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Posted

Sukhoi Superjet-100 with 44 on board for a demonstration flight has dropped off of the radars in Jakarta.

The wreckage has been found. It's on a steep cliff (which actually near the area of my old workplace). From what local news show, it looks bad.

Posted

We don't have any carriers yet (excepting a couple of helicopter carriers). We are bulding two - HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth (and no, its not named after any big-eared eco-friendly royals you might be familar with; theres been a "Prince of Wales" in Royal Navy service of one sort or another for centuries...!). They were being built with the F-35B in mind, but there was a U-Turn following a defence review and they decided to install catapaults. Then the cost of the installation rose (from a reported £400million to £2billion), so back to crossing our fingers reallyhard and hoping that F-35Bs can be made to work without bits dropping off etc.

Its still unclear exactly how many carriers are going to wind up in service - due to budget concerns one of them was going to be mothballed almost from the moment it was built. Theres a hope now that if we do go for the F-35B then it might be possible to have both carriers in service as originally planned...

Posted

Raptor-gate gets worse... the plane is apparently making its ground crew sick as well:

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/09/mystery-of-f-22-illnesses-grows/

First the whole issue with the extreme maintenance and low MTBF.

...Then we learn that it can't operate well when it rains (or near anything else that can corrode its surface).

.......Then the deal with the onboard oxygen system.

Starting to think that the USAF should just considering re-investing on the F-15 and F-16 programs, perhaps the Silent Eagle and the Block60's. Or, how about purchasing some Rafales or Eurofighters :D (on paper not as impressive as the Raptor but have actually seen combat).

Posted

Raptor-gate gets worse... the plane is apparently making its ground crew sick as well:

http://security.blog...llnesses-grows/

First the whole issue with the extreme maintenance and low MTBF.

...Then we learn that it can't operate well when it rains (or near anything else that can corrode its surface).

.......Then the deal with the onboard oxygen system.

Starting to think that the USAF should just considering re-investing on the F-15 and F-16 programs, perhaps the Silent Eagle and the Block60's. Or, how about purchasing some Rafales or Eurofighters :D (on paper not as impressive as the Raptor but have actually seen combat).

Im pretty sure you cant tell the military no like these pilots are trying to say
Posted

Probably walked to his death, being 200 miles in, thats an awesome find, I hope someone restores it

Now that is really cool, wings look intact and even the wrecked propeller is there. You wonder what ever happened to the pilot?

Posted

Probably walked to his death, being 200 miles in, thats an awesome find, I hope someone restores it

If they could restore that P-38 they found under all that ice years ago, I think this old P-40 has a good shot at it with the right group of investors and restorers.

Thats true about the Pilot, would be eerie as hell if they found his remains near by though....

Posted

Chances are pretty good that P-40 can fly again someday. I'm saddened for the pilot though. A terrible fate to be sure; alone in that merciless sun, hoping for a rescue that would never come.

Posted

I really haven't paid much attention to them since the F-14 retired. I think having the leading edge extension interrupt the stripe on the nose just doesn't look good though.

I also miss the original skull. Maybe harder to paint, but I've never actually heard any reason it was changed.

Posted

I think they honestly lost/forgot the original marking. Or didn't know there was more than one style--They "revived" it a few times---you could even see the old style on the CAG and the newer style on the CO at the same time, etc. I think it's frankly whichever stencil the paint guy grabbed at the time. And if they remembered to "mirror" it on the other side or not.

Posted

Am I the only one who didn't know the Jolly Rogers had gone back to black-n-white for their XO's plane? Like a year ago?

http://www.airliners...uper/2060066/L/

http://www.airliners...Super/1924725/L

Missing the white fin-tips, but I still think it looks cooler than the yellow version on a Super Hornet.

The changes in the markings are because IIRC the Navy axed the original VF-84 Jolly Rogers in some crappy force re-alignment plan. Another squadron VF-103 the "Sluggers" took up the name instead of it going out of service. From what I understand they will give the name up should VF-84 get reactivated.

Posted

Went to the Andrews Air Force Base air show today, came back sunburned, but it was worth it for the B-2 flyby, Harrier hovering, F-22 flipping, and an Osprey.

Oh, and a Yak-9.

...And a performance by the Blue Angels.

Posted

Went to the Andrews Air Force Base air show today, came back sunburned, but it was worth it for the B-2 flyby, Harrier hovering, F-22 flipping, and an Osprey.

Oh, and a Yak-9.

...And a performance by the Blue Angels.

The Great New England Airshow is coming up and supposedly a MIG-23 will be there. Last year at the Portsmouth air show a MIG-19 was there. Is there a reason all these soviet era aircraft are popping up now?

Posted

According to Wikipedia, there's 11 MiG-23's in private hands, with at least 3 that are "operational" (to quote the site). I wouldn't mind seeing one fly. I like the looks of Russian jets.

Posted

A private MiG-23? Very interesting, hadn't heard of such a thing before.

http://www.greatnewenglandairshow.com

Should be interesting to see. Looks like the red steel jet team has the only operationable MIG-23 in the states.

I also want to correct myself, it was a MIG-17 not 19 that I saw last year. the Black Diamond team that flew it appears to have picked up another one, bring their total to two MIG-17s and six albatros L-39s.

Posted

I can't tell a MiG-17 from a -19 either.

Anyways---I'd say this guy does overall the best LEGO jets out there---any photo in his Flickr account is worth looking at, here's a good starting point:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madphysicist/6271483893/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madphysicist/6487525793/

And here's his BIG B-1B:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madphysicist/6271962846

Posted

I can't tell a MiG-17 from a -19 either.

Anyways---I'd say this guy does overall the best LEGO jets out there---any photo in his Flickr account is worth looking at, here's a good starting point:

http://www.flickr.co...ist/6271483893/

http://www.flickr.co...ist/6487525793/

And here's his BIG B-1B:

http://www.flickr.co...cist/6271962846

Thanks David, that was beautiful. I love the way he stores the undercarriage.

Posted

A private MiG-23? Very interesting, hadn't heard of such a thing before.

According to Wikipedia, there's 11 MiG-23's in private hands, with at least 3 that are "operational" (to quote the site). I wouldn't mind seeing one fly. I like the looks of Russian jets.

I can't tell a MiG-17 from a -19 either.

Anyways---I'd say this guy does overall the best LEGO jets out there---any photo in his Flickr account is worth looking at, here's a good starting point:

http://www.flickr.co...ist/6271483893/

http://www.flickr.co...ist/6487525793/

And here's his BIG B-1B:

http://www.flickr.co...cist/6271962846

Yeah, MP is great

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