CoolPix - Vintage Military: Awesome Lineup Of 10 de Havilland Mosquitos

(click pic for hi-res)

 Here’s another CoolPix in the 'Vintage Military' category.  A lineup of 10 de Havilland Mosquitos that appear to be factory fresh and ready to go to war.

 In my mind, the de Havilland Mosquito is one of the best aircraft of all time for a variety of reasons.  Fabulous structural engineering resulted in an extremely light but strong airframe made mostly out of wood.  Great aerodynamic design made it an exceptional performer… extremely fast with a top speed of nearly 400 mph, and great handling qualities as well.  And then there’s the gorgeous lines of its shape.  Everything just seems to be in the right place.

 Be sure to view the hi-res version (click the pic) and look at the details of the airplanes.  It also looks like there’s a wind sock on beyond the last airplane in the line.  And look at that field… huge, smooth, and with short grass.  This is an absolutely awesome picture!

 Loads more Mosquito info at dhmosquito.com.

Cessna SkyCatcher Delayed… Hmmm, Maybe It’s Time To Look At The Citabria 7ECA

The Cessna 162 SkyCatcher Light Sport Aircraft  photo: Cessna

 (3 pix)

 I saw a link fly by my twitter feed for this AvWeb Cessna 162 SkyCatcher article that tells of a new 6 to 10 month delay for deliveries of completed aircraft.  Cessna did deliver the first airplane on 12-18-09, but that went to Rose Pelton, wife of Cessna CEO Jack J. Pelton, which kinda makes the 4Q delivery fulfillment seem a bit like smoke and mirrors.  It looks like this delay is due to some ongoing design alterations that are apparently being implemented after the airframes are built.

 If you’ve followed my coverage of the Boeing 787 program, which has been way behind schedule and has had some serious problems along the way, you know that I’ve remained very optimistic about the potential success of the project.  So, I’m not necessarily going to throw an airframer under the bus just because they’ve had some developmental problems.  But in Boeing’s case, I’ve seen on paper and in reality a truly remarkable concept that is also stretching the technology envelope.  It’s actually been pretty easy for me to still believe in the 787.

 But with the Cessna SkyCatcher, I have to say that I’ve been scratching my head ever since I first saw the concept aircraft on display at Oshkosh 2006.  I realize I might be in the minority here, but I don’t find the airplane attractive at all.  It doesn’t look good to me, and in fact, it doesn’t even look ‘right’.  And, I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist (or an aeronautical engineer) to look at the concept airframe and think, hmmm, looks a little lacking in the vertical tail.

Click to read more ...

Blue Angels Backseat During Airshow - Awesome Flip Video!

 This incredible vid wasn't just shot with a Flip Video camera, it is a flip video!  Raw footage, with no music to mess it up, from the backseat of Blue Angels F-18 #7 during an airshow.  

 Sure, a 'media' ride would be really nice, but c'mon, this is what we all want... the chance to experience the insanely close formation at high speeds with lots of unusual attitudes!  

 This vid is as close as we'll ever get.  Sensational ride, and almost surely the best 9 minutes and 55 seconds you'll experience today.  Enjoy : )

Caption Contest #26: Sinking To A New Low - Ends Wednesday 1-20-10 At 9PM EST

 The damage has already been done… might as well find a way to laugh about it, eh?  My understanding is that the people got out ok, but the airplane?  Not so much.

 So let’s take a few minutes, come up with some really funny captions, and then laugh about it!  The best caption will put the winner in line for $20 in AirPigz funny money.  (I hope to have the prizes in place for ’trading’ before too long - hang in there : ) 

 You’ve got til Wednesday evening at 9pm EST to submit captions, then I’ll pick the 5 best captions and put ’em in a poll for everyone to vote on. 

  The Rules:

1) Max of 3 submissions per person

2) Submissions go in the 'comments' area 

3) Game ends Wednesday at 9pm EST 

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 EST on Thursday. Then the winner will be posted  Friday morning 1-22-10.  Have fun, and beware of thin ice!

CoolPix - X Planes: Vertol VZ-2 Tiltwing Research Aircraft Circa 1960

 (click pic for hi-res)

 Another new category for the CoolPix feature here at AirPigz… this time it’s ’X Planes’, which is meant to reflect predominately any experimental or research aircraft sponsored by a government agency.  That means that while it certainly includes the ‘official’ X-Planes that started with the X-1, it also includes many other ‘X’ designated aircraft, like the XFY-1 Pogo (video) as well as others like this sorta freakish looking Vertol VZ-2, which doesn't have an ‘X’ in the designation at all.  I hope that all makes sense.

 As with all the CoolPix, viewing the hi-res version is what it’s all about.  This pic was taken in December 1960 and shows several of the rather bizarre features of the VZ-2.  It was powered by a single turboshaft engine in the 700hp range that sits on top of the fuselage, right behind the tiltable wing.  That engine drives to the prop/rotors (presumably via shafting) which allows the wing-mounted nacelles to be rather small.  The engine also drives two small ducted fans at the rear, incorporated into the ‘T’ tail.  One for added pitch control, and the other, seen in the pic at the end of the fuselage, for yaw control.  It also has both a small nosewheel and tailwheel.  This hi-res pic allows you the chance to see lots of interesting details of a very unusual flying machine!

 The program ended in 1965 after the odd VTOL made about 450 flights, including 34 full transitions from vertical to forward flight.  The aircraft is believed to be currently in storage at the National Air and Space Museum.  The rare video below shows the VZ-2 in flight - cool stuff!

Advanced Aerodynamic Duct-Tapelogy... Alaska Style

(4 pix) 

 The origins of this story are a tad cloudy, but it appears that up in Alaska in the fall of 2009, a bear happened to find this unattended Super Cub (used for remote fishing excursions) with the oh-so-sweet aroma of fish emanating from the fuselage.  Not understanding the irony of a ‘bear’ tearing into a ‘Cub’, the wild beast ripped the defenseless airplane open looking for some easy eats. 

 I don’t even think the bear found anything for its efforts, maybe that’s why it slashed the tires too!  But it sure left a surprise for the pilot who radioed a request for 2 tires, some plastic sheet, and 3 cases of duct tape.

Click to read more ...

Caption Contest #25 Winner: Up With People!

 We're definitely getting some new players in the Caption Contest, and I think that's dandy. Congrats to Turb Coriolis for having the most popular caption for this wacky pic.  And thanx to everyone who submitted and voted too.  The whole point is to have some fun with airplanes... that way we all come out winners.

 I'd really like to see this contest grow a bunch, so maybe you all should tell your avgeek friends about it, eh?  You can tell 'em to watch for a new caption challenge to break the surly bonds of earth on Monday 1.18.10 : )

FlightTime Radio: Top Notch Weekly Radio Show For Avgeeks : )

Milford and Charlie from FlightTime Radio

 I had the great opportunity to be on the FlightTime Radio Show on Saturday, December 26, 2009, and I gotta say that it was a ton of fun!  Milford and Charlie are excellent hosts with a real passion for the joy of flying.  We had a great time talking about all kinds of avgeekery, and I had the chance to share what AirPigz is all about too.  You can go listen now to the archive of FlightTime Radio Show #102.

 You can also check out the full FlightTime Radio archive going all the way back to show #1 in January 2008.  Another great way to listen is on FlightLineinternetRadio.com…  currently the show airs at 05:00, 11:00, 17:00, and 23:00 zulu time, with 4 days of the week being the current show and 3 days of the week are the previous week’s show.  You’ll also find loads of other great aviation radio programming at FLiR, including another excellent show… The Warbird Show.

 This is an exciting time for aviation related radio shows and podcasts, and FlightTime Radio is one of the best!  (there should be some AirPigz podcasts hitting the street here pretty soon too : )

Cool Video Of The Convair XFY-1 Pogo Making Vertical Take-Off AND Landing!

 Hot Dog!  This is a cool video for at least 3 reasons.  First: cuz it actually has a lot of footage of the 1950's Convair XFY-1 Pogo in the air... vertical take-off, lots of horizontal flight, and vertical landing.  You'd actually think from this promo video that we would have soon been transitioning all aircraft to VTOL.  Turned out that while it did 'work', there were a lot of other issues that kept if from truly being a success.

 Second: there's actual footage of the Pogo flying inside Hangar One at Moffett Field, which just happens to be the first ever AirPigz CoolPix posted recently.  What a sight to see the Pogo doing tethered flying tests inside the huge airship hangar!

 Third: this video is from YouTube channel mcdonnell220, who's a guy that contacted me thru Oshkosh365.com a few days ago.  Turns out that we went to 1st thru 3rd grade together at a really small private school south of San Fransisco back in the late 60's.  We haven't talked since we were kids... it's pretty cool that aviation and the internet connected us again after 40 years.

 So anyway, if you're a fan of the crazy/cool X-Planes from the post WWII era, I think you're gonna really like seeing the Pogo in flight - enjoy : )

CoolPix - Airshow: Blue Angels At 2009 Reno Air Races

 (click pic for hi-res)

 This is only the second post in the new AirPigz feature called ‘CoolPix’, with this one coming in under the category ‘Airshow’.  After seeing how nice it was that the first post with the pic of Hangar One at Moffett Field was also viewable in hi-res, I’ve decided that I really need to try to work that element into as many CoolPix as I can.

 So, this one is available in hi-res too simply by clicking the picture.  It’s actually a photo I took of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels at the 2009 Reno Air Races.  The F-18 is one of the most beautiful jet fighters ever built, and when flown with the unbelievably high level of precision demonstrated by the Blue Angels (like as close as 18” apart!), it’s simply a mind-boggling experience.  This diamond formation looks especially nice with the airplanes all in tight, the perfect colored sky and the beautiful clouds in the background.  I hope you enjoy it : )