Video: Perfect Final Landing For Atlantis (2 STS Launches Left)

 This video is long at 11:31.  Excellent approach viewing begins at 6:10, and the 'you-can't-do-better-than-this' touchdown occurs at 8:55. 

 The first landing of the last 3 remaining scheduled Space Shuttles flights took place this morning at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  The STS-132 crew completed their 12 day mission in space with an absolutely perfect landing, bringing the flight career of Shuttle Atlantis to an end.

 One flight each remain for Shuttles Discovery (September 2010) and Endeavour (November 2010)... Godspeed.

CoolPix - Modern Military: Getting To Know The GAU-8 (The A-10 Nose Cannon)

(click pic for hi-res)

‘A-10 Warthog Week’ continues with a CoolPix 4-pack…

Catch the Air Combat Command A-10 East Demo Team
at the Indy Air Show June 12th & 13th

 To understand the history of the Farchild-Republic A-10’s design, you really need to start with General Electric GAU-8 Avenger gatling-gun weapon, as the airplane was really designed and built around this huge 30mm cannon.  Interestingly, the GAU-8 wasn’t completed and operational when both the prototype YA-10A and the Northrop YA-9A first flew in 1972.  The gun was being developed in parallel to these two contenders for the ’Attack Experimental’ competition being held by the Air Force in the late 60’s and early 70’s.  Both prototype aircraft flew originally with the GE M61 Vulcan gun, a 20mm cannon similar to the upcoming GAU-8 but nowhere near as powerful.

  The complete GAU-8 system with full load of ammunition weighs in at just over 4,000 pounds which is about 16% of the A-10’s empty weight.  This gun and its bullets really are a significant part of the airplane.  The gun can unload those 30mm projectiles very quickly as well, at a rate of 3,900 rounds per minute, which means you could empty the entire load (1,174 rounds max) very fast if you don’t go easy on the trigger finger!  Warthog pilots say they never get tired of pulling that trigger, as the thrill of unleashing that kind of firepower never gets old.

 (click pic for hi-res)

 The rather amazing picture above really puts the size of the GAU-8 system into perspective… it’s pretty honkin’ huge!  The 7 rotating barrels measure 90.5 inches long, and the entire system from muzzle to the back end of the ammunition system is 19 feet 5.5 inches overall.  The large cylinder at the rear is the magazine where the ammunition is stored - typically 1,150 rounds.

 The gun is mounted on the airplane centerline to enhance accuracy, which also means that the nose wheel is offset to the side - one of many A-10 trademark features.  The  muzzle velocity is 3,500 feet per second and the gun is known for being extremely accurate.  One major innovation in the system was in using aluminum for the shell cases which allowed for significant weight reduction, a big advantage when dealing with systems for aircraft.  Many large challenges related to firing so many large bullets out the nose of a flying airplane had to be overcome, including an early problem of the firing gases causing engine flameouts, but in the end, a fantastically functional, reliable and accurate system was developed.

 (click pic for hi-res)

The GAU-8 is an amazing piece of firepower that has been very happily married to the A-10 airframe to create one of the most impressive and effective military aircraft ever.  It’s a very capable and dangerous combination that puts anything on the ground, especially tanks, in great peril.

 I highly recommend you read the wikipedia entry for the GUA-8 as it’s filled with many interesting technical details about the cannon.  And, watch for more of ’A-10 Warthog Week’!

 (click pic for hi-res)  The A-10's amazing GAU-8 gatling gun cannon

Video: GEnx Turbofan Engine Build To Flight Test In 2 Minutes

 Modern turbine engines are a lot quieter and much more fuel efficient, but they are still extremely complex and have a lot of close-tolerance parts that move pretty fast... many of them in a really hot environment.  As a result, the build process is highly specialized.  This video doesn't give a lot of detail but it does give you a really good idea of the basic work that goes into putting a big turbofan together.  This isn't just any old turbofan either, it's the General Electric GEnx engine recently developed for both the Boeing 787 and the 747-8.

 This specific example is for the 747-8 and produces somewhere around 66,000 pounds of thrust.  There's a lot of commonality between the GEnx engines, but the ones for the 747-8 retain the bleed air systems like have been used for many years.  You may already know that the 787 engines, either the GEnx engines or the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000, don't have the extensive bleed air systems since the 787 replaces most of those systems with electrics.

 This GEnx also has a slightly smaller overall diameter (105 inch fan diameter compared to 111 on the 787) to allow it to fit on the 747.  It's pretty amazing tho to see the flight tests in the video of how much larger the engine looks when hanging off the wing than the standard 747 engines.

 It's also interesting to note that the first GEnx powered 787, aircraft number ZA005, has had its first engine runs recently and should be making its first flight before long : )

Video: 'A-10 Warthog Week' Begins With A Smokin' Airshow Demo

Catch the Air Combat Command A-10 East Demo Team
at the Indy Air Show June 12th & 13th

AirPigz 'A-10 Warthog Week' Begins! 

 This excellent video was shot just last month at the Bluebonnet Airshow northwest of Austin, Texas.  It features a fab aerial demonstration of the Fairchild A-10 Warthog (officially the Thunderbolt ll) put on by the Air Combat Command's West Demo Team.  This is all especially relevant since the East Demo Team will be putting on a similar demo at the Indianapolis Air Show in just a few weeks on June 12th and 13th.  I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the A-10 put on a show like this : )

 This video also officially kicks off 'A-10 Warthog Week' where in addition to regular posts, you'll find a post on this unique anti-tank airplane each day this week.  This ferocious A-10 CoolPix from a couple weeks back kinda got this all started... that's when I realized that this airplane had so many interesting features to it that it really deserves a week of attention.  

 One feature to catch in this video are the decelerons, ailerons that are split so they can also be deployed up and down at the same time to act as air brakes, in addition to providing roll control.  Toward the end of the video this can be seen as the airplane pulls up sharply after a fast pass and the decelerons are deployed.  The scene immediately after of the landing also gives a good view of them, especially at touchdown when they are fully deployed.

 Lots more to come as 'A-10 Warthog Week' is just getting started!

Video: Hypersonic X-51A Waverider - Make Go Fast!

 A pretty big deal of a test flight is scheduled to take place in just a couple days, on Tuesday May 25, 2010, as the Boeing X-51A Waverider unmanned hypersonic test aircraft will be dropped from a B-52 at 50,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean to hopefully show true viability for air breathing scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) power.  On the flight, the X-51A will initially be powered by a solid rocket booster up to about Mach 4.5 when the scramjet will be lit and accelerate the vehicle up to around Mach 6. The video above does a great job of explaining the program details.

 The short video below shows a nice animation of how the drop from the B-52 and the flight itself might look.  It's all pretty interesting stuff, and the results will likely give either the pro-scramjet or anti-scramjet folks some ammunition in their relatively long and hotly contested debate.  It should be a pretty exciting show either way!

LUCY THM: The Fine Line Between Genius And Insanity

From designer Pietro Terzi, the LUCY THM

Umm, the LUCY THM is, kinda unusual(!)

(5 pix + 2 videos)

 I’m guessing most of you would be quick to push this unusual bizarre looking aircraft well over on the ‘insanity’ side of the table, but I’m not so quick to do so.  I love outside-the-box thinking, tho I will admit that this seems to be a little more like inside-the-padded-room thinking.  However, I’ve learned that it’s far more wise to wait and see if someone is on to something good before I declare that it won’t work.

 The machine is called the LUCY THM (I don’t know why) and it comes from Italy and designer Pietro Terzi.  And while it appears that it hasn’t flown, you should take note that Terzi has designed other aircraft as can be seen in the last image (after the jump).  It’s also important to note that the workmanship on this carbon fiber airframe appears to be very excellent, which again should add some credibility to the concept.  Construction on the project began in 2007.

 The LUCY THM was conceived to be a ’Personal Air Vehicle’ or PAV.  That’s one of the reasons that it has those odd looking pods hanging below the cockpit… you sit in it more like a motorcycle, with your legs down in the pods.  It seems this arrangement is meant to make you feel more like the airplane is part of you, or as the LUCY website says: “a ‘technological suite’ worn to get yourself about in the air”.

 If I read the specs right, it has a max takeoff weight of about 880 pounds, so part of the idea here is to have a lightweight airframe coupled with lots of thrust to make it have great STOL performance.  And this is where I see something that I think makes a lot of sense in the design.  You can see from the images that the prop has a huge diameter, over 10 feet, and it's driven by an 84hp Hirth 2-stroke engine.  With the constant speed prop geared way down, this little machine should have some serious thrust!  And one thing I think we overlook in aircraft design is the ‘thrust’ we get out of our engine/prop combinations.  Horsepower doesn’t really mean much if a lot of it is lost at the prop.  Large slow turning props can move huge amounts of air, so I’m prepared to give the designer a lot of credit for working to make an aircraft with more thrust than its weight (which is their claim).  This is the reason they actually call it ESTOL (Extremely Short Takeoff and Landing), and why they also claim it would climb at 3,000+ feet per minute.  Max cruise is claimed at 130 mph.

Click to read more ...

BD-5 On A Stick - Best Wind Direction Indicator Ever!

BD-5 wind direction indicator at Mishawaka Pilots Club (3C1) in Elkhart, Indiana

This must be the best looking WDI ever!

 I made a late afternoon road trip about 35 miles from home today to check out an airplane (more on that another day) at the Mishawaka Pilots Club airport (3C1) located at the edge of Elkhart, Indiana.  I've known about this airport for at least 30 years but for some reason I hadn't ever been there before.  Now I know I should've done this a long time ago!  Wow, what a cool place... a beautiful clearing at the edge of the city with a 2,243' x 40' asphalt runway (3-21) and an awesome 3,140' x 100' grass runway (12-30).  It's also a very unique place because even tho it's a public use airport, it's really an aviation community, owned and operated by a group of pilot / shareholders.  You can learn more on the way that works at the Mishawaka Pilots Club 'about' page.  This place lives for 'sport aviation', which already makes it one of my favorite places ever : )

 So I get out of the car and with just a glimpse off in the distance I instantly realize that their wind direction indicator (WDI) out in the middle of the airport is a BD-5 on a stick!  I have some pretty sharp radar for that gorgeous BD-5 shape, and the fact that these guys are using one for the WDI told me straight up that this is an exceptionally cool airport.  I've had some pretty extensive exposure to Jim Bede's little airplane over the years, and my post 'Almost 40 Years Later The BD-5 Still Looks Hot!' from last year shows that I believe it's gotta be one of the 10 best looking airplanes ever. 

 I got permission to go get some up-close pix of the 'BD-5 on a stick' so I could share it with the world.  I was really pleased to see that it's in great shape, unlike just about every tetrahedron I ever saw on an airport that was usually heavily dented, rusty, and could be heard squealing as it turned from the other side of the airport.  Nope, this was by far the nicest WDI ever.  I guess it's actually very cool and kinda sad all at the same time.  Cool because it's so beautiful to look at and sad because this is just about the best thing you could do with the several thousand incomplete BD-5 kits scattered all over that are buried under 30+ years of dust.

 I'm just really glad to see that my new favorite airport in northern Indiana also has the coolest wind direction indicator in the world : )

 Close-up of the pivot for the BD-5 on a stick

There should be one of these at every airport!

Video: A-10 Takeoff Buzz Job - You Might Wanna Duck!

 This short and sweet video is your advance warning that 'A-10 Week' starts next Monday May 24, 2010.  In addition to regular posts each day, I plan to offer up at least one A-10 post as well.  

 When I did a little research for the A-10 CoolPix I posted recently, I realized that beyond just being a great flying machine (with a really big cannon in the nose) the A-10 is a pretty remarkable airplane... we'll talk about all that soon : )

Wow! Boeing Model 40 And 787 Share The Sky!

(click pic to enlarge)

 An amazing event took place on May 8, 2010 as the only flying Boeing Model 40 flew in formation with Boeing's prototype 787 Dreamliner in the skies near Seattle.  This Boeing Model 40 was originally built in 1928 and was Boeing's first ever production commercial airplane.  This example was restored by Addison Pemberton from Spokane, Washington in 2008.  This formation flight represents the entire history of Boeing commercial aircraft... what a stunning sight to see!

 AntiqueAirfield.com has more photos of the two aircraft together, and also a post on how the photo shoot was pulled together.

 It's extremely cool that Boeing saw fit to include this historic event in the schedule of 787 test flying, and I'm really, really hoping they'll find a way to give the #1 Dreamliner a few days rest in Wisconsin in late July.

Video: Please Exit To The Rear... DC-9 Skydive!

 Skydive Perris in California has a DC-9 as part of their jump aircraft collection - that's pretty cool!  This video is a really nice one showing the entire experience from boarding, takeoff, climb out, exit, freefall, canopy ride and landing... and then the DC-9 touching down.  It's awesome and beautiful all rolled into one : )