[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

Company video: https://www.jetzero.aero/

"An elevated customer experience" with a price to match...

[vreihen16]

Some cattle car renderings of the possible JetZero blended wing's seating layouts. Note the use of digital windows on the sides (since the wing structure would prevent actual glass), and the 10:1 passenger to bathroom ratio:








.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Some cattle car renderings of the possible JetZero blended wing's seating layouts. Note the use of digital windows on the sides (since the wing structure would prevent actual glass), and the 10:1 passenger to bathroom ratio:








.

My claustrophobia would never let me get in there! I have enough issues with a normal aluminum tube! Amusement park restraint systems are also a problem...

[Llarry]

For Phantom Phriday this time, let's looks at the final major user of the F-4: The Turkish Air Force. (We are not done with the F-4 by any means; there's still much to discuss.)

Turkey got several batches of F-4s of various types:
-- 40 F-4Es in 1974
-- 32 F-4Es and 8 RF-4Es in 1977-78
-- 40 ex-USAF F-4Es in 1991
-- 32 ex-Luftwaffe RF-4Es in 1992-94
For a total of 152 Phantoms.

In the mid-1990s, Turkey upgraded 54 of their best F-4Es to Israeli Kurnass 2000 standards; 48 of these are still in front-line active service. I have not seen a concrete plan to replace these Phantoms in the near term.

The large missile in the F-4E photo is the Israeli Popeye air to surface missile.

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by Llarry

In the mid-1990s, Turkey upgraded 54 of their best F-4Es to Israeli Kurnass 2000 standards;

I had to look this up: Kurnass meaning heavy hammer.

https://www.israeli-weapons.com/weap...t/f-4/F-4.html

https://www.globalsecurity.org/milit...rnass-2000.htm

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

My claustrophobia would never let me get in there! I have enough issues with a normal aluminum tube! Amusement park restraint systems are also a problem...

Let’s see, more passengers and less crew. After this, single pilot.

I think the only folks that will be happy about this are the share holders.

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

Let’s see, more passengers and less crew. After this, single pilot.

I think the only folks that will be happy about this are the share holders.

..... and the undertakers.

R.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

My claustrophobia would never let me get in there! I have enough issues with a normal aluminum tube!

When my late father asked why I would never fly in his plane with him, I said that I didn't like the thought of the only thing between my butt and falling thousands of feet to the ground was a piece of sheet metal thinner than what was used on a lawn shed.

That being said, the renderings look way more spacious from a claustrophobia perspective than the cabin of the Concorde that I flew on.....

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

When my late father asked why I would never fly in his plane with him, I said that I didn't like the thought of the only thing between my butt and falling thousands of feet to the ground was a piece of sheet metal thinner than what was used on a lawn shed.

That being said, the renderings look way more spacious from a claustrophobia perspective than the cabin of the Concorde that I flew on.....

True story:

A local rancher brought his Piper Super Cub to a repair facility at our airport
to have it recovered. He dropped by the shop a week or so later to check on
the progress. The mechanic had the wings and fuselage stripped down to
bare metal.

Rancher: “Is that what it looks like with the hide off it!”

Mechanic: “Yep.”

Rancher: “Well you never mind, just sell it.”

[Llarry]

The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is a hazardous place. This RA-5C Vigilante of RVAH-1 "Smokin' Tigers" was being moved on deck on the USS Enterprise (CVAN 65) when the brakes and nose wheel steering both failed with the result seen here.

The pucker factor for the crewman in the pilot's cockpit was surely sky-high!

[Llarry]

A great photo of an F-18F of VFA-103 "Jolly Rogers" a split-second from touchdown. Landing Signal Officers in the background.

[M-technik-3]

Originally Posted by Llarry

The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is a hazardous place. This RA-5C Vigilante of RVAH-1 "Smokin' Tigers" was being moved on deck on the USS Enterprise (CVAN 65) when the brakes and nose wheel steering both failed with the result seen here.

The pucker factor for the crewman in the pilot's cockpit was surely sky-high!

I have not heard did the guy in the tug survive as we know the F18 pilot got out

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by M-technik-3

I have not heard did the guy in the tug survive as we know the F18 pilot got out

I don't really know the context -- was the RA-5C taxiing under its own power without the use of a tractor, or was it under tow? If under tow, I suspect the tractor went over the edge and don't know whether the driver might've survived.

When under tow, usually the plane captain (a fairly junior enlisted) is in the cockpit to steer/brake the aircraft.

Oh, wait -- you're talking the recent incident. I do not know what happened to the tractor driver. If the F-18 went off the elevator, I suspect it was being backed onto the elevator and the tractor driver could be pulled over the side, or somehow quick-disconnect to avoid that. I think we would've heard if there was a fatality.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by Llarry

...

Oh, wait -- you're talking the recent incident. I do not know what happened to the tractor driver. If the F-18 went off the elevator, I suspect it was being backed onto the elevator and the tractor driver could be pulled over the side, or somehow quick-disconnect to avoid that. I think we would've heard if there was a fatality.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/...ign-yemen.html

"The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft," the statement said, adding the "sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard."

[Lady Jane]

Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri derived from the FL265 and FL185. (Follow links)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_Fl_282

[Llarry]

In the mid-1980s, during the period of plentiful defense funding, the U.S. Navy saw the opportunity to get their hands on the ultimate adversary aircraft for their small units (Top Gun and several adversary squadrons) training fighter pilots in air combat maneuvering.

The Navy bought 22 modified F-16C/Ds off the General Dynamics line. These aircraft were stripped down for the lightest possible weight with lighter radar from the F-16A/B, deletion of the Vulcan cannon and had beefed-up wings as they would have hard lives of high-G maneuvering. Provisions for underwing stores were deleted, and the aircraft were powered by General Electric F110 engines. They also bought 4 similar two-seat TF-16N versions for a total of 26 Viper aircraft.

In 1987-88, the F-16Ns and TF-16Ns were delivered in small batches to:
VF-126 "Bandits" at NAS Miramar, California
VF-45 "Blackbirds" at NAS Key West, Florida
The Navy Fighter Weapons School "Top Gun" also at NAS Miramar
VF-43 "Challengers" at NAS Oceana, Virginia

The Navy adversary pilots finally had their dream airplane and wasted no time in putting them to use training fleet pilots in fighter tactics.

Unfortunately, the hard life that these particular F-16s led (constant high-Gs) soon showed up in structural problems and after a very short service life, the F/TF-16Ns were withdrawn from service in 1991.

If @smokinJoe64 has any more to add, by all means weigh in here.

[Llarry]

I have just gone over the defense budget for fiscal year 2025 -- the budget that was proposed over a year ago. I know, I'm a little slow. Some factoids:
-- The Air Force purchases of F-35As and F-15EXs are essentially the same cost ($115 million each give or take). It seems to me that this fact calls into question the decision to station two squadrons with 36 F-15EXs on Okinawa -- relatively close to a potential Chinese adversary. Why not station the stealthy F-35A there instead? Assigning F-15EXs to Air National Guard units for homeland defense makes more sense to me.
-- Many Navy/Marine aircraft programs are done with procurement, although final deliveries may not yet have occurred:
- The last F-18E/Fs (of 698 total)
- The last Marine MV-22Bs (of 360 total)
- The last Navy CMV-22Bs (of 48 total)
- The last Marine AH-1Zs and UH-1Ys (of 349 total)
- The last Navy P-8As (of 128 total)
- The last Navy/Marine aviation training T-54As (of 63 total) and TH-73As (of 130 total)
- The last Marine KC-130J transport/refuelers (of 86 total). However, the Marine Corps keeps upping the requirement, so we shall see. And the grand total of KC-130Js is 111 when you add in 25 aircraft for the Navy Reserve squadrons.
-- The last MQ-4 unmanned air vehicles (total only 22 aircraft of the 68 originally planned.)

For the Navy and Marine Corps, that leaves one big ticket aviation item in mid-course: The F-35B (Marines) and F-35C (Navy and Marines).

[Llarry]

The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider bomber has been flying now for a year and a half. By September of 2024, three B-21s had been produced and were in testing.

The B-21 is smaller than the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber but has longer range. It is powered by two turbofan engines rather than the four engines of the older bomber. According to Aviation Week and Spece Technology the empty weight is about 70,000 pounds and the max takeoff weight about 180,000 pounds. A single main weapons bay has a capacity of 20,000 pounds of weapons.

Like the B-2 before it, the B-21 is subsonic.

The Air Force plans to first assign the B-21 to Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, which will host the formal training unit as well as two bomb squadrons. A minimum of 100 B-21s is planned and they will replace B-1Bs and B-2As currently in service. (The B-52s will continue in service.)

The cost of this sophisticated stealth bomber is -- as you would guess -- very high. Estimates put the unit cost at $700 million or more for each bomber.

The underwing probe and the trailing wire seen in the photos are test items; the operational aircraft will not have these.

Interestingly, Australia expressed some interest in buying the B-21 and apparently the U.S. was amenable to that. In the end, the Aussies passed.

[vreihen16]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is going on at Newark Airport (EWR) lately? United and other airlines are canceling flights like crazy, there's maintenance on one runway, and it is reported that 20% of the Philadelphia ATC staff that handles their airspace has walked off the job. Is it really as bad as the NYC TV talking heads are making it out to be?????

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is going on at Newark Airport (EWR) lately? United and other airlines are canceling flights like crazy, there's maintenance on one runway, and it is reported that 20% of the Philadelphia ATC staff that handles their airspace has walked off the job. Is it really as bad as the NYC TV talking heads are making it out to be?????

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybo...uggles-at-ewr/

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is going on at Newark Airport (EWR) lately? United and other airlines are canceling flights like crazy, there's maintenance on one runway, and it is reported that 20% of the Philadelphia ATC staff that handles their airspace has walked off the job. Is it really as bad as the NYC TV talking heads are making it out to be?????

Yes.

Delays averaged 4 hours per jet yesterday.

R.

[3.0L]

Safety first, even if it inconveniences the customers.