In 1997 at an airshow in Bratislava one member of the Russian Knights aerobatic team forgot to lower the landing gear of his Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. As a result of this incident, only helicopters were allowed to perform that day. As for the aircraft, there was some damage to the underside but nothing major. The plane took off heading for Russia only two days later. Very solid plane… and beautiful too…
Archive for December, 2007
Impressive video showing 5 time World Aerobatic Champion Svetlana Kapanina throwing her Sukhoi around. You’ll see a lot of the famous aerobatic planes: the Su-26, Su-29 and Su-31. There is also some archive footage taken during the development of the Sukhoi 26 family of aircraft.
The Sukhoi Su-37 NATO codename Flanker-F is a Russian single-seat, all-weather, fighter and ground attack prototype aircraft, derived from the Su-27 Flanker. It featured new thrust vectoring engines that enabled the aircraft to perform crazy maneuvers such as the “Super Cobra” or the “Kulbit”. Check out these incredible maneuvers performed by the Sukhoi Su-37.
The Turkish Stars are the aerobatic demonstration team of the Turkish Air Force and the official national aerobatics team of Turkey. Jump in the cockpit of one of their supersonic Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighters for a ride along with the Turkish Stars.
For 12 years the Douglas A-4F Skyhawk was the chosen plane for the famous Blue Angels, the United States Navy’s Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron. Between December 1974 and November 1986 the Blue Angels performed their routines with elegance and precision. Here is an old Van Halen video featuring the Blue Angels.
I’ve performed quite a lot of autorotations with this type of helicopter and I can assure you it is quite a thrill. Anyway, here is a full touchdown autorotation performed with a Eurocopter Ec-120 Colibri. Autorotation is used in helicopters in the unfortunate event of engine or transmission failure.
On August 7, 1955, Boeing test pilot Alvin M. “Tex” Johnston rolled the Boeing 707 prototype, known as Dash-80, in a demonstration flight over Lake Washington.
This is one very interesting way of launching a glider. During World War II many of these wooden constructions were used to transport men and equipment, towed behind C-47 Dakotas. I don’t think this launch method was widely used since it is a bit extreme and one might argue, somewhat crazy. Anyway, here’s the video of this weird launch.
Here are some very funny air drops mishaps brought to you by the mighty US Air Force. Have to say, this is very funny. If you want to leave a comment, please don’t include the words tax, payers, at work and so on. This is funny, have a laugh!
The Thunderbirds are the Air Demonstration Squadron of the United States Air Force. They travel the world and perform no less than 88 air demonstrations each year. The Thunderbirds perform breathtaking aerobatics with their F-16 Fighting Falcons and they make this look easy. “Thunderbirds run em up!”
