Boeing 787 Dreamliner Visits both Lubbock and Midland Airports

This blogger works for a nationally known rental car company.  The economy in Midland-Odessa is so booming, they have to hire people from out of town to come down to do some work at the Midland International Airport.

So twice aweek, I and others who live in Lubbock, make the two plus hour drive down to Midland, work all day and have a two plus hour drive back to Lubbock before we can call it a day.

And while at the Midland airport, I love to watch the different airplanes that pay a visit to that airport.  Military aircraft, old warbirds from the CAF, and other interesting things. Its something to see a USAF C-5 Galaxy doing Touch and Goes.

So, it was with some surprise that I witness a Boeing 787 Dreamliner (in Boeing colors) land at the Midland Airport.  I got as many photos as I could manage with my cellphone camera.  Biggest disappointment I had was not being able to get any of the aircraft in flight.

The bigger surprise came when we got back home to Lubbock, Texas- just before a big cold front arrived (with ALOT of Blowing Dust!).  Looking towards the old terminal building which now houses the Silent Wings Museum was the VERY SAME Boeing 787 parked on the ramp nearby.

Last year, the 787 was in the news for battery problems although that is supposed to have been fixed by now.  Plus the 787 is the replacement for the older Boeing 767.  Even more amazing, I found a news story about the 787 in Lubbock, but was not able to find something similar in the Midland news.

The accompanying pictures are the ones that I took with my cellphone camera.  The first two are from Midland International Airport.  The last three are from Lubbock International Airport. The closeup of the 787 in the dust storm - I had to take from inside my little pickup truck.

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Ref.
1. Everything Lubbock.com "Lubbock Airport Hosts New, Big Bird" April 4, 2014.  (http://www.everythinglubbock.com/story/d/story/lubbock-airport-hosts-new-big-bird/22461/AkOxfVMAR0SZEvgvsQaw5Q).

Chem - Jet Contrails Photographed Together

The following pictures of Chem-trails and Contrails were spotted over Lubbock, Texas, on Jan 28, 2014.

My friend came running back into the auto repair shop that he runs and told me to come outside to look up in the sky.  To which he said something along the lines of, "See, there is your proof about Chem Trails."  Granted, it's not an exact quote, but close enough.

In this sequence of eight pictures that I took with my camera phone, a Huawei 3.2 mp; you can see a thin layer of dark color clouds and then slightly above that layer - a jet passing over it.  The jet was making quote-unquote, cleaner white (regular) Contrails that went out for a distance and then disappeared.  The so-called Chem trails are still around.  The aircraft was travelling from east to west and the time of morning was about 10:00am to 11:00am.

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Ref.
1.  Images taken by Don W. Shanks (Shanksow),January 28, 2014.  If someone wants to link or repost this, then credit must be given to me and my blog.

XCOR in Midland, Texas!

I came across this information quite by accident while working down at the Midland International Airport (MAF) for Enterprise Rent-A-Car.  A co-worker told me that "some space" company was coming to Midland.  But, since he wasn't "really into" that space stuff - he had no additional information for me.

Finally, once back home in Lubbock, Texas; I searched out that information and found the following...

There was a joint announcement by the Midland Development Corporation (MDC) and XCOR Aerospace for the establishment of XCOR's new Commercial Space Research and Development Center Headquarters to be completed in late 2013.  It will be housed in a newly renovated 60,000 square-foot hangar that will house their office space and test facility.

Quote:  “XCOR will be upgrading an existing hangar at Midland International Airport,” stated Marv Esterly, director of airports at MAF. “This new R&D facility has the potential to open the door to even more economic development at our airport and for our community.” end quote.

Andrew Nelson, chief operating officer of XCOR Aerospace said the following:  “We are pleased to be establishing our R&D Center in Midland, Texas, where the weather, surrounding landscape, the airport, and the local & state government environment are ideally situated for the future growth and the ultimate realization of a fully reusable orbital system.  

"With future suborbital operational sites on the East and West Coasts of the United States and around the world, plus a manufacturing and test facility geographically separate from our R&D facility, Midland will truly be at the heart of XCOR’s innovation engine” end quote.

Pam Welch, executive director of MDC stated in the press release the following: “The decision to establish XCOR’s Research and Development Center Headquarters in Midland came after intense competition from other locations." end quote. She also added this: once the technical and operational needs of XCOR were met, the final factors influencing the decision to locate R&D to Midland included the friendly business climate, a predictable regulatory environment, and the State of Texas tort reform initiatives. These factors allowed XCOR to see a long term future happening in Midland.” end quote.

With XCOR coming to Midland, the City of Midland is applying to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a Commercial Space Launch Site designation for MAF.  A process that is expected to take a year to 18 months to complete.  Once that is done, the XCOR operations will increase.

Marv Esterly stated the following, “When our application is approved, the MAF will be the first “Primary Commercial Service Airport” to be granted this designation, and the combination of the two makes Midland attractive to other commercial space companies.” end quote.

Texas Governor Rick Perry was very happy with XCOR's decision to set up shop in Midland.

Midland, Texas, is expecting XCOR Aerospace will create 100 jobs for the area.  That $12 million will be spent over the next five years in capital improvements and wages.  And with MAF being designated as a spaceport - that will attract other  commercial space companies who are developing horizontal takeoff and landing spacecraft.

The Lynx is a suborbital two-personal winged spacecraft designed to go up to 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface after taking off from a runway using a rocket engine.  Then, once the mission is completed, it will return to land at the same runway like a normal aircraft.

The spaceport in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, is a bit worried about being passed over by XCOR and a few other commercial space companies.

Quote from the Foxnews article follows:  Locally, officials blame the lack of new businesses on the legislature's refusal to pass laws that would exempt spacecraft suppliers from liability for passengers should the spacecraft crash or blow up. When New Mexico was developing Spaceport in partnership with Virgin Galactic, it passed a law to exempt the carrier through 2018, but not parts suppliers. Colorado, Florida, Texas and Virginia have adopted permanent liability exemption laws for both carriers and suppliers. 

The laws, called informed consent, are much like those that exempt ski areas from lawsuits by skiers, who waive their rights for claims when they buy a ski pass. Spaceport officials emphasize the carriers and suppliers would not be exempt from damage on the ground, or in cases of gross negligence. end quote.

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Ref.
1. XCOR Press Release. "XCOR AEROSPACE AND MIDLAND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION ANNOUNCE ESTABLISHMENT OF XCOR’S NEW COMMERCIAL SPACEFLIGHT R&D CENTER HEADQUARTERS" July 9, 2012. (http://www.xcor.com/press-releases/2012/12-07-09_XCOR_to_open_midland_resaerch_headquarters.html ).
2. news.yahoo.com. "XCOR Aerospace Announces Midland, Texas, R&D Headquarters" by Mark Whittington. July 9, 2012. (http://news.yahoo.com/xcor-aerospace-announces-midland-texas-r-d-headquarters-203100205.html).
3. Space.com. "" by Denise Chow. July 9, 2012. (http://www.space.com/16494-xcor-aerospace-texas-test-site.html).
4. Foxnews.com. "World's first spaceport nearly ready in New Mexico" by Patrick Manning. July 9, 2012. (http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/09/24/world-first-spaceport-nearly-ready-in-new-mexico/).