The General Airplane Thread

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wfooshee
You won't be interested in this, then... A B-57 on static display on the lawn of the Air Force Armament Museum outside of Eglin AFB in Ft. Walton, FL., where you can just walk right up to it.

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An old college professor of mine flew these in Vietnam. He had to eject twice during the war, once I believe out of a B-57 onto the ground and once out of an F-4 into the ocean.
 
If you ever saw one fly over, you'd know it without seeing forever after that! It was a really unique howling sound. It's been a long time, but they would come into Tyndall once in a while when I was in high school, maybe younger than that.
 
Geez, I hope he got a usable frame out of those clickies...

As for the launch system, since they abandoned development of their own air-launch-to-space booster system back in January, there's not anything for this thing to do any more.

I'm no rocket scientist, but I do understand that lifting off vertically takes a lot of fuel. Still, comparing to a Falcon 9 launch, at the 35,000-ft point that Stratolaunch is supposed to release its rocket payload, a Falcon 9 is already supersonic and still climbing at around 300 meters per second. In other words, while Stratolaunch may have reached that point more efficiently, it's got a lot of catching up to do. It just seems like if it really was significantly more efficient to carry a rocket partway up and give it a head start to that altitude, it would have already been done by someone... Well, it has, actually, but with nowhere near the payload weights that Stratolaunch is supposed to be able to carry. Pegasus was an air-launch system back in the 90s through... I guess the present if they still have customers. Their last shot was in 2016, and they went through several 3 and 4 year spells with only one launch before that, although in the late 90s/early 2000s they had several launches a year.
 
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CLowndes888
I saw this when I arrived in Sydney on Monday:
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First time I've ever seen one!
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Yeah nice find, we have one here and the local airport is the home for it. I actually wonder if this is the same one I'd have to read off the fuselage/tail number to see if so. The one here I see almost any time I jump on the freeway to pass the airport.


wfooshee
Geez, I hope he got a usable frame out of those clickies...

As for the launch system, since they abandoned development of their own air-launch-to-space booster system back in January, there's not anything for this thing to do any more.

I'm no rocket scientist, but I do understand that lifting off vertically takes a lot of fuel. Still, comparing to a Falcon 9 launch, at the 35,000-ft point that Stratolaunch is supposed to release its rocket payload, a Falcon 9 is already supersonic and still climbing at around 300 meters per second. In other words, while Stratolaunch may have reached that point more efficiently, it's got a lot of catching up to do. It just seems like if it really was significantly more efficient to carry a rocket partway up and give it a head start to that altitude, it would have already been done by someone... Well, it has, actually, but with nowhere near the payload weights that Stratolaunch is supposed to be able to carry. Pegasus was an air-launch system back in the 90s through... I guess the present if they still have customers. Their last shot was in 2016, and they went through several 3 and 4 year spells with only one launch before that, although in the late 90s/early 2000s they had several launches a year.
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Pegasus still has customers for it, just not a ton. My mentor/prof talks about it all the time and the recent launches since he also works for Northrop (former Orbital ATK). He also said that the biggest issue with the launch was the plane they used since it is one of the few LM passenger airliners they made and how parts are quite scarce for them. Also one of the launching units for Pegasus is the Stratolaunch as well, so there is use for this and that but how frequent said use will be seen in the years to come is something I'd like to know as well.
 
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LMSCorvetteGT2
Yeah nice find, we have one here and the local airport is the home for it. I actually wonder if this is the same one I'd have to read off the fuselage/tail number to see if so. The one here I see almost any time I jump on the freeway to pass the airport.
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You can! Just click on the image and you'll clearly be able to read it. But to make your life easier, it's N574FE.
 
Maybe the smallest jet commercially available for purchase, but the BD-5J was significantly smaller, although sold only in kit form, while the company was in business, and there are quite a few of them out there flying!

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Both the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds are fantastic to see! I've always had a fondness for the Fighting Falcons. Hornets have always been hit or miss, sometimes I decide they're great, other times I'm not that big of a fan.

Last year at Thunder Over Michigan, it was awesome to see the pair of F-15s that were on static display leave. They were given clearance for an unrestricted climb to altitude, and it was AWESOME. I'll see if I can find the video I got.
 
The F-16 is a prettier airplane, but the Blue Angels fly a more dynamic demonstration, a tighter formation (especially their photo pass,) a much greater number of separate-and-rejoin maneuvers, and more gs pulled by the diamond pilots in those separation maneuvers. My favorite part, though, is they taxi out to the runway, then they TAKE OFF, whereas the Thunderbirds taxi out and do secret society stuff for about 25 minutes before they start. Bor-ing!!! :)

They only have one maneuver I like that the Blues don't do, and that's the speed difference, where the diamond makes a slow approach-speed pass down the show line while one of the solos passes them at show center, having started miles away, hardly even visible.

I like that splashing in the puddle picture!!
 
wfooshee
The F-16 is a prettier airplane, but the Blue Angels fly a more dynamic demonstration, a tighter formation (especially their photo pass,) a much greater number of separate-and-rejoin maneuvers, and more gs pulled by the diamond pilots in those separation maneuvers. My favorite part, though, is they taxi out to the runway, then they TAKE OFF, whereas the Thunderbirds taxi out and do secret society stuff for about 25 minutes before they start. Bor-ing!!! :)

They only have one maneuver I like that the Blues don't do, and that's the speed difference, where the diamond makes a slow approach-speed pass down the show line while one of the solos passes them at show center, having started miles away, hardly even visible.

I like that splashing in the puddle picture!!
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Thank you! I think it was actually sucking in the water too if you look closely...
 
The most annoying thing for me is how they constantly refer to the motors as jets on their website. They aren't jets, though. They're electric ducted fans just like you find in tons of model planes.

I'm also pretty curious to know what their payload and range goals are. They mention it being a 5-seat aircraft, but how big can 5 people be and still have the plane fly? Beyond that, what about your max vertical takeoff weight? It's a very fine balancing act between range and payload capacity for them. Too big of a battery, and it will only be good for five children to fly in it. Make it so you can have 1,000 lbs of payload and cut the range in half.

It's a pretty interesting endeavor, but I don't think they're going to be the mobility revolution they say the will be.
 

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