Planes
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Looks like we will buy new Hercules aircraft instead of changing to another manufacturer. Good solid option
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Yeah, lots of air forces use the J now. As such a small operator we are really better to buy sightly less than new stuff. Otherwise we have to sort the teething bugs out without the clout too push it.
I got 'shot down' by a hind during a survival extraction exercise in Red Flag, Embarrassing!
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Looks like we will buy new Hercules aircraft instead of changing to another manufacturer. Good solid option
Holy crap, that's over $400,000,000.00 for each aircraft. The price must include a huge amount of spares and technical support and backup.
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@Snowy ok so Red Flag over the Nevada desert, massive exercise, biggest air training event there is, regularly. I was out there with 43(F) Sqn. I volunteered, along with my buddy Mitch, to be the downed aircrew for the massive counter air rescuer package to collect. So we get dropped out in the desert, run around (as it's cold we don't want to stop) during the night being chased by some OPFOR. Eventually we go through the extraction procedure as the package made its way to us.
In comes a SF Blackhawk, out leaps a bunch of para rescue guys, who (very ungently) zip tie us up and bundle us into the Heli after security procedures. Then they start trying to get a saline drip into us as it's procedure after a desert rescue, after a few jabs I declined anymore attempts in the vibrating cab! I'd only been out hair a day and wasn't exactly dehydrated. Mitch got hers in first time, she said really good pre drinking hangover cure.
Very noisy and we're not on headsets, so we sit and chew jerky whilst we weave our way back to base. After a bit the crewman points out the window, and a hind is there in formation with us.
"Cool" I yell
"He shot us down!" He yells back
Fuck.
So in the debrief, the hind had done some tricky shit, landing and we lost him in the chaos of hundred of jets and helis zooming around, then managed to sneak through to us. Was lucky, or the red air guys know the good egress routes, to catch us.
Coolest thing was the Blackhawk landing in the desert at night, the sparkling disc in the sand churned up.
The Kopp Etchells Effect, aviation nerds
(wokka illustrating it)
Then we were back to our Vegas hotel and casinos, yeah baby
Edit. Oh a vid on gogs. Looks a ton better in colour at night with the mark 1 eyeball
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@Machpants said in Planes:
The Kopp Etchells Effect
Heard of that, never seen it. Sand / dust getting ignited by the protective coating on leading edge or something?
Great post.
One of the coolest things I have seen was a Leonid meteorite shower over Alaska with the Aurora in the background. A sky full of shooting stars in front of green and purple shimmering curtains, was truly awe inspiring.
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@Machpants said in Planes:
The Kopp Etchells Effect
Heard of that, never seen it. Sand / dust getting ignited by the protective coating on leading edge or something?
Great post.
One of the coolest things I have seen was a Leonid meteorite shower over Alaska with the Aurora in the background. A sky full of shooting stars in front of green and purple shimmering curtains, was truly awe inspiring.
Wow that's so cool. I used to love transit when on NVGs, you'vegot time to look around, makes you realise how many shooting stars etc there are.
Yeah the effect is sparks caused by the leading edge abrasion strip, usually metal like titanium, smashing the sand into tiny pieces.
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Beware the flying Ginsu
The CIA’s Blade-Wielding 'Flying Ginsu' Missile Strikes Again
The missile kills its targets using pop-out steel blades instead of explosives.
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@taniwharugby no worse a joke than their flying
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@Donsteppa and I suspect (hope) they got thier arses kicked too!
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Interesting, never heard about these guys before http://www.caribbeanaircrew-ww2.com/
The guy who wrote To sir with love was one of them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._R._Braithwaite
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Nice little piece for aviation nerds:
I've known Dave for a couple of decades and he is possibly the nicest man on the planet. If you have been to an airshow in NZ you have probably seen his tiger moth display. Possibly the Avro Anson, and he also flew the first Mosquito that they restored.
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The Second Top Gun 2 Trailer Has Landed, Secret High-Speed Test Jet And All
We get more gorgeous aerial footage and our first look at the high-speed test aircraft Maverick flies as a set piece in the film.
