The General Airplane Thread

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Robin
The Chinese Comac C919 passenger jet took it's first test flight today,

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It looks pretty much like a CTRL + A, CTRL + C, CTRL + V of an A320. :lol:
 
Dan
It looks pretty much like a CTRL + A, CTRL + C, CTRL + V of an A320. :lol:
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Those winglets are all-new.

I suppose they didn't have a license to imitate the A320, unlike the MD90. Or maybe they do, although I can't find anything saying Comac is legally reproducing it.

Well, good for them...best of success.
 
Pupik
Those winglets are all-new.

I suppose they didn't have a license to imitate the A320, unlike the MD90. Or maybe they do, although I can't find anything saying Comac is legally reproducing it.

Well, good for them...best of success.
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That's never stopped China before!

JAC 4R3:
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YEMA T-SUV:
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YEMA E-SUV:
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YEMA F-16:
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Dan
It looks pretty much like a CTRL + A, CTRL + C, CTRL + V of an A320. :lol:
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No, not exactly. Here's what I think it combines:
-The rear bulkhead of an Embraer E170/E190 series
-The tailfin of a 787 Dreamliner
-The front end of the Bombardier CS series
-The wings from a 777-300ER
-The cabin and wing mount from an Airbus A320
 
Dan
It looks pretty much like a CTRL + A, CTRL + C, CTRL + V of an A320. :lol:
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Well, when it comes to modern airliners, everything looks pretty much like a Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V of a Boeing or an Airbus.

Like the Irkut MC-21, for example. Recently, the first airworthy prototype has left the factory and is about to do the first flight.
 
Pupik
Those winglets are all-new.

I suppose they didn't have a license to imitate the A320, unlike the MD90. Or maybe they do, although I can't find anything saying Comac is legally reproducing it.

Well, good for them...best of success.
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It's not based on an A320, it's entirely in house developed although it does feature systems components used in most other aircraft. To be fair all modern passenger jets look similar. It was hardly going to look like a flying elephant!

It's going to be really interesting how this progresses, the market will be huge and it will help emerging markets get affordable reliable modern aircraft to replace aging death traps.
 
Dan
That's never stopped China before!
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The reason Chinese aerospace has been the slowest to develop is that you can't fly a plane that is subject to massive IP contests into Europe/North America and not expect it to get seized and impounded.

So whilst there's a huge domestic market for cars that are sold locally, there isn't such a huge market for aircraft only able to fly limited routes.

We can almost 100% be certain that China has many recent designs for aircraft engines and airframes from it's industrial espionage strategy, but it takes time to then build a product that won't be seized. Effectively requiring an understanding rather than just an ability to build to print.
 
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The Russian delegation arrives in Fairbanks for the Arctic Council meetings on Wednesday, May 10, 2017.

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An Air Force F-15 from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida is refueled in flight by a KC-10A Extender from Travis Air Force Base Thursday, May 11, 2017 (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News)

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An Air Force F-22 from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska flies off the wing of a KC-10A Extender from Travis Air Force Base Thursday, May 11, 2017

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A group of Air Force F-15s from Kadena Air Base, Japan

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An Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS from Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma

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A pair of Navy EA-18G Growlers from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Washington
 
A Learjet 35, N452DA, has crashed on approach roughly half a mile from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. The cause is still unknown. Apparently, there were high winds in the area at the time of the crash.
 
TIL you can actually see Janet Airlines flights on FlightAware. For the uninitiated, Janet Airlines flies workers from McCarran International to Tonopah Test Range and Area 51 in Boeing 737-600s, and Beechcraft 1900s and 200s, the latter two are most likely for executives and "higher-ups." Janet supposedly stands for "Just another non-existent terminal" at McCarran. You would think they'd be blocked online considering it's government aircraft. Very strange. O_O
 
Dan
TIL you can actually see Janet Airlines flights on FlightAware. For the uninitiated, Janet Airlines flies workers from McCarran International to Tonopah Test Range and Area 51 in Boeing 737-600s, and Beechcraft 1900s and 200s, the latter two are most likely for executives and "higher-ups." Janet supposedly stands for "Just another non-existent terminal" at McCarran. You would think they'd be blocked online considering it's government aircraft. Very strange. O_O
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:lol: "for the uninitiated"👍. Area 51/Phantom Works/Skunk Works and the black projects are one of the two reason I took up a degree in aero, Janet Planes are creepy cause of their plain look yet super secretive cargo. It's cool that you can actually see them on FlightAware though, considering their destination doesn't "exist".
 
LMSCorvetteGT2
:lol: "for the uninitiated"👍. Area 51/Phantom Works/Skunk Works and the black projects are one of the two reason I took up a degree in aero, Janet Planes are creepy cause of their plain look yet super secretive cargo. It's cool that you can actually see them on FlightAware though, considering their destination doesn't "exist".
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Hey, I figured most people have heard of Area 51, but not Janet.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
Irkut MC-21 did the first flight today.

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First landing:



Also, this Friday, I visited HeliRussia 2017 - the helicopter expo in Moscow. I'll share some photos later if you like. I already posted some on my Instagram (rageracer48).
 
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Ordered a ticket to the International Royal Air Tattoo (sunday showing) today. This will be my first real airshow, as my only other up close experience with military aircraft in action, was many years ago at a small event featuring just a Sea King and a Lynx, both flying with the Royal Danish Navy. Going to be a spectacle for sure. If only the British government could put politics aside, and invite the Russian Air Force too. Would love to see some Flankers in action, but the best I can really hope for this year, is that Poland shows up with some MiG-29's. Still, that wouldn't be half bad :P

Of the confirmed aircraft at the event, I am most looking forward to seeing the WAH-64 Apache Longbow, Lockheed's F-22 and any and all F-16's in action. The latter being the sexiest fighter jet ever made of course.

Any advice for an airshow rookie?
 
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Jawehawk
Ordered a ticket to the International Royal Air Tattoo (sunday showing) today. This will be my first real airshow, as my only other up close experience with military aircraft in action, was many years ago at a small event featuring just a Sea King and a Lynx, both flying with the Royal Danish Navy. Going to be a spectacle for sure. If only the British government could put politics aside, and invite the Russian Air Force too. Would love to see some Flankers in action, but the best I can really hope for this year, is that Poland shows up with some MiG-29's. Still, that wouldn't be half bad :P

Of the confirmed aircraft at the event, I am most looking forward to seeing the WAH-64 Apache Longbow, Lockheed's F-22 and any and all F-16's in action. The latter being the sexiest fighter jet ever made of course.

Any advice for an airshow rookie?
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Sunburn cream, shades, a hat, a few bottles of water if possible.. Probably forgetting something. Are you taking photos?

Have a lot of fun, you'll be blown away for sure if this is your first real event. I'm tempted to go too, I already took that weekend off from work just in case I do it. Need a friend to tag alone but maybe I'm crazy enough to take the bike and take the train from Calais. Would be a 7 hour drive, which is doable.

Also, Thunderbirds!! :bowdown:

Russian AF would be awesome, I hope in the future we can see this again:
 
I'll be snapping some photos with my phone, but that's about it. Doubtful it'll be up to the standard of what is being posted in here.

You should know that Saturday was already fully booked when I bought my ticket yesterday. So best hurry up and order :cheers:
 
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Man, the Beechcraft Bonanza 35 (V-tail) is such a gorgeous plane. I've been browsing the photos uploaded to FlightAware and some of the paint schemes are perfect. It's a shame that the 35 has such a horrible safety record.
 
An Ilyushin Il-2 attack plane is being restored to airworthy condition in Novosibirsk.
The plane was lost in 1943 and is lifted from a lake in Murmansk region. It survived pretty well. Even the engine on this one is original.
They fired up the engine already, so they can make it fly again. If they succeed, this will be the second airworthy Il-2 example in the world (the first was restored in 2011).
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Dan
Man, the Beechcraft Bonanza 35 (V-tail) is such a gorgeous plane. I've been browsing the photos uploaded to FlightAware and some of the paint schemes are perfect. It's a shame that the 35 has such a horrible safety record.
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The first V-tail plane I saw in real life was a privately owned Fouga CM.170 Magister a few years ago in Belgium (who had a demo team flying these)
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@Rage Racer , you would assume there are more around in good condition considering this is the most built military plane. Did they destroy them all after the war or something?
 
Carlos
@Rage Racer , you would assume there are more around in good condition considering this is the most built military plane. Did they destroy them all after the war or something?
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Don't forget that 36183 of these planes were made, but ~23600 were lost during the war. In the end of the WWII, it was replaced by Il-10, so there was no more use of the Il-2. Most of them were decomissioned and scrapped after the war, some were kept in museums and on open display, there are still some examples in good condition around Russia and Eastern Europe, but they're not flyable. There were no private aviation clubs in the Soviet Union, and the state ones did not bother maintaining old planes without any practical use in airworthy condition. Today, the restoration of historic aircraft is up to private workshops and collectors.

[Edit:]
Replica of a WWI bomber, Sikorsky S-22 Ilya Muromets, on Tverskaya street in Moscow yesterday.
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Jawehawk
One of the Thunderbird F-16's have suffered a crash. It was a D model, but fortunately, both crew escaped serious harm. I really hope this doesn't impact their planned appearance at the Royal Air Tattoo.
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It sounds like the 2-seater was doing a recce and had a **** landing in very stormy weather - unless it's thought to be due to mechanical failure I would expect their booked displays to go ahead.
 

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