-Those Fantastic Flying Machines-


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Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.— Socrates



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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Life Begins At 500 KIAS

USAF Patch "Life Begins at 500 KIAS" Mint Condition. 4"x4"x4".

Order here

Monday, June 25, 2007

Here Is A Strange One - Carvair ATL98

From the the middle of the wing back looks like a Douglas product.


The Carvair was officially known as the Aviation Traders Ltd ATL.98. This was an engineering company in the UK formed by Sir Freddie Laker to convert some 22 DC-4 aircraft to carry cars across the English Channel. They had rebuilt noses, and DC-7 tail fins grafted on. In the hump was two pilots, a jump seat and two pax seats, plus a lavatory and a rack for AC/DC inverters. ZK-NWA (pictured) is currently under restoration at Fairbanks Alaska for Brooks Fuel. Sister plane ZK-NWB is earning a living with Phoebus Apollo airlines at Lanseria, near Johannesburg, SA. Only three carvairs survive in any flyable condition. -Simon

Mig 29 Plows Through Air Show Crowd...

I don't know if this is the same one. I think I saw a video of this on YOUTUBE from the FACES OF DEATH series in which what looked to be an SU-27 plows through a crowd and kills a bunch of people, amongst them children. The guy with the camera runs around taking video of bodies cut in half and arms and legs strewn about. Very gruesome footage. If I find it again I will post it to satisfy your morbid sense of curiosity. BOO HA HA!

MD-11 At The Limits Of My Zoom

I was at Miami International the other day and I caught this Arrow Air MD-11 / DC-10 before it got away on the other side of the airport. I estimate it was about 1.5 to 2 miles away... All MD-11s seem to have been relegated to cargo service.


Spectacular R/C Jet Crash

The Convair Flying Car



Learn More About It Here

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The World's Third Largest Air Force is Sitting on the Ground

The US Air Force's bone yard... The Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Center at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson Arizona.





Sent by Jorge.

Learn more about the bone yard here.

Shamu the Whale Over San Diego

Southwest Airlines has painted this 737 like Shamu the whale.

Southwest Boeing 737-3H4 N334SW, take off from San Diego Lindberg Field. 6/15/2007. Photo by Pete Alvarez.

Order prints of this photo here...

Monday, June 18, 2007

R/C Float Plane

Very cool!

A-10 at the Fort Lauderdale Air & Sea Show 2007

Photo by Pete Alvarez

GPS Info. On Delta Flight...

I apologize for the bad photos, they are from my cellphone camera which sucks.This is the coolest thing. I spent most of my flight going back to these useful information GPS screens. This was on a "Song" (Delta) Boeing 757. It is awesome to know where you are at all times. So I would go to the movie and back to this, to the news and back to the GPS. My wife kept telling me "Stop it already!" Of course I didn't listen because I had my own screen. They should put these things in all airplanes. It really helps pass the time especially in long flights.

The air temperature outside at one point dropped to -34 deg F. I remember in flight school they told us the air temperature goes down about 1 deg per thousand feet... Of course in the POS Cessna's I flew, this was not very noticeable. The pilot in this flight eventually climbed to 41,000 feet.

Atlanta Hartsfield Airplane Jam...

What you see here is not a parking lot, but airplanes waiting to take off at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport. I couldn't believe my eyes. I think it was around 8PM. Our flight to West Palm Beach was of course delayed.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

It feels like the good old days...

Ah Remember the good all days of the cold war? I do. Even though we lived under the spectre of nuclear annihilation, at least we knew who the enemy was, and what the end result would be. Nowadays it seems the whole damn world is our enemy. They like our dollars but they all seem to hate our guts. Anyway I'm back from San Diego. In as much as I like airplanes, I hate travelling in them. At least on commercial airlines that is. I don't understand how these airlines manage to lose money. I got on four airplanes (Delta who just came out of bankruptcy), and they were all packed to the hilt. They gave us monkey food on the way. Diminutive portions of Oreo cookies, granola bars, cheese and crackers etc... They charge for everything else. And they don't seem to have enough flight attendants to go around. These poor gals work their tails off. I felt sorry for them. Anyway it was Palm Beach to Atlanta and then Atlanta to San Diego.

You can pretty much take it for granted that any flight landing or taking off from Atlanta is going to be delayed. This airport is just incredibly busy. I have some photos of this which hopefully I will post later. Then the 4 hour flight to San Diego seemed to drag on forever. Not so bad on the way there because we had those individual screens on the seat backs.

I had more fun playing with the GPS on that thing than anything else. You know exactly were you are at all times and how fast, and how high, and the heading. So any time I would hear engine noise changes, I could tell we were climbing or descending etc... At one point it was very bumpy and the pilot kept going higher and higher looking for smooth air. We ended up climbing to FL410, that's 41,000 feet for you non types. I didn't know the 757 could go that high. Anyway I'm glad to be back safely home. I'm a little jet lagged but otherwise Okay.

A U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle aircraft, top, from the 12th Fighter Squadron, Elmendorf Air Force Base, intercepts a Russian Tu-95 Bear bomber Sept. 28, 2006, during a Russian military exercise near the western coast of Alaska. The North American Aerospace Defense Command launched three pairs of fighters to detect, intercept, and identify the aircraft during a planned response to the exercise.

Curtiss XP-55 Ascender

Project 914 Archives (Steve O. Reno collection)

This is 42-78845, the first of three XP-55s built. It was destroyed on November 15th, 1943 during stall testing.

The following was taken from THIS page on Joe Baugher's website...

On November 15, 1943, test pilot Harvey Gray was flying the first XP-55 (42-78845) through a series of stall tests when the aircraft suddenly flipped over on its back and fell into an uncontrolled, inverted descent. Recovery proved impossible, and the plane fell out of control for 16,000 feet before Gray was able to parachute to safety. The aircraft was destroyed in the ensuing crash.

Quite remarkably, one of these aircraft survives today... 42-78846 is part of the NASM's collection, although it has been in the possession of the Kalamazoo Air Zoo (Officially known as the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum) for several years and has been restored for display by that outfit.


Learn more about the XP-55 here.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Douglas A-1 Skyraider


Learn more about the A-1 Skyraider here.

Order A-1 Skyraider Models and Toys here.



Nice Landing!

In this photo released by Sam Northrop III, beach-goers react as a single engine propeller plane makes an emergency landing on the beach in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., Saturday, June 9, 2007. The aircraft lost power and the pilot landed the aircraft without injuries to himself, his passenger or anyone on the beach, Jacksonville Beach Police Sgt. Tom Bingham said. (AP Photo/courtesy Sam Northrop III)

Remote Control Apache Helicopter

Full Function Remote Controlled Forward, Backward, Up and Down, Left and Right. Flies over 30M High 4 Channel Radio Control Twin Electric Motors Altitude & Rotor Speed Control 4CH Transmitter and 3-in-1 Receiver Adjustment to Sensitivity of Inside Up to 10 minute flight times Flight Range 65ft (20M) Gyro and Extent of Servos Available Duel Propeller System Stable Hover and Full 3-D Flight Revolutionary Co-Axial Rotor Technology 7.4v 800mAh Li-Po Rechargeable Battery Altitude & Rotor Speed Control Real Helicopter Performance Flight Stabilizing System 2x 130 Carbon Brush Motors Factory Assembled Ready To Flight Package Includes: Manual 4-Channel Remote Controller (8 AA Batteries Not Included) 7.4v Rechargeable RC Battery Battery Charger Adapter (110V)

Features:

Full Function Remote Controlled - This is close to hobby grade RC Helicopter!
Forward, Backward, Up and Down, Left and Right.
Flies over 30M High
4 Channel Radio Control
Twin Electric Motors

Order Here

4x6 Inch Hole On Shuttle Atlantis Not Expected To Be A Problem

The Astronauts may repair it before they come home using a repair kit during a space walk.

Read all About it here.
This image made from NASA TV on Saturday June 9, 2007 shows a 4-inch (10-centimeter) gap in a heat-protecting blanket on shuttle Atlantis. The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis, satisfied that the gap in a heat-protecting blanket would not cause any problems, readied themselves for what NASA called a delicate ballet with the international space station. (AP Photo/NASA TV)

F-22 Raptor Video

Pretty Cool Video. This airplane is truly superior to anything else in the sky.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Lets Play With The Drone...

Do they need an AMA Card to fly that thing?
US Army (USA) Specialists (SPC) Robert Clarno assigned to Alpha Company, 101st Military Intelligence Battalion, recovers a RQ-7 Shadow 200 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Warhorse, following a mission over the Baqubah, Iraq area, during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.

Beech Bonanza V Tail


These planes developed a bad reputation because of structural failure of the unconventional V tail. Subsequently Beech redesigned the tail and made it conventional (below).

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Trim Runaway Suspected in Organ Transplant Mission Crash...

A phenomenom called "trim runaway" could be the cause of the crash of a Cessna Citation II 550 similar to the one below, in lake Michigan on Monday. An out of trim airplane can be very difficult if not impossible to control. I found at least one NTSB report involving a trim runaway accident on a Cessna Citation I Model 525. Read it here.



Here's a google search if you want to learn more about trim runaway.

[Link Me] to learn more...

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Bagrisimo at the controls...

This was around 1983. On final approach to runway 9R at Tamiami Airport after flying to Key West. It was so hazy that day you can barely see the runway. This photo was taken by my cousin Gregory Serrano seating in the back seat of a Cessna 172. The right seat was occupied by a college friend Moises Perez. This is one of very few photos I have of that adventurous era.

Always a Favorite

Beautiful shot of a Piper Cub...