All Things Aviation Related

[edgemar]

that was a great video

[greglepore]

He pulled collective at the last moment and it sure looked from the slomo that he mast bumped about 200 ft or so agl and just flopped in. Not being critical, I'm sure his hands were full as he had no forward motion (in hover to land) when shtf.

[edgemar]

[dlockhart]

[dlockhart]

[herr_oberst]

[Seahawk]

I shared this with another Navy Man here via PM...1990 Persian Gulf. The USS Chancellorsville hit a mine and the SH-60B detachment came aboard my ship for a few months.

The Detachment OinC was a good friend of mine and we flew together a lot.

This is Petty Officer 2nd Class, soon to be 1st Class, Rodriquez, in the yellow shirt. I have yet to meet a better, funnier, young man: I never liked him.

They apparently loved my landing

[KNS]

Somewhere South of Phoenix, AZ, long before they were a few million dollars to acquire.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by KNS

Somewhere South of Phoenix, AZ, long before they were a few million dollars to acquire.

Believe that this was either at the Gila River airport (SE of Phoenix) on the indian reservation, or Goodyear airport (West of Phoenix).
https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/wings-in-the-wasteland-the-forgotten-warbirds-of-gila-river-memorial-airfield.html

[KNS]

^^

Joe,

I thought it may have been possibly at Memorial (Gila River airport) on the Gila Res or maybe Buckeye. I researched it and it was actually a small field southwest of Sky Harbor. It closed many years ago. That plane has been restored and is currently airworthy and in private hands.

Goodyear of course used to be Litchfield Naval Air Facility and was the storage area for all surplus Navy and Marine Corp aircraft (very much like Davis Monthan today) until it was closed and all remaining aircraft were scrapped or moved to DM. There's some cool old photos of Litchfield if you search Google.

Gila River airport was used as an outlying field for Luke Army Air Field and Williams Army Air Field during the war. In the early '90s I was flight instructing out of Chandler and our school had an agreement with the Gila tribe to use Memorial airport for flight training (mostly touch and goes). At that time the place was still full of DC-4s, DC-6s and some DC-7s along with a few other makes. It was occasionally active and every now and then a big Douglas would take off or land. I loved going there just for that. Now they're pretty much all gone and some of the field has been paved over. Sad...

[KNS]

Litchfield Naval Air Facility (now Goodyear Airport)

[Joeaksa]

Kurt,

Great history and glad that its peserved at least in photos. The old Gila airport can still be seen but other than 3-4 old 1950's aircraft is empty and not used anymore.

Joe A

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by KNS

In the early '90s I was flight instructing out of Chandler ...

We may have flown together.

Around that time, I was in the Phoenix area with my wife and her parents, as grandma lived in Sun City.
Father-in-law and brother-in-law just want to play golf.
Wife and mother-in-law just want to go shopping.

I've got free time.
I went to the Chandler airport, and got checked out in a Cessna 152.

102 degrees. Me and instructor, both decent-sized guys, let's go.
I know how to fly a 152. Rotate at 50 knots, climb out at 70.

At 50 knots, I raise the nose, and..... 50 knots... 50 knots... Still 50 knots, mains firmly planted on the runway.

I lower the nose, and the little wheezing Lycoming slowly accelerates us to 70 knots, where we finally became airborne, and begin a shallow climb.

I glance over at the instructor, who has a big grin. "We'll call that a soft-field take-off. Ya did good"

Just a bit different than flying around my normal Puget Sound area.
I'd hafta dig through an old logbook to see the date and instructor's signature.

[KNS]

I was at a helicopter flight school at Chandler from late 1991 through early 1993. Yeah, it was plenty hot - in the summer we started very early and tried to be done flying by early afternoon.

I do remember a Cessna flight school on the field, Walkup Aviation (not sure if that spelling is correct).

[john70t]

Originally Posted by KNS

Yeah, it was plenty hot - in the summer we started very early and tried to be done flying by early afternoon.

^Maybe you just needed a small overhead fan to cool off?

[john70t]

Much more fuel-efficient aircraft design.
Requires re-tooling.
Requires longer runways because of stall speed. I'd suggest big pop-out canards and better wheels. like duh.

Delayed because "Passengers won't buy because they can't see out the window". Like a screen and comfortable seat is not enough.
Meanwhile they spend hours in daily commute trapped in a subway or freeway surrounded by idiots.
Spirit Air not mentioned.

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

[astrochex]

Uhm been posting about blended wings for a while John, now see this https://www.jetzero.aero/. The concept has been in work for decades.

Boeing could have been way ahead of the game, but Seattle funded the Sonic Cruiser instead. Mark Page, Dr Liebeck, and Blaine Rawdon (inventors of the BWB) will have the last laugh.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

737 MAX - Indonesia - Criminal charges dismissed in spite of call for special prosecutor.
Anecdote:
I was in the corporate IT software engineering process group (SEPG) before this occurred. When our group went to Boeing Commercial Aircraft (BCAG) leadership to try implement corporate software quality standards, they straight up told us; "we are the tail that wags the dog" we'll get back to you.
This response went up the chain of command to the CEO and the rest is history.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/criminal-case-against-boeing-over-deadly-737-max-plane-crashes-is-dismissed-by-a-us-judge/

[john70t]

[KNS]

Hughes 269 helicopters being assembled in the same massive building the Hercules "Spruce Goose" flying boat was built in Culver City, CA