Keep your head to the sky

I just thought this was so incredible that I had to post it! According to Eric Pfeiffer at Yahoo news, a Boeing 787 took a test flight planned in a very interesting pattern. Read the article below for more information or click the authors name. Incredible!

 

"A Boeing 787 jet took corporate loyalty to new heights when it "drew" the letters "787" followed by the company's logo across several thousand miles of North American skies. The etching of the letters and logo, while not visible from the ground, can be seen in the flight path plans.

"Boeing's 19 hour test flight of the 787 Dreamliner was a great opportunity to test the limits of the 787, FlightAware's flight tracking, and the FAA's flight plan system," FlightAware Chief Executive Officer Daniel Baker tells Yahoo News. "It was the longest domestic flight we've ever handled and it required three FAA flight plans to accomplish, not to mention dozens of people coordinating the flight overnight."

FlightAware, which provides live flight tracking, coordinated with Boeing on delivering the unusual and spectacular images.

In the above image, you can see the 787 Dreamliner's flight path, which was first reported by Gizmodo. The flight path was meticulously designed and coordinated with airports across the country in or to avoid violating restricted airspace.

"This wasn't a joy ride," wrote Boeing's vice president of marketing Randy Tinseth on the company's blog. "It was an 18 hour Maximum ETOPS (Extended Operations) Duration flight test for a 787-8 with GE engines. Our team coordinated with the many air traffic control centers, choosing the routing to avoid restricted airspace. In the end, the flight covered over 9,000 nautical miles." The path stretched between Iowa and Washington State.

Boeing conducted another sky drawing back in August, reports Wired, when the 747-8 Freighter outlined a "747" over several states. The BBC reported on the Dreamliner's maiden commercial voyage last October, traveling from Tokyo to Hong Kong.

It's an exciting time for air travel enthusiasts. Billionaire developer Paul Allen recently unveiled designs for his company's Stratosphere plane, which is designed to take passengers on commercial voyages above Earth's orbit."



Now that's what I call "fly"!


Article is from yahoo.com and photo is property of flightaware.com

Noir Paris: Harlem à Montmartre

Paris, France is World renowned for its fashion, freedom and romance. Few know of the history African Americans have there. While documentation of the achievements of Black Frenchmen reaches far into the 1790s, the city of Paris saw a cultural boom as a result of World War I.  Roughly 200,000 G.I.s were brought from the United States to fight in the war and decidedly stayed as a result of their reception. At the time, service men and women of color risked their lives at war only to return to racism, disrespect and violence from their own countrymen. In France, many felt that they were treated as equals.  Men in France were called “boy” at home. Many African Americans went out in search of a better life- many of them notable artists and entertainers. The new wave of residents brought jazz, entertainers and many of the great minds of the Harlem Renaissance. They were warmly accepted- a vast difference from what they had experienced in America.  Josephine Baker once said, “[The Eiffel Tower] looked very different from the Statue of Liberty, but what did that matter? What was the good of having the statue without the liberty?” As people moved into Paris, the artistic community of Montmartre grew as well. The area was well known as “the place to be” for artistic inspiration and thus became a hub for African American expats. There are tales that attribute much of the areas growth to an African American shoe shiner who worked with the American Express outside of the city. He’s cited as telling every African American passing through “go to Montmatre-that is where our people are”. 

Famous clubs in the area during this time included “Bricktops” and “Le Grand Duc”. Harlem and Paris collided in the small hilltop neighborhood and it oozed of prosperity through creativity. American Jazz singer and bandleader Cab Calloway once said, “You hear about the Duke Ellingtons, the Jimmy Luncefords, The Fletcher Hendersons, but people sometimes forget that jazz was not built on the minds of the great ones, but the backs of the ordinary ones”. Montmartre was a place people could go to freely express, invent and celebrate themselves without color lines.

The beginning of World War II put and abrupt halt to the creative surge in Paris. Jazz music was seen as a corrupt influence by the Nazis. When they invaded Paris in June 1940, American expats who chose to stay risked imprisonment. While most Americans-black and white- left, others like Musician Arthur Briggs stayed. He had obtained what many would refer to as the ultimate Parisian dream, including marriage and a country home. Not only did he stay, but he continued to play gigs until he was arrested and sent to the Saint Denis internment camp on October 17, 1940. Even in this situation his music could not be suppressed. He organized a six piece jazz orchestra within his first 3 days to help others cope with life in the camp. The group soon grew to 25 pieces which performed concerts. They played for many people, including their biggest fan- The German Commandant- who attended the concerts as well as the rehearsals.  The camp was abandoned and attacked on August 25, 1944. Thankfully Mr. Briggs survived it all to recount his story. He was reunited with his wife- while carrying his trumpet.

Montmartre social scene did not fully return to its former glory as many did not return after the Second World War. Even so, Paris is laced with Black history from this and previous eras. There are no official numbers- as France does not collect statistics on racial origin- however rough estimates suggest 5 million Black French currently occupy the country. That accounts for 8% of the entire population. Some newly planted and looking for the Parisian dream and others descended from a long lineage of rich history.

Great Video by PBS on Jazz in Paris

Sources available upon emailed request.