Aviation Pictures Part Deux

[Bedwyr]

Ok, before we were so rudely interrupted by, erm, me...

I was responding to Hellbie.

Yeah. RNP (required navigation performance) is the bees knees. It allows people to fly gnarly continuously turning approaches to lower minimums. Alaska first used it to get into Juneau down the Gastineau Inlet more reliably, but extended it to places like DC Reagan.

I missed this one earlier, but there's a couple tweaks that run right up my alley.

The Potomac River Visual is what Hellbie is describing and it's kind of gnarly. (Pilots find it fun, passengers less so.)

http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/KDCA/IAP/all/pdf

Check out the third from the last. It literally follows the river.

I've met the guy that did the first set of RNP approaches using monitoring technology to ensure minimum standards of performance as part of Alaska Airlines. He later formed a company named Naverus (later bought by GE Aviation). If you look at the last approach in that pdf, it's essentially the RNP'ified version of the Potomac River Visual. You need specific crew training, authorization, and I believe HUD guidance to fly the approach.
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[Charlie 6]

Well, Reagan National isn't my least favorite approach...that would be most any amphib on a CH-53E. I'll attempt to find a picture later.

[snewsom2997]

May I suggest that the topic name be changed to "The Pattern is full"?

[Bedwyr]

May I suggest that the topic name be changed to "The Pattern is full"?

Nah. I like Hot Shots. ;)

[chanman]

Mirage F1


I'm not sure what it was about them or the clientele, but for a design that wasn't made in particularly large numbers (under a thousand) or especially widely used (14 air forces), it's managed to find itself in a lot of scraps

[Fat Guy]

Well let's get a picture in here already! How about the PZL-230 Skorpion?  A Polish Air Force attack aircraft prototype that nearly saw production, but was cancelled in 1994 due to a lack of funds.

[chanman]

Well let's get a picture in here already! How about the PZL-230 Skorpion?  A Polish Air Force attack aircraft prototype that nearly saw production, but was cancelled in 1994 due to a lack of funds.

Man, it looks like some kind of Otaku creation

[qc mech3]

What were the performances of that thing? The style is interesting but did it fly?

[Charlie 6]

I stumbled on this today at Foxtrot-Alpha (photo from USMC/DoD).  Here's a nice shot of two sub-functions of Assault Support: aerial refueling and air logistics support.

[Stormlion1]

Well let's get a picture in here already! How about the PZL-230 Skorpion?  A Polish Air Force attack aircraft prototype that nearly saw production, but was cancelled in 1994 due to a lack of funds.

I can't lie. That's a snazzy looking aircraft. Even if it does look like it came out of a Japanese anime.

[Dragon Cat]

I saw this and thought it was cool

attached text

Original Top Gun Dale "Snort" Snodgrass flew for the movie, and has flown >4800 hours in the F14 Tomcat. This photo: "Lets Buzz the Tower", was snapped during a 1988 airshow as he whipped his jet past the USS America.

[Bedwyr]

I can't lie. That's a snazzy looking aircraft. Even if it does look like it came out of a Japanese anime.

That is some gnarly dihedral pretty high up and back. Roll moments must be awful on that thing.

[glitterboy2098]

the Skorpion never flew.. it was a paper project, only ever got to the mockup stage before it got cancelled. started in 1980, went through a ton of requirements changes. originally it used a pair of pusher turboprops with a kind of 'canard A-10' look, but in the late 80's the new government decided it needed to be turbojet powered, with 1000 kph speed and about 4 tons of munitions space. which eventually evolved into the version that got the mockup.. the Polish airforce was enthusiastic about it, but the government cancelled it to move the funding to non-military projects. it also was going to be modular, and thus easier to maintain and upgrade.

[mike19k]

In the last one, people were talking about the best ride. I have never been in the 141 but have C-5, C-17, and C-130, I would say the 130 is the worst I have ever been in, C-17 was the best.

[Feenix74]

I have climbed through a C-5 and a C-17 while they were parked on the apron, never had the opportunity to actually fly in either of them. I have flown a few times in the C-130.

Best C-130 flight was a training sortie which also doubled as a deployment for a collegue and I as the airfield survey team to check out a small country airfield for suitability to host ongoing C-130 training flights (ie make sure the flyboys were not doing damage to a small local airport). This training sortie involved tactical nap-of-earth flying in a C-130. Got to go up to the cockpit and sit in the jumpseat while the crew were doing their nap-of-earth flying, it was liking doing a rally car race stage in a semi-trailer (prime mover in American) 8)

Worst C-130 flight was the same flight, where sitting in the hold of the C-130 while it was doing the above mentioned tactical flying meant that I ended up with motion sickness and spent about 45 mins dry-wretching with my head stuck into a garbage bag (that the loadmaster was kind enough to give me when he was worried that I was going to overfill the two airsick bags he had previously given me). Supposedly, my face had gone the same shade of green as my DPCU (camo uniform)  :-[


Edit - almost forgot to post an image. RAAF C-130s from front to back A-model, E-model, H-model, J-model

[mike19k]

I have climbed through a C-5 and a C-17 while they were parked on the apron, never had the opportunity to actually fly in either of them. I have flown a few times in the C-130.

Best C-130 flight was a training sortie which also doubled as a deployment for a collegue and I as the airfield survey team to check out a small country airfield for suitability to host ongoing C-130 training flights (ie make sure the flyboys were not doing damage to a small local airport). This training sortie involved tactical nap-of-earth flying in a C-130. Got to go up to the cockpit and sit in the jumpseat while the crew were doing their nap-of-earth flying, it was liking doing a rally car race stage in a semi-trailer (prime mover in American) 8)

Worst C-130 flight was the same flight, where sitting in the hold of the C-130 while it was doing the above mentioned tactical flying meant that I ended up with motion sickness and spent about 45 mins dry-wretching with my head stuck into a garbage bag (that the loadmaster was kind enough to give me when he was worried that I was going to overfill the two airsick bags he had previously given me). Supposedly, my face had gone the same shade of green as my DPCU (camo uniform)  :-[


Edit - almost forgot to post an image. RAAF C-130s from front to back A-model, E-model, H-model, J-model

Having lots of room to move about on the C-17 made it lots better, after takeoff we would go and find a place to sleep. (when we went our 23 man unit took the entire plane).

[chanman]

F-20 Tigershark

Gorgeous little plane, but the emphasis is on 'little'. I don't see how it could have ever been seen as comparable to an F-16 just in terms of payload.

[Feenix74]

Having lots of room to move about on the C-17 made it lots better, after takeoff we would go and find a place to sleep. (when we went our 23 man unit took the entire plane).

For that particular best/worst flight in a C-130 the payload was:

Airfield Engineers, 2 of.
Toyota Landcruiser Troopcarrier, 1 of

so plenty of room to stretch out on the web-seating.

However, I know what you mean by squeezy. I have been on a 7 hour C-130 flight where we have been packed in like sardines with a bunch of grunts. Trying to get to the pisser-a-phone was not much fun (climbing over the top of sleeping grunts without waking them up).

As an old Warrant Officer Loadmaster once told me - if there is an emergency, do not bother going after one of the two parachutes that are mounted on the interior wall of the C-130, go for the fire axe, because he who owns the fire axe owns the parachutes  >:D

[foxbat]

Well let's get a picture in here already! How about the PZL-230 Skorpion?  A Polish Air Force attack aircraft prototype that nearly saw production, but was cancelled in 1994 due to a lack of funds.

Just wow! I love the looks of that Polish Scorpion. Just as weirdly beautiful as the PZL 11 of yore.  O0

[Deadborder]

F-20 Tigershark

Gorgeous little plane, but the emphasis is on 'little'. I don't see how it could have ever been seen as comparable to an F-16 just in terms of payload.

As cool as it looked (and the black paint job helped) the F-20 was a 1960s airframe that had been modified as far as it could. Conversely, the F-16 was a still new airframe that had only just begun it's life. Compare the skinny, lightweight, dogfight-only F-16s of the time to what we have today, and there's no way that the F-20 could have matched that

[ANS Kamas P81]

As cool as it looked (and the black paint job helped) the F-20 was a 1960s airframe that had been modified as far as it could. Conversely, the F-16 was a still new airframe that had only just begun it's life. Compare the skinny, lightweight, dogfight-only F-16s of the time to what we have today, and there's no way that the F-20 could have matched that

Well, they're not entirely the same kind of aircraft.  The F-20 is basically just a re-engined F-5E and has an airframe dating to 1959 built with Korean War combat mindsets; the Viper is fifteen years newer with post-Vietnam air war theory in mind.  The F-16 is also two feet longer, six feet wider, has 50% more wing surface, and hauls fifteen thousand more pounds of plane, gas, and bullets.  It's the difference between an AMC Hornet - a good car, and one with room for a lot of performance - and a Plymouth Barracuda, a great car with a huge supply of power just because it has more room.  Or for that matter, a different Hornet compared to a Tomcat.  One's good, one's great.  One's also a hell of a lot more expensive than the other, so...

[Fat Guy]

In the last one, people were talking about the best ride. I have never been in the 141 but have C-5, C-17, and C-130, I would say the 130 is the worst I have ever been in, C-17 was the best.

Doesn't really matter which one. I think that the Air Force must decorate transport pilots based on how many passengers they can make puke.

[HobbesHurlbut]

Keith Ferris' 25-foot by 75-foot mural at Smithsonsian That have always been my favorite picture in the smithsonian book for the space and aviation museum.

[manticore72]

Here is a newly restored Bell UH-1H Huey. It is now a permanet feature at the Fannin County Veterans Memorial Park in Blue Ridge, GA.  The memorial features pillars that list Fannin county veterans of past wars including the Civil War, both World Wars, Korean and Vietnam Wars and Iraq.
Here is a link to the story. http://fanninsentinel.com/?p=4621

[foxbat]

Keith Ferris' 25-foot by 75-foot mural at Smithsonsian That have always been my favorite picture in the smithsonian book for the space and aviation museum.

Terrific picture! Coincidentally, I just finished reading Die Grosse Jagd, Heinz Knocke's memoirs. He was a Me 109 pilot, who shot down 16 B17 (and a lucky devil, as he was shot down 5 or 6 times doing so, yet managed to bail out or crash land every time). Attacking a box was indeed a terrifying experience, and your picture makes a perfect illustration of it.

[Cache]

MH-53J.  A gorgeous beast of a helicopter.

[Stormlion1]

As cool as it looked (and the black paint job helped) the F-20 was a 1960s airframe that had been modified as far as it could. Conversely, the F-16 was a still new airframe that had only just begun it's life. Compare the skinny, lightweight, dogfight-only F-16s of the time to what we have today, and there's no way that the F-20 could have matched that

Weren't the F-20's and the F-5's more for the export market though. Places you wouldn't want to sell F-16's too?

[glitterboy2098]

Weren't the F-20's and the F-5's more for the export market though. Places you wouldn't want to sell F-16's too?

originally yes, but it wasn't really "places you wouldn't want to sell F16's" so much as all exports of F16's and F15's (then the airforces newest 'super fighters") were banned by congressional orders. instead the US's allies could purchase F4's, A4's, and the like. and for those on a budget, the F-5.

the F20 was originally a F5 upgrade program following in the footsteps of the F5E (which enhanced the F5 with better avionics and engines). basically the F20 was going to be an 'export only' multirole fighter that could ofer 80% of the F16A's capability (better in some places, like being able to carry Sparrow Missiles) while still being cheap compared to planes like the F4.

sadly politics killed the F20.. a lot of people in the military and in the military industry were pushing to have the ban on exporting the F16 and F15 lifted (for various reasons), and when that ban was finally lifted, most nations interested in the F20 decided instead to buy drastically discounted surplus F16's.

[Jackmc]

Here is a newly restored Bell UH-1H Huey.

Hueys are fun to jump out of.

-Jackmc

[Sharpnel]

And just because of helos