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

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The only jet VTOL transport aircraft.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Do_31

That sucker is going to guzzle gas like nobodies business when going in VTOL mode.

There's a reason why VTOL is a hard thing to accomplish, and to make it even remotely fuel efficient is even harder.

Efficiency is why the British prefer using the Ski Jump system for their Harrier/F-35 fighter jets. and prefer STOVL instead of pure VTOL.

 

[Henoch]

Interesting idea but yeah so never going to happen.

an vtol take off?

that would be a sight to behold.

Possible visual: Agents Of Shield used a jet VTOL transport aircraft...

 

[Santaman]

Another German VTOL prototype
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EWR_VJ_101
Quite fast, did break the soundbarrier without afterburner, a later version did have afterburners.

 

[FPAlpha]

That sucker is going to guzzle gas like nobodies business when going in VTOL mode.

There's a reason why VTOL is a hard thing to accomplish, and to make it even remotely fuel efficient is even harder.

Efficiency is why the British prefer using the Ski Jump system for their Harrier/F-35 fighter jets. and prefer STOVL instead of pure VTOL.

VTOL obviously still has a strategic use, i.e. in case of war you are not reliant on easily identifiable and vulnerable airfields. Though how a delicate and hugely expensive F35 would fare if it would have to operate out of the woods for weeks and months is anyone's guess.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

VTOL obviously still has a strategic use, i.e. in case of war you are not reliant on easily identifiable and vulnerable airfields. Though how a delicate and hugely expensive F35 would fare if it would have to operate out of the woods for weeks and months is anyone's guess.

Even the Sea Harrier managed to get by with STOVL during the Falklands war and didn't purely rely on VTOL capabilities due to it affecting the payload you can bring to the air compared to taking of on a short runway.

 

[Malicia]

Does anyone have the Concorde sim for FSX? How does it compare to the SSTSIM version of Concorde?

 

[MANT!]

Captain's Log, Stardate 43125.8.
In preparation for the decommissioning ceremony for the USS Enterprise NCC-1701D, we have the exceptional honor of being escorted by one of the newly re-engined Federation ships...the B-52X.
First flown April 15th 1952, the B-52 has been in continuous service, undergoing multiple upgrades during its lifetime. The B-52X is now expected to serve up to stardate 53000.0 and beyond if no suitable replacement is available at that time.

 

[StarCruiser]

^ Scary thing is...it's believable!

 

[publiusr]

Possible visual: Agents Of Shield used a jet VTOL transport aircraft...

About that...

Mark Warren performed a calculation that scaling up the F35-B’s thrust ratio (55,000 shp delivering 41,900 lb thrust) implies the Helicarrier carries engine(s) capable of 157 million horsepower (shp) or ~117 gigawatts output. Allocating 20% of the carrier’s gross tonnage to the power plant sets the minimum power density at 10.8 kW/kg.

A 650 MW thermal integrated molten salt reactor with a supercritical CO2 turbine would have about 400 MWe of power with about 200 tons of weight. This would be about 2 kW/kg.

There have been other molten salt designs with about 18 KW of power per liter. Those are early generation designs and the engineers believe that they can achieve 100 kW per liter. So yes an advanced molten salt reactor could provide the power for a SHIELD helicarrier.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2013/12/could-molten-salt-reactor-be-power.html

Green scramjet and rocket
https://amtil.com.au/hypersonix-scramjet-amtil/
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39120.0

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

About that...

Mark Warren performed a calculation that scaling up the F35-B’s thrust ratio (55,000 shp delivering 41,900 lb thrust) implies the Helicarrier carries engine(s) capable of 157 million horsepower (shp) or ~117 gigawatts output. Allocating 20% of the carrier’s gross tonnage to the power plant sets the minimum power density at 10.8 kW/kg.

A 650 MW thermal integrated molten salt reactor with a supercritical CO2 turbine would have about 400 MWe of power with about 200 tons of weight. This would be about 2 kW/kg.

There have been other molten salt designs with about 18 KW of power per liter. Those are early generation designs and the engineers believe that they can achieve 100 kW per liter. So yes an advanced molten salt reactor could provide the power for a SHIELD helicarrier.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2013/12/could-molten-salt-reactor-be-power.html

That is why the "Heli-Carrier" is a work of "Comic Book Fiction" and not a serious idea to pursue.

 

[J.T.B.]

Nice shot of a Sikorsky S-42 clipper on the step in the movie Now Voyager, 1942.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

That B-52 under the Enterprise is fabulous

 

[Santaman]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShinMaywa_US-2
Big boat, really nice one at that.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShinMaywa_US-2
Big boat, really nice one at that.

Indeed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShinMaywa_US-2#/media/File:US-2_9903.JPG

That's a big beauty

 

[publiusr]

The nuclear version
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=45804

And a flapping drone that works-- http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=45784

I love the Russians...

Maybe the air taxi concept isn't quite as dead as the VLJ itself in some respects
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Engineers_earn_NASA_grant_to_enable_flying_taxis_999.html

As it stands, the VLJs are just bizjets for folks who cannot afford a Gulfstream.

 

[Marc]

Op-ed from Aviation Weekly on whether Boeing could go the way of Douglas though I don't think there's another McDonnell waiting. It raises the issue on how returns for the shareholders have overriden many other important factors and big cuts to R&D (most of the recent spend in the area was on fixing the issues with the Max).

It's also been 17 years since Boeing had a clean design that went into production. Everything else has been enhancements to existing designs.

Though not mentioned in the article this further highlights the issue from when Bombadier developed its C series aircraft. Rather than come up with a design to compete with it, they tried to kill it with lawsuit (and Boeing's WTO challengers over the Bombadier getting government subsides was pure hypocrisy).

https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/...ion-will-boeing-become-next-mcdonnell-douglas

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

How Boeing’s Bean-Counters Courted the 737 MAX Disaster

The 1997 merger that paved the way for the Boeing 737 Max crisis

The Long-Forgotten Flight That Sent Boeing Off Course
A company once driven by engineers became driven by finance.

 

[publiusr]

Jack Welsh, too. There was a saying:
“At Boeing quality is king, but the schedule is God.” Interior decorators designed the exterior of 787.

One woman at Boeing said something about not needing engineers anymore.

 

[Marc]

although it's not Boeing's fault this, they'll be the company most mentioned.

FAA have issued an airworthiness directive related to the 777s following yesterday's uncontained engine failure over Denver. Japanese authorities have ordered ANA & JAL to ground it's aircraft.

the issue relates the PW4000 engines which are unique to the 777s.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/20/uni...ngine-failure-after-takeoff-from-denver-.html
https://twitter.com/FAANews/status/1363631972682248192

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I love the idea of flying wings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49

This one is neat dating back from a little after World War 2 in 1947