Aviation BS and Photo Thread

Yup. Heading home northbound, George flying, noticed that and pointed my iphone at it.

 

A couple from yesterday.

 

And there’s time left to clean his britches…
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJfmuHattui/?igsh=c2lqamJkbzVuZDE=

 

From the comments of Uretsky Aviation, that made me chuckle a bit too much this morning.

Pilatus:


PERRY THE PILATUS!?!

 

All I can say to that is that they sure are nice airplanes to fly, speaking as a right-seater.

 

Go check this out if you can. I saw it fly demos in Reno (stunning) and got some really nice pics of it. Makes sense it is going in the Smithsonian.
https://www.post-gazette.com/life/g...ndiana-pa-airport-museum/stories/202505150029

 

Gloriously beautiful Mustang. I saw it there myself. Speaking of Reno, sure do miss that event.

 

On a different note... newbie to the forum and don't have a lot of Tacoma knowledge to add, though I'm an old hand offroader blah blah. And occasionally do some Over Land exploring. Not sure if the following photo best fits in this thread or some other outdoor forum, but whatever. Hopefully some will find it interesting.

Over Land. Shelter on top of Mt Whitney, taken in a steep bank from about 16,000 feet a few years ago. And yes I was breathing O2.

 

Awesome! My wife and I were up there at the end of a 9-day backpack and besides the various Hornets occasionally blasting from Nevada, a sailplane visited the summit and made multiple hot passes while we were up there, sometime below us. I just ran across pictures of it the other day. I'll find that and post it.

 

Jump to 1:50

Love seeing them still flying!

Also: https://www.reddit.com/r/Planes/com...t_missed_an_f117_nighthawk/?utm_name=web3xcss

 

I’m curious from the commercial pilots as to your theories on AI171. I’ve heard possible dual engine out with the RAT possibly being deployed. Oddities with the take off configuration where it appears that the wings are clean, no flaps in. Someone also pointed out they may have performed an intersection departure, according to flight radar 24 flight tracks. Either way it’s a tragedy and quite frankly a miracle to hear that one person had survived.

 

I've been seeing multiple threads on Reddit (take that for what it's worth) from former passengers and flight crews that that particular bird had a history of mechanical and electrical issues.

 

Gear was never retracted either.

 

Came up here to reno for school but always had to work when that event was going on. Did however get the itch to fly after always seeing both the army and air guard helo's and C130's. Off to Navy Officer school in October on a pilot slot
Maybe If I play my cards right I end up in Fallon one day lol

 

If the RAT is out and it’s definitely the only source of power, the gear won’t come up.

On every transport jet I’ve flown, the RAT will only power essential electrical and hydraulic systems which is usually primary flight controls and their associated computers that make them work, captain side instruments, 1 radio, and anything else that is absolutely necessary to keep the plane under control…that’s it. Some airplanes even the flaps aren’t powered so they’re stuck where they are. It’s main idea is to keep you under control until you can get the APU running, which will power everything unless you have a seriously damaged electrical system and it’s all you have.

The gear is actually not an essential system because deploying them is of primary importance and that can always be done by manually dumping it, gravity takes care of the rest.

 

My buddy on the maiden flight of his restored Sea Fury, short straight line hop about 20 miles, dropped his gear and one of the mains was not green. Wingman verified visually, not locked. But it is easy to resolve, just yaw to get the main to grab air, locked it up quick.

 

Currently I fly the A320/21 and having to do that shouldn’t be necessary as long as the main doors open and gravity starts the process. The rest of the doors, the part attached to the gear itself, are actually tilted leading edge outward if you look at the plane from straight ahead and that’s on purpose. They are basically wings for the landing gear and always create a lifting force in the direction of the gear’s extension. Long as the plane is moving, they are always being pulled in their locked down direction.

 

There was an issue with a check valve in this instance. It was a highly modified plane with a lot of history...experimental. And a carrier fighter by design.

 

What the hell is that?!