Aircraft Super Thread Mk.VII

[reddsun1]

Like a mutha fu**in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwgiQnbGL3w

BOSS

Edited March 27, 2012 by reddsun1

[miles316]

They weren't really show boating. He was performing a low pass to a pitch back turn, very normal maneuvers. He attempts to convert his airspeed into a climb, but mushes through the climb losing a bunch of airspeed and gains almost no altitude. Then after executing a poor pitch back turn he tries to continue an agressive maneuver instead of swallowing out the dive and regaining his airspeed. Any one of three things would have saved him 1) Better Judgment, 2) More power or 3) More altitude.

Why was this pilot performing these maneuvers over a Base/village and not in a uninhabited mountain area?

[Zor Primus]

Japan Airlines gets delivery of 1st B787 Dreamliner...I think the Captain must have had the jitters on this take off...

http://www.newairplane.com/787/delivery/#/en/jal/takeofftojapan

[reddsun1]

Why was this pilot performing these maneuvers over a Base/village and not in a uninhabited mountain area?

Ah, yes. How many countless similar--and worse--scenarios have begun in such a fashion? *Hey y'all, watch this!*

Japan Airlines gets delivery of 1st B787 Dreamliner...I think the Captain must have had the jitters on this take off...

http://www.newairpla.../takeofftojapan

Is it just me, or were those wingtips really flexing?

Edited March 27, 2012 by reddsun1

[David Hingtgen]

They're bent upwards more than typical to start with, and they're designed to flex more than normal. That's just how a 787 is.

[Coota0]

Why was this pilot performing these maneuvers over a Base/village and not in a uninhabited mountain area?

It's called boosting morale. A low pass is not unusual, the only time I fly above 700 ft AGL is for instruments and cross country stuff, I usually fly at 300 ft or below because that's wear Army helicopters do their job. Yup, he was a dumbass for mushing into the ground, but being a dumbass isn't against the rules and sometimes ends up on youtube.

[Graham]

Japan Airlines gets delivery of 1st B787 Dreamliner...I think the Captain must have had the jitters on this take off...

http://www.newairpla.../takeofftojapan

Why the heck was he rocking the plane from side to side like that after taking off? If I was a passenger on board I would have been pretty scared then (I don't mind flying, but get a bit nervous during take off and landing).

Graham

[Ghost Train]

All this airline discussion reminds me of my time in Consulting where I had to travel every week, and did this for almost 2 years. I made Platinum on the now defunct Northwest Airlines in about 4 months, those were the good old days, on top of my base salary I received a very generous per-diem for every week I spent away from home (which I got to keep regardless of how much I actually spent on food and gas!) .

I was really young fresh out of college so this was like living the high life, I woke up at 3:00AM on Mondays to catch the earliest flight to wherever it is I was staffed, work like a dog until flying homeThursday evening, and do a half day from home on Friday. Party like crazy on the weekend... repeat. The Platinum status got me first class upgrades almost half the time (and free booze), so all these old geezers are wondering why this baby-faced kid is sitting next to them .

Here are a few random things I learned during this time:

• The best and most comfy seats are the emergency exit seats (if you want the responsibility of course), I would rate them equal in comfort to business class ones.
  
• Monday mornings and Thursday evenings are typically the worst times to fly.
  
• Airlines purposely jack up the flight time needed to get you from point A to point B to account for delays, this way they are always on time!
  
• Alcoholic beverages seem to "work" more effectively at higher altitudes.
  
• If you're in business class with a rolling carry on, odds are you will not have overhead bin space if you don't board right when business class is called.
  
• The rolling-bags seem to be the most popular form of carry on, but a duffel bag is flexible and easier to squish into limited overhead bin space.
  
• Don't be a tech jacka$$ when asked to turn-off all electronics during take off and landing. Turn off means POWER-down, not disable 3G/4G and WIFI.
  

I'm glad this part of my life is over now though, with the full body scanners l I doubt I'd want to expose myself to whatever amount of radiation that thing dumps on you. I really enjoy my current job which has 0% travel, but sometimes I do reminisce about those days.

Edited March 29, 2012 by Ghost Train

[David Hingtgen]

The best and most comfy seats are the emergency exit seats (if you want the responsibility of course), I would rate them equal in comfort to business class ones.

And the airlines figured out people knew this, so now most charge extra to sit in an exit row.

[the white drew carey]

They weren't really show boating. He was performing a low pass to a pitch back turn, very normal maneuvers. He attempts to convert his airspeed into a climb, but mushes through the climb losing a bunch of airspeed and gains almost no altitude. Then after executing a poor pitch back turn he tries to continue an agressive maneuver instead of swallowing out the dive and regaining his airspeed. Any one of three things would have saved him 1) Better Judgment, 2) More power or 3) More altitude.

1) Was the maneuver necessary? No.

2) Ergo: showboating.

[xrentonx]

It's called boosting morale. A low pass is not unusual, the only time I fly above 700 ft AGL is for instruments and cross country stuff, I usually fly at 300 ft or below because that's wear Army helicopters do their job. Yup, he was a dumbass for mushing into the ground, but being a dumbass isn't against the rules and sometimes ends up on youtube.

That's funny because I would think not being a dumbass is rule number one...but maybe that's just me.

[David Hingtgen]

[miles316]

That is a cool shot of the F-22 were did you find it?

[F-ZeroOne]

When did the F-22 get a fold booster...?!

[Bri]

Amazing picture of that F22, thanks.

[David Hingtgen]

That is a cool shot of the F-22 were did you find it?

images.google.com

[Shadow]

Nice F-22 shot.

Some shots of the F-35A doing its first night aerial refuel.

[David Hingtgen]

The *youngest* B-52 will turn 50 years old in October.

[VF-15 Banshee]

FUS-RO-DAH!!

More here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.360152307363443.86252.100001060297207&type=3

You don't get closer to the Space Shuttles than this.

[David Hingtgen]

I wonder if each shuttle will get its "own" OMS pods prior to being displayed. I'm not sure all are available though---I know one of Columbia's wasn't on Columbia when it was lost, and last I heard it was on Discovery. So presumably one of another shuttle's was on Columbia at the time.

Are those recent pics of Discovery? Last good series of pics I saw of it had the RCS assembly in the nose and both OMS pods removed, so it looks like it's complete again---and again---does it have "its own" ones installed, or just whichever were handy? It didn't matter for any particular mission/flight, but since this will be the final installation, I think it'd be nice for each shuttle to have its "own" parts as much as possible.

Last pic I saw of Enterprise showed it with none. (which is a heck of an omission)

[VF-15 Banshee]

I don't know about the OMS pods, I'll have to ask dad. And these pics were taken about two weeks ago.

This pod was parked off of to the side of Endeavour, in OPF2.

One of my personal favorites: Climbing out of Atlantis' hatch. I still can't quite believe it.

Edited April 5, 2012 by VF-15 Banshee

[reddsun1]

that's pretty friggin cool.

damn, where has our [collective] ambition gone...

[reddsun1]

Can't help but wonder: if given more time for development, or if someone were to try to build a modern (private) version, how the performance of the Kyushu Shinden might have stacked up to the warbird greats, like the P-51, Spitfire, etc...

it's certainly "sexier" than Curtiss and Northrop's contemporary versions of the pusher concept...

Edited April 5, 2012 by reddsun1

[pfunk]

Killer shuttle pics

[Phyrox]

Can't help but wonder: if given more time for development, or if someone were to try to build a modern (private) version, how the performance of the Kyushu Shinden might have stacked up to the warbird greats, like the P-51, Spitfire, etc...

It would seem much fairer to compare it to other fighters which first flew in 1945, or even 1944, but I see what you mean.

I've never read, or don't recall, details from the test flights of the J7W, but I'd bet for all that sexyness it would have been beset by the same sort of stall issues the Ascender suffered from and would never have been a true success. Don't let that stop ya from loving it though. It is a beautiful aircraft (I personally think it's ugly, but I know that isn't the consensus).

[ErikElvis]

I wouldn't go as far as to call the heli guy a dumbass. showboating gone wrong. anyone of us at any given time trained in that thing would prob try to do it. And he was just one that didn't get away with it. theres a lot more to doing that kind of stuff in heli's than just hitting the throttle and pulling up. I forget what its called but theres a point where the rotors just kind of push down through the air instead of creating lift.

[reddsun1]

It would seem much fairer to compare it to other fighters which first flew in 1945, or even 1944, but I see what you mean.

I've never read, or don't recall, details from the test flights of the J7W, but I'd bet for all that sexyness it would have been beset by the same sort of stall issues the Ascender suffered from and would never have been a true success. Don't let that stop ya from loving it though. It is a beautiful aircraft (I personally think it's ugly, but I know that isn't the consensus).

Beautiful? Not necessarily, I'd say. More like: it certainly looks-the-business. There are certain craft--be they fighters like the Mustang; ships like the Iowa class; tanks like the Panther or the Abrams--that just have a sort of aesthetic quality to them; manage to look intrinsically like they'll be very good at what they're intended for. The J7W also has that sort of look to it. At least, compared to the "Assender" or the Black Bullet.

[Graham]

Can't help but wonder: if given more time for development, or if someone were to try to build a modern (private) version, how the performance of the Kyushu Shinden might have stacked up to the warbird greats, like the P-51, Spitfire, etc...

it's certainly "sexier" than Curtiss and Northrop's contemporary versions of the pusher concept...

I've often thought it would be cool if all nations agreed to ban things like guided missiles, radar, jet engines and stealth to reducing spiralling defense procurement cost.

Then I'd love to see with today's technology, how good of a prop driven fighter plane we could build, compared with the best WWII planes.eapons to be limited to machineguns, cannon, unguided rockets or unguided bombs.

Graham

[reddsun1]

I've often thought it would be cool if all nations agreed to ban things like guided missiles, radar, jet engines and stealth to reducing spiralling defense procurement cost.

Then I'd love to see with today's technology, how good of a prop driven fighter plane we could build, compared with the best WWII planes.eapons to be limited to machineguns, cannon, unguided rockets or unguided bombs.

Graham

I'd wager a lot of the designs would be very similar to the original warbirds of that era. Planes like the late model Mustangs, Thunderbolts, Sea Furies and Bearcats can pretty much be considered at the pinnacle of piston-engined technology. But the greatest emphasis would go towards using advances in machining and production technologies--advances like porting/polishing, electronic engine management, etc--to tighten tolerances, get more efficient power to weight outputs, i.e. Merlins and Allisons that'd make 2,000 HP or more, as opposed to their 1,200 - 1,500 HP back in the day.

I'm sure designers like the Burt Rutans and other like minded folks would keep things interesting, offer solutions that diverge on much more radical tangents...

Actually, I guess Rutan has already answered my original query, about just where the J7W could have evolved to...

I like this design. I just can't help but wonder what if Rutan had had the resources and funding to get even more ambitious with it; say, designing a real hot-rod, something around a surplus Allison, or Merlin, or P&W Double Wasp...

[eugimon]

if Rutan had been around in WWII, I have a feeling the war would have ended much earlier... his planes are just too pretty to shoot down.

[the white drew carey]

An F/A-18 from Oceana NAS has crashed.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/06/us/virginia-plane-crash/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[Shadow]

Just read this story. Hope no one was seriously injured or worse.

[the white drew carey]

Right now one of the pilots is still in the hospital, the other pilot and five people on the ground have been treated and released. From what I read, there are three tenants of the apartment complex that are unaccounted for, but after two separate searches there have been no bodies found, so the hope is that they are out of town for the holiday weekend.

[miles316]

Wichita KS was hit by a tornado Damaged the Hawker beach plant, Spirit arospace, and possibly McConnell AFB.

[miles316]

It also damaged our Aviation museum moved many of the planes even flipped one on to its back.