I had already written about that in my book UNE AUTRE HISTOIRE DE L’AVIATION, on pages 12; 13; 71; and others – Bernoulli’s principle does not explain everything. We know that aircraft fly. Strange as it may seem, Bernoulli’s principle has often been taught for decades as the explanation of the phenomenon.

Je l’avais déjà évoqué dans mon livre « Une autre histoire de l’aviation » aux pages 12, 13, 71, et d’autres: Le théorème de Bernoulli n’explique pas tout. Nous savons que les avions volent. Depuis des décennies, aussi bizarre que cela puisse paraître, on enseigne souvent le théorème de Bernoulli comme l’explication principale au phénomène.

This explanation would make sense if the air particles split at the leading edge of the wing and come together at the trailing edge. However, Cambridge researchers had debunked this flying myth in 2012, and have recently confirmed that Bernoulli’s principle cannot explain everything in wing lift. As you can see on the video above, the upper wing air stream travels much faster than the lower wing one. Last but not least, these air streams do not come together at the trailing edge since the upper wing air stream reaches the trailing edge well before the lower wing airflow. Isn’t this amazing?

Cette explication tiendrait si les particules d’air se séparaient au bord d’attaque de l’aile et se rejoignaient au bord de fuite. Cependant, des chercheurs de Cambridge avaient démonté ce mythe du vol en 2012 et viennent de confirmer que le principe de de Bernoulli ne peut pas tout expliquer dans la portance de l’aile. Comme vous pouvez le voir sur la vidéo ci-dessus, le flux d’air en extrados voyage beaucoup plus vite que celui d’intrados. Enfin et surtout, ces flux d’air ne se rejoignent pas au bord de fuite puisque le flux d’air d’extrados atteint le bord de fuite bien avant le flux d’intrados. Étonnant, n’est-ce pas?

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TRANSCRIPT:

If your aircraft has provision for underwater ejection, you have a ready-made, secondary escape route. Succesful underwater ejections can be made from any aircraft attitude – nose down, tail down, and inverted.

Escape by this method requires no preparation other than that recommended for normal seat ejection. There should be at least ten feet of water above you before you can safely eject. Never eject from the surface. With present systems, the chute cannot open with a zero-zero situation (which means at a height of 0 and at a speed of 0). The effect of free-falling 80 feet to water is little different than falling 80 feet to concrete. True, some lucky ones have lived to tell about it. But it is one hell of a gamble.

When you eject through the canopy underwater, the seat breaks through clearing the way for your body. Because water resistance imposes terrific forces on your head and neck, it is vital to hold the face curtain tight against your head for support. The forces of ejection might cause a momentary blackout. Immediately upon collecting your wits, disconnect yourself from the seat by pulling the emergency release handle breaking your restraints. Now, separate yourself from the seat. This is difficult. You will have to kick and swim violently even though you are disconnected.

If your chute gets hung up on the seat, do not waste time trying to clear it. Release your riser fittings and swim clear off the chute. Do not inflate flotation equipment until clear of the seat. Remember, surface slowly, exhaling as you go. Remove your oxygen mask.

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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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According to a consultation with the customers, 96% of them want more environmentally sustainable aeroplanes. The aircraft of the future will have to be fully recyclable, more sustainable ie eco-efficient, and less stressful:

Now, the leading aircraft manufacturer is using the feedback to paint its vision of sustainable aviation in 2050.

Airbus had unveiled a revolutionary concept cabin through images of a transparent airliner design, last year.

There is a need among the passengers to reduce the time spent in airports. The new Airbus concept cabin will integrate an additional door for faster boarding, and exit. This airliner of the future will reduce its noise, and carbon emmissions. It will use the latest technologies – bionic structure, blended airframe, enhanced laminar flow and noise reduction; blended U-tail, biomorphing seats able to collect the passenger’s body energy, cutting-edge relaxation systems, human body thermal recycling, dramatic panoramic view, World Wide Web access, round of golf, etc. Watch the video:

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The British Harriers were to be replaced by the F-35Cs. Do you remember? You may have learnt from the recent news that the carrier variant of the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Joint Strike Fighter – CV JSF (Carrier Vessel variant’s Joint Strike Fighter) – F-35C was unable to catch the wire onboard the aircraft carrier during the latest landing tests.

Strange as it may seem, the F-35C’s designers may have not forecast what would unfold during a test flight while landing on an aircraft carrier:

The arresting hook (tailhook) never engaged the arresting wire as the clearance between the tail hook and the main landing gear’s tyre tread is too short for such a speed. An F-35C Lightning II missing her carrier landing has been reported even though some U.S. officials would have dismissed such information which might result from simulated tests.

Added to that is a software bug which had grounded the CV JSF for 6 days a few month earlier for the fifth-generation fighter aircraft might have encountered wing-folding input while flying!

As a result, the British Ministry of Defence might find a Plan-B solution as these design flaws, and some others which date back to November 2011 are deemed unacceptable for such an expensive fighter aircraft – $139.5 million for the F-35C (CATOBAR – Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery), and $150 million for the F-35B (STOVL – Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing). The latter can land on carriers but she is more expensive, and the JSF program costs have already increased several times.

Moreover, the JSF would not be able to fire AMRAAM air-to-air missiles as reported in this video:

And there’s even more: according to a Pentagon study team report, 13 areas of concern that remained to be addressed in the F-35 would have been identified. For instance, the Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS) would not work properly…

The British MoD is therefore considering the purchase of either F/A-18E Super Hornets or RAFALEs for the RAF. The French Dassault which has already lost the Swiss NAC tender due to replace the Swiss Air Force’s F-5s, would be proposing a new offer with 18 RAFALEs at a cost deemed lower than the 22 SAAB Gripens’ one according to the Swiss press.

The RAFALE is still in competition with the Eurofighter in the Indian MMRCA tender. the Indian officials are expected to make a decision this week. To be continued… ==> We have just learnt (on January 31, 2012) that the RAFALE has won the MMRCA tender…

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The USAF RQ-170 Sentinel – ISR (Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance) + Ground-attack stealth drone – recently captured in Iran should remain indefinitely according to the latest news:

“No one returns the symbol of aggression to the party that sought secret and vital intelligence related to the national security of a country,” Iranian General Hossein Salami said.

Nothing more was revealed but the U.S. Air Force admitted that the UAV would have had a malfunction on its course to Iran after leaving Afghanistan. The pictures of the fuselage cannot show evidence of shooting down, and nothing proves what the Iranian officials suggested about EW (Electronic Warfare) means which might have brought down the drone to the ground perhaps by jamming.

To be continued…

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November 1, 2011 – A commercial aircraft performed an emergency landing onto Frederic Chopin International Airport two hours ago. The LOT Polish Airlines B-767 that had taken off from Newark had then been circling over Poland’s capital for an hour as a landing gear failure had been reported. The belly-landing unfolded perfectly, and the firefighters responded immediately. No casualties have been reported among the crew members and the 230 passengers.

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It is still being developed by American Dynamics Flight Systems. Its airframe is to be made up of carbon fiber and kevlar materials. It could be one of the most effective drones of its generation with its versatile payload configuration; GCS interfaces; and interoperable data links. Its Pratt and Whitney engines could be feed with Jet-A; JP-4; and JP-5 fuel.

VIDEO:

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Moreover, the brand new Airbus A400M military cargo aircraft got an engine failure. The A380 would have flown back to Toulouse so that it can be fixed, and take part to the Paris Air Show again. As far as the A400M is concerned, it is likely to remain grounded unless the engineering team find a solution to repair the gearbox.

Special thanks to Xavier Cotton (http://passiondesavions.blogspot.com/) who passed the video link on.

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This aircraft of the future will use the latest technology – bionic structure; blended airframe; enhanced laminar flow and noise reduction; blended V-tail; biomorphing seats; leading-edge relaxation systems; human body thermal recycling; dramatic panoramic view; round of golf; etc.

Airbus will showcase their project called Concept Cabin during the Paris Air Show, at Le Bourget Airport. A movie – Airbus Future of Flight – will also be shown in a 360° planetarium at the Musee de l’Air et de l’Espace from 20 to 26 June 2011. Watch what travelling by plane could be… 40 years ahead:

Special thanks to Thierry HERMAS – Aeronautical English teacher at the French Air Force Academy (EOAA, Salon de Provence) – who passed the video link on. Thank you very much indeed.

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A huge amount of electric energy must have passed through the airframe of the aircraft during its approach at London Heathrow last week. Amazingly the commercial aircraft escaped damage, and nobody was hurt.

Is it any wonder this airplane may sustain such a stress in a clap of thunder? The size and the nature of the A380 airframe seems to be the right solution to such hazards. Thanks to its thick metal structure, the plane behaved as a perfect Faraday cage:

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This video has become a buzz since yesterday night. The Airbus A380 super-heavy jumbo jet wingtip would have clipped the tail of the CRJ700 according to some reports. The passengers were violently shaken in the cabin of the smaller plane as the Bombadier airplane was instantly pivoted around its yaw axis while… taxiing!!!

Here is the ATC voice communication when the Airbus A380 took out the CRJ700:

… and here is an – outdated – aeronautical chart to understand what happened and where on JFK International’s tarmac:

 

 

Special thanks to Lady E and Xavier for passing the news on

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However, the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) said that the last heavy « C » check – the last major MRO operation on the aircraft – was performed at the Dallas Southwest maintenance facilities in March 2010.

The TWU (Transport Workers Union) has condemned the use of aircraft repair stations outside the USA, calling on Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration to toughen the FAA’s oversight – Watch the video:

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The NTSB is leading an investigation into exactly what happened to this Southwest Airlines flight – a 737 which had a hole come open during a flight from Phoenix to Sacramento at FL 360 (altitude: 36,000 feet that is to say almost 11 kilometers high). It was a harrowing experience for the passengers and the crew members. Watch the video:

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He designed and flew the Demoiselle (Damselfly) in 1908. This aircraft was controlled by wing warping, and a tail unit equipped with a rudder, and an elevator.

VIDEO:

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