High-flying Holder: Report shows AG, FBI director used luxury jets for personal travel

foxnews

Shown here is the FBI Gulfstream V jet. (FBI)

By Barnini Chakraborty

Two high-tech luxury jets that the FBI convinced Congress were needed for the fight against global terrorism have instead been used to ferry around Attorney General Eric Holder and his predecessors, as well as FBI Director Robert Mueller, according to a government report released Thursday.

Those officials -- which included Holder and Mueller, as well as former Attorneys General Michael Mukasey and Alberto Gonzales -- racked up nearly 700 "nonmission" trips between 2007 and 2011, at a cost of $11.4 million, according to the Government Accountability Office 

Those officials are required to use government aircraft, and in some cases reimbursed the government for a portion of the expenses. But Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said given the cost they should either not use the expensive Gulfstream V jets or cut back on their miles. 

“These luxury jets were supposedly needed for counterterrorism, but it turns out that they were used almost two-thirds of the time for jet-setting executive travel,” he said. “Nobody disputes that the Attorney General and the FBI Director should have access to the secure communications, but, for instance, there’s no reason they can’t take a less expensive mode of transportation, or cut their personal travel." 

A call to the Department of Justice for comment was not immediately returned. 

The cost attributed to attorney general travel was $5.8 million; the FBI director's travel cost nearly as much. Roughly 70 percent of the AG flights were for business, and 28 percent were for personal reasons. 

The findings in the report come amid a highly publicized fight over spending cuts set to take effect Friday. 

The Obama administration has repeatedly painted a dismal picture of what could happen if across-the-board spending cuts are allowed to take place under the process known as sequestration. The $85 billion in cuts are scheduled to go into effect on March 1 unless Congress can reach a compromise, which is unlikely.

“I’m really interested in how the Attorney General can claim that federal law enforcement agents will be cut, knowing that over the last five years the Department has allowed for millions of dollars to be spent on personal travel. It’s ludicrous,” Grassley said.

According to the report, from 2007 through 2011, 61 percent of the flights were aboard one of the two Gulfstream V aircrafts, and 25 percent of the flights were aboard the FBI’s Citation (CE-750). The remaining 14 percent of flights were aboard another FBI aircraft.

FBI officials told investigators that the Gulfstream Vs and the Citation were used because they have “secure communications, larger passenger capacity and the long-distance range that is necessary for their required use travel.”

The report also points out that the government should be reimbursed for any personal travel at the full coach fare between cities. The reimbursement amount, or equivalent commercial fare, usually ends up being less than the cost of operating a government aircraft.

In November 2010, a personal trip taken by the attorney general to New York on the Gulfstream V had an estimated flight cost of $15,894, but the reimbursement at the equivalent commercial fare was $420.80.

The report said that for 88 of the trips, the attorney general reimbursed for a total amount of $47,000. The FBI director reimbursed roughly $4,500 for a total of 10 trips. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/28/government-report-shows-attorney-general-fbi-used-luxury-jets-for-personal/#ixzz2MDDFFbBl

China's new super cargo jet takes to the skies

Read on CNN business >>

Russian nuclear bombers intercepted near Guam

worldnews

By Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube, NBC News

U.S. military officials tell NBC News that two Russian bombers, capable of carrying nuclear cruise missiles, circled the U.S. island of Guam in the Western Pacific this week. U.S. Air Force F-15 jets scrambled from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam to intercept the bombers.

According to one military official, the Russian Bear bombers remained in international airspace, the encounter between the U.S. and Russian aircraft “stayed professional” and there was no incident. The official said it’s impossible to determine whether the Russian bombers carried any nuclear weapons.

U.S. long-range radars and satellites tracked the two bombers as they took off from northeastern Russia and headed south on a long-range flight that required “multiple refueling.” Japan also scrambled fighter jets as the bombers passed near but did not enter Japanese airspace.

U.S. military officials say “it’s highly unusual but not unprecedented” that Russian bombers would fly training missions in the vicinity of Guam. According to one official, “It wasn’t provocative but it certainly got our attention.” U.S. long-range B-52 bombers, also capable of carrying nuclear weapons, are based at Guam.

Since Vladimir Putin reclaimed the Russian presidency, U.S. officials said the number of such flights in the vicinity of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska have increased, but encounters with U.S. aircraft have remained “generally very professional.”

The two Russian Bear bombers flew near Guam at about the same time President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union message. Military officials refused to speculate about the timing.

The interception was first reported in the Washington Free Beacon.

Iran gives stealth drone secrets to Russia

WND/ By Reza Kahlili

Russia has helped decode an American stealth drone that was captured by Iran 14 months ago in exchange for its secrets, a source has told WND.

Last week, Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards air and space division, announced the decoding of the drone, while Islamic regime media aired aerial footage below from the drone showing some of its operational capabilities.

“Some (Guards officers) believed that America would send its commando unit to destroy (the drone) while others were of the opinion that the U.S. would not risk having its forces get caught by us, creating a bigger problem for themselves, and that they might just do an air raid to destroy it,” Hajizadeh said. “We gave it a 10 to 15 percent chance on the air raid, and because of that we ordered an alert at all our missile bases to be ready to launch against all U.S. bases (in the region) if they did take any action.”

When the drone was captured, President Obama said, “We’ve asked for it back. We’ll see how the Iranians respond.”

According to Hamidreza Zakeri, a former intelligence officer of the regime who has defected to Europe, Iran and Russia had long been working on trapping a U.S. drone.

A Russian military team from its air and space division had secretly entered Iran days after a strategic agreement between the two countries in 2007 and was stationed at Revolutionary Guard bases to help the Guards with its weapons program and access to modern U.S. technology.

Get the inside story in Reza Kahlili’s “A Time To Betray” and learn how the Islamic regime “bought the bomb” in “Atomic Iran.”

After studying the stealth drone’s travel routes and its surveillance of Iran’s skies, the Russians successfully hacked into the system of one of the RQ170s and forced it to land in Iran Dec. 4, 2011.

With this collaboration, all the information of the stealth drone is now in the hands of the Russians, and much has been given to Iran’s Defense Ministry. Russia in turn provided Iran with the information on its anti-air defense system S300. Russia, because of international sanctions against Iran, could not deliver the actual S300 system.

Other information passed to Iran included technology on the American fighters F35 and X36, which eventually resulted in the Defense Ministry publicly unveiling its new jet fighter, the Qaher 313, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasting of the advanced features of this super stealth fighter.

However, according to the source, the fighter shown by Iranian media was merely a shell model and not operational and that the regime has only tested the smaller size. The project originally was scheduled to be completed in 2016, but due to the sanctions and economic problems, the regime has had problems following through with the timetable.

Russian-Iranian collaboration goes back many years. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s and the formation of the new republics, oil reserves in the Caspian Sea became an issue among the neighboring countries, resulting in disputes with Iran, which claimed half of the reserves.

Russia worried about the impact of the increased importance of this new market and the possible decrease in value of its Siberian oil fields, where over 40 percent of its income is based on its export of gas and oil. Vladimir Putin made a special trip to Iran in 2007 over the issue.

Because the Caspian-Caucasus region could play a significant role in the world economy and world policy, Putin in his meeting with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was able to significantly expand Russia’s collaboration with the Islamic regime. He also got an agreement on the division of Caspian oil reserves and a bigger Russian role in transporting the oil out of that area.

The 10-year agreement called for the expansion of commerce between the two countries of up to $200 billion and military and secret projects totaling $350 billion.

It was the first time a Kremlin chief visited Iran since Josef Stalin’s trip in 1943.

Russian collaboration extends to the regime’s missile, nuclear and even bio-weapons programs. Sources in the Islamic regime previously have revealed exclusively to WND the existence of secret bio-weapons site in Iran, where, with the help of Russia, Iran has mastered production of eight microbial agents, arming its missiles with biological warheads, and a nuclear site at which, with Russian help, laser technology is enriching uranium.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/iran-gives-stealth-drone-secrets-to-russia/#UyJLOG7EKGeIEv1m.99

Iran's New Qaher 313 Stealth Fighter Would Be Perfect For Attacking The US Navy

businessinsider 
Robert Johnson and David Cenciotti, The Aviationist 

Iran yesterday revealed its most recent indigenous fighter jet — the “Qaher 313″. The prototype Q-313 was presented to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as a ceremonial gift during the country's Ten-Day Dawn celebration. The festivities commemorate the 1979 revolution when the U.S. embassy in Tehran taken by force. 

In the previous days, the Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi had said, “The aircraft will be different from the other fighter jets Iran has already made.”

Indeed, based on the first photographs released by the FARS News Agency, the new stealthy jet has a peculiar design. It features hard edges and those distinctive edges and angle of the U.S. F-22 and the twin tail shape much similar to that of the F-35 Lightning II.

The Q-313 has large, seemingly fixed canards, and little wings whose external section is canted downward, while the canopy material is at least odd (based on its transparency, it looks like Plexiglas or something like that).

The cockpit seems basic (a bit too much for a modern plane – note the lack of wiring behind the front panel).

The air intakes are extremely small whereas the engine section lacks any kind of nozzle — above all — the aircraft is way too small. Click here for more pictures at the Aviationist >

Putting aside the Qaher's implausible aerodynamics and Hollywood sheen, last week's announcement of a coming new domestic fighter was not insignificant given the Iranian air force has no more than a few dozen strike aircraft.

Most of those it inherited from the prior regime during the 1979 revolution. That regime change, involving a huge U.S. hostage situation, made it far more difficult to maintain the country's then-new fleet of American F-14s.

Tehran has a domestically built fighter already. At least a handful have been sighted during air shows and displays, but this new model is a drastic change in design and ability.

Of course, Iran is famous for building models and systems it never intends to fly, but if this is an actual prototype it may be designed to fill a uniquely Iranian requirement.

Wikimedia Commons

Air dominance against the nearly 200 aircraft of the U.S. Fifth Fleet out of Bahrain isn't a realistic goal for Tehran. What it would look to do in any open engagement with the U.S. would be to overwhelm American surface ships with small, high-speed boats, and missiles of its own. 

Those boats would immediately be set upon by a fleet of U.S. helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Most naval experts are quick to point out that a fight between a helo' and a boat generally isn't much of a fight at all. Un-distracted helicopters have immense advantages, but once they start taking fire or need to react to other airborne attacks, that changes.

Perhaps Iran isn't imagining a fleet of stealthy fighter/bombers, based on some design similar to this new display, but a few dozen single seat craft with an array of missiles, a couple guns, and the ability to fly low and slow over the Gulf.

A string of planes to compliment the one military project they've been working hardest over the last decade, but rarely ever mention. That plane would be a handy addition to cover the Bradstone based speed boat, they believe can take on the Fifth Fleet and bring down the U.S. Navy.

While Iran does have a few HESA Shahed light attack/recon helicopters, they're

Lorne Campbell Design Bradstone Challenger

 modestly armed and have a limited range of a couple hundred miles.

Iran's other domestically produced jet, the Saeqeh fighter is designed to engage other fighters in mid-air combat also not a practical choice against the might of the U.S. Fleet.

A Qaher variation against the Bradstone would fill a niche, but is obviously pure speculation. But speculating has some value when examining Iran's military projects because like most countries, the weapons Tehran speaks of the least seem to mean the most. 

This couldn't be more true than in the case of the ill-gotten Bradstone and Iran's blossoming missile inventory that's about as extensive and diverse as it is deadly and proven.

We'll be sure to follow with any additional Qaher updates.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/irans-new-indigenous-fighter-qaher-313-david-cenciotti-2013-2#ixzz2JxJ8N2xM

Iran Unveils 'Radar-Evading' Jet

foxnews

TEHRAN, Iran –  Iran unveiled on Saturday its newest combat jet, a domestically manufactured fighter-bomber that military officials claim can evade radar.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a ceremony broadcast on state TV that building the Qaher-313, or Dominant-313, shows Iran's will to "conquer scientific peaks."
The Qaher is one of several aircraft designs rolled out by the Iranian military since 2007. Tehran has repeatedly claimed to have developed advanced military technologies in recent years but its claims cannot be independently verified because the country does not release technical details of its arsenals.
The Islamic republic launched a self-sufficiency military program in the 1980s to compensate for a Western weapons embargo that banned export of military technology and equipment to Iran. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, torpedoes, drones and fighter planes.
"Qaher-313 is a fully indigenous aircraft designed and built by our aerospace experts. This is a radar-evading plane that can fly at low altitude, carry weapons, engage enemy aircrafts and land at short airstrips," Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said.
Some reports however suggest Iran's program relies on equipment supplied by major international defense contractors -- incorporating parts made abroad or reverse-engineered technologies into its domestic designs.
Still photos of the Qaher released by the official IRNA news agency and pictures on state TV show a single-seat jet. They described it as a fighter-bomber that can combat both other aircraft and ground targets.
Iran's English-language state Press TV said Qaher was similar to the American-made F/A-18, an advanced fighter capable of dogfighting as well as penetrating enemy air defenses to strike ground targets.
Physically, Press TV said, the aircraft resembles the F-5E/F Tiger II, a much older American design that Iran has had in its arsenal since it was supplied to the U.S.-allied regime of the Shah before Iran's 1979 revolution.
"Development depends on our will. If we don't have a will, no one can take us there," Ahmadinejad told the inauguration ceremony in Tehran. "Once we imported cars and assembled them here. Now, we are at a point where we can design, build and get planes in the air."
Iran unveiled what it said was its first domestically manufactured fighter jet, called Azarakhsh or Lightning, in 2007. In the same year, it claimed that Azarakhsh had reached industrial production stage.
Saeqeh, or Thunder, was a follow-up aircraft derived from Azarakhsh. Iran unveiled its first squadron of Saeqeh fighter bombers in an air show in September 2010.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/02/ahmadinejad-unveils-iran-newest-fighter-jet-dominant-described-as-evading/#ixzz2JleeyveB

World's first FPV in Cuba

Yuvski K

Canadian cop left bomb on plane

sunnews

theprovince.com

VANCOUVER - A BC transit cop left an explosive device on a commercial plane in 2011 and didn't realize it was missing for two full days, putting public safety at risk, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said Monday.

The CTF renewed its call for BC's transit police to be disbanded after documents it obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request showed an officer, responsible for the explosive, didn't realize it was missing for two days in January 2011 following a dog training exercise on the plane. By the time he alerted his superiors, the Air Canada plane had already flown back to Toronto. The documents show Air Canada inspected the plane 14 times in Toronto to ensure the explosives were off the plane.

"Why on earth were transit police - responsible for SkyTrain lines - planting explosives on a commercial airplane as a dog training exercise?" asked Jordan Bateman, BC director for the CTF. "How inept do you have to be to not account for every explosive you put on a plane? This incident is a chilling reminder of what happens when police agencies push past their level of expertise and jurisdiction."

The CTF said transit police interviewed more than two dozen Vancouver airport staff members to determine what happened to the sample, which was apparently never found.

According to the CTF, the transit police closed the file, saying it was their "belief" the explosive "was placed in the garbage and burned locally."

CTF said just one person interviewed said he saw the device after the exercise, leaving it on an airplane seat for other cleaners to dispose of, but "there are no concrete assurances," according to the transit police's concluding report.

The transit police never went public with the incident, but CTF said the records show they prepared a news release with the co-operation of Transport Canada and YVR Airport.

Transit police have yet to comment on the CTF's accusations.

Carriers dropping Tampa-Cuba charter flights

TAMPA Tampa International Airport is losing one of its three Cuba charter carriers and two of its five weekly flights to the island nation next month.

The changes, which come less than a year and a half after direct flights began from Tampa to Cuba, could eventually mean higher air fares for those flights.

XAEL Charters Inc. will discontinue its Tampa-Havana flight Feb. 14 and plans to relocate to Cuba from Fort Lauderdale sometime this year. In addition, ABC Charters will end its flights from Tampa to Holguin, Cuba, on Feb. 28.

Island Travel & Tours Ltd., the only one of the charter carriers based in Tampa, will maintain its Wednesday and Sunday flights between Tampa and Havana. Miami-based ABC Charters will maintain its Saturday flight between Tampa and Havana.

“Given that this is first time in more than 50 years for air service between Cuba and Tampa, it is natural to see some adjustments as the market evolves,” Tampa International spokeswoman Janet Zink said.

Fewer flights could mean those remaining will be more full, helping the charter operators improve their ratio of costs to revenue.

Keep reading >>

Student pilot lands plane missing a wheel in Australia

Cuba cancelará permisos de aterrizaje de vuelos Charters

Debido al fracaso de las operaciones por nuevos aeropuertos, fuera de los tradicionales Miami, New York y ahora Tampa, un grupo de compañías con licencias federales para vuelos a Cuba y derechos de aterrizaje en la isla perderían su exclusiva de transportación de nuevos pasajeros.

Continuar leyendo en MiamiDiario >>

Man Wears 70 Clothing Items to Avoid Baggage Fee

MidweekPolitics

Canada’s unfriendly skies: Why our airlines need competition

The Globe and Mail/ GRANT BISHOP

At this time of the year, almost everyone has a travel story. Mine involved nearly missing a connecting flight to Victoria after being forced to check carry-on luggage that was standard size and well-under the weight limit. Seeking help from an airline employee, I was curtly refused and accused of having an overweight bag.

Canada’s airlines, it seems, are the inevitable punching bag for most tales of holiday woe.

Why do airlines get away with poor customer service? There are two problems. Both are issues of competition.

The first problem is the lack of foreign entry into domestic carriage. The current rules on foreign ownership deprive Canadians of choice. For example, Australia has allowed a right of establishment for foreign carriers, resulting in lower fares and expanded routes. My friends actually enjoy their air travel experiences in Europe where airlines compete for their business. In Canada, we remain beholden to Canadian-owned carriers if we want to fly between two Canadian cities. The result is an oligopoly that gouges travellers and takes their business for granted.

Ambarish Chandra of the University of Toronto found that, relative to Americans, we often pay between 50 and 100 per cent more for comparable travel between Canadian cities. Statistics Canada research shows that productivity growth in Canada’s airline sector is abysmal, markedly outpaced by U.S. airlines. Various expert reviews of the airline industry – including by the Competition Bureau and the 2002 independent observer on airline restructuring – have recommended allowing a right of establishment for foreign carriers on domestic routes to put pressure on our laggard airlines to improve.

The airlines argue that foreign carriers would only operate on lucrative routes. However, Canadian carriers are under no obligation to fly to money-losing destinations and there is scant proof that the airlines presently cross-subsidize to operate otherwise unprofitable routes. Look at prices to fly to Sydney, Nova Scotia or Medicine Hat, Alberta. It certainly seems like airlines are recovering their costs on these routes.

The 2008 Competition Policy Review Panel recognized that a moribund air travel sector is a drain on the national economy. People depend on air travel to conduct business face-to-face. The panel recommended significant liberalization of air travel. We are still waiting.

The second problem is the bargaining power of unions in this oligopoly context.

The freedom of association guaranteed in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms means that employees have a right to bargain collectively . Unions play a key role in protecting workers against exploitation.

However, Canadian labour law has not paid much attention to the ability of unions in protected sectors to squeeze consumers. In most industries, if unions demand too much from employers, some other competitor in that industry will trounce them. Market competition disciplines what unions can demand.

Not so for Canada’s airlines. These unions can demand much more. Not fearing a more efficient competitor who would undercut its prices, the airline can simply charge higher fares. If unions don’t get what they want, they can grind travel to a halt and hold customers ransom.

At any workplace that I have worked, an employee who treated a client as dismissively as I was would have been given notice the next day. But, under coverage of collective agreements, the process to get rid of such an employee can be lengthy and onerous. This is unfortunate. Officious employees give the rest of their bargaining unit a bad name, feeding our stereotypes about airline staff. I will have less sympathy when a striking airline union is ordered back to work.

We need more competition to discipline our airlines and their unions. Canadians should reflect on their experiences on our airlines whenever we hear our politicians argue that we need to protect our “national champions”. The shakedown that Canadian travellers face today is too high a price for maple leaves on tailfins.

UK police unable to identify man who fell from sky to his death

The Canadian Press

E-FIT image (Electronic Facial Identification Technique)

LONDON - Police believe he was from Africa, probably from Angola, but they don't know his identity.

The mystery began in September when residents of a suburban street in the Mortlake neighbourhood of West London woke up on a quiet Sunday morning to find the crumpled body of a black man on the sidewalk of Portman Avenue, near a convenience store, an upscale lingerie shop and a storefront offering Chinese medical cures.

Detectives believed at first the man was a murder victim and cordoned off the area. Within a day, however, police concluded the man — probably already dead — had fallen to the ground when a jet passing overhead lowered its landing gear as it neared the runway at nearby Heathrow Airport.

The apparent stowaway had no identification papers — just some currency from Angola, leading police to surmise that he was from that African nation, especially as inquiries showed that a plane from Angola was beginning its descent into Heathrow at about that time.

The macabre explanation made perfect sense to residents, who are familiar not only with the roar of the jets descending, but are also able to see the planes lower their landing gears as they pass overhead, said Catherine Lambert, who lives a few doors down from the spot where the man landed.

"You could see him, his body was contorted," she said. "It was a beautiful blue day, really sunny, but we had to keep the children inside. I didn't want the children to see, and to have to explain to them and put fear into them every time a plane goes over."

A post mortem conducted two days after the body landed listed the cause of death as "multiple injuries."

In the days afterward, some neighbours put flowers on the spot where the stowaway was found, and a small group of Angolans who live in the London area came to place more flowers and to pray. Lambert, 41, said there is lingering sadness, since the man has not been identified and there has been no way to tell his family he is gone.

"I felt, what was he running away from? What made him think he could he could? And how will his family ever know? He's a lost soul now; his father and mother are probably waiting for him to make contact," she said.

A London police spokesman, who wasn't authorized to speak on the record because of force policy, said Sunday that police are appealing to the public for help identifying the man based on a composite image of his face and a photo of a tattoo on his left arm. The tattoo showed the letters "Z'' and "G'' inked on his upper arm, with a horizontal line through the "Z''.

Police also said attempts to identify the man with the help of Angolan authorities had been unsuccessful. They stressed there is only "circumstantial" evidence linking the stowaway to that country.

In a statement, police said the man is believed to be an African of slight build between the ages of 20 and 30. He was wearing jeans, white sneakers and a grey sweatshirt when he was found on Sept. 9, police said.

Although firm figures are not available, in recent years there has been a rise in the number of stowaways trying to get to Western Europe by hiding in the undercarriages of passenger planes.

Aviation safety specialist Chris Yates of Yates Consulting said Sunday that poor airport perimeter security at a number of airports in Africa — including the main Angola airport at Luanda — and in other parts of the world has made it easier for people to stow away on planes, but that most attempts fail.

"They so often end in fatality because more often than not stowaways climb into the wheel base or cargo hold, and those areas are not necessarily pressurized," he said. "When you start moving beyond 10,000 feet, oxygen starvation becomes a reality. As you climb up to altitude, the issue becomes cold as well, the temperature drops to minus 40 or minus 50 degrees centigrade, so survival rates drop."

He said the man who crashed to the pavement in Mortlake had probably lost consciousness and died within the first hour of his flight.

Police said the body is being held for possible repatriation in case the man's identity is established.

Mortlake residents and business people speak of a similar death in recent years, but disagree about the timing and the details.

"People say the same thing happened a few years ago a few blocks away" said Jay Sivapalan, 29, who works at the Variety Box convenience store half a block from where the body landed. "We are near Heathrow and when they lower the landing gear, the body falls out."

Others believe the incident may have happened 10 years ago. Police said they had no information about other stowaway deaths.

Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera dies in plane crash

rest in paradise, jenni

Photo: Miguel Sierra / EPA

Federal authorities inspect the site of the plane crash in El Tejote locality, Nuevo Leon State, Mexico, where Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera along with six other people died as they were travelling from Monterrey, in northern Mexico, to Mexico City.

By NBC News and news services

Updated 9:05 p.m. ET: Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera died in a plane crash Saturday night, her father and brother confirmed on Telemundo.

The wreckage of the plane was found Sunday in northern Mexico with no apparent survivors, authorities said.

The wreckage was found in the Ejido La Colorada, Municipality of  Nuevo Leon. Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, secretary of communications and transport, said that the plane is not recognizable, but the evidence suggests it was the aircraft carrying the singer, Telemundo reported.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Keep reading >>

Anomalies of the Air Defense on 9/11-Paul Schreyer

corbettreport

The systematic failure of every level of the US air defense on the morning of September 11th provides one of the clearest "smoking guns" in the full complicity of key elements of the US government and defense department in those attacks. In his new peer-reviewed article published at the Journal of 9/11 Studies, author and researcher Paul Schreyer outlines many of these key anomalies and the way they have been carefully covered up by the so-called 9/11 investigations. Find out more in this week's GRTV Feature Interview.

New pictures show second Chinese stealth fighter being test flown

Security Clearance

A jet fighter with stealth characteristics was test flown this week in China. (Photo from cjdby.net)

A jet fighter with stealth characteristics was test flown this week in China. (Photo from cjdby.net)

WASHINGTON (CNN) - CNN has obtained detailed photographs of a new stealth fighter being tested in China.

It is the second such stealth fighter China has tested in as many years and appears destined to become the communist nation's future aircraft carrier-based fighter jet, according to weapons analysts.

The plane, dubbed by outsiders as the J-31, was test flown Tuesday in Shenyang. According to the analysts, the two photographs obtained by CNN appear to have been leaked by officials in China.

J-31 Chinese fighter jet. (Photo cjdby.net)

"It has to be an official photographer because nobody else can get that close to the airplane," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. "These are all publicity photos from the factory, and I could not imagine that the factory would publicize these things without somebody higher up in the food chain authorizing it."

Richard Fisher, a senior fellow in Asian military affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center (IASC), agrees these are not pictures sent out surreptitiously by some Chinese aviation aficionado. "The Internet censors are controlling this process, have no doubt that."

But Fisher said the reason for the release may not be as threatening as some might imagine.

"It's being done in a way to help promote pro-military nationalism in China. There's just a huge, large audience in China for this kind of information. It's kind of like NASCAR."

No matter who let the pictures go public, they won't answer all the questions surrounding China's fighter program. "They don't want to reveal anything that's truly useful to a foreign military or intelligence service," Fisher said.

In January 2011, China tested the J-20, a fighter jet with stealth characteristics, much like the American F-22.

J-20 Chinese fighter jet. (Photo from IHS/Janes)

Fisher said the J-31 appears be a lighter fighter jet similar to the American F-35.

"The J-20 is the heavy stealth fighter, (The J-31) is going to be the medium-weight stealth fighter. It's very much in the same vein as the F-22 versus the F-35, with the Raptor, the F-22 being the heavy fifth-generation fighter for the U.S. Air Force versus the medium-weight F-35."

Pike said that could be the case, but it may be that China is test flying both prototypes and will choose just one to put into production.

While these are both fifth-generation fighter jets, that doesn't put them on par with America's two newest fighters.

For example, Pike said China's jet engines just don't come close to American engines. "This is a sucking chest wound of Chinese military aviation."

Pike said the primary Chinese military jet engine is based on an American design. "We started development of this engine back in the '60s. Then they commercialized it in the 1970s. Then the Chinese got a hold of it 20 years ago and it's still no good. It's a half century-old design that they've been working on for two decades, and it's still no good."

Fisher has a higher opinion of that engine. "It's not entirely true that China is currently facing massive problems. They've actually had some measure of success."

And Fisher said China appears to be developing a brand new engine for the J-31. "The engines that will likely power the J-31 we do know a bit more about. Those engines were actually revealed at the Zhuhai show in 2008," Fisher said referring to an annual China air show. He believes the new J-31 engine is undergoing preliminary testing.

Another problem is the stealth characteristics of the plane.

The J-31 is designed to have a stealthy shape. "From the side profile, it really looks like a 75% (scale) F-22 from the bottom, and the top profile it very much looks like an F-35."

The J-31 may have the stealth coatings that help it absorb radar signals instead of letting them bounce off and give away its position.  More >>

3-D-printed airplane takes to the skies

FutureTech

University of Virginia

The 3-D-printed unmanned aerial vehicle, "dressed" in the colors of University of Virginia.

3-D printers are already being used to create machine parts and small toys, but engineers have now used the technology to build an entire vehicle: a plastic, unmanned airplane that actually flies.

The plane, created by engineering students at the University of Virginia (U.Va.), has a 6.5-foot wingspan, and was made from assembled printed parts.

University of Virginia engineer David Sheffler and students Steven Easter and Jonathan Turman pose with their 3-D printed plane.

The team tested their creation during four flights in August and early September at Milton Airfield near Keswick, Va. The aircraft, which is only the third 3-D-printed plane known to have been built and flown, achieved a cruising speed of 45 mph.

3-D printing is already proving to be a valuable tool in teaching students, said David Sheffler, an engineer at U.Va. who worked with students Steven Easter and Jonathan Turman to create the aircraft.

“To make a plastic turbofan engine to scale five years ago would have taken two years, at a cost of about $250,000,” Sheffler said in a statement. “But with 3-D printing we designed and built it in four months for about $2,000. This opens up an arena of teaching that was not available before. It allows us to train engineers for the real challenges they will face in industry.”

— via University of Virginia

Skydiver completes record free fall from edge of space

 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read >>

Turkish PM: Syria plane was carrying Russian-made munitions

Burhan Ozbilici / AP

People speak from the top of the steps of a Syrian passenger plane that was forced by Turkish jets to land in Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday. Turkish jets on Wednesday forced the Syrian Air Airbus A320 passenger plane to land on suspicion that it was carrying weapons, amid heightened tensions between Turkey and Syria that have sparked fears of a wider regional conflict.
-------------------------

By NBC News wire services

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that a Syrian passenger plane forced to land in Ankara was carrying Russian-made munitions destined for Syria's defense ministry.

Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency earlier quoted an official at the Russian Embassy in Ankara as saying that the cargo "was not of Russian origin." Rosoboronexport, which handles most of Russia's military export contracts, said none of its cargo was on the plane.

Turkish authorities ordered the Syrian Air passenger plane that was traveling from Moscow to Damascus to land late on Wednesday after receiving an intelligence tip-off and seized some of its cargo.

More >>