U2 Incentive Flight

Incentive flights are rides.

They are rewards for a job well done. In 1979 I was named Wing Crew Chief of the Month and got to fly in a F-4 Phantom II. Ten years later, I got a Ride in a F-16. You can do your whole career and not get a single ride. Celebrities get rides all the time. This next one blows my mind. James May , host of the automotive TV show "Top Gear" gets a ride in the U-2. Wow!

The Horten 229

The Smithsonian Museum is restoring a Horten 229.The Horten 229 was a single seat jet fighter designed by the Horten brothers, Walter and Reimar, for the German Luftwaffe in World War Two. Three prototypes were built. The Ho IX V1 was an non-powered glider. The Ho IX V2 was a jet powered version and first flown on 2 February, 1945.

Ho IX V3 was to be the production version and was captured by American forces. Designated the H0-229 it is the only remaining airframe in existence. It is this aircraft that the Smithsonian is restoring.

When completed, the Ho-229 will look something like this:

The aircraft pictured above is a REPLICA of a Ho-229, built by the Northrop Corporation.

More info and pictures here.

UFO Alert

Before you start calling MUFON, you might want to know about the Bullet 580. The 235 foot airship is scheduled to make it's first flight later this month.

E-Green acquired airship builder 21st Century Airships, which holds patents for Bullet 580 technologies and designs, including a system of bags that hold helium for lighter-than-air lift and an inner hull that is filled with ambient air.

The eight million dollar Bullet 580 is designed to lift payloads weighing up to 15000 pounds. With a top speed of 80 mph, it will also be able to reach 20,000 feet for surveillance operations.

The first flight will be from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Parachute.exe

Runway

More here.

Rossy Flies the English Channel

Crossing the English Channel was a mile post in early aviation. Now in the 21st century it takes center stage again. On September 26, 2008, Swiss airline pilot Yves "Fusion Man" Rossy crossed from France in to England without an airplane.

Sort of.

Jumping from a plane at more than 8,800 feet (2,500 meters) in the air above Calais, he fired up his jets and made the 22 mile (35 kilometer) trip between Calais and Dover at speeds of up to 120 mph (193 km/h) in 13 minutes.

Rossy was propelled by 4 kerosene-burning jet turbines attached to a wing on his back which he ignited inside the plane just prior to taking the leap, wearing a helmet and flameproof suit resembling those worn by Formula One drivers, to help him withstand the jet exhaust around his legs mounted merely inches from him on the wing.

After a period of free fall the former fighter pilot opened the wing and soared across the water.

The jetpack has no steering controls, so the only way for Rossy to change direction was like a bird, moving his head and back to control the wing’s movement.

Putin Says- "Pimp My MiG"

Technically, "Pimp my Sukhoi". On November 25, 2007, the Russian Air Force accepted it's first batch of upgraded Sukhoi-24 fighter bombers. The Su-25 is the Soviet response to the American F-111. Having been in service for 32 years, it now sports the latest electronics and gadgets. Flat screen instruments, GPS and smart bombs are just some of the improvements.

While the upgraded Sukhoi is another step in Russian President Putin's path to making Russia a military superpower again, it also gives credence to another concern in the West. Take a look at this MiG-25.To prevent capture or destruction during Desert Storm, the Iraqis buried this MiG-25. Designed in the 1960's it was long feared as a "premier" fighter. It has since been reduced to an airborne target for Western fighters. Or so we thought. The MiG pictured in the picture above looks like a MiG-25 but it has been "pimped" as well. Old on the outside, everything inside is new. Electronics, engines, weapons. All courtesy of the French. This gives rise to speculation about how helpful the French have been.

Consider the plight of the Iranian F-14 Tomcats. Back in the 1970's the U.S. sold a bunch of Tomcats to the Shah of Iran. He was deposed and the planes fell into the hands of the Mullahs. Rumors abound of how the American technicians sabotaged the weapon systems before they were kicked out of the country. Coupled with a parts embargo by the U.S. this reduced the Iranian F-14 fleet to museum pieces. The last time they were used in combat was during the Iran/Iraq war of 1980 and even then they were used as airborne controllers rather than weapons.
In light of the upgrade of the Sukhoi and the story of the "Buried MiG", a question has to asked. Have the Iranians upgraded their Tomcats? Intelligence estimates are still guarded. A F-14 "pimped" by the French (or Russians) poses a real challenge to the U.S. and her allies.

Foreflight- Flight Planner for the iPhone

Stumbled on to a really cool flight planning tool. It's called Foreflight and it's for the iPhone. With easy access to airport maps, radio frequencies, weather forecasts and more it's like having Jeppesen at your fingertips.

The question begging to be asked is, "Has the Foreflight been approved by the FAA?" At this point, it's unclear. Stay tuned for further developments on this great new tool.

View Demo

Seen Any UFO's Lately?

Gotcha! Welcome to the P-791. One Part Hovercraft. Two Parts Blimp. It's a hybrid airship developed by Lockheed-Martin and flown out the company's Palmdale Plant 42. It's maiden flight was on 31 January, 2006.

Did you spot the skunk on the tail?

If you're wondering, P-791 doesn't mean anything. It's just what the engineers call it. Engineers are queer that way.

Don't you hate when UFO pictures are all fuzzy and out of focus?

Just kidding...here's a better picture.

Jet Man

On June 24th, 2004 Yves Rossy drops out of the Pilatus airplane at an altitude of 4000m over the Yverdon airfield.

Just watch....

Fly Yorkshire Airlines

More Aviation Humor...

Singapore Airlines Bans the Mile High Club

Singapore Airlines has become the first airline to put the Airbus A380 into service. The A380 is the world's largest airliner with a maximum passenger load of 840 people.

Singapore has opted to configure their jets to accommodate 471 passengers. This includes twelve fully enclosed suites with a double bed and a $50,000 ticket price.
The suite pictured comes with a catch. Singapore Airlines has announced that in flight sex is banned. Citing that the walls are not sound proof, Singapore Airlines says the ban is to ensure not to offend other passengers.

General Paul Tibbets has Died

General Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr has died after a two-month decline in health. He was 92.

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr was born in Quincy, Illinois, in 1915 and spent most of his youth in Miami. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1937 and led bombing operations in Europe before returning to test the Superfortress.

The then Col Tibbets named his B-29 Enola Gay after his mother.

Tibbets was the Commander of the 509th Bomb Group and piloted the B-29 mission which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan.

On the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima, the surviving members of the Enola Gay crew - Gen Tibbets, Theodore J "Dutch" Van Kirk (the navigator) and Morris R Jeppson (weapon test officer) said: "The use of the atomic weapon was a necessary moment in history. We have no regrets".

Gen Tibbets said then: "Thousands of former soldiers and military family members have expressed a particularly touching and personal gratitude suggesting that they might not be alive today had it been necessary to resort to an invasion of the Japanese home islands to end the fighting."

In 1995, Gen Tibbets denounced as a "damn big insult" a planned 50th anniversary exhibition of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian Institution that put the bombing in context of the suffering it caused.

He and veterans groups said too much attention was being paid to Japan's suffering and not enough to its military brutality.

General Tibbets had asked for no funeral nor headstone as he feared opponents of the bombing may use it as a place of protest.

Take Off

Welcome to my brand new blog. To say I'm an "Aviation Fanatic" is putting it mildly. When I was six, I was playing in my yard in Fort Carson, Colorado. The Blue Angels passed over my head at about 200 feet and I was hooked for life.

My Dad was a veteran of World War Two, and I was weaned on episodes of "Twelve O' Clock High". Yes I have copies (plural) of the movie but have never figured out why the T.V. show hasn't made it to DVD.

When I was sixteen I told my parents that I wanted to take gliding lessons. As it happened, the news reported a fatal glider crash at Salinas airport. Talk about bad timing! Mom was horrified. Flying lessons put on back burner.

At the ripe old age of seventeen I started my professional life in aviation by working as a High School intern in the Turbo-Propulsion Lab of the Naval Postgraduate School. I did such a good job, the hired me. Alas, a GSA audit noted that I did not possess a B.S. so I was canned.

Flying lesson were cut short when I joined the Air Force in 1977. I still wanted to fly and had dreams of being a gunner on a AC-130. "Twelve O' Clock High", remember? The recruiter gave me a sob story about only NCO's flying and being an Army brat I took it, hook, line and sinker.

Thus began my life as a crew chief. I crewed F-4's, T-38's, F-16's and the F-117. That's me getting my ride in the F-4E in 1979 and on in the F-16D
in 1989.






I crewed the F-117 during Desert Storm. She was called "Unexpected Guest".

After the Air Force I earned my Airframe and Powerplant license and worked on Navajos for a while. From there I had a stint at McCarren airport here in Las Vegas.

Old crew chiefs never die, they work transient alert somewhere. Which is what I'm happily doing now at Creech AFB.