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Look! Up there! In the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!

 
 
 
To those who have posted in this thread....

Do you think it should be in 'Hobbies and Crafts', or stay here in general 'The Lounge'?

I consider my 'planespotting' and museum attendance to be hobby fodder. Others may not.
 
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whollygoats said:
Heh...

My nomination for fugly is the Spook, aka F-4 Phantom II:

f-22+f-4.jpg


shown here with the F-22 Raptor, which has a tenous resemblence to the lifting bodies above.

The F-5 had the reputation of being a "triumph of thrust over aerodynamics" and was lovingly known by its pilots and mechanics as the "Iron Sled". I've always thought of it as a brick with wings. Still, despite a contretemps over self-defence, it distinguished itself sufficiently to claim being "the world's leading distributor of MiG parts," and was retired with honors after a long career.
Click to expand...

I recall the testing which preceded the selection of the F-22. I was more a fan of the looks of the YF-23. To me, it was the better choice, but I'd kind of forgotten about it until I stumbled across that article.

Another shot:
Northrop-Black-Widow-II.jpg


Now that's sexy!
 
Shake said:
whollygoats said:
Heh...

My nomination for fugly is the Spook, aka F-4 Phantom II:

f-22+f-4.jpg


shown here with the F-22 Raptor, which has a tenous resemblence to the lifting bodies above.

The F-5 had the reputation of being a "triumph of thrust over aerodynamics" and was lovingly known by its pilots and mechanics as the "Iron Sled". I've always thought of it as a brick with wings. Still, despite a contretemps over self-defence, it distinguished itself sufficiently to claim being "the world's leading distributor of MiG parts," and was retired with honors after a long career.
Click to expand...

I recall the testing which preceded the selection of the F-22. I was more a fan of the looks of the YF-23. To me, it was the better choice, but I'd kind of forgotten about it until I stumbled across that article.

Another shot:
Northrop-Black-Widow-II.jpg


Now that's sexy!
Click to expand...

Of course, there is always the possibility that they went all 'Blackbird' with it....

Like, the F-16 won the LWF, but the 'loser' YF-17 came back as the F/A-18 Hornet.

The 'Black Widow' may be lurking in the dark wings.
 
If we are talking about beautiful aircraft that didn't make it, then there's a painting on ebay I've been trying not to buy for weeks now:

s-l1600_1.jpg
 
Kinda reminiscent of the North American A-5 Vigilante, too.

bf58721869b006a482352b9bb10006bf--vigilante-image.jpg
 
I know this can't compare to the high-powered deadly aircraft in the skies, but this is the plane that's captured my heart.

Zenith_CH-650.JPG

This is a Zenith CH-650, a kitplane that can be amateur-built and flown.

The top two items on my bucket list are to earn my pilot's license and to build my own personal airplane.

If I ever do strike the mother lode, then I'll probably go toward the Van's R14, which has about a 50% higher cruising speed, along with a comparable increase in price.
Vans_RV-14A.jpg
 
James Brown said:
I know this can't compare to the high-powered deadly aircraft in the skies, but this is the plane that's captured my heart.

View attachment 13570

This is a Zenith CH-650, a kitplane that can be amateur-built and flown.

The top two items on my bucket list are to earn my pilot's license and to build my own personal airplane.

If I ever do strike the mother lode, then I'll probably go toward the Van's R14, which has about a 50% higher cruising speed, along with a comparable increase in price.
View attachment 13574
Click to expand...
As an aircraft engineer, I'd stay away from the Vans. At least the ones I've seen. The 'hinges' on the aileron is just a thin piece of metal that flexes. That's a failure waiting to happen. Some guys who built their own have put real piano hinge type hinges on theirs, but the stock design is sketchy. Other than that, I've heard they fly well and are a fun little plane. I've flown/in several aircraft in that size range, and nothing beats for the pure joy of flying.

Have you done any of the ground school or flight lessons yet? I'd started it, but then when I moved to WA, I took up motorcycle racing, and I can only afford so many expensive hobbies at a time. ;)
 
Good advice, thanks. I haven't started any flying lessons yet (well, I took a Discovery Flight a couple of years ago), but someday I will.
 
I've spent quite a few hours actually flying aircraft. My dad got his private pilot's license when I was young (7ish), and we regularly went flying together, and joined the Civil Air Patrol for a number of years flying search and rescue.

Planes I've flown with my dad: Cessna 172, 150, 152, Beech T-34A, Piper Arrow III, Rockwell commander 112.

I had a friend in Seattle with a Piper 180, and we used to fly...about weekly. All I had to do was walk over to his desk and say the magic words, "I'll buy the gas." :) And we'd usually go flying for 60-90 minutes around the Puget Sound area, which I'll be honest, is some of the most scenic terrain in the US. Since I was paying for the gas, once we got airborne, he'd pretty much let me fly the whole time. :D

Last October, I got to go flying with Fighter Combat International, which was probably the absolute best weekend of my life, period. 8) Two days of fighter combat in Extra 300L (my friend flew the 2nd aircraft) and full aerobatics. Tons of fun. It's an expensive weekend, but well worth the experience. FTI was a client of mine, so they gave me the employee discount, too. The guy who flew backseat in my friend's plane the second day was none other than William Gregory! Very cool and down to earth guy. :cool:



Other somewhat exotic aircraft I've flown on: S-64 Aircrane (formerly the Sikorsky Skycrane) for several days of flight testing. Fantastic view flying in the rear bubble of that beast. :D



Funny thing about most commercial airlines, I've spent more time walking around on the wings of them than flying in them.....
 

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Another unique (it's the only one of it's kind) aircraft I've had the pleasure of working on somewhat, and getting to watch some of the ground testing, flight testing, and the painting. :)

The Global Supertanker, a 747-400 converted into an airborne fire fighting platform capable of delivering 19k gallons of water or fire retardant in up to 4 separate drops, or all at once. :cool:
This photo is one I took the first day after the paint job was complete and it was pushed out into the sun.

More information on the Global Supertanker Project.

The footage of the painting. Starting at about 2:40, all the time lapse footage was taken from a GoPro that was literally mounted right over my office door. I got to go on board several times, and the ground tests where they dump the water were done right outside the hangar.
 
YEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAA!

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRtOGJTqjkQ[/YOUTUBE]

An Airbus A-400 Atlas breaches.
 
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[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvKCKYuQdRU[/youtube]

How about with a smaller, twin-engine Alenia C-27J Spartan?

Great ghost of Bob Hoover!

Make sure your cargo load is secured before takeoff.
 
Hmmm...Weaponry. In this case, autonomous drone swarms....Perdix.

perdix-drones-swarm-over-the-desert-without-human-intervention.jpeg


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndFKUKHfuM0[/youtube]

They look and sound like a plague of locusts.

I suspect it is being considered for a 'wild weasel' application, disabling ground-to-air defenses, but I don't know as what kind of delivery system it might serve.
 
I'm an Air Force brat and grew up on Air Force bases. I used to be able to tell the specific kind of aircraft just from the sound (e.g. C-5 vs C-141). Not anymore.
 
Here is a plane I worked on when I was an airman in LRAFB

I fly little airplanes for fun and have worked on Boeing Douglas, Airbus, Sabreliner, Gulfstream before I retired. I still like airplanes.
 

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wally said:
Here is a plane I worked on when I was an airman in LRAFB

I fly little airplanes for fun and have worked on Boeing Douglas, Airbus, Sabreliner, Gulfstream before I retired. I still like airplanes.
Click to expand...

Welcome, wally.

They retired that number before I graduated from high school, so I'm guessing you've got years on me.

What kind of work did you do?
 
Underseer said:
I'm an Air Force brat and grew up on Air Force bases. I used to be able to tell the specific kind of aircraft just from the sound (e.g. C-5 vs C-141). Not anymore.
Click to expand...

I'd bet that you can still distinguish a C-130 from a C-141.
 
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