All Things Aviation Related

[911boost]

He has a Blackhawk and spent a fortune having it gone through by pros. I think it’s great someone can work and achieve want he wants.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by FA-18C

Man, that is scary. Hard to question whether he should have stayed with the aircraft. Unknown what caused the abrupt nose pitch forward and crunched the nose gear, or why the engines are still at high RPM. When ShLt hits the fan, figuring out what is happening is not always instantly obvious. If there was an indication of fire, or smoke and flames, you get out. Hard to argue there is a worse way to go other than dipped in honey and staked to a fire ant hole. Also, if there was a sense the aircraft was going to roll over, you gotta get out, or get trapped and see above...Very lucky that he was still inside a safe eject envelope. Looks like maybe a swing and a half before impact, would be fortunate to have minor injuries. Hard to watch these happen. Never a huge fan of fighter aircraft taking off and landing vertically. Is it cool? Absolutely, but the thrust to do this and to control it puts incredible stresses on components. And if something goes, it is never uneventful. Of the people I know that have ejected from aircraft, I count 4 from Tomcats, 2 from A-7s, 4 from FA-18s and a friend in Harriers laps me in numbers he is aware of - successful, or not.

Maybe you know if newer ejection seats on the ground, per haps have a attidude delay, like if the seat detects it will roll over, it won't fire when pulled.. but wait for best/better attitude?

if so in above video perhaps pilot pulled when the nose collapsed, seat said, wait a sec i'm rolling starboard.. and then when it settled back to port and level it went off?

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by svandamme

slowest crash ever, but it looks like his engine was not throttling down?
maybe a computer glitch

I know in the past planes have kept flying after ejection, engine keeps running
but perhaps F35 in hover the engine somehow cuts out after ejection??

[svandamme]

from what I read on the design, there has to be a clutch to disconnect the lift fan from the engine turbine shaft..
If clutch broke
actuator failed
or oil leak on the clutch (if at all that makes sense for a F35 clutch vs basic car clutch )
electronic glitch disabled it

It sounds unlikely that the pilot could mistakenly just turn off that lift fan, while in low forward velocity hover... So I Doubt this was pilot initiated input.

But obviously the mishap report will look into it with more data then we get here


EDIT
"The clutch mechanism uses dry plate carbon–carbon technology originally derived from aircraft brakes. Friction is only used to engage the lift fan at low engine speeds. A mechanical lock-up is engaged before increasing to full power.[24]"
apparantly, it is supposed to lock up and can't slip after engaging..


"The gearbox has to be able to operate with interruptions to its oil supply of up to a minute while transferring full power through 90 degrees to the LiftFan."
maybe ran out of time on the oil supply?

[svandamme]

https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/35575/how-does-the-f-35-hover

"the lifting system itself moved by the F-35's engine. The pilot works at the pitch of the fan, meanwhile computer countermeasures how to maintain stability. The pilot itself could push a button or use voice-activating system to open the lift-fan's door."

So the blade pitch is under his control, but then the computer would determine how the nozzle in the back keeps it stable?

man that plane is very complicated , so many ways it can go wrong..

Harriers had just as much problems , but way more mechanical and it was ususally the pilot who kept them pointing in the right direction and up vs down. Analog.

[bugstrider]

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[E38Driver]

A little Christmas/FAA humor.
So, it's getting to be that time of year....

Santa is getting ready for his annual FAA check ride. The FAA guy shows up with a iPad and a shotgun. Santa starts his preflight, and the FAA guy takes a few notes on the iPad. As they climb in to the sleigh, the FAA guy stows the pad away and then pulls out the shotgun. Santa can't take it anymore and asks "what's up with the shotgun?" The FAA guy says "well, I'm not really supposed to tell you, but you're gonna get an engine failure on takeoff......."

[svandamme]

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by bugstrider

Warhawk

Always loved the P40, dunno why but they just look like funn
Spit and P51, never mind the Jug all look too big, I'm sure they are more capable, but the Warhawk just looks right to me, and a bit underrated.. they did well with Chennault's flying Tigers but few people seem to remember that.

[Jolly Amaranto]

Originally Posted by svandamme

Always loved the P40, dunno why but they just look like funn
Spit and P51, never mind the Jug all look too big, I'm sure they are more capable, but the Warhawk just looks right to me, and a bit underrated.. they did well with Chennault's flying Tigers but few people seem to remember that.

They also did well for the Brits in North Africa. That was all they could get and they made the most of them.

[SpyderMike]

Interesting coincidence...I am documenting my Father in Law's experience as a WWII Marine pilot (SBDs and TBMs mostly). He was on one of the first marine carriers CVE-107. Anyway, I just came across his Chinese Blood Chit today. I have found so much original material that I am thinking a website about their history might be needed...

[t6dpilot]

The P-40 is a fantastic flying airplane. Very honest. The one thing you have to watch out for is the vertical speed on landing. You cannot approach the runway using airspeed as your sole indicator of descent rate. You must monitor VS. If you solely used the AS and a visual indicator of landing attitude, you could very well be descending upwards of 1,500 feet per minute. Not good when the runway approaches...

[DRONE]

That's the complete power unit of a P-47 laid out as fitted to the fuselage - all that ducting to and from the engine, the rear-mounted turbocharger, the air-to-air intercooler and so on is why it's so bulky.

The Bf109 was the result of Willy Messerschmitt's philosophy of the bigger possible engine in the smallest, lightest airframe with the least frontal area and the tightest cowlings possible. Hence why the later 109s had to grow all sorts of bulges and fairings in their cowlings and wing surfaces to accommodate later additions of weaponry or equipment because there was so little 'spare room'. The 109 was also designed to use the minimal amount of structural elements, originally for the sake of lightness but later that proved to be highly suitable to dispersed mass production (for instance the forward wing mounting, undercarriage bracket and rear engine bearer are all combined into one single forging. But it did leave the 109 as a relatively flimsy aircraft - there was a saying in the Luftwaffe ground crews that "when an Fw190 crashes, they take the wreckage back to Focke-Wulf and Kurt Tank strengthens all the bits that broke...when a Bf109 crashes, they take it back to Messerschmitt and Willy weakens all the parts that are still intact."

[KNS]

^^ The size of the turbo, intercooler and all the other components are mind boggling!

[bugstrider]

The wifey made a major aviation art score after visiting a local Goodwill store.

One print was actually signed by Richard “Dick” Best…








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[bugstrider]

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[svandamme]

[DRONE]

Hot air? I cannot that anything else would make the bag rise?
https://thumbsnap.com/i/HA7XSMKX.mp4

[javadog]

Yep.

Bread, fresh out of the oven.

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by DRONE

Hot air? I cannot that anything else would make the bag rise?
https://thumbsnap.com/i/HA7XSMKX.mp4

I’ve always been told that…. That can lead to kids if it happens in real life.
“Leave no man behind!”
- Elie Fuzzy Aswad (real name)
Helicopter mechanic

Someone has sum splainin to doooo