Speed Record Shattered By Nemesis

For years I have thought that the Nemesis NXT was THE sexiest piston racer in the sky and now Jon Sharp has flown this little carbon fiber beauty into the record books at Oshkosh. Yesterday he and his aircraft broke a speed record that had been in place for 19 years when they roared down Runway 18/36 during EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh covering three kilometers in just 18.75 seconds for a speed of 356 mph. This beat the previous 3Km C1-b Speed Blast category by 25 mph. Thousands of fans at AirVenture were able to watch this record breaking flight that may only be a prelude to an even faster run on Saturday. Flying in a different category, Sharp will be able to "hang every speed modification they can" on the Nemesis for that run.

(AVweb)
Photo By Victor G. Archer

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First H-Series BUFF gets retired

After more than 45 years of service, the US Air Force has retired its first B-52H on July 24 seen here departing for Tinker AFB on its final flight. Built in 1961, this BUFF, tail number LA1023, served with the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB but was temporarily residing at Minot AFB due to parking limitations at Barksdale. This is the first of 18 retirements set to take place every two weeks and alternating between wings at Barksdale and Minot, the only remaining B-52 bases. The move will reduce the Air Force's fleet of Stratofortesses from 94 to 76 in an attempt to shave off maintenance and operational expenses. "It is easier and cheaper to modify and maintain 76 planes, than to keep all 94 up and running," said Master Sgt. Curtis Jensen, 5th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron production superintendent. The 18 chosen to head for the retirement home are considered the "least airworthy" of the fleet. Instead of heading for the boneyard at AMARC, adjacent to Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona, the retired B-52s will be preserved in an airworthy status within an empty hangar at Tinker. I sure hope they have a hangar big enough for 18 B-52s. The H-series were the last B-52s to roll off the production line and the only series remaining in service today. NGB, anyone?

(U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Cassandra Jones)
(Air Force Link)

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Hawker Crash at Owatonna Airport

Below are pictures of the crash site of a Hawker 800 (bizjet) that crashed on approach to the Owatonna (Minnesota) airport this morning (7/31/08) around 9:30 a.m. CDT -- seven of the eight onboard died in the accident with one passenger in critical condition at a local hospital.  Stormy weather was passing through the area at the time of the crash, however, it is unknown whether it played a role in the accident.  Pointniner's thoughts go out to those affected by the tragedy.

I listened to the ATC tapes from Owatonna around the time of the accident and heard someone report a wind shear alert, 20 knot loss at approach end of runway 31.  A 20 knot loss would be significant enough to cause a loss of aircraft control, however, no one has officially commented on the cause of the accident.  Watch for the NTSB prelim report, as they are arriving tonight in Owatonna to begin the investigation.

This photo was taken last summer of the accident aircraft, N818MV

UPDATE: There are conflicting reports as to the total number of passengers on board the aircraft.  Some report a total of 9 on board with one survivor as well as what Pointniner reported of 8 on board with one survivor.

(Image credit: Star Tribune)

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Boeing Dreamlifter at Oshkosh

Boeing's Dreamlifter parked at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.   Be sure to click on each photo as they are high quality.

(FlightBlogger)

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Martin Jetpack at Oshkosh

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FIRST FLIGHT: Piperjet

Here are some photos from the Piperjet's first flight at the Vero Beach Airport. The flight took place this morning at 11 a.m. and lasted about an hour.

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Rocket Racing, and no this is not Halo 3

The audience at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin got a first look at what some hope to be the next big thing in air racing.  It would be even cooler than Red Bull prop-style racing, and that is pretty amazing in itself.  A single aircraft, called the Mark-1 X-Racer, took to the skies to show off the design and capabilities of the new "rocket racers."  The racer is essentially a single-seat Velocity homebuilt with a 1,500 pound thrust rocket engine attached.  The Rocket Racing League had hoped to have a full scale demo at AirVenture, however, they were not able to get FAA approval in time.  The racer can reach speeds near 300 knots.  Look for the first race to take place in Reno, Nevada in September.  Check out the video and pics below, and pardon the 2 second ad in the beginning of the video, but the official video is by far the best out there right now.

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WhiteKnightTwo Officially Unveiled

As promised, Virgin Galactic unveiled WhiteKnightTwo this morning at the Mojave Spaceport in California. This four-engined plastic mother ship is destined to carry SpaceShipTwo and the hopes of commercial space tourism up to edges of our atmosphere. First flight planned for September. Stay tuned for more details and pictures.





[Images courtesy of Space.com / Virgin Galactic and Hyperbola]

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Southwest's "Illinois" Assembled In Time-Lapse

Southwest Airline's newest themed aircraft, The Spirit of Illinois, has probably usurped "The Spirit of Maryland" as my favorite new Southwest paint job. You gotta love that screamin' eagle. Here's a time-lapse video of Illinois' being assembled and painted. This Boeing 737-700 took a lot of masking tape in the paint shop.

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Reaper Debuts In Iraqi Combat Patrols

The US Air Force's newest hunter-killer drone made it's Iraqi combat debut on July 18 as it slides into the routine patrol duty typically assigned to F-16s. The MQ-9 Reaper (formerly known as the Predator B) saw its first combat in Afghanistan last fall and quickly garnered respect for its capabilities. The British in Afghanistan even call the 5-ton Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) a "mini A-10." Defense Secretary Robert Gates' mandate to get "more surveillance systems into the fight" was a driving force in the Reaper's Iraqi deployment. By May of this year the Air Force had drones in 24 round-the-clock orbits to support the "War On Terror" and they anticipate meeting a goal of 50 orbits by year's end. There are only about a dozen Reapers in service now, so I'm not sure how they'll reach that number unless they deploy more Predators or other UAVs.


Essentially a Predator on steroids, the Reaper exceeds its predecessor in every way. Instead of a piston engine, the Reaper has a 600 shp turboprop pushing this killer to 200 kts, up a 130 kts from the Predator's top speed, giving it the ability to take out more time sensitive targets. The beefier engine also allows for a nastier payload of weaponry. Where as the Predator could only carry two Hellfire missiles, the Reaper can carry four...plus two laser-guided Paveway II bombs or two GPS guided JDAMs making this one mean robot warrior. And if the enemy is not out to play, no problem. The Reaper can loiter for quite some time up there at 50,000 feet. It has a range of 3,200 nautical miles. Each Reaper costs the Air Force $53 million a pop and it can be remotely operated by a pilot and sensor operator far from the actual fighting.



(Danger Room)

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Crazy Kiwi uses helicopter for marlin fishing

Matt Watson, from the ITM Fishing Show in New Zealand, leaps from a Robinson R44 Raven helicopter straight into the water and onto a huge marlin putting a good hold on the feller. Seems easy enough, but he's lucky he doesn't get impaled by that pointy nose. I'm just glad to see aviation being used to enhance other hobbies.

(Heavy via Gizmodo)

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737 tipped on its tail, cameras come out

In an age where everyone has a cell phone, and every cell phone has a camera, it makes it harder and harder to keep incidents like this one under wraps. A Sterling Airlines Boeing 737-800 got tipped back on its tail after the jet bridge it was mated to experienced a vertical drive anomaly. The incident took place on July 20 at the Malaga Airport in Spain during passenger deplanement. An emergency stop system was activated on the jet bridge, but it continued to move upwards catching the door and side of the 737 and giving it just enough of a nudge to push her back on her tail. The remaining passengers left the plane through a rear exit door. You can see in the videos that every ramp worker at the airport shows up with their cameras. Keeping these images off the Internet seem a little more daunting than those infamous ASA pics from earlier in the week. There was a third video, but I can't seem to find it now.

(FlightGlobal)

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Onboard Video from Qantas Emergency Landing

Someone had the smarts to record the landing and subsequent applause onboard the Qantas 747-400. See it below.

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'Big Hole' prompts emergency landing, passenger vomit

A Qantas flight from Australia to London had to divert to Manila in the Philippines this morning after a huge hole was punched in the side of the Boeing 747-400 after a loud bang was heard. Manila International Airport Authority deputy manager for operations Octavio Lina told the AP, "There were no injuries, but some of the 350 passengers vomited after disembarking." Lina said that part of the aircraft's ceiling collapsed and the floor gave way exposing the cargo hold. “There is a big hole on the right side near the wing,” Lina added. The hole, 2.5 to 3 yards in diameter, was more than large enough for the aircraft lose partial cabin pressure as passengers commented, “There was wind swirling around the plane and some condensation.” The incident and subsequent emergency descent occurred about one hour into flight over the South China Sea. I would assume the Manila airport is large enough to have an adequate supply of saw dust for that level of puke extraction.




UPDATED 11:50Z 7/25/08 WITH 2 NEW PICS

Photo Credits:
Edwin Llobrera MIAA via EPA
Unknown
La Republicca (Italy) via AFP

(MSNBC)

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Swedish "Jackass" puts dwarf in suitcase at airport

Airport officials in Bromma, Sweden weren't laughing when a local comedy TV show pulled a stunt and tried to check in a suitcase that had a dwarf inside of it on Wednesday. I'm assuming this would be the Swedish version of MTV's Jackass although Wee-Man was not involved as the picture might suggest. The local police were called when the dwarf leaped out of the suitcase at ticket counter and startled everyone. It was soon realized that the entire stunt was being filmed with hidden cameras by for the comedy show on private Swedish TV network Kanal 5 (tune that one in). Mats Eriksson, a police spokesman, told the AP that the airport staff did not file charges although they were "shocked and humiliated" by the event. Of course Kanal 5 spokesman Dan Panas said the stunt was intended to be "provocative and entertaining." Their intention was not to make fun of dwarfs, but entertain with "extreme situations." Original idea there.

(Fox News)

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Air Force Officers Fall Asleep With Nuke Codes

Fortunately, Wynne and Moseley can't be blamed for this one; but their replacements and many others connected to another Air Force nuclear faux pas have some serious explaining to do. CNN is reporting that US Air Force officers responsible for a component that contained deactivated launch codes for ICBMs fell asleep on the job in clear violation of protocol. Col. Dewey Ford, a spokesman for the Air Force Space Command in Colorado, told CNN that the incident took place on July 12 during a component swap that's used to "facilitate secure communications between an underground missile-control facility and missile silos near Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota." The electronic nuclear code component is considered classified by the Air Force unless you can slip past the sleeping guards. The four officers involved, who were responsible for keeping the component secure until it is returned to the base, placed it in a lockbox for temporary storage. Then Mr. Sandman paid them a visit and three of the four officers fell asleep for two to three hours according to Ford. Protocol requires at least 2 officers to be awake while they have the component in their custody. The electronic code component was later returned to Minot where an investigation was started by Missile Command, Space Command, the 20th Air Force and the National Security Agency. The Air Force claims neither the codes nor national security were compromised as the codes and the component remained in a secured facility; but that won't help these four guys or Air Force leadership as they get grilled for another embarrassing boo-boo. This follows a B-52 last year from Minot (of all places) that took a nice little cross-country flight with the crew unaware that six nuclear warheads were on board and the accidental shipping of ICBM parts to Taiwan in March. Many analysts contribute those incidents to the sacking of the former Secretary of the Air Force and Air Force Chief of Staff, so this blunder can't look good either.

(CNN)

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Dreamliner 1 gets hydraulic power-on

One month after Boeing successfully completed the first electrical power-on of the first 787 Dreamliner, Flight International is reporting that the aerospace giant successfully completed the first power-on of the 787's hydraulic system last week. In a conference call with analysts today Boeing CEO Jim McNerney disclosed the hydraulic system milestone which gets that plastic bird one step closer to a first flight in the 4th Quarter of this year. The test allowed for the first movement of the Dreamliner's hydraulically actuated systems that include the ailerons, rudder, flaperons and some spoilers. The elevator, which is controlled by hydraulics, was not installed at the time of the test. Further tests of the hydraulic systems will include jacking the 787 off the ground to test the retraction and extension of its landing gear. I believe the hydraulic bounce kit is an after-market accessory not installed by the manufacturer.



(Flight International)

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Iranian Air Force Fleet Includes Snap-Together Plastic Models

First Iran gets accused of doctoring up their recent missile launch pictures with Photoshop, and now this. An Isreali defense expert is saying Iranian Defense photos show aircraft that likely came in a box marked Testors or Revell. My only question is...are these skill level 2 or 3?

Check out the video below...

(Fox News)

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767 with winglets shows its sexy side in air-to-air photos

My hero Flightblogger posted these pictures today of that now famous American Airlines Boeing 767-300ER which was the first 767 to receive blended winglets from Aviation Partners Boeing. She made her first wingletted flight on Sunday from the American maintenance base at Kansas City International Airport. Of course, the transformation wouldn't be complete without a sexy photoshoot.








(Flightblogger)

photos copyright Aviation Partners Boeing

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FanWing - The Flying Combine

This interesting aircraft is referred to as the FanWing. The company would prefer the method of propulsion to be called "distributed-propulsion vortex-lift" technology, which is similar to the blade cylinders used in harvesting machines.

The company touts its design as it allows for very steady flights and angles of attack that are not possible in other aircraft without stalling or worse. Last but not least, the aircraft has a low carbon footprint, to please Al Gore.

Plans include to initially use the aircraft as a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and then move on to bigger and better things like passenger travel, cropdusting, and firefighting. There is even a planned vertical takeoff and landing version (VTOL).



(Gizmodo via FlightGlobal)

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Seven Congressmen On Board For In-Flight Emergency

Seven Texas Congressmen were on board a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Washington D.C. when their aircraft lost cabin pressure and was forced to divert to New Orleans. Flight 458 was carrying Congressmen Ted Poe, Nick Lampson, Ron Paul, John Carter, Ciro Rodriguez, Solomon Ortiz and Henry Cuellar along with 111 other passengers when the problem developed on the 737. Representative Lampson praised the efforts of the crew by saying, "Continental Airline’s personnel and staff were exceptional; executing what seemed to me a textbook performance in emergency procedure. I was very impressed." Ironically, the Congressmen were on their way to the Nation's capital to vote on House Bill H.R. 6493, better known as the Aviation Safety Enhancement Act of 2008. Earlier this month Senator and Presidential hopeful Barrack Obama's Midwest Airlines chartered MD-81 had to divert and make an emergency landing in St. Louis due to an in-flight aft emergency exit slide deployment.

(KHOU)

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Robot Dragonfly The Smallest Micro-UAV Yet

Next time you swat that annoying insect that keeps buzzing around your head, it might not be the only one checking you out. Dutch scientists at the Technical University Delft are showing off their new design that has got to be the smallest unmanned drone we've seen yet. The DelFly Micro weighs in at only 3.07 grams and has a flapping wingspan of just 10 cm. This tiny guy is smaller than most dragonflies, which he closely resembles. The coolest part is that the DelFly Micro has an onboard camera that can transmit a live feed back to a computer as seen in the video below and can be controlled by human or autonomously by a separate computer. I can't imagine it would do very well in a light breeze though.

(DelFly via Gizmodo)

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Inflatable Moon Base Gets Proposed

Experimental architecture firm Architecture and Vision is pitching their idea for an inflatable Moon base to accommodate the return of human exploration on the Moon. Their Moon Base Two design would be sent to the surface of the Moon via an Ares V heavy-lifter rocket where it would automatically deploy and inflate itself in preparation for occupancy by four astronauts for up to six months. Although it is designed to be a "long term" motel, Moon Base Two would allow for the study of a permanent human settlement on the Moon. If Bigelow says you can use blow-up space stations, why not a blow-up Moon base? No official response from NASA yet.



(Images: Architecture and Vision)
(Architecture and Vision via Gizmodo)

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CRJs play bumper cars in Baton Rouge

Three Canadian Regional Jets were damaged in a surface incident that took place Monday at the new ASA maintenance base at the Baton Rouge Airport. Allegedly a "young mechanic" flipped an engine starter switch on an aircraft to slowly spin the compressor blades for cleaning when the engine immediately spooled up to takeoff power. This sent the CRJ hurling into two adjacent aircraft causing serious damage in a chaotic frenzy that took only five seconds. The aircraft involved were two CRJ-200s and a CRJ-700 that belong to Delta Connection partner Atlantic Southeast Airlines. Damage is reported to be around $100 million with one aircraft likely becoming a write-off. Fortunately no one was injured in the incident that involved the local Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting crew although one witness told WAFB that they were surprised the entire hangar didn't go up in flames. I'm looking forward to the pictures on this one.

(WAFB)

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Cold War Redux?

The next US Air Force Chief of Staff has indicated that Russia would be crossing "a red line" if it were to place nuclear capable bombers in Cuba as hinted by a recent Russian report. "If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America," said General Norton Schwartz in a conformation hearing yesterday. The Russian newspaper Iszvestia cited an unamed senior Russian military official on Monday saying Russia may start regular flights by long-range bombers to Cuba. This rattling of the sabre is in response to the United States' plan to install ballistic missile defense systems in Eastern European countries. The US has repeatedly told Russia that an early warning radar in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland is not an offensive threat but a defensive measure to protect the US and its allies (Russia included) against rogue nations (insert Iran here) securing ballistic nuclear capabilities. No word as to whether the Russian bombers would be based in Cuba or just make flights in and out for fuel but either way Schwartz comments "I would certainly offer the best military advice that we engage the Russians not to pursue that approach." The whole thing smacks of early 1960's Cold War tactics. I was hoping we were done with all that stuff. I don't have a fallout shelter anymore.

(Breibart.com)

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First look at new Russian/European spacecraft

This is what Russia and Europe is hoping will get them some boots on the surface of the moon to compete with NASA's Orion Program. It is a first look at a new spacecraft designed by Russian manufacturer RKK Energia and revealed at the Farnborough Air Show last week. I've got to agree with the boys over at Gizmodo, it does look like something out of the Ikea Kitchen Collection. The joint project is designed around the premise of getting four cosmonauts or 'euronauts' to the moon and back. Now the interesting thing about this flying crockpot is that it will be the first manned spacecraft to return to the Earth's surface by retro-rocket soft landing (which, I assume, is what is shown in the picture below). No word on how they expect to get that thing to the surface of the moon or back up without a lunar lander though. The ESA and their Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, are hoping to get their design aloft by 2018, or sooner if rocket modifications permit.


(BBC via Gizmodo)

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European skydivers have one bad weekend

Two separate stories...two different endings. This one has the happy ending. During a parachute competition in Germany, a skydiver got hung up on the landing gear of the aircraft he was jumping out of. The good news...there was one person left on the plane. The bad news...he was flying the plane. Five other British soldier skydivers had jumped out before the last guy whose chute partially deployed and got tangled on one of the wheels of the Britten-Norman Islander they were flying on. The pilot, aware of the problem, left the cockpit for about 30 seconds while at 3,000 feet above the Joint Service Parachute Centre at Bad Lippspringe to cut the parachute's cord with a knife. The Skydiver was able to deploy his reserve chute after falling free from the aircraft. I believe that warranted a free beer for the pilot from the skydiver at the airport pub.

Now the story with the not-so-happy ending, or should I say beginning. A 29 year old female skydiver in Rapla, Estonia was preparing to board a turboprop on the ramp for a jump at the local airfield when she apparently walked straight into one of the spinning propellers and was killed. Skydive Estonia, the club she belonged to, said she was an experienced skydiver with 224 jumps.

Both of these make be think of one of my favorite quotes about aviation from Captain A. G. Lamplugh:

Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.

Be safe.

(AVweb and Fox News)

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Air Force's last Daisey Cutter goes KA-BOOM!!

Airmen from the 711th Special Operations Squadron at Duke Field dropped the very last BLU-82 bomb over the Utah Test and Training Range on July 15th marking the end of its explosive career with the US military. Affectionately referred to as "Commando Vault", "Daisy Cutter", and my favorite, "the Cheeseburger", the BLU-82 was the largest conventional bomb in the US Air Force's fleet until its successor, the GBU-43/B MOAB (Massive Ordinance Air Blast, aka Mother Of All Bombs) surpassed it in size five years ago. The un-guided BLU-82 was originally designed to clear small forests for instant helicopter landing zones and was even in use as of Operation Enduring Freedom for a "significant psychological and tactical effect" according to Col. Jon Weeks, the 919th Special Operations Wing Vice Commander. The immense BLU-82 weighs in at 15,000 pounds and is so large, it has to be pushed out the back of a MC-130E Combat Talon transport aircraft and fall to the ground with a parachute as seen in the picture below. With a 38 inch fuse extender, the BLU-82 would detonate above ground wiping out everything without leaving a crater, hence the name Daisy Cutter. The newer MOAB surpasses the Daisy Cutter by 6,700 lbs and is GPS guided.



(U.S. Air Force photos/Capt. Patrick Nichols)
(Air Force Link)

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