The Aviation Thread [Contains Lots of Awesome Pictures]

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SpaceX engine test fire

Delta to aquire oil refinery - http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/delta-to-acquire-oil-refinery-371293/
 
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Looks like a PW F100 from an F-15
 
So yesterday (May 1st) the first passenger 747-8 was officially handed over to Lufthansa by Boeing in Seatle. The bird is supposedly on its way to Frankfurt now (or it is already... I can't find out) and because it's raining I'm not going to go to the airport on a lucky guess.

Anyway, I was at the airport again on Saturday during another bike trip and made a new experience. It was very warm (almost 30?) and there was no wind at all (on the ground). For the first time since I've been on the airport, I could feel the wake turbulences of the individual planes.

It was amazing, how different they felt between different types of aircraft and it was also amazing how specific they were for an individual plane type. So after a couple of approaches I could tell from the wake turbulence if it was a A320,737 etc.

The first experience was rather strange. Because first, the jet came, flew over me, landed and maybe 30 seconds later the turbulences came along the fence. The sound of the wind in the fence was somehow like a supersonic fighter jet arriving. I was very surprised by that "strange" unexpected sound approaching me, since there was nothing to see, when the wind finally hit me and I felt it. Then it became clear that it was wake turbulence.

Surpringly, the strongest effect didn't come from the biggest plane. The biggest plane that landed on this runway were 777-300 and A340-600. Not sooo much wake turbulences. The strongest turbulences came from Bombardier CRJ900 jets. That must have something to do with their T-like tail. I've no other explantion.

I've two more pictures of the houses of the people, that suffer the most from the new runway, look at this landing-light how they constructed the pile, that it goes over the house :rolleyes: :blink::?

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This must really suck when planes come in like this in a row.

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idk said:
This must really suck when planes come in like this in a row.

1Puqd.jpg
Click to expand...

That's what LAX looks like. Drive eastward on the 91, or the 105, and up in the sky are two, three rows of neatly-spaced lights, all airplanes rushing towards LAX's 2 inbound runways. They're the only things that glimmer in the orange night in Los Angeles, and they start their approach somewhere around Sepulveda Blvd in Westchester?which is a really great place to watch the planes land. I'll be moving there in a few months, it seems, so I'll see if I can actually hear the planes when they come in.
 
It is amazing sometimes. The area around the airport (especially westwards) is rather rural and there is almost no air polution. So on a clear summer morning, you can see one dot after another reaching high into the sky. It always was a beautiful obstruction while driving home from a club in Frankfurt, back in the days when I had to make the 160km drive home at 5 or 6 am.

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And here she is:

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Photo not by me but the real freaks :p

For me, the 747 is still the most beautiful airliner. As impressed as I am with the size and appearence of the A380, it is more like a "wow a sumo-ringer" not "wow, a supermodel". The 747 is awesome. But because the upper deck of the 747 gets longer and longer in every version they built, I wonder why don't they built a full double decker???

So Lufthansa has ordered 20 and this is the first. So I'll have plenty of opportunities to see one of the ladies. First passenger flight will be on June 1st to Washington DC. No idea what they're gonna do with the plane for a whole month until it starts operation.
 
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F-35 with transonic shock.

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I live under the flight line for NAS Pax River and I see neat stuff all the time (the other day a V-22 was doing hover to flight conversions above the corn field behind my house) so it shouldn't be too long before I see a F-35.
 
Here's my favorite 757 low pass...

 
My buddy used to be an American Airlines check airman on the 757/767 and he described it perfectly: "Big tits, long legs, and climbed like a homesick angel"
 
[video=youtube;7yUq1-BRlPE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yUq1-BRlPE&ob=av3e[/video]
 
I like the registration on that Robinson :)
 
They made some ceremony for the new 747-8i

[video=youtube;12mSb-q60ZY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12mSb-q60ZY&feature=uploademail[/video]

The 2nd deck is really huge. Anyone knows if Boeing didn't even propose a full double deck version as a competitor to the A380??? It really doesn't look like a huge step to take. Especially if one considers that they basically made exactly that with the "dream lifter".

What is also interesting:
There is a new business class design, with beds that can be folded completely flat. Some animations:

 
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idk said:
The 2nd deck is really huge. Anyone knows if Boeing didn't even propose a full double deck version as a competitor to the A380??? It really doesn't look like a huge step to take. Especially if one considers that they basically made exactly that with the "dream lifter".
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Yellowstone_Project

Supposedly Yellowstone 3, the 747's successor, will be big enough to compete directly with the A380. It's still in its development stage, so it will be a while before we see a prototype.

If I'm not mistaking, the -8 will be the last of the 747s.
 
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