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Jawdropping Video of This 747-200 Underbelly Almost Got Pilot Fired

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Jawdropping Video of This 747-200 Underbelly Almost Got Pilot Fired

It’s footage of the Classic Queen Of The Skies that will never be repeated.

When we first saw this video, we couldn’t believe it.  Someone successfully placed a camera on the front landing gear of a classic 747-200 and recorded the entire flight.  If you are an avgeek, this is solid gold (well except the cheesy porn music).  The landing gear is virtually a mechanical work of art and the landing…oh so sweet.

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You have to wonder, what’s the story behind this video?  While we have no way to verify the accuracy of the story, the post by Balleka below the video seems plausible:

“I was a training Captain with this company and also one of the aircraft Air -Test pilots so I had a fair amount of experience of actually operating the various alternate systems of the Classic and I suppose explains how I was able to convince the rest of the crew to go along with my plan.

I had let my enthusiasm get the better of me and despite having tried to mitigate against all the “what ifs” we could think of, had really gone outside the box and consequently I was on the red carpet in front of the DFO pleading idiocy (temporary insanity) and trying to save my job.

I immediately removed the video from Youtube, ( unfortunately quite a few others had already re-uploaded it) but decided to repost it about a year later after the company had succumbed to the world financial crisis, and further embarrassment could be avoided.”

Other great posts on Avgeekery:

He also posted video of how the footage was made.  You can see the video below:

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About the 747-200:

By the time production ended in 1991, almost 400 aircraft were built of the Boeing 200 series. These included 73 Boeing 200-Fs. F stands for freighter, by the way. Other types of Boeing 747-200 include the passenger version (747-200B), the convertible jet (747-200C), and the combination jet (747-200M). They even made a 747 tanker demonstrator! Only a few Boeing 747-200s remain in operation today. They include the VC-25, commonly known as Air Force One and the E-4.

WATCH: F-16 Hits Tree and Somehow Manages To Land Safely

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WATCH: F-16 Hits Tree and Somehow Manages To Land Safely

If You’ve Ever Wondered if the F-16 is a Robust, Survivable Platform, Here’s Proof That It Is.

The F-16 fighter pilot clipped the top of a ridge during a ridge crossing on a low level training mission.

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It is a tribute to the engine (probably a Pratt & Whitney) to continue running with tree parts stuck in it, and a tribute to the aircraft that it handled somewhat normally despite the damage, and made a safe landing. The pilot said, “I nearly killed myself, and I damaged an aircraft during a peace time mission. What an epitaph that would have been.” The accident was reportedly caused by the pilot misinterpreting the ground proximity warning system (GPWS).

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Image via US Air FOrce

The Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single engine, multipurpose fighter aircraft. Since production was approved in 1976, more than 4,500 of this type of aircraft have been built.

The Mighty B-25 Roaring to Life is Like A Symphony of Cylinders

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The Mighty B-25 Roaring to Life is Like A Symphony of Cylinders

Think of how many amazing warriors of the sky once heard the same sound.

The mighty B-25 Mitchell is one amazing aircraft.  It’s first claim to fame in World War II was the Doolittle Raid on Japan.  It was far from the last.  Over the next few years, the B-25 racked up successful raids in both theaters morphing into a gunship then back to a medium bomber.  The B-25 was a very effective bomber.  It could carry over 5,000 lbs of bombs with a standard range of 1,200 miles.  Over 10,000 B-25s were built between 1939 and 1945.

Today there are over 100 airworthy B-25s. This particular B-25 is known at the Yankee Warrior that belongs to the Yankee Air Museum in Michigan.

About the Yankee Air Museum:

The Yankee Air Museum was founded in 1981 as a non-profit organization to restore and maintain World War II era aircraft. The museum’s most iconic aircraft include the B-17 Yankee Lady and B-25D Yankee Warrior. In 2004, the museum suffered a catastrophic loss. All of the museum artifacts were destroyed as well as some of the planes in restoration. Only the three of the flyable aircraft (B-17, B-25 and C-47) survived. In 2009, the Yankee Air Museum purchased a building from the Michigan Institute of Aviation and Technology (MIAT), and the museum re-opened to the public in October of 2010. In 2013, the Yankee Air Museum placed offers to purchase and restore a section of the Willow Run Bomber Plant (former GM Powertrain) as a permanent home for the museum. During World War II, this building housed production of B-24 aircraft and earned a place in aviation history.

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Air Force Dad Celebrates His Daughter’s First (And Fini) F-4 Flight With a Bucket Of Water

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Air Force Dad Celebrates His Daughter’s First (And Fini) F-4 Flight With a Bucket Of Water

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Cadet gets an F-4 flight! Dad celebrates her special day.

Let’s file this in our “How Awesome is this?” file. Cadet 2nd Class (a junior) Kaitlyn recently received an incentive ride in the mighty F-4 Phantom. The F-4 has become a ‘rare’ jet. Getting an incentive flight in an F-4 these days is probably one of the rarest treats for any Air Force member. Our bet is that she is probably the last cadet to ever get a ride in the F-4.

Kaitlyn’s dad, a former F-4 commander himself, was able to watch her flight. Upon her return, he snuck up from behind the jet and ‘christened’ her after her flight in a time-honored tradition.

The 96th Test Group at Hollomon Air Force Base is the only Air Force unit that still flies the F-4, now designated the QF-4, as training targets. They are rapidly ‘expending’ their targets and expect to retire the F-4 in favor of the QF-16 by years end.

What is this Air Force tradition all about?

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Dumping water on a pilot after a first flight or fini flight is one of the proud traditions in the Air Force.  This tradition typically bookends a pilot’s career from first flight to last flight.  In pilot training, student pilots usually paint a dunk tank in their class colors. One by one, Lieutenants are dunked in the tank by their classmates after their first solo. It can be 110 degrees in summer time of 15 degrees in the dead of winter.  It doesn’t matter.  You still are guaranteed to get wet.

After pilot training, pilots also tend to get a bucket of water dropped on them after their ‘dollar ride’ first flight in a new type of jet. Their fini-flight also unusably entails fire extinguishers filled with water and squirt guns along with hugs by exuberant family and friends.

 

 

If Your Diecast Planes Were To Come Alive, This is What It Would Look Like

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If Your Diecast Planes Were To Come Alive, This is What It Would Look Like

If you call yourself an avgeek, Miniatur Wunderland better be put on your bucket list.

Many people are collectors of model airplanes.  With GeminiJets and mahogany models, its way easier than before to get a replica of your favorite aircraft.  Yet Miniatur Wunderland at Hamburg, Germany has taken model aviation to a whole new level. Miniatur Wunderland is a railway attraction that contains a full replica of Hamburg airport called Knuffingen Airport, which was completed in May of 2011. They meticulously keep the field up to date, adding new aircraft to the mix and keeping a few special but now retired ones like the Concorde in the mix.  Each model has some fantastically realistic features like flashing strobes along with working flaps and gear, just like the real airplanes they represent.

How do these models work?

At Miniatur Wunderland, as the model plane goes down the runway, two metal bars underneath it support the aircraft(the one in front higher than the one in back), causing the plane to “lift” in the air. Then the plane goes through a rubber barrier that looks like part of a cloudy grey sky, and disappears. . It’s a very clever illusory effect. There’s plenty of plane spotting going on here – Emirates, Thai, Air Berlin, Air France, China Eastern, United, and the beautiful white Condor with colored hearts that has “We Love Flying” printed in German across the side of the plane. These are to name just a few.

The whole set up is actually quite cool looking. The background scenery is positively quaint, with trees, lights, houses, office buildings, trains, planes, moving vehicles, and human figurines. When it comes to art imitating life, Miniatur Wunderland leaves no stone unturned.

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Would You Let Your 13 Year Old Boy Pilot a Business Jet?

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Would You Let Your 13 Year Old Boy Pilot a Business Jet?

He calls for Gear Up Like He’s Done This A Time Or Two Before.

Caden Urschel is not your average 13 year old. While he’s not even old enough to drive yet, Caden already has about two hundred hours of flight time under his belt. He has piloted various small planes and helicopters through the years with the help of his father, Scott. Scott Urschel, is a flight instructor and commercial pilot.

It’s not uncommon to see a father (or mother) taking their teenager up in a small plane to learn how to fly. But there is a huge difference between taking your child flying in a Cessna 172 and a Citation business jet.  Recently, a video was posted of Caden flying the Citation M2. In the video, Caden looks like a pretty good stick. He successfully accomplishes the takeoff and a touch and go in the business jet.

The Citation M2 jet is an American light business jet built by Cessna. It is 42 feet and seven inches in length, with a wing-span of just over 47 feet. It is powered by two Williams International turbofans. It is not every day you see a child flying one of these jets. This is legal because the Citation is certified as a single pilot aircraft. The second seat can be vacant or be occupied by a non-qualified pilot.

While Caden might be able to fly along and have the physical skills to fly a plane, it will be a few years until he can do it legally. According to Federal law, Caden cannot solo an airplane until he is sixteen years old. He can’t actually get his license or legally carry passengers until he is 17 years old. A multi-engine rating to fly a plane like the M2 will require an additional rating.

Rare Air: This Stubby Fokker 70 Still Flies Like A Champ Even In Her Sunset Years

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Rare Air: This Stubby Fokker 70 Still Flies Like A Champ Even In Her Sunset Years

Soon to be gone, flying on the Fokker is a real treat.

Rare jets are the holy grail for Avgeeks. Over the past few years, aviation enthusiasts have flocked to fly on the last flights on the MD-11, DC-9, 727, 737-200 and DC-8. If you are an aviation enthusiast, you need to put the Fokker 70 on your radar. Less than 50 Fokker 70s were produced. Right now, only 38 Fokker 70s remain in service. By October 29, 2017, KLM will retire their fleet leaving less than 20 in service worldwide citing rising operating expenses.

This video features a 3-minute time lapse movie of a flight from Zurich to Amsterdam, in a very contemporary looking KLM Fokker 70. Take a ride with this passenger over the beautiful Swiss Alps, through the clouds, to the airplane’s Dutch destination. See the beautiful Holland farmlands on your way in. There’s a fabulous view from row 15 with the engine just feet from the passengers. The real trip takes about 90 minutes non stop. This particular flight took one hour and sixteen minutes. The gentle roar of the Rolls Royce Tay 620’s engines will remind you of what peak-efficiency sounded like in the mid-90s.

What’s interesting about the Fokker 70 is it’s simplicity and stubbiness. The wing is stubby and flaps 0 takeoffs are common in order to reduce wear on the engines.

What is most impressive about this jet is how short the Fokker 70 is. It literally is a shrunken Fokker 100 with a 15 feet shorter fuselage than the F100. It harkens back to a time where manufacturers thought that they could shrink aircraft (or offer shorter aircraft) for additional sales (See also MD-95, Boeing 737-600, ATR-42).

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KLM 747 Crew Wows Tourists With Approach To St. Maarten

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KLM 747 Crew Wows Tourists With Approach To St. Maarten

Measuring a mere 7,500 feet, and surrounded by hills, Saint Maarten has one of the world’s most challenging runways for a heavy aircraft and one of the best spotting locations for Avgeeks!

Join the captain onboard a flight to this serene tropical island. Get ready for an exciting landing in this 6-minute video production.
By now most Avgeeks know about Maho Beach. It is the most famous plane spotting location in the world. Plane spotting is almost a national sport in Saint Maarten.  Hundreds of people gather to view the most spectacular approach of the day – the landing of a Boeing 747 that left Amsterdam 8 hours earlier. The plane is a beautiful sky blue color, with gleaming white wings.

The total distance from Amsterdam to Juliana International Airport in Saint Maarten is almost 5,000 miles. This flight’s cockpit crew are Captain Tim ten Velde, and his first officer, Michel Vat. The Captain checks the route map app on his iPad. His GPS locates the plane on a map. Then he checks his iPad approach app to find the best method of approach to this difficult runway. There is a RNAV approach available that helps pilots find the airport in conditions of poor visibility.

On approach, the cockpit crew hears from the Juliana Airport approach control. A person in the tower lets them know the wind speed, altimeter setting, temperature, and expected approach.  The video is unique in a few ways.  One, St. Maarten is amazing.  Two, KLM is the only airline that flies the Boeing 747 into the field (only for another two months as they begin to phase out the Queen of the Skies).  Lastly, the pilots demonstrate the professionalism and skill required to operate the jumbo jet into a relatively small field safely.

 

Skip The Herc, These Paratroopers Try Out The New KC-390 Jet (Watch in 360!)

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Skip The Herc, These Paratroopers Try Out The New KC-390 Jet (Watch in 360!)

Embraer posts 360 video of paratrooper drop in the new KC-390 Jet

In 2009, Embraer was awarded with a 1.5 billion dollar contract to build two prototypes of the KC-390. Only two KC-390s have been built so far. This video shows the first ever paratroop drop using one of the prototypes.

The Embraer KC-390 is a mid-sized, twin engine military jet aircraft recently developed by Embraer, a Brazilian aerospace manufacturer. It is a tactical airlifter with a roomy, cargo bay that is similar in size to a C-130. Ruggedized landing gear allows the aircraft to take off and land of semi-prepared surfaces. Aircraft avionics include HUD displays for both pilot and co-pilot, a night vision system, GPS, and a CARP (Computed Air Release Point) system, which allows for automatic opening of the cargo doors. The unit cost of each KC-390 aircraft is about 85 million dollars.

The KC-390 transports cargo and troops, as well as performing aerial refueling. It is Embraer’s largest aircraft to date. Its first flight was on February 3rd, 2015. In June of 2016, Portugal announced plans to buy six KC-390 aircrafts. Peru has also shown interest. Meanwhile, the Brazilian Air Force has ordered 28 of this model, in addition to the two prototypes. A total of 60 units have been ordered for Chile, Portugal, Czech Republic, Argentina, and Colombia.

The KC-390 holds a crew of two, and has room for 80 passengers. The plane is nearly 110 feet long, with a wing span of more than 111 feet. It is 37 feet and six inches in height.The service ceiling (maximum altitude) is 36,000 feet.

Secret C-17 Mission: Is This Really How Pokemon Are Restocked?

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Secret C-17 Mission: Is This Really How Pokemon Are Restocked?

A not so serious story about Pokemon.

We’re proud to report many unique stories about aviation.  We also really enjoy sharing exciting videos that highlight the airplanes we love and the people who fly them.  But every once in a while, we come across a video that is just ummm…odd but we are still compelled to share it.

As we all know, Pokemon Go has taken over smartphones all over the world.  It’s now pretty common to see zombie looking people walking in parks and on streets.  They are oblivious to the world with their head buried in a phone.  They are catching Pokemon.  If everyone is so busy catching them, how do they replenish them?  Watch this video and find out.  It’s 30 second of your life that you’ll never get back.  We warned you.

Bonus:  As a true avgeek, what really irks you about this video?

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Brotherhood in The Skies: German Pilot Could Have Shot Down The American B-17 But Gave Him Safe Passage Instead

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Brotherhood in The Skies: German Pilot Could Have Shot Down The American B-17 But Gave Him Safe Passage Instead

Charlie Brown was born in Weston, West Virginia, and eventually became an American pilot during WWII. One day, his plane was severely damaged by German artillery. Franz Stigler was a German pilot who, among other German pilots, saw the damage to Brown’s plane from the ground.

Stigler took his plane in the air, and instead of shooting Brown’s plane down, he flew alongside it and gestured that Brown should try to get to Sweden. Brown and his crew didn’t understand Stigler’s gestures. They decided they should try to make it to England. When Stigler realized their intentions, he flew in formation just above the wing of Brown’s crippled plane, so the Germans wouldn’t target it. Eventually, they flew over open water. Brown, unsure of Stigler’s intentions, asked one of his crew mates to point a gun at Stigler. Stigler got the message, saluted, and flew off.

Basically, Franz Stigler risked his own life to save the enemy. He could have been shot down by Brown’s plane. What’s more, if his own side had caught him protecting the enemy, execution would be a virtual certainty. So Franz Stigler never mentioned the incident to anyone.

Both men survived the war. Charlie Brown moved to Canada in 1953 and became a successful businessman. Forty years after the fact, Charlie Brown, after a tremendous effort, learned the identity of the man in the other plane. The two men were reunited in 1990, and stayed close friends until their deaths, just a few months apart, in 2008.

Their story is the subject of a book entitled, A Higher Call. The book spent 19 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.

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What Happens To Your Poo On A Plane?

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What Happens To Your Poo On A Plane?

On an average long haul flight, there are over 1,000 flushes.  Where does it all go?

Admit it! You’ve wondered what happens when you flush a toilet on a plane. Modern airplane toilets have suction so strong that your waste (including the smell) accelerates through pipes at the speed of a Formula One race car! Now that’s fast!

Airplane toilets used to rely on a large amount of blue sanitation fluid to keep the toilet flushing. These days, it still gets flushed but via an invention called the “vacuum toilet.”  The toilet relies on strong suction and slick walls instead of blue fluid. The bowl is coated with non stick teflon. When you press the flush button, a valve opens, sucking down the contents of the bowl. The pipes carry their contents into large tanks that are stored underneath the main cabin.

First_class_Lavatory_with_WindowThe plane has to be emptied of human waste, typically on every landing. A grounds crew gentleman/woman rolls up in a vehicle called the “honey truck,” to collect the waste containers from the back of the plane. The honey truck has an 800-gallon stainless steel waste tank. A powerful pump can fill this tank in about ten minutes. Still, the driver must connect the pump to the aircraft by hand. He/she carefully connects the waste pipe to the release valve, making sure it is locked in place. If it is not locked properly, it will come flying off, spewing sewage everywhere. (It happens occasionally.) The honey truck operator wears gloves, of course. Once he is finished sucking sewage from a plane, he connects a flush pipe to clean out the plane’s waste tanks.

When the tanks are drained, the driver makes a run to the waste management facility that is usually located on the airport property. There, he/she drives the truck to the receptacle, opens a valve, and empties the truck.  Video was posted by the Smithsonian Channel

Remember When Pepsi Leased A Concorde?

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Remember When Pepsi Leased A Concorde?

The blue paint limited the speed of the world’s fastest airliner

In 1996, the Pepsi Cola company underwent a major rebranding. As part of this, they signed a deal with Air France to charter the Concorde and paint it blue. They put the Pepsi logo on the tail, and the word Pepsi on the side of the plane. The new Pepsi can design was set to be electric blue in color, to distinguish it from the red cans of Coca Cola.

Pepsi arranged for the Concorde to make 16 flights in this new color scheme. Sounds expensive, this is the same soda company that hired Michael Jackson in his heyday too.

Commissioning special vehicles to promote a product is nothing new. But chartering the Concorde is a bit over the top, to say the least. At the time, there were only 20 Concorde aircraft in existence. Pepsi kept the cost confidential, but the cost of just painting a Boeing 747 can exceed $150,000. The paint they used was specially designed to handle the intense heat of the Concorde. Workers spent 2,000 hours and used 200 liters of blue paint.

Eventually, the plane was flown to London’s Gatwick Airport, where hundreds of journalists were assembled from 40 countries to cover the story. For the big reveal, Pepsi hired supermodels Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford, as well as tennis star Andre Agassi.

The Pepsi Concorde completed 16 flights to ten cities in Europe and the Middle East. Due to the paint, the Concorde had to fly at Mach 1.5 or slower throughout the trip. After the tour, the Concorde was restored to its original Air France colors.

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The C-17 Globemaster III is Overhauled In the Largest Hangar In the World.

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The C-17 Globemaster III is Overhauled In the Largest Hangar In the World.

This hangar is huuugge!

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Boeing facility in San Antonio is the largest freestanding airplane hangar in the world. It is 1,760 feet long. This massive hangar can fit sixteen C-17 Globemaster Fleet III planes. More than 600 employees work there. Workers have upgraded and delivered almost 1,000 planes from this facility, to locations around the world. The crew boasts 95 percent on time deliveries. Says Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Program Leader Rene Vargas, “What we do now is we basically take a C-17 and do maintenance, overhaul and repairs of the aircraft.”

The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is the Air Force’s primary heavy transport aircraft, developed in the 1980s and delivered from 1994 to 2013. The C-17 routinely performs tactical and strategic airlift missions, as well as medical evacuation and airdrop. It is designed to airdrop 102 paratroopers and their equipment. The C-17 can take off from runways as short as 3,500 feet, and as narrow as 90 feet wide. It can even operate from semi-prepared and unimproved runways, although this increases the risk of damage to the aircraft.

The C-17 is about 174 feet long and has a wingspan of about 170 feet. The cargo compartment is 88 feet long by 18 feet wide. The C-17 is powered by four Pratt & Whitney F117-PW-100 turbo engines.

The final C-17 was completed in the Long Beach, California facility, and launched on November 29th, 2015.

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Piloted By a Rockstar: Video Lookback at Iron Maiden’s 747 World Tour

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Piloted By a Rockstar: Video Lookback at Iron Maiden’s 747 World Tour

As the 2016 tour nears its end, Iron Maiden reflects on all the fun they had with Ed Force One, the Boeing jumbo jet that took them on their world tour. For starters, the plane has a super cool paint job, with Iron Maiden and The Book of Souls World Tour splashed across the side of the aircraft. The plane was even made into a model, which was sold in hobby shops across America.

This 747 is nicknamed Queen of the Skies. Of course, the music of Iron Maiden plays throughout this video. As the pilot prepares to land in Bermuda, he mentions that this will be his very first landing. But the pilot loves his plane. He says “…it just blows the doors off every other airplane on the planet… If you wanted me to swap Ed Force One, I wouldn’t do it.” The pilot is Bruce Dickinson, vocalist for Iron Maiden. He has been a pilot since 1990, but he got a special airline transport pilot’s license to fly this particular plane on his world tour.

Photo by: Iron Maiden
Photo by: Iron Maiden

The touring musicians visited 45 cities. These include Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Rio, Buenos Aires, and many other cities throughout the world. Dickinson flew almost 80,000 miles (123,000 kilometers). The band’s longest flight was 11 hours and 24 minutes.

The travels weren’t without incident though.  Ed Force One did sustain damage early in the tour in a towing incident.  In Chile, the tug broke free while the jumbo was being towed to another part of the airport.

This video features some very cool footage of moving planes, Fort Lauderdale, Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, and more. They seem to be having all kinds of fun, and got some fabulous photos too.

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A U-2 Spyplane Landed On An Aircraft Carrier? Yup!

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A U-2 Spyplane Landed On An Aircraft Carrier? Yup!

These U-2G Pilots Must Have Had Balls of Steel.

The U-2 Dragonfly is notoriously difficult to land. A great deal of skill is needed to control the aircraft at slow speeds, especially with crosswinds. Typical operations of the U-2 involve a ground support crew and Camaro vehicle to act as a spotter. So imagine our surprise when we found a video showing attempts to trap the U-2 on the deck of the USS Ranger (CVA-61) back in 1964. The U-2, specially modified and known as a U-2G, had additional equipment added to it in order to support carrier ops. The plane had strengthened gear and a tail hook to enable carrier operations.

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The U-2G was operated by the CIA. Carrier operations were intended to allow spy flights over French nuclear testing areas in the South Pacific. While some pilots became carrier qualified, the program never became common.

The U-2 fleet continues to serve in the US Air Force today. The U-2 has continuously served for more than 50 years. Over the past decade, the U-2 has undergone a complete technological rebuilding. The latest model is the U-2S Dragon Lady. Although an old frame, the aircraft is considered reliable, responsive, and survivable, with an average mission success rate of 97 percent. She is powered by a General Electric F118-101 turbofan engine. The U-2S is a lightweight aircraft with glider-like characteristics. This model supports global security requirements in all weather conditions, day and night. The Dragon Lady received her most recent upgrade in 2012.

Pro-Tip To Survive a Plane Crash: If Your Plane Crashes, Leave Your Freaking Bags On The Plane!

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Pro-Tip To Survive a Plane Crash: If Your Plane Crashes, Leave Your Freaking Bags On The Plane!

“You can replace computers, phones, designer bags and clothes.  You can’t replace people.”

Hours after departing from Trivanduram International Airport in India, a Boeing 777 makes a final approach into Dubai. Details are still emerging, but we can say that the giant plane caught fire and skidded to a stop, forcing all passengers and crew to deplane rapidly via the emergency escape slides.

This video above shows the state of panic and fear after the aircraft came to a stop. Emergencies are routinely trained for by airline pilots and flight attendants, but for regular passengers the ordeal must have been overwhelming. As smoke fills the cabin, the intensity grows. It’s a tribute to the flight crew and airline that all passengers manage to flee and survive.

Viewing the plane from the exterior, one gets a sense how devastating the effect could have been. The fire from the crash landing burned the top half of the fuselage clean off. Many of the escape slides, engineered to deploy on a flat, or nearly flat surface, were instead lofted up into the air, resulting in a near vertical drop for the fleeing passengers.

What’s frustrating about this incident is that the video once again shows passengers grabbing their bags from the overhead compartments prior to jumping off the emergency slides.  This has become a trend during recent emergency landings, even ones with smoke and fire actively burning on or near the aircraft.  Remember the British Airways 777 that caught fire in Las Vegas last year?  Photos showed passenger walking on the runway with their bags too.

Here’s the deal. Staying on a burning jet to grab your bag or your computer can be the difference between life and death for you and other people on a compromised plane. Planes aren’t fire-proof structures.  They aren’t designed to be fireproof. Outside the attractive cabin you see are thousands of pounds of fuel in fuel tanks, hydraulic lines, insulation, engine oil and more…all flammable materials.

Aircraft manufacturers design their planes to be evacuated in 90 seconds or less.  They design the number of emergency exits based on the expected passengers that the jet that they will carry.  Manufacturers nor the FAA account for the fact that passengers will block the aisles to grab their bags.  In evacuation tests, they assume that every passenger on the flight will exit the aircraft in an expeditious manner.  Based on recent accidents, this is not how passengers are behaving when told to evacuate.

While technology has improved to make aircraft safer and more robust, there is still significant danger of a compromised aircraft after a crash.  If you are told to evacuate by crew, you should get up and leave the plane.  The only thing you should take with you is your child.  Leave everything else behind. Computers, clothes, designer purses all can be replaced.  Human life can’t.

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Check Your Numbers! The Day a Lack of Attention To Detail Made For a Bad Day At SFO

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Check Your Numbers! The Day a Lack of Attention To Detail Made For a Bad Day At SFO

The crew failed to calculate the proper takeoff numbers, causing a jumbo 747 to hit a pier at the end of the runway.

This airline training video dates back to July 30th, 1971. It features a Pan Am Boeing 747 called Clipper America.  The flight was for a planned departure to Tokyo.  Due to performance miscalculations by the crew, the aircraft used the improper flap setting and based their calculations on a runway that was actually 1,000 feet shorter than anticipated.  The plane failed to achieve the required rotation speed by the end of the usable runway. The plane, weighing 197,000 kilos rotated after the end of the runway.  It hit piers and threshold lights as it attempted to lumber into the air.  Three out of 4 hydraulic systems were damaged and the fuselage was breached.  A hunk of iron went right through the back of a passenger seat, which happened to have no passenger in it at the time. The aircraft was badly damaged by collision.  Clipper America was forced to return to SFO to make an emergency landing at the same airport.


Due to hydraulic failure, the aircraft only had 1/6th of its control capability.  In the video, you’ll see that there is barely any flare as the plane attempts to land.  Gear that was damaged on departure caught fire on landing . With no nose wheel steering, the aircraft drifted off the runway, where the fire from the botched landing was actually extinguished by dirt.

An evacuation was started once the aircraft came to a full stop. Crew miscommunication delayed evacuation. It took about 30 seconds for the first slide to be deployed, and about 45 seconds before the first passenger exited the plane.  Some of the door slides failed to deploy and others deployed incorrectly.  Then the plane tipped onto its tail, lifting the front door slides and causing them to become almost vertical. This resulted in serious injuries sustained by several passengers. Emergency vehicles can be seen rushing to the site of the accident.

The bottom line is that it was a bad day…all caused by a lack of attention to detail.  What’s the lesson here?  Double check your takeoff data, pilots!

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Amazon Makes It Official: See Their First Plane Painted

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Amazon Makes It Official: See Their First Plane Painted

In a move that surprised no one, Amazon officially unveiled Prime Air last night.  Prime Air is the name given to the company’s fleet of 767 freighters.  The used freighters have been acquired to expand Amazon’s ability to deliver its massive offering of services to its customers faster.

The plan for Prime Air involves up to 40 aircraft.  It’s important to note that Amazon will not actually become an airline.  The aircraft will be operated by Atlas Air and ATSG on behalf of Amazon.

There are a couple of interesting facts about this first Prime Air aircraft.  First, the tail number is N1997A which is undoubtedly a nod to the year Amazon was founded.  Additionally, there is a large Amazon logo on the belly of the aircraft similar to Delta or Emirates belly logos.  The aircraft is a former Atlas Air aircraft that was built in 1992.  It also flew for Sobelair, Kenya Airways, Vietnam Airlines, and Air Europa.

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Why did PanAm Fail? A look back at the Fall of a Once Great Airline

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Why did PanAm Fail? A look back at the Fall of a Once Great Airline

Why did PanAm fail? 

Pan American World Airways, or PanAm, was a cultural icon of the 20th century. It was the largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until it went out of business in 1991, and filed for bankruptcy. Why did this once high flying airline fail?

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PanAm was once a trendsetter in the airline industry

At its founding, PanAm’s area of operation was between Key West, Florida and Havana, Cuba. The airline eventually became a major company with many innovations to its credit.

These innovations included the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems. The computer, which was installed in 1964, occupied the entire fourth floor of PanAm’s office building.

The airline was known for its rigorous training of employees. PanAm’s flagship terminal was the Worldport at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

How did the airline that once defined success falter, then fail?

For a while, PanAm was the only company doing what it did with a technology advantage, a strong reputation for glamour and exclusive route authority. The airline enjoyed many advantages. This all changed after World War II, when competitors started competing for the same business. PanAm kept up with its competitors for quite a while.

The downturn of PanAm began with the 1973 oil crisis. Some of us remember people sitting in lines that winded down the road from gas stations where gasoline was rationed. PanAm had already spent millions trying to keep up with the competitors.

It had just purchased a fleet of Boeing 747s, assuming that the interest in passenger flight would continue to rise. Then the company was faced with skyrocketing fuel costs. The airline never did financially recover.  It struggled with labor strife.  PanAm attempted to stop the bleeding by selling off its Pacific routes and US domestic network.  

However, the downing of PanAm 103 in a terrorist attack and the Gulf War doomed the recovery efforts.  PanAm finally ceased service on December 4, 1991. It was an unfitting end to an airline that once represented the best of American aviation.

News story highlights the tragic end of a once great airline

This video, released right after the shutdown, painfully documents how PanAm fell from grace.  The end was tragic, but the video is a fascinating look at the many challenges that PanAm faced.

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