Aviation BS and Photo Thread

...^^^... Thanks ... When I lived in Canada ... I did some work with DoD in Ottawa-Hull ... really cool people to work with.

Because Canada was much more informal than the US ... it was easy to meet the top government officials back in the late 1970's to the mid 1980's ... got to eat dinner with Joe Clark at a small local hotel in Drummondville (he only had 1 RCMP car with him in Drummondville, PQ). There were about 15 of us at dinner and I was impressed how informal it was back then. I was a young punk and had no idea how lucky I was at the time.

This was all before all the terrorist alerts that we have today ... that kind of interaction would be impossible now.

Some of my best memories ever are from Canada.

 

Love all that black smoke pouring out the back!

Yeah, I can imagine it being difficult to switch seats in a Mooney!

 

Emirates A380 wake turbulence flips Challenger 604 midair.
http://flightservicebureau.org/enroute-a380-wake-flips-challenger-604-upside-down/

 

Wow, good thing they were able to regain control; sounds like any unsecured passengers really got tossed around in the cabin, bouncing off the other passengers.

 

Quite different security now, yes, but the approachable demeanour still exists.

 

That's what killed Billy Mays of Oxyclean fame. Always wear your seatbelt. Cabin crew are always at risk.

 

Here's something you don't see very often. A 2-seat version of the A-10 Warthog. A YA-10B, to be exact.

 

I used to see one every day. Then they moved it.

 

I assume they were used for training.

 

Yep.

 

Best A-10 we used to see at Davis-Monthan was when a bird would pick a semi going down the highway at random...then follow them around town from above. The hog would reacquire, put the pipper on the truck, film it, break, and repeat 5 or 6 times. They got to the point where they could hold the pipper on a target going better than 30 MPH for 5 or 6 seconds, in traffic.

By the time the Afghanistan and Iraq wars started, the A-10 pilots were ALREADY air snipers. They got even better doing it with real shells.

 

On my "Delta flight from Hell" I was talking to the stewardess about the time they were doing drink service and she hit the ceiling the plane dropped so abruptly.

 

I was reading of this recently. Found it interesting that the 604 ended up being written off. Of course the debate on which 380 may have caused the upset as well.

 

3-15-17. Jakarta, Indonesia
A330 Garuda Airlines. No injuries reported. No crew or pax onboard. Stated cause was GPU (ground power unit) fire due to improper maintenance on the GPU

At least everyone on the ramp remained calm

 

At least it was a disposable aircraft.

I've seen that happen a few times tho only once did it result in aircraft damage. Gotta say I'm not sure why the GPU is SO close to the aircraft. I've seen people park them so the exhaust blows right on the airframe.

 

...^^^... thinking back ... hard to believe that some of these aircraft are this old.

 

Or you're that young......

 

Not a fan either. We always had any and all ground service equipment as far away from the aircraft as possible. It seems there is a history of aviation incidents from that area of the world.

 

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...^^^... about 10-20 years ago, I used to spend a lot of time with some of my USMC buddies at MAG-42 in Marietta. They had a great light attack squadron and here is some info from their site before they were closed.

A lot of good memories here at Dobbins AFB after RVN . . . . here is a brief history of the area below . . . . . this is from an USAF report dated December, 2007:

IIRC, this was also the Bell Bomber Factory area during WW2 too.


. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dobbins Air Reserve Base
Published December 03, 2007

Naval Air Station Atlanta supports some 2,000 Navy and Marine Corps reservists in 31 different units. Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 46 (VR-46) flies the DC-9 Sky Train to support the Chief of Naval Operations airlift missions. Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 77 (VAW-77) flies the E-2C Hawkeye in support of the nations counter drug forces in the war on illegal drugs. In addition, the C-12 Beachcraft Kingair transports personnel and cargo throughout the continental U.S. and Caribbean regions.
Marine Air Group 42 (MAG-42) staff headquarters is located aboard NAS Atlanta. The Marines have two squadrons located on the base. Marine Helicopter Light Attack Squadron 773 (HMLA-773) flies the AH-1W Cobra and UH-1N Huey helicopters and has made two deployments to Afghanistan since September 11, 2001. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 142 (VMFA-142) flies the FA-18 Hornet. VMFA-142's mission is to plan for the conduct of air operations in support of the Fleet Marine Force, supervise and train selected Marine Corps Reserve units, and ensure mobilization readiness

The Georgia Army National Guard flies the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. Other Army units on the base include the Joint Operations Directorate, which provides counter drug support to civil authorities and operations planning.

Lockheed Martin/Air Force Plant #6, which is adjacent to the base, also shares the Dobbins runway. The corporation uses a 74-acre building to build the C-130 Hercules and the P-3 Orion. Lockheed built the C-141 Starlifter and the C-5B at that plant as well. Lockheed is currently producing the Air Force's F-22 Raptor, an advanced air-to-air fighter designed to replace the F-15 Eagle.

BRAC 2005
In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to close Naval Air Station Atlanta, Ga. As a result, DoD recommended to consolidate the Naval Air Reserve Atlanta, located at NAS Atlanta, with the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center forming the newly named Naval Operational Support Center Atlanta (NOSC) located at Dobbins Air Reserve Base. The recommendation also directed NAS Atlanta aviation assets be transferred to aviation bases in Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia which would result in increased maintenance efficiencies and operational synergies.

History
Dobbins ARB was built in 1943 and was originally called Marietta Army Airfield. In 1950, the named changed to Dobbins Air Force Base to honor Capt. Charles Dobbins, a pilot from Marietta. Captain Dobbins was killed during World War II when his C-47 aircraft was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea. In June 1992, the name was changed to Dobbins Air Reserve Base.

 

Yellow floats...

And droop tips...

Plus lots of other less obvious little winter projects. Looking good right now for the ice to be off the lake by the middle of next month.