Davenport, Iowa (April 6, 2015) - The Figge Art Museum is launching an exciting new platform that will enrich the visitor experience. The Figge mobile audio tour is designed to deliver behind-the-scenes content and facts about hand-selected works right to a visitor's own cell phone or tablet-completely free of charge.

"The tour allows us to build a relationship between objects in our collection and visitors," said Raelene Pullen, director of development. "We've worked to create a breadth of objects from different collections, so there's something for everyone to call into."

Each tour stop has been crafted by Figge staff, with special guest recordings by prominent Quad Cities community members including Artist Rose Franzen, Davenport Alderman Barney Barnhill, Dispatch-Argus Reporter Jonathan Turner, Marketing Director and Owner of Happy Joe's Kristel Whitty, Vice President of John Deere Foundation Nate Clark, Figge Executive Director Tim Schiffer, Quad City Arts Executive Director Carmen Darland, Music Educator Ron May, Lawyer Henry Nueman, Creative Arts Academy Department Chair Joel Franken and many more.

The tour currently has over forty different mobile stops including: The Figge Art Museum building, designed by Sir David Chipperfield, Half-Moon by Deborah Butterfield, Self Portrait by Grant Wood, Soundsculpture by Henry Bertoia. Moonlight by Ralph Blakelock, Vase de Fleurs sur un Table (Flower Vase on a Table) by Pablo Picaso, Elegy to the Spanish Republic by Robert Motherwell among others.

To participate, visitors simply dial the Figge's local tour number 563.424.3997 or scan the QR code. Once connected, participants will hear a short greeting and instructions to continue the mobile tour.

The mobile tour has been gifted by the Hunt and Diane Harris Family Foundation in honor of Tom and Mary Waterman Gildehaus to continue their vision for the Figge as a world-class art facility serving both residents and visitors.

Hunt Harris, Figge Board of Trustees member and chief sponsor of the museum's mobile tour, said the investment is a long-awaited and welcome addition to the Figge. "Art museums can be intimidating to those of us without art backgrounds. Having an audio explanation of major works makes the museum a less intimidating place and enhances our understanding and appreciation of the works before us," he added.

The Figge joins more than 1,200 U.S. and international venues using this technology, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian and Iowa's own Des Moines Art Center.

About the Figge Art Museum

The Figge Art Museum is located on the riverfront in downtown Davenport at 225 West Second Street. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays the museum is open until 9 p.m. Admission to the museum and tour is $7. Admission is free to Figge members and institutional members, and free to all on Thursday evenings from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. To contact the museum, please call 563.326.7804, or visit www.figgeartmuseum.org.

Moline, IL - Monster Jam®, the world's premier Monster Jam truck series, returns to the iWireless Center May 16 & 17. Join us for the Party in the Pits, two hours before doors open for the show, for the opportunity to get a view of the trucks up close and meet the drivers of the massive Monster Jam trucks. Pit party tickets are just $10 with a show ticket!

The event will feature your favorite trucks including Grave Digger®, Monster Mutt® Dalmatian, Backwards Bob®, Captain's Curse®, Monster Energy, Soldier Fortune, Scooby-Doo™ and Team Hot Wheels® Firestorm®! (Subject to change without notice)

Approximately 12 feet tall and about 12 feet wide, Monster Jam trucks are custom-designed machines that sit atop 66-inch-tall tires and weigh a minimum of 10,000 pounds. Built for short, high-powered bursts of speed, Monster Jam trucks generate 1,350 to 2,000 horsepower and are capable of speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.

Tickets are on sale NOW! Available for purchase at the iWireless Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster.com or by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

For more information on Monster Jam, please log onto MonsterJam.com. To follow Monster Jam on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram log on to Facebook.com/MonsterJam and Twitter.com/MonsterJam and Instagram.com/MonsterJamLive. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel at Youtube.com/MonsterJamLive.

The conditions for landing the Boeing 777 safely should have been perfect, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The sky over San Francisco was clear, the wind negligible and the pilot of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 had 11,000 feet of runway in front of him.

But there was a problem. The runway's automatic landing aids were out of service because of construction on that July 2013 day, which meant pilots had to land using old-fashioned visual and manual skills.

They had been doing it all day, but the Asiana Airlines pilot later told NTSB investigators he had been nervous about attempting to land using "stick-and-rudder" flying skills, and the ensuing crash killed three people and injured nearly 200, the Associated Press reported at the time.

The pilot's hesitancy and apparent inability to fly without automated assistance didn't surprise Rick Eriksen, an experienced aviator and one of the founders of Aviation Consulting 360 (www.AskAC360.com), a firm that specializes in assisting businesses with their aviation needs.

Eriksen says he believes advances in airplane automation may have reached a point where they are starting to hinder rather than help safety, with pilots so dependent on the technology that they fail to develop real flying skills.

Pilots also become so fixated on high-tech computer equipment that they can fail to notice hazards in clear view right outside the window, he says.

"In my opinion, most technology is no longer adding anything new in the way of meaningful advancements," Eriksen says. "Planes fly the same way they flew back when I was flying in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. And we made it work with much more reliability than they do with today's over-the-top automation."

Eriksen says he loves technology and is far from a Luddite. He understands the benefits that technology affords everyone every day and the improvements it brought to aviation.

But the rise of automation also comes with downsides, he says, and changes in attitudes and training may be in order for the aviation community. Among his suggestions for improving the situation:

•  Aviators should not get caught up in the latest high-tech fad. To increase their profits, equipment manufacturers overwhelm the marketplace with automation that, in most cases, is redundant and meaningless, not to mention just plain expensive. A flight-management system is not the same as an iPhone, Eriksen says, so tweaks and added features that exist just for the sake of creating demand for the latest, new-fangled version of the product don't cut it.

•  Pilot training needs greater focus on manual skills. Pilots essentially are becoming computer operators, with the computers often not only flying the aircraft but also making decisions for pilots, Eriksen says. That is having a direct and exponentially negative effect on basic flying skills, he says. Eriksen isn't the only one who has raised this concern. Christopher A. Hart, the acting chairman of the NTSB, said in an October speech that automation of aircraft and other transportation vehicles has contributed to decreasing professionalism, leading to accidents.

"Think of it this way," Eriksen says. "A musician must practice every day. A baseball player must practice every day. Heck, even a clown has to practice. So why do pilots get to push buttons on an auto pilot and consider that flying? That is not flying."

But those pilots can record in their log books that they flew a certain number of hours, when in reality "they got about the same amount of hands-on flying practice as the passengers," he says.

"Maybe it is time for the FAA to start to begin to differentiate between flying time and computer time," Eriksen says. "One is a serious business that can get you killed. The other is just a game that only gets serious when the computer fails, and by then it is too late to practice."

About Rick Eriksen

Rick Eriksen is one of the founders of Aviation Consulting 360 (www.askac360.com), a firm that specializes in assisting businesses with their aviation needs. He is a career aviator, entrepreneur and industry professional. Among his achievements, Eriksen created and founded Midwest Air Charter, the first single-flag carrier for the United States Federal Reserve Bank. At Midwest, he directed flight operations for 55 aircraft flying 72,000 miles daily without a single incident or accident and with a 99.75 percent on-time record. Eriksen also previously managed Northern Hemisphere flight operations for Mercedes Benz, North America and was the creator and one of the founding members of Jet Support Services Inc., known today as JSSI.

Visits aimed at expanding trade and investment opportunities

(DES MOINES) - Governor Terry E. Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds announced today that they will lead trade missions to South Korea and Brazil respectively.  Both trips are aimed at expanding trade and investment opportunities and are being coordinated by the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA).

Brazil is Iowa's fifth-largest trading partner, with exports exceeding $500 million in manufactured and value-added goods in 2014.  South Korea is Iowa's ninth-largest export destination, with exports close to $367 million in manufactured and value-added goods during the same period.  The Governor and Lt. Governor have led trade missions to both destinations in the past.

"We have reaped benefit from previous trade missions and look forward to building on the foundations we have laid in the past," said Governor Branstad.  "Trade missions like this one allow Iowa companies to expand their export markets outside of the U.S. and ultimately create more jobs here at home."

Iowa companies in all industry sectors are participating or will be invited to participate in these trade missions.  Companies will have one-on-one, pre-qualified appointments targeted to their objectives, whether that is developing or expanding direct export sales, locating distributors or agents, or conducting market research, among other goals.  Company recruitment for the Brazil mission has already concluded, while recruitment for the South Korea mission will begin shortly.

"These trade missions will help build on Iowa's success in exporting to Brazil and South Korea and will continue to strengthen our partnership with these countries," said Lt. Governor Reynolds. "With a record-breaking $15.1 billion in exports last year, Iowa is truly prospering from international trade.  It is important that we continue this positive momentum."

Under Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds, Iowa's exports have increased by nearly 39 percent, from $10.8 billion to $15.1 billion.

The Brazil mission will take place April 25 - May 2, 2015 and is comprised of visits to Sao Paulo and Ribeirão Preto. The South Korea mission is scheduled for September 7-13, 2015, with Seoul being the primary destination for this mission.  Highlights for both missions include exploring foreign direct investment opportunities, meetings with government and industry association officials, briefings on each market and Growing Iowa's Global Partnerships events.  Iowa companies will participate in meetings specific to their market entry or expansion needs.

The IEDA not only markets Iowa products and services, educates Iowa businesses on exporting and assists global companies wishing to establish or expand operations in Iowa, but also explores opportunities internationally for investment within the state.   To find out more about these services or other trade missions that the IEDA is planning, please visit http://www.iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/Programs/Intl.

Taxpayer dollars will not be spent on the governor's and lt. governor's travel. Their travel will be paid by private donations to the Iowa Economic Development Authority Foundation.