Raining in Paris
A steady rain welcomed visitors to the Paris Air Show at La Bourget Airport in France this morning. The wet, gloomy weather matched the somber tone of many at the show.
A steady rain welcomed visitors to the Paris Air Show at La Bourget Airport in France this morning. The wet, gloomy weather matched the somber tone of many at the show.
The recent crash of an Air France jet over the Atlantic combined with the struggling commercial avionics/aircraft market has made delegates to the 100th Paris Air Show a bit subdued.
It's not all doom and gloom though. Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) continue to create quite a bit of buzz. One of Boeing's first announcements at the show this year was the formation of their Unmanned Airborne Systems division.
But the best thing of all about any air show is that you get watch cool planes take off -- if you're into that sort of thing.
This my first trip to the Paris event and being a journalist gives you the best seat in the house. As I write this I hear jets taking off right outside my window in the press tent.
There is also a balcony above me that once the rain stops provides the most excellent perch to see the live aerodynamics. Everything from new Air France cargo planes to military helicopters from Bell are on display.
My first air show more than 20 years ago in Reading, Pa., was great fun, but there weren't European Space Agency Rockets parked outside the terminal.
Talk to you tomorrow.
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
