Russians to Fly Superjet 100 in May

You say what is so exciting about the Russians flying a new plane? Well it just happens to be Sukhoi's Superjet 100, the fruit of almost a decade of efforts by Russia's largest warplane maker -- with big hopes to re-enter the global market for commercial aircraft (fat chance). According to Reuters, the Russians will perform the long-delayed test flight in the first half of May.

The Superjet 100 is designed to seat 75-95 passengers. The flight was originally scheduled to take place in late 2007, but was moved to 2008 for unknown communist reasons.

Also, see the comparison photo of the Boeing 787 to the Superjet 100 -- and in my opinion there really is no comparison...but interesting nonetheless.


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Phenom 300 First Flight Video and Pictures

Embraer's Phenom 300 had its first flight yesterday, pretty exciting. Check out the pictures and video of the event below. The first Phenom 300, serial number 99801 is expected to enter service in the second half 2009.

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Guy Gets Rolled by Hot Air Balloon

Funny video of a bunch of people trying to stop a hot air balloon and losing.

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Spectacular Earthrise Photos

These are some amazing shots captured using the onboard High Definition Television of the lunar explorer "KAGUYA " (SELENE) on April 6, 2008. The KAGUYA is currently flying in a lunar orbit at an altitude of about 100 km. An "Earth-rise," or the rising Earth over the Moon, was first captured by the NASA Apollo project.

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Clinton Gets Bigger Jet

The Hillary Clinton campaign recently upgraded its chartered plane from a Boeing 717, to a larger McDonnell-Douglas MD-81.

The longer, yet older aircraft offers seating for 143 passengers, versus a mere 88 seats on the smaller 717-200. The larger aircraft also provides Senator Clinton with her own entrance at the front of the plane, as well as a separate lavatory; on the 717, she had to stoop to using the same facilities as the press, at the back of the plane -- gasp. And she says Obama is the elitist.

Members of the media also now will use the rear entrance to the aircraft rather than the forward entrance on the 717. Like the 717, the new/old aircraft was chartered from Midwest Airlines, which configured the MD-81 to charter sports teams and the seats also offer increased legroom over those on the 717.

I am a bit stunned that Al Gore hasn't blasted the Clinton campaign for selecting the far less efficient MD-81 over the 717. And yes, the picture is of the actual aircraft she flies on: N805ME.

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TNT 737 Lost Gear Thanks to Distracted Crew

Poor airmanship is to blame for an accident that happened during a night time approach which occurred when a TNT Airways Boeing 737-300 lost one of its main landing gear during a balked go-around two years ago. The aircraft was on a actual instrument conditions Cat IIIA approach when air traffic control passed a company message to the crew requesting a diversion to Liverpool. The captain attempted to reply but inadvertently disconnected both autopilots.

The 737 then descended rapidly as the captain tried to re-engage the autopilots and belatedly tried to execute a go-around, but the aircraft struck the ground at 300 feet to the left of the runway centerline.

Even after the right main landing gear was gone, the aircraft became airborne again. To make matters worse, the aircraft's right and left trailing-edge flaps were stuck at 40° and 32° respectively and its messed up gear remained extended. It then diverted to Birmingham for an emergency landing, which is shown on the above video. The accident happened on June 16, 2006 and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch accident report was just released.

Also revealed in the report was that it was the Captain's first Cat IIIA approach in actual instrument conditions since being promoted from first officer four months prior. Further, the first officer did not appear to understand that he could make the go-around call. The first officer made the go-around call as the aircraft struck the ground...nice timing.

Thankfully no one on-board the aircraft was injured.

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Airbus "Reviewing" Ramp Up in A380 Deliveries

Airbus CEO Tom Enders said Airbus is reviewing its delivery targets for the A380 and they might make it happen -- raising those pesky possibilities of further delays. Airbus' targets called for 13 deliveries of the world's biggest passenger aircraft in 2008 and 25 in 2009.

The bad thing for Airbus is that it builds aircraft that are primarily with European products purchased with the Euro and a large portion of their aircraft are purchased with US Dollars, which puts it at a disadvantage to its US rival Boeing.

We will see if Airbus makes it all happen. Oh yeah, and for those of you who haven't heard, there will be hot showers available for some wealthy first-class passengers aboard Emirates A380s.

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Sweet A10 RC Airplane

Looks so real, only 1/5 the real A10 size. The $12,000 beast has with two jet turbines, three on-board microprocessors, 24 servos, a 1" OLED display in its cockpit, and a fully-functional gatling gun. At first glance, you might mistake it for a real A10.

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Crazy Fighter Jet Crash

This is an interesting video of a MiG 29 crash taken at an airshow from multiple angles, pretty amazing.

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787 Comes Out to See the World...Briefly

Over the weekend, Boeing rolled out a couple of the production 787s on a special day. The rollout marked the one year anniversary since major structural components began to come togther to make this beauty. See all the hi-res pictures below:


Images: Charles Conklin

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Drunk Passenger Duct Taped to Seat

Lesson to be learned...don't attack a flight attendant, especially when drunk. This man did not get the message though. He attacked a flight attendant and was then wrassled back into his seat by a group of passengers and crew during a United flight (#862) flight last week from Hong Kong to Los Angeles.

The unruly man was then duct-taped to his seat by several passengers aboard. Yes, he was duct taped and I think that adds another use to the already existing 1001 known uses. Needless to say, he was arrested when the plane landed in LA.

To add to his criminal charges, he injured a number of the passengers who were trying to restrain him after his outburst. There were 329 passengers, 15 flight attendants, and 4 pilots on board the United B747 flight. The name of the passenger was not released, but I've learned that he was from the Orange County, California area.

Update 3:27pm: For those of you who are concerned, this is not the picture of the dude who was strapped to the aircraft seat...it was used for illustrative purposes only. If you are so concerned, where was your concern for this post, do you think this is actually the pilot?

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SnoPo bound!

Well, I'm off to the land where Buffalo Wings were created for the 42nd Annual Snow Symposium this week. Better known as the SnoPo, this annual event is the pinnacle for aviation nerds like myself who engage the evil art of airport snow removal. While I'm in Buffalo I'll have some sketchy connections to the internet and PointNiner. If I come across anything major, I'll give it the ole' college try to post it up, otherwise Aaron will be left at the helm.

See you on Friday (hopefully),

Steve

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Lockheed flips the switch on first F-35B

Lockheed Martin announced today that they successfully completed the first power-on test of the F-35B which is the STOVL (Short TakeOff and Vertical Landing) variant of the upcoming Joint Strike Fighter. This milestone gets them even closer to a first flight scheduled sometime around early June. The test, which actually took place on April 18th, was the first time that the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine has ran while integrated to an F-35B airframe. BAE test pilot Graham Tomlinson was at the controls for the engine run that took the F135 all the way up to full military power without afterburner. Tomlinson, a Brit, will also be the first for fly the F-35B. Program officials were quite pleased with the engine run that lasted nearly one hour and included opening and closing the shaft-driven lift fan doors. Can't wait to see this baby hover.

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You Wanna Fly My Dinghy?

Always wanted a flying boat? Well step right up because here is your chance. For a mere $32,300 you can have a flying dinghy boat. Or you could go get the parts your self and risk ultimate death, which you probably are either way, and go get yourself a dinghy, handglider and a large engine with a propeller attached to the shaft. Rather than flying dinghy, the preferred name is FIB (Flying Inflatable Boat).


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How to nearly kill yourself in a F-16

Saw this one on Military.com today. Not really sure when this happened, but the video does give you a nice little introduction to the incident and there's a narration by the pilot himself. This is one lucky joystick jockey who probably had to wash out his G-suit after this incident.

Oh yeah, if you actually listen to the background music, you'll find that it's pretty amusing as well.

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Thales gives a sneak peak at I-Deck, the Airbus A350 flightdeck

At least they didn't try to call it the iDeck. That moniker is a little played out. These pictures were just released by French avionics manufacturer Thales showing its I-Deck cockpit prototyping and simulation platform. Thales will use the platform to help develop the Airbus A350 flightdeck. While this is not exactly what you may see in the actual A350, it is a start to the 6 identical 15" LCD displays that Airbus wants in the new aircraft. The actual layout will be released when the A350 design is frozen in October.


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Kid Flies RC Airplane into Cousin's Head

The video pretty much speaks for itself, but it is really funny to see this. It is not quite as dramatic as the UAV filming its own demise though.


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NASA Urges Caution Amid Soyuz Reports

In a nice politically correct move, NASA cautioned against speculation ahead of the facts after a the Russians reported the three crew members aboard Soyuz TMA-11 were in grave danger when it re-entered the atmosphere on April 19.

Reportedly, the Soyuz vehicle entered the atmosphere facing the wrong direction and suffered severe heat damage to its hatch. In a post-landing press conference, one astronaut said she was frightened by the heating glow she could see out the window. No big deal, just facing the wrong direction as you re-enter the unforgiving atmosphere. Some unnamed Russian sources said that the crew was lucky they survived. Further, the crew is suspected of experiencing over 8Gs of force due to the Soyuz capsule's ballistic trajectory, when the normal max force is 5Gs.

A similar problem occurred on TMA-10 flight, but when that capsule re-entered, the TMA-11 was already docked at the International Space Station, so nothing could be done other than to determine what caused the TMA-10 malfunction and have the crew check it out on the TMA-11 capsule. It was suspected that the TMA-10 capsule had a control cable problem.

But according to NASA, we should not believe those Russians. I suppose they would like us to not believe Russia took out that Georgian UAV too.

In the pictures: top picture is of the Soyuz TMA-11 capsule on its side after re-entry; second one is a photo of the TMA-11 capsule parachuting in after its rough re-entry; bottom one is the spent TMA-10 capsule.


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Pimped out airport vehicles tear it up to sell chocolate

My sister actually sent me this one from the land of Cadbury, who attempts to use this advertisement video to sell their chocolate? Anyway, it is pretty funny if you've ever worked at an airport or operated Ground Support Equipment and airport vehicles. These guys go ripping down the runway in a race for what, I don't know. Maybe chocolate. I guess we all know now what happens at night when all the airplanes go to sleep. Got to hand it to those Brits and the Cadbury company, this is something you'd never see on TV in the US.

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Jet engine used to melt car in another pointless video

This video definitely joins theTeddy Bear pilot video and the TSA Macbook Air video in the competition for PointNiner's Most Pointless Video Award. It's a bit too long (2 min) for what you really need to see, but it shows what happens when you let loose the full afterburner of a military turbojet on a piece of crap old car. Enjoy.

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Northrop Grumman wins again, this time for BAMS

Northrop Grumman has done it again. After a highly contentious victory over Boeing for the KC-X program, Northrop Grumman has won another high profile, high dollar contract with the Pentagon, this time with the US Navy for the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) aircraft. Northrop, with its sweet Global Hawk proposal, beat out Boeing once again on this one along with a Lockheed Martin-General Atomics team following a grueling 89 month competition. The $1.16 billion contract will initially provide the Navy with two Global Hawks equipped with the BAMS suite of electro-optical and 360 degree Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS) active electronically scanned array capabilities. This will give the Navy what it likes to call maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) data. Another follow-on phase could include additional aircraft for the Navy.

I've gotta say, I have been a huge Global Hawk fan from the beginning. I've been truly impressed with it's abilities such as 24 hour loiter time and 60k+ foot ceiling. Plus, it just looks menacing. This is just another notch in the belt of Northrop Grumman who seems unbeatable right now.

Click here for a sweet BAMS video produced by Northrop Grumman.

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So You Want to Be an Astronaut

Well now is your chance. The European Space Agency kicked off a new campaign to expand and renew the European Astronaut Corps. EAC head Michel Tognini said the ESA is wanting to add four new astronauts and four backups to the EAC.

This new campaign is all thanks to the several existing astronauts busy with the Columbus orbital lab and the first of EU's Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV) space boats docked at the ISS. Step right up.

The campaign is being directed at preparing the ISS for a full six astronaut operation and to begin human exploration of infinity and beyond the moon and Mars.

Please note you must be between 27-37 years old and be a resident of one of the ESA's 17 member states. If you feel that you meet those qualifications, please visit the application website. It is expected that 20,000-30,000 will apply, so get going.

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Mini F-15 just as lethal

I laughed out loud the first time I saw this video this morning. Check out this RC (remote controlled) F-15 as it takes off in a grass field. I'm not sure if the plane goes in the wrong direction or if the crowd is in the wrong location, but either way, it gets very interesting very quickly. One guy nearly looses his head before the tiny wonder buzzes the rest of the crowd. Must have a Predator pilot at the controls. Good stuff.

On another note, it's been quite a day for videos on PointNiner.

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Air Force 2 gives media a mouthful of jet blast

Having worked several "VIP" airport visits and dealing with the media during them, this video makes me laugh and feel all warm inside. On April 11th, this group of local media photographers and reporters got a little lesson in Pratt & Whitney power as Dick Cheney's ride taxis out for departure. Never found out where this happened though.

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Hawker 4000 (Horizon) Deliveries Imminent

Without giving an exact date, the officials over at Hawker Beechcraft indicated that deliveries of the Hawker 4000, formerly Hawker Horizon, would begin "soon." It was first reported that the deliveries would begin in 30 to 45 days, however, that story was retracted, probably because it was too accurate or not vague enough. Either way, to give you an idea of how long it takes from product announcement to delivery...the Hawker Horizon program was announced in 1996 and was officially renamed the Hawker 4000 when it was first on display in November 2005 at the NBAA convention. And now, 12 years later, Netjets, among others, will be flying this cool bird.

Here are some specs:

• Crew: 2 pilots
• Capacity: 8 passengers typical, 12 maximum
• Length: 69 ft 2 in (21.1 m)
• Wingspan: 61 ft 9 in (18.8 m)
• Height: 19 ft 7 in (6.0 m)
• Empty weight: 23,500 lb (10,659 kg)
• Loaded weight: 26,000 lb (11,793 kg)
• Useful load: 16,200 lb (7,348 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 39,500 lb (17,917 kg)
• Powerplant:Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308A turbofan, 6,900
• Maximum Speed: Mach: 0.84 (482 kn)
• Cruise speed: Mach 0.82 (470 kn)
• Range: 3,280 NM (6,075 km)
• Service Ceiling: 45,000 ft (13,716 m)

UAV Films Own Demise as Russian MiG Shoots it Down

In this video a Russian MiG-29 fighter aircraft shows up, squeezes off an little air-to-air missle and blows a Georgian UAV out of the sky... on camera.

So we have a Russian MiG taking out a ex-Soviet Georgian unarmed UAV that was doing basic surveillance over Georgian soil (according to the Georgians). Whether that is true or not, I would imagine the political fallout over this incident could get ugly. Seems that there is a bit of unrest over there to begin with. But we can give a big thanks to the Russians and Georgians for this nice video.

Oh, and the Russian's response: "Nonsense. What would a Russian jet be doing over Georgian territory?"

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Aircraft Struck by Lightning in Mid Air

I found this video taken at the right place and right time. The video shows an aircraft being struck by lightning in mid air. If you look closely, it looks like the lightning strikes the tail, then travels forward along the fuselage, ending at the nose, and continuing on to the ground. You can also see a little "spark" trail off the aircraft's tail after it is struck.

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RAF Instructor Fined for Buzzing Pro Golfers

Royal Air Force (RAF) flight instructor Flt. Lt. Rodriquez (pictured above) plead guilty last week during a court martial hearing regarding his low altitude stunt flight with a student pilot on board over an Open golf championship at Carnoustie in Scotland. Reportedly, Rodriguez brought his Grob trainer to around 400 feet AGL and buzzed 30,000+ people who had gathered to watch the golf action. The area was protected by a temporary "no fly" zone, although Rodriguez was conveniently unaware of said restriction (regardless shouldn't common sense kick in?).

Rodriguez was no slouch pilot either, he had accumulated over 1600 flight hours, including time logged as part of a refueling coalition over Iraq. Also, it turns out Rodriguez was an avid golfer. He was fined 1,500 British pounds ($2951.40 USD). The funniest part is that, unknown to Rodriguez, a spy satellite was tracking his flight and recorded every movement, cementing his fate.

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Lancair Legacy Crash

Lancair Legacy that departed the Sun 'n Fun Fly-in and airshow at Lakeland, Fla., April 13 may have done so with an open canopy, as you can see in the above picture. The Legacy (N1177M) departed Lakeland on runway 27 in VFR conditions. Witnesses said that the pilot and sole occupant appeared to have difficulty closing the canopy. One witness even saw the canopy moving up and down between six and twelve inches. Shortly after takeoff, nearly 1/4 mile from Lakeland airport, the engine apparently lost power and the aircraft continued straight and level before pitching down 40 degrees and crashing beyond a tree line.

The pilot, Gerard Scholnik, died as a result of the accident and post-crash fire. Truly sad. The other crazy thing is that the EAA had just given that aircraft an award for Outstanding Homebuilt Aircraft for 2008.

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Pelican shatters Aussie F-111

There is no way that General Dynamics designed the F-111 to fly like this. And certainly by all accounts, the flight crew of this aircraft should have bit the hard one after it struck a pelican at 3,000 ft during a mock bomb run last Friday on April 11. It sure does give you a clear picture, though, of what hitting a 30 lb bird at 340 mph can do. This Royal Australian Air Force F-111 had its nose cone completely shredded by the impact leaving an interesting unwoven fiberglass wicker Gonzo nose in it's place. The pelican then hit the leading edge of the right wing before becoming ingested in the #2 engine causing a subsequent flameout. Rough day. The crew is being heralded by the RAAF as heroes for maintaining control of this wicked shimmy after the incident, which occurred just West of Brisbane. News.com.au is reporting that the aircraft could fly again by next month. Nice job, mates.







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Even more sweet new Delta logos (hopefully)

If you liked the post on Tuesday of what the new Delta could look like after the proposed merger with Northwest, check these babies out. Again, the Delta widget and Northwest compass are blended together just nicely to preserve each airline's heritage. Delta would have to be crazy not to go with these very high quality conceptions by artist J.R. Heilig.



The first one shows a NWA 747-400 repainted in a beautiful new Delta livery.



This second one is what a Delta 777 would look like repainted in the new colors.

I happen to love them both, which means Delta will go a completely opposite direction with a new livery.

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The real truth behind flight delays

This was actually from an edition of The Onion last year, but I thought it would be pretty relevant given recent events with the airlines. And to think, we haven't even hit the busy season yet.

Enjoy.

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Airbus Files Trijet Patent

Airbus filed a patent application for a commercial trijet aircraft, bringing back all those fond feelings from Boeing's 727, McDonnell Douglas' DC-10, and Lockheed's L1011 -- otherwise known as the ghosts of trijet past. Though some of the above aircraft still operate, airline manufacturers have not designed a trijet in over 20 years due to the increased power, reliability, and efficiency of turbofan engines.

The patent was filed on March 27 and it shows (as you can see above) a new trijet design featuring that distinctive (and not very pretty) noise shielding tail structure. Noise was another reason the trijet faded away, that engine mounted over the rear of the aircraft made the aft passenger cabin rather noisy. Also, the third engine was just another gas guzzler at the time. Airbus seems to think that because they will be able to use three smaller engines as opposed to two larger engines, it will have a competitive fuel burn with any modern two engine aircraft.

Don't go thinking that Airbus will be rolling out the A370 tomorrow or anything, as patents are usually filed to protect a company's engineering designs that may or may not ever take shape in the real world.

Image: Flightglobal

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Airline threw a Jew for plane prayer

The ACLU is going to eat this one up. According to the local NYC ABC affiliate, United Airlines booted an Orthodox Jewish man off a plane at JFK Wednesday night because he was saying his prayers during passenger boarding. Before the flight to San Fran even left the ground, the "suspect" moved to the back of the plane to say his prayers. The Flight Attendants apparently didn't like this and asked him to return to his seat. The man, unfazed by the demands, didn't stop praying. A few of the man's friends explained to the crew that once he started his 2 minute prayers, he couldn't stop them. Though he explained afterwards that he was fulfilling his religious rituals and not trying to be rude, the airline still booted him from the flight. United put the man on another flight the next day.

As a 1/8th Jewish man myself, I call upon the Hebrew Hammer for some Jew Justice up on this.

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Shoot a Gun in the Cockpit, You're Fired

Remember Capt. James Langenhahn, the pilot who accidentally discharged his firearm in the cockpit of a US Airways aircraft prior to landing at Charlotte, NC? If you don't, read this first.

Well it turns out he will be fired, but not without a fight. Langenhahn maintains it was a mere accident, nothing intentional, and further it did not damage the anything crucial on board the aircraft (other than that small puncture wound of the hull, you know, nothing important).

Langenhahn is 55 years old and did not disclose how long he has been a pilot for US Airways, but he described himself as a veteran pilot. Maybe the better alternative for US Air to take would be to require that Langenhahn drop out of the Federal Flight Deck Officer program, ergo, no gun, and still let him do his original job. After all, he is only 5 years away from mandatory retirement anyhow.

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F-16 friendly fire incident...in Utah!

This is really the type of story you'd expect to hear about in Iraq or Afghanistan, not Utah. An F-16 from Hill AFB in Utah was involved in a friendly fire incident when the pilot opened fire on an SUV with two Army soldiers in it during a night training mission in the Utah Test and Training Range according to the Salt Lake Tribune. The incident, which occurred on April 8, happened while the F-16 pilot was practicing attacks on ground targets. It is common practice for the Air Force to leave abandoned vehicles and old military equipment on the range for Viper drivers to shoot/fire missiles/drop bombs on. The two Army soldiers received minor injuries during bailout of their Avis rental SUV (which subsequently crashed) while the F-16 strafed it with its 20 mm cannon. An investigation by the 388th Fighter Wing is underway to ascertain whether the soldiers were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or if the pilot fired upon the wrong vehicle. The soldiers are a part of a Joint Terminal Attack Control unit from Fort Lewis, WA who were supposed to be directing aircraft fire to ground targets. The best part of this story is that the two Army soldiers combat duties include working to prevent "friendly fire" mishaps. Whoops.

This F-16 unit has now entered the pool with the Oklahoma ANG F-16 unit, who bombs Tulsa apartment complexes, in the running for the annual FUBAR cluster championship.

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