The definition of a Category IIIB approach is a precision approach and landing with no decision height or a decision height lower than 50 feet (15 meters) and a runway visual range less than 700 feet (200 meters) but not less than 150 feet (50 meters). About the only approach any hairier than that is the IIIC approach, which is a precision approach and landing with no decision height and no runway visual range limitation. In the video below a Boeing 767 performs a minimums Cat IIIB landing at Milan in Italy.
Photo Credit: ozz13x
Local weather at some airports frequently creates Category II and Category III approach conditions. Fog and blowing snow are the most common causes. The Instrument Landing System (ILS) is a ground-based instrument approach system which provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on the runway. The ILS consists of the localizer, which indicates landing aircraft heading, the glide scope, which guides altitude, and the airfield lighting system. The pilot controls the aircraft so that the glide slope indicator and localizer needle remain centered on the cockpit display to land the aircraft. The pilot can then visually identify the runway either by pavement or with the assistance of an associated approach lighting system.
One year ago today, on June 2, 2016, USMC Capt. Jeff “Kooch” Kuss, Blue Angel 6, was lost in a tragic accident while practicing for The Great Tennessee Air Show.
I was honored to work with Sean Tucker that day on a few shoots, ahead of the weekend’s shows, one of which was with Jeff and Blue Angel 5, Lt. Ryan Chamberlain. A dream come true for any aviation photographer, and I think most pilots too. The flight went flawlessly too; everyone made it look so easy, true professionals.
But the day would quickly go from amazing to tragic, because little did we know, it would be Jeff’s last flight.
I hadn’t thoroughly reviewed the images yet, when the accident happened. We were actually preparing for another photo shoot, our third of the day, when it occurred.
It wasn’t long after, when the Blues and Sean asked to see the images, and there’s one that sticks out more than the rest, easily. At one point, the sun reflected a starburst off Capt. Kuss’ canopy, but only his canopy – not Blue Angel 5 or Sean Tucker’s. I caught it on video too; it clearly happens only to jet 6.
Another aviation photographer, Glenn Watson, had worked a shoot with Capt. Kuss earlier in the year too, along with performer Rob Holland. Knowing how rare it is for photographers to fly photo shoots with the Blues, we compiled our “behind the scenes” footage from our shoots into a video tribute, following the accident.
The Blues cancelled several scheduled upcoming shows following the crash, as they grieved the loss of Capt. Kuss and worked to figure out what went wrong.
In the meantime, the U.S. NAVY F/18 Tac Demo team stepped up to replace the Blues, with both demo teams (Legacy and Super Hornets) painting the number “6” on their planes.
So I contacted VFA-106 Demo Hornet pilot, Lt. John “Toby” Keith, to do a tribute photo shoot honoring Capt. Kuss, in formation with Rob Holland, at the Vero Beach Air Show on June 24, 2016.
Rob and I both flew shoots with Capt. Kuss, so it meant a lot to us to honor him in this small way, with one final shoot. It meant a lot to the VFA-106 Tac Demo team too, and they did not hesitate at the chance.
The same day, the Blues announced they would return to airshows for Independence Day weekend July 2-4, flying a modified five jet demonstration, along with Fat Albert, until Cmdr. Frank Weisser joined the team again as their new #6 pilot last fall.
This week, to mark the 1 year anniversary, WKRN-TV in Nashville, TN produced a 30-minute special titled, “One Year Later: Honoring the Life of Blue Angel Pilot Capt. Jeff Kuss”. It aired June 1, and can now be watched online:
Since the fall of the Soviet Union there have been few aircraft designed and built by the former Soviet states. One of the exceptions is the new Irkut MC-21. The twin-engine airliner was developed by the Yakovlev Design Bureau and produced by Irkut- themselves both parts of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC). The MC-21 is a direct competitor to the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320. It took the Russians 11 years to get the MC-21 off the drawing boards and into the air, but on May 28th the MC-21 flew for the first time from the runway at the Irkutsk factory in Eastern Siberia.
Photo Credit: Dennis Fedorko
The MC-21 is a direct descendant of the now-dormant Yakovlev Yak-242, which was itself a derivative of the Yak-42. It is possible that the new airliner may take the Yak-242 name again once the aircraft is in production. UAC envisions the MC-21 replacing the aging Tupelov Tu-134, Tu-154, and Tu-204 as well as the Yak-42 passenger airliners in the former Soviet Union. Sukhoi designed and produced the carbon fiber composite wings. Powered by either the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G or Aviadvigatel OJSC PD-14 turbofan engines, the MC-21 can carry as many as 211 passengers as far as 3,500 miles. The aircraft has state of the art avionics and flight control systems. Airlines (mostly in the former Soviet states at this time) have ordered more than 180 of them so far.
The Scaled Composites Model 351 Is being built for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch Systems as a platform from which air-launch space missions can be staged. The aircraft boasts a wingspan of 385 feet (117 meters) which makes the 351 the undisputed wingspan champion of the world- longer than the Apollo Saturn V rockets were tall. The twin fuselages are 73 feet (22 meters) long and joined by a single wing section under which the payload(s) will be carried to launch altitude- commonly 35,000 feet (10,668 meters).
Photo Credit: JR Schumacher
Many of the aircraft’s components are actually Boeing 747 parts, including the six Pratt & Whitney PW4056 engines, flight deck (in the starboard side fuselage), avionics, landing gear, and a few other systems. Scaled Composites went to the boneyard at Mojave and snagged two former United Airlines Boeing 747-400s, brought them to their facility at Mojave, and parted them out. A large percentage of the structure is comprised of composite materials such as carbon fiber.
Photo Credit: Mwarren us
Weighing in at a whopping 1,300,000 pounds (650 tons or 589,670 kilograms), and requiring 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) of runway to lift off with a payload, the 351 looks as if it is missing some pieces. There is no joinery between the tail surfaces, which is unusual to say the least. Each fuselage “boom” has its own complete tail. But when one considers that the payload will be carried aloft under the center wing section between the two fuselages it all makes sense. The project began in 2010 and the first flight of the 351 is scheduled to take place in 2017 with the first payload launch to occur in 2020.
READING, Penn. — The warbirds and aces of World War II will blaze a trail above the Reading Regional Airport this weekend as the pilots of today recount the history of America’s pilots of the greatest generation.
Great weather is forecast for the 27th Annual Mid-Atlantic Air Museum’s World War II Weekend located northwest of Philadelphia. The three day airshow takes off on Friday and will include live music and a huge display of aircraft in the air and on static display.
The six Navy SNJ-2 warbirds of the GEICO Skytypers Airshow Team will make their first visit to the Museum’s World War II Weekend. The team, who recently earned the Art Scholl Showmanship Award for excellence in air show performance, will perform each afternoon June 2, 3, and 4.
“This is an exciting first for World War II Weekend,” Museum President Russ Strine said of the GEICO Skytypers visit. “This is our first ever, six ship formation team.”
Their 18 minute flight demonstration will highlight the rare SNJ-2 aircraft as the pilots tell the story of an age before the jet engine; and how a this prop plane made the difference during the second world war. A flight trainer in the early-1940’s, the SNJ was known among the army’s aviators as the pilot maker.
Local residents and guests attending the three day airshow and static display will be able to see the Skytypers sky type several massive messages. The white dot matrix sky messages are computer commanded from each aircraft and much like an Oki Data printer the planes soar in unison to deliver topical messages.
“We are looking forward to seeing the people of the Reading area that have not seen us before and showing our demo, and putting some smiles on their faces,” said Larry Arken, lead pilot of the GEICO Skytypers, on Tuesday. “Also, getting to meet the guests face-to-face, that’s always one of the best things.”
Also performing is the North American B-25J Mitchell bomber which carries the name Panchito. Flown by it’s owner Larry Kelley, Panchito is scheduled to perform each afternoon, and will also fly paying spectators as he provides guests with a unique World War II experience.
“Wanna see what an old warbird is really like, come to an airshow and see them fly — hear them,” Kelley said this this aerospace journalist while on the flight line. “You’ll see smoke when they start up. Listen to them as there’s nothing like the sound of a radial engine.”
The 53-foot long silver aircraft has a wingspan of 67 feet and is powered by two 1700 hp Wright R2600-92 radial piston engines. The twin engines can allow Kelley to navigate at a cruising speed of just over 200 m.p.h. or 334 m.p.h. maxium speed.
The gathering of warbirds will include three B-25 Mitchell’s, two P-51D Mustangs, and a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk are a few more of the historic aircraft built and flown during the decade of the 1940’s.
As guests enter the airshow site, audio from the early 1940’s will echo the historic events of yesteryear as visitors walk past aircraft and receive the full experience of that era. The live music of Frank Sinatra; a portrale of president Franklin D. Roosevelt; and many honored guests as veterans of the second world war take time to meet and greet visitors and share their rare stories.
The Mi-2 Hoplite is a small, lightly armored turbine-powered transport helicopter that could also provide close air support when armed with 57 mm rockets and a 23 mm cannon. Many of them have had the armor and military equipment removed and been adapted for other civilian roles such as air ambulance, aerial surveying, aerial spraying, and crop dusting. The video highlights the first startup of the Mi-2’s twin PZL GTD-350P turboshaft engines on a helo that’s been sitting outside in the elements for 20 years.
Photo Credit: Aleksandr Markin
5,497 Mi-2s were built, all of them in Poland at the WSK PZL-Swidnik factory in Swidnik, Poland. The Mi-2 is essentially a turbine-powered version of the previous piston-powered Mi-1. The Mi-2’s turboshaft engines produce 40% more power at half the weight of the piston engines in the Mi-1. First flown in 1961, the development of the Mi-2 was moved to Poland in 1964. The Soviet Air Force started flying them in 1965. 30 countries have also flown the military variant. Operational civilian Mi-2s can still be found on every continent.
Putting a GoPro there probably isn’t in line with company policy. GoPros do fine in the gear well, humans…no so much.
There have been many instances of stowaways and refugees attempting to hitch a ride in the landing gear wells aboard passenger aircraft over the course of aviation history. Some individuals have done it successfully. Many have not. Take for instance the case of the last flight out of Da Nang in Vietnam. Stowaways in aircraft wheel wells can experience being mangled when the landing gear retracts, hypothermia, hypoxia, tinnitus, deafness, frostbite, acidosis and being sucked out of the well when the gear are lowered again. There is no heating, pressure or oxygen in a wheel well – all of which your average garden-variety human requires to survive in a high-altitude environment.
Photo Credit: Sergey Korovkin
Between 1947 and 2012, only 23 of the 96 known wheel well stowaway attempts were successful, so the odds are stacked against you. But…if you could get past ramp security, hold on for dear life to the main landing gear of a Boeing 747 during taxi and takeoff, not be crushed by the gear when it retracts, somehow stay alive during the high-altitude transit, avoid being ripped from the strut when the gear is again lowered for landing, and retain your grip when the 350 ton behemoth lands at its destination and taxis in, this is what you would see. Please remove this one from your bucket list!
Eight Reasons Why The CRJ-200 Is The Worst Airliner In The Skies Today
Sometimes the truth hurts, but it’s necessary. The CRJ-200 is the worst airliner flying today. Yep, we said it. We’ll go a step further. It’s the Nickelback of the skies. Canadians are great people but between the antics of Justin Bieber, the melodic monotony of Nickelback, and the cramped CRJ-200, they sure do know how to export some junk too.
Photo by: Curimedia
Here’s some background on the clunker. The Bombardier CRJ-200 was a commercial success and a passenger comfort failure. Since 1992, the CRJ-100 and CRJ-200s have plied the skies. They’ve connected countless small cities to larger hubs across the US, Asia and Europe. In some cases, they’ve opened up new route opportunities.
Back when props ruled the regional skies, airlines touted the regional jet as a new era of jet speed and comfort to small cities. It was a marketing gimmick though. The CRJ might be a few knots faster than a turboprop, but we think it is the most uncomfortable and annoying jet out there today for passengers. It’s not much better for the crew either. We can’t wait until airlines finally get rid of the junkers. Here’s why:
1.) The jet is too damn small!
The CRJ cabin was originally designed as a business jet. We’re pretty sure that the jet is supremely comfortable when it features a nice couch and 1×1 seating. But when you try to place 4 people across, it gets crowded quick. With 17″ wide seats, and an industry minimum aisle, the jet is supremely uncomfortable.
It’s not just the seat width though. Ask any 6ft+ tall person flying and they will not only complain about the narrow seat, they’ll also complain that the curvature of the fuselage guarantees that they’ll end the flight with a stiff neck and/or back.
2.) The CRJ climbs like a pig
Performance always suffers when its hot out but its not unusual to see an average loaded CRJ struggling to climb above 500 feet per minute anytime the jet is above FL200. While the ceiling is supposedly FL370, the CRJ usually caps out at below FL320 in the summertime.
Even the most hardened avgeek will cringe when her or she is assigned 14B on a CRJ-200. They’ll trade the ‘comfort’ of an aisle seat for the dreaded smell of a chemical toilet. The CRJ’s toilet is actually just a 3 gallon reservoir of blue juice. That means that after just a few uses, each flush is a noxious mix of swirling pee, poop and blue juice.
The back of the jet smells like an outhouse. The bathroom itself is super cramped too. For those poor passengers who have to pee, they get the added fun of trying to play a sadistic version of Tetris while trying to do so.
Sitting on this CRJ-200 and it smells like the bathroom is broken. Here's to hoping this flight goes by fast.
Unless you are a 3 year old, the CRJ windows are way lower than eye level. That means that to looks outside, you’ll have to duck down. Uggh! Just ask for an aisle seat. It’s not worth the back pain to try to stare out the window.
Cabin comfort is anything but comfortable in the CRJ. The jet is never cool in the summer. It reminds me of people who try to cool an entire house with a window A/C. The system is set up to fail. Cold air comes out the vents at your feet. Hot air comes out from above. It means that your torso will sweat in-flight but your feet will freeze.
6.) High approach speeds and it lands like a truck
The CRJ-200 lacks any leading edge devices. With a wing originally designed for a smaller jet, approaches are at a high speed and decidedly nose down. We’ve heard it’s not uncommon for a jumpseater to let out a squeal as it looks like it’s going to be a nose gear touchdown until the very last second.
It doesn’t get much better after touchdown. The CRJ lands firm at best. To put it nicely, the jet is stiff. For those poor passengers on the CRJ, even a good landing sounds like a semi-truck that is driving down a dirt road at 140mph.
7.) Pilots nickname it the Canadian Reset Jet
Faults are pretty common on the jet. The fix for nearly every problem is a reset by maintenance. For passengers, this means that you should expect an extra 10-20 minutes in your seat prior to pushback.
8.) The overhead bins can’t hold anything more than a laptop bag
The overhead bins are so tiny. What’s the point? They can’t even hold a backpack. Most passengers wish that they’d just get rid of them in favor of a little more headspace.
As much as we hate the CRJ-200, we have to give a shoutout to the crews and maintenance folks that keep these jets running. Day in and day out, you safely fly this mini-tank and its 50 passengers through busy airspace and horrendous weather. We look forward to the day that this Canadian piece of trash will be replaced by more comfortable rides. And we hope that the great people who crew these jets will soon be flying better equipment too.
Cover photo: Wikipedia image of Nickleback’s lead singer by Stuart Sevastos and CRJ-200 photo by Eric Salard (N863AS LAX) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The story of Lance Peter Sijan (pronounced sigh-john) began on April 13th 1942 when he was born in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His early years were spent as a city championship high school football player and being the older brother to his brother Marc and sister Janine. He was also president of the Student Government at his Bay View High School and winner of the Gold Medal Award for outstanding leadership, achievement, and service. Lance Sijan was the kind of fierce competitor and principled leader the United States Air Force is sometimes fortunate enough to discover and develop.
Although Lieutenant Sijan was a rated F-4C Phantom II pilot, he was flying as the Weapons Systems Officer (WSO) or “back-seater” in his 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) commander’s jet on November 9th 1967 when the fuses on its payload of bombs detonated prematurely just after release near the Mu Gia Pass and destroyed the aircraft. Sijan was able to eject from the stricken jet, although he suffered severe injuries during the ejection sequence and subsequent landing. Despite their best efforts rescue personnel were unable to locate Sijan on the ground. But Sijan was alive and evading his pursuers down below the jungle canopy.
Official Air Force Photograph
Sijan’s compound leg fracture made it extremely difficult for him to move around. The initial rescue effort involved more than a hundred sorties by rescue helicopters and escorts. But Sijan spent the next 45 days in the jungle evading enemy troops looking for him. When Sijan was finally worn down to a hollow shell of his former 220 pound Air Force Academy football player self by his ordeal, he allowed himself to be captured during early January 1968 hoping that he might receive some desperately needed medical attention and water. Unfortunately capture was no better for Sijan than evasion.
Sijan was a defiant prisoner who attempted escape several times even though he still could not walk. He never asked anything of his fellow captives and did not complain about his pain or personal situation during his time as a prisoner. It was probably a move from his initial prisoner compound to a different prison in Hanoi that finally did Sijan in. Slipping in and out of lucidity for long before the hellish move and seldom gaining it thereafter, Lance Peter Sijan passed away on or about January 22nd 1968- about eight days after arriving in Hanoi.
Sajin’s dedication, courage, and selflessness were recognized by every prisoner who shared a compound with him. It was a fellow prisoner who recommended Sajin for his Congressional Medal of Honor, which his mother and father received along with his posthumous promotion to Captain on March 4th 1976.
Here are ten things you might not know about Captain Lance Peter Sijan:
When Lance’s high school football team won the Milwaukee City Football Championship in 1959 it was the first time the Redcats had won it since 1936- when his father Sylvester played on the team.
After high school graduation Sijan actually attended the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Maryland before he gained his appointment to the Air Force Academy.
Sijan was the first Air Force Academy graduate awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Lance played the role of The King in the play “The King and I” during his sophomore year at Bay View High School.
Lance’s younger sister Janine played the role of the child princess in the play.
Sijan was shot down during his first mission after returning from R&R in Thailand- previously Siam- the setting of the play.
Photo Credit: WISN
As a Wisconsin native, when Sijan was asked to name the world’s greatest football team as part of the rescue communications protocols, his predictable response was “The Green Bay Packers.”
During the initial rescue attempts Sijan refused to allow the Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopter to lower a para-jumper (rescue-trained aircrewman) to assist him with extraction because he did not want to put anyone else’s life in danger.
The City of Milwaukee has dedicated a retired Air Force F-4C Phantom II painted to represent the jet last flown by Sijan as part of the new Captain Lance Sijan Memorial Plaza at the city’s General Mitchell International Airport.
Lance’s sister Janine Sijan Rozina was one of the driving forces behind the move of the F-4C from its former limited public access location at the airport to the new more accessible memorial site.
No one books a trip and hopes that they end up flying on a Bombardier CRJ-200. With little headroom, tiny slimline seats, and a bathroom could double as a torture chamber, the 50-seat regional jet is on many avgeek’s ‘do not fly’ list.
Yet when we saw this remote control CRJ, we couldn’t believe it. First of all, the model is huge! It’s almost big enough to fly a couple children in the cabin. The model is a 1/6th scale replica!
In the video you’ll see that the jet cruises through the air at a high speed and looks very realistic. About the only time we could tell that the jet was not real was on approach. Because of no leading edge slats, the real CRJ-200 has a characteristic nose-low approach. The R/C CRJ-200 approach looks much more conventional. Still though, the pilot lands better than some CRJs that we’ve been on before.
Tactical Air Command Was Most Definitely On Target in This Publicity Film
“TAC on Target” is a 1962 look at the United States Air Force (USAF) Tactical Air Command (TAC) aircraft and their capabilities. The film was shot by the Air Force and features TAC aircraft filmed during the prime of their operational careers. It’s an interesting look at how the Air Force employed their fighters, bombers, airlifters, and support aircraft. Delivery of bombs, rockets, napalm, lots of 20 millimeter rounds, guided missiles, and other ordnance are all depicted. As the narrator says, the three primary missions of TAC are (and really still are) to gain and maintain air superiority over the battlefield, destroy enemy targets between rear areas and the front lines, and to provide close air support.
Featured in the film are the North American F-100 Super Sabre, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, and the Republic F-105 Thunderchief. It’s easy to pin down the period of the film because the McDonnell F-110A Spectre is featured- a designation that only lasted a few months during 1962. Of course you know that aircraft today as the F-4C Phantom II. The McDonnell RF-101 Voodoo, Douglas RB-66 and WB-66 Destroyers, Lockheed C-130A, C-130B, and C-130E Hercules airlifters, and the Fairchild C-123 Provider assault airlifter are also featured. The video was uploaded to YouTube by AIRBOYD.
Wings of a Marine Traces the Path of a Future Skyhawk Pilot to the Fleet
Wings of a Marine was produced by the Navy Department in 1964. It tells the story of Second Lieutenant William T. Smith, a typical Marine aviator in those days, and his path after completion of his basic flight training at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola. This particular Marine aviator enters the A-4 pipeline and eventually flies A-4C Skyhawks with Marine Attack Squadron VMA-225 Vagabonds. The film was shot primarily at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point in North Carolina. Smith’s initial A-4C carrier qualifications (CarQual) were shot aboard the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Lexington (at the time CVS-16, later CVT-16). The quality of both the visuals and the audio is quite good- better than most films transferred to video from this period.
The film is typical for its era in that it’s a little bit hokey, but that doesn’t take away from the excellent air-to-air photography or the time-capsule quality of the jets, the personnel, or their appearance. Naturally there are numerous shots of the Vagabonds flying their A-4Cs. Also making screen appearances are VMFA-115 Silver Eagles flying their McDonnell-Douglas F-4B Phantom IIs and VMA-332 Polka Dots / Moonlighters flying their A-4Cs. As Smith drives down the MCAS Cherry Point ramp he sees Lockheed KC-130 Hercules tankers of VMGR-252 Otis, and Vought RF-8 Crusaders and Douglas EF-10B Skyknights of VMCJ-2 Playboys. The video was uploaded to YouTube by AIRBOYD.
