The sky-high aircraft and aviation thread

I wouldn’t be opposed to a compass ghost AF 1.

Sounds like something from Warhammer 40,000.

We could always make it look like a whale.

What we aren't going for this gem imagined by Neil Blomkamp anymore?

The Twitter fail whale?

Nah, vetoed, too many long term issues.

Israel Shoots Down Syrian Fighter Jet. (Breaking news from the BBC)

If we go by the picture they use as reference, score one more Su-24 Fencer for PATRIOT.

The world's in great shape.

Considering Syria had their Su-24s upgraded to the most modern standard in 2014, which supposedly included countermeasures that would prevent shootdowns, this isn't a good look.

The question is if the failure is hardware or pilot.

You could give a pilot the best plane in the world, and it wouldn't mater if they themselfs screw up.

Turned out it was an Su-22, not an Su-24, so the question is moot. That said, Russian hardware doesn’t exactly have a reputation for quality so I wouldn’t put my money either way in a situation like that.

EXCLUSIVE: Unmasking The F-15X: Boeing's F-15C/D Eagle Replacement Fighter.

20,000 flight hours per plane. TWENTY-TWO AIR TO AIR MISSILES. Costs less than the F-35 by a substantial margin.

What's not to like? Sounds like the Air Force (for once) used their brains.

The Eagle is a venerable platform, and that will fit nicely into the USA Fs tactical environment. I can see it being used in the "missile truck" role in synergy with the F-22 and F-35, that's a concept that's been discussed at length. Considering there's a new long range A 2 A missile in the works as well that would actually make a lot of sense.

The whole point is for this to act as a complement to the F-35 fleet, not to replace it.

Do the stealth birbs have the capability to paint targets for externally-launched AMRAAMs from beyond the launching aircraft's target acquisition range? Just wondering.

The idea is they can operate further forward than the older craft and feed data back to other craft. They already performed the trick in an exercise or a year or so back.

So the F-22 and F-35 would be able to act as the Rich Man's hip-pocket AWACS.

They help designate as well as engage. Someone shared the article a while back. IIRC it was done with F-15's mostly. I can't seem to recall enough details to find the original article as other team up tests have been done since.

Not only that but they showed they can do it the opposite way around too. An unstealthy plane can designate a target from further out for a stealthy plane in close to make the kill.

Sweden used a bomb to snuff out a portion of a forest fire. Cross Posted from other threads. Basically they use the same principal that helped snuff oil well fires in the Gulf.

Edited by TuefelHundenIV on Jul 26th 2018 at 6:15:36 AM

"You want to put out an oil rig fire, Sir, you set off a bigger explosion right next to it. Sucks away the oxygen. Snuffs the flame."

"We've got ourselves a pretty big fire. Gonna need a huge bang."

"They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way!"

Wait, what were we talking about?

Edited by AFP on Jul 27th 2018 at 3:51:41 AM

One aircraft related cliche (is it frequent enough to call it a trope?) I've seen in a lot of action movies is that when the good guys are fleeing in a car, the villains will apprehend them by lowering a giant magnet from a helicopter to grab the car off the road.

Has that ever actually been done? I'm perfectly aware that helicopters have lifted some odd loads over the years. But have they ever used magnets?

The bigger problem is that those lift helicopters are incredibly temperamental, flying a helicopter can already be described as "attempting to balance on top of a beach ball" but now you add something dangling below the helicopter and constantly changing its center of gravity, and "your now balancing on a ball that is balanced on top of a ball"

Its possible, and they do it, but it requires so much care and precision, that they cant just go up to a moving car and snap it up, doubly so since if you do that it is going to start swinging below the helicopter on its own, due to its former momentum.

I’m not sure about that exact scenario, but look up Operation Mount Hope III. The short story is that US aviators and special operators snatched a Hind that had been offered up by Chad during the height of the Cold War. They flew two Chinooks out to the airbase where it was located, supposedly hooked it up in minutes, then flew out with it.

I’d say implausible but theoretically possible. I wouldn’t want to be in that helicopter though.

Edited by archonspeaks on Jul 31st 2018 at 9:23:42 AM