willedoo

It's getting to be a bit of an obsession among youtube uploaders these days, particularly with fighter plane videos. Seems like too many kids have watched 'Top Gun' too many times. Bit of a shame, really, as it spoils a lot of good videos. Cheers, Willie.

Great post, Geoff. Thanks for sharing a bunch of nice photos. Cheers, Willie.

Channel 7 Brisbane is screening 'Air Crash Investigations: Ditching on the Hudson' tonight, April 11th at 7.30pm. Might be worth a look. Cheers, Willie.

Interesting reading the Wiki page, thanks Geoff. Reading the marine applications, they would have been on the hovercraft I travelled on quite a few years ago. Recently recieved a copy of "Not much of an Engineer" in the mail & will be starting on it tomorrow, really looking forward to it. I see they also say it was used in Donald Campbell's car. Cheers, Willie.

Video of the Dallas tornados filmed from a news chopper this week. Shows some semi-trailer pantecs being thown about as it hits a transport depot. http://dvice.com/archives/2012/04/video-shows-tor.php The above link goes to an embedded player, if it doesn't work, the original link is at the top of this page: http://dvice.com/archives/2012/04/us-developing-n.php Cheers, Willie.

Lockheed Martin delivered the 4,500th F-16 yesterday. It might beat the Phantom on production figures yet, if they keep at it. http://www.key.aero/view_news.asp?ID=5024&thisSection=military

That's quite an amazing story, shame it had such a tragic end. Cheers, Willie.

There's a bit of interesting stuff on this site, it's where I first found the Israeli story. There's also a bit about an A-6 partial ejection that gets a lot of mention around the internet. http://www.ejectionsite.com/ Cheers, Willie.

That Aermacchi incident would have been bad. I never really followed up the story of the recent Red Arrows accident. I believe it was a zero/zero seat but don't know what the final verdict was. Cheers, Willie.

A bit more recycling - http://www.bobvila.com/slideshows/2052-aviation-aesthetics-second-flights-for-salvaged-aircraft?utm_source=scribol.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=scribol.com It would be great to turn the clock back, I always used to like the local scrap yard back in the 70's that wrecked a lot of aircraft. Still have an old go-kart we fitted out with a helicopter seat & other a/c parts. They had an almost complete propliner in the yard as well as cockpits, front ends & other sections. All long gone now. I suppose we took it for granted back then, but it's all hard to get now. Cheers, Willie.

Nerb, it's a bit like asking how long is a piece of string. I'd start with an overhead crane, a lathe or two, a milling machine, a wet saw, pipe benders, a tig, mig & stick welder, 10 tonne press, forge, anvil & anything else I could possibly buy if I won the lotto. Seriously though, everybody dies of old age before they actually ever finish their workshop just the way they want it. The older people get, the more they learn to accept that every shed they ever build will be completely full of junk and clutter before it's finished. The answer is simple though, just keep building more sheds. Life is incomplete without them. Cheers, Willie.

I'd guess you'd have to line the door with ply or some flat sheeting before applying the posters to an uneven surface like that. Would be a lot easier on a wall or normal door. It would be nice to have one,though. Cheers, Willie.

Came across this story I hadn't heard before about an Israeli pilot ejecting while unconsious after a bird strike: ' Most Miraculous Ejection: This one goes to an Israeli pilot flying an A4 Skyhawk at low level approx. 350 kts. The pilot reports he was flying straight and level, then he was lying on his back on the valley floor with a massive headache. Israeli analysis of his damaged helmet and the debris of the aircraft detected traces of bird blood and a single feather as well as fragments of HUD glass in his face. Apparently he was the victim of a bird strike directly to the front wind screen. The bird continued thru the canopy, demolished the HUD and smashed the visor on the pilots helmet, knocking him unconcious. How did he eject? Answer: enough of the birds corpse deflected upward off his helmet to strike the upper ejection handles and fire the seat. ' Found some other references that it was in 1983 or '84, apparently it broke a vertebrae in his neck, at about 300 feet he collided with a honey buzzard. They say birdstrikes are common in Israel, something to do with migratory paths. There must be a few cases around of involuntary ejections, I seem to remember something about one in South Africa where a passenger accidently grabbed the handle and ejected. Cheers, Willie.

It would be a good chance to see a few old classics if you'e in the right place. I think there's still some C-119 Flying Boxcar's getting around Alaska somewhere. Everts Air Cargo/Air Fuel out of Fairbanks operate a few DC-6's & a couple of Curtiss Commandos, flying into Anchorage at times. There would be others around, I'd guess. Cheers, Willie. P.S. don't trust the bears.

I'd guess it would be even more so in a small open cockpit setup like yours, Darren. A bit like getting back to what it originally was. Cheers, Willie.

Thanks, Spin, an interesting story. I remember seeing a replica of it in the Imperial War Museum many years ago. I'd guess it might have been a morale boosting exercise as well as an escape plan. Cheers, Willie.

Didn't see it last night, Spin, got distracted with the election. I've seen it before though on dvd & think it's well worth watching. Hilary Swank plays the part well. Cheers, Willie.

Jeez it's true. I thought Glenn was joking. Should have known someone would be mad enough to try it. Cheers, Willie.

Well, it's just my take on things, but I think in Student Pilot's original post, he might have been indulging in the subtle art of irony. I'd guess he would respect genuine adventurous activities as Darren describes, but is having a go at the reality tv type twist that is put on some very ordinary pursuits. As in Glenn's post - extreme ironing, I know it's only a joke, but maybe we shouldn't give the tv producers too many ideas. It's an ongoing problem. Once upon a time, Australians did all this stuff with a larconic, almost British type of understatement, but now we high five. Call me old fashioned, but I refuse to slap hands & say 'Yo'. I think that's what he was talking about. Cheers, Willie.

Very good of you to do that, Darren. Losing good people is hard. Cheers, Willie.

Great stuff, really enjoyed that. Cheers, Willie.

For anyone interested, a slideshow of photos from Vnukovo Airport, Moscow, to mark the 70th anniversary last year. Bit of a variety of aircraft- Boeing, Airbus, Antonov, Tupolev, Dassault, Yak, Bombardier, Gulfstream, etc. Photos by Alexey Kondratov. http://www.aex.ru/multimedia/10/ Cheers, Willie.

Nice photos, thanks, Scotty, certainly high quality for the time. The link Pavel mentions where he got them is http://www.shorpy.com/image/tid/179 apparently taken for the Office of War Information, there's an images menu further down the page on the left hand side. The home page looks interesting as well, http://www.shorpy.com/, though not sure how much is aviation stuff. Cheers, Willie.

Photos from the Irkut Corporation plant, Sukhoi Su-30MK & Yak 130 trainer construction. It's a slideshow by default or pause & click to change photos manually. http://www.aex.ru/multimedia/14/ Cheers, Willie.

Raaf images at Red Flag 2012: http://images.defence.gov.au/fotoweb/Grid.fwx?archiveId=5003&search=11122386%20%20OR%2011122240 Cheers, Willie.