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Last airworthy Me 109 lost
D-FMWE, the last airworthy Messerschmidt Me 109 worldwide, has been lost in a crash landing this weekend. This is bad news, and of course it did not make it into mainstream media - just one source so far.
[via vowe]
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The Sky is the Limit: Highest Chopper Landing and Take Off ever
On May 14th, 2005 at 7h08 (local time), a serial Ecureuil/AStar AS 350 B3 piloted by the EUROCOPTER X-test pilot Didier Delsalle, landed at 8,850 meters (29,035ft) on the top of the Mount Everest (Kingdom of Nepal). [...] As required by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the aircraft remained landed on ground more than 2 minutes on the top of the world before flying back to Lukla. This feat was renewed the day after.
This is the ultimate milestone in helicopter aviation: despite altitude limitations most choppers face, now any place on earth can be reached with a serial model. It is the same serial model that can climb to 9,000 meters in less than 10 minutes and that made experimental flights up to 10,211 meters (33,500 ft).
Eurocopter did not release this news before May 24, 10 days after the record, which might be due to the implications of this flight. Rescue climbers will fear that chopper-based SAR could finally degenerate climbing Sagarmatha into an adventure for incautious amateurs. Proof that air SAR is possible was already delivered:
During the trial period, Didier Delsalle and his Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3 flew some rescue missions on behalf of the Nepalese authorities demonstrating the operational capabilities of the aircraft
mounteverest.net: Mystery Chopper Summit Images >
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421 tons - airborne!
Aviation history was made this morning when the first A380, the world’s largest commercial aircraft, successfully took off on its maiden flight, leaving Blagnac International Airport in Toulouse, France at 10.29 hours local time (08.29 UTC) from runway 32L. [...] For its first flight [...] F-WW0W took off at a weight of 421 tonnes / 928,300 lbs.
Airbus A380 First Flight website >
First Flight news reports at Google News >
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Mig-29 Fly-0ut
The End of an Era: Yesterday, the German Luftwaffe handled over its last Mig-29 Fulcrums to Poland, ending the somehwhat symbolic era in which the German Air Force operated fighter aircrafts inherited from its former foe, the East German Volksarmee. The Polish Air Force has bought all 22 German fighters for one symbolic Euro in order to replace their older Mig-21 machines until the delivery of new F-16 fighters will start in 2006. Germany has sold their Fabulous Fulcrums, one of the most fascinating and possibly the most beautiful warbird ever, in order to free capacity for the finally arriving Jäger 90 Eurofighter. Jg 73 Steinhoff Fulcrum Squadron will now be converted into the central Eurofighter training center.
RELATED
Detailed Mig-29 study at the Finish Fighter Tactics Academy
fas.org Mig-29 datasheet
RD-33 turbofan engine at airliners.net
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Staring at the Sun
The recent Venus transit has been a key event in astronomy, and of course a plethora of Sun/Venus-photos is available. The Venus part of most of them isn't too interesting to the bare eye, as the planet basically appears as a black circle. Perfectly visible to the bare eye: the fascinatingly low level of solar activity. Barely any solar spots, solar flares or flare loops. Among other things, solar activity directly affects radio communication on a number of important frequency bands: the level of solar activity influences how different layers of the earth's ionosphere build up, which in turn directly influences the lowest and highest usable frequency of specific bands. It follows an cycle with approx. 11 years peak-to-peak-time, and cleary, we are now seeing the end of cycle 23, as also indicated by current space weather reports: during Venus transit, a sunspot number - the key measurand of solar activity - of just 60 has been reported. Yesterday, it has been down to 37.2 which is one of the lowest number I've seen since I started to keep an eye on it 15 years ago. During a "good" peak, SSN can be as high as 250.
View complete image in full size >
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Have Low Fuel
HLF probably is the worst domain name you can paint on an aircraft: Warning warning warning. Have low fuel. Declaring emergency :-)
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Concorde: Where do we fly next?
Concorde's commercial operation has ended today, but there are five final ferry flights to come later this month or in November when the British Airways Supersonic Fleet members will reach their retirement retreats. To end today's aviation special, a quick look at the final homes:
AIR FRANCE RETIREMENTS
F-BVFA to Smithsonian Museum, Washington D.C., USA on June 12
F-BTSD to Air and Space Museum, Le Bourget, France on June 14
F-BVFB to Baden-Baden Airport / Sinsheim, Germany on June 24 (additional photos)
F-BVFC to Airbus A380 factory, Toulouse, France on June 27
F-BTSD holds the world records for fastest flights around the world in both directions and received a special Pepsi promo livery in 1996. F-BVFD and F-BVFF have been used as a spare parts donors. F-BVFD's nose has been sold to an American for EUR 45k in 1995, F-BVFF will go on display at Paris CDG. F-BTSC was lost near Paris in July 2000.
TENTATIVE BRITISH AIRWAYS RETIREMENTS
G-BOAC to Manchester Airport viewing park, UK
G-BOAD Record Setter to Intrepid Air and Space Museum, New York City, USA
G-BOAE to Museum of Flight, Seattle, USA
G-BOAG to Grantley Adams Airport, Barbados
G-BOAF to Filton, UK
G-BBDG is stored at Filton and has been used for spares. G-BOAA and G-BOAB are candidates for display at Heathrow Airport or Brooklands Museum, Weybridge. They did not receive the 2001 update and have been in storage at London Heathrow since. Listed retirement retreats are tentative only. Final homes for BA's Concorde fleet are to be announced later this week. One machine is already on exhibition at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.
Once the ferry flight to Filton will be accomplished, it is more than doubtful to see any of the machines in the skies again. Plans for air show displays and a special commemorative flight on December 17 (100th anniversary the Wright Brothers flight), as supported even by British Airways, are strongly opposed by Airbus that wants to see a final end of all Concorde operations.
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Concorde: Two for eternity
Shortly before the end of Concorde's commercial operation, two new - and final - records have been set. As there is no other commercial supersonic jet in operation and probably won't be for a long time, both might be "records for eternity". Reports Gordon Roxburgh of Concorde SST:
"[British Airways' Concorde G-BOAD] landed in Boston on Wednesday [October 08] in a record London-to-U.S. time of three hours, five minutes and 34 seconds, according to airline spokesman Jeff Angel. The old record to Boston of three hours and nine minutes was set in 1974 on a flight from Paris to Boston, flew before the aircraft entered service on one of the development aircraft, Concorde 02 (F-WTSA). British Airways (and Concorde G-BOAD!) now hold both the East-West and West-East transatlantic records, with the JFK-LHR record of 2hrs, 52mins and 59 seconds being set on the 7th of February 1996, by Captain Leslie Scott and his crew."
And:
"In September [the very same] lightly loaded aircraft was able to accelerate to supersonic speeds directly out of Cardiff, into the Bristol Channel, and reached Mach 1 in under 5 minutes, the best ever performance for a civil airliner. Only 7 minutes later they were cruising at Mach 2! The aircraft had never before had the chance to accelerate straight away with a light load. One Concorde test pilot commented that this performance was not even seen during the development programme as the departures always had a subsonic section before they reached the supersonic acceleration point."
More at the Concorde Newslog (that badly lacks permalinks)
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Skybird: final lift-off
Sky News not only has videos of Skybird's final London and New York lift-offs, but also an extensive photo collection online. Videos are in black and white and without comments, the JFK lift-off is spectacular nonetheless.
Sky News: Concorde coming home
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Airborne - for the very last time
BBC: "Concorde has taken off for the last time, ending three decades of supersonic travel. Three flights are under way and will converge on Heathrow airport to touch down at 1600 BST, cheered on by thousands of onlookers. One carrying 100 celebrities left New York at 1235 BST, another left Edinburgh at 1420 BST and a third began a loop of the Bay of Biscay a few minutes later. "
MSNBC: "In Lodon, officials, fearing gridlock, pleaded with aviation enthusiasts to stay at home and watch the grand finale on TV. 'It’s a shame that Heathrow is so tight for space and that we cannot accommodate more people,' said airport managing director Mick Temple as 27 years of supersonic travel drew to a close. A special 1,000-seat grandstand has been built close to the runaway where the last flight will touch down. But all seats have long been allocated and officials fear that up to a quarter of a million people could descend on the airport, bringing roads to a standstill."
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We have a lift-off
As a test of national will and skill, Chinese spaceflight is vastly preferable to, say, invading Taiwan. I promise to watch Chinese manned spaceflight with great interest, and I might even buy the mission patch and decals, but frankly, there isn’t much there there. There haven’t been men or women out of low-earth orbit in some 30 solid years. We don’t seem to miss them in any way that is quantifiable.
Bruce Sterling, MIT Technology Review
First a dog, then a cat, then a puppet - now, a "Taikonaut": "China launched its first human space mission on Wednesday, becoming the third country to send people into orbit. The flight repeats a feat that the Soviet Union and the United States first achieved four decades ago."
MEDIA COVERAGE
IN GERMAN
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The Sinsheim Concorde has arrived
Concorde F-BVFB, decommissioned by Air France and donated to the Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim, safely arrived in its new home on July 20. After its final landing in Baden Airpark, it has been knocked down, trucked to Söllingen, shipped down the Rhine to Speyer, and trucked on the Autobahn A6 to Sinsheim (tour map) where it will be displayed right next to its "Soviet Sister", the Tupolev TU 144 (photo composition). Shipping and trucking alone took nearly three days.
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Mars Express: First European voyage to Mars to start in 2 hours from now
The British led Beagle 2 Mars Lander
"[Today] at 19:45 Central European Summer Time (CEST), 17.45 UT ESA's Mars Express will be launched by a Soyuz launcher from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.Mars Express has been designed to perform the most thorough exploration ever of the Red Planet, not only searching for water, but also understanding the 'behaviour' of the planet as a whole. In maybe the most ambitious aim of all, Mars Express is the only mission in more than 25 years that dares to search for life. Mars Express will reach its target by the end of December 2003, after a trip of just over six months. Six days before injection into its final orbit, Mars Express will eject the lander, Beagle 2. The Mars Express orbiter will observe the planet and its atmosphere from a near-polar orbit, and will remain in operation for at least a whole Martian year (687 Earth days). Beagle 2 will land in an equatorial region that was probably flooded in the past, and where traces of life may have been preserved."
ESA Mars Express Mission Details (English)
DLR Mars Express Mission Details (German)
ESA Live Webcast of Launch, starting 19:15 CET (English)
DLR Live Webcast of the DLR event in Berlin-Adlershof, 18:45 - 22:30 (German)
N24 TV coverage in German, starting 19:45 CET
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Concorde Retirement Update
NEWS SUMMARY
Financial Times: demand for tickets on the remaining flights is high - the 1,000 discounted BA tickets sold out in hours - more special fares will be made available - BA received "between 20 to 30 serious inquiries" to take one of the aircrafts - Smithsonian Air and Space will almost certainly get one - Heathrow's new Terminal Five will perhaps get one - City of Bristol wants to bring one back to the "Home of Concorde" at Filton - private collectors most certainly won't get one - send-off celebrations planned that include a "tour of Britain" to allow as many people as possible to see the aircraft fly again for the last time
Bristol Evening Post: Richard Branson renewed his controversial bid to take over the entire fleet of seven Concordes - wants to give one to the City of Bristol in case he succeeds, says one should be given to the public in either case - BA said again that the jets would be mothballed in museums rather than sold off to rival airlines - Branson: "This is the beginning of a campaign to make sure that every effort is made to see that one of the greatest engineering innovations in Britain will not disappear unnecessarily."
LET'S BRING HER HOME CAMPAIGN
"The Bristol Evening Post has launched a campaign to bring queen of the skies Concorde home to Bristol. The supersonic jet was designed, built and tested at Filton, where plane giant Airbus is now based, and we are fighting for it to be returned to its historical birthplace. " - Campaign latest news
IN THE ARCHIVES
2003-04-12: The Concorde - soon, the Sound of Silence
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Boys need Toys: The Concorde - soon, The Sound of Silence
The Concorde supersonic jet, the ultimate Boy's Toy this side of military aviation, is finally set for retirement. At the end of October, both Air France and British Airways will cease to operate the 2.2 mach bird. I'd love to write more about this, but as time does not permit, just some links to other sites:
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STS-107 Columbia Crew
Specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark, pilot William "Willie" McCool, commander Rick Husband, mission specialist David Brown, payload specialist Ilan Ramon and payload commander Michael Anderson (left to right)
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NASA mission STS-107: On landing approach, hull dismantled, Columbia lost - Update -
Today, NASA Human Space Flight lost the Space Shuttle "Columbia" over North Central Texas while on approach for a landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Apparently, the thermal shield consisting of ceramic tiles failed and in consequence, the hull disintegrated. All seven crew, including the first Israeli and the first Indian astronauts ever, will be pronounced dead. This happend just days after the 17th anniversary of the "Challenger" explosion (mission 51-L).
A space flight includes two critial phases. The first, after lift-off. Rockets and boosters accelerate the ship from zero to about 8000 meters per second, with a critical moment when traversing Mach 1. During that phase, "Challenger" was lost. The second, when re-entering the earth atmosphere. Then, using braking rockets negative acceleration in the magnitude of serveral g is applied to slow down the vehicle from said 8000 meters per second to about 83 meters per second (300 kilometers per hour) touchdown speed. This happens about 20 minutes before landing.
During that phase, due to the extreme forces air resistance causes the nose and the wing tips to heat up to more than 2500 degrees Celsius. Flames build up and cover the entire front of the vehicle. Ceramic tiles designed to withstand temperatures of more than 3000 degrees Celsius are applied to the outer structure and the wings to protect the ship from damages. Under normal conditions, several tiles crack or fall off, and after each mission, the heat shield receives maintenance.
As "Columbia" was the oldest Space Shuttle, it can be assumed that fatigue combined with a shield damage discovered on launch 16 days ago but considered minimal led to a failure of the thermal shield. In this case, the heat can work on the structure, weaken it until a hole builds. Latest when the hole reaches the pressurized cabin, the hull breaks up and the ship falls to pieces. This might take no longer than 10 to 30 seconds in total. The resulting unprotected pieces start to anneal and while travelling to earth surface, a part of the matter dies down. This mechanism is sometimes used to discard thermally unprotected and unmanned space vehicles like satellites. In such a controlled crash, satellites normally die down entirely before reaching earth surface.
Update
Failure of the thermal shield of course is only one possible cause, likely and easy to assume. Other possible causes include aerodynamic effects caused by rolling at a wrong angle (descend is without power, and "piloting the shuttle on reentry as like trying to fly a brick with wings") and the left wing separating from the hull as at ascent, this wing was struck by debris from the external tank insulation, another damage considered minimal. Data analysis will unveil what mostly likely has happened, and until then, of course, media will demonstrate once more how scientifically unbiased most of their staff is. Links via IT+W.
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Today in history: Challenger explodes, Hydrogen Bombs lost
"Orbits: 0; Duration: 01 min 13 seconds; Distance: 18 miles; Landing: none."
"The Explosion 73 seconds after liftoff claimed crew and vehicle. Cause of explosion was determined to be an O-ring failure in right SRB. Cold weather was a contributing factor."
Shuttle Mission 51-L, Official NASA Documentation
"CNN's John Zarrella was at the Kennedy Space Center [...] as NASA planned to send the first civilian into space aboard space shuttle Challenger." Read his debrief in the CNN 2001 Archives. And at BBC News, a BBC On This Day summary for this event.
Also today, 1968: After a B-52 crash, the U.S. Air Force loses 4 hydrogen bombs over Iceland. "It is thought the radioactive detonators are still missing." Ironically in 2001, "there was a similar accident involving a B-52 over the sea off Palomares in south-east Spain. The plane dropped its bombs over the Spanish coast. It took nearly 80 days to recover the last of the four bombs on board that plane."
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