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Airplanes

Visualization of flight paths by NATS

Cool Finds

See Every Plane Criss-Crossing Europe in This Weirdly Beautiful Video of Flight Paths

An air traffic control company created this incredible video showing flight patterns around Europe

Where do you want to go? The cargo-hauling Airlander can stay aloft for three weeks.

Tech Watch

An Airship The Size of a Football Field Could Revolutionize Travel

A new fuel-efficient airship, capable of carrying up to 50 tons, can stay aloft for weeks and land just about anywhere

Airplane Landing

Cool Finds

What’s the Most Perfect Moment to Buy That Plane Ticket?

You know that the longer you wait to book a flight, the higher ticket prices climb. But when exactly should you book a flight?

Cancelled Flights

New Research

This Winter’s Record Number of Plane Cancellations Can’t Entirely Be Blamed on Weather

This has been the worst winter for flight cancellations on record

Ballistic Recovery Systems, based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, has outfitted small aircraft with parachutes designed to support as much as 4,000 pounds.

Tech Watch

Will Commercial Airplanes Have Parachutes Someday?

Whole-aircraft parachutes are already being used in small planes to save lives, but one company believes they are also feasible for commercial airlines

A university in China sponsored a beauty contest for would-be flight attendants.

Cool Finds

China And Qatar Want Flight Attendants To Be Young, Single, Skinny And Female

Just like American airlines did in the 1960s

How Does Mistletoe Grow and Other Questions From Our Readers

Airplanes flying upside down, the earliest music and more answers from our experts

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An Airplane Graveyard Becomes a Kids’ Playground

These grounded planes in the Congo have captured the imagination of these children

A screenshot from the game Airport Scanner.

It’s Relatively Easy to Spot Water Bottles in Airport Scanners; Guns, Not So Much

Researchers plan to examine whether the same tendencies to overlook uncommon items exist among trained TSA professionals, just as it does gamers

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This New Plane Seat Morphs to Make You and Your Seatmate More Comfortable

Shape-shifting seats with adjustable widths promise more choice for passengers, but aren’t they really a sneaky way to discriminate?

Look up Tuesday morning and you might see this.

Where to Watch Discovery’s Flyover

The best spots to see space shuttle Discovery’s descent to Dulles Airport

Sullenberger with his daughters in 2001 -- pre-fame

No Way to Treat a Hero

Would Chesley Sullenberger really want to be FAA Administrator?

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-400 D

Airplanes, Suspended in Time, at the Air and Space Museum

In his photographs, now on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Jeffrey Milstein bares the bellies of airplanes

Where is air travel headed?

Will Flying Get Its Mojo Back?

Changes are on the way that should ease the grim gauntlet of long lines, security checks and cramped seats

Mooney M20C (not the one we flew)

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night…

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The “Spirit of Tuskegee” Stearman Lands in DC

After a month-long trip from California to Washington, D.C., a biplane once used to train Tuskegee Airmen arrives at the Smithsonian

En route to Rock Springs, Wyoming, Matt Quy flew by Pinnacle Rock

On the Flight Path of the Tuskegee Stearman Winging its Way to the Smithsonian

The author riding in the Stearman with pilot Matt Quy.

Up in the Sky! Tuskegee Airmen Plane Barnstorms Into the Smithsonian Collections

The Stearman biplane will be put on display when the museum opens on the Mall in 2015 and will remain a vivid, perpetual tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen

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The Nobel Prize With the Most Frequent Flyer Miles

Aviator Wiley Post under the wing of the Winnie Mae (1933).

Wiley Post Gets His Props

Why can’t the first pilot to circumnavigate the globe get any respect?

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