boeing plans to program the new system with regards to landing spots. With that said and done, we're wondering what sort of protection they're offering for the pilots, as the system assumes that both pilot and co-pilot are incapable of flying the plane.

Boeing's Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) program has just taken off, literally. After successful ground-based firing tests were carried out with their experimental ATL in Albuquerque, N.M. last month, Boeing's loaded the ATL's equipment into a modified C-130H Hercules, where it was flown off for targetting tests at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The tests began this October 10, and are expected to end by fall within the year.

Boeing's using a low-power solid-state laser (like the diode-based Blu-Ray in the PS3, only MUCH bigger) for the targetting tests instead of the actual chemical-based ATL, and will be firing it from a rotating  turret under the said aircraft. Actual airborne tests with the ATL are expected this 2007, as part of the Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD).

"ATL will transform the battlefield by giving the warfighter a speed-of-light, precision engagement capability that will reduce collateral damage dramatically," said Pat Shanahan, Boeing Missile Defense Systems VP.

The ATL's part of an ongoing missile defense program that uses laser weapons as a means of shooting down enemy missiles and artillery shells, instead of resorting to Anti-missiles like the Patriot, which cost in the hundred-thousands per shot, while weapons like the ATL are estimated at "only" tens of thousands of dollars per pop.

Aside from them anti-aircraft role, Boeing envisions their ATL to be a next-generation gunship - an air vehicle providing troops with pinpoint-accurate fire support capable of adjusting its power for things as simple as blowing out car tires, to detonating fuel dumps.

Some of you out there might recognize the test vehicle, the C130H Hercules. It's currently got a gun platform in the service called the AC130 Spectre (MGS3 fans will remember this), which carries a mix of support weapons ranging from 20-mm vulcans to a 105-mm howitzer.