What we envision:
What we encounter:
20130317
20130104
Miles M-52, amazing innovation from a small company
Nice book anyway. Worth the money.
20120308
Canard or Tail?
This is a flaming subject among many Aerospace engineers and, though I can’t say I’ve got a definite answer to the question witch is best, some people have a clear view. This link is an article written by one who has seen the benefits of the Canard-Delta configuration. I tend to believe that both configurations can be made to work just fine, so it’s more a matter of taste and witch part of the envelope that your requirements focus on.
20120216
Viggen for USMC?
I have thought about this for a while, and with a few exceptions, I think that the Viggen would have been the perfect airplane for the US Marines.
Swedish Air force realized that if a war breaks out, the airfield is the first and highest priority target. If the enemy is superior, like for instance theUSSR
During the conceptual phase there were thoughts about doing a VTOL airplane, but it was soon realized that the compromises were too severe to make the airplane useful. A STOL airplane on the other hand had almost no compromises at all, especially if the design were a close coupled canard.
I won't go in to detail about the design here, but long story short the Viggen is an airplane that can take off and land at less that 800 m of a standard road, it can be refueled and re armed by conscripts on a road base in less than 10 min. The service team is packed in to a few Trucks that can move around between different locations to avoid attacks from the enemies.
So what about the marines?
Well the marines want to have a close support airplane, which can operate from small, unprepared airfields, with a minimum logistic footprint.
Viggen ticks those boxes, however, the "unprepared" is a matter of interpretation.
What the Viggen can't do in its current configuration is to fly off a ship; it would need some modifications both to the airplane and to the ship.
The marines choose the Harrier as their CAS airplane, and it has been successful in its role. Still, if things would have been different and the Marines had chosen the Viggen back in the sixties I think they would have been pleased with the choice.
Swedish Air force realized that if a war breaks out, the airfield is the first and highest priority target. If the enemy is superior, like for instance the
During the conceptual phase there were thoughts about doing a VTOL airplane, but it was soon realized that the compromises were too severe to make the airplane useful. A STOL airplane on the other hand had almost no compromises at all, especially if the design were a close coupled canard.
I won't go in to detail about the design here, but long story short the Viggen is an airplane that can take off and land at less that 800 m of a standard road, it can be refueled and re armed by conscripts on a road base in less than 10 min. The service team is packed in to a few Trucks that can move around between different locations to avoid attacks from the enemies.
So what about the marines?
 |
| Viggen USMC drawing, I think it is made by the signature "Zactoman". |
Well the marines want to have a close support airplane, which can operate from small, unprepared airfields, with a minimum logistic footprint.
Viggen ticks those boxes, however, the "unprepared" is a matter of interpretation.
What the Viggen can't do in its current configuration is to fly off a ship; it would need some modifications both to the airplane and to the ship.
The marines choose the Harrier as their CAS airplane, and it has been successful in its role. Still, if things would have been different and the Marines had chosen the Viggen back in the sixties I think they would have been pleased with the choice.
20120115
F-35 doing the Cobra manouver
OK, so I'm pulling your leg a little, it's actually the most beautiful F-35, the J35 Draken that's doing the cobra. Still, enjoy the movie.
For some reason youtube have removed the embed function, so you have to click at the link to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqiDEcfSnXs
For some reason youtube have removed the embed function, so you have to click at the link to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqiDEcfSnXs
20120108
British Humour
*Updated with new link*
You must love the British humour. OK, you don’t HAVE to, but I do.
You must love the British humour. OK, you don’t HAVE to, but I do.
20120106
Blog recommendation
If you can read Swedish, I can recommend this blog.
It’s an ex military pilot from the SWAF that writes about the Swedish defence in general. And some more stuff related to his interests.
In this post he gives us his thinking about the Indian MMRCA competition, where the down select is between the Eurofighter and the Rafale.
His thoughts are that he would be very surprised if the Eurofighter was selected, due to it’s low maturity in the A2G arena. And the long list of technical and reliability problems.
And, the cost for each flight hour, that is about 30 000 Euros! Gripen, in his words, are about 30 000 Sek, witch equals to about 3200 Euros.
Gripen is a bargain, I must say.
(3200 Euros is around $4150)
It’s an ex military pilot from the SWAF that writes about the Swedish defence in general. And some more stuff related to his interests.
In this post he gives us his thinking about the Indian MMRCA competition, where the down select is between the Eurofighter and the Rafale.
His thoughts are that he would be very surprised if the Eurofighter was selected, due to it’s low maturity in the A2G arena. And the long list of technical and reliability problems.
And, the cost for each flight hour, that is about 30 000 Euros! Gripen, in his words, are about 30 000 Sek, witch equals to about 3200 Euros.
Gripen is a bargain, I must say.
(3200 Euros is around $4150)
20111005
Piloting Rules
Below are the top rules that should be obeyed when flying:
1. Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory.
2. If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the stick back, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep pulling the stick all the way back, then they get bigger again.
3. Flying isn't dangerous. Crashing is what's dangerous.
4. It’s always better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here.
5. The ONLY time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.
6. The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to keep the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot start sweating.
7. When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided with the sky.
8. A 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. A 'great' landing is one after which they can use the plane again.
9. Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.
10. You know you've landed with the wheels up if it takes full power to taxi to the ramp.
11. The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival.
12. Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.
13. Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about might be another airplane going in the opposite direction. Reliable sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out in clouds.
14. Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the number of take offs you've made.
15. There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.
16. You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
17. Helicopters can't fly; they're just so ugly the earth repels them.
18. If all you can see out of the window is ground that's going round and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the passenger compartment, things are not at all as they should be.
19. In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminium going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground has yet to lose.
20. Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience usually comes from bad judgment.
21. It's always a good idea to keep the pointy end going forward as much as possible.
22. Keep looking around. There's always something you've missed.
23. Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It's the law. And it's not subject to repeal.
24. The three most useless things to a pilot in the air are the altitude above you, runway behind you and all the fuel at the airport.
25. There are old pilots and there are bold pilots. There are, however, no old, bold pilots.
26. A male pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying, and about flying when he's with a woman.
1. Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory.
2. If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the stick back, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep pulling the stick all the way back, then they get bigger again.
3. Flying isn't dangerous. Crashing is what's dangerous.
4. It’s always better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here.
5. The ONLY time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.
6. The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to keep the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot start sweating.
7. When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided with the sky.
8. A 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. A 'great' landing is one after which they can use the plane again.
9. Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.
10. You know you've landed with the wheels up if it takes full power to taxi to the ramp.
11. The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival.
12. Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.
13. Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about might be another airplane going in the opposite direction. Reliable sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out in clouds.
14. Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the number of take offs you've made.
15. There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.
16. You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
17. Helicopters can't fly; they're just so ugly the earth repels them.
18. If all you can see out of the window is ground that's going round and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the passenger compartment, things are not at all as they should be.
19. In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminium going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground has yet to lose.
20. Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience usually comes from bad judgment.
21. It's always a good idea to keep the pointy end going forward as much as possible.
22. Keep looking around. There's always something you've missed.
23. Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It's the law. And it's not subject to repeal.
24. The three most useless things to a pilot in the air are the altitude above you, runway behind you and all the fuel at the airport.
25. There are old pilots and there are bold pilots. There are, however, no old, bold pilots.
26. A male pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying, and about flying when he's with a woman.
20110614
Advertising break
BBC were at Saab, Reasonably well featured, and as they say: All attention is good!
Read the article here.
Read the article here.
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