There's a big Airshow in Moreno Valley/Riverside this weekend at March ARB. Thunderbirds are performing (7 of them plus a spare were practicing today and probably will be tomorrow, got a pretty good show myself about an hour ago), B52, C17, KC135, lots of other aircraft performing and several static displays.
It's been nice out... FINALLY!!! So I've been ticking off some new grass strips. Now I've landed at every public airport in the NW corner of Oregon... WOOHOOO!!
More info on the March ARB airshow this weekend. Today a load of stuff arrived, T-birds are out there right now practicing.
Arrived today: F-18, C5, KC10, A10, B25, P36, F-86 Sabre, AV-8 Harrier (this thing is badass), and a whole lot more. F/A-18 doing a slow pass was ridiculous and that C5 is probably bigger than most of our houses. Watching a Harrier hover and rotate, then back up is mind boggling.
Russia now has #1 fighter plane in the world... SU-30MK -Vectored Thrust with Canards.
The maneuverability of this plane is incredible.
This plane would be nearly impossible to defeat in a dogfight.
As you watch this airplane, look at the canards moving along side of, and just below the canopy rail. The "canards" are the small wings forward of the main wings. The smoke and contrails provide a sense of the
actual flight path, sometimes in reverse direction.
This video is of an in-flight demonstration flown by the Russian's
The fighter can stall from high speed, stopping forward motion in seconds. (full stall). Then it demonstrates an ability to descend tail first without causing a compressor stall.
It can also recover from a flat spin in less than a minute. These maneuver
capabilities don't exist in any other aircraft in the world today.
We don't know which nations will soon be flying the SU-30MK, hopefully China isn't one of them.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Note: Friends worked with advanced aircraft flight control systems and concepts for many years as an extension of stability control and means of control...
Canards and vectored thrust were among many concepts examined to extend our fighter aircraft performance. Neither our current nor our next generation aircraft now poised for funding & production can in any way match the performance of this Russian aircraft NOW FLYING in any near combat situation.
Somehow the bankrupt Russian aircraft industry has out produced our complex politically tainted aerospace industry with this technology marvel. Scratch any ideas of close in air-to-air combat with this aircraft in the future.
Take a look at the video with the sound up. This aircraft is of concern to U.S and NATO planners. Maximize your screen for best viewing.
I re-edited one of the earlier videos and made it half the length with out techno music for once, a little more enjoyable to watch.
I'm especially psyched because I just got my license on January 31st. So this was like the first day I went out by my self and "on-sited" some grass strips. So I finally feel like a real pilot!
Jack, Le Tour de Grass! Boy, grass strips in Oregon don't get overused, eh?
What, four months of flyin' and 8 months of hard muddin'?
Man, don't like a wall of trees at the TO end, but maybe that's just me. ;-)
Coolest airplane I ever rode in: Helio Stallion. I'm not sure if there are any left. You could fill it full of lead and take off in 200 feet. It was Air America's version of a Pilatus Porter on steroids.
Funnest: I gave an airshow pilot a free tandem and he took me up for 45 minutes in a Christen Eagle (sic). It was basically a 2 seat Pitts biplane.
Within 15 minutes I cold do a decent roll, keeping the nose flat. You could do anything in that airplane.
5 gees kind of makes you grunt, but 2 negative gees makes you feel like your eyes are going to pop out. Negative gees are extremely uncomfortable.
"SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon: According to this morning's IMMT (ISS Mission Management Team) meeting, "the vehicle is performing nominally and all planned demonstration objectives have been successfully completed to date. There are currently no known issues that would prevent proceeding with the planned ISS fly-under demonstration, currently scheduled for early tomorrow morning. During the fly-under, Dragon will briefly approach to within 2.5 km of the ISS to perform another series of demonstration objectives."
Credit: TomCochrane
Credit: TomCochrane
Thursday, May 24 (Flight Day 3): Live NASA Television coverage from NASA's Johnson Space Center mission control in Houston as the Dragon spacecraft performs its flyby of the International Space Station to test its systems begins at 2:30 a.m. EDT and will continue until the Dragon passes the vicinity of the station. A news briefing will be held at 10 a.m. following the activities.
Friday, May 25 (Flight Day 4): Live coverage of the rendezvous and berthing of the Dragon spacecraft to the station begins at 2 a.m. and will continue through the capture and berthing of the Dragon to the station's Harmony node. A news briefing will be held at 1 p.m. after Dragon is secured to the station.
Saturday, May 26 (Flight Day 5): Live coverage of the hatch opening and entry of the Dragon spacecraft begins at 5:30 a.m. and will include a crew news conference at 11:25 a.m. NASA TV also will provide live coverage of the departure and reentry of the Dragon spacecraft once a date is determined.
^Holy f*ck that is scary. I know there is a vid where the tandem master forgets to clip 2 of the points in on his student, but he gets them in freefall. But this one is way worse.
Let us know!