Just out of curiosity - Airplane Guys

[Jim]

I don`t really know what this is but it was on the VFT today.
View attachment 184380

Northrup and Lockheed both got funding from DARPA in the 70's for stealth research. Northrup's Tacit Blue demonstrator gave them the tech to develop the B-2
Lockheed built the Have Blue demonstrator that developed into the F-117. Tacit Blue and Have Blue are "black project" code names.

 

[59Tebo]

It was a stealth technology demonstrator, first flown in early 1982.

 

[59Tebo]

Whoops. Sorry, Jim. I didn't see you there.... It was a cool looking plane, but supposedly was "...the most unstable aircraft man had ever flown."

 

[Jim]

Whoops. Sorry, Jim. I didn't see you there.... It was a cool looking plane, but supposedly was "...the most unstable aircraft man had ever flown."

Saw it at the Air Force Museum in Dayton Oh. I highly recommend the place.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

How 'bout a caption contest?

I was researching "bird strike avoidance", and *this* pops up...

 

[gggGary]

How 'bout a caption contest?

I was researching "bird strike avoidance", and *this* pops up...

View attachment 184483

I want to sit in the back! Would be just like the school bus on back roads when I was kid. On a good day our butts would bounce a foot or two above the seat! I think the bus driver "got it". .
We used to fly kids in our small private planes as part of the "visit the airport day" I'd always ask if they wanted a zero gravity demonstration. Was nearly 100% yes.

 

[halfmile]

Today on VFT.

 

[halfmile]

Has any peace time company ever cranked out more planes than Boeing?? On VFT.

 

[Team Junk]

When I was 12-13 Braniff Airlines brought "Fat Albert" their 47 that they were flying from Dallas to Honolulu to the new airport in Houston that had been built to accommodate Boeing's new plane. It was UT burnt orange and when I got to the end of the jetway,a new concept itself, and looked to the right my first thought was there was no way this thing could get off the ground.

I've heard several versions of Fat Albert's last flight to Hawaii but basically it goes that the Captain was called on the company radio to turn back because Braniff was defunct. The captain told them that these folks had paid to go to Hawaii and he was going to get them there. He radioed ahead to Braniff's station in Honolulu and told them that anybody that wanted to get home to Dallas to pack their sht up and be ready to go.

When they arrived there was the problem of how to pay to refuel the plane but the airport manager told the captain that Fat Albert had brought hundreds of thousands of tourist to the islands and that the airport would cover the bill.

I want to go back to those days.

 

[Team Junk]

https://theaviationist.com/2021/01/...new-mexico-but-managed-to-land-6-hours-later/

 

[Jim]

https://theaviationist.com/2021/01/...new-mexico-but-managed-to-land-6-hours-later/

There's a Youtube video of that flight. Hell, there's quiet a few out there.

 

[Boog]

https://theaviationist.com/2021/01/...new-mexico-but-managed-to-land-6-hours-later/

I enjoy reading success stories like this one (very sab about Buzz though). Being a test guy myself, tests do not always go as planned...

 

[Team Junk]

I wonder if Capt. Al Haines knew about this when the center turbine came apart on his DC-10

Thanks Jim. I didn't know there was film of this.

Apparently the don't train pilots like they used to. Re the 737 Max and the Amazon crash into Galveston Bay (an arrival route I've flown a lot in my life)

 

[Jim]

I wonder if Capt. Al Haines knew about this when the center turbine came apart on his DC-10

Kinda fuzzy on details, but at the time there was a voice in the wilderness calling for differential thrust training.... as something to be taught just as unusual att recovery training.

 

[RustiePyles]

I was watching "How Its Made" over the weekend and they were detailing the building of some sort of opposed 4 cylinder small aircraft engine, nothing really earth shattering. But they used silk thread and what looked like High Tack for case mating surfaces? Do any of you flight line guys have any experience with using silk thread as a gasket material? I thought it was an interesting concept.

 

[Jim]

I was watching "How Its Made" over the weekend and they were detailing the building of some sort of opposed 4 cylinder small aircraft engine, nothing really earth shattering. But they used silk thread and what looked like High Tack for case mating surfaces? Do any of you flight line guys have any experience with using silk thread as a gasket material? I thought it was an interesting concept.

Yes. That's straight out of the Lycoming overhaul manual.... OO (double ought) silk thread. Used it on every Lycoming I ever built. I've also used it on VW's Corvair's and Subaru's.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

... differential thrust training....

The FAA used our Learjet 35 flight simulator to duplicate Al's differential thrust approach procedure.


Imagine being on your knees, behind the throttle quadrants, one hand on each throttle, and trying to fly it like you're steering a tank.



Never could land it.
Same results, or worse, than Al's...

 

[RustiePyles]

Yes. That's straight out of the Lycoming overhaul manual.... OO (double ought) silk thread. Used it on every Lycoming I ever built. I've also used it on VW's Corvair's and Subaru's.


View attachment 184723

Hmm, I wonder if this could used to delete the base gasket of vintage Yamaha motorcycles? Obviously valves>pistons would have to be plastigauged for clearances

 

[Boog]

More art on a flying fortress...

 

[Jim]

Bill Lear, inventor of the 8track stereo, also designed and built the Lear Jet in the early 60's. Ask anyone in aviation to name a business jet, and they'll invariably name the Lear Jet. It's become an icon. After a production run of almost 60 yrs, Bombardier has ceased production of the speedy Lear Jet.
Link.