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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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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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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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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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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Harrier during Airshow AirVenture 2011 video:

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The Swedish-made Saab 35 Draken was a second generation jet fighter. 644 of them were built. This fighter aircraft used to fly during the Cold War as early as 1955, and entered in service in 1960.

Maybe her particular double-delta shape was worth calling it « Draken » which means « kite ». She was more an air defense aircraft than a dogfighter aircraft.

She retired from the RDAF, the Royal Danish Air Force in 1993; from the SwAF, the Swedish Air Force in 1999; from the FIAF, the Finnish Air Force in 2000; and from the AAF, the Austrian Air Force in 2005.

Hereafter an interesting video featuring a Saab 29 Tunnan (Flying Barrel); a Saab 32 Lansen (Lance); and a Draken momentarily as an interceptor; with her rate of climb nearing 35,000ft/min, she could reach FL650 – more than 20 kilometres above the earth – to hit her target:

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The main rotor or rotary wing on the H-3 has five identical wing blades. Other helicopters may have two, three, or four blades. A typical wing blade is shown in figure 1-17. The rotary-wing blade is made of aluminum alloy, except the steel cuff by which the blade attaches to the rotor hub. The main supporting member of the blade is a hollow, aluminum alloy extruded spar, which forms the leading edge. The steel cuff is bolted to the root end of the spar. Twenty-three individual pockets constructed of aluminum ribs, aluminum channels, and aluminum skin covering are bonded to the aft edge of the spar.

Text and cutaway view: www.tpub.com courtesy

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Remember Guynemer’s mottos: FAIRE FACE (face up to it) was then adopted by the French Air Force Academy (FAFA) as their motto. A few words that well expresses the French pilots’ bravery.

The WWI French ace Georges Guynemer used to say:

– « Il y a une limite à toute chose, et il faut toujours la dépasser. « Everything has a limit which has always got to be surpassed. »
– « Lorsque l’on n’a pas tout donné, on n’a rien donné. » « As long as you have not given your all, you have given nothing »

Loyal to these principles, the French ace took part in several hundreds of aerial combats, crediting 53 victories. He was shot down seven times, and he was admired for he always survived, but that September 11, Ninety-three years ago. The hero took off once again. Outnumbered by German warplanes in a last dogfighting over Belgium. Then, he fell.

Since then, the French Air Force aviators have worn a black tie in sign of mourning.

RIP

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