When I was a little kid, I told my mom that “when I grow up, I want to be a Fighter pilot”. Her reply was, predictably, “Oh honey, you can’t do both”.
How right she was.
Fighter pilots are masters of sophomoric, imbecilic humor. Our call signs alone give testament to that. My personal call sign […]
June 14th marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Robin Olds- the biggest badass to ever saddle-up in a fighter. 16 kills total from WWII to Vietnam. A true warrior and leader of men. Today, in honor of this legend, I begin 31 days of badass.
Day 1: rockin the stash and stogie after […]
This is way cool! Wings that fold at high speed to improve lift, drag and all the other important equations, made possible in part by an alloy that “remembers” its previous shape when heated. Reminiscent of another cool airplane whose wings folded at high speed, my favorite, the XB-70. I’m also including a photo […]
Automation is supposed to make routine tasks safer and easier and minimize the opportunity for errors, and for the most part it does. But there are unintended consequences of eliminating the majority of opportunity for error. In the aviation world, adhering to major airline Standard Operating Procedures, or SOP’s, which dictate engaging the autopilot […]
We all knew the pilot shortage was coming. Now it’s here with serious implications for airlines, the military and business aviation. Let’s be honest, being a professional pilot isn’t what it used to be. Once a well-respected professional, the airline pilot is often seen now as a glorified bus driver, “labor” or not seen […]
While the world’s aviation execs were hammering out business deals behind closed doors, everyone else was having fun checking out the planes and the gear. Coolest aviation geek fodder winners for this year: A350’s heads-up screens that project data displays onto the cockpit windshield; a $400k custom F-35 helmet that can see through airplanes; an […]
Ice-phobic paint, projection lighting that shows gate information or video images of a destination on the walls inside a jet and hybrid electric propulsion are just a few of Boeing’s long-term projects. Read the full article here. (www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/boeing-to-test-non-stick-paint-to-keep-jets-from-icing/article30799255)
After several recent air disasters that pointed out the shortcomings of current systems for tracking passenger jets, Airbus is planning to install new cloud-based flight recorders that could transmit data in real time. The new technology would replace the so-called black boxes that sometimes fall short in a crisis. Read the article in its entirety here .
Best aviation video to date. Enjoy!
In an article published in Aviation Daily this April, John Croft reports that Delta Airlines is the first major airline to use third party upset recovery and prevention training (UPRT) in the wake of accidents caused by loss of control (LOC) such as the Colgan Air accident near Buffalo in 2009. The article states: […]
