The Aircraft Thread!

[quatermass]

I remember the televised protests in the States when Concord was a thing (not having a pop at the US, it was what it was). Later years driving around Heathrow on the M25 when it was taking off and it looked had a purpose even within a few hundred feet off the ground, could have sworn I saw afterburners. Other airliners would be labouring up in comparison (it appeared so I know it was not so) and Concorde was off like a rat up a drain pipe.

Then at the right time of day (further to the west off the UK) you would get the thumps in the distance as the sound barrier was passed a few times out to sea.

Oh well. Bring on its successor where ever it is.

Years ago, I worked on a project for the CAA/NATS in the UK. We got shown around the control tower at Heathrow, including the radar rooms and finally, up into the tower. It was just dusk, and Concorde was taking off, and yes, full afterburners! Quite incredible to see a passenger aircraft hurtle down the runway with 4 12-foot blue flames out the back... and off it went, stunningly quick. Not long after that, an aircraft that had recently taken off declared an emergency and requested a return to Heathrow. Smooth as you like, not even a raised eyebrow, the ATC's shuffled the aircraft around in what I can only describe as aerial choreography to make a gap for him in the pattern. Safely landed, they shuffled everyone back and nobody even noticed. As slick, confident and professional as you'll ever see.

I now live in rural Hungary, where sonic booms are quite common, from Gripens or MiG 29's. I'm sure they shouldn't be doing it but what the hell - it's an awesome sound and I love it! Sounds like the cast iron door to Hell being slammed shut! Makes the windows rattle and the roof tiles jump!

 

[lowendlinux]

Years ago, I worked on a project for the CAA/NATS in the UK. We got shown around the control tower at Heathrow, including the radar rooms and finally, up into the tower. It was just dusk, and Concorde was taking off, and yes, full afterburners! Quite incredible to see a passenger aircraft hurtle down the runway with 4 12-foot blue flames out the back... and off it went, stunningly quick. Not long after that, an aircraft that had recently taken off declared an emergency and requested a return to Heathrow. Smooth as you like, not even a raised eyebrow, the ATC's shuffled the aircraft around in what I can only describe as aerial choreography to make a gap for him in the pattern. Safely landed, they shuffled everyone back and nobody even noticed. As slick, confident and professional as you'll ever see.

I now live in rural Hungary, where sonic booms are quite common, from Gripens or MiG 29's. I'm sure they shouldn't be doing it but what the hell - it's an awesome sound and I love it! Sounds like the cast iron door to Hell being slammed shut! Makes the windows rattle and the roof tiles jump!

A coworker of mine retired to lake Balaton while his area isn't rural from the picture I've seen of that area of Hungary it's a place I need to go.

 

[cube]

Speaking of big planes, have we not discussed the new Airbus Beluga?

View attachment 773632

I read it is supposed to be used for transporting huge cargo. I wonder how long of a runway this thing needs to take off when fully loaded...

That is the old one. I posted a video about the new one previously.

 

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1:1.5

 

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After a couple flight replacements for other airlines, Norwegian hired the HiFly A380 for some weeks while some 787 get inspected.

The latter immediately showed that JFK does not have enough A380 gates (besides lack of capacity in general).

After that it will operate for a couple weeks for Air Austral for the same reason.


The partial stripping of two Dr. Peters A380 was approved by over 99% of the investors, who would then already make a profit of 45% to 55%.

 

[jaduff46]

Grats!
[doublepost=1532123776][/doublepost]One of my favorite historical aircraft from the Cold War is the B-58 Hustler, mostly because of it's astetics, but also because it was the tip of the airborne nuclear spear. Trivia: This was the aircraft used by the US in the movie, Fail Safe, if I recall correctly.

More entries to come!

View attachment 771816

View attachment 771817

View attachment 771818
The landing gear- What a mess​

I loved this aircraft when it cameout. Don’t believe it had the longest life, but can’t remember what the issues were. Incredibly fast for its era.

 

[jaduff46]

I'm surprised I don't see any more love for the SR-71 family.

Designed and built with late fifties/early sixties technology, and still unsurpassed.

Really my favorite aircraft of all time, even more so than the subsequent Stealth ones. Nice shot of it here.

 

[cube]

Half a year after the first A330-300P2F, the first A330-200P2F has been delivered.

Next year, the A321P2F will be ready and the A320P2F has also been ordered.

737-800BCF has been delivered recently.

There seems to be interest in an A330neo freighter.

A330-900neo EIS is imminent.

A330-800neo first flight will be this year, reusing the engines.

In 2020, the 251t A330neo will be ready.

The A350-900 started service last Saturday (Iberia MAD-JFK).

A350-1000 got beyond-180 ETOPS (A350-900 already had it).

The first A350-900ULR will be delivered by next month.

 

[Huntn]

I'm surprised I don't see any more love for the SR-71 family.

Designed and built with late fifties/early sixties technology, and still unsurpassed.

Here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/the-aircraft-thread.2128571/page-3#post-26277322

 

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A330 MRTT refueled Su-30.

 

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It looks like many planes will miss the ADS-B deadline, especially in Europe.

 

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90-seat Q400 cabin configuration has been certified.

 

[LizKat]

A Q400 was stolen by an airline employee at Sea-Tac yesterday evening and taken into flight... and it was promptly tailed by two F-15s from Oregon and Washington Air National Guard. The local ATC tried to talk him into making a controlled landing with their assistance at Lewis-McChord (a nearby military airfield) but he either had intended suicide or became reluctant to face consequences and anyway had seemed intent on flying some stunts while up there, seemed alarmed at how fast the fuel was being used up. He may not have had great flying skills. The plane crashed 30 miles from airport in islands area of south Puget Sound.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...ttle-tacoma-international-airport-has-crashed
​

The plane was the 76-seat model Q400 like the one pictured below. The employee who took the plane had worked ground service for Horizon, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines.

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/our-aircraft/q400​

 

[cube]

There is video of one stunt similar to the ones a regular plane could perform at trade shows.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

A Q400 was stolen by an airline employee at Sea-Tac yesterday evening and taken into flight... and it was promptly tailed by two F-15s from Oregon and Washington Air National Guard. The local ATC tried to talk him into making a controlled landing with their assistance at Lewis-McChord (a nearby military airfield) but he either had intended suicide or became reluctant to face consequences and anyway had seemed intent on flying some stunts while up there, seemed alarmed at how fast the fuel was being used up. He may not have had great flying skills. The plane crashed 30 miles from airport in islands area of south Puget Sound.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...ttle-tacoma-international-airport-has-crashed
​

The plane was the 76-seat model Q400 like the one pictured below. The employee who took the plane had worked ground service for Horizon, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines.

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/our-aircraft/q400​

Yes, I read about that; a disgruntled and embittered employee determined to end his life dramatically and dangerously.

The consequences can be far worse, though, when trained pilots with 'issues' decide to try to pull that sort of thing; if memory serves, there have been a few such cases over the past decade.

 

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It seems it was not a mechanic but a tug operator.

 

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Well, Widerøe is getting ADS-B Out and FMS upgrades on their Dash 8's (announced some months ago).

 

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The stunt might have been a good ad for the L3 Q400 MMA.

 

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First Q400's approved to be registered in Nepal.

 

[Glideslope]

Really my favorite aircraft of all time, even more so than the subsequent Stealth ones. Nice shot of it here.

Could not agree more. Kelly Johnson and his team contributed more to aviation than most will ever know. His presence can still be felt.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

As an airline pilot this has got to be the best thread ever! I will post an introduction later.

It should be easier to fly nowadays with computer help.

It really depends on the aircraft.

What about piloting a DC-10 or the upgrade MD-11?

I was not fond of flying in passenger DC-10s since they seemed early on to have a lot of safety issues, I guess they evened out after longer experience but I sometimes inconvenienced myself to avoid flying in them.

I've jump seated on many MD-10Fs (upgraded DC-10Fs) and MD-11Fs from FedEx and MD-11Fs from UPS and they are like taking a trip back in time. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it is cool to see the older aircraft upgraded with newer electronics. Truthfully the worse part about jump seating on them is that it isn't a direct flight between LAS and JFK.

In the US, with the focus on frequency, I really disliked the substantial move to much smaller 50-70 seat aircraft that were not nearly as spacious, using aircraft that were originally designed for short flights, now being used for 3 hour + flights in cramped quarters.

Try jump seating on them, it is even worse!

It was not the airlines. Supersonic operation over the US was forbidden.

I assume this only applies to commercial aircraft? Have you ever been to Las Vegas during Red Flag operations?

I remain an admirer of Chuck Yeager, and --all things considered including the inherent risks in test flights of experimental aircraft-- I am amazed that he's managed to reach the age of 95. He must think at least sometimes that we've become too risk averse (regarding human flight prospects anyway) to take full advantage of innate desire to explore the skies. On the other hand maybe in his advanced age he figures he's been living under at least a few so-called "lucky stars"

Chuck Yeager is awesome! The more I read about him the more I admire him.

A Q400 was stolen by an airline employee at Sea-Tac yesterday evening and taken into flight... and it was promptly tailed by two F-15s from Oregon and Washington Air National Guard. The local ATC tried to talk him into making a controlled landing with their assistance at Lewis-McChord (a nearby military airfield) but he either had intended suicide or became reluctant to face consequences and anyway had seemed intent on flying some stunts while up there, seemed alarmed at how fast the fuel was being used up. He may not have had great flying skills. The plane crashed 30 miles from airport in islands area of south Puget Sound.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...ttle-tacoma-international-airport-has-crashed
​

The plane was the 76-seat model Q400 like the one pictured below. The employee who took the plane had worked ground service for Horizon, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines.

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/our-aircraft/q400​

I first saw the videos people posted on Facebook and I thought it Bombardier was doing some testing on the Q400. It wasn't until the next day I saw that the aircraft was stolen.

Yes, I read about that; a disgruntled and embittered employee determined to end his life dramatically and dangerously.

The consequences can be far worse, though, when trained pilots with 'issues' decide to try to pull that sort of thing; if memory serves, there have been a few such cases over the past decade.

Was there another one besides Germanwings Flight 9525?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

As an airline pilot this has got to be the best thread ever! I will post an introduction later.

It really depends on the aircraft.

I've jump seated on many MD-10Fs (upgraded DC-10Fs) and MD-11Fs from FedEx and MD-11Fs from UPS and they are like taking a trip back in time. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it is cool to see the older aircraft upgraded with newer electronics. Truthfully the worse part about jump seating on them is that it isn't a direct flight between LAS and JFK.

Try jump seating on them, it is even worse!

I assume this only applies to commercial aircraft? Have you ever been to Las Vegas during Red Flag operations?

Chuck Yeager is awesome! The more I read about him the more I admire him.

I first saw the videos people posted on Facebook and I thought it Bombardier was doing some testing on the Q400. It wasn't until the next day I saw that the aircraft was stolen.

Was there another one besides Germanwings Flight 9525?

It has been argued - or, I read an article to that effect (in the Guardian, I think) - that the Indian Ocean one was also a suicide. The piece I read suggested that the flight path was strange, and apparently included a long detour to fly over, or near to, the place where the pilot had grown up - before heading out over the Indian Ocean.

 

[cube]

Ryanair will open a base at Southend next year (55 flights per week).

Given what's going on at Heathrow, I guess legacy flights to European hubs would be welcome.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

We were navigating between thunderstorms, when I noticed an opposite direction New York based airliner flying right into a thunderstorm. I told the First Officer, Look at that!. The next thing we heard on the radio. Flight XXX, declaring an emergency, emergency decent! We looked at each other and made a sarcastic comment about the skill of their pilots. Yes, they survived, but I don’t know if they continued to destination or diverted, nor know if anyone bounced off the ceiling.

Was it JetBlue?
[doublepost=1534177843][/doublepost]

It has been argued - or, I read an article to that effect (in the Guardian, I think) - that the Indian Ocean one was also a suicide. The piece I read suggested that the flight path was strange, and apparently included a long detour to fly over, or near to, the place where the pilot had grown up - before heading out over the Indian Ocean.

Are you talking about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370? If not I am curious which flight because I don't remember hearing about anything in the Indian Ocean aside from MH370.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Was it JetBlue?
[doublepost=1534177843][/doublepost]
Are you talking about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370? If not I am curious which flight because I don't remember hearing about anything in the Indian Ocean aside from MH370.

Yes, I believe that was the flight - I had forgotten the actual name & number of the flight, so thank you for the reminder.

An article I read posited the argument that rather than an unexplained and tragic accident, that the peculiar flight path might have offered clues to the pilot's state of mind, especially when it was realised that it passed close (on a detour) to the place where it was thought he grew up, or lived in.