Just out of curiosity - Airplane Guys

[Raymond]

Hard to stay warm up there with no internal combustion source. And maintaining a pressure suit- lotsa batteries, little margin for error.

Little margin for error indeed. Airline pilot friends tell me that flying a 737-400 at near max altitude, the gap between VNE and stall speed narrows to nothing much so a glider at 52,000' must be pretty much sitting in coffin corner. Must be kind of beautiful looking at the world from that far up though.

 

[Wagner73]

Really curious as to the cause. Typically, crashes immediately after takeoff (still on runway) are due to a massive unsecured cargo shift, a control lock that didn't get removed, or an engine pylon departing the aircraft. To fall out of the sky before the end of the runway is something seriously catastrophic.

Terrible crash. And I too was very curious as to cause when I first saw the report...it's not like these things have been unreliable the past ~70 years!

 

[Jim]

 

[Pat D]

So what's going on between :12 and :18? Reactive camo/stealth test bed, or just bad AI?

 

[Jim]

So what's going on between :12 and :18? Reactive camo/stealth test bed, or just bad AI?

Poor quality camera or too slow a frame rate?

 

[Jim]

I'm of two minds about turning old fighters into target drones. When you're no longer front line stuff, what's worse, wasting away in the desert sun, waiting for the wrecking ball to drive up? Or to go down in a blaze of glory, doing what you were built for... fighting for your life? Think I'd pick the latter.

F-4's were a pain in the ass to work on, but if you could keep one in the air day in and day out, you could call yourself a proper mechanic. Even so, it almost pains me to watch this... losing an old friend in a rigged game he'll never win.

A bit grainy, but good tunes.

 

[Wagner73]

I'm of two minds about turning old fighters into target drones. When you're no longer front line stuff, what's worse, wasting away in the desert sun, waiting for the wrecking ball to drive up? Or to go down in a blaze of glory, doing what you were built for... fighting for your life? Think I'd pick the latter.

F-4's were a pain in the ass to work on, but if you could keep one in the air day in and day out, you could call yourself a proper mechanic. Even so, it almost pains me to watch this... losing an old friend in a rigged game he'll never win.

A bit grainy, but good tunes.

Not fun, doesn't make me feel good.

 

[gunk]

Not fun, doesn't make me feel good.

Doesn't seem to make sense when all that aluminum,copper in wiring and other valuable metals could be salvaged.
Granted I have very limited knowledge on their construction. However.

 

[Jim]

What price would you put on our (US and NATO) pilots being the absolute best in the world? Chasing an F-4 to kill it while the drone operator tries to outmaneuver you is as real as it gets. How much would you say that experience is worth?

To be clear, I hate seeing these things getting shot down, but I do understand the training value.

 

[Jim]

Today in 1933, the first and only Douglas DC-1 made it's maiden flight wearing TWA livery.
Only the one DC-1 was ever built.
The DC-1 was soon stretched and called the DC-2.
The DC-2 was soon stretched again and became the venerable DC-3 that we all admire and love.

 

[Jim]

Today, July 10th, 1940 marks the first day of the Battle of Britain. A four month battle where the Luftwaffe tried to destroy the RAF and give way to the invasion of Britain. The Luftwaffe far outnumbered the RAF, yet failed to ever gain air superiority. The RAF won the day.
Their heroism led Winston Churchill to say "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."