This day in Aviation

[PeteC]

Actually no, it must be a recent photo. They are all wearing masks. I didn't think they still flew the older engined models anymore.

I've just looked this up and I was a bit shocked to see that those things are still in service with old Pratt & Whitney JT3's, engines that make so much noise that you feel like your fillings are going to fall out if you're any where near one taking off!

Yes, the USAF designates the JT3's as TF33's. Many on B52 bombers and KC135 tankers ( which were a 707 version) and DC 8's back in the day. They used to throw out enough black smoke to cloud the entire flight line, as well as rattle your teeth as you say.

[Dannie Boy]

The first flight I took was from London Gatwick to Palma Majorca in about 1970 or 71 on a Boeing 707 - back then it was a pretty good/big aircraft - I think my next flight was on a BAC 1-11, which was more like a coach with wings on!!

[STEVE G]

Actually no, it must be a recent photo. They are all wearing masks. I didn't think they still flew the older engined models anymore.

I've just looked this up and I was a bit shocked to see that those things are still in service with old Pratt & Whitney JT3's, engines that make so much noise that you feel like your fillings are going to fall out if you're any where near one taking off!

Yes, the USAF designates the JT3's as TF33's. Many on B52 bombers and KC135 tankers ( which were a 707 version) and DC 8's back in the day. They used to throw out enough black smoke to cloud the entire flight line, as well as rattle your teeth as you say.

The joint NATO AWACS fleet still flies them on E3A's based out of Germany. Because Luxembourg financially contributes to this project but doesn't really gain from it as they don't have an air force, once a year they do a few touch and go landings here to show the locals what they're paying for and rattle teeth!

[Thailightzone]

The first flight I took was from London Gatwick to Palma Majorca in about 1970 or 71 on a Boeing 707 - back then it was a pretty good/big aircraft - I think my next flight was on a BAC 1-11, which was more like a coach with wings on!!

Sadly I never flew on the 707, but I did fly in a British Caledonian BAC 1-11 from Amsterdam to Gatwick.


Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

[PeteC]

I believe these are the same engines we're talking about. The smoke you see though is about half of what was thrown out by the B52D model during the Vietnam war.

[STEVE G]

On the subject of large ugly aircraft, we had one of these on the ramp the other day:

20210220_122842a.jpg (31.2 KiB) Viewed 675 times

[PeteC]

That's not an Antonov, is it?

[pharvey]

That's not an Antonov, is it?

I was going to say the same after the 1st photo, but the 2nd photo gave me some doubts.....

[dtaai-maai]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-124_Ruslan

An-124_RA-82028_in_formation_with_Su-27_09-May-2010_(cropped).jpg (14.47 KiB) Viewed 640 times

[PeteC]

Ok, the AN-225 is the big sucker with the six engines and a few dozen wheels, the biggest cargo plane in existence.

[STEVE G]

Yes, it's an Antonov An124, it's been into Luxembourg a few times recently. I don't know what they're flying, large heavy cases, probably German machine tools or something of that nature. You don't charter one of those unless you have to!

[Nereus]

I will just post the link to this as it is a long article. Probably the worst disaster Thai Airlines has ever had.
...............................................................................................................
Thai Airways flight TG311 Airbus A310-300, HS-TID Langtang, Nepal 31 July 1992

https://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/2 ... -the-mind/

Thai Airways flight TG311 had disappeared without trace while circling after a missed approach to Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan Airport early in the afternoon of Friday 31 July 1992. Not until Sunday morning did reports come in from the rugged and sparsely populated Langtang region of aircraft wreckage at the base of an 800-metre cliff. Local people had heard an unexplained thunderclap but seen nothing through the overcast.

[Nereus]

Not recent, but maybe of interest. (Look out for STEVE G checking the aircraft!)
..............................................................................................................
Cargolux completes beluga whale flight

https://www.aircargonews.net/airlines/f ... le-flight/

Cargolux has successfully completed the transport of two former captive whales, Little Grey and Little White, to Iceland following a 6,000 mile flight from China.

The SEA LIFE Trust confirmed that Little Grey and Little White arrived yesterday afternoon at Keflavik Airport after having successfully completed the first leg of their landmark journey.

The whales will now continue by truck and ferry to their new home, a large sanctuary in a natural bay on Heimaey, one of the Westman Islands, located off the southern coast of Iceland.

The two belugas were transported in custom-made slings designed to their exact physical requirements, and were then placed in tailored containers.

After a lorry trip from Changfeng Ocean World to Shanghai Pu Dong airport, the whales were loaded onto a specially branded Cargolux freighter.

long article at link.............................................

phpV4yzJsAM.jpg (32.08 KiB) Viewed 499 times

[PeteC]

Seems more common these days, but fun to watch regardless. What may be coming around that last corner....not a few big rigs I hope.

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2022/ ... rig-jk.cnn


Pilot's GoPro captures emergency landing on highway

After Vincent Fraser's engine began to fail, he was forced to land on a highway in North Carolina.

[Nereus]

Not so much "this day" as more to do with the future. Long article at the link:

https://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/2 ... -aircraft/

Stranger things – Electric VTOL aircraft

They are coming to a sky near you, using the features and limitations of their technology to create a new form of aviation

Roads?
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!
– Emmett ‘Doc’ Brown in Back to the Future

Catch me if you can

The world’s advanced aerial mobility (AAM) landscape is bursting at the seams with new developments – and safety authorities are well aware of the need to keep up.

The convergence of drone, car, aircraft, advanced computer and new fuel technologies is creating a breathtakingly diverse and unconventional environment – an environment where safety of participants is still paramount, regulatory structure to support safe flight still necessary and infrastructure (both physical and procedural) still needs to be developed.

However, it is the very unconventional nature of the landscape that provokes both excitement and reticence and presents the greatest challenges to aviation’s century-old status quo.

Unconvential

Quadcopters, tri-copters, box-configuration electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, folding-wing, folding-rotor, multirotor, short take-off and landing very light jets, tilt rotors, ducted-fan models, hover bikes and all manner of in-between and hybrid variants – unconventional aircraft configurations are fast materialising.

As the aviation industry seeks to move to cleaner fuel options, limitations of conventional non-fossil fuel technologies are apparent. Until such time as sustainable aviation fuels can fill the tanks of airliners, or that longed-for quantum shift in battery technology enables electrification of 737 fleets, many pioneers of advanced aerial mobility technologies, developers and investors, are looking to disrupt personal mobility norms to create viable markets for their smaller electrically propelled product. Historically, grassroots developments can be what ultimately drives larger commercial applications.

SOME DESIGNS CLAIM TO USE FEWER KILOWATTS PER HOUR OF ENERGY IN CRUISE THAN AN ELECTRIC CAR.

VTOL CRAFT … DO NOT REQUIRE THE EXTRAORDINARY SKILL OF A HELI PILOT TO SUCCESSFULLY TAKE-OFF, FLY AND LAND SAFELY.

more..........................>>>>>>>>>