News
SkyWest Orders 100 Mitsubishi Regional Jets
US regional carrier SkyWest has reached an agreement to buy 100 Mitsubishi Regional Jets in a deal with a potential value of USD$4 billion at list prices, the companies announced on Wednesday at the Farnborough Airshow.
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Airbus Encounters A350 Wing Drilling Problems
Airbus has encountered problems in drilling holes in the wings on its new A350 passenger jet, helping to drive shares in parent EADS down on Wednesday as analysts reported signals that the problem was taking longer than expected to resolve.
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Boeing shows off 737’s Advanced Technology winglet
Boeing's 737 programme chief Beverly Wyse expects the "Advanced Technology" winglet it has developed for its new Max family to deliver performance improvement over the design on the current family.
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Bombardier Sticks To 2012 CSeries Flight Goal
Canada's Bombardier said on Wednesday it hopes for a sales boost from the first flight of its CSeries single-aisle plane that it still hopes to make by year-end, despite concerns that it could slip into 2013. "For now, we're still driving very hard for first flight at the end of this year," Guy Hachey, president and chief operating officer for Bombardier Aerospace, said in an interview during the Farnborough Airshow.
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China Aircraft Leasing Commits To 36 A320s
China Aircraft Leasing has committed to buying 36 of Airbus's A320 passenger jets in a deal worth USD$3.1 billion at list prices, the European plane maker said at the Farnborough Airshow on Wednesday. The deal includes eight A321s, the largest member of the A320 family of single-aisle aircraft, Airbus said.
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Air India 787s Grounded By Bureaucracy
Three of Boeing's 787 Dreamliners destined for Air India are parked in South Carolina, waiting for the ailing state carrier to pay for them and take possession. The 787 has been a source of several headaches for the money-losing carrier.
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Southwest shares rise after analyst's upgrade
Southwest Airlines shares climbed in trading Tuesday after a Sterne Agee analyst upgraded the carrier's stock from "Neutral" to "Buy." Analyst Jeffrey A. Kauffman also raised the carrier's earnings outlook for 2012 to 97 cents per shares from a previous estimate of 83 cents per share
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United Airlines is offering 10 new routes
United Airlines has announced the addition of 10 domestic and international routes to its schedule. The carrier will begin flying nonstop from San Francisco to Paris and Taipei, Taiwan, in April, and will discontinue its Paris nonstop service from Houston in October. United spokeswoman Mary Clark said United plans to stay within its announced 2012 capacity guidelines and that the new routes won't necessarily result in cuts elsewhere.
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Pinnacle Airlines pulls the plug on its Colgan unit
Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines Corp. will become a Delta-only regional carrier Sept. 5, three months ahead of schedule. Pinnacle reported in a regulatory filing Tuesday it's hastening the end of flying for United Airlines by its Colgan Inc. subsidiary at United's request.
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Boeing 737 MAX is star of the show at Farnborough
Boeing is launching a comeback at the Farnborough International Airshow in the U.K with its 737 MAX. Last year, Airbus dominated the Paris air show with orders for its A320neo. "This is clearly the year of the MAX," said David Baxt, head of global aerospace and defense investment banking at Jefferies & Co. "This will be the first year since 2006 that Boeing has won more orders."
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TSA to help fund Chicago airport's baggage system upgrade
The Transportation Security Administration will help fund a $19 million upgrade to the baggage system at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The upgrades will improve security and operations, officials said. "These critical investments will make O'Hare a more modern, competitive airport for our residents," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said.
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Aviation Quote
It's hard to replace the gray matter that is inherent in every human being. No computer can do it quite that well yet.
— General John P. Jumper, USAF Chief of Staff, 'Air Line Pilot' magazine, April 2007
On This Date:
---In 1785... The first manned balloon ascent in Holland is made by Jean-Pierre Blanchard in Hague.
---In 1901... Alberto Santos-Dumont, making an attempt on the Deutsch prize in Paris, lands his dirigible No.5 in the Trocadéro gardens after one of the cords controlling the rudder snaps. He uses a ladder to repair the machine where it lies before taking off again.
---In 1916…The United States Navy armored cruiser North Carolina becomes the first ship to launch an aircraft by catapult while underway, launching a Curtiss flying boat piloted by Lieutenant Godfrey Chevalier. (GQF)
---In 1937…Mikhail Gromov, A. B. Yumashev, and S. A. Danilin establish a new distance record of 10,148 km (6,303 miles) from Moscow to San Jacinto, California, USA via the North Pole in a Tupolev ANT-25, covering the distance in 62 hours 17 minutes. (GQF)
---In 1944... The British Royal Air Force (RAF) puts the first operational jet-powered airplanes into service.
---In 1945…An Eastern Air Lines flight en route from Boston. Massachusetts, to Miami, Florida, with stops in Washington, D.C. and Columbia South Carolina, collides with a United States Army Air Forces A-26 Invader bomber 3,100 feet above Syracuse, South Carolina, (about 20 miles from Florence, South Carolina). The commercial pilot, G. D. Davis, lands his airliner in a cornfield. One passenger, an infant, is killed aboard the airliner. A-26's tail is sheared off; two aboard the bomber die and one is able to parachute safely. (GQF)
---In 1966…First flight for the Northrop M2-F2, a heavyweight lifting body based on studies at NASA's Ames and Langley research centers. (GQF)
---In 1980…First flight of the KC-10 Extender, the military in-flight refueler version of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30. (GQF)
---In 1988…First flight of the The Scaled Composites Triumph, a twin-engine, business jet prototype designed and built by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites for Beechcraft. It was known officially as the Model 143, and internally at Scaled as the "Tuna". Also was the first first flight for the Williams FJ44 turbofan on the "Tuna", which was a joint venture from Williams International and Rolls-Royce. (GQF)
---In 1994…A Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules flies the 10,000th United Nations relief flight into Sarajevo. (GQF)
---In 2000…Hapag-Lloyd Airlines Flight 3378, an Airbus A310, lands 500 meters short of the runway in Vienna after running out of fuel in flight. There are no serious injuries or fatalities. (GQF)
---In 2005…John Leonard King, Baron King of Wartnaby, passed away. He was a businessman famous for leading British Airways from an inefficient, nationalized company to one of the most successful airlines of recent times. (GQF)
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Humor
Murphy’s Law On Combat – Part 2
71. The more a weapon costs, the farther you will have to send it away to
be repaired.
72. The complexity of a weapon is inversely proportional to the IQ of the
weapon's operator.
73. Field experience is something you don't get until just after you need
it.
74. No matter which way you have to march, its always uphill.
75. If enough data is collected, a board of inquiry can prove anything.
76. For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism. (in boot
camp)
77. Air strikes always overshoot the target, artillery always falls short.
78. When reviewing the radio frequencies that you just wrote down, the most
important ones are always illegible.
79. Those who hesitate under fire usually do not end up KIA or WIA.
80. The tough part about being an officer is that the troops don't know what they want, but they know for certain what they don't want.
81. To steal information from a person is called plagiarism. To steal information from the enemy is called gathering intelligence.
82. The weapon that usually jams when you need it the most is the M60.
83. The perfect officer for the job will transfer in the day after that billet is filled by someone else.
84. When you have sufficient supplies & ammo, the enemy takes 2 weeks to attack. When you are low on supplies & ammo the enemy decides to attack
that night.
85. The newest and least experienced soldier will usually win the Medal of
Honor.
86. A Purple Heart just proves that were you smart enough to think of a plan, stupid enough to try it, and lucky enough to survive.
87. Murphy was a grunt.
88. Beer Math --> 2 beers times 37 men equals 49 cases.
89. Body count Math --> 3 guerrillas plus 1 probable plus 2 pigs equals 37 enemies killed in action.
90. The bursting radius of a hand grenade is always one foot greater than your jumping range.
91. All-weather close air support doesn't work in bad weather.
92. The combat worth of a unit is inversely proportional to the smartness of its outfit and appearance.
93. The crucial round is a dud.
94. Every command which can be misunderstood, will be.
95. There is no such place as a convenient foxhole.
96. Don't ever be the first, don't ever be the last and don't ever
volunteer to do anything.
97. If your positions are firmly set and you are prepared to take the enemy assault on, he will bypass you.
98. If your ambush is properly set, the enemy won't walk into it.
99. If your flank march is going well, the enemy expects you to outflank him.
100. Density of fire increases proportionally to the curiousness of the target.
101. Odd objects attract fire - never lurk behind one.
102. The more stupid the leader is, the more important missions he is ordered to carry out.
103. The self-importance of a superior is inversely proportional to his position in the hierarchy (as is his deviousness and mischievousness).
104. There is always a way, and it usually doesn't work.
105. Success occurs when no one is looking, failure occurs when the General is watching.
106. The enemy never monitors your radio frequency until you broadcast on an unsecured channel.
107. Whenever you drop your equipment in a fire-fight, your ammo and grenades always fall the farthest away, and your canteen always lands at your feet.
108. As soon as you are served hot chow in the field, it rains.
109. Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do.
110. The seriousness of a wound (in a fire-fight) is inversely proportional to the distance to any form of cover.
111. Walking point = sniper bait.
112. Your bivouac for the night is the spot where you got tired of marching that day.
113. If only one solution can be found for a field problem, then it is usually a stupid solution.
114. Radios function perfectly until you need fire support.
115. What gets you promoted from one rank gets you killed in the next rank.
116. If orders can be misunderstood they will be.
117. Odd objects attract fire. You are odd.
118. Your mortar barrage will put exactly one round on the intended target. That round will be a dud.
119. Mine fields are not neutral.
120. The weight of your equipment is proportional to the time you have been carrying it.
121. Things that must be together to work can never be shipped together.
122. If you need an officer in a hurry take a nap.
123. The effective killing radius is greater than the average soldier can throw it.
124. Professionals are predictable, its the amateurs that are dangerous.
125. A clean (and dry) set of BDU's is a magnet for mud and rain.
126. No matter which way you have to march, its always uphill.
127. The worse the weather, the more you are required to be out in it.
128. When you have sufficient ammo the enemy takes 2 weeks to attack. When you are low on ammo the enemy attacks that night.
129. The quartermaster has only two sizes, too large and too small.
130. The only time suppressive fire works is when it is used on abandoned positions.
131. When a front line soldier overhears two General Staff officers conferring, he has fallen back too far.
132. Don't ever be the first, don't ever be the last, and don't ever volunteer to do anything.
133. If at first you don't succeed, then bomb disposal probably isn't for you.
134. Any ship can be a minesweeper . . . . once.
135. Whenever you lose contact with the enemy, look behind you.
136. If you find yourself in front of your platoon they know something you don't.
137. The seriousness of a wound (in a firefight) is inversely proportional to the distance to any form of cover.
138. The more stupid the leader is, the more important missions he is ordered to carry out.
139. When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not your friend.
140. All or any of the above combined.
Trivia
The Blue Angels
1. When were the Blue Angels Formed?
A. 1945
B. 1946
C. 1947
D. 1948
2. Who was the first CO for the Blue Angels?
A. Butch Voris
B. Brian Voorhees
C. Alexander Campbell
3. Who’s idea was it to form the Blue Angels?
A. Adm. Ray Spruance
B. Adm. Arleigh Burke
C. Adm. Chester Nimitz
D. Adm. George Wade
4. What was the first aircraft used by the Blue Angels demonstration team?
A. F4F
B. F6F
C. F7F
D. F8F
5. How many aircraft made up the original demonstration formation?
6. List the airplanes the Blue Angels have used from their inception to today:
7. What aircraft carries the support personnel and what is its nickname:
8. Where are the Blue Angels home based? Where do they practice?
9. How many Blue Angels pilots have died during air shows?
10. Where is the last Blue Angels show of the season and what is it called?
Lucas wrote:Hey HT, what does the museum at Pensacola have? Does it have all the planes they've flown? I usually alternate visiting CA and FL whenever I get free time, and FL is up for next time. Wondering if that might be worth a visit.
HT-ETNW wrote:Lucas wrote:Hey HT, what does the museum at Pensacola have? Does it have all the planes they've flown? I usually alternate visiting CA and FL whenever I get free time, and FL is up for next time. Wondering if that might be worth a visit.
It IS worth the visit.
http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/expl ... on-display has the complete list of aircraft they have; some of these may be parked on the Flightline that is NOT available to the general public on foot, but only via a bus tour they run (free of charge, IIRC).
A F-14 Tomcat is located on a pole at the Museum Entrance.
Unless procedure has changed, just drive up to the guard house and tell them that you want to visit the museum. Show your drivers license and you will get a special sticker to display inside the windscreen to identify the vehicle as Visitor. In all cases obey the speed limits on every military base in the U.S. !!
Very friendly staff down there and also the FL-Panhandle appears to be more relaxed than further down in the south.
-HT
