I love planes, not just the 747's that we all get on to go on holiday but the fighters, like F16, F18's, harriers, tornado's. Everytime i tell some one this (unless they are an aircraft nut them self) i get a blank look or a look that says, you must be a fan of war and what the planes can do. Now thats not true, I do not condone what the macines do as right, in no way am i saying this. I just finding it amazing at that the aircraft can do and the advancement over the centurey, since the wright brothers made that first flight. What do you think?
I used to watch that show! My dad builds planes, so I've always been into them. He used to do commerical planes, but he works at Northrop Grumman in CA now... he used to work on B2 bombers, but I don't know what he's doing now. That's my favorite plane... they're so cool. It looks like Batman.
Some of the most beautiful things, (imo) that mankind can produce are also the most stupidest\pointless\deadliest - in other words "boy toys". I cannot say that I have ever seen a good-looking plane built solely for civilian use - they are functional. Its the miltary planes that get the boys going - many are elegant, masterpieces of design that reflect the vast amount of money chucked at them, only temporarily disfigured by the necessity of war - its no good looking sleek and mean and lean if you are just so much debris waiting to fall out of the sky- so we'll stick another radar bump or a chaff dispenser on to increase survivability. Many even look purpose designed to be toys. Growing up in the sixties, I probably saw that last great age of plane design. Most of todays warplanes can trace their origins back to that decade, even the Euro-fighter. To see a Concorde for the first time, or to read about the other planned supersonic and sub-space planes made you believe that soon you could fly anyway in the world in under an hour. "New" TV shows like Thunderbirds tapped into that. Fuel wasn't an issue - stick an atomic reactor on board! Ally that with the space race, and it seemed we were all watching the skies years before Mulder & Scully. No wonder we thought it was the dawning of a Age of Aquarius. The reality was that we need Jumbo Jets not Concordes. That drawing the people of the world closer together hasn't vastly increased the amount of world harmony - why strive for peace locally for all your community when you can jet off somewhere more amenable. Illnesses and viruses speed round the world faster than ever before. Vast hordes of tourists have destroyed unique environments, and ruined ancient artefacts beyond repair. I've only flown twice in my life. My eldest son, (21) left the house yesterday to fly down to the South of France to meet his girlfriends parents, and I worried all day that the next news reports would be along the lines of aircrash, amongst the dead are believed to be an Englishmen, etc And yet, if I could go back to 1903 and stop the Wright Brothers, I wouldn't. Get above the clouds, in the glorious sunshine, and this really is a wonderful world.
These are my Favorite fighters.... Raptor F-22A F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter Seems as though our place is rural enough to be a Test Flight zone. A couple of years ago, the F-117 flew overhead of me as I was out on the back porch. It was flying so low, I could see the bolts on the fusilage. It flew up the valley, made an Impressive, slow turn... and when I waved as it passed over me again, the pilot dipped his wing to me. A Flight of 5 Raptors over-flew our house too. I love 'em. They, too, were flying low... rattled all my windows, yeah they did. Good Tread !!!
The raptor as well is my favorite aircraft. I love the vortex jet engines. That baby can pull a wheelie at like mach 2 and next thing you know almost instantly it is heading straight up like a bat out of hell... very beautiful plane.
My dad loves this kind of stuff. I think it's pretty interesting, too. But I am not into it like he is, and I never will be.
i think much the same romance attatches to virtualy any form of mechanical transportation aircraft are not the most fuel efficient means of achieving it they do consume less real estate then other modes, i'll grant that. the performance of military aircraft being achieved by brute force consumption of fuel, whatever subtlties of control surfaces, i don't see this as any sort of conosuer elegance. sailplanes, ultralights, human powered flight, some of the more exotic aeronautical developments, inelligant in appearance on the ground as they may be, on the other hand, are far more deserving of appreaciation for their sophistry and eligance of design and the design skills that went/go into them =^^= .../\...
First, you can kick asses with those fighters . And you say that just because you have an aversion to "brute force". What you forgot is that you need a great deal of technology and innovation when the machine deals with great concentration of energy : G's, acceleration, firepower, movement, etc... I'm no fan of war toys but you see what i mean.
Im a big fan of non lethal aircrafts. Sr-71 Blackbird. Official top speed still never has been released. Reaches nach OMG in seconds. (being brought back by the way) And the remote aircrafts like the predator. The F22 is awsome vector thrust technology and all. (thrust vectoring is what its call) Hairpin turnes are cake for them. We have a base in florida thats supposed to get a squadron of them.
im hooked on building my own airplane one day... all wood tandem seat fisher horizon... makes no monetary sense whatsoever.. but it would be like producing a work of art to me.
