Aircraft
Military, commercial and experimental vehicles designed for flight in the Earth’s atmosphere
Oldies and Oddities: Buying the Farmhouse
Adventures in Navy ballooning.
March 2011 |
By Captain Marion Eppes, U.S. Navy (ret.)
Coaxial Cruising
Pretty cool video here of Sikorsky's latest whirlybird, the X2 demonstrator, which has hit 262 knots, or 300 miles an hour, a record for a helo. Nice acceleration too. The coaxial rotors spin in opposite directions to keep the aircraft from stalling at high speeds. It's no easy feat, as this articl...
February 01, 2011 |
By Mike Klesius
Junk Mail From Above
Once you get used to the slightly overcaffeinated host, this is a pretty cool project —to drop a bunch of paper airplanes from a high-altitude balloon and see where they land. The team launched their balloon earlier this month, as the video shows. But, from what I can tell on their website and Twit...
January 31, 2011 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Book Excerpt:
The Short Life of Aircraft Five
The only flight of the Osprey's fifth prototype lasted less than two minutes, and it was one wild ride.
January 25, 2011 |
By Richard Whittle
January Book Club Selection: The Dream Machine
A new "untold history" of the V-22 asks: Is the Osprey safe?
January 24, 2011 |
By The Editors
The Other Gulf War
After the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 200 aircraft took up the fight to save the coast.
January 2011 |
By Mark Huber
Too Hot to Handle: McDonnell XP-67 Moonbat
Man cannot zoom by blended wing alone; he must have an engine that, well, works.
January 2011 |
By Stephan Wilkinson
The Great Escape
For U.S. airmen trapped in Yugoslavia during World War II, building a secret airstrip was their only way out.
January 2011 |
By Phil Scott
Then and Now: From Airships to Waterslides
The world's largest free-standing building gets a second lease on life.
January 2011 |
By Roger A. Mola
Above and Beyond: The Iditarod Air Force
Not all the action in dogsled racing is on the ground.
January 2011 |
By John Phillips
Not Your Father's Blimp
What looks like Ronaldo's nightmare is in fact the world's largest soccer ball airship, built by E-Green Technologies of Kellyton, Alabama. Why, you ask? It seems everyone's crazy about airships these days, for everything from military surveillance to tourism. E-Green just signed a deal with NASA's...
December 17, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
The Big Sky
On a recent flight I was looking at my TCAS display and wondering how we ever did without this wonderful bit of equipment. TCAS stands for Traffic Collision Avoidance System, and I saw my first one in the early 90s. Prior to TCAS we had a three-prong approach to traffic avoidance: Air Traffic Contr...
December 10, 2010 |
By Steve Satre
Long Live the DC-3
The famed Douglas aircraft reigned supreme as a civilian and military transport.
November 15, 2010 |
By Bruce McAllister
Flying Bathtubs Sell Like Hotcakes
The nation's first mass-produced lightplane started as a homely, humble homebuilt.
November 2010 |
By Giles Lambertson
Just Shoot Me
Late in World War II, the Bell P-63 became an aerial gunner's easiest target.
November 2010 |
By James Dunaway
