The sky-high aircraft and aviation thread

What bothers me is that if someone really wants to take a plane down or hijack it, none of these so called precautions will stop it.

If the guys or gals who want to do this shit are prepared to die anyway, they will try anything.

I reckon its only a matter of time before an enterprising terrorist simply decides to bomb the people queuing for security. All those tightly-packed lines, usually in a building with lots of glass for extra shrapnel. And there's be nothing anyone could do about it.

The idiots who attacked Glasgow Airport were ahead in that regard.

Weren't those the guys that set themselves on fire and had some bystander break his foot kicking them in balls?

I'm still waiting for someone to bomb one of the oil pipelines that supply fuel to the airports.

Yes. The one who survived suffered the indignity of spending his 32 years in jail being remembered as an amusing footnote in the future history of the War on Terror.

I suppose we should be thankful that home-grown psychos are uncommon and tend towards incompetence.

edited 9th Jul '14 3:40:08 PM by Achaemenid

Then there are guys like this who bought all this stuff from the duty shops and stores past the check points He turns them into weapons. Can't remember who shared this before but I remembered the article.

edited 9th Jul '14 4:00:07 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Fuck. Me.

Yeah, called it. This new crackdown IS bullshit.

The Glasgow airport bombing was proof that airport security works! That guy didn't even get into the airport before the security measures (read: a solid obstruction that he ran his car into) stopped him cold!

And then he got kicked in the balls by a Violent Glaswegian.

The bombing at Zakhaev Domodedovo International Airport was like that. Suicide bombing in a crowded area before security.

There's little to stop a "No Russian" at airports before that either.

So, interesting airplane of the day: The Conroy Virtus, a proposed design for NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft requirement which included twin fuselages and which would have the Shuttle Orbiter slung beneath the wing.

I would totally try the duty free weaponry when given the chance.

^^ For the same mass as that thing they could make a Space Shuttle that gets to orbit (or beyond) under its own power without boosters. Ridonkulously oversized that is.

Yeah, the solution they eventually went with was to buy a couple of 747s off the pre-owned market and modify them. The first SCA actually had the American Airlines paintjob (sans the branding itself, of course) for the first few years (the tricolor cheatline that AA really needs to bring back).

Why did they get rid of it?

Of what?

There was a tricolor paintline on AA airliners way back in the day that ran just under the windows along the entire length of the plane. It was cool and identifying as fuck.

I haven't seen em on any planes since I was in middle school.

Corporate rebranding/reimaging. Everybody does it. Even the Air Force, which is why we replaced the classic "Hap Arnold" emblem with the old USAAF roundel and angels' wings with that stupid geometric representation of a star medal thing. Hell, it's the biggest reason why new uniforms get introduced every few decades.

And here I've seen Army will keep emblems and insignia shapes forever if it can get away with it. (Like the infamous Big Red One unit patch. You'd have to drag that division kicking and screaming before it'll give up that.) I've seen the same from Marine stuff.

Oh yeah, unit insignia stays the same forever, that's a different thing. When I was stationed in Kansas, my squadron had a unit insignia that included scenic mountains. Which, if you've never been to Kansas, you may be surprised to learn are nowhere to be found. The unit was based in California many many many years ago, and that was when the insignia was designed. Nobody was ever really bothered enough to bother trying to change it when there was, you know, actual work to be done.

MBDA signs Indian Jaguar ASRAAM contract

No word on whether the F-35 will make RIAT and Farnborough Air Shows, which are on this week and next week.

edited 10th Jul '14 7:55:04 AM by Greenmantle

I wonder how our "friends" in Pakistan are taking that decision, and the one by the French government to allow those missiles to be sold to the Indians? After all, they're the most likely candidates to get those ASRAAMS chucked at them. Don't forget, Kashmir is still a live issue.

Puck Fakistan. It's a hell of their own making, given their extensive record of double-dealing and unreliability. Besides, France doesn't really have any vital interests over there - they just want a trading partner, and if they do end up fishing for allies, India is an infinitely better catch.

edited 10th Jul '14 12:30:50 PM by Achaemenid

Pakistan is fucked next year anyway when all the spare Talibs that are currently fighting us British, the Americans, and the rest of our allies at the moment, no longer have to do that when most of them (us British, the Americans and the rest of our allies, that is) fly back home by the end of this calendar year and out of that particular shit storm. At which point, "Hello Islamabad! Who takes the nuclear launch codes takes the country. I'm the Taliban. If you are a takfiri, basically, run!"

India is, if they have any brains in the heads of their armed forces and government, shitting bricks about that prospect. Mibbies that's why they are pushing for this ASRAAM deal?

The Indians are also in the hunt for Brimstone, if I remember correctly — which will include it being fitted to their Su-30MKIs.

Hope they get them before the Talibs get the keys to the nuclear device store cupboard...