What's the most amazing flying machine you've seen in person?

[fireflyr]

It was an A-6 for sure, I'll bet an hours flight time on it, went in the port engine inlet and flamed it out.

[Mike]

yeah, I think you're right.
Didn't his helmet come off and that's what flamed out (or broke otherwise) the engine?
And since it was spooling down and his buddies grabbed him he got away....
Pfew! What a story to tell your grandkids.... "stupid things I did when I was your age:"   

[Frank N. O.]

The K-Max, that's the ultra-thin one with three skiis right? Funny looking but strong as heck.

I think I saw the video of someone sucking into a carrier-jet on that horror-show with the kids aboard a old carrier that's haunted, the one with a girl sitting in a room where someone allegedly got killed and a IR camera showed a suddent warm spot behind her and her nose started bleeding, darn that was disgusting. The plane video was shown before they started their tests and that guy got sucked in like a rag-doll and it didn't look like a Tomcat I agree, a smaller low-wing plane with small intakes on the side. I prefer to see funny things about planes though, like the made-up gag with the guy in Hot Shots roasting hot-dogs on the exhuast (btw the plane itself was actually a real one although of course most flying scenes were done with models, it was a english Folland Gnat, formerly used by the Red Arrows as well).

One question: How can anyone survive going all the way thrue? There are tons of blades and other big parts in there. Note: I am glad that he survived though, as long as he still has some kind of a decent life.

Frank

[Have Blue]

He didn't go all the way through, right?

[Mike]

no way!!!
his helmet did!!
and came out in little pieces...
Like I said, that's what blew the engine and it shut down. He got stuck in the intake and his buddies grabbed him to keep him rom going any further.
If it would have been a F-14 he would have gone through. But you'll never come out in one piece.

Igor Sikorsky went through the rotor blades once though unharmed!!!
Has anybody seen that video?

[Frank N. O.]

Bingo! http://cvn76.com/videos/Sucked%20In%20Jet%20Engine.avi A-6 and he did survive as you can see at the end.

Btw I used altavista's videosearch not google which however is my normal search-util but they don't have a video/audio search function and when looking for videos and sounds from cars and planes then Altavista is a lot easier.

Frank

[chuckar101]

cool thing I saw at work was two firfighting cranes come into ely in formation.  flew over and the whole place shook.  Mike you would of recognized them one wasthe crane we saw in Virgin Valley last season.  One broke thoug so he had to hang around for a few days.

[Ted_Stryker]

I think we are splitting hairs.

As near as I can find, there were 18 A-12 Blackbirds or derivatives built. 3 were the YF-12 birds, with short chines, large radome for radar and 2 crew. 2 were built for the D-21 drone program. The remaining 13 were operational, though for a short time. The A-12 was a slightly smaller airframe, with the chines being the most notable difference. The SR-71 had much larger chines, and gave it the impression of being a snake. The A-12 was essentially an airplane without a mission after we signed the no overflight treaty with the Russians.

I concur... we are indeed splitting hairs   And I'm follically challenged as it is!

At any rate... awesome aircraft.  For that matter, so was the Navy A-12 flying wing that I was referring to.  It would have actually ended up having most of the same benefits of the B-2.  Those flying wings, including the ones developed in the 1950's and 1960's, had inherent stealth characteristics, and presented both a visual stealth, and radar reflectivity stealth that had them well ahead of their times.  While the flying wings of old would show up on radar more than the ones today do, they were still very hard to pick up on radar consistently.

[chuckar101]

There was a program on the History channel about the B-2 and its predecessors and it hit on the fact that even the first one with the propellars had stealthy characteristics.  It also mentioned that the first flying wings were notoriously difficult to fly. 

[Ted_Stryker]

There was a program on the History channel about the B-2 and its predecessors and it hit on the fact that even the first one with the propellars had stealthy characteristics. It also mentioned that the first flying wings were notoriously difficult to fly.

I'll have to see if I can find that program on re-runs!  They always do a great job with their documentaries

Thanks!

[Witchblade]

The most amazing plane I've seen in person is an F-117 Nighthawk. Merely because it's impossible to belive that thing actually generates lift and flies through an atmosphere. If it was a spaceship - no problem. But an airplane? Truly impressive.

[Mike]

Ok guys.
I am surprised (and a little dissappointed) that nobody mentioned one of the coolest flying machines ever...
... the A-10 Warthog!

Not only will I never forget the time I saw one up and close but also the day I met an A-10 pilot. Those guys are a whole different breed of humans ! ! ! What a plane!
It's like somebody took the biggest machine gun they could find, and then built a plane around it.
Brings up the question: "What was first, the gun or the plane?"      he he he

Besides it being so ugly that its already good looking again... I like guns and I love everything that flies (except fixing Skymasters or any Beechraft) . . . it's the perfect combination ! !

[Frank N. O.]

Hey Witchblade, I agree, those sharp angles also on the wings makes it seem incredble it can fly, even with fly-by-wire systems to keep it straight and level because as you said, it doesn't look like it can produce any life.

Mike, I think the A-10 looks fantastic too, even just as a flying machine and not a weapon, but I've never seen one in real life and that's the starting theme for the thread so....

I would think a Firehawk and such would be a wild thing to see so feel free to post some pictures as well (I believe that's the one you fly right, or was that another one here?). Air Alpha in Denmark, stationed at Odense Airport that I used to live near and wherefrom I flew the Cardinal, has several Bell 222's both with skids and wheels and one of them was appearently an ex NYPD one, blue with yellow stripes, photo taken of it hover-taxiing at Odense Airport (EKOD) and I think the 222/230 is a good looking helicopter. especially with the wheel-pods. The 430 with it's massive multi-story engine-housing looks a bit less elegant though but looks aren't everything I guess, remember the variation on how helicopter's fly joke: They are so ugly the earth repels them

Frank

[chuckar101]

Your right Mike the A-10 rules.  Whats cooler is when you actually get to see and hear one fire the gun.  Back in the CAP days my dad got us into a capstone where we got to see all the Air orce aircraft drop and shoot live ammunition.  The cool thing when th A-10 fires and you can't hear a single repeat it just sound like one drone.  One of the younger cadets thought the plane was farting if thats a better description.  Pretty cool though!!

[FlyingBlind]

Why does the A-10 Rock ? It has a Minigun the size of a Mazda MPV !

Id have to say...that the SPECTRE just kicks ass...its huge...its comfortable (has even seats with leather!) and the arsenal is huuumongous!!! (4 x Miniguns , 2 x 75mm cannon, and 1 x 150 mm. cannon - REMEMBER! The arsenal on the Spectre can be changed ! this is the Default build-up) it was...awesome...