Ari Gold Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 I flew up to Sydney and back this week-end. Was quite exciting given that it was the first flight I had been on in at least five years. I also had the pleasure of flying on Outcast's favourite ever plane... the Boeing 737. I haven't flown for years too, the last time I flew I was afraid of flying! I know I'll be flying next summer, and some serious flying too. I'll be taking British Airways from Philadelphia to London Heathrow then I'll hop on Lufthansa from London to Frankfort then later Frankfort to Athens. On the trip back it'll be Lufthansa to Frankfort then later to London, followed by U.S Airways to Charlette then later to Philadelphia, even though Philly is closer to London more flying for me, so I dont mind I cannot wait for this! There's a great plane-spotting place next to Melbourne International Airport; it's become so popular that they have a kebab van sometimes there. I live on the other side of the metropolitan area from the airport (at least an hour's drive), but if I had more time to kill I'd be over there more often. Here's the link to the street-view of the place. Link. That looks like an awesome location to spot, there are some at PHL, but none as clear as that. Something I want to do when I get my drivers license, which is hopefully very soon, is drive up to Philly and spot, only because I've never officially gone plane spotting before EDIT: Don't want to double post I ordered a 1:400 model plane like a week ago and got it today, just to see that two of the three landing gears were detached, and I thought I would post my rant here... F*CKING USPS WHY THE HELL WHY DO YOU MAKE ME PAY SEVEN DOLLARS JUST TO RECEIVE MY MODEL LATE AND BROKEN. I KNEW PAYING $23 FOR THIS MODEL WAS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE On a serious note, do any of you collectors have any suggestions on how to glue the gears back to the model? Frankfurt Airport is massive, with good reason too given that it's one of Europe's largest travel hubs. We were there on transfer once a few years back, and had to take a ten minute train between terminals. Insanely big (at least compared to Tullamarine, itself pretty big; not sure how big Philly's airport is). EDIT: While we're on the topic, what are some of the better airports people here have frequented? I'm expecting a few mentions of Heathrow and JFK, but some others I haven't been to or ones which usually aren't massive hubs might be interesting to read about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf of Badenoch Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 (edited) Barra International Airport (Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Bharraigh) (IATA: BRR, ICAO: EGPR) (also known as Barra Eoligarry Airport) is a short-runway airport (or STOLport) situated in the wide shallow bay of Traigh Mhòr at the north tip of the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The airport is unique, being the only one in the world where scheduled flights use a beach as the runway. Edited July 23, 2013 by Valenta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTAfiveFAN Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 That's a pretty cool airport, reminds me a lot of St. Maarten. For some odd reason , it made me remeber these two videos A USAF C-17 landed at a small public airport instead of the nearby Air Force Base nearby. As you can see, they ended up landing and taking off unscathed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outcast Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 (edited) what are some of the better airports people here have frequented? I'm expecting a few mentions of Heathrow and JFK, but some others I haven't been to or ones which usually aren't massive hubs might be interesting to read about. US: LAX is absolutely horrible too. In the States I'd say my favourites would be Denver and San Francisco. Denver is a bit weird and creepy cuz of the giant devil horse out front and all that weird masonic symbols and whatnot but I like the tent design thing they've got going on. SFO is nice and modern (if a bit bare). Europe: Not a big fan of Heathrow, the Heathrow Express is pretty convenient though but the Airport Express in Hong Kong is still better imo. I fly out of London City mostly as I prefer it if I'm flying within Europe. The terminal building itself isn't that impressive, its the take off and landing which is great. I like looking at my apartment as we come in to land and when on the way to Barcelona it will make a turn right on top of the Olympic stadium. Back when I was in uni, I would fly into Durham Tees Valley which is a proper rural airport. I love small airports. I much prefer those than big international airports. The feeling of walking down the steps and onto the tarmac into a small box-like terminal makes me feel like I'm in the 50s. Amsterdam Schiphol is also nice but only because I know where the hidden smoking room is (it's inside the Irish pub ). Other than Zurich I can't remember any other airports in Europe that have smoking rooms. Gothenburg in Sweden gets a special mention as the terminal is quite nice after the renovations. I especially like their baggage claim area. Very modern yet nature-y. Asia: Singapore Changi is a favourite of mine. I used to transit there a lot back when I was going through my Singapore Airlines phase. I really liked their monorail system and the terminals themselves were just so comfy. I would also say Hong Kong International is another airport at the top of my list, but just the fact that I've been there so many times has made it incredibly boring. I know the terminal like the back of my hand. Other: I think Dubai would be really nice if it wasn't modern and clean one end, old and dirty in the other. You'd be walking and everything is super modern and clean, then you go down some stairs and suddenly it's like you're in Baghdad. Special Mention: The most interesting airport I've flown in and out of would be Kashgar. It's in the very west of China. On the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Pictures of the airport now show more modern aircraft but back when I visited I flew in on some soviet era prop with people smoking and talking on their cellphones. It was surreal. Beautiful place though. One of the few places I really want to visit again if I have the chance. picture from wiki Edited July 23, 2013 by Outcast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zyo Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 (edited) what are some of the better airports people here have frequented? I'm expecting a few mentions of Heathrow and JFK To state it briefly, Heathrow and JFK are terrible places to fly from. I avoid them whenever possible! Like most hige airports I guess. Paris CDG is bad too. Icelands airport is great, I forget the name but the terminal is beautiful. Its cosy and has lots of wood and natural features. Its a well designed place. Singapore Changi is a favourite of mine. Mine too, Its big but the halls are nice to be in, they actually do feel airy and open and green. Also it has always been such a speedy place to arrive in. I have never been held up there. In Asia on the other hand I really dislike Bangkok. Its all grey and badly lit, and its always annoyingly busy. It is just not a nice place to be. In Greece I always like flying to just about any Island airport. Flying in over the greek isles is always a great feeling. edit: Also I always quite like Brussels too. I used to work for a belgian company a few years back and flew in and out of there a few times every month with Brussles SN. Its not a bad place to be for a few pre-flight belgian beers. Also its a good place to connect at as as it has the one arm terminal. They always looked after me there too. They would shuttle me about in a golf cart if I was running late. Its nice to be treated special Icelands airport is called Keflavik, heres a few pics. Edited July 23, 2013 by zyonig GTA IV REAL NYC AT GTAFORUMS GTA IV REAL - V8 RUMBLE http://gtaforums.com/topic/782964-reliv-gta-iv-real-v8-rumble/?do=findComment&comment=1067267056 https://www.nationstates.net/region=gta_forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf of Badenoch Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 My favorite bombers: Avro Lancaster Vickers Wellington Handley Page Hampden Boeing B-29 Superfortress Avro Vulcan Vickers Valiant Handley Page Victor Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit Rockwell B-1 Lancer Boeing B-52 Stratofortress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sup3rman Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Those are pretty much all the most well known bombers ever made...but i also like the B29 and Vulcan. First one because of its history and design and rarity, second pretty much because it sounds like something from Star Wars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf of Badenoch Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Second pretty much because it sounds like something from Star Wars. This noise is one of the most awesome things I've ever heard: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outcast Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 (edited) I remember the Vulcan very well, definitely one of my favourites as a kid. I grew up near Duxford Imperial War Museum and my dad would take me quite often. Probably the reason why I love planes. EDIT: The Vickers Valiant and B1 Lancer look the coolest imo. I like the shape of the fuselage and the swept back wings. Another favourite of mine is the Tu-95. Edited July 25, 2013 by Outcast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf of Badenoch Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 (edited) EDIT: The Vickers Valiant and B1 Lancer look the coolest imo. I like the shape of the fuselage and the swept back wings. There's only one complete Valiant left in existence. This is it: Edited July 25, 2013 by Valenta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outcast Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 What I like the most about the Valiant are it's integrated wing/intakes. It's also what I liked most on the Comet and the Nimrod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sup3rman Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 One of the planes that also fascinates me is the Spruce Goose or Hughes Hercules H-4. Its a huge seaplane basically, it only flied in the altitude of 20 m or so for about a mile. That was it. This plane could have flown easily more, but it was then just put on display. It has 8 engines and its length is 66 metres. The wingspan is an amazing 97 metres. In the museum: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf of Badenoch Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 (edited) One of the planes that also fascinates me is the Spruce Goose or Hughes Hercules H-4. Its a huge seaplane basically, it only flied in the altitude of 20 m or so for about a mile. That was it. This plane could have flown easily more, but it was then just put on display. It has 8 engines and its length is 66 metres. The wingspan is an amazing 97 metres. On the subject of flying boats: Saunders-Roe Princess And a brief history: Edited July 26, 2013 by Valenta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTAfiveFAN Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Another one of my favorite airliners are those with twin engines on the fuselage Boeing 717 McDonnell Douglas MD-90 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf of Badenoch Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 (edited) Another one of my favorite airliners are those with twin engines on the fuselagehttp://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/middle/6/5/2/2287256.jpg Boeing 717 http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/middle/8/3/9/2285938.jpg McDonnell Douglas MD-90 One my favorite layouts is four engines mounted on the fueslage, two on each side. Vickers VC10 Ilyushin Il-62 Edited July 29, 2013 by Valenta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sup3rman Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Two NATO fighters just flew over my house, extremely low. Were probably flying close to super sonic speeds, cause i heard them when they were already past my house. Don't see something like this every day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoadRunner71 Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Two NATO fighters just flew over my house, extremely low. Were probably flying close to super sonic speeds, cause i heard them when they were already past my house. Don't see something like this every day Awesome! The last time a fighter jet flew close to me I couldn't see it. The fun thing is that I was visiting an old castle museum which is at some km of a military testing area and I had just get off the tower when I began to hear the engine. So I couldn't see just for a few seconds I've never seen any jet breaking the sound barrier, though I've heard it's amazing... Ever seen the Tu-144, the Soviet Concorde? One of these crashed in an air show in Paris, in 1973... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sup3rman Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 (edited) Yep, know the story about this plane. I believe 2 are still remaining, which aren't like put into a museum or a pedestal. They were in a factory or somewhere and they wanted to restore one to flying condition. NASA also used them. The 70s crash at a airshow was really weird tough. Something weird happened that day, noone really knows what exactly also. The way the aircraft broke apart from that downward manoeuvre wasnt really natural, some say a bomb was put there or there was a plane following it who wanted to take pictures of the plane, because it was so ahead of its time. Edited July 29, 2013 by Sup3rman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf of Badenoch Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 (edited) One of these crashed in an air show in Paris, in 1973... Here's that aircraft just moments before the crash: They were better known in the West as 'Concordski'. Edited July 29, 2013 by Valenta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sivispacem Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 There are a couple of conspiracy theories floating around about the Paris crash being caused by a French Mirage photo reconnaissance aircraft attempting to photograph the canard foreplanes and causing the Tu-144 to take evasive action. I think the accepted theory is that, due to inferior material engineering on the 144, it was significantly heavier than Concorde and therefore less maneuverable. Modifications were made to the control systems (which were partially fly-by-wire) in order to try and show up the Concorde prototype on the display circuit which enabled the aircraftto perform a manoeuvre that was beyond the tolerances of the airframe. AMD Ryzen 5900X (4.65GHz All-Core PBO2) | Gigabye X570S Pro | 32GB G-Skill Trident Z RGB 3600MHz CL16 EK-Quantum Reflection D5 | XSPC D5 PWM | TechN/Heatkiller Blocks | HardwareLabs GTS & GTX 360 Radiators Corsair AX750 | Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic XL | EVGA GeForce RTX2080 XC @2055MHz | Sabrant Rocket Plus 1TB Sabrant Rocket 2TB | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB | 2x ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q | Q Acoustics 2010i | Sabaj A4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf of Badenoch Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 This video shows just what the A380 can do: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTAfiveFAN Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 To be honet, I always thought the A380 was one of the ugliest modern airlines, and I still think this Looks aside, the A380 is a beast and one of e most efficient airlines today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf of Badenoch Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 (edited) The evolution of a legend: This video also includes the Shuttle Carrier and The Dreamlifter. Edited August 1, 2013 by Valenta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Gold Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 JAT Airways officially retired as an airliner the other day, replaced yesterday by Air Serbia. It's refreshing to see Serbia have a national carrier which actually bears its name and doesn't possess a communist-era relic (it'd be like having Aeroflot called Soviet Airlines lol); hopefully the revitalisation will mean that the airline will become worth flying on again (it stagnated rather badly for the last ten years). Being 49% owned by Etihad isn't such a bad thing in that regard, given how good Etihad Airways is. I'm not the biggest fan of the new livery, but I think it'll grow on me. Much better than the bland one they've had since 2002 but not as nice as the one back from the 20th Century. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outcast Posted August 2, 2013 Author Share Posted August 2, 2013 (edited) That looks like it was done in MS Paint compared to some other liveries out there. lol EDIT: Had some free time yesterday so I went south of the river to Greenwich to the Emirates Aviation Experience. The main attraction were the flight simulators they had there. 2 A380 and 2 B777 simulators. I chose to go on the 777 simulator as I like having a control column, next time I'm gonna try the A380 though as I'm curious as to how fly-by-wire feels. 1:2 Scale Working Lego Trent 800 Mockup of A380 Cockpit B777 Simulator Edited August 2, 2013 by Outcast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf of Badenoch Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 I'm surprised nobody caught this at the time: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoadRunner71 Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Wrecks of a P-40 of the RAF, shot down during the WW2 in Egypt. The pilot, Dennis Copping, 24, jumped with the paratchute but later disappeared in the desert and was never seen again. When it was discovered, the plane still had the ammunition and the area of the crash elements such as batteries and parachute, which proved that the pilot survived the crash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outcast Posted August 6, 2013 Author Share Posted August 6, 2013 Didn't they find that just a few years ago? I remember reading about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoadRunner71 Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Didn't they find that just a few years ago? I remember reading about it. Just mentioning it. I did just find out it yesterday and, to be honest, I got amazed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outcast Posted August 6, 2013 Author Share Posted August 6, 2013 Didn't they find that just a few years ago? I remember reading about it. Just mentioning it. I did just find out it yesterday and, to be honest, I got amazed. What I meant was, is this recent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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