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Yakkity Yak: Russia’s Yak-141 a successful VTOL aircraft

Wendell Barnhouse
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Yakkity Yak: Russia’s Yak-141 a successful VTOL aircraft

Russia developed the Yak-141 but the breakup of the Soviet Union sidelined the program just when progress was being made.

Ever since the Wright Brothers proved men can fly, the configurations of the flying machines have involved two types of takeoffs – horizontal (planes) and vertical (helicopters). Planes need runways, while helicopters need much less space for takeoff and landing.

Combining a machine that can take off vertically like a helicopter but then have the horizontal flight capabilities of an aircraft has been a vexing problem for designers. In terms of military uses, an aircraft that can land and takeoff like a chopper but then carry a lethal payload and reach close to supersonic speed would be a valuable asset.

Yak3While the Good Guys always like to think they’re always winning the Innovation War, in this case the Soviet Union was able to develop a VTOL (Vertical Take Off/Landing) aircraft that could reach supersonic speed and also carry a meaningful payload.

Unfortunately for the Russians, the development of the Yak-141 (aka Yak-41 with the NATO moniker “Freestyle”) occurred near the end of the Soviet Union. When it collapsed, the funding for further production and improvements ended.

The Russians were able to solve a problem facing all VTOL aircraft – the power needed for vertical lift off that can convert to horizontal speed. The Yak-141 had two lift engines and one main engine for horizontal thrust that was equipped with an afterburner to attain supersonic speed.

The high point for the Yak-141 was in April in 1991 when a test flight produced 12 world records. But with military funding eliminated with the disintegrating of the Soviet Union, it became a versatile plane with no purpose.

England produced the Harrier Jump Jet, which made its debut in 1969. It was one of the most successful military V/STOL (vertical/short takeoff and landing) aircraft but it could not achieve supersonic speed.

Lockheed Martin’s F-35B does what the Harrier can’t. It’s an STOVL that can go supersonic and also has stealth capabilities. It went operational in July of 2015. It uses a patented Rolls-Royce LiftFan propulsion system with an engine that can swivel 90 degrees to make short takeoffs and vertical landing possible.

The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey was developed for both vertical and short takeoffs. It was a hybrid of a helicopter and a long-range high-seed turboprop. The tilt-rotor aircraft survived considerable controversies involving its cost and safety issues. Its main uses are for transport and medivac missions.

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It’s Liberating To Watch and Listen To This B-24 Fire Up Its Four Radial Engines

Wendell Barnhouse
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It’s Liberating To Watch and Listen To This B-24 Fire Up Its Four Radial Engines

One by one, watch this vintage B-24 Liberator crank up its four engines.

The folks who work long hours as volunteers to restore World War II aircraft so that they’re able to fly – they deserve our support and thanks.

The Greatest Generation flew these aircraft to help the Allies win in both the European and Pacific theaters. Allowing people to see these planes up close and personal and see them flying is a goose bump experience. (And if it doesn’t produce goose bumps – call 911; you might require a defibrillator.)

The four-engine bombers utilized by the United States – the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator and the B-29 Superfortress – are especially impressive when they crank up their engines. In this case, the B-24 named the Witchcraft, which is maintained by the Collings Foundation’s.

The typical B-24 was equipped with four Pratt & Whitney turbo-supercharged radial engines,

The B-17 was popular with the crews that flew it. The B-24, not so much. It wasn’t an easy aircraft to fly. But it’s high-mounted wings helped give it long range and the ability to carry a heavy payload. It wound up being the most produced heavy bomber in history, the most produced multi-engine aircraft in history and the most-produced American military aircraft – nearly 20,000 rolled off the assembly line.

Why was the C-5 Galaxy Nicknamed FRED?

Wendell Barnhouse
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Why was the C-5 Galaxy Nicknamed FRED?

The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is the largest transport plane of the United States Air Force. It’s larger than the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter and can carry almost twice the load of a C-17 Globemaster.

The C-5 has been in operation since 1969 but it had a rocky start. The development and testing led to cost overruns and created financial difficulties for Lockheed. Once the planes entered service, cracks in the wings grounded the aircraft until the problem was solved.

FRED Had a Huge Cargo Hold

To best serve the military, the C-5 FRED was built with a cargo hold big enough to carry bulky equipment. Its cargo capacity is 135 tons and it can accommodate up to six Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters or five Bradley Fighting Vehicles at one time

The Galaxy has a range of 2,760 miles and a cruising speed of 570 mph. The cargo is one foot longer than the entire length of the first powered flight by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk.

Many were not fans of the massive C-5 FRED

The C-5 has plenty of detractors because of its reputation as a gas guzzler and the need for constant maintenance. The ground crew who service the Galaxy has named it FRED – F***ing Ridiculous, Economic/Environmental Disaster.

Aviation historian Robert F. Dorr is blunt in his assessment of the C-5:

“After being one of the worst-run programs, ever, in its early years, it has evolved very slowly and with great difficulty into a nearly adequate strategic airlifter that unfortunately needs in-flight refueling or a ground stop for even the most routine long-distance flights. We spent a lot of money to make it capable of operating from unfinished airstrips near the front lines, when we never needed that capability or had any intention to use it.”

Be that as it may, the development and eventual deployment of the C-5 proved to be a trail blazer for modern-day commercial aircraft. By building “the biggest plane possible” Lockheed was able to provide a template for development of planes like the 747 and the L-1011.

C-5M, FRED Upgraded

However, the C-5M Super Galaxy is an upgraded version with new engines that are more fuel efficient and upgraded avionics. It can fly higher and has a shorter takeoff roll (as seen in the video below)

The Warthog’s GAU 8 Gatling Gun Is Bad-Ass Lethal Weapon–Watch It In Action

Wendell Barnhouse
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The Warthog’s GAU 8 Gatling Gun Is Bad-Ass Lethal Weapon–Watch It In Action

The A-10’s “flying cannon” and its 30mm shells makes it a friend to U.S. ground troops and a nightmare to the enemy.

GatlingHere at Avgeekery.com we are contractually obligated to regularly feature the A-10. Why? The Warthog has proven to be one of the most durable and efficient ground support aircraft in military aviation history. And it’s as cool as it’s klunky.

The A-10 can carry a variety of weaponry but the plane was built as a firing platform for the General Electric GAU 8 Avenger Gatling gun. Basically, it’s a flying cannon. Hydraulically driven and featuring seven barrels, it spits out 70 rounds per second. With a loaded ammunition drum, the entire weapon weighs about 4,000 pounds.

A “combat squeeze” produces a two-second burst that delivers 112 rounds of 30mm ammunition with devastating effect. The blink-of-an-eye firing means that on most missions, the A-10 is equipped with enough ammo to make about nine strafing runs.

In addition to the fact the GAU 8 delivers a powerful punch that’s accurate, there are two other unique factors to the A-10’s main weapon.

First, it’s mounting.

Because the gun’s recoil forces could push the entire plane off target during firing, the weapon itself is mounted laterally off-center, slightly to the port side of the fuselage center line, with the actively “firing” barrel in the nine o’clock position (when viewed from the front of the aircraft), so that the firing barrel lies directly on the aircraft’s center line. The firing barrel also lies just below the aircraft’s center of gravity, being bore sighted along a line 2 degrees below the aircraft’s line of flight.

Second, the sound of those two-second bursts is memorable. Instead of the rat-a-tat-tat of machine guns, the A-10’s Gatling gun sounds like … a piece of paper being ripped. It also could be analogous to … well … flatulence.

Which is probably the sound the enemy makes when they see a Warthog swooping for a strafing run.

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Russian Pilots Apparently Like Top Gun And Buzzing The Tower

Wendell Barnhouse
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Russian Pilots Apparently Like Top Gun And Buzzing The Tower

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A rare glimpse of the Russian SU-33 making a low-level pass – twice.

For a neutral observer, there’s nothing as exciting as being up close and personal as a military jet does a low-level buzzing of the deck.

That’s exactly what’s depicted in our featured video. A Russian Sukhoi SU-33 makes two passes just off the tarmac. The speed, power and sound is impressive.

(And this video is reminiscent of a much more serious incident that happened recently involving the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea. Two Russian SU24s made 20 passes at the warship, coming within 1,000 yards and just 100 feet off the waves. Perhaps the Russian pilots had been watching Top Gun and declined to request a fly by.)

Catching a glimpse of the SU-33 (which is designated as Flanker-D by NATO) is rare. It was designed as all-weather carrier-based twin-engine, twin-tailed air fighter and came into service in 1998. However, when the Soviet Union dissolved, the Russian Navy was scaled back and only about three dozen SU-33s were produced.

The SU-33 has a maximum speed of Mach 2.17 (1,430 mph) and a service ceiling of 55,800 feet. It’s range is nearly 1,900 miles.

Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, is reported to be deploying to the Mediterranean Sea. Its air wing will be comprised of the SU-33, SU-25UTG and Mikoyan MiG-29K.

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Southwest Analysis: Profits Up, Large Classic 737 Retirement On The Horizon

Wendell Barnhouse
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Southwest Analysis: Profits Up, Large Classic 737 Retirement On The Horizon

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Southwest Airlines made $511 million in first quarter and its pilots would like their new contract settled by getting a bigger piece of the pie.

Southwest Airlines last week announced better-than-expected first-quarter profits – clearing $511 million – as Southwest is benefiting from the same factors driving up profits for the industry – low fuel cost and high load factors.

At the same time, Southwest announced it is accelerating plans to retire the 737-300s in its fleet. The original time line had those planes coming off line in 2022, then it was moved to 2018. Now, Southwest President and CEO Gary Kelly announced that the company plans a “hard stop” and will take place a year earlier.

“This is a viable and manageable solution, although not preferred,” Kelly said in a statement. “This accelerated retirement of the Classics will result in fewer aircraft and lower available seat mile growth in 2017 than previously planned.”

That means that over 100 737-300s will be retired over the next 18 months.  This is in addition to the remaining 12 737-500s that are scheduled to be retired by the end of September of this year.

Why would Southwest pump the brakes on growth?

News of this type never happens in a vacuum and the report of record profits along with taking approximately 50 of the 737 Classics out of action invites some between-the lines thinking.

The airline industry rides a roller coaster of cycles and right now the ride has reached the top. Profits are high as the price of oil (and jet fuel) is at record lows. Coupled with most flights departing at near capacity, profits are up.

Southwest and its pilots have been trying to agree to a new contract. The pilots have been working under a deal signed in 2012 that expired three years ago. They are seeking compensation that would rank as the highest in the industry plus have the company make larger contributions to retirement plans.

With Southwest reporting high earnings, the pilots obviously believe they deserve a cut. No pilots, no profits.

Kelly said it’s not meant to be a warning shot at pilots…

The announcement to move up the retirement of the 737-300s could be interpreted as a warning shot by Southwest. Kelly denied that theory.

“This is not a shot (at the pilots’ union,” Kelly said. “Contrary to the way our industry has worked in the past, this is not the way we do business here at Southwest. We’re here to take care of our people. Clearly accelerating this retirement is not a good thing for our employees. It’s not a bad thing either. We’re not at war with our people. We’re at war with our competitors.”

One of the reasons Southwest is pulling the 737-300s out of service is that delivery of the new Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft is expected to be head of schedule. Those aircraft are more fuel efficient and carry more passengers – a win-win for Southwest.

However, the pilots’ union says the MAX isn’t listed in the current labor agreement as an aircraft they can fly. Southwest disagrees.

“They cannot fly the MAX without a new contract,” said Jon Weaks, the union’s president.

Another twist in the story involves the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency has yet to decide on the training needed for pilots flying the MAX. If the FAA says that pilots cleared to fly the current 737-800 (the MAX’s predecessor) can fly the MAX, then the Southwest pilots will lose negotiating leverage.

“We have been working with our pilots’ union, Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association, to mitigate this issue through segmenting the classic flying, but that effort has been unsuccessful,” Kelly said. “Given the FAA is not expected to complete training requirements until next year, the only solution now is to avoid flying both the classics and the MAX (at the same time).

“We have to have every pilot trained to sit in every cockpit. It’s all or nothing.”

Southwest expects to receive its first plane in the third quarter of 2017, while Boeing says the delivery may come sooner.

“It’s a freight train coming down the track,” said Casey Murray, the head of the Southwest pilot union’s negotiating committee, said in an interview. “We can see the light and they can, too.”

 

FAA Directive Orders Repairs To Engines On Some 787s

Wendell Barnhouse
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FAA Directive Orders Repairs To Engines On Some 787s

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Icing issues on certain models of the General Electric engines on Boeing 787 Dreamliners led to FAA to issue directive to “urgently modify” those engines.

According to a directive issued Friday by the Federal Aviation Agency directive, the engines on Boeing 787 Dreamliners must be “urgently modified.” The General Electric engine model GEnx-1B PIP2 is in question. Planes that are equipped with both engines of that model could potentially experience a catastrophic loss of both engines in flight.

The FAA directive says in part of its directive:

“The urgency of this issue stems from the safety concern over continued safe flight and landing for airplanes that are powered by two GEnx-1B PIP2 engines operating in a similar environment to the event airplane. In this case both GEnx-1B PIP2 engines may be similarly damaged and unable to be restarted in flight. The potential for common cause failure of both engines in flight is an urgent safety issue.”

Airlines have until the first week of October to fix the problem. A directive has been issued to pilots of 787s with those model engines to follow a new in-flight ice-removal procedure. That procedure says when ice buildup above 12,500 feet is suspected or if an indicator light confirms it, pilots are advised to rev each engine at 85 percent of full throttle every five minutes.

A Jan. 29 incident heightened the urgency for the FAA directive. A Japan Airlines (JAL) 787 shut down in midair and couldn’t be restarted. The right engine failed about 90 miles from Tokyo’s Narita Airport on a flight from Vancouver, B.C. The pilots were able to land with one engine. The 787’s other engine was an older model and the FAA said the left engine incurred only “minor damage during the icing event and continued to operate normally.”

The report on the JAL incident said that ice had built up on the fan blades before the trouble occurred. The engine model had been upgraded (and certified by the FAA) and the newer version had reduced a tiny gap between the fan blades and the engine case. The JAL plane’s engine experienced ice breaking loose, causing the fan blades to rub against the case and causing a shut down. The engine could not be restarted.

The FAA did not issue an “emergency” directive but because of the danger to the flying public, action will be immediate. The FAA reported that the problem affects 176 Dreamliners at 29 airlines; that’s about 44 percent of the worldwide fleet.

GE has altered the manufacturing process of the PIP2 engine model to increase the fan-tip clearance. GE spokesman Rick Kennedy said rework on about 40 airplanes has been completed. He added that the work to modify the engines takes about 16 hours and can be completed without removing the engines from the wings.

Twin-engine jets have taken over the commercial aviation industry. The newest birds, particularly those manufactured by Boeing, feature GE engines that are touted for their fuel efficiency, thrust and reliability.

And reliability is crucial when an aircraft jam packed with passengers is reliant on two engines. When both are disabled it takes a miracle like the one conjured up by Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger in 2009. His calm maneuvering saved 155 passengers by guiding US Airways Flight 1549 to a crash landing in the Hudson River. Both engines on the Airbus A320 were disabled by colliding with a flock of geese.

You can read the FAA document about the engine issue here.

The Rare Air of The AN-255 Cossack: A One-Off Giant Bird

Wendell Barnhouse
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The Rare Air of The AN-255 Cossack: A One-Off Giant Bird

If you ever get into a trivia contest in a bar or other location that requires you to display your vast knowledge, keep this information in mind.

When and if the subject gets around to the world’s largest aircraft, remember that the Antonov An-225 Mriya (Dream or Inspiration), also known as the “Cossack,” qualified as the longest and heaviest airplane ever built. Its original purpose was to ferry the Russian space shuttle. In the United States, that job was handled by a modified 747 – which looks like a Lear jet compared to the Cossack.

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Some facts about the world’s largest plane.

Wingspan: 290 feet.

Wing square footage: 9,740 square feet (nearly a quarter of an acre).

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Image via Public Domain

Length: 275 feet 7 inches.

Height: 59 feet 5 inches

Fuselage diameter: 63 feet.

Power plants: 6 Progress D-18T turbofan engines each putting out 51,000 pounds of thrust.

Antonov An 225 Mriya at 1990 Farnborough Airshow Andrew Thomas
Image via Andrew Thomas

Built by Russia in 1988 as a military cargo plane, only one was ever built. The aircraft was destroyed during on 24 February 2022 by invading Russian forces in Ukraine. But watching the giant jet lumber into the air was a goose-bump experience.

The An-225 was the workhorse of the Antonov Airlines fleet in Russia. It was the go-to cargo aircraft when it comes to hauling something that skeptics say, “You can’t put that in an airplane.”

In August of 2009, a generator for a gas power plant in Armenia was delivered by the An-225. The cargo weighed in at 189 tons.

When the An-225 was built, the Cold War was in its final days. When the Soviet Union broke up, its space program languished and there wasn’t much need for the world’s largest aircraft. However, it enjoyed a rebirth as a specialized cargo hauler.

Antonov 225 Mriya 6835041784 RAF YYC
Image via RAF-YYC

Week in review: Here’s what happened this week in the world of Aviation on Avgeekery

Wendell Barnhouse
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Week in review: Here’s what happened this week in the world of Aviation on Avgeekery

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If you missed any of our posts from this week, here’s a roundup with clickable links.

So, how was your week? If you’re into aviation stories, we hope that you thought this was a good week at Avgeekery.com.

A sobering story about a drone that apparently collided with a British Airways Airbus A320 as it was landing at Heathrow Airport.

Plane spotting from a helicopter at LAX – what could be better?

Avgeekery.com has a crush on the A-10 Warthog. Here’s another example, this video of an A-10 delivering 2,500 rounds from its 30mm gun.

Read about GE9X engine, the world’s biggest jet engine with the most thrust, and watch a video of the engine getting fired up for a test.

A House subcommittee is asking the Air Force to study the cost and feasibility of restarting the F-22 Raptor.

This week’s edition of Flashback Friday highlighted a record-setting flight in 1961 by a pioneering female aviator.

The Last of The Tri-Jets: Circling the globe in a MD-11 While Hauling Everything Under The Sun

Wendell Barnhouse
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The Last of The Tri-Jets: Circling the globe in a MD-11 While Hauling Everything Under The Sun

The movie “Around The World In 80 Days” won the Academy Award for Best Picture. This video of a Lufthansa Cargo flight around the globe is just as worthy…well almost.

What’s it like to fly around the world in 66 hours? (Actually, it was 68 hours because of a two-hour delay on the final leg.)

For a Lufthansa MD-11F cargo plane, the hauling of freight from Germany and back again involves crew changes and logistics that boggle the mind. From Frankfurt to Chicago to New Zealand to Australia to Malaysia to Pakistan to United Arab Emirates to Frankfurt.

Hauling 90 tons of cargo requires precise judgment on takeoff and landing. An aborted takeoff could create shifting that could damage the cargo. During landings, because of the weight the MD-11 has to come in “hot” at 180 mph and hit the runway precisely in order to have enough concrete for its roll out.

Like passenger aircraft, time spent on the ground is money wasted. Moving cargo from Point A to Point B involves loading and unloading that is quick but not hurried. The ground crews are different at different airports so keeping on schedule can be challenging.

And each airport/destination has quirks. In New Zealand, for example, the entire interior of the plane had to be sprayed to kill any germs to prevent them from being transmitted from the previous location.

Especially when the MD-11 is flying over the Pacific, it’s tough to not think about the crash scene that started Tom Hanks’ survival/adventure in “Castaway.”

If you enjoy travel, piloting cargo planes would be a great career. The pilots and co-pilots featured in this video had some length trips of six hours or more but when they arrived at their destinations they went off duty and had two days to explore.

One motto for cargo flights could be “if it fits, it ships.” Between one of the world’s most expensive luxury cars to horses, the flights shown carried a wide variety of cargo.

The three-engine MD-11, built by McDonnell Douglas, was originally built as a wide-body passenger jet to service long routes. Now, most have been turned into cargo planes. The amount of cargo they can carry is equivalent to carrying about 900 passengers.

Our compliments to Sven Herold whose production company filmed and produced this video.

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Stealthly Return? Production restart of F-22 Raptor could be in works

Wendell Barnhouse
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Stealthly Return? Production restart of F-22 Raptor could be in works

F-22

House subcommittee asks Air Force to submit study to restart production of F-22 Raptor.

The House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces is indicating that production of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor could resume. The committee is directing the Air Force to report on the cost and feasibility of restarting the assembly line.

The original contract with Lockheed Martin called for 749 of the fifth-generation stealth fighters to be produced. But the high cost of the planes and budget pressures trimmed the order to 381. But the final delivery number was just 196, with187 of those being operational fighters.

In 2011, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates shut down the program, citing the high cost. Plus, the U.S. was preparing to focus funding and development for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The F-22 saw its first action against ISIS in September of 2014 and there is an increased interest in Congress to fortify the nation’s defenses.

The Air Force has been directed to submit a study by January of 2017 on producing another 194 F-22s.

In February, the Air Force denied a report that it was looking into a ballpark estimate as to the cost of restarting F-22 production. A report in 2011 indicated it would cost $2 billion to crank up the production lines. That report also indicated that building just 75 F-22s would cost $17 billion – based on 2008 dollars.

The House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee’s markup for its section of the 2017 defense policy bill has the following section:

“In light of growing threats to U.S. air superiority as a result of adversaries closing the technology gap and increasing demand from allies and partners for high performance, multi-role aircraft to meet evolving and worsening global security threats, the committee believes that such proposals are worthy of further exploration.”

As the House sub-committee continues to assess the defense budget, the F-35 JSF program continues to be assessed. The F-35 costs $300 million per aircraft and has struggled to overcome design flaws and production issues. The Air Force has been conducting test flights and mock dogfights as the F-35 strives to become operational.

Watch GE Fire Up The GE9X Engine–The World’s Biggest Jet Engine With The Most Thrust

Wendell Barnhouse
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Watch GE Fire Up The GE9X Engine–The World’s Biggest Jet Engine With The Most Thrust

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Boeing’s 777-9 will be powered by the world’s biggest engines – the GE9X.

General Electric has developed the GE9X to power the new Boeing 777-9. It will deliver a thrust of 105,000 pounds and its fan diameter of 133.5 inches is the largest GE has ever produced. The GE9X is the world’s largest jet engine, which is what the Triple Seven needs to fly and will make it the largest and most-efficient twin-engine aircraft in the world.

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The aviation industry has evolved over the last two decades with Boeing and Airbus developing wide-body commercial aircraft that satisfied the needs of the world’s major airlines. For airlines to grow their bottom lines they needed fuel-efficient planes that would carry hundreds of passengers on long-distance routes, particularly across the Pacific.

The engines to power the new designs needed to evolve – in some cases more radically than the planes themselves.

Restrictions were lifted in the early 1990s that enabled commercial aircraft flying over 10,000 miles. Airlines and manufacturers were able to utilize aircraft with just two engines. To do that however, those engines had to be ultra-reliable and have enough power for the wide-body aircraft needed to maximize revenue.

GE was able to find the golden ticket. Instead of upgrading its previous engine models, GE engineers basically reinvented the wheel.

The GE-90 series, which has produced the world’s largest and the most powerful turbofan engine, earned a place in the Guinness World Records book by producing127,000 pounds of thrust. It was powerful and efficient.

The turbine fans were so large that the blades were made of revolutionary carbon fiber material. Those blades were larger and lighter, providing a double dip of more power and less weight. Plus, the blades are more durable, reducing maintenance costs. Coupled with fuel efficiency, airlines were thrilled to have their planes powered by the GE-90 series of engines.

Another GE engine breakthrough involved the compressor which also boosted the thrust to record levels thanks to improved pressure levels.

The GE-9X, which will power the Boeing 777, has an improved compressor that will reduce fuel consumption by 10 percent.

For comparisons of three major jet engines in use, here’s a video of the Pratt & Whitney PW4000, the Rolls Royce Trent 800 and the General Electric GE-90 performing during takeoff.

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