Non hushkitted DC-8 and rare hushkitted Boeing 707 Sounds still great ! Ostend Airport 2001

impressive speed , fast , noisy , rolling take off , in a hurry !! NOISY !! TMA 707 OD-AGO departure , runway 26 Exhilarating show !! Quality Airport Ostend Year 2001 ( June )

The Lockheed L-1011 competed primarily with the DC-10. Whereas McDonnell Douglas had produced two successful jet airliners and built an extensive customer base, this was Lockheed's first jet-powered airliner. However, while McDonnell Douglas was able to get its aircraft out the door in a swift fashion, Lockheed faced several delays with its program, primarily centered around issues with the Rolls-Royce RB211.

Both aircraft were largely developed out of a request from American Airlines for a twin-engine widebody smaller than the Boeing 747. Both companies developed trijets due to restrictions on twin-engine operations over water, and Lockheed put extra effort into the Tristar's technology. It featured an advanced autopilot, an autoland system, and an automated emergency descent function. This was undoubtedly the most advanced subsonic airliner of its time. //

Charles
I think when the 767 came on the scene, that's what really killed the tristar. //

TJCrewChief
I had a friend that was a 747 and L1011 pilot for TWA. He just loved the Lockheed L1011.

He extolled the fly ability and called it a " Pilots Airplane."

Announced in a press release submitted to Simple Flying, EirTrade Aviation has partnered with RESIDCO to acquire two Airbus A320neo aircraft for teardown, marking the youngest airframes of the type ever dismantled. The aircraft were previously operated by Spirit Airlines and are just four and three and a half years old. Disassembly is taking place in Goodyear, Arizona, with parts destined for EirTrade’s Dallas hub. The transaction is designed to bolster the supply of next-generation used serviceable material (USM) amid growing global demand. //

Early-life teardowns, once uncommon, are now emerging as a strategic response to supply-chain constraints and escalating maintenance costs. //

There are currently more than 4,400 Airbus A320neo aircraft in commercial service worldwide, with a further 7,200 on order. This excludes the approximately 6,500 A320ceo aircraft still operating, many of which share common components. Given the size of the installed base, the A320 platform is expected to remain the largest segment of the global commercial fleet for decades. As a result, demand for USM is projected to increase steadily.

Early-life teardowns provide access to components that align with current regulatory and operational standards, offering operators an alternative to new-part procurement.

As winter arrives, airports dust off their deicing equipment and ready for another season of cold, snow, and ice. While a car may be safely operated partially covered in ice or snow, aircraft must be completely free of contamination to assure a safe flight. Deicing can sometimes lead to flight delays, but the alternative is far worse. We spoke with Andrew Poure, a former aircraft deicer, to learn more about what goes in to deicing a plane and how the orange or green liquid being sprayed on the plane actually works.

Ordered not to discuss the battle with anyone, Williams remained silent for decades. Only after the U.S. government contacted him years later to let him know that the mission had been declassified did he finally tell someone about it for the first time: His wife.

Williams was later awarded the Silver Star for his bravery, which was upgraded to the Navy Cross in 2023.

Speaking to Task & Purpose for a story in June, Williams said he was honored by efforts to have his award upgraded to the Medal of Honor. When asked how he was able to shoot down four Soviet MiGs during the 1952 dogfight, he replied, “I have a God that did it for me.”

The news that Williams would receive the Medal of Honor came shortly after the parents of a soldier killed while shielding a Polish officer from a suicide bomber in Afghanistan would also be recognized with the award.

Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, who was killed on Aug. 28, 2013, will be awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously, a White House official confirmed.

for many years, American Airlines had actually spurned the Boeing 737, choosing instead to build its entire hub-and-spoke operation around the McDonnell Douglas MD-80. For the better part of three decades, their glistening, polished metal bodies with the distinctive T-tails were the predominant aircraft at the airline's hubs across the country. But why did American choose the MD-80 over the 737, and what caused it to eventually return to Boeing? //

American's flight operations director, David Clark, commented on the MD-80 upon its retirement.

"It is very old school, there aren't any modern computer screens affixed to the controls. The steering columns are connected to a cable that goes directly to the flight controls. You can feel it give and pull throughout each flight, and it is a totally thrilling experience that pilots trained on newer aircraft may never experience."

The test flight was planned by Douglas test pilot William Magruder and was set to take off from Edwards Air Force Base (AFB). As flight test engineer Richard Edwards, told to Air & Space Magazine, the idea was to “get it out there, show the airplane can survive this and not fall apart.” The DC-8, which at the time was competing with the Boeing 707, had been used by commercial carriers for about three years. Even though the DC-8 wasn’t designed to go supersonic, the bragging rights of being the first to do so were worth making the attempt.

In order to reach Mach 1, the jet had to be in a dive. According to Mentalfloss.com, this meant taking it up to 52,000 feet, which was also a record for altitude.

As Edwards tells Air & Space Magazine: “We took it up to 10 miles up…and put it in a half-a-G pushover. Bill maintained about 50 pounds of push. He didn’t trim it for the dive so that it would want to pull out by itself. In the dive, at about 45,000 feet, it went to Mach 1.01 for maybe 16 seconds, then he recovered. But the recovery was a little scary.”

The stabilizer in fact was overloaded and the plane stalled when Magruder tried to pull it back.

“What he did, because he was smart, is something that no other pilot would do,” explains Edwards. “He pushed over into the dive more, which relieved the load on the stabilizer. He was able to run the [stabilizer] motor…and he recovered at about 35,000 feet.” The crew successfully turned a mass-produced airliner into the world’s supersonic commuter jet. (Right by their side the entire time? Chuck Yeager, the first person to ever go supersonic in 1947. He escorted the DC-8 during its test in an F-104.)

“That’s an unofficial supersonic record, payload record, and of course an altitude record for a commercial transport,” Edwards points out.

For anyone who has actually examined the evidence, MH370 is not especially mysterious. Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah hijacked his own aircraft, incapacitated everyone on board by depressurizing the cabin, and then deliberately flew the Boeing 777 into the southern Indian Ocean. The evidence supporting this conclusion is not circumstantial or speculative. It is overwhelming, methodical, and points unambiguously to that single explanation.

when we multiply the 747-8's figure of 0.142 miles per gallon by its capacity, for this purpose, of 410 guests, we get a much healthier figure of 58.22 passenger miles per gallon. Of course, a full five-seater car would only need to achieve around 11.65 miles per gallon to get a higher passenger miles per gallon figure, but, in reality, cars often only transport their driver.

NTSB released images showing a UPS plane's engine separation during a Louisville crash.
The Nov. 4 crash killed 14 and left a half-mile debris field.
NTSB found fatigue cracks in engine hardware; investigation continues with final report pending.

Boeing aircraft, including the 747, 757, 767, and 777, all take on a sleeker, forward-stretching and beak-like shape at the front, while the Airbus planes, such as the A320, A330, A340, A350, and A380 families, have a rounder front profile with a smooth curve from top to bottom. This difference isn't just cosmetic or a preferred choice in design — it's the product of decades of engineering philosophy and aerodynamics history.

Boeing, since 1916, has continued to follow its engineering legacy of pointed noses borrowed from the earliest B17 and 747 aircraft. This was during a time when wind tunnel experimentation was big among the aircraft engineers who believed that a tapered, pointier nose helps reduce drag and cut through wind faster. This design had also become Boeing's signature look and straying away from it would've meant compromising the brand's identity.

Airbus, on the other hand, was born much later in the 1970s, in an era where aerodynamics history had evolved and computer modeling introduced a new idea that at subsonic speeds below Mach 1, a smaller, rounder nose shape actually helps reduce drag and smooth airflow. As a result of this new understanding, Boeing began embracing the compact, dolphin style that now defines its fleet with the arrival of the 787. //

At subsonic speeds, the shape of the aircraft matters less than it does at supersonic or transonic speeds, where a needle-like nose is needed to cut through pressure fronts to avoid the harsh drag that builds at higher Mach levels. Thus, computational modeling prescribed a shorter, rounder shape for lesser skin friction and to minimize the total wetted surface area to facilitate the movement of air particles around it. This is why Airbus has kept its round, bubble shape that is refined for laminar flow, and Boeing is following suit.

In a couple of ways, a Cessna is more difficult to fly than a fighter jet! The first has to do with mass. A typical Phantom configuration tips the scales at about 50,000 pounds. It takes about 36,000 pounds of afterburning thrust to get it going fast enough (175 knots) to generate enough lift to overcome the 50,000 pounds of gravitational resistance; chewing up about 2,000 feet of concrete. Once airborne, it was an incredibly stable platform because of that mass; trimmed up, it pretty much flew itself—-minimally affected by wind, speed changes, or even turbulence. Speed up? Push the throttle forward. Climb? Pull back on the stick. Turn? Push the stick right or left. Roll out? Push the stick in the opposite direction from starting the turn. Easy Peasy!

‘My son’s Cessna 182 has a maximum weight of 2,950 pounds driven by a 230 horsepower gasoline engine. It takes about the same 2,000 feet of runway to overcome gravity, but at around 55 knots (63 MPH). In order to takeoff at that speed, it has a massive airfoil. Combined with its light weight, it’s affected by every gust of wind, every change in speed, and every change in temperature. Level flight requires continuous trimming (sans auto pilot). Speed up? Throttle up, adjust prop (RPM), manifold pressure, fuel mixture, carburetor heating, cowl flaps, pitch trim. Continue to adjust all of the above according to variations in EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature), cylinder head temperature, carburetor temperature; hoping to get minimum fuel flow as you don’t have a gauge.

NASA and The Ohio State University have created a brand-new metal called GRX-810, a printable superalloy engineered to withstand extreme heat inside jet and rocket engines. It is being called one of the most significant breakthroughs in high-temperature materials in recent years. NASA says GRX-810 is twice as strong as the best 3D printed superalloys available today, more than a thousand times more durable at high temperatures, and twice as resistant to oxidation. The team demonstrated it using laser 3D printing and believes it could lead to stronger and longer-lasting parts for airplanes, spacecraft, and high-performance engines.

GRX-810 is what materials scientists refer to as an oxide dispersion strengthened alloy. In essence, it is a nickel, cobalt, and chromium-based metal reinforced with tiny ceramic particles. These nano-oxides, specifically yttrium oxide (Y₂O₃), make up about one percent of the alloy by weight. NASA coats the metal powder with these nanoscale oxides before printing, and then fuses the powder together layer by layer using laser powder bed fusion.

As the part solidifies, the oxide particles remain locked inside the metal matrix like rebar in concrete. This reinforcement stops the metal from deforming or cracking when exposed to both high heat and heavy load. The alloy’s recipe involves nine different metallic elements along with the nano-oxides, and this combination was optimized through computational alloy design rather than trial and error.

A Concorde flew so high over the Red Sea that the mighty US Navy got scared and rushed F-14 Tomcats to intercept it. So fast was the jet that only when a veteran pilot chasing it took out his camera and zoomed, he realized their blazing target was the supersonic airliner //

“As we swung our nose in the direction of the vector we got, I got an immediate lock on an extremely fast and high-flying aircraft,” recalled David “Hey Joe” Parsons, the Radar Intercept Officer in the rear seat. The AWG-9 radar displayed a large lead cue, something you only see when the target is moving extraordinarily fast at altitude. The Tomcat began to climb. //

The Television Camera System should have provided a magnified visual, but the angle and altitude difference made the picture blur into haze. Parsons reached down into his flight bag and pulled out his personal 300 mm camera lens. He spotted a thin white contrail far above them. He steadied the lens, focused, and the shape came into clarity. “As I twisted the lens, the beautiful silhouette of the Concorde came into focus.” There was no threat. Only grace. //

Contrary to popular imagination, the Tomcat did not chase the Concorde speed-for-speed. An F-14 does not drag race a Mach 2 airliner. Instead, it turns toward the point the radar predicts the target will be, accelerates, climbs, and allows closure rate to do the work. For a moment, two icons of aviation existed in the same piece of sky, one built to defend, the other built to outrun time.

The North Atlantic is a busy chunk of airspace. Each day, thousands of aircraft cross the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America. We want to tell you a little more about what it is like to fly over it though. //

The NAT HLA is from FL285-FL420 inclusive and it is divided up into 6 different FIRs (Flight Information Regions)/OCAs (Oceanic Control Areas). Shanwick looks after the UK/ Ireland section, Gander looks after the Canadian side, Reykjavik has the North, Bodø has the really north (east) part and down south you have New York Oceanic and Santa Maria on each side. There is also a small bit controlled by Nuuk. You can see these on Fightradar24 if you activate the ATC boundaries layer in Settings.

Within the NAT HLA, you have the organized track system which is defined each morning and evening based on where the best jet streams are. There are usually 5 or 6 tracks published, with the westbound ones utilized during the day, and the eastbound by night. The peak flow of traffic heading westbound cross 030° west between 1130 and 1900 UTC, and eastbound it is at its heaviest between 0100-0800 UTC.

In my USAF C-141 flying years, I often flew NASA support missions to Ascension Island. It’s a joint RAF/USAF base deep in the South Atlantic. It’s a spit of an island whose landscape looks like the Moon — pockmarked volcanic rock and beaches, an undulating runway often populated with sheep or cattle, a mountain peak reaching into the clouds named “Green Mountain” — with some locals and some military/NASA personnel. It’s a beautiful little island with some amazing history. We’d typically fly from Charleston AFB, SC, to Patrick AFB, FL, then on to Antigua for gas (and a cheeseburger), and then the long flight south to the remote island. We called it “the world’s longest straight in.” After takeoff, you flew the same course all the way to the runway. Often late at night.

When the Emir of Qatar’s Boeing 747-8 BBJ touched down in Palma at the end of June 2025, it brought with it a rare sight and a logistical challenge. The aircraft, often called a flying palace, is one of the largest and most extravagant private jets ever built. Its arrival marked the beginning of the Qatari royal family’s annual summer stay in Spain, a tradition that combines opulence with routine.

On June 30, 1973, a supersonic jet screamed across the African sky at 58,000 feet, chasing darkness at 1,450 miles per hour. Inside Concorde 001, seven scientists peer through holes cut in the roof, watching the longest solar eclipse in human history unfold. //

Over Africa, the Moon’s shadow raced across Earth at over 1,300 miles per hour. Ground observers got seven minutes before the shadow moved on. But Concorde at Mach 2.2 could actually outrun the shadow, staying locked in totality for as long as fuel lasted. //

Height mattered as much as speed. At 58,000 feet, the aircraft flew above weather, water vapor, and atmospheric turbulence that would blur ground observations. The combination of speed, altitude, and precise navigation created a stable observatory hurtling through space faster than a rifle bullet.

Supersonic cruise generated fierce aerodynamic heating, raising the skin to temperatures that would alarm passengers on any other jet. At the nose, engineers recorded figures as high as 261°F (127°C). The wing leading edges often reached about 212°F (100–105°C), while most of the fuselage settled between 194 and 203°F (90–95°C). //

At those temperatures, the entire 202-foot Concorde stretched by 7 to 12 inches. That expansion was most visible to the crew at the seam beside the engineer’s station, where the caps went in. //

The ritual of sealing a cap in the fuselage became most famous during the retirement era. On British Airways Concorde G-BOAG’s delivery flight to Seattle in 2003, flight engineer Trevor Norcott slipped his BA cap into the expansion gap while supersonic over Canada. As he later explained, “The Hat was meant as a permanent link between the aircraft and the crews.” Hours later, as the jet cooled on the ramp in Seattle, the seam clamped down, locking the cap inside. To this day, visitors walking past G-BOAG at the Museum of Flight unknowingly pass a hidden time capsule wedged between metal panels.