RED BULL AIR RACE – 2 FRENCH PILOTS ON PODIUM

The French took the lead through Nicolas IVANOFF and François LE VOT in this season-opening air race in Abu Dhabi, UAE on Saturday, March 12, 2016. Ivanoff finished first after a narrow victory since the German Matthias DOLDERER was only 0.110″ behind him. The RBAR biggest surprise came from LE VOT who finished third. It is the first time he has been on the podium. The Australian Matt HALL could not perform as expected as he hit a pylon during the opening round. The Austrian Hannes ARCH was disqualified for surprisingly flying off track. The next race should fit him better since it will be in Spielberg, Austria on April 23rd and 24th.

2016 MASTER CLASS CHAMPIONSHIP RANKING – 1st Race :

  1. FRA – Nicolas IVANOFF, 15 points
  2. GER – Matthias DOLDERER, 12 points
  3. FRA – François LE VOT, 9 points
  4. USA – Kirby CHAMBLISS, 6 points
  5. USA – Michael GOULIAN, 5 points
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MUST SEE – WEIRD TAKEOFF EXPLAINED

Thanks to this video shared by @air_english, here is an example of the kind of accident you can avoid if you follow some basic flight safety rules. Even if nobody could expect such a spectacular accident while weather and visibility were excellent, some precautionary measures could have prevented the aircrew from a catastrophic failure. This video will let you guess what provoked this. You will find an analysis of this German Robin DR-400 accident here.

Thanks to AIR-ENGLISH and John Maxwell. Please, pass the information on for it is a flight safety issue and it could happen to anybody. It is useful for BIA-CAEA too.

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WWI AIR COMBAT – WHAT IT CAME DOWN TO

What is more natural than looking back over major aviation innovations of the Great War today, the anniversary of the Armistice? Here is a very interesting video posted by the BBC on how the fighter pilots dealt with reconnaissance, bombing missions and dogfight techniques. Primitive flight controls are well explained as is the interest of performing missions with a triplane aircraft – three sets of wings are necessarily more narrow, providing the pilot with a better visual field.

From the flimsy Blériot XI to Sopwiths and Fokkers, the first aces developed early methods that are always taught in fighter schools even though beyond-visual-range air combat has taken over since. Major Charles Tricornot de Rose was considered by many as the father of air fighting as early as 1914. Then as shown in this video, the German ace Oswald Boelcke laid out a first set of rules for dogfighting called the Dicta Boelcke. Pilots’ life expectancy was not measured in years but in weeks.

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Iranian Su-25 Fighterjets Shot at U.S. Drone

BREAKING NEWS :

Thursday November 8, 2012 – Two Iranian Sukhoi Su-25s (Su-25K Frogfoot-A? or Su-25UBK Frogfoot-B?) would have fired at a U.S. drone last week on November 1, at 04.50 am (Eastern Time) as it was flying above international waters – 16 miles off the Kuwaiti coast, according to the Pentagon.

The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was not above Iranian territory when it was intercepted by Frogfoots which engaged the drone. However, the Predator was not shot down, and returned to its base.

George E. Little, Press secretary of the U.S. DoD (Department of Defense) stated: « We have a wide range of options from diplomatic to military. »

Reminder: an American RQ-170 Sentinel UAV had been captured in Iran on December 13, 2011.

VIDEO:

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Mach-3 SR-71 Blackbird’s HOT COCKPIT

Blackbird onboard USS Intrepid – Photo © Xavier Cotton https://www.passionpourlaviation.fr/

As you may have heard, the mythical Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was a strategic reconnaissance aircraft able to fly at more than Mach 3 – Mach 3.3 ie around 3,500 km/h; or 1,900 kts; and at a maximum flight level of… FL 850 or 26 kilometers high!

The Blackbird indeed had a unique flight envelope with a particular doghouse plot (since she could not exceed 3.5 G), and an exceptionnal coffin corner limited by her CIT – Compressor Inlet Temperature of 427°C maximum.

This aircraft was also unique for her engines were two J58 ramjets fuelled by JP-7 especially refined for extreme flying purpose. This special fuel could drip and leak abundantly as the airframe made up of titanium was retracted while taxiing, and became airtight only when it got its operating shape while flying very fast and very high because of the air density, and surrounding pressure plus the heating caused by the air friction at such speeds. In short, the whole structure considerably expanded when airborne.

The irony – I heard it on the grapevine, or read it somewhere on the web – that titanium which turned into dark blue while flying (SR-71s probably deserved those unofficial other nicknames « Bluebird », or « Habu » viper) was « imported » from… USSR!

Pilots must have taken significant risks inherent in flying such an aircraft as mentioned in this previous post. These pilots used to fly over the USSR to take strategic reconnaissance photographs during the Cold war. They wore pressurized spacesuits so that their blood could not boil in case of decompression or ejection at such altitudes.

The Blackbird travelled faster than a rifle bullet, and the air friction could have melt aluminum-skinned aircraft. At Mach 3.2, fuel cycled behind the chine surface in order to cool the aircraft! The inner windshield temperature could reach 120°C even though a heavy-duty cooling system was on a full function. On landing, the outside temperature of the canopy could reach 300°C, and it must have been far beyond on the fuselage, and wing surfaces while flying at high speeds. The pilot could feel the heat behind his protective gloves!

Special thanks to Xavier Cotton for the Blackbird photos. Please, visit his website on http://www.passionpourlaviation.fr/

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