Aviation Geeks unite?! Anybody else care about planes here?

The Airship to Orbit guys are still at it


Supercritical turbine
https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/supercritical-turbine.42546/

airliners
https://hushkit.net/2023/11/09/cancelled-british-airliners/

 

I would just like them to build Dark Sky Station. I don't have any reason to believe A2O would work (though I would like to think it could), but I could see people spending a lot of money to have a sojourn to the station.

 

Embraer is going to be building air taxies---and now dragonfly wings are being looked at:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202370111

Hey Air Force--Buran did this already
https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2023-08-04/air-force-flies-plane-ai-10942189.html

Safe fuel
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-09-chemical-unveil-fire-safe-fuel.html

The cads
https://www.fox10tv.com/2023/09/28/...ly-dismantled-removed-alabama-welcome-center/

 

These sound like flights of fancy

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/2...1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d22.7836!4d14.0242?entry=ttu

You can't have air travel between countries without airports.. but what about an airstrip that is in two countries?
Here's an odd one: a paved, long airstrip partly in Niger, partly in Libya, and if there needed to be a reference for "middle of nowhere" this is it. There's nothing here. The closest thing to a town, Murzuq, is hundreds of miles away. Why does it exist? Who built it? Does anyone ever use it?

 

It's rare to see something with more than two engines in my neck of the woods, but there was something extra special today. Taken from my back deck.

 

Aliens

That is really neat.... Looks like it was really low. Hope you waved to POTUS

 

I didn’t realise it’s Air Force One.

 

Is there a public record of all commercial pilots in America? I've been watching a lot of the youtube channel '74 Gear' which is made by a 747 pilot and it's become a running joke in the comments that he isn't a real pilot because he's never filmed actually flying a jet. The pilot says that due to his contract with the airline he works for he's not allowed to film himself flying the aircraft. He films inside and outside the aircraft but there is no footage of him actually flying a 747.

It wouldn't bother me either way and I wouldn't post anything on his channel but I'm wondering if the FAA have publicly available records that list all active pilots registered in the US. The pilot is from Texas and I found a website that lists him as a commercial pilot but his licence expired in 2016.

 

https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/airmeninquiry/

 

Thanks for the link. They are listed so it looks like my doubts were unfounded.

 

Aviation Week is reporting on more work on scramjet hybrids
https://aviationweek.com/shownews/paris-air-show/ge-reveals-new-hypersonic-propulsion-effort

Nice upcoming talk
https://www.aerosociety.com/events-...d-mach-3plus-reconnaissance-before-the-sr-71/

I hear the Trek “Red Alert” shriek in this a time or two:

 

Whoa!


My coccyx!

 

Oh man that belly landing Oof

 

Interview with a former U.S Navy pilot and instructor who's photos were a big inspiration (he had expertise in professional photography) for the movie Top Gun and appeared as extra in many scenes including being looking over Tom Cruise's shoulder when Maverick gets his order.

 

Pilot's licenses don't expire per se. Pilots are required to do yearly flight reviews and instrument checks (if they are instrument rated), and commercial companies and airlines have their own training departments to maintain currency requirements. But there is no such thing as an 'expired pilot's license.' Unless the FAA suspends or revokes a flight rating (an in private, commercial, instrument, ATP, etc), they are forever.

 

Pile of videos on Youtube from a guy who does line maintenance for American Airlines at LAX .
and is inside and out of the different jets in the fleet sticking his camera in places that others don't go.



Watch this one and you'll be able to tell a 777-200 from a -300 if you get up close with the the under carriage.

 

Branson broke?
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/...ents-in-virgin-galactic-says-richard-branson/

The NASA big wing Canberra

A Canberra was hit by three SA-2 Guidelines as per Steven Zaloga’s book RED SAM.

 

Always liked the Canberra