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Seeds of hope as Pittsburgh reopens concourse areas

Matt Falcus

Pittsburgh International Airport was once the largest hub of US Airways, handling almost 20 million passengers per year in 2000. Since those heady days, the airport has seen major decline and a fight to retain jobs and profits. But seeds of improvement are starting to show, with the airport announcing the reopening of two sections of its concourses. Nevertheless, passenger figures still pose challenges for the airport management.

Wide Open: A documentary film about how PCA opened a member’s eyes…

Nathan Shriver

There are so many beautiful short films out there from the Porsche racing professional's point of view — pieces from Jeff Zwart and the Drive Channel come to mind — but I couldn't find anything out there that told the story of the aspiring weekend track warrior. We decided to create a documentary film to really shine a light on what PCA "driver's education," or DE, is all about, from the perspective of the amateur, gentleman racer.

Airport retail: Options, styles expanding rapidly

Bambi Majumdar

The latest airport retail trends show two distinct expansion characteristics — lateral and vertical. The former is natural, but it is the advent and addition of the latter that gives more depth to the trend and has made a complete 180-degree change in the airport retail scene.

Flugtag: Where aeronautics, insanity and inspiration meet

Ryan Clark

The fact that the first place winner of the Washington, D.C., Red Bull Flugtag involved a licensed pilot and a fan of aeronautic engineering may not be a coincidence. Sometimes the best man to fly a plane is a pilot; a very crazy pilot. On Sept. 21, 2013, team Harvest Bureau, coming out of New Holland, Pa., pulled off the win by going the distance against 28 other teams in the first ever national Flugtag. On one day, there were five different Flugtags in five different cities: Chicago, Dallas, Long Beach Calif., Miami and Washington, D.C.

The future of the air medical services workforce

Darla Ferrara

Air medical services are an integrated element in the emergency medical system. The practice of using aviation to transport trauma patients began with the military, but today helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft can be the best — or sometimes the only — transportation available to patients in rural areas.

It takes 2 Porsches to tango

Pablo Deferrari

There was a point in my life when I wanted to chuck it all away and live a simple existence. I had lived on a 32 foot sailboat with the intent to circumnavigate the globe. I knew enough to hop freight trains to crisscross the country and see America through the back door. I though it Romantic but my wife didn't dig the risk of being an amputee travelling this way.

918 Spyder: The future of Porsche

David Hurth

At the 2013 Frankfurt International Motor Show, the Porsche 918 Spyder stole the show. You may be thinking, didn’t that car debut three years ago? Yes, it did, but this year’s show unveiled the final production version to the public.

Don’t demonize the machine

Mark Huber

In late August, another Eurocopter Super Puma crashed into the North Sea near the United Kingdom. Four of those aboard died. Over the last several years, a handful of ditchings/crashes of this model have been tied to flaws in the design of its main rotor gearbox lubrication system and a batch of replacement main rotor shafts.

Why your helicopter seat feels like a brick

Mark Huber

NASA is planning to drop-test a surplus Marine Corps CH-46 helicopter on Aug. 28 with the goal of gleaning new data on rotorcraft crashworthiness and seat belt design. The hulk will be rigged with 40 cameras, numerous sensors and 13 crash dummies. The test is part of NASA's Rotary Wing Project.

Serving the public: Medevac services through Maryland State Police

Mark Huber

For the better part of a decade, my daily commute included a stretch on the 64-mile ring of paved terror around Washington, D.C., called the Capital Beltway. For those who are unfamiliar, this is a demolition derby track masquerading as a freeway. It yields a prodigious and nearly daily dose of automotive carnage. Not surprisingly, at least once a year I would be stuck in traffic at a dead stop behind a Maryland State Police (MSP) helicopter summoned to collect an unfortunate victim of this curious car culture.

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