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The Aviators Thread

DoctorEvil
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Pascal S Pascal S
With China now exploring ground effect technology with its own take on the old ekranoplan concept, I wouldn't be surprised to see more countries, starting with the US, replicating this engineering in their own projects. After all, even with the Soviet Union's limited funding, it had shown promise.
Chinese-WIG-craft-crop.webp
I wonder which make and model is that aircraft?
Yes, the Ekranoplan is an interesting concept. It could potentially be used to transport passengers across big lakes or shorter routes over the sea, between islands. Much quicker and smoother than a ferry I'd imagine.
 
Pascal S
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It's been nicknamed the Bohai Sea Monster by the Western media, but not much is known about this aircraft.

Ekranoplans also have interesting characteristics when it comes to a military vessel. They fly so low that they are hard to spot on radar, and by just skimming the waves they are oblivious to sea mines and most other submarine threats. And thanks to the ground effect, they can actually lift heavy loads with a limited consumption of fuel. It's just getting them in the air that requires a shitload of power. For example, the Soviet era A-90 Orlyonok had three engines: two turbofans in the front and one massive turboprop in the tail, but it only required the latter once in sustained flight.

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Edited:
 
JimInOz
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DoctorEvil DoctorEvil
Clearly more robust measures needed. Maybe legislate that it's an offence to operate a drone within 1km of a Defence facility, and that any drones detected within that range would be liable to being shot down.
It's restricted airspace anyway, so drone operators are already in contravention.

Williamtown (NTL) airspace is about to change anyway.

NTLCAS.webp


https://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/2023/11/changes-to-williamtown-airspace/
 
SpeedyPhill
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The supersonic Anglo-French Concorde was the only aircraft to be able to stay in the full shadow of a Solar eclips. Concorde could fly three hours at Mach 2+ without refueling!
In June 1973, scientists put a telescope in the upper fuselage of Concorde 001, which departed Las Palmas in the Canary islands to follow the large arc of the Solar eclips over North Africa. Flying at 2202 Km/Hr the Concorde caught the 250 Km wide Moon's umbra over Mauritania flying Eastwards to land 45 minutes later at Ndjamena in Chad.
During this scientific flight, Concorde was piloted by famous test pilot André Turcat !
 
MRC
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SpeedyPhill SpeedyPhill
The supersonic Anglo-French Concorde was the only aircraft to be able to stay in the full shadow of a Solar eclips. Concorde could fly three hours at Mach 2+ without refueling!
In June 1973, scientists put a telescope in the upper fuselage of Concorde 001, which departed Las Palmas in the Canary islands to follow the large arc of the Solar eclips over North Africa. Flying at 2202 Km/Hr the Concorde caught the 250 Km wide Moon's umbra over Mauritania flying Eastwards to land 45 minutes later at Ndjamena in Chad.
During this scientific flight, Concorde was piloted by famous test pilot André Turcat !
001 was the first Concorde to fly (rather obviously...), and is now on view at Le Bourget Airport in Paris.

F-WTSS
 
MRC
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DH88 Comet flying today 2026-Aug-16, Damnit I wish I'd been there, one of my favourite aircraft!

G-ACSS in 2016 with Alex Henshaw's Mew Gull.
P8290439m.webp
 
MRC
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MRC MRC
DH88 Comet flying today 2026-Aug-16, Damnit I wish I'd been there, one of my favourite aircraft!

G-ACSS in 2016 with Alex Henshaw's Mew Gull.
P8290439m.webp
UUh-oh, I posted that link before watching.
BBC report
 
DoctorEvil
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Fallout Boy Fallout Boy
take off runway overrun munich


the end:

That was a close shave. It reminded me of a similar incident which happened some years ago at Tullamarine airport in Melbourne, Australia. It resulted in the tail striking an ILS antenna at the end of the runway. The cause was incorrect data entry into the aircraft's computer, resulting in lower than expected thrust on take off. It was the first time I learnt that commercial jet airliners don't take off with maximum available thrust!
https://www.thetimes.com/travel/des...ates-flight-disappears-from-radar-5qlnmfw0bqk
 
JimInOz
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No excuses, no discussions, no interviews, simply:

"On their return to Dubai, the pilots said Emirates officials handed them prepared letters of resignation."
 
DoctorEvil
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JimInOz JimInOz
No excuses, no discussions, no interviews, simply:

"On their return to Dubai, the pilots said Emirates officials handed them prepared letters of resignation."
It reminds me of one of the regulations from my old flying club, if I remember correctly:
"No excuse will be accepted for taxiing accidents"!
 
Fallout Boy
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What's going wrong with the altitude callouts in the cockpit? how often are their checks scheduled and calibrated?
 
JimInOz
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Fallout Boy Fallout Boy
What's going wrong with the altitude callouts in the cockpit? how often are their checks scheduled and calibrated?
Too busy showing each other the new Rolex GMTs they picked up on their last stopover.
 
SpeedyPhill
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Great to see NASA is still operating at least one of three Martin WB-57F Canberra surveillance aircraft. Based at NASA JSC Ellington Field - Houston Texas.
These have been by NASA used since March 1972, and before that the US Air Force used the B-57 to check-out and photograph Apollo Saturn V launches!
NASA used the WB-57F to sample the exhausts of the Concorde airliner, in Earth surveillance surveys, to photograph celestial events (e.g. the recent Solar eclips from Iceland) and now has the aircraft adorned with the " 250 years stars " logo.
Note the CASIO MRW200-HB-3BV Mil watch is still part of the David Clark pressure suits!
(photo: NASA 2026)
CASIO-NASA-MWU.webp
 
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