Gayviator

What was your coolest flight?

AA5Pilot — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:18:47 GMT

Since someone brought it up in another thread, maybe we should just ask the question - what was your coolest airplane to fly? Just to set the standards, to qualify you had to have control of the aircraft and be legally able to log the flight time. Being with an instructor counts! :)

To start things off, mine would have to be the WACO CRG. It wasn't a very long flight, but it was a very cool one. We took off from Moraine (3500' runway) and were at 1500' AGL by the time we passed over the end of the runway. We went out and did a few mild aerobatics and I got to fly it for a little bit.

The CRG is a very unique aircraft - it is the only one left in existance out of 2 built. It is basicly a WACO straight wing with only two ailerons (most have 4) and a 350 HP supercharged Wright engine up front. It was built to win the 1930 Ford air tour for the thrid year in a row, but Ford changed the rules at the last minute so that the Ford tri-motor would be the only one that could win. The CRGs came in second and third.

Here is a video of a fly-by from the WACO flyin:

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

Here is a picture from last weekend:

Attached Images

N600Y-small.jpg (14.4 KB)

Another airline adding in-flight WIFI service

india foxtrot golf — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:00:08 GMT

SWA has begun equipping its fleet with satellite-based WIFI service.

http://www.blogsouthwest.com/blog/wifi-here-and-now

727 Landing at Meigs Field

rjjetset — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:28:51 GMT

Youtube link

2002 Northwest 747 Incident

rjjetset — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:38:11 GMT

A good article I found while looking at airplane porn (airliners.net).

Clicky!!

-Chris

Added a new type to the logbook...

vwdaun — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:28:00 GMT

Thanks to my dear friends Andy & Susan.

Sorry 'bout the pic quality, it was Andy's cell phone. Susan was busy flying the Champ off our right wing, hence Andy was in the front seat of the Waco.

relationship between tach time and Hobbs time

HPNpilot — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 01:05:17 GMT

I know tach time is less than Hobbs time, and that they are closer at cruise RPM.

What exactly is tach time measuring ? Is it the same for all planes ? Is it equivalent time at cruise RPM or full power?

China finds 200 pilots faked flight histories, as aviation authorities probe crash

HPNpilot — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:37:38 GMT

Report: China finds 200 pilots faked flight histories, as aviation authorities probe crash

ASSOCIATED PRESS | 15 hours, 12 minutes ago
Share
4

Chinese officials have found that 200 pilots falsified their flying histories, with more than half of them working for the parent company of an airline involved in China's worst plane crash in several years, a report said Monday, citing the head of the civil aviation administration.

The results of investigations in 2008-2009 showed that airlines desperate for staff were hiring pilots whose resumes had been faked, the newspaper China Business News cited Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, as telling a recent teleconference.

The report comes as the agency investigates safety measures nationwide following an Aug. 24 crash that killed 42 people at a small airport in the northeast, in China's worst commercial airline disaster in nearly six years. Another 52 people were injured in the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer 190 plane belonging to Henan Airlines during a nighttime landing at Yichun in Heilongjiang province.

Calls to CAAC's headquarters in Beijing rang unanswered Monday. A staffer who answered the phone at Shenzhen Airlines, which reportedly had 103 of the pilots with faked work histories on the payroll, said he had no idea about the report.

Shenzhen Airlines is the parent company of Henan Airlines.

China's aviation industry has expanded rapidly in recent years and regulators have struggled to keep up.

Airports have proliferated as have small regional airlines, reaching into remote cities like Yichun _ 90 miles (150 kilometers) from the Russian border _ that are eager to develop tourism and other industries to catch up with the country's economic boom.

-------------

Floating Dog

WestSide — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:07:34 GMT

This is sooo wrong but it was brought up in chat last night, thanks 99L... I couldn't stop laughing, I still am now.

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

Ryan Air wants one man cockpit!

Maximillian Jenius! — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:01:37 GMT

Ryanair's ever-controversial boss has called for the second pilot to be dumped from the flight deck of aircraft to save money.

Michael O'Leary suggested air stewardesses could be trained to take over and land the plane in the event of a crisis.

The idea is the latest in a long line of cash-saving wheezes from the budget airline boss who once suggested, apparently seriously, that aircraft could fly with standing-only areas for passengers.

Mr O'Leary suggested ripping up the existing safety regime in a magazine interview.

'Why does every plane have two pilots? Really, you only need one pilot,' he said.

Suggesting flying a plane was little more difficult than playing a computer game, he said: 'Let's take out the second pilot. Let the bloody computer fly it.'

Asked what would happen if the single pilot suffered a heart attack, he said one of the cabin crew would be trained to land a plane.

'If the pilot has an emergency, he rings the bell, he calls her in. She could take over,' he told Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

50 seat jets, that no one wants!

Maximillian Jenius! — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:00:36 GMT

Airline Era Ends as Carriers Cull 50-Seat Jets `Nobody Wants'

The 50-seat jets once prized by carriers such as Delta Air Lines Inc. are being culled from U.S. fleets as higher fuel and maintenance bills make them too expensive to fly.

By 2015, U.S. airlines will have about 200 jets with 50 or fewer seats, down from about 1,200, said Michael Boyd, president of consultant Boyd Group International Inc. in Evergreen, Colorado. More than 80 have been scrapped in 2010, he said.

�These are litters of aluminum kittens -- nobody wants them,� Boyd said. Their only value is for recycled metal, he said. �The next stop is the Budweiser factory because that�s all they�re good for.�

Delta�s Comair unit underscored the turnabout with its Sept. 1 move to get rid of three-fourths of its 50-seaters after pioneering their use in the 1990s. Regional jets flew about twice as fast as turboprops, and crude oil at about $20 a barrel made them affordable to operate.

The drawback was spreading costs over about a third as many seats as in a Boeing Co. 737. With oil averaging $77.93 this year through Sept. 2, up 39 percent from 2009, airlines favor regional jets that can carry 70 or more people and fly less often, or new turboprops.

Comair�s move to shed 53 Bombardier Inc. CRJ-100 and CRJ- 200 jets is a �defining moment on the long road to 50-seat oblivion,� said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at consultant Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia.

�Look Awful�

�The economics are awful, especially in a time of high fuel prices,� Aboulafia said. �It makes sense if you�re focused on market share, hub preservation and other really outmoded concepts. But if you�re focused on profitability, then 50-seats begin to look awful.�

Comair President John Bendoraitis told employees in a memo this week the Cincinnati-based carrier needed to �dramatically change course� with steps that include chopping the fleet to 44 planes by 2012. Before cuts in the 2008 recession, the total was 131. Comair�s oldest CRJ-100s average 14 years old, according to Ascend Worldwide Ltd., adding to maintenance expenses.

U.S. passengers and airlines embraced regional jets when Bombardier and Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA entered the market in the 1990s. Use of models with 50 or fewer seats peaked in 2007 at 1,420, up from 110 in 1997, according to London-based Ascend, which compiles fleet data.

�Far Too Fast�

�The growth in this aircraft type was far too many, far too fast,� said Douglas Runte, managing director at Piper Jaffray & Co. in New York.

More-comfortable turboprops such as Bombardier�s Q400 and airline labor contracts favoring bigger regional jets helped erode the one-time advantages of the smallest planes, he said.

Embraer and Montreal-based Bombardier are now selling or planning models able to carry more than 100 people, part of what Bombardier predicts will be a $393 billion global market for jetliners with 100 to 149 seats in the 20 years ending in 2029.

Bombardier and Embraer, based in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, have gained 16 percent in the past year. Runte said a recent auction of used 50-seat jets posted sales of less than $3 million each for planes appraised for as much as three times that sum.

�With profits being as thin as they are, the cost of operating those airplanes is something that has to be overcome with high levels of traffic,� said David Swierenga, president of consultant AeroEcon in Round Rock, Texas. �We haven�t seen that.�

Comair�s Future

Delta sold regional subsidiaries Mesaba and Compass to Pinnacle Airlines Corp. and Trans States Holdings Inc., respectively, in July. A Comair spokeswoman, Kristin Baur, said Atlanta-based Delta continues to study options for Comair. Delta said a review was under way before its 2007 bankruptcy exit.

In June, American Airlines parent AMR Corp. said it would evaluate possibly divesting its American Eagle unit, whose 218- jet fleet consists mostly of Embraers with 50 or fewer seats.

Passengers probably won�t lament the vanishing of the smallest planes. The overhead bins typically can�t handle roll- aboard luggage accommodated on bigger planes, and window seats can seem cramped because of the curvature of a narrower fuselage, according to travel website SeatGuru.com.

�You feel like a sardine, and forget about trying to open your laptop and getting any work done,� said Pete Luttmann, a salesman at technology firm Dolphin Corp. in Cincinnati.

Luttmann, 47, estimated he flies 60 to 70 times a year, mostly on regional jets. �It�s very claustrophobic.�

If oil prices remain in the $75 per barrel range and businesses continue to be conservative with travel budgets, the retirement of 50-seaters may accelerate, said consultant Boyd.

�The small-jet airplane era is over because the economics simply are not there,� Boyd said. �They couldn�t make money with $50 oil, and they sure as heck can�t make money at $75 oil. The only people who love these 50-seaters are the chiropractors who have to fix what they do to peoples� backs.�

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-0...tml?cmpid=yhoo

I'm back!

YIPster — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:29:53 GMT

Not that any of you truly missed me, but I'm back online. Life got in the way, as it likes to do, but it's all sorted out now.

Still workin' hard at the airport, but I added another job and school starts up next week... I'm busy as hell!

Looking forward to next weeks chat, and I apologize for missing this past Thursday's. Hopefully you guys didn't drive Westie insane while I was gone and 'Bus doesn't have too many new boys in class. :D

L-29 Near Miss

rjjetset — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:39:58 GMT

Click here (yeah yeah, I still haven't figured the damn embed thingy out yet!

I bet this guy had some serious pucker bites in his underwear when he climbed out of this thing!

Hybrid Winglets!

Maximillian Jenius! — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 09:45:36 GMT

Any info on the aerodynamics of it?

I don't get it.

A typical winglet, you are "breaking" the high pressure leaking up on to the lower pressure top of the wing from the wing-tip.

I don't get it.

A wind-tunnel pic of this thing would be very cool.

neat stuff.

New gig

skysurfer2010 — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:45:27 GMT

I've kept most of the things happening in my career more on the personal side lately. A lot has happened over the past year with the current gig, much of which I wasn't too pleased with. I decided about a month ago that I had enough and started looking for a new job.

Those that know me know that I haven't been a fan of the lifestyle over on the dark side. I mean look at those that adore that lifestyle.... captain martini and billy the ex twinkinator...

:scared:

Heh... JK. Sorta. But lately I've noticed myself looking for the overnight trips with my current 135 and realized the dark side might not be so bad. So I did my research and found one regional that met my criteria....

1) Good reputation
2) Decent pay
3) good amount of hard days off
4) PHL domicile (even if I have to move elsewhere until I can get into a PHL base)

In my opinion there was only one regional that met my criteria and I have a few friends who work for them. One walked my resume into the HR office two weeks ago. This past Monday my phone rang. I was on a flight out of PHL yesterday to one of those weird states in the middle. I interviewed this morning. This afternoon I got another phone call from said company and now have a job offer to fly something without props.

I go away to school for 8 weeks on Sept 26. I'm pretty excited and looking forward to a new experience! I have to take a pay cut the first year (clueless how this is going to work!?), but after the first year I'll be doing better than I am currently. Second year pay is pretty good at this company for a regional which is a large factor in why I chose it.

They said that the most likely domiciles will be PHL or DCA. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed to stay local. Otherwise I'll have to terrorize another (less favorable) city. They said we should know where we'll be based after the first week of training. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated when I go away for school if anyone is interested. I'm sure it's going to be a long 8 weeks!

BMW radial engine history

WestSide — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:46:13 GMT

Ran into this on a car forum, I thought it was interesting how it correlates from early motorcycles into aircraft engines.

Listen how the motorcycle.. once started sounds like a plane!

Grrrrrrr I cant get the video to embed. Guess I dont know how... Help?! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAQuljp-atA

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.