Aviation Megathread

Makes sense…that indicated speed is barely a breeze lol. What’s the clean stall speed of a Lear 45?

 

120 ish... I don't have the books anymore. Asscheeks always clenched every landing. Ya gotta be on yer game for sure.

 

When I was in high school I would take 6 sheets of computer paper and place them 2x3 the long way and staple them together. I would then make a giant paper airplane. Sometimes get crafty and help support the wings with straightened paper clips.

I would do this in class without the teacher noticing and when they had their back to us I would fly it into the white board next to them while they were writing stuff down. They would be surprised and confused. Was pretty funny.

Never had a teacher get so mad that they tried to force the class to rat me out.

Duno what reminded me of that and not sure if this belongs in this thread.

I tried 3x9 but the wings would just fold. Didn't have good supplies on hand for it.

 

An aspiring aeronautical engineer and his “test flights”?… good enough for me.

 

Any of you have seen/experienced a ground power cart plugged into the aircraft backwards (reversed polarity)?

 

Only when it was reversed at the wall in the power box where the GPU plugs in. VERY old building though.

 

I took this picture in 2003, just a few days before we crossed the berm into Iraq. I lost lots of blood working on this machine, but i loved it.

 

About time we had an aviation thread! If you haven't visited Dayton OH yet and the MASSIVE Air Force museum there, then you are missing out on a lot. Easily could spend 2 full days reading about the displays and still would cover only half of the things there. Loved seeing MIG's, Sukhoi's, and one of my favorites, the XB-70 Valkyrie.

 

^^^^^
This. Great museum. Also check out the naval aviation museum in Pensacola. It’s free as well and well worth seeing.

 

That's awesome! Added it to my bucket list next time I'm passing through Ohio.

 

Probably my favorite museum of any type. Love the WWI and WW2 hangars. Well I love all of them, but the deep history in those is fascinating. One of my favorite displays is the German Me-163 Komet. Their example was built by French slave labor. It was never flown by the germans, but it may ended quickly had they tried to fly it. When the museum opened up the inside they found it was sabatoged by the factory workers, along with their written opinions of Hitler lol. Epic.

It looks like they’ve added stuff since the time I was there. It’s a great place to spend a day or two. And it’s free to the public!

 

Im ready to be air-dropped into Ukraine with my 4R and my crossbow?

 

You're going to go straight up Daryl Dixon on the Ruskies?

 

These are from the 2015 Reno Air Races

Rare Bear:

 

Reno? What’s going on in that first picture? Lol

 

More of Rare Bear

 

Gotta dry the laundry somewhere!!

 

Strega

 

You know how they put little stencils of their "kills" on the sides of the airplane? Well... They don't call him "Ace" for nothing...

 

Here’s a couple from last year’s Oshkosh

 

Looks wicked. Visited the Palm Springs Air Museum last year and saw the F117 Nighthawk in person.

 

I'm not involved in aviation myself, but proud to say that my oldest son recently became an avionics specialist with the US Air Force. Currently working on these guys (but with the EL tailcode)

 

I worked on the F-4 Phantom II for 10 years. When they got rid of the Lead Sled, I got out. I couldn't see spending 8 months, or mor, at sea on a plane, the Hornet, that took no brains, even for I level work. You plug it into a computer, replace the card it tells you to. A trained ape can do that. I am not a trained ape.
AND...
I have a famly growing up then I needed t care for. Being out to sea most of my time...that just wouldn't work. The timing just worked out for me. Customs put up an aerostat in Yume right then, and they hired me to be the Lead E-Tech for the site. Worked for me, and payed well.

Have fun gang!
Pat☺

 

Ya, the Corps was flying Phantoms when I was in too. I loved watching them go out on exercises when I was at Pendleton. Carry-on Patrick, Semper Fi!

 

Any homebuilders out there? This was my RV6. It was a 5 year build project and I flew it for 10 years before I sold it. Great flying little airplane.

 

Can’t believe I’ve been on this forum for years and missed this thread. Anyway, I spent most of my career in aviation. More on that in subsequent posts.

I recently checked off a bucket list item, traveling to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in NY for their WWI airshow. I captured this image of pilot Brian Coughlin flying a replica Fokker D.VIII. In a tragic twist, this aircraft crashed during their next show six days later and Brian lost his life.



On a brighter note, I highly recommend the Sullenberger Air Museum in Charlotte, which I also visited on my trip. Pretty cool to see the actual A320 that landed in the Hudson.

 

Looks smooth, slippery... very nice.