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Landing light quit working in protest today on German aircraft, but is showing support for Ukraine.
07050107-7814-46CA-9399-5A90D37215E7.jpeg
 
Of course they did, and the Russian Peacekeepers are going into the Ukraine so the Ukrainians won't cause more damage and hurt themselves!
 
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Not a ppl holder only a wannabe.
My Grandfather and uncle held a licence.
The above information was kept from me until I was older.
Maybe they didn't want me to follow, lol.
Always favored the older planes.
This one caught my eye:
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R
They fly one of these from Houghton to Isle Royale all summer long here. This past year they brought another one on. The second one was painted like yours. It left late summer, while the regular one stayed here through September. The regular one goes down to FLA. and works down there through the winter.
 
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Polishing a turd. The whole thing is garbage and it is doubtful that it does as advertised (saving fuel).
Winglets? They save fuel. On normally blocked flights. When you get into catch up mode on daily flying they don't save fuel. Flying faster than designed means they're not going to save fuel.

I never worked on this type of winglet. I worked on 1900D's, A320' and B737-600/700/800/900's that all had winglets. At ATS I worked on the Scimitar winglet program doing line maintenance on the 737-800/900's. Swapping winglets on and off and swapping icing (simulated) leading edges on and off. The Scimitar winglet has the upper and lower fins. Interesting, the A320 winglets provide no energy recovery. They just enhance directional stability.
 
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Stay the fuck away from Tamaracks on CJs...like I said upthread, they malfunctioned, upset the aircraft, and killed my former boss.

They ain't APIs on a Boeing or Hawker...

Tamaracks really don't save fuel on a CJ2+ or CJ3 anyway...they go right from sea level/MTOW to service ceiling in <25min, and 5 minutes later you're pulling the power out of the CRZ detent so you don't overspeed. Really, really hard to improve upon that. For a straight CitationJet, making FL410 usable could save gas but again - is it worth the risk?
 
Winglets? They save fuel. On normally blocked flights. When you get into catch up mode on daily flying they don't save fuel. Flying faster than designed means they not going to save fuel.

I never worked on this type of winglet. I worked on 1900D's, A320' and B737-600/700/800/900's that all had winglets. At ATS I worked on the Scimitar winglet program doing line maintenance on the 737-800/900's. Swapping winglets on and off and swapping icing (simulated) leading edges on and off. The Scimitar winglet has the upper and lower fins. Interesting, the A320 winglets provide no energy recovery. They just enhance directional stability.
I beg to differ on the a320 winglets (actually called sharklets). There is a measurable performance difference between a classic 320 and a winglet 320. It climbs better. Can reach higher altitudes at heavier weights. Burns less and most importantly to me the safety margin between Vls and Vne is much larger (often called the coffin corner). In a classic at Fl 360 tHis corner is usually about 10-15 kts, with the winglet it’s like 20-25.
 
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Spent time this week with Kazu and his children. He showed me a video of him flying his Mitsubishi Zero around Mt Fuji. He brought the aircraft to Japan as a relic. He wanted to fly it to Mitsubishi to share and display it, they said no. He was told it was a bad reminder of the war and should not be displayed. I have a short video of Kazu in Japan with his plane. His son was there and is former US Navy and his Grandson is in the National Guard in Hawaii.
There are only 5 flyable planes left in the world. We had a good visit, I see him every year on business, he has retired but I'll see if I can get him to send me the Mt Fuji video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=00JStLYSMoQ
 
Stay the fuck away from Tamaracks on CJs...like I said upthread, they malfunctioned, upset the aircraft, and killed my former boss.

They ain't APIs on a Boeing or Hawker...

Tamaracks really don't save fuel on a CJ2+ or CJ3 anyway...they go right from sea level/MTOW to service ceiling in <25min, and 5 minutes later you're pulling the power out of the CRZ detent so you don't overspeed. Really, really hard to improve upon that. For a straight CitationJet, making FL410 usable could save gas but again - is it worth the risk?
I would definitely not fly a CJ with tamarack winglets!
 
I beg to differ on the a320 winglets (actually called sharklets). There is a measurable performance difference between a classic 320 and a winglet 320. It climbs better. Can reach higher altitudes at heavier weights. Burns less and most importantly to me the safety margin between Vls and Vne is much larger (often called the coffin corner). In a classic at Fl 360 tHis corner is usually about 10-15 kts, with the winglet it’s like 20-25.
I meant the sharklets not recovering energy. The winglets do.
 
I meant the sharklets not recovering energy. The winglets do.
Just so we are clear, the standard a320 doesn’t have winglets. They have what I believe airbus calls gates. The sharklet’s are winglets like on any Boeing. For whatever reason airbus calls them Sharklets.

and yes, the gates are useless. Purely for looks
 
Does the 321 climb better with wingsharklets?

That's one plane that makes the A300 look like it has decent altitude capability. Speaking of LeBus, that's one airframe that would REALLY benefit from winglets.
 
Also, I was today years old when I learned the wingtip ornaments called Fences on the A300 are called Gates on the 320 family.
 
Does the 321 climb better with wingsharklets?

That's one plane that makes the A300 look like it has decent altitude capability. Speaking of LeBus, that's one airframe that would REALLY benefit from winglets.
The 321 is a pig. I’ve never flown a 321 that doesn’t have the sharklet so I have no basis of comparison. But if the difference is like the 320 then I’d say yes, but either way it climbs like a rock above Fl 240.

Our SOP is to use open climb all the way to altitude but even with the sharklet it claims at like 500 fpm because it’s trying to maintain that airspeed and porpoises the whole way. Once it starts doing that crap a go selected speed, dial it all the way up and use vertical speed and climb at 1000 fpm. I’ll sacrifice the airspeed for the climb rate and it doesn’t porpoise
 
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Just so we are clear, the standard a320 doesn’t have winglets. They have what I believe airbus calls gates. The sharklet’s are winglets like on any Boeing. For whatever reason airbus calls them Sharklets.

and yes, the gates are useless. Purely for looks
I never worked on a 320 without sharklets. Didn't know they didn't have them to start with. I have seen the APB winglets (like 737) on the Airbus A320 family. I thought that was what you meant. I never worked on those.

The 'gates' (fences?) may have been what was referred to when speaking of helping tracking.
 
I never worked on a 320 without sharklets. Didn't know they didn't have them to start with. I have seen the APB winglets (like 737) on the Airbus A320 family. I thought that was what you meant. I never worked on those.

The 'gates' (fences?) may have been what was referred to when speaking of helping tracking.
They don’t even make them anymore without the sharklet. My airline actually developed the STC to have the old ones retrofitted. Went through all the testing and then never did it. We only have like 5 or 6 320’s with the sharklet. The rest are the original classic with the fence (as @BoilerUP corrected me to proper nomenclature). All our 321’s have the sharklets.

When you say APB winglets, do you mean the split scimitar type that are on the 737NG’s? If so, I have never seen those on a commercial Airbus, but maybe you saw that on a private version?
 
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The 321 is a pig. I’ve never flown a 321 that doesn’t have the sharklet so I have no basis of comparison. But if the difference is like the 320 then I’d say yes, but either way it climbs like a rock above Fl 240.

Our SOP is to use open climb all the way to altitude but even with the sharklet it claims at like 500 fpm because it’s trying to maintain that airspeed and porpoises the whole way. Once it starts doing that crap a go selected speed, dial it all the way up and use vertical speed and climb at 1000 fpm. I’ll sacrifice the airspeed for the climb rate and it doesn’t porpoise
The 318 and 319 are climbers. Newer 320's do pretty well. I worked on the launch V2500 A320's at US Airways which were originally America West birds. 620-637. They had the low power V2500's. Which weren't really low power at all, 25,500 lb. thrust. They did take weight hits coming out of Reno, though. Not sure why Boeing Classic 37's didn't. Those CFM56-3's were only rated at 22K to 24,5K

All the higher 600 #'s with V2500's had the full 27,500 lb engines. All the A321's I worked on there had the CFM56-5B's which were 27,500. Later, the new 321's had the 33,000 lb. thrust V2500's and CFM56's. All the 'West' busses had V2500's and all the 'East' (US Air) had CFM56 engines.
 
They don’t even make them anymore without the sharklet. My airline actually developed the STC to have the old ones retrofitted. Went through all the testing and then never did it. We only have like 5 or 6 320’s with the sharklet. The rest are the original classic with the fence (as @BoilerUP corrected me to proper nomenclature). All our 321’s have the sharklets.

When you say APB winglets, do you mean the split scimitar type that are on the 737NG’s? If so, I have never seen those on a commercial Airbus, but maybe you saw that on a private version?
The original Winglet like you showed above. Haven't seen one with the Scimitar Winglets.
 
The 318 and 319 are climbers. Newer 320's do pretty well. I worked on the launch V2500 A320's at US Airways which were originally America West birds. 620-637. They had the low power V2500's. Which weren't really low power at all, 25,500 lb. thrust. They did take weight hits coming out of Reno, though. Not sure why Boeing Classic 37's didn't. Those CFM56-3's were only rated at 22K to 24,5K

All the higher 600 #'s with V2500's had the full 27,500 lb engines. All the A321's I worked on there had the CFM56-5B's which were 27,500. Later, the new 321's had the 33,000 lb. thrust V2500's and CFM56's. All the 'West' busses had V2500's and all the 'East' (US Air) had CFM56 engines.
The 737’s wing is fantastic. The Airbus 320 wing is the exact same size from the 318-321. So the longer it gets the worse it is. The new 319 with the NEO and sharklet is a monster. Uses less gas than a CRJ 900 and can do trans con. Not many 318’s out there in US, if any. Only one I ever see is the British airways one in JFK. When I fly out of Reno in the summer, the 320 climbs fine. What gets dicey is the procedure if you lose an engine.
 
The 318 and 319 are climbers. Newer 320's do pretty well. I worked on the launch V2500 A320's at US Airways which were originally America West birds. 620-637. They had the low power V2500's. Which weren't really low power at all, 25,500 lb. thrust. They did take weight hits coming out of Reno, though. Not sure why Boeing Classic 37's didn't. Those CFM56-3's were only rated at 22K to 24,5K

All the higher 600 #'s with V2500's had the full 27,500 lb engines. All the A321's I worked on there had the CFM56-5B's which were 27,500. Later, the new 321's had the 33,000 lb. thrust V2500's and CFM56's. All the 'West' busses had V2500's and all the 'East' (US Air) had CFM56 engines.
The America west 321’s were dogs. I remember them having that button on the thrust levers that was supposed to give them a boost. I’ve never seen that on any other Airbus.
 
The America west 321’s were dogs. I remember them having that button on the thrust levers that was supposed to give them a boost. I’ve never seen that on any other Airbus.
I'm going back more than ten years in my memory on this. I do not recall America West owning 321's. I never saw them in ORD anyways. US Air had a bunch of them. We got one every night.

When they merged they all got the US Airways paint scheme. I came in right after the Merger as a 'West' guy. The mechanics agreed on a merger/unification plan right after I got there, but the pilots stayed separate until long after I left. In fact I understand that still wasn't settled when they all rolled in to American.

The big way to tell if it was a 'West' or 'East' bus was V2500 or CFM. V2500's are smooth throughout the length of the engine, CFM's have a very visible break at the rear of the fan. The NEO's which are all CFM's have the scalloping at the aft edge of the fan. This is for those following along, not you @TacticalDillhole

Anyhow, the button you speak of was supposed to give 33K thrust. As needed, you don't fly it that way all day. It wasn't emergency power, just extra to get you up to where you wanted to be. The engine was rated at that power, but derated to normally needed operational power. I never had to deal with any fallout from it or anything. Just one of the things you learn in GenFam that you never use.
 
I'm going back more than ten years in my memory on this. I do not recall America West owning 321's. I never saw them in ORD anyways. US Air had a bunch of them. We got one every night.

When they merged they all got the US Airways paint scheme. I came in right after the Merger as a 'West' guy. The mechanics agreed on a merger/unification plan right after I got there, but the pilots stayed separate until long after I left. In fact I understand that still wasn't settled when they all rolled in to American.

The big way to tell if it was a 'West' or 'East' bus was V2500 or CFM. V2500's are smooth throughout the length of the engine, CFM's have a very visible break at the rear of the fan. The NEO's which are all CFM's have the scalloping at the aft edge of the fan. This is for those following along, not you @TacticalDillhole

Anyhow, the button you speak of was supposed to give 33K thrust. As needed, you don't fly it that way all day. It wasn't emergency power, just extra to get you up to where you wanted to be. The engine was rated at that power, but derated to normally needed operational power. I never had to deal with any fallout from it or anything. Just one of the things you learn in GenFam that you never use.
AW got :21’s right before the US air merger. They maybe had a dozen and yes they were all the international engines and not the GE. Iirc they only used that reserve power for engine out. Been a long time though.
 
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AW got :21’s right before the US air merger. They maybe had a dozen and yes they were all the international engines and not the GE. Iirc they only used that reserve power for engine out. Been a long time though.
To me it's really interesting because you've flown both Bus and Boeing -37. On the maintenance side, I definitely preferred the Bus. Everything was laid out a lot better and of course with gear doors, life was clean when you had to do something up in the wheel wells. It looks dirty with that Avi8 sealer in there, but the -37 was a nasty, oily mudpit. The only place I remember cleaning them was at Sun Country. And, you did that in Tyveks.

You talk about the wing on the -37. Different philosophies, in that with slats and flaps extended you got more lift? Then transitioned well to speed when retracted? Obviously, I'm not a pilot. I did note in ORD that a 3:15 hr. flight only burned 18K lbs. coming from PHX, and a 2:15 flt from CLT burned 16K in a -37 (500's mostly). Later when I worked at Xtra airways (all 737-400's) One of the dispatachers worked up a fuel load and said 18k was what he expected to burn from PHX to ORD. So, I attributed that to prevailing winds? If you can specify, where is the point(s) that which one flies better?
 
To me it's really interesting because you've flown both Bus and Boeing -37. On the maintenance side, I definitely preferred the Bus. Everything was laid out a lot better and of course with gear doors, life was clean when you had to do something up in the wheel wells. It looks dirty with that Avi8 sealer in there, but the -37 was a nasty, oily mudpit. The only place I remember cleaning them was at Sun Country. And, you did that in Tyveks.

You talk about the wing on the -37. Different philosophies, in that with slats and flaps extended you got more lift? Then transitioned well to speed when retracted? Obviously, I'm not a pilot. I did note in ORD that a 3:15 hr. flight only burned 18K lbs. coming from PHX, and a 2:15 flt from CLT burned 16K in a -37 (500's mostly). Later when I worked at Xtra airways (all 737-400's) One of the dispatachers worked up a fuel load and said 18k was what he expected to burn from PHX to ORD. So, I attributed that to prevailing winds? If you can specify, where is the point(s) that which one flies better?
The wings on the 700 were huge. Those things could get to altitude at heavy weights. Guys who fly the 73 now a days could vouch for the NG’s and the max. I remember being in the jump seat a lot in SW between PHX and SNA back in the day and SW would basically fly an arc. They would climb to like 380 eve going to Phoenix and then idle decent the whole way in. It was a really efficient way to do it. Boeings are built like a brick shit house. If I was going to be in a crash I’d want to be in a Boeing. But the airbus cockpit is a gentlemens cockpit. I’d much rather fly an Airbus. 73 pilots flip more switches on an before start flow than I do on an entire transcon flight. Plus the side stick and the tray table are where it’s at. I still can’t believe the 787 has a yoke. The 320 classic burns about 2500-3k an hour per side and a flight from JFK-LAX will require every pound we can carry. With an alternate in the winter and required reserves, it’s at the very limit of its range. We usually have to increase the cost index in order to save gas.
 
@sandwarrior the gods blessed us tonight. I ended up with a sharklet 320 doing EWR to RSW, was originally scheduled for a classic. The burn originally for the 2:48 minute flight was 17.5 planned, in the sharklet plane it’s 16.7 and I was able to climb immediately to 360 instead of having an intermediate level off of 340. That’s a 4.5% fuel savings I believe. 800 lbs doesn’t sound like a lot but it adds up.
 
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Isn't the wing on all 737NGs the same, too?

Uberguppy -900ER is a pig, but I dunno if its as much a pig as the 321. The 321 is definitely more comfortable from a pax perspective...
 
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@sandwarrior the gods blessed us tonight. I ended up with a sharklet 320 doing EWR to RSW, was originally scheduled for a classic. The burn originally for the 2:48 minute flight was 17.5 planned, in the sharklet plane it’s 16.7 and I was able to climb immediately to 360 instead of having an intermediate level off of 340. That’s a 4.5% fuel savings I believe. 800 lbs doesn’t sound like a lot but it adds up.
Yeah, that's almost a 4.6% savings. JP8? I want to say JP5 (pure jet fuel, JP4 has gasoline mixed in) was 6.9 lbs. per gallon. That is 115 gallons. I don't know what they pay for it anymore, but it's at least $200 per trip. In most any airline, those planes are turning 5 trips a day.
 
I had to go look it up. JP-4 is 6.5 lbs. JP-5 is 6.7lbs. and JP-8 is 6.8LBs. That is per gallon. To my knowledge, all airlines are now using JP-8.
 
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I’m not sure. I thought we used 5 but who knows. 6.67 lbs at 70 degrees.

Don't forget about Jet-A-1.

The USAF began conversion to JP-8 in the early 90s.
Part of the advantage was its compatibility with diesel vehicles.
Even though it's .2lb heavier per gallon, it becomes a single source/cross compatible fuel for the services fleet vehicles.

BTW, just for the record, I hate the shit. It stinks worse, doesn't seem to evaporate and leaked a hell of a lot more than JP-4.
Less evaporation meant less cost and less lost to the atmosphere.

Our JP-8 conversion during my time at Mountain Home, AFB was a fucking nightmare on the F-15.
On our B-1Bs, KC-135 and F-16 took it all in stride.

I hated working on that POS.
 
Don't forget about Jet-A-1.

The USAF began conversion to JP-8 in the early 90s.
Part of the advantage was its compatibility with diesel vehicles.
Even though it's .2lb heavier per gallon, it becomes a single source/cross compatible fuel for the services fleet vehicles.

BTW, just for the record, I hate the shit. It stinks worse, doesn't seem to evaporate and leaked a hell of a lot more than JP-4.
Less evaporation meant less cost and less lost to the atmosphere.

Our JP-8 conversion during my time at Mountain Home, AFB was a fucking nightmare on the F-15.
On our B-1Bs, KC-135 and F-16 took it all in stride.

I hated working on that POS.
On the P3, we used 5. And we ran 5 in all our ground equipment as well
 
On the P3, we used 5. And we ran 5 in all our ground equipment as well
Most all Navy used JP-5. While JP-4 gave better ignition/reignition qualities, it didn’t put out the power.

The move to JP-8 was for better fire suppression in case of crash/fire on board. The fact it could cross over to diesel vehicles was nice, but it still ran hot in them. Kinda like runnin #1 when not cold enough. Most times we had to mix it ourselves based on the temp.
 
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This was my favourite. Just a great airplane and American made! Made short work of a lot of bush strips.
Got typed for CL-65 last fall then laid off again. Just passed my commercial conversion exam last week to turn my commie TC license into an FAA. IFR conversion this week hopefully!
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This was my favourite. Just a great airplane and American made! Made short work of a lot of bush strips.
Got typed for CL-65 last fall then laid off again. Just passed my commercial conversion exam last week to turn my commie TC license into an FAA. IFR conversion this week hopefully! View attachment 7827530View attachment 7827527
I lived in Sandpoint for most of five years. I gotta see them a lot. I toured the factory and got the impromptu tour of the maintenance side. The only guy I remember was Larry, the chief/chief test pilot. The aircraft concept is amazing. And, very well built!
 
Just noticed this thread, here are my two. Extra 300 and Lancair 360.
 

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Just noticed this thread, here are my two. Extra 300 and Lancair 360.
Nice. Always liked the Lancair. Been a while since i flew an Extra, or any aerobatics. One of 2022 goals was to get back into it. Was going to try and do some training with Patty Wagstaff up in St. Augestine
 
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