Technology In Action
The BBC was impressed enough to report about a Empty F-16 jet tested by Boeing and US Air Force.
They converted an old, decommissioned F-16 into a QF-16 target drone that will be used for training down at Tyndall AFB in Panama City, Florida [about 60 miles East of me]. That is the same base that had to shut down US 98 for more than a day when a QF-4 crashed on take-off.
This isn’t unusual or special it is pretty standard and getting very easy as the ‘fly-by-wire’ aircraft become available for conversion. You want a tough job, consider that they created the QB-17, a four-engine bomber with all mechanical controls in the early 1950s.
The QF-16s will be more realistic targets than the QF-4s, and a decent aerial combat aircraft for people to hone their skills on, but the conversion is a standardized procedure.
More interesting is this piece in the CBC: Google Science Fair wins include B.C. teen’s body heat-powered flashlight.
She refers to Pelier tiles in her design, but this is a demonstration more of the Seebeck effect, and the reverse of what Peltier did. Very nice work from a high school sophomore.
