Aviation BS and Photo Thread

Seeing the one at Udvar-Hazy, I was amazed how teeny tiny it was in cabin diameter. Back when people were thin, and air travel was a luxurious experience.

 

The fogginess of the England weather just makes this photo look even more sinister. So much raw power.

Now go on, someone re-re-re-post "the thing"

 

There is one here in Seattle at the Museum of Flight that you can actually walk through. It feels super small inside, though they did manage to stuff 4 abreast seating in it that I don't remember being too overly tight.

 

Oh yeah, I've been in that one. I remember the aisle being pretty narrow.

 

They do have plexiglass between the aisle and the seats so you can't actually touch or sit in anything which I'm sure contributes to it.

 

What? Are they trying to preserve the rich peeps fart smells in the seats?

 

More keeping the peons off...lol

It's pretty crazy to see how well some of the items held up..I want to go back to Boeing and spend 3 days there. Wife would kill me...Anyone been to the Warbird Museum in Boise?

 

I've spent quite a few hours on the Boeing production floor in Everett and Renton. A line rate of 45+ 737s a month is a rediculous production effort!

Sadly, they wouldn't let me near the KC-46 which I have a pretty significant family connection to.

 

There were 2 of those assigned to RAF Mildenhall when I was stationed there. (88' to 90') Damn, I feel old all of a sudden.

 

Hey, we have one just like that at Boeing Field in Seattle.

 

My dad was the PIC for the CSAR bird that went to go rescue the Ichi-Ban crew in the Luzon crash. Despite being a "friendly" nation that was some pretty wild "indian country" at the time

http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/Luzon.html

 

I've been at Boeing Everett for 23 years, (minus a 5 year layoff) trust me you don't want to be on the tanker program.

 

Oh I wan't no part of that program. I got to hear the "off the record" comments during the acq process...AND the second go around.

Airbus should have legit had/kept that one. But ya know...Made in America and all...

 

I spend all day on the KC-46, it's got a few neat things but I honestly miss working on the commercial planes more often than not. The 787 systems integration and technology was a lot of fun to test and troubleshoot. It had it's development issues but it really is a revolution in aircraft design, both from a structure and systems perspective.

Edit:

Haha, I wasn't going to be quite that blunt but yeah, pretty much.

 

Here's an interesting article for the Boeing guys here.
Do a Google search for "The Coming Boeing Bailout?" and read the first article on the list.
Those of us that were hired before 97' will agree with it.

 

I didn't hire in before the merger (part of that being I was 13 at the time) but I am second generation and agree that it is pretty much spot on.

My dad was a structures design engineer and started back in the 70s. I still remember the sense of dread he had at the time of the merger and him going on strike for the first time. He actually got frustrated enough that he left the company for 10 years before coming back for a bit and retiring as early as he possibly could.

 

If y'all want to see a museum, go to Dayton and visit the Air Force Museum. Holy crap, there are some amazing birds there. There is also an auxiliary hangar that most people don't visit that contains the first two or three Air Force One's and a crapload of old Lockheed Skunk Works birds including TACIT BLUE.

Take extra memory cards, it's a picture-rich environment. And good walking shoes, because it's YUGE!!!

 

Been there once, want to hit the onbase side as well.

 

I visited there a couple of years ago. Absolutely awesome!

Definitely picture rich!

 

Planes don't usually make ExPo, but when they do... I would love to get more time in a stearman. The one hour I do have logged wasn't nearly enough!

https://expeditionportal.com/cape-town-to-goodwood/