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Tag: aircraft

The case for the Grumman F6F Hellcat being the greatest fighter of the Second World War

The case for the Grumman F6F Hellcat being the greatest fighter of the Second World War

Warplanes
The best fighter of the Second World War started life as an insurance policy. In late 1940 Grumman was asked to develop an upgrade of the F4-F Wildcat with a 1600hp Twin Cyclone engine as an interim measure due to ‘issues’ with Vought’s XF4U-1 that would require considerable work to resolve. Instead, Bob Hall proposed a new design using knowledge gained from talking to pilots who had fought in the Battle of Britain. This would become the F6F Hellcat, or Gannet if you’re in the niche of Fleet Air Arm pilots to fly it before the beginning of 1944 when sanity prevailed. The USN gave approval for work to start on 30 June 1941, the first prototype flew just under a year later with a 1600hp Wright Cyclone, the first aircraft equipped with a 2000hp Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp flew a mon...
10 Ways Private Charters Differ from Commercial Flights – Jettly Private Jet Charter Blog

10 Ways Private Charters Differ from Commercial Flights – Jettly Private Jet Charter Blog

Airplanes
Private charters are experiencing a Golden Age of sorts. There’s still a demand for business, family, essential, and even leisure travel. However, people still aren’t comfortable traveling on crowded commercial flights. With a new awareness of how germs and viruses spread, they may never be. Plus, local restrictions still limit non-essential travel – especially for US passport holders on commercial flights. Private jet charters offer a different alternative. It’s no surprise that private flight bookings have skyrocketed by 75% compared to the same season last year. Most of those bookings are from first-timers too. Every aspect of the private charter experience is different than commercial flying: from quotes and booking to aircraft and airports. This puts newbies at...
We Fly: Embraer Phenom 300E

We Fly: Embraer Phenom 300E

Airplanes
The updated 300E gained triple type certification from the FAA, EASA and Brazil’s ANAC in late March 2020. (Courtesy Embraer/) On the outside, Embraer may look like just another bottom-line-driven international aircraft manufacturer—and the recent headlines covering its courtship breakup with Boeing regarding the joint venture involving its commercial aircraft division only seem to add to this image. But when you pull back the layers, at the heart of the company stands a person who worked hard to build it from his dreams of designing aircraft. In the Portuguese-speaking world, the title “Engenheiro,” or engineer, is one of respect conferred in a similar manner to that of a doctor—and from the very beginning, Engenheiro Ozires Silva wanted more than anything to be an aeronautical ...
Air Refueling – Inherently Dangerous, Made Less So Through Training

Air Refueling – Inherently Dangerous, Made Less So Through Training

Warplanes
Why Do We Do Air Refueling? Ever since flying began, the need for enhanced range of aircraft existed. In 1923, the first air refueling took place. The video above depicts a KC-135R refueling a NATO E-3 AWACs for training. The dangers of two aircraft flying in close proximity can not be understated. At 38 seconds into the video – within the next 2 – the aircraft were within inches of each other. While nearly every air refueling occurs without incident, the danger exists nonetheless each time two aircraft fly so closely to each other. Here is a short video with the history of Air Refueling. My Experience With Air Refueling as a KC-135 Pilot kc135e: The 2nd model with improved tf-33 engines producing 18,000 lbs thrust per engine and thrust reversers. (source: 190arw) KC135R: T...
EASA advises carriers to switch off recirculation fans

EASA advises carriers to switch off recirculation fans

Airplanes, Flight Technology
Europe’s safety regulator is advising commercial aircraft operators to adopt new procedures to switch off air-conditioning system recirculation fans regularly, as part of measures to limit the risk of coronavirus contagion. Supplementary procedures to turn off the fans periodically would “accelerate cabin air exchange”, says the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. Its advisory is part of a series of operational recommendations to operators of passenger and cargo aircraft in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Carriers should provide a sufficient supply of surgical-standard face-masks for the intended operation, and these should be worn at all times by crew members having direct contact with passengers or non-crew individuals – and be replaced every 4h. Hand disin...