irrational fear of flying

[bigbill]

The Navy (and Marines) are having more issues with the T-45s. Compressor blade failures have taken about half out of service. The idea behind the T-45 was its performance and ability to operate on aircraft carriers. Pilots no longer do their carrier quals with a T-45. They qualify in their airframe which is either a Hornet or an F-35C. Now there is discussion of skipping the T-45 and sending students to the replacement squadrons to finish all their simulators and get their wings after a solo flight. The simulators are very important since there are no two seat F-35s and all the two stick Hornets are going away.

[Scott G.]

After you read His-Majestys-Airship/S-C-Gwynne

The British airships, were intended to compete with the German
airships and Pan-Am's flying boats. For that story read.


71WnvtBsx8L._SL1500_.jpg

[j44ke]

...

So I’m JFA (just flying along) the other evening from PIT to SEA and I clicked on Flight Radar to check our flight status and I saw two orbs on the screen and thought WTH? Quick search and they were Stratospheric Airships cruising at 64,000’ and 68,000’ respectively going about 10nmh. Note the pattern of aircraft giving the airships some space; no pun intended.

https://aerostar.com/products/balloo...heric-airships

Not the Chinese then. The other guys.

[echappist]

Yikes, a Delta A350 clips off the tail of a Delta Connection CRJ-900 at ATL

[echappist]

On second thought, even though it was the vertical stabilizer that was shorn off, I'd say that the A350 clipped the wings on the CRJ-900 in two meanings of the phrase.

[rwsaunders]

12 day flight across the world in a 60-year old plane…from our friends at the BBC.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...year-old-plane

[72gmc]

A Twin Otter! Dad is a fan of Otters, having jumped out of them back in his smoke jumper days. We have several single Otters in the float plane services around here.

[gregl]

A Twin Otter! Dad is a fan of Otters, having jumped out of them back in his smoke jumper days. We have several single Otters in the float plane services around here.

Twin Otters were affectionately known as "Twotters" or "turbo turtles" when I was flying. Amazing aircraft, but a massive pain to follow into LGA when they were used as commuter airliners. With approach speeds in the 75-80 knot (indicated airspeed) range, they were aerial roadblocks. I can remember S-turning behind them to maintain spacing. Great memories!

Greg

[bigbill]

I'm flying back to Vegas from Pittsburgh in the morning. SWA and by throwing down $70, my B17 became an A8. It's around 5 hours and I'm tall. My lovely wife is flying to Billings this evening to judge an equestrian event over the weekend. She's flying Alegiant which is stupid cheap between Vegas and Billings. She scored the bulkhead row which is good since she's 6'3".

[rwsaunders]

Think the crew is having a fun ride tonight?

[bigbill]

Flight Radar is an awesome app. My son tells me his flight number and I can watch him fly. I watched his T-6II solo flight, now I'll get to watch his T-45 flights.

[gregl]

Think the crew is having a fun ride tonight?

The NOAA P-3s "Miss Piggy" and "Kermit" were also conducting missions within the hurricane: https://www.instagram.com/flynoaa/reel/DAWemVMP-fj/. They now have the capability to release small drones within the storms to feed data back to the manned platforms.

Greg

[j44ke]

The NOAA P-3s "Miss Piggy" and "Kermit" were also conducting missions within the hurricane: https://www.instagram.com/flynoaa/reel/DAWemVMP-fj/. They now have the capability to release small drones within the storms to feed data back to the manned platforms.

Greg

That is really cool.

[bigbill]

Here is my son approaching 9 G's in the centrifuge. He handled it fine so he'll start T-45 ground school on Monday.

[rwsaunders]

Heart Aerospace's electric airplane...

[Dave Thompson]

We had a 5 hour layover on our way to Spain at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. In our case I’m counting the 5 hours as a good thing because that airport has the longest terminals I’ve ever experienced at any other airport. At least 20 minutes at a quick walk to get from our arrival gate to passport control, which surprisingly was not very crowded. To make up for that, they provided the most curt and rude personnel, including the young ladies that direct people to the correct windows, I’ve come across in years. I mistakenly thought that being in the beating heart of France the airport would be a visually exiting, colorful and artsy welcome. Nope. Dull, dreary, boring. The most color I saw was the different shades of concrete. The whole thing was a buzzkill.

[Saab2000]

We had a 5 hour layover on our way to Spain at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. In our case I’m counting the 5 hours as a good thing because that airport has the longest terminals I’ve ever experienced at any other airport. At least 20 minutes at a quick walk to get from our arrival gate to passport control, which surprisingly was not very crowded. To make up for that, they provided the most curt and rude personnel, including the young ladies that direct people to the correct windows, I’ve come across in years. I mistakenly thought that being in the beating heart of France the airport would be a visually exiting, colorful and artsy welcome. Nope. Dull, dreary, boring. The most color I saw was the different shades of concrete. The whole thing was a buzzkill.

I went through CDG about 7 years ago going from Athens to Minneapolis/St. Paul. We had over 2 hours and barely made our connecting flight, having to change terminals on extremely crowded busses after waiting in a long line and then having to re-clear security, again with a long line. We walked up to the Delta flight and were among the last to board. Fifteen minutes later and we wouldn’t have made it. I won’t be looking forward to going back to CDG.

I used work at Zurich (ZRH) and it was really efficient but post COVID, it’s a mixed bag. I have absolutely raced through and I’ve also had it take me 90 minutes to get from check-in to my gate, with long lines for check-in, passport control and security. At least ZRH is clean.

But I’m not sure there are any good airports anymore. Just less bad ones. The new La Guardia is amazingly better from the dumpster it used to be, but that’s not a true international airport.

[72gmc]

But I’m not sure there are any good airports anymore. Just less bad ones.

My wife and kid experienced the dark side of CDG last summer while trying to change flights. Both of them have sworn off that airport as a result, at least for transfers. Schiphol is much less bad and has a Miffy store, which is worth more than almost anything else to my kid.

[echappist]

But I’m not sure there are any good airports anymore. Just less bad ones. The new La Guardia is amazingly better from the dumpster it used to be, but that’s not a true international airport.

Perhaps the new Berlin Brandenburg airport might be good?

The older one (TXL) was comically small for an international airport serving a city of the stature of Berlin. There were widebodies servicing the airport, but I'd be surprised if there were more than 25 jet bridges. It did make for a very short walk from street-side to the gates though.

Otherwise, Taipei (TPE), Haneda, and Osaka (KIX) all appear decent and modern.

Stateside, I guess EWR isn't too bad. I do reserve a bit of dismay for your (and likely mine) main international gateway. T5 at ORD is located inordinately far from the other termini as to make the transfer excessively difficult, and I don't think there's an air-side rail transfer available. For an airport of its size and stature, the absence of a rail-based air-side transfer is rather glaring.

(Dis)honorable mention goes to IAD, for an excessively long deboarding process followed by a seemingly interminable transfer from int'l arrivals to the gates.

[Saab2000]

Perhaps the new Berlin Brandenburg airport might be good?

The older one (TXL) was comically small for an international airport serving a city of the stature of Berlin. There were widebodies servicing the airport, but I'd be surprised if there were more than 25 jet bridges. It did make for a very short walk from street-side to the gates though.

Otherwise, Taipei (TPE), Haneda, and Osaka (KIX) all appear decent and modern.

Stateside, I guess EWR isn't too bad. I do reserve a bit of dismay for your (and likely mine) main international gateway. T5 at ORD is located inordinately far from the other termini as to make the transfer excessively difficult, and I don't think there's an air-side rail transfer available. For an airport of its size and stature, the absence of a rail-based air-side transfer is rather glaring.

(Dis)honorable mention goes to IAD, for an excessively long deboarding process followed by a seemingly interminable transfer from int'l arrivals to the gates.

I have heard very questionable things about the ‘new’ Berlin airport. When I flew there in another lifetime it was out of THF, which today is closed. WWII and cold war era airfield and actually cool AF. Can’t comment on Asia because I’ve never been. EWR? I last flew there about 4+ years ago and it was horrible, but I believe they’re doing a renovation, hopefully along the lines of what has happened with LGA. In my world that place doesn’t have a very good reputation. Hopefully it’s better today. My employer doesn’t currently operate there.

And my international gateway? Yes, it’s ORD. But that’s when I go to ZRH. I work out of MDW for a small Texas-based startup. I have flown internationally out of MDW so many times I can count them on one hand.

You’re right about IAD. That place needs to be bulldozed and reimagined.

One final thing - For international travel Global Entry is a MUST! Game changer.