The General Airplane Thread

[Rage Racer]

A squadron of Su-25's wishes you happy Independence Day.

 

[Dan]

A squadron of Su-25's wishes you happy Independence Day.

That’s not even close to resembling an American flag either; it’s Russia’s! Perhaps someone running the account posted the wrong photo.

 

[wfooshee]

I knew that California leaned pretty far left, but really????

 

[Populuxe]

I mean, we all know there's collusion, but they don't have to be so obvious about it.

 

[KM964]

Some recent snaps of mine.

Southwest 737. Starting to catch more of these in the old livery, they're slowly being phased out.

Same story with the Virgin America planes. The day that the last one is painted into Alaska livery will be a very sad day.

Two of Southwest's newest state specials. Arizona One and Louisiana One. Arizona is not new, they just repainted a -700 (N955WN) since the original -300 (N383SW) was retired last year along with the rest of their -300s.

I've photographed the British Airways 747 numerous times but it never gets old. Sadly they're bringing the 777 here instead in just a few months.

Qatar OneWorld.

And my best catch, the PSA Retrojet. With this one, I've now captured the US Airways side of the American heritage fleet. I just need to catch the Astrojet now to fully capture the entire AA heritage fleet; thankfully that shouldn't be too hard due to the fact that it's not an ex-US Airways aircraft.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I see the Southwest ones all the time since I spend most of my time in the direct take off and landing route of them.

 

[yf23]

delete

 

[Populuxe]

Very impressive photography.

 

[yf23]

Very impressive photography.

Thanks!
Was challenging as lots of heat haze.
Have a look in my album as I've put the full size images in there and there are more to enjoy!

 

[KM964]

Had a great day between both of DFW's major airports.

At DFW, I snagged Singapore Cargo.

I also snagged the Astrojet, which means I have finally photographed the entire AA heritage fleet. Pretty happy about that.

Triple Crown One landing from STL.

N498WN landing after a short hop from ELP.

The treat of the evening, the ex-Houston Express 747 carrying FC Barcelona. Never ever thought I would see this plane, considering it only operated between two different cities (Houston and Luanda, Angola) and the fact that it was stored in two different boneyards (MZJ and VCV) since March. When I went spotting at IAH in May, the service had already ended and the planes were sent to MZJ.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Does anyone know how true these stories are in the last couple weeks about the Su-57 program being canceled are? I've seen many countries with operational fleets that have long existed, dip their toes successfully and unsuccessfully into the gen 5 world, and those that did make it did so at quite a hardship. Same with those groups that didn't. The main thing I see is that those who failed or succeeded are taking their learned hardships and using it to further advance long used airframes.

Supposedly the Su-57 will be a learn block for advancing the Su-35, and the same can be seen with the new Block 70 F-16. Either way it'd be nice to know how true it is, because the Su-57 looked to fit the gen 5 requirements.

More on the block 70
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/t...-f-16-block-70-fighting-falcon-has-f-22-26419

 

[yf23]

Does anyone know how true these stories are in the last couple weeks about the Su-57 program being canceled are? I've seen many countries with operational fleets that have long existed, dip their toes successfully and unsuccessfully into the gen 5 world, and those that did make it did so at quite a hardship. Same with those groups that didn't. The main thing I see is that those who failed or succeeded are taking their learned hardships and using it to further advance long used airframes.

Supposedly the Su-57 will be a learn block for advancing the Su-35, and the same can be seen with the new Block 70 F-16. Either way it'd be nice to know how true it is, because the Su-57 looked to fit the gen 5 requirements.

More on the block 70
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/t...-f-16-block-70-fighting-falcon-has-f-22-26419

As far as I'm aware the su 57 programme hasn't been cancelled.
I know they were having issues with the engines but I would be extremely surprised if they cancelled the programme completely.
I'm sure some of the tech on the su-57 will be adopted by the su-35 but it still won't be 5th gen, hence why they will have no choice but to keep developing the su-57 if they want to compete with the U. S and China.
Also heard of a few countries that were looking into buying it.

As for the block 70 F16, it looks awesome! I've always liked the design of the F-16.
Long may it continue to fly.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

As far as I'm aware the su 57 programme hasn't been cancelled.
I know they were having issues with the engines but I would be extremely surprised if they cancelled the programme completely.
I'm sure some of the tech on the su-57 will be adopted by the su-35 but it still won't be 5th gen, hence why they will have no choice but to keep developing the su-57 if they want to compete with the U. S and China.
Also heard of a few countries that were looking into buying it.

As for the block 70 F16, it looks awesome! I've always liked the design of the F-16.
Long may it continue to fly.

Which is why I asked as well, I'd find it pretty strange to see such a long term project stopped unless it was A. going into something even more promising that is already being worked on. Or b. Russia sees no reason to entertain a 5th gen machine and thinks 4.5 gen is capable enough until the era of the sixth gen makes way. I find it too hard to believe that it would cancel such a project. Though I will say you don't need a fifth gen to be successful which is why I think America as opted so largely to have a growing 4.5 gen presence, along with keeping other older war planes into the future. And why other nations are vastly later to the party on the 5th gen construction

The F-22 is 20 years old now, and was effectively what started the Gen 5 era. Since then America has had another stealth fighter, has joined in unison with other nations to develop fifth gen planes too. While others are still trying to get a plane in that gen, or barely finishing up operational ready machines. To me this all indicates that such advance aircraft are extremely hard to build and the only group that has some formative success without too much delay was Lockheed though the argument still could be made that the YF-23 was the cheaper and potentially better option to go with.

Also I too like the F-16 design, coolest one since I saw the F-16 XL

 

[yf23]

I loved the F-16 XL, it just looked right. I wished they had put it into production!

As for the YF-23 it looked like it came from another planet, it was awesome!
It was more stealthy than the F-22 and could fly faster and longer.
Lockheed Martin not long ago showcased a concept for what a 6th gen fighter would look like and it was very similar to the YF-23. Shows how ahead of its times that design was.

The biggest problem today with all the 5th gen fighters is they are just too expensive to construct and maintain. The reason the F-16 has been so popular is it was relatively cheap and it worked. Today it has evolved to an even better machine. It deserves all the success.

 

[Brett]

Does anyone know how true these stories are in the last couple weeks about the Su-57 program being canceled are? I've seen many countries with operational fleets that have long existed, dip their toes successfully and unsuccessfully into the gen 5 world, and those that did make it did so at quite a hardship. Same with those groups that didn't. The main thing I see is that those who failed or succeeded are taking their learned hardships and using it to further advance long used airframes.

Supposedly the Su-57 will be a learn block for advancing the Su-35, and the same can be seen with the new Block 70 F-16. Either way it'd be nice to know how true it is, because the Su-57 looked to fit the gen 5 requirements.

More on the block 70
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/t...-f-16-block-70-fighting-falcon-has-f-22-26419

As far as I'm aware the su 57 programme hasn't been cancelled.
I know they were having issues with the engines but I would be extremely surprised if they cancelled the programme completely.
I'm sure some of the tech on the su-57 will be adopted by the su-35 but it still won't be 5th gen, hence why they will have no choice but to keep developing the su-57 if they want to compete with the U. S and China.
Also heard of a few countries that were looking into buying it.

As for the block 70 F16, it looks awesome! I've always liked the design of the F-16.
Long may it continue to fly.

Which is why I asked as well, I'd find it pretty strange to see such a long term project stopped unless it was A. going into something even more promising that is already being worked on. Or b. Russia sees no reason to entertain a 5th gen machine and thinks 4.5 gen is capable enough until the era of the sixth gen makes way. I find it too hard to believe that it would cancel such a project. Though I will say you don't need a fifth gen to be successful which is why I think America as opted so largely to have a growing 4.5 gen presence, along with keeping other older war planes into the future. And why other nations are vastly later to the party on the 5th gen construction

The F-22 is 20 years old now, and was effectively what started the Gen 5 era. Since then America has had another stealth fighter, has joined in unison with other nations to develop fifth gen planes too. While others are still trying to get a plane in that gen, or barely finishing up operational ready machines. To me this all indicates that such advance aircraft are extremely hard to build and the only group that has some formative success without too much delay was Lockheed though the argument still could be made that the YF-23 was the cheaper and potentially better option to go with.

Also I too like the F-16 design, coolest one since I saw the F-16 XL

Here is an article about the SU-57: Article. It has some pretty good information in it.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Thanks @Brett. It looks like my guesses were correct mostly, 4.5 gen fighters are more than enough to fulfill combat readiness and are still being reworked and upgraded at a very larger rate. So why rush into a more expensive new era of jets that aren't indicating to hold more capabilities worth the cost.

Also found this interesting https://www.popularmechanics.com/mi...retired-f-117-stealth-fighters-flying-nevada/

 

[Populuxe]

I had a walk past Boeing's Renton Field yesterday. Checked out a few of the finished 737s awaiting final delivery, plus a small scattering of private planes.

737 Max-9 in Lion Group livery


China Eastern


Not sure about these




Private planes

 

[Swagger897]

Apparently there's a large shortage of materials for the 37's and it's causing a stoppage of production.

Also, 2 days ago they (Boeing) rolled out the 777x test bed.
https://airlinegeeks.com/2018/09/09/first-boeing-777x-heads-to-testing/

 

[Populuxe]

Apparently there's a large shortage of materials for the 37's and it's causing a stoppage of production.

There is a large bottleneck, not just on engines, but also fuselages and other components, but Boeing is refusing to stop production. They're sticking planes on every available ramp in Renton and sending teams to finish the jobs outdoors as parts come in. They even taken limits off overtime. Some employees have worked as much as nine weeks straight without a break just to cash in. I can't blame them. Boeing claims they're going to have their production problems sorted by years end, but I'm skeptical.

 

[Swagger897]

There is a large bottleneck, not just on engines, but also fuselages and other components, but Boeing is refusing to stop production. They're sticking planes on every available ramp in Renton and sending teams to finish the jobs outdoors as parts come in. They even taken limits off overtime. Some employees have worked as much as nine weeks straight without a break just to cash in. I can't blame them. Boeing claims they're going to have their production problems sorted by years end, but I'm skeptical.

I just don't see how they're catching up. The 737s, 777 work, KC46 conversions, the new unmaned contract, etc...

 

[Populuxe]

I just don't see how they're catching up. The 737s, 777 work, KC46 conversions, the new unmaned contract, etc...

There are a whole lot of investors and industry watchers asking the same thing.

 

[Pupik]

Not sure about these

Just looked a them in Flickr (was wrong on my initial assessment), and that's the recent Boeing registration of N1xxxB. Trying to figure out the golden pattern on the winglets is a clue. They'll use that registration for 15-20 planes in a year.

The N1786B is for Norwegian Air Shuttle. This tweet thinks so. The ones with the reg and gold winglets are for Kunming Airlines (geez, I have a lot to learn about spotting those which never fly over here in commercial service),

For reasons that aren't clear to me, a lot of aircraft paint the big 'ol tail fin first, then leave the rest of fuselage for later. Maybe it has to do with how the paint dries on those control surfaces?

 

[Crash]

I just don't see how they're catching up. The 737s, 777 work, KC46 conversions, the new unmaned contract, etc...

The 737 is built at a different factory from the 777, which is different from where a good deal of the KC46 conversions are happening, all with different supply chains.

 

[Pupik]

The 737 is built at a different factory from the 777, which is different from where a good deal of the KC46 conversions are happening, all with different supply chains.

Though ironically, they're flying the airworthy 787s in from Charleston to Paine Field because of Hurricane Florence...which is probably making things crowded.

 

[Swagger897]

The 737 is built at a different factory from the 777, which is different from where a good deal of the KC46 conversions are happening, all with different supply chains.

I know a large majority of production houses are completely different, but I'm amazed how last year there was a lot of frantic panic from Boeing, accusations against Delta about 777 prices being erroneous, and failure to obtain military and commercial airline contracts. It has completely changed within the last 12 months and it seems like it's all happening at once now.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I know a large majority of production houses are completely different, but I'm amazed how last year there was a lot of frantic panic from Boeing, accusations against Delta about 777 prices being erroneous, and failure to obtain military and commercial airline contracts. It has completely changed within the last 12 months and it seems like it's all happening at once now.

That's just the nature of the industry.

 

[JockeP22]

This was impressive. The landing, the camera work and the Antonov itself.



Check out at around 4:50 where you can see the 737 in comparison in the foreground.

 

[Pupik]

Some recent-ish photos (2016-present) while waiting around or taking off. I still have photos from 2013 that I haven't had time to get to...so they're new to me even if they've sat on a hard drive for many moons.

Alaska's N626AS (737) coming in for a landing at PDX


Korean Air HL8011 (777-300) waiting for takeoff at ATL
[url=https://flic.kr/p/SgQ2k1]

Southwest N759GS (737-700) holding after landing in ATL


A mocked-up Canadian Pacific 737-200 sitting around near Villeneuve Airport near Edmonton


China Cargo Airlines 747-400 taking off from Atlanta


Caught this Hainan Airlines 787-8 in Seattle


Not-a-great-shot of the Alaska Salmon N559AS (737-800) in Seattle, but obviously need to post this


Antonov Airlines An124-100 UR-82017 at the cargo hangars in Atlanta


Swiss Airbus A330-300 while waiting in traffic on Lejune Road in Miami


Frontier has an Airbus A321 now and it landed in Atlanta


A non-FedEx MD-11F in Toronto, thanks to Lufthansa Cargo


I think this is the last Delta 747-400 (N666US) shot I have, from last year in Detroit


Delta Connection Barbie Jet Bombardier CRJ200 (N494CA), late evening in DTW


Touch-and-go practice at HSV for the then-new Airbus A350s last year
[/url]

 

[KM964]

The N1786B is for Norwegian Air Shuttle. This tweet thinks so.

N1786B is definitely Southwest. That very well could be the last 737NG they took delivery of.

 

[KM964]

Double post, please delete