General aviation/airplane news and chat

[A380]

Someone has FOI’d the MoD and they have released all of the central flying school manuals. If you are bored over lockdown:

FOI responses released by MOD: week commencing 13 January 2020

Ministry of Defence (MOD) Freedom of Information (FOI) responses released during the week commencing 13 January 2020.

www.gov.uk

 

[kebabking]

White socks and big watches?

 

[spitfire]

This is quite beautiful.

 

[spitfire]

Someone has FOI’d the MoD and they have released all of the central flying school manuals. If you are bored over lockdown:

FOI responses released by MOD: week commencing 13 January 2020

Ministry of Defence (MOD) Freedom of Information (FOI) responses released during the week commencing 13 January 2020.

www.gov.uk

If I read all that will they give me a jet plane?

 

[A380]

If I read all that will they give me a jet plane?

Yes. Yes they will.

 

[spitfire]

Yes. Yes they will.

Awesome. BRB.

 

[A380]

 

[gosub]

View attachment 252687

Bet the owner of the blue tailed Fokker gets in some arguements

 

[A380]

Pilot watches as £80,000 spent on a helicopter licence goes down the drain.

 

[Sprocket.]

This is quite beautiful.

And quite humbling too, thanks for posting.

 

[Sprocket.]

not really news, but today I found out that the Vickers Vulcan existed:

Vickers Vulcan

The Vickers Vulcan was a British single-engine biplane airliner of the 1920s built by Vickers Limited at Brooklands Aerodrome , Surrey. It carried eight passengers and a pilot....

www.nevingtonwarmuseum.com

When my dad first joined up he was originally in 42 Squadron and they were still equipped with the Vickers Vildebeest.

They moved onto Bristol Beauforts just after he transferred to a Wellington Squadron.

 

[A380]

 

[A380]

 

[A380]

Transavia Airtruks in formation near Temora in Australia.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

Hurry, get your orders in quick....production of the Learjet jet is stopping.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

this is the last executive jet I flew on, a Gulfstream 150...I can see the attraction of them.

I think the photo was taken at Hammond Aviation at Houma airport in Louisiana. Old man Hammond would regale you with stories of his time as a Top Gun pilot...his son was the stunt pilot in the movie.

I go to work on the bus now.

 

[T & P]

On the subject of private jets, whatever happened to that new venture someone posted the website of one or two years ago, which promised ludicrously cheap flights?

It was around the concept of one saying ‘I want to fly from Biggin Hill to Perpignan’, and pilots contacting you with quotes.

It looked too good to be true but the website was very well constructed, so someone spent money setting it up.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

On the subject of private jets, whatever happened to that new venture someone posted the website of one or two years ago, which promised ludicrously cheap flights?

It was around the concept of one saying ‘I want to fly from Biggin Hill to Perpignan’, and pilots contacting you with quotes.

It looked too good to be true but the website was very well constructed, so someone spent money setting it up.

Maybe

Emiliano Sala: Man in court over plane crash that killed footballer

 

[A380]

On the subject of private jets, whatever happened to that new venture someone posted the website of one or two years ago, which promised ludicrously cheap flights?

It was around the concept of one saying ‘I want to fly from Biggin Hill to Perpignan’, and pilots contacting you with quotes.

It looked too good to be true but the website was very well constructed, so someone spent money setting it up.

Wingly PPL flight sharing, as in the pilot supposed to pay his or her own share. If there were two pasengets you would pay 66% of the costs. Just one of you 50%. I’d be concerned as you really had no way of knowing how experienced the person flying was. Wingly, the flight sharing platform

Covid has stopped almost all private flying in the UK. I would imagine most people who would have signed up to do this are out of currency at the moment. Another reason to avoid post pandemic...

 

[High Voltage]

Pilot watches as £80,000 spent on a helicopter licence goes down the drain.

View attachment 252701

O. K. I'm guessing that this is some kind of "helicopter joke" that helicoptery type people get . . . and I don't

Unless she gets her hands chopped off???

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Covid has stopped almost all private flying in the UK. I would imagine most people who would have signed up to do this are out of currency at the moment. Another reason to avoid post pandemic...

Light aircraft private flying is dead as you must stay home, save lives etc.

Private jet travel has never been busier though, avoiding the coughing masses when travelling is quite popular right now, plus the jet companies don't ask their passengers to wear masks on board, which is just lovely for the crew...

 

[spitfire]

 

[T & P]

Fucking ace flying that.

On the subject of helicopters around high altitude mountains, I’m sure I remember reading somewhere that past certain altitude, if a helicopter hovering a mountain top landed on it, the air can be too thin for the chopper to ever take off again. Which I fail to understand, if the same thin air is still enough to sustain the helicopter hovering...

 

[spitfire]

Fucking ace flying that.

On the subject of helicopters around high altitude mountains, I’m sure I remember reading somewhere that past certain altitude, if a helicopter hovering a mountain top landed on it, the air can be too thin for the chopper to ever take off again. Which I fail to understand, if the same thin air is still enough to sustain the helicopter hovering...

There's a video of a Russian Mi 7 demonstrating this (I think) by failing to take off from Everest base camp. 2 people died so I won't post it but it's on Youtube etc.

Helicopter Crashes on Everest

6/2/03 - Tragedy struck just a day before the 50th anniversary celebration of Mount Everest’s May 29, 1953 first ascent, when a helicopter transporting climbers crashed near Everest basecamp on Wednesday.

www.climbing.com

 

[spitfire]

Fucking ace flying that.

On the subject of helicopters around high altitude mountains, I’m sure I remember reading somewhere that past certain altitude, if a helicopter hovering a mountain top landed on it, the air can be too thin for the chopper to ever take off again. Which I fail to understand, if the same thin air is still enough to sustain the helicopter hovering...

Aye. It's so casual and precise at the same time. Amazing stuff.

 

[DownwardDog]

Fucking ace flying that.

On the subject of helicopters around high altitude mountains, I’m sure I remember reading somewhere that past certain altitude, if a helicopter hovering a mountain top landed on it, the air can be too thin for the chopper to ever take off again. Which I fail to understand, if the same thin air is still enough to sustain the helicopter hovering...

The helicopter is IGE in the final stages of the approach. As a rough rule of thumb ground effect is at a maximum at an altitude of one or two rotor disk diameters above the ground. So at zero altitude there is reduced benefit from ground effect to assist the take off.

 

[A380]

And the French teach cops to fly in the Gendarmerie unlike NPAS here that employs (Mostly) all ex military pilots to fly. The Dutch train cops too. When the Met tried training cops to fly back in the 80s the first cadre trained all fucked off to the airlines sharpish putting an end to that idea...

 

[mauvais]

Gendarmes are military though - it's complicated.

 

[spitfire]

Gendarmes are military though - it's complicated.

I did not know that!

National Gendarmerie - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The National Gendarmerie (French: Gendarmerie nationale [ʒɑ̃daʁməʁi nɑsjɔnal]) is one of two national police forces of France, along with the National Police. It is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior—with additional duties to the Ministry of Defense. Its area of responsibility includes smaller towns, rural and suburban areas, while the Police Nationale, a civilian force, is in charge of cities and their centres. Because of its military status, the Gendarmerie also fulfills a range of military and defense missions.

 

[A380]

Gendarmes are military though - it's complicated.

The Gendarmerie is part of the Military but for the last 10 years of so have been under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. And I think their air support pilots are flying on commercial not military licenses. Amoungst other things they look after security of the nuclear test sites in Tahiti - but not the Ariane launch sites in French Guiana which is the Foreign Legion.

Gendarmerie also does mountain rescue, which is huge in France.

France has an interesting set up: for example The CRS aren’t gendarmerie, strangely they they are civilian police (Although there is the Gendarmerie Mobil which does similar public order stuff). Most Gendarmerie as mentioned above work in little two of three person stations all over rural France effectively as village bobbies.

The Police National is more of a Franchise that provides common training, equipment procurement, vehicles IT platforms and such but the bigger towns and cities effectively recruit and pay for their own cops, even though they are badged as Police National. Paris is different again. And then you have the Surete which is technically part of the Police National ( in fact the police National technically grew out of it) but, given it was the first detective force in the world, still keeps an identity even if not officially. Then they have municipal forces, some with full powers and armed and others not. It’s weird. But then probably no more weird than in the UK. Germany is even more strange...