I love me some jets, but seeing this video from inside the Breitling Super Constellation during take off and climb out with the ginormous Wright R-3350’s spewing fire as they turn gorgeous propellers reminds me that I was born about 40 years too late. Wow, what an awesome sight and sound!
The Breitling Super Constellation is based in Switzerland and is operated by the Super Constellation Flyers Association. She’s truly a beauty!
Today at 7:05am PST, Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo mothership left the ground from the Mojave Air and Spaceport carrying VSS Enterprise for the first 'captive-carry' test flight. The 2-part space vehicle launch system flew for 2 hours 54 minutes and reached an altitude of 45,000 feet. This is the first of many flight test hours that will be put on the system leading up to the first independent glides tests sometime later this year.
VSS Enterprise looking very much at home suspended under the mothership
Now that we're getting used to seeing the unique planform of the mothership, and especially now seeing the spaceship in place, the the whole package seems very logical and almost 'normal'. The test flight went extremely well and is bringing space tourism much closer to being a reality. Currently, Virgin Galactic has collected about $45 million in deposits from over 330 people wanting to experience space flight.
U-2 Spy Plane pilot: U.S Air Force Colonel Lars Hoffman
Interview with Col. Lars Hoffman - 1:01:20
Lars Hoffman is the husband of Jill Rutan Hoffman who I interviewed in podcast #6, and he's an experienced U-2 pilot. Lars shares a lot of really interesting details on what it's like flying the U-2 at altitudes up to 70,000 feet. The challenges of flying that high for both the airplane and the human body are significant, and we talk about a lot of them. You might be surprised like I was at many of the very unique characteristics of the U-2... it's a pretty fascinating operation.
The video below is from the 'James May on the Moon' special that ran on the BBC and it really helps to show what the experience is like when flying so high above the earth. I highly recommend you watch the video first, and then enjoy this interview with Lars as he takes you even deeper into the world of the U-2.
We also talk some about the work of Burt Rutan, who is the uncle of Lars' wife Jill, on the space tourism project. This video from the AMA Expo 2010 is a really neat look at Burt's experience over the years with model aviation, and it includes some interesting insight into the design and function of the spacecraft he has been designing.
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk 'Stealth Fighter' was officially retired from the United States Air Force on April 22, 2008. With initial design work done in the 70's, the F-117 went operational in 1983 as the first ever stealth aircraft, with a nearly invisible radar signature. It was also very successful in that it was designed, built and put into service in total secrecy. The airplane was eventually acknowledged to the public in 1988.
It's interesting to note that while it carries the 'F' designation, it's really an 'attack' aircraft. Designed with radar scattering flat surfaces, the airplane wound up having a look that makes it one of the most unusual military aircraft ever... especially for one actually put into service. The F-117 proved extremely successful in Operation Desert Storm, having flown only 2% of the missions yet was responsible for 40% of the strategic target attacks.
The F-117 is a fascinating part of the Lockheed Skunk Works legacy, and this pic of 4 of them in formation helps to remind us of what an amazing accomplishment the airplane is. Be sure to click the pic to see it big with lots of detail!
I've always thought it odd when someone says 'near-miss' to describe two airplanes that came really close to each other... seems like if it was a near-miss, then maybe they actually hit? So, to stir the pot a little (and oh how I do love to stir the pot), I've included near-miss in the title here : )
The winning caption by @Willhamrick is a pretty clever twist on the pic of a car skydiving out the back of a Skyvan. He's got the two having just missed each other in the air thanx to some onboard TCAS. Great job on the unique captioneering!
Keep watch next Monday morning for an all new caption contest to fall out of the sky. (UPDATE: the Caption Contest is gonna take a break for a bit... absence makes the heart grow fonder)
During the first minute of this video you're very likely gonna think: watch out, crazy people alert! But that will soon transform to something more like: hmm, this thing is very interesting and really seems like a totally stable flying platform with serious potential. What strikes me is that this may be the first time we've seen a truly viable solution to the idea of having a tip-powered rotor. As the video of the Hiller HJ-1 I posted a while back shows, the tip-powered rotor idea has been around for a long time. It just seems like there's always been hurdles too high to clear that have keep the concept from having a genuine application.
The Swisscopter company is hoping to prove that they have a great solution in the Dragonfly DF1. Swisscopter is operating out of Tucson, Arizona, but there's definitely some connections to Switzerland, and a trip around their website at Swisscopter.us definitely suggests it's not just a U.S. venture. In fact, a little digging lead me to find that the design was known a few years back as the Intora Firebird. This brief history on the Firebird helps to shed some light on the fact that this concept has been in the works, and around the globe for a lot of years now! Hopefully they're getting close to a real success now, and I'm sure that watching this project progress is gonna be fun.
The most unique feature of the DF1 is the H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) rocket motors mounted at the rotor tips. The hydrogen peroxide you might have in your medicine cabinet is only a 3% solution, but when it's at much higher levels, like 70%, it makes a dandy rocket fuel. If I understand the process correctly, introducing the high percentage solution to a catalyst like silver or manganese dioxide causes the rapid decomposing of the hydrogen peroxide into high temperature steam and oxygen. That explains all the steamy puffs seen in the video. And hey, it's pretty hard to argue with an exhaust that's just water and oxygen! The rocket motors also seem to be extremely simple, low maintenance, quiet and reliable.
A couple other quick things to note about the DF1. As a tip-powered rotor, it doesn't need a tail rotor to counteract torque, however, the DF1 does have a small tail rotor that it uses to be able to control yaw. Gyrocopters also don't need a tail rotor since their overhead rotor is free rotating, but they have a propulsion engine with prop blast pointed at a rudder to control yaw. Without that prop blast, the DF1 needs some other tool for yaw control. The DF1 also appears to be very quiet which seems like it could be a real plus in gaining acceptance. Questions remain about how safe the high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide are and how easy the fuel would be to obtain. I also wonder about the steam produced by the rockets. As can be seen in the slightly fuzzy video below, massive amounts of the steam can be produced, which makes for some awesome flow visualization, but also makes it a little foggy for the pilot when landing! I'm assuming that this issue has been dealt with and that the video above is representative of the state-of-the-art (maybe they did something special to the rockets to make that much steam?)
Lastly, here are some DF1 specs: cruise 40 mph; max speed 115 mph; empty weight 235 pounds; gross weight 800 pounds; max rate of climb 2,300 fpm; duration at cruise 50 min to 1 hour 40 minutes depending on tank size.
I sure hope we get to see the Dragonfly DF1 at Oshkosh!
If you're like me, you flew some control-line model airplanes as a kid, but they were probably nothing at all like this little screamer! The video is actually from 2001 as the World Record in the 1.0-2.5cc class was being set by this airplane. It looks like this record is still standing yet today.
If you aren't familiar with control-line models built for super speed, you'll wanna notice some very unique features here. On this airplane, the wing is only on the left side and the horizontal tail is only on the right side. This model is also unusual in that the prop has only one blade! Here's a pic of the prop on a website with more details about this model.
The engine cranks out about 36,000 rpm as the model literally screams its way to a world record speed of 208.28 mph! You won't believe it til you see it. It's crazy-cool to see just how fast that thing makes a complete circuit. You might get dizzy just watching it : )
The LTJ 100 airliner is a radical new concept in airliner design, and it’s another one of the trend-resisting ideas to fall out of my head. I’ve known for years that I don’t think like most people do, the real challenge has been in trying to figure out if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I’ve sensed that no clear consensus has yet been formed on the matter : )
Anyway, about a month ago I started taking notice that with the Bombardier CSeries jet getting an official re-launch of the program, there was a pretty large field of approximate 100-seat airliners popping up in the world, and most all were taking the same basic form: 2 fan engines mounted on the wings while the rest of the shape between them all was just a little bit of a push, a pull, or a point away from being the same.
That’s where the idea for the Twinjet Beauty Pageant Poll I posted last Friday came from… wondering which of these similar looking airplanes was the best looking overall in the mind of the people. It also got me thinking that while it’s not a bad thing that they all have a similar basic design, there’s gotta be something fresh out there to bring to the world of airliners intended to cart around enuf people to fill 200 shoes.
So, a couple late nights of wringing out my transversely-mounted gray matter and the LTJ 100 was born. Well, kind of. It’s not really a complete concept just yet. This is also a good time to remember that I skipped out on going to aeronautical engineering school in the fall of ‘79 to be an airport bum instead. I’ve also had a really hard time coming up with the cash to make my car payments in the last 18 months, so I’m really about the least likely person to come up with the definitive 100-seat airliner for the late two thousand teens.
But I am a dreamer who sometimes comes up with some pretty sweet ideas, so let’s talk a little about the basics of the concept. If you look at the picture above, you’ll see my idea for what the cabin of the future needs to look like. In a word, roomy. I did a poll last year that asked this question: Would you ride a 400mph airliner over a 550mph one if it offered a lot more seat room and many additional cabin comforts and activities to take your mind off the time? It’s not a scientific poll, and the sample size is tiny, but 84% said they’d take the slow ride. Hmm, interesting. It made me wonder if it was feasible to design an airliner around a 400mph cruise speed with the assumption that it would lead to a significantly lower fuel burn.
Usually a ’skydiver driver’ is the pilot of the jump plane, but this time I think we’ve found a whole new meaning! And you just gotta love an airplane that can let a car full of people drive right out the back end : )
Seems like this oughta be some dandy caption material, and you’ve got til Wednesday evening at 9pm EDT to submit your captions. Then I’ll pick the best 5 and put ’em in a poll for everyone to vote on. The most popular caption will put the winner in line for $20 in AirPigz funny money.
The Rules:
1) Max of 3 submissions per person
2) Submissions go in the 'comments' area
3) Game ends Wednesday at 9pm EDT
4) Keep it clean!
Anyone who wants to cast their vote will be able to after the poll goes up around an hour after the 9pm Wednesday submission deadline.
We'll vote for 24 hours, til 9pm EDT on Thursday. The winner will be posted Friday morning 3-19-10. And remember, it’s not the fall that gets ya, it’s the sudden stop at the end.
There’s been a shift in the basic design philosophy for regional jet aircraft in the last few years, most everything in the approximately 100 seat market is set up as a twinjet with the engines mounted on the wings. You can kinda thank the Boeing 737 for getting that all started back in mid 60’s.
But today we have at least 5 contenders in the ~100 seat twinjet market, with all of them looking remarkably similar. No doubt there are some noticeable differences tho, and that’s exactly what this non-scientific poll is all about: looks. So please take a moment to look over the shapes presented here and then cast your vote for the one you think looks the best overall. We’re not talking efficiency, affordability or even availability here, just pure skin deep beauty : )
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 09:51PM 
Breitling Super Constellation photo: Mike Switzerland / Wikimedia
U-2 Spy Plane pilot: U.S Air Force Colonel Lars Hoffman
