737 Gear-Up In Russia

© NTV Russia

The 144 people on board this KD-Avia Boeing 737-300 will have a nice story to tell after their flight landed in Kaliningrad late last night with the landing gear retracted. The flight crew aborted an earlier attempt at landing on their flight from Barcelona to Kaliningrad due to a reported "technical problem". After going around, the pilots decided to make the landing with the undercarriage stowed. Obviously, the aircraft sustained considerable damage but none of the passengers or crewmembers were injured.

© Rossiya Telekanal

[Flight Global]

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The Big Picture Does Baikonur

We really can't say enough good things here at PointNiner about the Boston Globe's photo-blog, The Big Picture. I could almost swear that Alan Taylor's job is to feed this blog with big, beautiful and relevant photos. This time he's done a great piece on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan where the Russian Space Agency launches all of their manned and unmanned systems. You almost feel like you're watching the Space Race unveil before your eyes in some of these photos. The photographers do an excellent job capturing that "Cold War in a bottle" essence here.

CLICK HERE to see all of the beautiful hi-res photos.

Ahh, Proton...my favorite Russian giant.

Doesn't it look like this Soyuz spacecraft is just suspended in mid air?

Russians...still doing it old school.

[The Big Picture]

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Sukhoi Bomber Bombs Sukhoi Bomber Plant

I won't use this blog as forum for debating the developing Russian-Geogian War, but this is what is bound to happen when two former Soviet Socialist Republics go at it. Russian Air Force SU-25 Frogfoot aircraft have now bombed the SU-25 production plant twice at the Tbilisi airport in Georgia according to the blog Ares. The irony is dangerously palpable here.

[Ares via Danger Room]

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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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