The General Airplane Thread

[Leonidae@MFT]

I believe I've seen that very same SR-71, if it's the one parked within March AirField museum. Took a close peek at it myself .

 

[Carlos]

Sled Driver is a very good read Would recommend!! 👍

Yes I know it's a boat

At least this does fly..

 

[Brett]

Sled Driver is a very good read Would recommend!! 👍

If I could get my hands on a copy, then I would love to read the book.

 

[Carlos]

If I could get my hands on a copy, then I would love to read the book.

You can get one for only 260 USD at Amazon (). Can't say I bought the book, though I did read it....

The awesome F-15 breakaway photo from above, HERE is the high res version

Spectacular takeoff!


I think I posted this one before but not this video.. These guys... I don't know if or ...


I'm now reading A-10s over Kosovo, very interesting and it's for free!

 

[wfooshee]

I Googled the Sled Driver book, not realizing how few copies were printed. If you're willing to cough up about 300 bucks, they can be had.....

Speaking of SR-71, there is a one-of-a-kind example of this one-of-a-kind airplane nearby. The Air Force Armament museum has one sitting out front by the highway. This one had an extended tail which was intended to add to the amount of equipment it could carry. It didn't work out, and only the one was modified.

There is also an A-12 in the museum on the grounds at the battleship Alabama in Mobile.

Among the other aircraft in that museum is the second of two YF-17s, the predecessor to the FA-18, and the competitor to the YF-16 for the Light Fighter contract back in the 70s. A rare bird, indeed!

EDIT: Why aren't my pictures showing??? They're public on the hosting site (Picasaweb) and they show when I'm in the edit screen, but the post is only showing X's when I hit Save Changes.

EDIT II: Parked the pics at Flickr, they're working OK. Google having issues on Picasa or something.......

 

[Carlos]

I Googled the Sled Driver book, not realizing how few copies were printed. If you're willing to cough up about 300 bucks, they can be had.....

Speaking of SR-71, there is a one-of-a-kind example of this one-of-a-kind airplane nearby. The Air Force Armament museum has one sitting out front by the highway. This one had an extended tail which was intended to add to the amount of equipment it could carry. It didn't work out, and only the one was modified.

There is also an A-12 in the museum on the grounds at the battleship Alabama in Mobile.

Among the other aircraft in that museum is the second of two YF-17s, the predecessor to the FA-18, and the competitor to the YF-16 for the Light Fighter contract back in the 70s. A rare bird, indeed!

EDIT: Whay aren't my pictures showing??? They're public on the hosting site (Picasaweb) and they show when I'm in the edit screen, but the post is only showing X's when I hit Save Changes.

Wow this is weird. I get X's too but now I quoted your post and the images show now (here in my unposted post).. I wonder what happens if I click Post Reply..

edit;
Hmm X's again. And now I click Edit, and I see the photos..

 

[TVR27]

 

[catamount39]

Holy cow...that's beautiful! #NewDesktop

 

[Carlos]

Awesome!

 

[catamount39]

Russian pilots just never cease to amaze.

 

[TVR27]

Any opinions on the F-35 ?

 

[Carlos]

Any opinions on the F-35 ?

Personally, it's ugly and I don't like it. It isn't what is promised and it became something we don't need.. It lost mock dogfights against a 80's F-16D (two seater) with extra 370 gallon underwing drop-tanks while the F-35 did not have any payload. You can't see planes behind it because it's not a bubble canopy (this is because of the F-35B version). As it can't dogfight it'll be primarily used for beyond visual range but, if I'm not mistaken, requires constant lock and the F-35 has to turn it systems off after it fired a weapon to stay invisible (ahum stealthy). What it will be used for is like a lookout, they scan the area for targets; find them and RTB. F-18s or battleships will later engage the target. It can't achieve more than 6.5g while they told us it would be 9g's like the F-16. It's also wider, high drag fusulage, smaller wings, the turn performances suffer heavily from this.

Probably for us Dutchies it'll be a hangar queen

 

[TVR27]

Personally, it's ugly and I don't like it. It isn't what is promised and it became something we don't need.. It lost mock dogfights against a 80's F-16D (two seater) with extra 370 gallon underwing drop-tanks while the F-35 did not have any payload. You can't see planes behind it because it's not a bubble canopy (this is because of the F-35B version). As it can't dogfight it'll be primarily used for beyond visual range but, if I'm not mistaken, requires constant lock and the F-35 has to turn it systems off after it fired a weapon to stay invisible (ahum stealthy). What it will be used for is like a lookout, they scan the area for targets; find them and RTB. F-18s or battleships will later engage the target. It can't achieve more than 6.5g while they told us it would be 9g's like the F-16. It's also wider, high drag fusulage, smaller wings, the turn performances suffer heavily from this.

Probably for us Dutchies it'll be a hangar queen

I would rather have SU-30's.

 

[catamount39]

Any opinions on the F-35 ?

It's America's worst production fighter plane EVER...EVER. It's overly priced, has a boat load of issues, doesn't really out perform the F-16 or F-18 at all, and their are so few it's embarrassing. And my opinion on it s twin the F-22...it's a bigger piece of ****. It even tries to kill it's own pilot because of the "ingenious" way the designers made how the pilot gets air. Both really suck because the costs don't equal the performance. Israel's rebuilt American fighters would eat them for breakfast. Not to mention the new Russian fighter that's being put in production.

I'd rather have a fleet of F-8's and F-4's than these pieces of garbage. America has lost it's fighter production ways...Europe you are blessed by the Typhoon.

 

[Carlos]

It's America's worst production fighter plane EVER...EVER. It's overly priced, has a boat load of issues, doesn't really out perform the F-16 or F-18 at all, and their are so few it's embarrassing. And my opinion on it s twin the F-22...it's a bigger piece of ****. It even tries to kill it's own pilot because of the "ingenious" way the designers made how the pilot gets air. Both really suck because the costs don't equal the performance. Israel's rebuilt American fighters would eat them for breakfast. Not to mention the new Russian fighter that's being put in production.

I'd rather have a fleet of F-8's and F-4's than these pieces of garbage. America has lost it's fighter production ways...Europe you are blessed by the Typhoon.

And how many real missions have the F-22 flown already? One?

I don't understand why we would need a F-35.. As how it is turning out, a look out, specifically not a dog fighter....I understand they can't back out anymore but they can't just replace the F-16 with it.. Can't imagine a country would only fly F-35s as 'fighters'..

 

[catamount39]

Let me put it this way...in a full scale war the USA would be screwed. We're stupid to think dogfighting will become obsolete, long range combat is only good against pilots which have zero idea how to fly a plane (Gulf War, Bosnia/Kosvo). And we're so full of ourselves to believe we know best, that we "understand" how combat will be. Yeah right, we're so arrogant that we've designed the worst fighter planes ever...even the F-4 was more or less capable of fighting (the again if the Vietnamese pilots had been turned loose it might have gotten ugly). If another war happened we'd be the first country to have it's air force wiped out probably, only saved by the venerable F-16's, F-15's and the Navy's/Marines F-18's.

Sad coming from the country which made the P-51, F-86, F-8, F-14, F-15, F-16 and F-18 (which are some of the most legendary fighters...5 of them proving themselves more than capable).

 

[Venom800tt]

Honestly, I fail to understand the hate on the F-22 myself, as I feel it is a damn good fighter, even if it lacks true competition at the moment. Unless Russia or China export PAK-FA's and J-20's to potentilly hostile nations, the Raptor won't have any true air to air rival that it could see combat against.
And the F-22's OBOGS is actually just a modified version of the system used in the F-16 and A-10. That is why once the oxygen problem was pinpointed to the system, it was quickly addressed.
If the F-22 program had happened in say, the 1970's, it would have been consiered an extremely successful program in comparison to my favorite fighter, the F-14.
Nearly a half dozen Tomcats crashed during testing, and one flight crew was killed in testing as well. Not to mention the horrible P&W TF30 turbofans that powered F-14A's.

 

[catamount39]

Honestly, I fail to understand the hate on the F-22 myself, as I feel it is a damn good fighter, even if it lacks true competition at the moment. Unless Russia or China export PAK-FA's and J-20's to potentilly hostile nations, the Raptor won't have any true air to air rival that it could see combat against.
And the F-22's OBOGS is actually just a modified version of the system used in the F-16 and A-10. That is why once the oxygen problem was pinpointed to the system, it was quickly addressed.
If the F-22 program had happened in say, the 1970's, it would have been consiered an extremely successful program in comparison to my favorite fighter, the F-14.
Nearly a half dozen Tomcats crashed during testing, and one flight crew was killed in testing as well. Not to mention the horrible P&W TF30 turbofans that powered F-14A's.

The F-22 is horribly outmatched by the new Russian fighter, as that is lighter, faster and can carry more weapons. The F-22 only has an advantage on range. The F-22 is barely any better than the F-15 rebuilds, and is WAY too expensive for an actual worthy of note force. It's a toy...an expensive toy. While European countries and Russia have constructed fighter planes we've constructed large fancy toys which in head to head combat could be minced. Thank God the Typhoon is with our Allies...

 

[Venom800tt]

The F-22 is horribly outmatched by the new Russian fighter, as that is lighter, faster and can carry more weapons. The F-22 only has an advantage on range. The F-22 is barely any better than the F-15 rebuilds, and is WAY too expensive for an actual worthy of note force. It's a toy...an expensive toy. While European countries and Russia have constructed fighter planes we've constructed large fancy toys which in head to head combat could be minced. Thank God the Typhoon is with our Allies...

Considering the PAK-FA is using outdated engines, I very highly doubt it will out perform the F-22 in acelleration or climb performance. From what all I have gathered on the internet, the PAK-FA's empty weight is roughly the same (39,000 lbs or so) as the F-22 (40,000 lbs). The F-22 also has far, far more efficient engines than any motor Russia has put out. For comparison purposes, the Flanker series of aircraft weigh 40,000 lbs empty, while the F-14D Super Tomcat weighed 43,000 lbs.
Then there is the sensor aspect of things. US fighters hold the technological edge in terms of avionics and sensor suites. Only the upgraded AESA equiped Typhoons are comparable, though the Dassault Rafale is close.
Anyway the PAK-FA is a prototype, while the F-22 is a production aircraft...

 

[catamount39]

Considering the PAK-FA is using outdated engines, I very highly doubt it will out perform the F-22 in acelleration or climb performance. From what all I have gathered on the internet, the PAK-FA's empty weight is roughly the same (39,000 lbs or so) as the F-22 (40,000 lbs). The F-22 also has far, far more efficient engines than any motor Russia has put out. For comparison purposes, the Flanker series of aircraft weigh 40,000 lbs empty, while the F-14D Super Tomcat weighed 43,000 lbs.
Then there is the sensor aspect of things. US fighters hold the technological edge in terms of avionics and sensor suites. Only the upgraded AESA equiped Typhoons are comparable, though the Dassault Rafale is close.
Anyway the PAK-FA is a prototype, while the F-22 is a production aircraft...

I was talking about this which is going into production. And the F-22 isn't being produced anymore as far as I know only the sad sack F-35 is.

Speaking of which...that Chinese fighter isn't a slouch either.

Back to the F-35 for a second. I'm surprised that a fighter in this day and age was designed without a bubble canopy...that's like a lesson that was learned in WWII...

 

[Venom800tt]

The J-20 is nothing more than an interceptor. One that also uses outdated engine technology. Both the J-20 and PAK-FA have features that are rather un-stealthy, namely the engine exhausts and the lack of saw tooth edges on many pabels. Also the gaps for the control surfaces and on the PAK-FA, the large actuator buldges. Also I haven't seen any official ranges for either the PAK-FA or J-20.

*EDIT*
Forgot to mention that the F-22 can carry up to 16 air to air missiles in a non-stealthy configuration (8x external AMRAAM, 6x internal AMRAAM, 2x internal Sidewinder).

 

[Encyclopedia]

Y

I think I posted this one before but not this video.. These guys... I don't know if or ...

Awesome, but a tad foolish.

Awesome!

Just a normal day in Russia.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Awesome!

Practising disguising is radar presence as highway traffic?

 

[Carlos]

Practising disguising is radar presence as highway traffic?

No idea but that was my assumption also.. There are already some of those Mi-8/Mi-17s shot down so if I was a pilot, I'd get as low as possible!

 

[Exorcet]

It's America's worst production fighter plane EVER...EVER

Not even remotely approximate.

It's overly priced, has a boat load of issues, doesn't really out perform the F-16 or F-18 at all, and their are so few it's embarrassing.

It's a 50 year program with an ambitious amount of technology, unlike the original "too cheap to even equip radar" F-16. Price is fine.

Every indication is that it would annihilate F-16's or F-18's which would fail to detect it until dead, and even if through the force of wizardly magic, the teen fighters got into WVR with a F-35, they would be permanently stuck in the NEZ of its AIM-9X and constantly locked by the all seeing EODAS. The F-35 is at the one moment one of the most deadly fighters in the world.

And my opinion on it s twin the F-22...it's a bigger piece of ****. It even tries to kill it's own pilot because of the "ingenious" way the designers made how the pilot gets air. Both really suck because the costs don't equal the performance.

The F-16 was so unsafe originally, it could not even taxi without the risk of death. Not to mention the first flight went so well, it was unplanned:



F-14's had some incidents as well

Israel's rebuilt American fighters would eat them for breakfast. Not to mention the new Russian fighter that's being put in production.

The 4.5 gen Israeli fighters are all inferior. The PAK-FA looks like it might be able to perform kinmatically with the F-22 but will most likely lose on stealth and is at a large disadvantage because of that.

I'd rather have a fleet of F-8's and F-4's than these pieces of garbage. America has lost it's fighter production ways...Europe you are blessed by the Typhoon.

In other words, you would rather be dead in a dogfight. There has never been as big a gap in fighter quality between the US and the rest of the world as there is now.

The F-35 and to a lesser extent the F-22 are victims of being exposed to 21 century media. The tons and tons of problems that old planes have go unnoticed because the internet couldn't spam you with them. No one cares about speeding F-16's on the ground, F-18's that destroy their own tails, F-15's with ineffective tails, F-14's with self destructing engines. But then they'll go complain about the F-35's perfect safety record with regard to pilots' lives.

I was talking about this which is going into production. And the F-22 isn't being produced anymore as far as I know only the sad sack F-35 is.

The F-22's production was completed.

Back to the F-35 for a second. I'm surprised that a fighter in this day and age was designed without a bubble canopy...that's like a lesson that was learned in WWII...

A lesson that applies to WWII aircraft, not modern ones with see through floors.

 

[catamount39]

Explain an F-35 being out gunned in a training dogfight by a two seater F-16 with it's wing tanks still on...that isn't the most deadly fighter in the world. We might as well call it the A-35..

 

[Exorcet]

Explain an F-35 being out gunned in a training dogfight by a two seater F-16 with it's wing tanks still on...that isn't the most deadly fighter in the world. We might as well call it the A-35..

Because the test was a stress test on high AoA performance using an early build F-35 without 360 degree view and unoptimized flight control software.

The pilot's notes basically boil down to saying the plane is geared too much toward safety, not surprising in a test program.

To use the F-35 vs F-16 flight as any indication of the F-35's air to air performance is terribly misguided given the purpose and structure of the test. Firstly they started in sight of each other, something that the F-16 would likely be denied over and over in real combat and something reinforced by the notes on the recent F-35 Green Flag exercise which is actually combat oriented.


EDIT

It should also be noted that the F-35 is a result of the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) program. It is a ground attack plane, yet it's still able to dogfight with the likes of the F-16.

 

[Carlos]

India Su-30s with RAF Typhoons!

Awesome high quality photos, put them in a spoiler. Muchos photos!

Spoiler

 

[Encyclopedia]

Awesome!

Someone on another forum said that it's just CG. Looks impressively real.

 

[catamount39]

Someone on another forum said that it's just CG. Looks impressively real.

It could be, could not be. Seen enough Russian dashcams with enough low flying helos to believe this lol.