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Remember When American Airlines Touted Its Brand New Boeing 707 Astrojet?

Bill Walton
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Remember When American Airlines Touted Its Brand New Boeing 707 Astrojet?

It Was the Golden Age of Air Travel

The film “The 707 Astrojet” was produced in 1961 by American Airlines and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft to introduce the flying public to their turbofan-powered Boeing 707 in American Airlines Astrojet colors. The film explains the unique aspects of the 707 and the experiences a passenger aboard one of the new jets would be likely to have. As you might expect, the principles behind the newly fitted Pratt & Whitney JT3D-1 turbofan engines are explained succinctly and understandably. Thanks to YouTuber PeriscopeFilm for uploading this time capsule film from a simpler age.

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The Luxurious Astrojet

American Airlines flew 707s between 1959 and 1981. The 707 was AA’s first jet-powered equipment. The Astrojet livery was actually fairly short-lived, but the polish and paint job has been used on at least one Boeing 757 and a couple of Boeing 737 “retro-jets” in the years since the original Astrojet livery was replaced beginning in the late 1960s. Tragically on March 1st 1962, American Airlines Flight 1, a Boeing 707-123B Astrojet (registration N7506A) bound for Los Angeles (LAX), crashed due to mechanical failure two minutes after takeoff from Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy JFK) in New York with the loss of all on board.

Boeing 707 astrojet.
Photograph Courtesy Boeing

Watch How Lockheed Martin Breathes New Life Into P-3s From The Boneyard

Bill Walton
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Watch How Lockheed Martin Breathes New Life Into P-3s From The Boneyard

The Lockheed Martin video “P-3 Orion Desert to Delivery” describes the transportation and refurbishment process used to pull P-3 Orion aircraft from the storage areas at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Recovery Group (otherwise known as the boneyard) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB) for wing replacement and refurbishment so they can be returned to service. P-3s might be well on their way to being replaced by the Boeing P-8A Poseidon, but they are certainly not done yet. Thanks to LockheedMartinVideos for uploading this look at the effort to keep veteran but still viable aircraft going strong.

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The aircraft featured in the video (Bureau Number 158920) was delivered to the United States Navy on July 11th 1973. It was eventually reworked to P-3C Update III Mod specifications. The aircraft spent time with Patrol Squadron FOUR NINE (VP-49) Woodpeckers and VP-16 War Eagles before being stricken from the US Navy’s list on 11/2/2004.

P 3C VP 49 in flight near Iceland 1993
P-3C of VP-49 flying over Iceland. Official US Navy Photograph

The aircraft then served with the Taiwanese Air Force 33rd Squadron. After the airframe was returned to the United States it was stored at AMARG as AN2P0215. After its refurbishment at the Lockheed Martin facility the aircraft entered service with the United States Customs and Border Protection Service’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) group as a Long Range Tracker (LRT) aircraft, most of whose P-3s have been re-winged.

P 3 LRT US Customs and Border Protection in flight 2008
Official Customs and Border Protection Photograph

 

These Are The Navy and Air Force Helicopters Supporting The Massive Military Assistance To Help Harvey Victims

Bill Walton
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These Are The Navy and Air Force Helicopters Supporting The Massive Military Assistance To Help Harvey Victims

US Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron SEVEN (HSC-7) Dusty Dogs Sikorsky MH-60S Knighthawk and US Air Force (USAF) 48th Rescue Squadron Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters are flying joint wide-area search and rescue (SAR) sorties in support of search and rescue operations in the areas of Southeast Texas affected by Hurricane Harvey. The helos are staging out of Easterwood Airport in College Station, Texas.

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48th Rescue Squadron HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter. Official US Air Force Photograph

The Dusty Dogs are normally a part of Carrier Air Wing THREE (CVW-3) but were detached and sent to the area along with additional Knighthawk rotorcraft from HSC-28 Dragon Whales. The USAF 48th Rescue Squadron Night Riders are a part of the 563rd Rescue Group, 23rd Air Force and are normally based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB) near Tucson in Arizona. These videos were uploaded on the US Navy YouTube page.

This is the “B-roll” from the footage shot for the clip above.

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This is a short clip of rescue operations conducted by HSC-7.

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Official US Navy Photograph

 

VIDEO: Dream Chaser Flies for Captive Carry Test over Edwards AFB

Mike Killian
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VIDEO: Dream Chaser Flies for Captive Carry Test over Edwards AFB

The engineering test article for Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser ‘spaceplane’ took to the skies on Aug 30 over NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, located at Edwards Air Force Base, CA, conducting a “Captive Carry” test while attached to a Chinook helicopter.

“We are very pleased with results from the Captive Carry test, and everything we have seen points to a successful test with useful data for the next round of testing,” said Lee “Bru” Archambault, SNC’s director of flight operations for the Dream Chaser program.

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Watch As The Military Converges On The Texas Gulf Coast In Response To Hurricane Harvey

Bill Walton
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Watch As The Military Converges On The Texas Gulf Coast In Response To Hurricane Harvey

This video highlights just some of the United States military’s mobilization in response to Hurricane Harvey along the Texas Coast. Every branch of the armed services are in place and working in the disaster zone. Elements of the Air National Guard (ANG) 176th Wing based at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Alaska load up a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III with supplies and equipment and take off for Texas first. Next, a Coast Guard Sikorsky MH-60 Jayhawk based at Coast Guard Air Station San Diego sets out toward the catastrophe. Rescue footage shot aboard Coast Guard helicopters and small boats and Texas Army National Guard boats and high-water vehicles rounds out the footage. Thanks to YouTuber Gung Ho Vids for uploading this clip.

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There also are 16 UH-60 Blackhawk and CH-47 Chinook helicopters from the Texas Army National Guard conducting day and night wide area SAR missions along the Texas coast from Corpus Christi to Houston. The Department of Defense has also brought in and deployed dozens of Army and Marine Corps search and rescue (SAR) teams and scores of Coast Guard and other SAR-capable helicopters and supporting fixed-wing aircraft. The New York ANG and Alaska ANG have committed HC-130J Hercules and Boeing C-17 Globemaster III airlifters. The California ANG and Utah, Nebraska, and North Carolina Army National Guards are also assisting in the SAR efforts. Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadrons SEVEN (HSC-7) Dusty Dogs and HSC-28 Dragon Whales made their way to the Gulf Coast from Norfolk to assist in rescue and recovery efforts as well.

129th Rescue Wing wing aircraft
Official US Air Force Photograph

After forming as a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Harvey came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane packing winds of more than 130 miles per hour at 2145 local time on Friday 8/25/2017. The storm devastated several coastal towns and did damage to towns along the entire upper Texas coast and as far inland as Austin and San Antonio. Because no weather systems were in place to “steer” the storm away from its point of landfall, the storm proceeded to meander and dump several feet of rain over thousands of square Texas miles. Houston and the entire surrounding area have been inundated by floodwaters. Louisiana has also been subjected to heavy rains and flooding by Harvey.

Aircraft evacuated before hurricane 121026 Z QU230 012
Official US Air Force Photograph

Here’s a bonus video of the damage done to the coastal town of Rockport which took a direct hit from the eyewall of Harvey.

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Commercial Flights In Houston Come to a Screeching Halt After Hurricane Harvey, Airline Losses Expected

Avgeekery
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Commercial Flights In Houston Come to a Screeching Halt After Hurricane Harvey, Airline Losses Expected

Commercial air traffic into and out of the fourth most populous city in America has come to a standstill as Texas residents suffer the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, one of the worst natural disasters in Texas history. The FAA is speculating that George Bush Intercontinental Airport is set to resume at least partial operations by Thursday afternoon. However airport officials are warning that this plan is tentative and dependent upon many factors, not the least of which is the ability of would-be airline passengers to travel to the airport. Many roads leading to and surrounding IAH remain flooded or closed, including 59 and Will Clayton at the airport exit. The William P. Hobby Airport is not faring any better and has announced via Twitter that operations there should resume by Wednesday but airport officials have still not made a firm commitment.

Commercial flight cancellations are wreaking havoc on the US. airline industry as a whole. Southwest Airlines has been forced to cancel over 330 flights thus far, with more cancellations being added daily. That represents 8% of Southwest’s worldwide flights Monday, according to tracking website FlightAware. United Airlines’ second-largest hub is located in Houston and it has been one of the hardest hit, canceling 462 flights or 19% of its flights Monday. The projected financial losses for United could more than double the $125 million loss experienced by Delta Air Lines when it was forced to cancel over 4,000 flights out of Hartsfield Jackson International Airport after heavy storms in Atlanta in April.

United stock has already fallen 13 percent this year through Monday. Southwest is expected to lose as much as $77 million in the third quarter since it is one of the major carriers out of William P. Hobby airport, according to a report out Tuesday from Helane Becker of Cowen & Co. Spirit Airlines, a discount operator, is also preparing to take an $11 million hit.

Meantime, President Trump paid a visit to the affected areas Tuesday, landing in Corpus Cristi and then traveling to Austin. At least 13 deaths are attributed to Hurricane Harvey so far and more than 1 million Houston residents remain homeless. Scores of families left destitute are piled into the George R. Brown convention center, as temporary housing facilities are bursting at the seams.

The Coast Guard has provided fixed-wing aircraft, such as the C-130, to bring life-saving supplies like bottled water and non-perishable food items to the evacuees. The Texas National Guard is fully deployed to assist with recovery. The Army Times reports that 16 National Guard helicopters have joined in the around-the-clock search and rescue missions, including 10 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, four UH-72 Lakotas and two CH-47 Chinooks. Guard Bureau Sgt. 1st Class Mike Houk says that the New York Air National Guard has contributed one C-130, two C-17s and three HH-60s to the effort which is bringing together rescue teams from around the country. Monday, helicopters from as far away as Utah and North Carolina will descend on the area to assist with recovery operations. Read more about the rescue here.

Watch The Film Intended To Portray The Peacemaker As A Nightmare For The Reds

Bill Walton
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Watch The Film Intended To Portray The Peacemaker As A Nightmare For The Reds

Target: Peace is a film produced by Consolidated Vultee in 1949 to introduce the American public (and the Russians) to their new B-36 Peacemaker strategic bomber. The film is dedicated at the outset to the 8th and 15th Air Forces of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). Similar to other films of the time, the piece does its level best to promote and reinforce the concept that effective deterrence starts with the idea that retaliation against a potential attacker would be far worse than any damage an attacker might do to the United States. Such were the times and the logic of them.

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The B-36 entered service with SAC in 1948 and many aspects of the new (at the time) bomber are shown in the film. From the design, assembly, and overall manufacture of the huge aircraft to Consolidated Vultee management and SAC utilization of the Peacemaker, the film does a great job of telling the audience how impressive the engineering effort needed to create the B-36 really was.

While the Peacemaker only served as SAC’s primary strategic bomber for a few years, it was the most impressive mass-produced propeller-driven aircraft ever built. Thanks to YouTuber PeriscopeFilm for uploading this great look at a great aircraft.

Convair B 36B in Air
Official US Air Force Photograph

The Blue Angels Flew Grumman F11F Tigers–Their First Supersonic Ride

Bill Walton
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The Blue Angels Flew Grumman F11F Tigers–Their First Supersonic Ride

When this film was made by Grumman during the late 1950s, the United States Navy Precision Flight Demonstration Team, otherwise known as the Blue Angels, was flying the Grumman F11F Tiger. The film is narrated by former Navy pilot and actor Robert Taylor. Because the Navy always pulled pilots from fleet squadrons in order to build the Blue Angels rosters, the film also makes the point that although the pilots in the Tigers might be wearing the Blue Angels patch today, they could easily be assigned to operational fleet squadrons tomorrow.

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The film introduces each of the Blue Angels pilots flying with the team at the time the film was made. Footage of the Blues flying their Tigers is simply awesome, and there’s also footage of some of the training the pilots received while earning their Navy wings of gold. Explanations of the maneuvers the team flies provide some understanding of the expertise required to fly with the Blues. The team operated Grumman’s Tiger between 1957 and 1969. Thanks to YouTuber PeriscopeFilm for uploading this Blue Angels time capsule.

F11Fs Blue Angels over Niagara Falls c1957
Official US Navy Photograph

Watch “The Hawk” And Her Air Wing Kick Ass During Their 1972 WESTPAC

Bill Walton
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Watch “The Hawk” And Her Air Wing Kick Ass During Their 1972 WESTPAC

Carrier Air Wing ELEVEN (CVW-11) broke all the previous records for combat sorties flown and ordnance delivered during its sixth WESTPAC deployment aboard the carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) from November 6th 1970 to July 17th 1971. But CVW-11 would go to war aboard the Battle Cat again in 1972, and during that seventh WESTPAC CVW-11 broke its own records again. Though deployed early due to the 1972 Communist offensive, CVW-11 took a total of 107 aircraft aboard the Kitty Hawk to form the world’s largest Carrier Air Wing. These four (silent) videos were shot during that record-setting deployment. If you were there this is must-see footage!

Part 1

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From February 19th 1972 to November 28th 1972, CVW-11 consisted of VF-114 Aardvarks and VF-213 Black Lions flying the McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II, VA-195 Dambusters and VA-192 World Famous Golden Dragons flying the Vought A-7E Corsair II, VA-52 Knightriders flying Grumman A-6A/B and KA-6D Intruders, RVAH-7 Peacemakers flying the North American RA-5C Vigilante, VAW-114 Hormel Hawgs flying the Grumman E-2B Hawkeye, VAQ-135 Black Ravens Detachment 1 flying the Douglas EKA-3B Skywarrior, HC-1 Pacific Fleet Angels Detachment 1 flying Sikorsky SH-3G Sea Kings, and HC-7 Sea Devils Det 110 flying Sikorsky HH-3A Sea Kings configured for combat search and rescue (CSAR).

Part 2

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The Hawk was flying sorties day and night during 1972 and there was at least one member of VAQ-135 who shot plenty of air-to-air and flight operations footage aboard the carrier during that seventh WESTPAC. These videos include cat shots and traps of every type of aircraft deployed with CVW-11 (even COD deck run launches) as well as footage shot during port calls (Subic Bay in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Sasebo in Japan) as well as places like Da Nang in South Vietnam and other “feet dry” installations. Thanks to YouTuber D . Sturgeon for uploading these priceless looks at the Navy’s leading edge circa 1972.

RA 5C RVAH 11 CVA 63 1968
Official US Navy Photograph

Part 3

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A 6As VA 52 over USS Kitty Hawk CVA 63 1970
Official US Navy Photograph

Part 4

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A 7E VA 196 CVA 63 Vietnam 1970
Official US Navy Photograph

 

Virgin America Celebrates 10 years of Hipster Flying Before The Airline Fades To History

Joe Vaeth
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Virgin America Celebrates 10 years of Hipster Flying Before The Airline Fades To History

Virgin America is celebrating 10 years of bringing a rockin vibe to flying!  On August 8th, 2007 the airline flew its first flight between San Francisco International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.

Teammate Chris Garlington, a Guest Services team member in LAX, created this tribute video to celebrate the occasion. It’s pretty impressive!

Chris highlighted the contributions of many teammates, guests & friends who contributed their own stories and video clips to tell the story of this ambitious young airline.

The Virgin America culture is going to live on through people that create ‘Wow’ like this!

Virgin America, known for purple cabins, RED inflight entertainment system, and a hip culture set a new standard for inflight service.  The airline has 65 Airbus A320 series aircraft including the new Airbus A321NEO.

In 2016, the company officially was acquired by Alaska Airlines. Virgin America is currently in the process of integrating with Alaska Airlines.  By 2019, the Virgin America brand will disappear completely as their Airbus fleet will be repainted and cabins standardized to Alaska standard.

 

Blue Angels Buzz Downtown Chicago Building–It Was Epic!

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Blue Angels Buzz Downtown Chicago Building–It Was Epic!

I don’t know about you.  I usually hate the word epic.  Some people apply the word to things that aren’t truly epic.  “Epic bagel, bro.”  Probably not.  But there was one thing that was truly epic–The Blue Angels performance at the Chicago Air And Sea Show.

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The Blue Angels, known for their tight formation flying and sneak pass sure know how to put on a great show. One of the most impressive sights is how they fly low and fast near the downtown buildings.  In one of their formation passes, 4 F/A-18s passed BELOW the rooftop of the building.  The HD camera footage is incredible.  It’s only an 8 second clip, but I can guarantee that you’ll watch it more than once.  Special thanks to our friends at Airshowstuff.com for the footage.

The Blue Angels team, based in Pensacola, still have a number of performances remaining in the season.  The 2017 season concludes on the weekend of November 11-12th with an airshow at their home station in Pensacola.

This Is What Happens When You Forget To Remove The Gust Lock On Your Plane

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This Is What Happens When You Forget To Remove The Gust Lock On Your Plane

On a bright and sunny day in 2004, a Ford Trimotor replica plane (known as a Bushmaster 2000) took to the skies. It should’ve been an enjoyable flight at an airshow. The flight didn’t end well. No pilot expects to encounter a bad day, but every pilot knows that risk is always part of the equation in an aircraft. To counter the risk, pilots are taught to meticulously follow their checklists. Each step is an important check to ensure that the jet is properly configured and ready to fly. Including the gust lock.

In this case, the pilot missed a critical step. The crash on September 25, 2004, was caused by pilot error due to the pilot not removing the gust lock from the tail during pre-flight. This resulted in the plane rapidly rolling to the left on takeoff and crashing into an adjacent parking lot.

Both pilots were critically injured. Two women in a nearby car received minor injuries during the crash. The crash serves as an unfortunate reminder that checklist discipline and a comprehensive preflight is crucial to safe operations. One critical oversight led to the destruction of a beautiful aircraft.

The original Ford Trimotor, nicknamed the “Tin Goose” is an American 3 engine transport aircraft that entered production in 1925. It has saw many years of service in both civil and military aviation and was sold around the world. The plane was always regarded as reliable and dependable. At one-time Ford ads proclaimed, “No Ford plane has yet worn out in service.” A statement that rings true as  “Tin Goose” tri-motors are still seen in air shows around the world today.

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