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Tindjin posted:I should hope so. The A380's design was done 40 years after the 747. Lots of changes from the early 60's to the turn of the century. The 747's nose design actually comes from it originally being an entry into the competition for what would eventually become the C-5, combined with the thought the aircraft wouldn't be in passenger service very long. When the USAF requested proposals for a new heavy lifter, one of the requirements was that the cargo bay had to be at least 17ft wide, 13.5ft high and 100ft long, with doors in both the nose and tail, which meant the cockpit had to sit on top of the cargo bay. During the design phase of the 747 in the mid 60's, the prevailing notion was that it would soon be replaced on passenger routes by supersonic transports, so Boeing designed the aircraft to be easily converted into a freighter when that happened, which meant the cockpit was placed on top of the cabin to allow a nose door. Thanks to the cockpit placement, all purpose built 747 freighters have a nose that hinges upward like a visor, which makes loading the aircraft (especially for bulky items) much easier than smaller doors on the sides of the fuselage. Since the A380 was mostly intended to work as a passenger carrier, Airbus decided to just keep the cockpit on the lower deck to make things a bit easier for pilots. Although they did originally offer an A380 cargo model, Airbus managed to delay A380 deliveries long enough that all of the cargo customers canceled their orders, with Fedex buying several new 777 freighters instead.
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Jul 26, 2010 07:36
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BeastOfExmoor posted:Not that this thread really needs something to generate replies, but I've been thinking for a while about which military aircraft has proven to be the best investment over time. To me it's between the C-130 and the B-52, but I'm curious to hear other positions. Far, far, far and away it's the Buff. It's older than the Air Force. It was obsolete within 5 years of deployment, yet somehow continued to be useful and will still be in service ~90 years from its original design date. It ended the Cold War and golf-balled north Vietnam. It hosed your moms, and SHE LOVED IT.  That is all. Edit: on second thought...  This aircraft may be the most perfect machine ever made, approaching the level of divinity (as you can plainly see). DaVinci can suck its hilariously obsolete .50-cal tail turret. Sterndotstern fucked around with this message at 09:39 on Jul 26, 2010 |
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Jul 26, 2010 07:45
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Sterndotstern posted:it's hilariously obsolete .50-cal tail turret. Do they still arm that thing?
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Jul 26, 2010 07:59
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Phy posted:Do they still arm that thing? They got rid of them completely, not sure when exactly, but the rearward fire control radar was deactivated in 1991 following this incident: Wikipedia posted:During the conflict several claims of Iraqi air-to-air successes were made, including an Iraqi pilot, Khudai Hijab, firing a Vympel R-27R missile from his MIG-29 and damaging a B-52G on the opening night of the Gulf War. However, the United States Air Force disputes this claim, stating the bomber was actually hit by friendly fire, a AGM-88 High-speed, Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) that homed on the fire-control radar of the B-52's tail gun; the jet was subsequently renamed "In HARM's Way". Shortly following this incident, General George Lee Butler announced that the gunner position on B-52 crews was to be eliminated, and the gun turrets permanently deactivated, commencing on 1 October 1991.
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Jul 26, 2010 08:25
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BonzoESC posted:
There also really loving large. I live near enough to Sydney airport that I see a few of them every week. They dwarf anything else in the skies by a fair margin.
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Jul 26, 2010 09:39
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Nebakenezzer posted:Around Christmas AI had a thread about the new dreamliner, and of course talk turned to planes in general. The A380 came up, and the theory was floated that the only reason the cockpit isn't in the 747 position is because that would be an admission that the Americans did something right aesthetically, something that is anathema to any red-blooded European. Somebody did an image of the A380 with the cockpit on the upper level, which looked approximately a million times better. I'd post it but I can't find it right now
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Jul 26, 2010 14:57
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Sterndotstern posted:So is the B-52 capable of carrying everything on display in front of it at once or is it just a demonstration of the various payloads it can carry?
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Jul 26, 2010 15:39
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azflyboy posted:Although they did originally offer an A380 cargo model, Airbus managed to delay A380 deliveries long enough that all of the cargo customers canceled their orders, with Fedex buying several new 777 freighters instead. Also the anouncment of the 747-8F, or whatever it is called. If you have a fleet of 747 freighters you also have all the infrastructure to go with them. No point in spending millions on the A380F when you will have to spend millions again on equipment/training etc. Easier just to buy the new version of the plane you already have.
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Jul 26, 2010 15:48
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Geoj posted:So is the B-52 capable of carrying everything on display in front of it at once or is it just a demonstration of the various payloads it can carry? Everything at once, plus a Space Shuttle on the top, a Bell X-1 underneath and the two cruise missiles under the wings. It can also be equipped with up to three adult male Sperm Whales. Ok, so it has a 90,000lb payload, so it really could carry three Sperm Whales ... or 84 500lb bombs... or an 8-round rotary missile launcher and some Hounddog cruise missiles underwing... or a few megatons of nuke... or any combination thereof.
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Jul 26, 2010 18:10
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Some jump planes: Cessna 208B Grand Caravan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_Caravan    Cessna 182J http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_182   Wingsuit jumper landing 
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Jul 26, 2010 18:17
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dur posted:There it is, thanks.
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Jul 26, 2010 18:30
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The Electronaut posted:Wingsuit jumper landing This brings up a random question: why aren't there longer, straighter wingsuit designs? Better lift-to-drag = better glide ratio = longer duration flights, right?
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Jul 26, 2010 18:31
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Sterndotstern posted:Everything at once, plus a Space Shuttle on the top  as all hell if it did.
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Jul 26, 2010 18:56
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Sterndotstern posted:This brings up a random question: why aren't there longer, straighter wingsuit designs? Better lift-to-drag = better glide ratio = longer duration flights, right? In very basic terms, control, the more fabric you have, the harder it is to get it under control. This is grossly generalized though. There's a balancing act between, height, weight, wing fabric square footage and wing shape. A common problem is a mentality of bigger wing = more performance, be it forward speed or hang time, and in reality, going bigger can be a detriment if the body type doesn't jive with the suit. For example, a guy I jump with, he's built like a feather, average height, but weighs nothing. He jumps a Tony Suit Super Mach 1 (which has something like 12 square feet of wing surface) and it's just too big on him; since he doesn't weigh enough to give it enough drive, he's constantly flying on the borderline of instability. A heavier jumper of the same height would be able to fly the suit better. In fact, over the weekend (the day these photos were shot) I jumped in a tracking suit (think wing suit minus wings, the suit pressurizes allowing for slower free fall and faster forward movement than say a regular jump suit) with that jumper in the picture who was piloting a SM1 and we were able to flock together fairly well since he weighed sufficiently to give it an ample performance window. It's an interesting topic none the less. The huge suits look like someone jumping a hammock because of all the fabric. A couple links: Tony Suit's T-Bird, a suit just above the basic/intro student suit: http://www.tonywingsuits.com/tbird.html Tony Suit's X-Bird, highest performance suit they make: http://www.tonywingsuits.com/xbird.html Huge difference in material quantity. Comparison to Phoenix-Fly's Stealth 2: http://www.phoenix-fly.com/products/wingsuits/phoenix_fly_stealth_2 A ton o' fabric. Vampire 3: http://www.phoenix-fly.com/products/wingsuits/phoenix_fly_vampire_v3 Different performance requirements, the V3 is designed for maximum drive as it is targeted towards BASE, compared to the Stealth 2, both being expert wingsuit pilot suits. Note the very different design. Hope this rambling post clarified it a little.
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Jul 26, 2010 19:15
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slidebite posted:The Nasa B52 was never modified to carry the shuttle AFAIK, that always fell the 747 duty, although it'd be as
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Jul 26, 2010 21:13
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Revolvyerom posted:Are you sure he meant it literally that it could carry every payload configuration possible at once and the space shuttle? Heh, no I'm not sure. I just assumed he meant it literally. On re-reading it, probably not. 
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Jul 26, 2010 22:58
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I was at the Farnborough International Airshow on Saturday and saw a few things relevant to this thread. Firstly a F/A-18 Super Hornet doing the manoeuvre that the same plane in Canada crashed whilst attempting. All the fast jets flying did something similar, but the Eurofigher's was best. However, the F-18 was the loudest plane on display, being louder than the Eurofigher, F-16, Red Arrows and even the Vulcan. The B-52 was also loud, although it only did a single fly by and didn't take off or land from the airshow. The A380 was quite impressive. It was much quieter than I expected and the pilot was pulling some extremely banked turns. Was fun seeing the plane being thrown around the sky like a single seater. The plane has some really interesting curvature in the design of the wings too.
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Jul 27, 2010 17:21
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slidebite posted:
I'd say the Mig-21, even though it's not the greatest jet. It debut was in 1958 and it is STILL in active service. KlementGottwald fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Jul 27, 2010 |
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Jul 27, 2010 23:24
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cans buns and pins posted:The A380 was quite impressive. It was much quieter than I expected and the pilot was pulling some extremely banked turns. Was fun seeing the plane being thrown around the sky like a single seater. The plane has some really interesting curvature in the design of the wings too. I was bumming around Farnborough during the week when the A380 came buzzing over Maplin. I've never seen one in flight before, especially not doing steep banked turns over an industrial estate at ~300 fett or something daft. Really amazing to look at, it looks like it shouldn't fly at all.
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Jul 27, 2010 23:28
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Raytheon Permier Jet crash at Oshkosh. http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4879556/ Eyewitess says: quote:It was Jack Roush's Premier. I saw most of it until it disappeared behind some planes. He appeared to be at high alpha, way behind the power curve, and then went into what appeared to be a 45-60 degree bank. Wing hit first, jet spun around 180 degrees or so, and the rear section of the fuselage broke off. No fire. I watched the pilot walk out (very bloody) and heard that the sole passenger was ok. Pics of said bloody pilot in the thread. drat! Probably not as bad as it looks, you do bleed a lot from face/nose cuts.
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Jul 28, 2010 09:38
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Saw that crash happen a couple hundred yards directly in front of me as I was riding a shuttle back from south of the strip. It looked like he actually recovered from the steep bank he got into trying to line up with the runway, but ended up stalling out because at that point he pretty much dropped out of view behind a DC-3 that was parked between us. Saw a big plume of dust and that was that. Starboard engine ran for a good several minutes after the crash, thought I can't imagine the fuel lines were intact with the way the tail was half ripped-off. Photo is from before the emergency response crews arrived and got the cabin door open.  Have a Mustang 
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Jul 28, 2010 12:57
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Are there any official stats on how many crashes/deaths there are every year at Oshkosh?
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Jul 28, 2010 13:13
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Ola posted:Are there any official stats on how many crashes/deaths there are every year at Oshkosh? Looking in the NTSB database, there are 12 accidents listed at OSH during Airventure from 2005 until now (the one yesterday isn't listed yet), with a total of six fatalities. However, if two aircraft collide, each aircraft involved counts as an accident, so four of the listed accidents actually took place in two events. One of the events was the collision between the two P-51's in 2007 (one fatality), and the other was when a Grumman Avenger taxied into an RV-6 in 2006, killing the RV-6 pilot.
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Jul 28, 2010 18:37
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Jul 29, 2010 21:05
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Moot1234 posted:A Jaguar? Really?
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Jul 29, 2010 22:06
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Anyone hear anymore info on the C-17 that crashed in Elmendorf? I read it went down like that B-52 did at the airshow.
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Jul 30, 2010 04:18
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Moot1234 posted:That's a mighty high altitude for a Jag. I bet the pilot has a nose bleed. The regular take off procedure is: "take off, raise gear, descend to cruising altitude".
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Jul 30, 2010 09:10
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I was just reading about some dudes in CA who got ahold of one of the original Spruce Goose engines. They took it out from 60 years of storage, made a few parts and got it running. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1J-8q25TTo&feature=player_embedded
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Jul 31, 2010 05:24
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Currently spending the weekend down at my parents house, went past the local pub this afternoon and saw this in the field next to it. Hopped out of the car to have a look and next thing I knew I was sat in the pilots seat having any and every question I've ever had answered by the Pilot and Medic. One of the crew is being sent off to Afghanistan, and this was his last shift before he goes... so they managed to get authorisation for a quick PR *cough* pub lunch landing. It's a beautiful "proper" piece of flying equipment. Overwhelming smell of aviation fuel and oil, knurled knobs and dials, white text on black, not a glass screen in sight. I asked if I could be forgotten about until they were in the air but they declined.  .         Even the Navy are allowed to forget their chocks. Nav-bag will do fine.    They then came back and did this completely unexpected, loving awesome, 60 degree bank curved fly-by at about 80 feet. But alas the camera was already back in my pocket. blambert fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Aug 1, 2010 |
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Aug 1, 2010 00:12
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Edit: nothing to see here...
Preoptopus fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Aug 1, 2010 |
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Aug 1, 2010 03:22
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Airplanes at the balloon race: THEY'RE LEGALLY AIRCRAFT SHUT UP  The bee ballons are adorable -- they take off holding hands!   
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Aug 1, 2010 05:34
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Bad Angus! Bad!
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blambert posted:Currently spending the weekend down at my parents house, went past the local pub this afternoon and saw this in the field next to it. Hopped out of the car to have a look and next thing I knew I was sat in the pilots seat having any and every question I've ever had answered by the Pilot and Medic. Oh God oh God oh God. I almost joined up to try and fly these. Almost. drat.
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Aug 1, 2010 12:34
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So tomorrow Calgary is expecting the Lancaster bomber to show up. This is one of the only two flyable Lanc's left in the world. I will be hanging out by the airport (nice and close to work) to get some shots of this classic when it arrives.
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Aug 3, 2010 02:23
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Delivery McGee posted:THEY'RE LEGALLY AIRCRAFT SHUT UP Seeing balloons lit up at night is a sweet, sweet thing. Where was this?
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Aug 3, 2010 02:35
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Quantrill posted:Seeing balloons lit up at night is a sweet, sweet thing. Where was this? Yea which rally is this? I know the pilots of about 4 of those balloons including the bees. I live in Albuquerque, NM, home of the International Balloon Fiesta. It's the largest fiesta/rally in the world with an attendance of about 800 balloons and a record of 1000 balloons (next 2 largest are about 300 and about 200 balloons). It is still considered the most photographed event in the world. Pilots from around the world ship their balloons here to fly in it. First week of October for 9 days you get to see 800 balloons flying all over the city. Some more ballooning porn. I love hot air ballooning and have been crewing/flying for 22 yrs and will be buying my own balloon in about 2 yrs. The balloon I want is in the "racer" class, it's smaller and a hell of a lot more reactive than ones designed to carry multiple people. Here are the Bees just before they are stood up. I was flying over with the pilot I've been crewing for since I was a kid.  Lighthouse anyone?  This one is of what we call "Dawn Patrol", they are specially licensed and granted waivers to take off before sunrise. Hot Air Balloons are not okay'd to fly at night normally.  This is my best friend's balloon, I tow the trailer it's in with my truck and am the "crew chief" for it. We started ballooning at the same time as kids and he got his license almost 2 yrs ago, it's been a blast. 
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Aug 3, 2010 04:21
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Tindjin posted:BALLOOOOOOONS That's pretty tight, I'll have to get some pics of a small festival we've got coming up this weekend. The evening "glow" they've got planned should be very photogenic I bet 
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Aug 3, 2010 05:15
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 A Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations' Ilyushin-76 tanker plane drops some 42 tons of water onto a burning forest near a suburb of the town of Voronezh on Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)
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Aug 3, 2010 06:05
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Butt Reactor posted:That's pretty tight, I'll have to get some pics of a small festival we've got coming up this weekend. The evening "glow" they've got planned should be very photogenic I bet Yea Glows can be very photogenic. Listen for the announcer doing the count down and start taking pics right before he has them start. Usually they do 2 types of burns, "flicker" which means they hit the burners on-off-on-off rapidly or they do 2-3 second full burn. Everything is usually kept pretty short as the pilots have to keep the air temp cool enough that they won't take off (they do tie off to trucks but I've seen a truck get dragged when the pilot went to take off and forgot to release the hold down). Here is a bonus one for the nerd in us all. 
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Aug 3, 2010 06:22
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Quantrill posted:Seeing balloons lit up at night is a sweet, sweet thing. Where was this?
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Aug 3, 2010 18:09
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 While this picture is boner-inducing on it's own, I posted it to seek an answer to a long-standing question: What the heck are those little winglets hanging down below the ailerons? All of the Red Bull Air Race planes seem to have them.
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Aug 3, 2010 20:34
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