Month: December 2007

Russian Knight on his belly

In 1997 at an airshow in Bratislava one member of the Russian Knights aerobatic team forgot to lower the landing gear of his Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. As a result of this incident, only helicopters were allowed to perform that day. As for the aircraft, there was some damage to the underside but nothing major. The […]

Sukhoi Aerobatics

Impressive video showing 5 time World Aerobatic Champion Svetlana Kapanina throwing her Sukhoi around. You’ll see a lot of the famous aerobatic planes: the Su-26, Su-29 and Su-31. There is also some archive footage taken during the development of the Sukhoi 26 family of aircraft.

Sukhoi Su-37 Flanker-F

The Sukhoi Su-37 NATO codename Flanker-F is a Russian single-seat, all-weather, fighter and ground attack prototype aircraft, derived from the Su-27 Flanker. It featured new thrust vectoring engines that enabled the aircraft to perform crazy maneuvers such as the “Super Cobra” or the “Kulbit”. Check out these incredible maneuvers performed by the Sukhoi Su-37.

Turkish Stars ride along

The Turkish Stars are the aerobatic demonstration team of the Turkish Air Force and the official national aerobatics team of Turkey. Jump in the cockpit of one of their supersonic Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighters for a ride along with the Turkish Stars.

Dreams

For 12 years the Douglas A-4F Skyhawk was the chosen plane for the famous Blue Angels, the United States Navy’s Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron. Between December 1974 and November 1986 the Blue Angels performed their routines with elegance and precision. Here is an old Van Halen video featuring the Blue Angels.

Full touchdown autorotation

I’ve performed quite a lot of autorotations with this type of helicopter and I can assure you it is quite a thrill. Anyway, here is a full touchdown autorotation performed with a Eurocopter Ec-120 Colibri. Autorotation is used in helicopters in the unfortunate event of engine or transmission failure.

Rolling the 707

On August 7, 1955, Boeing test pilot Alvin M. “Tex” Johnston rolled the Boeing 707 prototype, known as Dash-80, in a demonstration flight over Lake Washington.

Launch

This is one very interesting way of launching a glider. During World War II many of these wooden constructions were used to transport men and equipment, towed behind C-47 Dakotas. I don’t think this launch method was widely used since it is a bit extreme and one might argue, somewhat crazy. Anyway, here’s the video […]

Funny USAF air drops

Here are some very funny air drops mishaps brought to you by the mighty US Air Force. Have to say, this is very funny. If you want to leave a comment, please don’t include the words tax, payers, at work and so on. This is funny, have a laugh!

Thunderbirds

The Thunderbirds are the Air Demonstration Squadron of the United States Air Force. They travel the world and perform no less than 88 air demonstrations each year. The Thunderbirds perform breathtaking aerobatics with their F-16 Fighting Falcons and they make this look easy. “Thunderbirds run em up!”