MIGHTY TRENDING
David Choi

Mysterious White House lockdown caused by... birds?

Two days before millions of Americans were expected to feast on turkey for Thanksgiving, a flock of birds is theorized to have been responsible for the White House lockdown in the early hours of the morning on Nov. 26, 2019.

The White House was placed on lockdown between 8:30 and 9:15 a.m. because of an unauthorized aircraft flying in restricted airspace, according to reporters on the scene.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, the US and Canada's first responder to an aerial threat, scrambled US Coast Guard helicopters to investigate the scene. No military fighter jets were dispatched, the US military spokesman Maj. Andrew Hennessy told The Washington Post.

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MIGHTY TACTICAL
Spc. Lynnwood Thomas

How US soldiers keep Black Hawk helicopters flying

Across the US military last year, there were 18 known crashes involving UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. That makes routine maintenance and inspection a vital part of ensuring the safety and security of our military's soldiers and equipment.

Soldiers from Delta Company, 1-171st Aviation Regiment, the maintenance company for Task Force Aviation on Camp Bondsteel, began a phase maintenance inspection for one of their UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopters on Nov. 18, 2019, in the aviation motor pool.

According to Army Techniques Publication 3-4.7, a phase maintenance inspection is a thorough and searching examination of the aircraft and associated equipment. The maintenance should be conducted every 320 flight hours in a UH-60's lifespan. More recently updated literature has changed the requirement to 480 flight hours.

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MIGHTY TACTICAL
Graham Rapier

Elon Musk accepts Ford's challenge for Cybertruck tug-of-war rematch

A top Ford executive implied on Nov. 25, 2019, that Tesla's video showing its new Cybertruck beating an F-150 in a tug-of-war might not have been completely fair.

"Hey @elonmusk send us a Cybertruck and we will do the apples to apples test for you," Sunny Madra, who leads Ford X, the automaker's mobility-ventures lab, said on Twitter. Not long after, Tesla's billionaire CEO accepted the challenge, saying "bring it on."

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MIGHTY TRENDING
David Choi

Gender revealed for the dog that helped take down ISIS leader

A White House official on Nov. 25, 2019, said that Conan, the military working dog that helped take down ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in northwest Syria in October 2019, was a female.

However, a few hours later, a White House official said the dog was in fact a male, adding to a debate that developed after President Donald Trump tweeted a photo of the dog after the raid.

Conan was awarded a medal and a plaque by Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at the White House on Nov. 25, 2019. Trump, Pence, and Conan walked out to the White House lawn, where the president described Conan as "the world's most famous dog" who had an "incredible story."

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MIGHTY MOVIES
Mary Meisenzahl

5 tech predictions 'Blade Runner' got wrong about 2019

Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" hit theaters in 1982, but it takes place in Los Angeles of November 2019.

The movie showed audience member in 1982 a dystopian future world, one where the earth is dark and polluted. Blade runners, like Harrison Ford's character, are tasked with tracking down human-like robots called replicants, and killing, or "retiring," them.

Some things the film predicted about 2019 have turned out to be mostly right. Although the earth isn't in as bad of shape as it is in the movie, climate change is an increasingly pressing issue. Robots play bigger roles in our lives than ever before, and voice assistant are fairly common. But, not every prediction in the 1982 film has come true, at least not yet.

Here are five things the movie got wrong about 2019.

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MIGHTY CULTURE
Morgan McFall-Johnsen

Former NASA scientist explains why there is no dark side of the moon

Contrary to what you may have heard, there is no mysterious dark side of the moon.

Yes, there is a side of the moon that we never see from Earth, but it's not dark all the time.

James O'Donoghue, a former NASA scientist who now works at the Japanese space agency (JAXA), made a new animation to explain how that works.

"Remember not to say 'dark side of the moon' when referring to the 'far side of the moon,'" O'Donoghue said on Twitter. "This graphic shows the dark side is always in motion."

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MIGHTY TACTICAL
Ben Gilbert

Eerily lifelike robot dog is working with the police

It seemed like only a matter of time before the sometimes silly, sometimes terrifying robots from Boston Dynamics made their way into police work.

That time has come, apparently: The Massachusetts State Police employed the dog-like Spot from Boston Dynamics from August until early November 2019, Boston public radio station WBUR reported on Nov. 25, 2019.

So, what was the Massachusetts State Police doing with a robot dog?

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MIGHTY CULTURE
Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs

Air Force B-52s teamed up with the Army for live-fire bombing exercise

US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress bomber aircrews participated in live-fire training operations with the US Army over the Pohakuloa Training Area, located on the big island of Hawaii Nov. 15 and 18, 2019.

During the two separate days, two B-52 bombers coordinated with members of the 25th Air Support Operations Squadron and US Army Pacific 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade Combat Team joint terminal attack controllers, also known as JTACs, to deliver a mixed payload of unguided, precision-guided and laser-guided weapons.

"This is a unique experience for the Army to integrate with Air Force bombers because controlling bombers is quite different than controlling helicopters or even fighter aircraft," said US Air Force Capt. Mike Brogan, Pacific Air Forces bomber liaison officer.

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MIGHTY TACTICAL
Will Martin

Boeing unveiled a new 737 Max, even though it is still grounded

Boeing quietly unveiled the latest iteration of its troubled 737 Max aircraft on Nov. 22, 2019, even as the plane remains grounded globally after two deadly crashes.

At a low-key ceremony at its headquarters in Renton, Washington, attended mainly by employees, Boeing released the 737 Max 10, the largest version of the Max yet.

The Max 10 seats a maximum of 230 passengers, around 30 more than the Max 8, the aircraft model involved in the two crashes that killed a total of 346 people.

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