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WATCH: How Well Do You Know the Blue Angels?

Bill Walton
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WATCH: How Well Do You Know the Blue Angels?

The Blue Angels Have Flown the F/A-18 for More Than 30 years.  What Else Have They Flown?

The Unites States Navy Flight Demonstration Team, otherwise known as the Blue Angels, usually begin their performance season at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California. The Blue Angels have been flying McDonnell Douglas (Boeing) F/A-18 Hornets since the 1987 show season. For 70 years the Blues have been thrilling crowds with their precision aerobatic routines. For thirty of those years the performances have been flown in Hornets. What aircraft did the Blues use before they started flying the F/A-18?ba1

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The Blue Angels turned in their McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom IIs at the end of their 1973 show season. For 1974 and through the next 13 years the Blues would fly the ultra-maneuverable McDonnell Douglas A-4F Skyhawk. Weighing about one quarter the weight of an F-4J and with the uprated Pratt & Whitney J53-P408 engines, the A-4F was also considerably less expensive to fly and maintain than the F-4J.

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Official US Navy photograph

The first Blue Angels show performed in the new Skyhawks took place in Omaha Nebraska on May 18th, 1974. The Blues were flying A-4Fs with modifications including inverted fuel system tweaks, pilot restraint systems, strengthened outboard aileron hinge fittings, VHF radios, drogue chutes, built-in folding ladders, smoke systems, and elevator fuel systems.

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Official US Navy photograph

When the Blues Angels were formed by World War II ace Roy Marlin “Butch” Voris in 1946, they first flew the World War II-era Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat. From later in 1946 until 1949 the Blues flew the Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat. Next up was the first jet flown by the Blues, the Grumman F9F-2 / F9F-5 Panther. Beginning in 1954 the team performed in their first swept-wing jet, the Grumman F9F-8 Cougar. Following the Cougar was the team’s first supersonic jet, the Grumman F-11 Tiger. In 1969 the team began flying their first twin-engine jet, the McDonnell-Douglas F-4J Phantom II. Then came the Skyhawk, followed by the Hornet. Now the Blues fly the Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet.

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Supporting aircraft flown by the Blues have included the Douglas R4D (C-47) Skytrain, the Curtiss R5C (C-46) Commando, the Douglas R5D (C-54) Skymaster, the Lockheed C-121 Super Constellation. Since 1970 the all-Marine Corps-manned Lockheed C-130 Hercules, affectionately known as Fat Albert, has supported the Blue Angels and also performed a warm-up routine for airshow crowds before the blue jets take center stage. The latest Fat Albert is a C-130J model- and the youngest aircraft on the roster.

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Official US Navy photograph

Other aircraft flown by the Blue Angels have included a North American SNJ (T-6) Texan to simulate opposing enemy aircraft during the 1940s and a Lockheed TV-2 (T-33) Shooting Star used during the 1950s as a VIP transport. Perhaps the least likely of all Blues aircraft were two Vought F7U Cutlasses which were briefly intended to be used as demonstration aircraft while the team was flying F9F-5s.

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Official US Navy photograph

How many different aircraft have you seen the Blue Angels fly? The author has seen them fly Tigers, Phantoms, Skyhawks, and Hornets. Comment on our page and share your experience!

Ride Report: Soaring on the Wings of a Falcon with Air Force Thunderbirds

Charles Atkeison
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Ride Report: Soaring on the Wings of a Falcon with Air Force Thunderbirds

Climbing aboard a sleek Air Force fighter jet and launching into the deep blue sky can make one either grin or become ill — for this aerospace journalist punching that sky in an aerobatic jet was an incredible feeling.

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To soar with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds was a dream come true as I welcomed the chance to chase the sound barrier and pull nearly 8G’s in a Lockheed Martin-built F-16D Fighting Falcon. The Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron will celebrate their 64th year in 2017, including their 34th year performing with the front-line fighter, the F-16.

The Thunderbirds are known as America’s Ambassadors in Blue and they live up to the title inspiring young men and women across the country to reach for their goals in education and technical training by serving in the Air Force. They perform to support recruitment in the Air Force; to represent the U.S. armed forces to the nations across the globe; and give American citizens a self fulfilled confidence in their military.

 

In his third year with the team, Thunderbird 8 is Major Michael Fisher, a native of Vancouver, Washington. He has logged 432 combat hours in the F-16 and over 2000 hours as a pilot. During the 2014 season, he served as the Thunderbirds’ air show narrator announcing the aerobatic demos as the teams soars over the crowds.

My flight day began at dawn at Dobbins Air Reserve Base located northwest of metro Atlanta. Dobbins is home to the Airmen of the 94th Air Wing division and supports military operations such as aircraft fueling and logistics. On this cool October morning, Dobbins is where my jet stood poised for flight.

The Thunderbirds support staff assisted me as I received a final preflight medical check by the team’s flight surgeon Major Michael “Doc” Carletti, and tried on my flight uniform and partial pressure G-Suit. I’ll be counting on the G-Suit to keep the blood flow in my upper body toward my heart and brain. The team checked my flight helmet for comfort and I was ready to fly.

 

The Thunderbirds fly with the newer F-16C/D which support the lighter Block 52 Pratt and Whitney F-100 engine providing an additional 3,600 pounds of thrust over the previous version. The nearly fifty foot long aircraft has a wingspan of 31 feet across and a thrust of up to 29,100 pounds. The pilots call the F-16 a rocket.

Major Fisher gave me a final briefing on what to expect preflight thru landing. Touch this and do not touch this in the cockpit rules were given and I hurriedly took it all in as he spoke with comfort. This Air Force team was superb as they both educated and relaxed me as launch time neared.

Fisher and I walked out to our aircraft, Thunderbird 8, which was parked next to the six flight demonstration F-16C’s. As I approached the red, white and blue high gloss painted aircraft, I looked up at the opened glass canopy and read Major Fisher’s name identifying his aircraft. A grin then ran across my face as my eyes laid witness to a second name next to Fisher’s below where the canopy closes shut. It read “Charles Atkeison”.tb2

After pausing to reflect on my black stenciled name, Fisher and I greeted the aircraft’s support team with a firm handshake for each, and I then began to climb the ten foot tall blue slender ladder hung from the edge of the jet’s cockpit to ingress my seat. The seat supports a multi-point harness and can be used as an ejection seat if an in flight emergency arises.

Major Fisher ascended the ladder and pointed out my cockpit displays, including my oxygen settings, the safe and arm device for my ejection seat and the fact that this flight included drinkable water in a bottle.

I inserted ear plugs followed by donning my flight helmet which sports the letters “USAF” in white. My oxygen mask was next and I placed it over my nose and mouth and locked it’s strap to my helmet. A long grey hose extended down to the life-support controls on my starboard side.

Fisher’s Air Force pilot call sign is “Drago”, and prior to joining the Thunderbirds he served as an F-16 flight instructor. My flight was in good hands.

Five minutes to go, and I was comfortable in the cockpit breathing at 95% oxygen flow through my mask as we sat poised for flight. It was white knuckle time as I awaited a go from flight control. Air control between Dobbins ARB and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport gave Drago the “go” for departure and approval for steep ascent. Seconds later, our Fighting Falcon began moving toward take-off velocity.

At 10:27 a.m. EDT, our F-16D was wheels up from Runway 29 and we flew low and level for ten seconds as we neared 400 knots (460 m.p.h.), Drago exclaimed over his headset mic, “Ready to go?”. And I replied, “Rock and roll, Thunderbirds are go!”tb1

Lift-off! Major Fisher and I were pointed nose up, and in a rush with an acceleration of five times earth’s gravity, we were launching into that deep blue sky. I radioed back, “Alllright!”. Straight up we climbed for twelve seconds before performing a 360-degree roll to place us wings level nearly at 7,050 feet above. Our flight was on a northeasterly heading aimed toward our “flight box” over Snowbird MOA, an imaginary region where we would perform intense aerobatics devoid of other aircraft.

As I soared on the wings of a Falcon, I looked around at the earth below me. A cockpit alarm sounded and I turned to focus on the displays as we thundered across northwestern Georgia.

We began our aerobatics with the Clover Loop and right into a 5G-pull. Drago stated that the flight maneuvers we would be performing are the same in which the T-Bird solos fly during an air show. The only difference is the solos will be 150 feet above the airfield while our flight soared between 15,000 to 17,600 feet high.

“Pretty insane, isn’t it… number 5 is doing that 150 to 200 feet above the ground,” Major Fisher exclaimed following an inverted flat pass. “Pretty amazing. Lots of precision, lots of concentration.”

During a Thunderbirds air show, it is the job of the two solos to give the crowds a true demonstration of the handling characteristics of the F-16. Lead Solo is #5 Major Blaine Jones and he is accompanied by #6 Major Jason Curtis, and they will excite an air show crowd every time as they speed low over the runway and perform a split maneuver which will make you wonder how do they do that?

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Lead by Thunderbird 1 “Boss” Lt. Col. Greg Mosely, the team’s diamond formation includes Major Joshua Boudreaux, Major Caroline Jensen and Major Curtis Dougherty. The diamond team trades performances with the solos during their forty minute show.

As Major Fisher and I began a nearly 7G maneuver high over the Smokey Mountains, I could again feel my G-suit inflate several bladders with air to help push the blood back up into my upper torso. And, with every turn and vertical motion we flew, I never felt uneasy and my stomach never twitched.

As we performed one of several inverted maneuvers, Fisher pointed out the beauty of the autumn leaves as he held us upside down 17,500 feet above eastern Tennessee for twenty seconds. During that brief time, I reflected on the landscape and cloud cover from my personal cupola high above.

The negative 1G of wings level inverted flight grew to be my favorite maneuver while we were aloft. The knife edge maneuver gave us the sensation of weightlessness as Drago rolled the F-16 on it’s left side as we flew at a high rate of speed. We next touched the speed of sound as our majestic aircraft darted up to 575 m.p.h.

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The F-16 remains a front line fighter around the globe with Airmen performing bombing runs during a time in need. Drago wanted to show me the handling of the F-16 and so we maneuvered into a simulated bombing run.

“This is something we would do in a close air support scenario over a low air or surface threat environment. We can orbit around a target,” Drago began. “Once we have our eyes on the target, and we are ready, we would begin to roll in on the target and we get clearance to deploy a weapon.” We then executed a 45-degree pass as we simulated the maneuver, “weapons away,” Drago announced.

We concluded the late morning flight with a main gear touchdown upon the same runway at Dobbins exactly 61 minutes after we last touched the earth. Drago then slowly lowered the nose gear and we rolled out several thousand feet as we expended the aircraft’s energy. A perfect ending to an incredible flight.

I learned more about what the hundreds of thousands of men and women of our United States military, and especially the Air Force, do each day. They live and work far away from home to perform a job they are good at as they defend and preserve our freedoms.

The Thunderbirds’ crews from Nellis AFB near Las Vegas and the 94th Air Wing Division near Atlanta are great examples of how our military’s Air Force is a well oiled machine demonstrating professionalism, both on the front lines across the globe and in our own communities with emergency assistance.

(Charles Atkeison reports on aerospace and technology. Follow his live updates on social media via @Military_Flight.)

Don’t be fooled — 10 Reasons Why Circular Runways Are a Bad Idea

Jeff Gilmore
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Don’t be fooled — 10 Reasons Why Circular Runways Are a Bad Idea

A BBC News video on circular runways has been making the rounds lately on social media.  The video has almost 30 million views! The concept of a circular runway is pretty unique.  In order to save space and reduce delays, an airport should consider other designs.  An EU-funded researcher proposes that airports should ditch the concept of runways and instead build one long circular track where multiple aircraft could land simultaneously on different parts of the track. Pilots love innovation, especially in an industry like aviation where the necessity for near absolute safety can sometimes trump progress.

To the uninitiated, the idea makes sense.  The ‘revolutionary’ design supposedly increases traffic flow, distributes noise more fairly, and isn’t that uncomfortable for passengers.  Sounds great, right?

Not really. This idea is as dumb as a football bat. What’s even more disappointing is that the BBC reporter barely knows enough about aviation to challenge this ‘expert’.  A ’news’ story like this one should be downright embarrassing for a major worldwide-news network. Here are 10 reasons why the concept of circular runways are not only impractical, but downright stupid:

1.) Banked Runways mean Higher approach speeds

circular runwaysA banked runway means that an aircraft would have to fly its final approach with a slight bank.  An aircraft’s stall speed increases with any bank.  Therefore every airliner approaching this new type of field would have to fly faster.  This increases landing distances and thus wear and tear on brakes and tires.

2.) That headwind turns into a crosswind and maybe even a tailwind.

A circular runway’s big sell is that you’ll land with a headwind.  However, that also means that the wind’s vector will change on arrival or departure roll (takeoff). That’s not a big deal on a calm spring day but imagine the challenge during a gusty summertime storm. It’s much easier to keep a jet going straight than to try to keep a jet at an exact bank angle (that isn’t straight and level) during gusty winds. Now try making corrections on a landing while trying to make a gentle right turn too. It’s dangerous.crosswindlanding

3.) Poor visibility and winds will equal disaster

Gusty winds and poor visibility would make this ‘innovative’ idea a disaster waiting to happen. As a pilot, I’ve only flown CAT II approaches to minimums. At 100 feet, you have just a split second to determine if the lights you see through fog is a McDonald’s sign or the approach lights on a runway. If it is a runway, you have about 3-5 seconds to sure you line up correctly to a very straight runway. I couldn’t imagine the difficulty of adding a curved runway in that situation. Add in a CAT III style approach (near zero visibility and ceiling) and it would be damn near impossible.  It would be like driving a NASCAR around a track at 150 mph in zero visibility!

4.) Where do you put runway equipment and how do you mark this new runway?

runwaymarkingWith the limited exception of some types of GPS approaches, all precision approaches require ground sensors and stations to provide vertical and lateral guidance. This equipment is expensive and sensitive. It’s expensive enough that you couldn’t put an infinite amount of localizer sensors on a field to create the infinite runways that the innovator describes. Even if you could do it or standardize the signals to place one in one every quadrant, you’d still have planes from other departure quadrants interrupting the line of sight position feedback to arriving jets. That’s a big no-no in aviation where safety is paramount.

Even worse, airports would require completely new runway markings and naming convention for a circular runway. This isn’t a small challenge. You not only have to come up with a new system, you then have to train every pilot on something as basic as runway markings.

5.) Your captain would become a student pilot again

Changes that force pilots to learn new skills in aviation are pretty common. What is unprecedented though is a change that is so fundamental as how to land a plane. This would require massive, massive retraining in procedures, intense expenditures for flight training, and new types of instrumentation inside and outside the cockpit. This change is equivalent to forcing a heart surgeon to use chopsticks and a butter knife to do a heart transplant. Circular runways would challenge every known procedure and (at least temporarily) take aviation experience and safety back to the 1930s.

6.) Land and Hold Short Procedures are Inherently More Risky Than Full Length Runways

One circular runway would require multiple airplanes to be on the same runway at the same time. With the exception of military aircraft, the closest civilian procedure that we have today is called LAHSO. This means that aircraft are arriving and departing on intersecting runways. While LAHSO procedures are fairly common, each LAHSO means that a pilot accepts and increased risk that an aircraft will land and continue beyond a hold short point.

7.) Engine scrapes will be much more common

Most airliners these days have wing mounted engines. On a 737, a bank angle of greater than 15 degrees could result in a nacelle strike. That is on a flat runway. A banked, circular runway means that the outward facing wing will have even less margin before a strike during a sudden wind shift. Strikes can damage engines. A severe strike could sheer off the engine and threaten controlled flight.

8.) Ice and rain make landings more difficult…Turning on an icy runway? Not going to turn out well.

Have you ever driven on a slippery or icy highway? Planes are basically big tri-cycles on the ground. At takeoff, planes can speed up to 170mph. It’s much safer to go those speeds while moving in a straight line. Large airliners have been known to slip onto the grass at taxi speeds while turning during poor weather. A gradual turn on a degraded runway surface at approach or takeoff speeds could be very dangerous.

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Delta 1086 (Photo by Leonard J. DeFrancisci)

9.) A rejected takeoff would now be even more dangerous

If an aircraft loses an engine on takeoff, the pilot makes a split second decision to continue the takeoff or stop and apply max braking. Max braking means that the pilot uses his/her toes to apply maximum pressure to stop the jet going straight ahead. With a circular runway, max braking would either be prohibitive due to the need to directionally steer (using differential braking and rudder pedals) or the crew would have to accept that they would stop straight ahead and they are likely to depart the runway. Either way, it’s bad news for the plane and its passengers.  If you add in a loss of hydraulic pressure (required for most large aircraft steering systems), you’ll definitely go off the edge of a circular runway.

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10.) Sheared landing gear

Turning at high speeds creates shearing forces on the landing gear. Damage is more likely to happen when landing (on a flat runway) in crosswind conditions. The loading forces when landing on a banked runway in a crosswind are much higher.  Gear aren’t nearly as strong in a side-load.

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Bottom line?  If circular runways become a reality then I’m taking a bus or a boat.

The Distinctive C-5A’s Whine Will Cease This Year…Forever

Avgeekery
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The Distinctive C-5A’s Whine Will Cease This Year…Forever

And then there were four…

On March 16th, 2017, a C-5A came to life for the last time. Tail number 70-0456 took off from Westover Air Reserve Base.  Its destination was Davis Monthan Air Force Base’s AMARC…aka “The Boneyard”.

The C-5A first flew in 1969. While it holds the title as the largest airlifter ever in the US Air Force’s fleet, its lack of reliability has hurt its reputation through the years. The program suffered a number of issues from cost overruns to cracks to difficult maintenance requirements.  The jet earned the unofficial nickname FRED. 

Eventually the decision was made to mothball half the fleet and upgrade the remaining aircraft to the M-series more commonly known as the “Super Galaxy”.  The C-5M has ‘new’ CF-6 engines along with a number of system improvements meant to reduce maintenance requirements. A total of 56 C-5M’s will continue in service while all of the remaining ‘classic’ C-5s will be retired.

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U.S. Air Force photos by MSgt Andrew Biscoe
Today there are just four remaining C-5A Galaxy aircraft.  They all reside at Westover ARB.  Three more are scheduled to be retired by October of 2017.  The other C-5A will be flown to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to be put on display at the US Air Force Museum.

Video of tail number 70-0456’s arrival at David Monthan AFB can be seen below:

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Skyraiders Were Rough, Tough Birds…Just Like The Heroic Pilots Who Flew Them

Bill Walton
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Skyraiders Were Rough, Tough Birds…Just Like The Heroic Pilots Who Flew Them

This Douglas Workhorse Threw Everything AND the Kitchen Sink at Our Enemies

On March 18th 1945 the Douglas XBT2D-1 Dauntless II took to the skies from Mines Field in Los Angeles for the first time. This was the prototype AD-1, then later the A-1, Skyraider. The result of a shift in Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) thinking that occurred early in 1943, the XBT2D-1 designator reflected a combined bomber/torpedo (BT) aircraft that would replace the existing and planned dive bombing (SBD / SB2C) and torpedo bombing (TBF / TBM) aircraft. This would allow carrier air wing compositions to shift toward more fighter aircraft per carrier. The AD-1 and later the Skyraiders would be a refinement of this initial prototype.

Conceived Overnight

Douglas had earlier landed a contract to build the BTD-1, but their renowned designer Ed Heinemann didn’t believe the BTD-1 would be anything more than a temporary solution to the Navy’s requirements. After some deliberation, Heinemann and Douglas requested that BuAer cancel the BTD-1 entirely and allocate the funds to a new design that would be ready in a month. BuAer gave him until the next morning.

The Winning Design Concept

The design presented to BuAer at 0900 the next day was completely different from the BTD-1. Powered by the Wright R-3350 Duplex Cyclone engine, the drawings (actually begun a few weeks earlier) were of a low-wing taildragger with straight tapered wings under which ordnance could be carried on a total of 15 stations. Featuring a bubble canopy, large board-type dive brakes, and wing-mounted 20 millimeter cannons, the BTD-2 won BuAer over.

Another Douglas Stalwart

Given only nine months to complete the design and build 25 pre-production BT2D-1 Dauntless IIs, Douglas came through and when the prototype XBT2D-1 flew flawlessly nine months later. Other designs in competition with the Dauntless II did not compare favorably with the big slab-sided but sweet-handling machine from El Segundo- so much so that Douglas was awarded with a contract to build 548 of them.

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Too Good to Abandon After the War Ended

When World War II ended the BT2D-1 contract was cut back to 277 airframes. Ironically it was thought that the Dauntless II would quickly be rendered obsolete by the jet-powered aircraft now in the pipeline. Next for the Dauntless II was evaluation at the Naval Air Test Center (NATC). When BuAer changed designations from BT to A (for attack), the BT2D-1 Dauntless II became the AD-1 Skyraider.

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The First Specialized Skyraider

Carrier suitability trials were conducted during late 1946 by VA-19A out of Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda on San Francisco Bay. By the end of 1946 BuAer declared the Skyraider operational. Quickly thereafter BuAer wanted AD-1s configured for specialized duties. When the final 35 airframes of the first AD-1 order were completed as AD-1Q electronic countermeasures aircraft, so began the development of one of the most versatile aircraft ever designed. Between production start in 1945 and completion of the last AD-7 on February 18th 1957, 3180 Skyraiders were built in seven basic versions and 28 variations of them.

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Praised for Its Toughness

The true test of any aircraft is how the people who fly and maintain it feel about it. They took to calling the Skyraider “Able Dog.” More than just the phonetic alphabet for A and D, it was a tribute to the type’s ease of operation, low maintenance requirements, and toughness, Skyraider people loved their steeds. The sight of one of the several examples still flying in civilian hands today warms the heart of anyone associated with it.

AD 6 and AD 5W Skyraider in flight

Adapted to Do Whatever Needed Doing

Development over the course of the Skyraider’s 12 years in production reflected improvements in engine technology and horsepower, electronics, and armaments. Douglas adapted the basic AD airframe to get many jobs done. Examples of these adaptations include airborne early warning (AEW), electronic countermeasures (ECM), night attack, radar countermeasures, nuclear attack, anti-submarine warfare, and target tug. As fleet requirements grew and varied, so did the list of Skyraider adaptations.

AD 5 utility plane NAS Barbers Point

For More of the Skyraider Story Bang NEXT PAGE Below

Talon: The World’s First Supersonic Jet Trainer Has Aged Gracefully

Bill Walton
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Talon: The World’s First Supersonic Jet Trainer Has Aged Gracefully

Northrop’s T-38 Has Trained Thousands of Pilots Around the World- and Still Does

On March 17th 1959, the first T-38 Talon trainer was placed in service with the United States Air Force. Updated and improved over its lifetime, now in continuous service for more than 50 years, the Talon has trained several generations of jet pilots. The T-38 was the world’s first and most-produced supersonic jet trainer.

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Image via USAF

Playing Smallball

The Talon actually began as a delta-winged fighter to be powered by the massive General Electric J79 engine. Realizing that any J79-powered fighter would be both large and costly, Northrop went in a different direction. In 1953, Northrop designed a small lightweight fighter with area-ruled fuselage, conventional wings, and powered by two of the new, and much smaller and lighter, GE J85 engines. Northrop designated this design N-156.

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Image via USAF

Advanced Trainer Par Excellence

When the United States Air Force issued a General Operating Requirement (GOR) for a supersonic advanced trainer in the mid-1950s to replace their Lockheed T-33s, Northrop adapted their N-156 lightweight fighter design for the competition. Northrop won the competition in July of 1956 and received an order for three prototypes. The first of them (designated YT-38) flew for the first time on March 10th 1959.

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Image via Northrop

From Tweet to Talon

The new T-38 went into production quickly and the first aircraft were delivered to the Air Force in 1961. Entering operational service on March 17th 1961, the T-38 would provide advanced training to pilots having already mastered the Cessna T-37 Tweet primary jet trainer.

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Image via USAF

The World’s Fighter

The fighter version of the original Northrop N-156 lightweight fighter design was produced as the F-5A Freedom Fighter. Operated by the United States Air Force but also by 35 foreign countries, single-seat F-5 variants still operate for many countries.

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Image via US Navy

Talon Cousins

The two-seat F-5B and F-5F Tiger IIs, both also developed from the same original Northrop N-156 design, look very similar to the T-38. However, the F-5 variants sport distinctive leading edge extensions at the wing roots. T-38 wing roots lack the leading edge extensions. The F-5s also have missile launch rails mounted on the wing tips.

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T-38 Talons. Image via USAF

Keeping Talons Sharp

The majority of T-38s built are the T-38A variant. The Air Force has also operated AT-38Bs modified to make them capable of weapons delivery as weapons trainers. Beginning in 2001 the majority of T-38s used by the Air Force received avionics upgrades that include a head-up display (HUD), GPS, “glass” cockpit instrumentation, and other modern “black boxes.” These updated Talons carry the T-38C designation.

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T-38 with B-2. Image via USAF

For More Talon Tales Bang NEXT PAGE Below

Hilarious Spoof Highlights How Much Pilots Hate Clearance Readback Interrupters

Avgeekery
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Hilarious Spoof Highlights How Much Pilots Hate Clearance Readback Interrupters

If you’re a pilot, you’ve been there.  You’ll be at an airport like JFK (or even worse some Navy field with an NDB departure) and it’s time to pick up your clearance.

On a scratchy radio, Clearance Delivery reads off your ridiculous re-route.  About halfway through, the other pilot or a flight attendant, or a loadmaster, or a sheep herder (yes, it’s really happened to me) decides to interrupt.  You are left there stammering and stuttering through the rest of the read back.  It’s not gonna go well no matter how much you try and salvage it!

This awesome viral video was made in the cockpit of a Charleston C-17 splicing together clips from another famous interruption. That clip of a BBC interview with a South Korean expert, Dr. Kelly, who was interrupted by his two children went viral worldwide.

Video below was originally posted on YouTube by John Millman and Emily B.  They also have a couple of popular Instagram accounts highlighting their journeys in the C-17.  You can follow them at @theglobemaster and @_thetravelingblonde.

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Must See Vietnam Carrier Footage Honors One We Lost

Bill Walton
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Must See Vietnam Carrier Footage Honors One We Lost

Here’s a must-see video for you Vietnam-era naval aviation fans. Shot aboard the carrier Midway (CVA-41) during her 1971 and 1972-1973 Western Pacific (WestPac) deployments, there is something for just about everybody.

USS Midway CVA 41 recovering aircraft 01 1964
Image via US Navy

The video was uploaded as a tribute to the late Lieutenant Raymond P Donnelly. Donnelly was a VA-115 A-6A bombardier / navigator who was seriously wounded by ground fire while on a mission over North Vietnam on July 19th 1972. Despite the best efforts of his pilot, Lieutenant Michael T McCormick, to revive him, Donnelly died before the Intruder made it back to the Midway. The flight deck footage is as remarkable as the message of the video is poignant.

Enjoy the video (uploaded to YouTube by John Stubbs), and remember Lieutenant Raymond P Donnelly and his devotion to, and ultimate sacrifice for, his country.

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Featuring footage shot during actual A-6A strikes, and plenty of cat shots and traps (including a barrier trap), the film stars the Grumman A-6A Intruders of VA-115 Arabs (call sign Arab), but also the rest of Carrier Air Wing 5 (CVW5). The A-7s of VA-56 Champions (call sign Champion) and VA-93 Blue Blazers (call sign Raven), F-4s of VF-151 Vigilantes (call sign Switchbox) and VF-161 Chargers (call sign Rock River), EKA-3Bs of VAQ-130 Zappers (call sign Robinson), E-2Bs of VAW-115 Liberty Bells, SH-3Gs of HC-1 Detachment 8 Angels (call sign Clementine), HH-3As of HC-7 Detachment 110 Sea Devils (call sign Big Mother), even the RF-8Gs of VFP-63 Detachment 3 (call sign Cork Tip) all play supporting roles.

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The footage is as mixed bag in that much of it was obviously shot during CVW-5 WestPacs but some other footage has been spliced in. Nonetheless the video is definitely worth watching- especially if you served aboard Midway during the timeframe of the film. Titling is a bit confusing because Midway’s WestPac deployments ran from April to November of 1971, and from April 1972 to March of 1973.

 

Actor Jimmy Stewart Talks Up B-58 Hustler, Scares Russians In This Rare Video

Bill Walton
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Actor Jimmy Stewart Talks Up B-58 Hustler, Scares Russians In This Rare Video

General Jimmy Earned His Mach 2 Club Tie in a Hustler

On March 15th 1960, the first Convair B-58 Hustler became operational with Strategic Air Command (SAC).

One of the most impressive aircraft ever built, the Hustler was also expensive to operate, equipped with complicated systems that frequently required attention, tricky to fly, limited in its payload capacity, and in the end was rendered obsolete by the surface-to-air (SAM) missile. But to anyone who ever saw one in flight, the Hustler was absolutely unforgettable.b581

Raw Power and Unique Design

The B-58 prototype first flew on November 11th 1956. The design premise and intended mission of the B-58 was high-altitude supersonic penetration of Soviet airspace and release of multiple atomic bombs on targets for SAC.

Design highlights were its 60 degree raked delta wing, four underwing pod-mounted afterburning General Electric J79 engines, separate tandem compartments for the flight crew of three, distinctive area-ruled fuselage shape, and the large centerline fuel tank / weapon pod.

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Changing Times Changed the Mission

When the Soviets began to deploy accurate surface-to-air missiles in the early 1960s, SAC was quickly convinced that the B-58 would not survive against the new generation SAMs at high altitude. The mission profile of the B-58 went from what it was specifically designed to do to what it quite simply could not do.

Convair B 58A Hustler crew with aircraft B 58A 10 CF SN 59 2447 Rapid Rabbit 061101 F 1234P 024

Impressive Nonetheless

Whatever the limitations of the B-58 were, it was certainly revolutionary. Capable of sustained flight at Mach 2 speeds, the Hustler was so advanced that nearly all of the B-58’s systems had to be re-thought and engineered from a new sheet of paper.

Coming as it did so soon after sustained supersonic flight had been achieved for the first time, B-58s were nearly otherworldly to the public.

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Built for Crew Survivability

B-58 ejection seats were equipped with a protective shield or clamshell capsule that would shield the crew members- a completely new technology brought about by the prospect of ejection at Mach 2 speeds and 70,000 foot altitudes.

The capsule would float in water and provide independent oxygen to its occupant. Similar systems have been incorporated into new designs ever since.

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That Soothing Voice…

Many of today’s military pilots ruefully refer to the audio warning systems in their aircraft as “Bitchin’ Betty.” Audio warning systems were pioneered in the Hustler, so in large part they have the B-58 to thank for “Bitchin’ Betty”, but Hustler crews called her “Sexy Sally.” How times have changed!

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Actor Jimmy Stewart Talks Up B-58 Hustler, Scares Russians In This Rare Video 43

Accuracy Built In

Supposedly ten times more accurate than any previous bombing / navigation system, the B-58’s collection of AN/ASQ-42 “black boxes” enabled the aircraft to be, at least potentially, the most accurate atomic bomber in the Air Force arsenal. The B-58, thankfully, never did have to perform the mission for which it was intended.

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The Payload

The Hustler mounted a single remotely aimed and controlled 20 millimeter Gatling gun in the tail for self-defense. The large centerline pod housed both additional fuel and a nuclear weapon that could be jettisoned in separate parts.

At various times the B-58 carried up to four additional B43 or B61 atomic weapons on dedicated pylons mounted under its wing roots.

F 102A in flight
Convair F-102A

Bang NEXT PAGE below for the rest of the Hustler story- and the video!

GEICO Skytypers set to perform at top airshow locations in 2017

Charles Atkeison
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GEICO Skytypers set to perform at top airshow locations in 2017

TAMPA — The GEICO Skytypers, famous for their low level maneuvers and huge sky-typed messages, have released their new air show schedule as they prepare to take flight to begin their long awaited season opener.

Six WWII-era SNJ-2 warbirds form this special flight demonstration team now scheduled to soar across the skies of 15 of the nation’s popular air show sites during 2017 covering much of the eastern United States. The Skytypers will co-headline most of their air shows with either the U.S. Navy Blue Angels or the Air Force Thunderbirds.

The Skytypers twenty minute demonstration will show case these rare 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.

“Our SNJs trained the pilots of the Greatest Generation,” Skytypers pilot and team marketing director Steve Kapur said on Wednesday. “We consider it a privilege to inspire kids, honor veterans and fly these warbirds on behalf of our sponsor GEICO at air shows all across the U.S.”

The Skytypers air show season will begin on America’s Space Coast on April 1st and 2nd as the seasoned pilots perform exciting maneuvers over Melbourne, Florida’s International Airport. The Skytypers will then travel to neighboring locations at Sun-N-Fun near Tampa, FL, Beaufort, S.C., and Fort Lauderdale in the weeks ahead.

The pilots and their aircraft are marvels of aviation performing incredible feats of aerial skills in their 77-year-old warbirds. The Skytypers will perform over air shows across the northeast during the summer months before concluding the season at the annual Blue Angels Homecoming air show in November.

Much like aircraft headed into a dog fight during the second world war, these pilots moved into delta formation and from there soared into a nose dive with each aircraft then peeling off into a different direction during the opening minutes.

Bob Johansen is the slot pilot in aircraft 4 and a veteran of the Skytypers since 1978. A former naval aviator, Bob spent a storied career in the U.S. Navy performing carrier landings and piloting commercial aircraft. Bob and his son Ken make up one half of the Skytypers Diamond Team.

“The maneuver I enjoy the most is called the bomb burst,” Johansen highlighted as we made a wide left banking turn. “We have four aircraft pretty close nose-to-tail and smoking and we are going right toword the crowd. Then the two solos come from over the crowd and fly right under us. We pull up and the solos pull straight up. It’s amazing.”

Dynamic formations will also include two land-sea duels between the Skytypers six aircraft and the world champion speedboat, Miss. GEICO. “We know our sister speedboat team is the eight-time world-champion,” said Larry Arken, Commanding Officer and the Skytypers Flight Lead. “But one of our pilots, Tom Daly has his own world speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah and he never likes to come in second.”

As the warbirds soar across the sky, they will generate sky typed messages for the air show crowds. “The team also uses 21st-century technology to type giant messages 10,000 feet up in the sky,” said BBIG Marketing’s Brenda Little, spokesperson for the Skytypers, on Wednesday. “These dot-matrix style messages are 1,000 feet tall, can be viewed from 15 miles away in any direction and are created 17 times faster than the more traditional sky writing method.”

 The GEICO Skytypers demonstration team is lead by Larry Arken in plane 1. Aircraft 2 through 6 include Chris Thomas, Ken Johansen, Chris Orr, Steve Salmirs, and Tom Daly. Skytyper 7 pilots include Jim Record and Bob Johansen as the team’s advance pilots who arrive a day early to meet with the local air show management.

2017 Air Show Schedule

April 1-2          Melbourne, FL               Melbourne Air and Space Show

April 7-9          Lakeland, FL                  Sun ‘n Fun International Fly-In and Expo

April 29-30     MCAS Beaufort, SC      2017 MCAS Beaufort Airshow

May 6-7           Ft. Lauderdale, FL        FORD Lauderdale Air Show

May 13-14       Pittsburgh, PA               Wings Over Pittsburgh 2017

May 20-21       Quonset, RI                   Rhode Island National Guard Open House Air Show

May 27-28       Jones Beach, NY          Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach State Park

June 2-4          Reading, PA                  Mid-Atlantic Air Museum 27th Annual WWII Weekend

June 17-18       Ocean City, MD            Ocean City Air Show

June 24-25      Dayton, OH                   Vectren Dayton Air Show

July  1-2           Newburgh, NY              New York Air Show

Aug 12-13        Westfield, MA               Westfield International Air Show

Aug 23             Atlantic City, NJ            Atlantic City Airshow Presented by GEICO

Sept 16-17       Andrews AFB, MD       Joint Base Andrews Air Show 2017

Nov 10-11        NAS Pensacola, FL      NAS Pensacola Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show

(Charles A. Atkeison reports on aerospace and science. Follow his updates on social media via @Military_Flight.)

Don’t Be A Moron And Stand Behind A Jet Like This Guy

Avgeekery
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Don’t Be A Moron And Stand Behind A Jet Like This Guy

Want skinned knees and a broken camera?  Guaranteed…with a chance of a bruised noggin too!

We’ve profiled Skiathos Airport in Greece before.  Many people call it the St. Maarten of Europe.  With short runways and a road right at the end of one end, it makes for some incredible photos and videos of arrivals and departures.  You can’t get much closer to the action.

[youtube id=”lfUfBWvmzA4″ width=”800″ height=”454″ position=”left”]

Just because you can get close to a jet, doesn’t mean you should though.  Jet blast is hot exhaust at hurricane speeds exiting the engine.  At takeoff thrust, the velocity can be well over 150 MPH even a few hundred feet back.  Add in dust, sand, and pebbles and you are going to get sandblasted and probably hurt–possibly worse. Can you imagine the reason on your death certificate? “Standing behind a Boeing 737NG.”  Moron!

Some things aren’t worth it.  Standing behind a jet engine definitely isn’t worth it.

WestJet’s Frozen-Themed Jet Almost Ended Up In The Drink–What Could Have Happened?

Jeff Gilmore
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WestJet’s Frozen-Themed Jet Almost Ended Up In The Drink–What Could Have Happened?

Dangerously low in marginal weather, a Frozen-themed WestJet 737-800 was seconds away from disaster.  Fortunately, they broke the error chain.  Let’s talk about what could have happened.

On March 7, 2017, WestJet flight 2652 from Toronto to Saint Maarten made some unexpected ‘waves’. The Boeing 737-800 with the famed Frozen livery was flying a non-precision instrument approach to runway 10 in marginal conditions. At the time, the visibility was about a mile and a half with a ceiling of less than 2,000 feet. Conditions weren’t ideal for one of the picturesque photos taken by countless avgeeks at the field but not that unusually for the professional pilots that occupied the seats of that Boeing.

It wasn’t a normal approach though. According to ADS-B data, the 737 briefly touched ‘O feet’ on the ADS-B readout. ADS-B reports altitude in 25 foot increments but have been known to report data inaccurately. That means that at most, the jet was 25 feet above the bay.

From photos and videos on the internet, you can see that the jet was lower than typical as the jet was around a ½ mile from the runway at less than a wingspan’s length above the water. Assuming the jet intended to be on a 3-degree glidepath, it should have been at around 150-200 feet above the water at that point. Instead of completing a successful landing the first time, the jet executed a go-around. Flight 2652 held for an additional 45 minutes and landed safely without further incident.

With no official word from WestJet on the incident, we took a look at footage provided online by ATCpilot.com and one of the St. Maarten spotter cams that is based at the field. The jet definitely looks low for where it was on the approach. The pilots, recognizing that it was an unstable approach (albeit very late in the process), made the right call to execute a go-around.

[youtube id=”yNhAYKM-7LQ” width=”800″ height=”454″ position=”left”]

What happened?

Without any official press release from the airline or any agency investigation initiated, we’re left to make surmise about what might have happened. As professional ‘avgeeks’ though, were not the traditional media with uninformed pundits spouting crazy conspiracy theories and providing click-bait analysis. It’s way too early to make any declarative judgment of what happened and we’re not surfacing this story to assign blame.  When incidents like this happen though, professional pilots should ‘hangar talk’ about the scenario to think through how something like this could easily happen to them too and how to avoid a similar incident in the future. Here are three of the most likely scenarios of why WestJet’s Frozen bird could have came so close to a CFIT (Controlled Flight into Terrain).

1.) Task saturation and automation error while searching for the field

With visibility less than 2 miles, flight 2652 was most likely flying a GPS or VOR approach to runway 10. A non-precision approach is something that every commercial pilot must be able to do. (Non-precision means that there is course guidance but not vertical guidance)  However, most commercial airports these days have precision approaches meaning that commercial pilots rarely get to practice these types of approaches except in a simulator. In this case, the pilots could have neglected to set a level off altitude as they dialed in a descent rate. When they arrived at the MDA (Minimum descent altitude), they could have continued to search ‘outside the cockpit’ for the runway. With a murky, indefinite-horizon sky (that looked like a combination of dark blue and grey), they could have continued the incipient descent without realizing it only to finally execute a go around because of declaring a missed approach without seeing the field or recognizing how low they were either by visual cue or audible alert (landing ‘100’ feet radar altimeter call out).

2.) Setting the wrong altimeter setting

While much less likely, the crew could have set the wrong altimeter setting on arrival. This means that the crew could have leveled off at their MDA but their actual altitude was significantly below the expected altitude. This situation is a stretch and not very likely. The altimeter setting was actually higher than the standard 29.92 meaning that they would have been high on the approach if they failed to reset it when passing through transition altitude. The only way this situation is a possibility is if they misheard the altimeter setting and dialed in a completely erroneous setting. While possible, it is also highly unlikely that they wouldn’t have caught the error on intermediate level offs that took place throughout the arrival. Pilots have addition tools like a radar altimeter that would have revealed such error.

3.) Wind shear

A very low approach like this could possibly be explained by a very strong wind shear. Strong wind shear has been known to cause rapid decay of airspeed and altitude on approach. Delta flight 191 crashed because of a strong wind shear back in the 1980s. In this case though, the FlightRadar24 data doesn’t show any rapid descents or drastic speed changes (other than a slow ground speed). Aircraft landed at the field before the WestJet 737 without incident and no shear was reported. Still though, storms were in the area and the video footage shows winds near the field were strong enough to cause rippling in the bar patio umbrellas that were seen in the first go around video. Winds aloft could have been much stronger. One other indication that makes this situation plausible is that the gear was not immediately retracted on the go around.  That could have been intentional or an oversight during a rattling situation of a normal go-around after almost impacting the water short of the field.

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It’s all just speculation at this point but we shouldn’t shy away from discussing ways to become safer aviators.

It’s easy to Monday morning quarterback the situation. And the truth is that at this point the only people who know exactly what happened are the pilots and anyone that they spoke to after safely landing. Despite great technology, improved cockpit resource management, and training, mistakes do still happen. If this was just a mistake, everyone is fortunate that there was no damage besides a bruised ego and a probable chat with the chief pilot.

Unfortunately for the WestJet pilots’ sake, the mistake happened near one of the most photographed/videoed airports in the world.  It’s a reminder to all professional aviators that in this era of smart phones and social media, every flight is just one tap away from the rest of the world seeing it. Fly safe out there…

Editors note:  Thanks to ATCPilot.com for the footage and screenshot.

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