Taj reopen three weeks after terror siege

An illuminated Taj Mahal Palace during reopening ceremony in Mumbai just three weeks after deadly terror attack.

The Taj Hotel and the Trident hotel, the targets of November 26 terror attacks, reopened on Sunday after three weeks of refurbishment work.
First guests checked in at around 7 pm at the Taj Mahal hotel and its celebrated restaurants and diners thronging the five joints which have been restored to their old glory.

Each of the restaurants received full bookings for the evening, hotel officials said.

The hotel's tower wing reopened 24 days after the terrorists attack on Mumbai and the Taj being the last to be rescued from the three terrorists holed up inside for over two-and-a-half-days.

Making a brief statement to reporters outside the hotel before the reopening, Ratan Tata, chairman of the Indian Hotel Company which owns the Taj hotel chain said, "To us it was a challenge to have the hotel reopened in some form within one month from the attack. We dedicate the restored hotel to those who lost their lives in the event that took place."

Nevado del Huila volcano

Nevado del Huila volcano in activity in Cauca Province. The volcano in southwest Colombia erupted overnight, triggering an avalanche of earth and debris that damaged houses, bridges and crops. Paris hilton was here holydaying atthat time.

Warship to Somalia

Indian warship heading to fight Somalian Pirates.

Hot Air Balloons Festival

Hot air balloons fly over the Palote dam during the 'Hot Air Balloons Festival' in Mexico.

Ballet Dance at Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur

A ballet performance at Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur.

Earth viewed from Chandrayaan-1

The Earth as viewed by the terrain-mapping camera on board Chandrayaan-1, from a distance of 70,000km.

Firefighting Plane in Little Tujunga Canyon

Flame retardant is dropped from a firefighting plane in Little Tujunga Canyon north of Los Angeles.

Indian Air Force (IAF) celebrating 76th anniversary

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is celebrating its 76th anniversary today.


An air display by 52 aircraft will form part of the Air Force Day Parade-cum- investiture ceremony at Air Force Station, Hindon.

Aircraft will fly at heights from 60 metres to 300 metres above ground level till October 8.

The areas over which aircraft will be flying at low levels are Wazirpur bridge- Karwalnagar-Afjalpur-Hindon, Shamli-Jiwana-Chandinagar-Hindon, Hapur-Philkua-Ghaziabad-Hindon.

Air display will start with Para Motor, and NCC operated aero models performing prior to the sky diving display during which sky divers of the Akash Ganga team will jump from an AN-32 aircraft.

The Air Force Day Parade will commence with Ensign formation of three MI-17 helicopters in Vic formation trooping the Air Force Ensign at a height of 60 metres and speed of 80 Kmph, closely followed by Vic formations of three each Bison (Mig-21), Vijay (Mig-23), Vajra (Mirage 2000) and Baaz (Mig-29) aircraft.

This will be followed by three Sukhoi in Vic formation. The formation pulls up steeply in front of the dais carrying out an upward and outward maneuvers.

This will be followed by a display by the well-known ''SARANG'' helicopter display team of the IAF comprising four ALH helicopters.

The grand finale will be a scintillating formation aerobatics ballet by the renowned Surya Kiran Aerobatics team (SKAT).

They will take off in front of the audience followed by a display of synchronized low level maneuvering in close formation.

First man to fly across the English Channel

Swiss-professional pilot Yves Rossy has successfully completed an amazing challenge, becoming the first man to fly across the English Channel from Calais, France to Dover, UK, using a home-made, single, jet-powered wing.

Swiss professional pilot Yves Rossy flies with jet-fuel powered wings strapped to his back

Indian Prime Minister in Marseille airport

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife arrive at the Marseille airport

When is the next air force show

When is the next air force show?

Will keep you posted.

Sukhois at Red Flag Exercise

Sukhoi-30MKI fighters are taking part in war games on US territory

Diving in Srinagar

A boy takes a dip into the Dal Lake in Srinagar.

India's Air Force helicopters Farnborough

India's Air Force helicopters during a flight display at an aerospace show, in Farnborough, England.

Aquabot! A revolutionary way to clean pools.

What is Aquabot?

Aquabot Turbo utilizes state-of-the-art microprocessor technology in cooperation with a multitude of sensors to completely clean pools as large as 50’ long, regardless of their surface type, in a mere 4 hours or less. No wonder Aquabot Turbo is the world’s #1 selling robotic pool cleaner. Designed with you in mind, Aquabot Turbo offers you the convenience of complete pool cleaning – floor to waterline and everywhere in between – at the mere touch of a button. Aquabot Turbo cuts your total pool maintenance bills (chlorine, electricity, water, etc.) by up to 50%, and helps your wallet further, and the environment, by saving thousands of gallons of chlorinated water through the reduction of evaporation and main pool filter cleanings as much as 80%. Having its own built-in motors and filtration system Aquabot Turbo operates completely independent of the pool’s filtration system, eliminating the need for sloppy, tangling hoses and costly to operate booster pumps, as well as decreasing pool filter usage and wear up to 60%. Simply plug it in, drop it in and press a button. The days of $100 yearly pool cleaner repairs are over as Aquabot Turbo is engineered for reliable, worry-free operation, having less than 10 moving parts and cannot become stuck on stairs or ladders. Here’s what else you get with Aquabot Turbo.

Scrubbing Action - Aquabot Turbo’s front and rear rotating scrubbing brushes loosen and remove heavy dirt and fine particles from floor, walls and waterline to be vacuumed and trapped in its own internal microfilter bag. Vacuuming - Aquabot Turbo’s exceptionally high suction power and large vacuum intake ports enable it to easily vacuum up all types of dirt and debris. Built-in Filtration System - Aquabot Turbo will clean and purify thousands of gallons of water per hour. Aquabot Turbo is equipped with an expansive, reusable microfilter bag that has the capacity to hold many leaves and twigs and is capable of filtering out all types of fine particles including sand, silt, algae and bacteria. The filter bag is easily removed and rinsed clean. Better Chemical Distribution - As a result of Aquabot Turbo’s heavy-duty pumping action, the pool’s bottom and surface water are circulated, raising the overall water temperature which reduces heating costs and creating a more even distribution of chemicals which normally settle to the pool floor. No Installation - Operation is as simple as dropping Aquabot Turbo into your pool, plugging it into its low voltage transformer and pushing a button. It does the rest by itself. Aquabot Turbo is the safest and easiest cleaner to use, and costs on average about 10¢ a day to run. Low maintenance - Constructed of corrosion-proof materials, with fewer than 10 moving parts, Aquabot Turbo requires little or no maintenance.

Aquabot Turbo T4 T2 T SRC Automatic Pool Cleaners & Parts 123 Aquabot is offering automatic swimming pool cleaning solutions. Some of the Aquabot Models we offer are: T4 T2 and T-SRC. The parts section is friendly to use and has an easy order form.

Aircraft Gets Self-Healing System

Taking cue from self-healing powers of plants and animals, experts are working on aircraft that will be able to fix damages on their own, that too in mid-air.

If the technique pans out, then aircraft, wind turbines and perhaps even spaceships of the future may boast of embedded circulatory systems with an epoxy resin that can bleed into holes or cracks and then fluoresce under ultraviolet light to mark the damage like a bruise during follow-up inspections, reports MSNBC.

The system could be a particular boon for lightweight, plastic-based composites known as fibre-reinforced polymers. Such polymers have recently grown in popularity with aircraft, spacecraft, automotive and wind-turbine manufacturers, who use the materials like protective layers of skin.

"Their Achilles heel is that they are quite susceptible to damage that is often undetectable to the eye," said Ian Bond, an aerospace engineer at Bristol University in the United Kingdom. "Users of composites spend a lot of time trying to detect this damage and worrying about what happens when it grows."

With funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Bond and his collaborators have set out to compensate for the flaw with hollow glass fibres inspired by biological systems. "Most natural materials have an ability to heal and look after themselves when they're damaged," he said. With a similarly arranged network of vessels at vulnerable spots like the underbelly, doors, hatchways, wheel wells and wing bottoms, he reasoned, so might an aircraft.

At its base, the hierarchical system his team designed boasts of a two-part epoxy system. The epoxy and a hardener fill adjacent hollow glass fibres that, when broken due to a debris strike or other damage, release their contents and mix to form a plug, somewhat akin to clotting blood. Matched pairs of those filled glass fibres are arranged within the plane's structural skin, a larger network of carbon fibres embedded in stacked layers of plastic.

Although Bond's team has yet to test its self-healing system on aircraft, the epoxy network has performed well in standard "drop-weight tests" designed to simulate the effect of a dropped tool or kicked up runway debris. After the impact, tests suggest the bleeding epoxy can restore between 80% to 90% of the damaged surface's original compression strength.

1780 British warship found

A 22-gun British warship that sank during the American Revolution and has long been regarded as one of the "Holy Grail" shipwrecks in the Great Lakes has been discovered at the bottom of Lake Ontario, astonishingly well-preserved in the cold, deep water, explorers announced.

Shipwreck enthusiasts Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville used side-scanning sonar and an unmanned submersible to locate the HMS Ontario, which was lost with barely a trace and as many as 130 people aboard during a gale in 1780.

The 80-foot sloop of war is the oldest shipwreck and the only fully intact British warship ever found in the Great Lakes, Scoville and Kennard said.

"To have a Revolutionary War vessel that's practically intact is unbelievable. It's an archaeological miracle," said Canadian author Arthur Britton Smith, who chronicled the history of the HMS Ontario.

Helicopters IAF Dhruv of the Indian Airforce

Four helicopters IAF Dhruv of the Indian airforce fly on the second day of the International Aerospace Exhibition at the Schoenefeld airport near Berlin

Flights

Flights Airforce

Red Bull Air Race World Series

US pilot Mike Mangold performs during the final of the Red Bull Air Race World Series in San Diego, California

Singapore Air Force Black Knights aerobatic team perform

Members of the Republic of Singapore Air Force Black Knights aerobatic team perform during a show in Bangkok.