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[LTK]

If you found yourself in Manhattan yesterday morning you might have noticed a Boeing 747 and an F-16 jet circling above the city. You should have noticed, because it caused mass evacuations of the office buildings in fear of a repeat of 9/11. It turns out that the plane was actually Air Force One posing for pictures with the plane above New York landmarks. And apparently, they forgot to inform the public. See here.

I have to say, that's an exceptionally fucking stupid move.

Anyway, apparently planes are fucking awesome holy shit.

[Radical AC]

@^:Well I guess pretty much that.  A photo op for planes that cost how many thousands of dollars an hour to run?  Never heard of photoshop?  I could have Air Force One on the moon in half an hour for, well it's the government so I'm gonna say half the cost.  Hope they used stimulus money.

[Mnementh]

Seriously though they actually spent thousands of dollars to have a plane pose for pictures? Planes! Posing! How do they even do that.

Actually the photo op was combined with a routine training sortie, so hey, at least money was saved.

[pen]

Which again, not the smartest thing.  Do you want guys in training to be flying so close to buildings?  I'm not sure that the fact that it was combined makes me more comfortable with it at all.

[valley_parade]

Hahaha, oh man. America you are ridiculous sometimes.

Seriously though they actually spent thousands of dollars to have a plane pose for pictures? Planes! Posing! How do they even do that.

USA! USA! USA! USA!

[Alex C]

Plus, beyond 9/11 fears, they did just kinda have a guy ditch in the Hudson river. It's not like a pilot has to be malicious in order to kill you with an aeroplane.

[valley_parade]

I still like that a guy crashed a plane into a river and is regarded as a national hero.

[Tyler]

Yeah, motherfucker saving 100 lives and shit.

[Drill King]

Oh god I love airplanes, I bet these pictures are ridiculously sexy.

[Patrick]

Which again, not the smartest thing.  Do you want guys in training to be flying so close to buildings?  I'm not sure that the fact that it was combined makes me more comfortable with it at all.

They're not being trained to fly for the first time, that would be absolutely retarded. Which is why they don't do it like that. Beginner flight training takes place well away from populated areas and it kinda doesn't involve 747s. Ever. It involves such machines as the T-38 (the T stands for Trainer, whereas the F in F-16 stands for fighter. Those military guys are kinda creative!), which is a tiny little fuck of a jet plane.

The training most likely involved close intercept with a large transport airplane, or the escort thereof.

(I hang out with the people at the Defense Attaché Office at the Embassy pretty frequently, the military aren't all baby-killers)

[Thomas Edison]

Planes! Posing! How do they even do that.

+


Edit: At first, I was all hotlinking and shit, but now, I'm cool.

[pen]

Which again, not the smartest thing.  Do you want guys in training to be flying so close to buildings?  I'm not sure that the fact that it was combined makes me more comfortable with it at all.

They're not being trained to fly for the first time, that would be absolutely retarded. Which is why they don't do it like that. Beginner flight training takes place well away from populated areas and it kinda doesn't involve 747s. Ever. It involves such machines as the T-38 (the T stands for Trainer, whereas the F in F-16 stands for fighter. Those military guys are kinda creative!), which is a tiny little fuck of a jet plane.

The training most likely involved close intercept with a large transport airplane, or the escort thereof.

(I hang out with the people at the Defense Attaché Office at the Embassy pretty frequently, the military aren't all baby-killers)

Thanks for clarifying.  When I think of training, I think of people who are less than 2 months experienced.  This does help the image in my head a bit. 

[Slick]

Yeah the military are (or ought to be) always training. You got trained at your job and you may need to trained on new stuff but you do not need constant training to stay in practice because you work at your job and thus stay in practice by default. Fighter pilots, on the other hand, do not get to 'go to work' very often at all. I've got a friend who flies big transport planes for the military and says in Canada right now they actually have to make some of the new recruits go into fighter training because not enough people are saying 'hey I want to be a fighter pilot'. Yes, I know it's the Canadian Air Force but this is still a little bit of a reflection of the fact that fighter pilots just don't get to fly very often anymore.

image + image

YOU FUCKING HOTLINKING SCUM.

No, really, don't hotlink from other sites. Re-host on imageshack.us or something. You see the pictures just fine because they are in your cache, other people get broken links or something saying 'don't hotlink'.

[Patrick]

I've got a friend who flies big transport planes for the military and says in Canada right now they actually have to make some of the new recruits go into fighter training because not enough people are saying 'hey I want to be a fighter pilot'.

Man, what kind of country doesn't have people flocking to hop in the seat of a ridiculously high-performance plane and blow shit up with it?

[Joseph]

A country of apathetic pacifists?

[calenlass]

They're not being trained to fly for the first time, that would be absolutely retarded. Which is why they don't do it like that. Beginner flight training takes place well away from populated areas and it kinda doesn't involve 747s. Ever. It involves such machines as the T-38 (the T stands for Trainer, whereas the F in F-16 stands for fighter. Those military guys are kinda creative!), which is a tiny little fuck of a jet plane.

The training most likely involved close intercept with a large transport airplane, or the escort thereof.

(I hang out with the people at the Defense Attaché Office at the Embassy pretty frequently, the military aren't all baby-killers)

Thanks for clarifying.  When I think of training, I think of people who are less than 2 months experienced.  This does help the image in my head a bit. 

In the military or training to be a commercial pilot, you spend years in simulators and in dual-control planes with instructors before you ever even get in a Trainer by yourself. Delta Airlines has some of the nicest commercial flight simulators I have ever been inside on their wee campus over by the airport (my dad works in the next building).

[Johnny C]

i can definitely see some testicle there, way more worried about that than hotlinking

[Tom]

We all have our own priorities.

[snalin]

Johnny did a double take at a guys balls.

Johnny is gay.

JOHNNY IS GA-AY, JOHNNY IS GA-AY, JOHNNY IS GA-AY, JOHNNY IS GA-AY, JOHNNY IS GA-AY, JOHNNY IS GA-AY!



On topic: man, that's one fucked up idea. That's like having a plane show with WW2 bomber planes in Guernica.

[Joseph]

In 1947.

[Coward]

Yes, I know it's the Canadian Air Force but this is still a little bit of a reflection of the fact that fighter pilots just don't get to fly very often anymore.

As an aside, and without for a moment suggesting you're referring to our maple-toting brethren in a negative way, I've caught a ride with the Canadian Air Force a few times and they've always been professional and a pleasure to work with. I'd rather fly with them than the RAF any day of the week.

[Slick]

Yeah dude I am Canadian and grew up next door to an airbase. That is how I have come to have so many friends in the Canadian Armed Forces.

[Coward]

Ah, so. 

Must have been quite noisy - I lived next  to an airfield for several months and was often enough kept awake at nights by the planes too-ing and fro-ing.

[Johnny C]

Johnny did a double take at a guys balls.

i didn't do a double take it's really easy to notice the first time around

[calenlass]

are we talking about my avatar again

[MrBlu]

Now we are.

[Zingoleb]

Same thing.

Something large that shouldn't be done in public as it scares the masses

[Patrick]

Ah, so. 

Must have been quite noisy - I lived next  to an airfield for several months and was often enough kept awake at nights by the planes too-ing and fro-ing.

I believe it. I've been to enough airshows where military flyovers have happened and I can attest to you that high-performance fighters are OH FUCK OWWW MY EARDRUMS on takeoff. Can hear an F/A-18 taking off under full afterburner for at least 20 miles.

[öde]

Loudest things I've heard are a couple of small-ish american bombers, I can't remember what they are now which is a shame, but you can feel them taking off for miles.

[Slick]

So, A-10 Thunderbolt: coolest plane ever or what?

[Coward]

Ahem...



Recognise.

[no one special]

So, A-10 Thunderbolt: coolest plane ever or what?

QFT.  i heart the Warthog so much, it hurts sometimes. 

Seriously though, I do think it's think one of the most incredible aircrafts around. 

For the uninitiated:


This is the A-10 Thunderbolt II (a.k.a. the A-10 Warthog)






Is it powerful? This is its main weapon (in comparison with a VW Beetle:






Is it tough?  This is the kind of damage it can withstand and still make it home:









These pics don't really do it enough justice, but trust me... it's a beautiful thing.   

[CardinalFang]

I'm fond of the old prop planes myself.
The P-38 is my all time favorite.

[Patrick]

We should make the mods retitle the thread "AIRPLANES ARE FUCKING AWESOME HOLY SHIT"

For military prop-jobs, my vote goes to the Grumman F7F Tigercat, Grumman F8F Bearcat (bonus mention of Rare Bear, my absolute favorite air racing plane), and the Northrop P-61 Black Widow.

Civilian prop-jobs are the Lockheed Constellation, Delmar Benjamin's homemade flying replica of the GeeBee R-2 (now in a museum, I was lucky enough to see it do several aerobatic routines when I was a kid), and the Super Guppy (can't remember the manufacturer, but it's a one-off machine anyway).

For jets, F-35 and Gotha Go-229.

[pwhodges]

I don't think any plane has been more beatiful than Concorde (and not just because I programmed one of the computers used in its airframe structural testing rig at Farnborough).  Pretty noisy, though.  I often used to drive through Heathrow airport late at night (before the M25 motorway round London was built), and from time to time had to wait while a Concorde taxied across the road in front of me to its special hangar.  It looked as magnificent close up as when, say, taking off.

[Sir Tacopuss]

pat you seem to have a thing for planes that look kinda chubby, like all the cats or the F-35... I actually prefer the ones that are a little more sleek and aggressive looking, like the F4U Corsair or good ole Spitfire. Regarding more modern planes, the french Dassault Rafale is hella sexy looking, too.

F4U's (Corsairs) returning from a combat mission over North Korea circle the USS Boxer as they wait for planes in the next strike to be launched from her flight deck.
A helicopter hovers above the ship.

And the Rafale:




Oh and btw, don't we have anyone from New York City on here? Odd isn't it?

[David_Dovey]

Gene (Ballard) is from NYC, and I'm certain there are others.

Also the best planes were all in the RAF during WWII and that is that.

[Patrick]

pat you seem to have a thing for planes that look kinda chubby, like all the cats or the F-35... I actually prefer the ones that are a little more sleek and aggressive looking, like the F4U Corsair or good ole Spitfire.

Keep in mind that the Bearcat regularly reached well over 400mph (suck it, Corsair) and that the P-61 could outmaneuver the shit out of both of them. Also the inverse gull wing of the Corsair bugs me.

I will agree that the Spitfire is the most gorgeous machine ever to shoot other shit down, though. I am also partial to the looks of the DeHavilland Mosquito (as well as several other DeHavilland airplane designs, like their civilian transport plane Dragon Rapide).

[LTK]

We should make the mods retitle the thread "AIRPLANES ARE FUCKING AWESOME HOLY SHIT"

At your service. (Am I the only one who is aware of the existence of the 'Edit' button?)

[Inlander]

The only people who can edit the actual title of the thread, such that it appears in its new form in the sub-forum index, are the original poster or post-pirates mods and admins. Granted everyone can change the subject of their own post (as I have done, to reflect the fact that I am not American), but that will only affect that one post.

[Lunchbox]

I dunno guys but I really love the sturdy old champion looks of the larger bombers.

The b17 Flying Fortress is one of my favourites because it just looks and sounds tough.

[Thomas Edison]

[Radical AC]

Macchi M.C.72, goddamn greatest aircraft ever built.



I also saw an F-16 smash into the runway at an airshow a few years back.  Shook the ground, and the fireball was really hot even a distance away.  Pilot bailed.

[Dollface]

ekranoplan


geebee


BD-5J "Acrostar" Microjet


Blackbird

[CardinalFang]

The SPADXIII. My favorite of the WWI fighters.
I need to find better pictures.

[Patrick]

Sukhoi Su-47 (designated S-37 during the flight-test phase):



This will outmaneuver the fuck out of anything the USAF currently has. Well-played on that composite-construction forward-swept wing, Sukhoi!

[McTaggart]

I love how all these really really manouverable jets are basically big fuck-off jet engines with some control surfaces and an ejector seat.

Who needs wings when you've got obscene amounts of thrust?

[Patrick]

I think you are talking about the F-104:



(hey guize anybody recognize the name for that airplane? SOUND FAMILIAR?)

Fucker went like Mach 3 or some shit? Can't remember exactly.

[David_Dovey]

I think the winner on that account is the MiG-15 and MiG-17





Also, fuck me the Concorde is a beautiful machine



It makes me so sad to think of how that turned out. Such a buzz-kill.

[SirJuggles]

Have you guys seen the MiG-35? This is everything the little boy in me says a fighter jet should look like:



Also if you skip to about 2:00 into this video, you will see it do something that makes me go 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOzp7iL-QHI

Apparently it is somehow capable of reorienting itself in midflight, without changing direction of travel. I was under the impression that airplanes could not do this, and I find it incredibly cool.



Disclaimer: I do not know that much about airplanes and so may be completely wrong.