Aviation BS and Photo Thread

Saturday morning biscuits and gravy beats $100 hamburgers any day.

 

A bit behind on my feed..
https://twitter.com/engineers_feed/status/1538241928059269121?s=21&t=c5bJ_0hgnykhbe0OiTFFOg

 

Everybody called it a "fighter" when it's really a light bomber, not a fighter at all. Further confusing when the Air Force gave it the "F" designation.

 

Wasn't that done intentionally to confuse adversaries?

 

I agree...that makes a lot of sense.

 

I tend to use Windy, Weather Underground and just Aviation Weather app - just pulls Metars into one spot. I also use SkewT for flights sometimes, but it's been a while since I've flown IFR...

 

Foreflight, My Radar and Aviation Weather.

 

Windy and XCSkies

 

My flight school recommended AeroWeather. I ponied up for the Pro version years ago and haven’t regretted it.

 

Windy, as I care most about wind speed and direction and ceilings.

 

It got F because of payload size and because we dropped the "FB" designation after the 111 (otherwise the Strike Eagle would be an FB-15). Post-Vietnam showed that we didn't need mid-sized specialist aircraft, and that the 4th gen fighters could serve in a variety of different roles. The 117 wasn't a dogfighter but it was designed to be capable of BVR engagement. It wasn't until after the units stood up at Tonopah did they conclude that since it couldn't perform a supersonic escape, BVR fights would be a last resort and she'd be an invisible precision bomber.

Using current birds as an example, the F-16 Viper can carry an insane amount of ordinance - more than the B-17 used to - and still be able to engage in a dogfight if need be. It performs FAR more strike work, but is still used by US ANG units as part of the continental air defense.

 

Speaking of ANG units, Indiana ANG had F-4 Phantoms operating out of Fort Wayne. WAAAY back in 1982 I was working on my private ticket, and on the last leg of my long xcountry solo, my instructor had me use Fort Wayne as the last stop. While I was inbound, there were 2 pairs of F-4s also inbound to land. I was in a tired Cessna 150, and I was moving slow enough that the ATC guys were using me as a checkpoint for the F-4s...I'm pretty sure the Phantoms were moving a LOT faster that the "250 or less below 10,000".

 

weathermeister.com, weather.gov

 

Anyone ever flown a Grumman AA-5 tiger/traveler??

Got checked out in one last night and I must say for a cat A single it’s a dream to fly. No rivets used in construction (skin bonded to frame) so no surprise it’s quite a slippery little airplane!

 

Also nice that it doesn’t drop out of the sky during the flair like every Hershey bar-winged Cherokee I’ve flown

 

And you can open the canopy in flight. We did it...and I'm not bullshitting everyone, we jumped it. Climbing out was very slow and careful. One foot on the step, and careful not to hit the horiz stab. I never got to fly one, but there was 3 of them at my home airport. Great visibility too. Did my private ticket in a 150, and then finished it in a Piper Tomahawk. We called them "hatchets"...they had great vis too. My instructor spun one, and it scared the shit out of him. Said he'd never seen a tail boom flex like that. Two months later, they issued an AD about tails coming off of them, and they installed a bulkhead in fuse near the tail. It was actually a very comfortable airplane. Had a lot more room than a 150. Ah the good old days! I'm thinking of starting a bucket list here of all the airplanes we wanted to fly but didn't get the chance.

 

Coming back from Georgetown to Houston and on 71 I was passing the Smithville airport and I saw this guy. It's a S-61N. The parking lot was empty except about 4 cars. Plus it was about 105+. No people, no fence but they had staked signs every 25'.
Here is a Wiki: Sikorsky S-61 - Wikipedia
Looked him up: Aircraft Inquiry (faa.gov)

 

Damn I miss that shit.













Chow time.