https://www.msn.com/en-us/technolog...rcraft-that-bet-is-now-unraveling/ar-AA1DgoDh
Airbus Promised a Green Aircraft. That Bet Is Now Unraveling.



For once, Boeing was right. IMO, they took for project for the subsidy money, not to build an actual aircraft.

We must all accept that the world is going to end, and quit trying to save it.

Embrace the doom.

 

Get the dog off the track!

 

Get the dog off the track!

You notice that dog was gone after they started drinking. Dogs are smart.

 

You notice that dog was gone after they started drinking. Dogs are smart.

Yeah. Good thing camera man never dies.

 

Yeah. Good thing camera man never dies.

Alas ... that is not always the case:

 

See yea honey, headed to the bar tonight for a couple of drinks. Don't wait up for me.

 

WOW! The NTSB hammered that FD.

 

Poor Aerostar, taken out by Drug Zombies.

 

https://archive.is/2025.04.27-09364...7/business/dc-plane-crash-reagan-airport.html
Missteps, Equipment Problems and a Common but Risky Practice Led to a Fatal Crash
New details revealed by The Times show that the failures on Jan. 29 before an Army helicopter crashed into a jet near Reagan National Airport were far more complex than previously known.

 

https://apnews.com/article/canada-v...l-deaths-car-6635b400430a7015341d3ca0c4c1e7fb
11 killed as a vehicle plows into a Filipino street festival in Vancouver. Police rule out terrorism

“He slammed on the gas, barreled through the crowd. And all I can remember is seeing bodies flying up in the air higher than the food trucks themselves and landing on the ground and people yelling and screaming. It looked like a bowling ball hitting hitting bowling pins and all the pins are flying into the air.”

Yes, just plain old human stupidity.

 

https://news.usni.org/2025/04/28/super-hornet-assigned-to-uss-harry-s-truman-lost-at-sea

What's the punishment for losing an F/A-18 overboard?

 

https://news.usni.org/2025/04/28/super-hornet-assigned-to-uss-harry-s-truman-lost-at-sea

What's the punishment for losing an F/A-18 overboard?

I think it's all going to come down to the details and context of the "evasive maneuver" that was being taken. If it was in response to a real-time threat, then it's like a case of *#^$% happens in war, and the best the aircraft handlers could probably hope for was to be able to get the hell out of the way and avoid/minimize injuries, which it sounds like they did pretty well on that point. If it was some kind of a drill or exercise, then things get quite a bit trickier as far as whether or not any kind of negligence or errors were at play.

 

https://news.usni.org/2025/04/28/super-hornet-assigned-to-uss-harry-s-truman-lost-at-sea

What's the punishment for losing an F/A-18 overboard?

No much if this is true.

"Truman was conducting an “evasive maneuver” during the incident, a U.S. defense official confirmed to USNI News on Monday."
"The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard"


We did a full power 'Bat Turn" (the CO warned us just as it was happening), during a real General Quarters at battle-stations, moving at flank speed (ship was leaning hard already) , on reports of incoming Iranian aircraft F-14's heading to GONZO station from the mouth of the gulf on long range radar. The old ship made sounds like being twisted in half and you could hear crashing noises everywhere but you had to stay on station. Anything what wasn't welded or bolted went flying, included people and the Marines helicopters on deck. If we had lost a few machines, to miss a missile, nobody would have cared, if the people were OK.

We were on a small helo carrier, look at the lean on that big nuclear carrier. We were over so far the elevators looked only a few feet from the water.

That's a deep sea "evasive maneuver" for a carrier. It will snap hold-down chains like it was made of nothing and flip boxes, aircraft, and tow tractor like toys.

Crash Back "evasive maneuver" for smaller ships.

 

...it's like a case of *#^$% happens in war...

No much if this is true.

My cynicism is showing.

I assumed that a $70M aircraft, designed to be carried into war by a ship, that ship being designed to carry and launch that aircraft -- in wartime conflict during which wartime maneuvers might need to be made -- would normally not roll off the flight deck into the ocean.

I suspected this was caused by either incompetence or insufficient training.

I guess I was wrong.

Edit: Just asking: how many F/A-18s typically fall off a carrier and are lost in the ocean in the course of an operation?

Edit 2: How the heck do the Houthis get close enough to a US Nimitz class nuclear aircraft carrier to require it to make such evasive maneuvers?

 

I assumed that a $70M aircraft, designed to be carried into war by a ship, that ship being designed to carry and launch that aircraft -- in wartime conflict during which wartime maneuvers might need to be made -- would normally not roll off the flight deck into the ocean.

And just how would you go about ensuring that?

Aircraft have to be moved around in order to carry out operations. Aircraft being moved have a tendency to, well, move.

If an aircraft (or other portable equipment) isn't being moved, it is tied down using multiple, redundant tie-downs. It's not going anywhere even in extremely rough of seas or during very harsh maneuvers, though everything has it's breaking point, including tie-down chains. But aircraft that aren't being moved aren't tied down -- sort of defeats the purpose.


https://c8.alamy.com/comp/C808CA/a-...he-flight-deck-of-aircraft-carrier-C808CA.jpg

In combat, things change rapidly, often requiring drastic actions be taken with only seconds to make and enact a decision. It takes time to chain an aircraft down, since first it must be moved and positioned where suitable tiedown anchor points are located and then each chain must be attached and tensioned. This is on a significantly longer time scale that are things like missiles moving toward your ship or the ship's maneuvering response.

Edit: Just asking: how many F/A-18s typically fall off a carrier and are lost in the ocean in the course of an operation?

Typically? None. This was not a typical event. But atypical events happen.

Edit 2: How the heck do the Houthis get close enough to a US Nimitz class nuclear aircraft carrier to require it to make such evasive maneuvers?

I haven't seen any detailed information about the specifics of this event, but it's not like the bad guys rowed up alongside the ship with in a dingy and launched a shoulder-fired missile at them. Nor are their weapons homemade missiles crafted from sections of water pipe, like are seen elsewhere.

https://www.twz.com/the-anti-ship-missile-arsenal-houthis-are-firing-into-the-red-sea

 

We lost a CH46 over the side while it was properly chained to the deck doing rotor , engine testing on the forward landing zone. The ship turned for some reason (likely a wave as were were going slow), leaned (Gators are shallow draft ships and ride like an old river boat), and just then, another bird landed to it's left, offset to the leaning deck. The rotor wash reflection off the deck from the landing bird , at an angle, caused lift offset on the testing helicopter, causing chains to snap on the left side. It flipped over, rotors hit the deck causing it to roll into the catwalk (into one of our transmitter antennas that broke) and into the drink. I heard it hit the deck from inside and we all ran out of the radio-shack just in time to see it sinking with some of the crew still inside but a few were floating in the water.

3 dead and a lost aircraft. I read the incident report because we guys in radio sent it to HQ. Nobody cared about the aircraft, only loss of the crew on it.

HQ banned flight ops off the forward pad as a countermeasure for normal ops.

Yes, aircraft and people are lost in normal fight ops during a deployment, it's dangerous.

 

Nor are their weapons homemade missiles crafted from sections of water pipe, like are seen elsewhere.

Wow. I guess US$150B buys a lot of nice hardware.

 

Wow. I guess US$150B buys a lot of nice hardware.

All you need is one "Golden BB" to make it through the defenses.

Golden BB: Soviet doctrine: If enough bullets and other projectiles fill the sky during an air raid, at least a few are bound to hit the target.

https://nation.time.com/2011/08/06/a-golden-bb-downs-a-u-s-helicopter-in-afghanistan-killing-38/

The shootdown happened during a night-time special-ops mission – ideal for sneak attacks, but also dangerous for pilots and their passengers. The chopper’s commandos were coming to aid fellow troops engaged in a firefight that killed eight insurgents not far from Kabul, and were flying low and slow, within easy reach of RPGs, when the golden BB hit home.

https://code7700.com/dodging_the_golden_bb.htm
Dodging the Golden BB
There is a theory in military aviation that enemy flak, anti-aircraft rounds, or even missiles don't matter because only the one that has your name on it is meant for you. If it was your time to go, the "Golden BB" with your name was going to get you no matter what you did. (A "BB" is the pellet fired by a pellet gun.)

 

Why Air Force pilots honored an air show pilot by burning a piano


​

A 2018 article in Pianist magazine by Alec Coles-Aldridge traces the tradition to World War I, where the brand-new Royal Air Force was so desperate for pilots — and went through new ones so rapidly on the battlefield — that pilots were recruited from middle class families, a major break from the English tradition of drawing its officer corps from well-to-do society.

“These new arrivals were considered uncultured and lacking in the education of a proper member of the Royal Air Force,” wrote Coles-Aldridge. “Consequently, piano lessons ensued, much to the distaste of the new arrivals. An unfortunate incident at a squadron clubhouse caused a significant fire; enough to destroy a piano. The piano lessons stopped, and soon other squadrons were using the same solution.”

 

Why Air Force pilots honored an air show pilot by burning a piano
View attachment 348254
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The origin story for all these odd honorifics likely involved drinking.