Aviation Appreciation Station

[BlackArcher101]

mmmmmmmm warbirds drooooool

[MRCboicgy]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

The lines of the A330/340 line have always been my personal favourite too, however the champ in my opinion is the A340-500. Love the 4-holers and the A340 finally got the engines it deserved, and the dimensions just right:

Depending on the livery, the A346 could either look beautiful or ungainly with it's length

Beautiful
(sorry massive pic) http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8388/8643445659_3733b81dc9_o.jpg

Clunky (and I don't mind CX's color scheme on other craft)
http://www.airplane-pictures.net/ima...2/23/37646.jpg

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

The lines of the A330/340 line have always been my personal favourite too, however the champ in my opinion is the A340-500. Love the 4-holers and the A340 finally got the engines it deserved, and the dimensions just right

I love the colours of Thai's livery, they even make the A380 look attractive.

[Bigtime]

A little bit of "fun" occurred on the 19th here at YYC:

An American corporately registered Socata TBM 700 (N850AX) from Tulsa, OK (KTUL) to Calgary, AB (CYYC) was cleared to land runway 26 and read back the clearance correctly. The aircraft was observed to be north of runway 26 and lined up with taxiway U. Tower Controller instructed aircraft to pull up. No response from N850AX. The aircraft continued northbound and lined up with runway 28. Runway 28 was NOTAM'd closed. The aircraft was instructed to pull up and still no response. An Air Canada Airbus A320 (ACA1151) from Toronto, ON (CYYZ) to Calgary, AB (CYYC) had landed runway 34 and was rolling out for an exit at taxiway C4. Runway intersection separation may not have existed as N850AX was landing runway 28. N850AX landed runway 28 and stopped before hitting any vehicles and told Ground Control that he didn't hear any go around transmissions.

Runway 28/10 was closed at the time and had vehicles on it as they were switching it over to the new numbers of 29/10.

What a crazy scenario, and very lucky the aircraft stopped before hitting them (or the AC Airbus).

[Acey]

Jesus *****

What'd he tell ground when told he lined up for the wrong runway TWICE?

[Bigtime]

Some fantastic air to air footage:

[STeeLy]

Oh god, that is good!

[Bigtime]

Yup, I could watch a one hour version of that no problem.

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Some fantastic air to air footage:

The Lear 25B that takes all those beautiful shots:

[KelVarnsen]

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Bomba...ies/2306145/L/

FTV1 now fully painted, ready for her big performance. Congrats Bombardier.

[jeffman]

O boy looks like its almost ready to fly

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Hello Kitty plane anyone? I'll give them credit for crafting an entire Hello Kitty experience, not just a special livery. What airline couldn't use some jets named Hello Kitty Happy Music Time and Hello Kitty Speed Puff?







http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/l...ty-jets-623405

[Ironhorse]

I'd ask for a new flight if that was my plane.

What is it with the Asian infatuation with "Hello Kitty"?

[Acey]

Just did 4 flights with United and the flight attendants were geriatric and uninspired on every leg. I'd be open to this.

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Some fantastic air to air footage:

Wow, I can watch that over and over again. Amazing footage, thanks for sharing.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Some fantastic air to air footage:

That was plane porn. I blew my load at the F4 Phantom part.

[Bigtime]

I'd specifically request to fly on "Hello Kitty Speed Puff", what a sweet name for a plane. You just know it is going to get there faster than any other plane...Speed Puff power go!

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by pylon

That was plane porn. I blew my load at the F4 Phantom part.

F4 Phantoms for life. Such a sweet plane.

[Bigtime]

This is the B-58 Hustler:



The first operational Mach 2 jet bomber of the Cold War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-58_Hustler

Now besides looking really cool, they had to test the potential issues of ejecting the crew out at Mach 2 speeds. Here is what they came up with:

When the B-58 was originally produced, the crew sat on conventional ejection seats, but due to concerns over how survivable a Mach 2 ejection would be, the decision was made to install individual escape capsules for each crew member.

In order to test how survivable the capsule was at high speed and altitude, the USAF needed a human analog (modern crash test dummies were about a decade in the future), and it was determined that a bear would be the closest substitute for a human pilot.

This lead to a series of flights being conducted in 1962 with tranquilized bears strapped into ejection capsules, which were fired out of a B-58 at various speeds and altitudes to test the survivability of the escape capsules throughout the range of speeds and altitudes the B-58 could reach. After the bears were ejected from the airplanes, the capsules would automatically parachute them back to earth, at which point they were recovered by Air Force crews and examined for injuries.

Despite the fact that none of the bears were seriously injured in the ejections (the B-58 had a far better safety record with bears than with humans), none of them survived the process as they were all euthanized shortly after being recovered so autopsies could be conducted to check for internal injuries.

You just have to love the Cold War. Testing ejection seats with freaking bears.

[KelVarnsen]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

This is the B-58 Hustler:

You just have to love the Cold War. Testing ejection seats with freaking bears.

I wonder what DESS thinks above this.