The Lakota has already flown with the M260 seven-shot rocket launcher and an HMP 400 heavy machine gun pod with a 50-calibre M3P machine gun. It has already flown with a nose-mounted turrets integrating sensor with forward-looking infrared (FLIR), imaging and targeting capabilities. Sounds similar ...
Jump to postFrom the Reuters article cited above "purely a political decision that ignores operational needs". Couldn't have summed it up better myself, except maybe adding "a make-work project for Airbus Helicopters" Don't get me wrong, the H145 is a fine helicopter, I've flown in it sever...
Jump to postLooking for vacation in Singapore and been looking at flights for Feb 2024 (yes, I do look this far in advance) in both premium economy or business. I'm looking at the following flight options: YVR to SIN Feb 16: CI 31 YVR-TPE 359 CI 753 TPE-SIN 359 or: BR 09 YVR-TPE 77W BR 215 TPE-SIN 77W or: AC 06...
Jump to postHow do you even secure additional leases if you're Flair going forward. Why would any lessor want to have anything to do with these people... when they inevitably don't pay they'll file a frivolous suit and say they're being bullied. Not only that, all the lessors do talk with each other, and I sus...
Jump to postObviously, any marketing of the aircraft in such circumstances would be conditional on the aircraft actually becoming available. The idea that WestJet would be the "bad guy" for eventually taking up the lease of one or more of Flair's seized aircraft is pure sensationalism. WestJet didn't...
Jump to postSo gloomy over here. Nothing new I guess this is how sentiment has been since Flair revamped into a ULCC. It doesn't square with reality though and mostly comes across as insiders' wishful thinking. The normal Joe Canadian is who benefits from low cost travel. One thing I will say is that with ever...
Jump to postWhere are the aircraft being marketed? How can a lessor offer an airplane where there’s not a lease default. Obviously, any marketing of the aircraft in such circumstances would be conditional on the aircraft actually becoming available. The idea that WestJet would be the "bad guy" for ev...
Jump to postThe other lessors and investors have been supportive of Flair All but one of their lessors have put their Flair-placed aircraft back on the market. Their only public investor wouldn’t even invest $1 million until the last minute in a potentially illegal agreement. No Canadian investor has gone near...
Jump to postThey want stronger negotiations as they compare their pay to the US3 carriers. Contract is up in 2024 so negotiations are starting soon if not already Even compared to their domestic competition; both Flair and Porter have significantly higher pay scales than Air Canada and WestJet. Expect pilot sa...
Jump to postAnd they say 777 doesn’t have defacto control of Flair…….. Every industry insider south of the border knows exactly who pulls the strings at Flair. One has to be beyond obtuse to believe otherwise. This is a train wreck in slow motion. Every pilot at Flair should have his / her resume in at WS or A...
Jump to postRegarding being only $1 million short is a half truth. That was the balance *after* Flair paid what they thought was enough to keep them happy. I have worked under enough sh*tty CFOs at airlines to know how they operate. Its all about moving money around (daily) and paying the minimum cash outflows...
Jump to postFlair says one thing. Airborne says another. The truth is somewhere probably in between. A few on this thread are so very pro flair and so many are anti flair or at least suspect. I’m not sure where it comes from. That said, as an an observe from south of the border it’s porter that’s the weird one...
Jump to postI see on the Transport Canada registry, Air Canada Rogue has picked up and registered an A321-200 last week, with registry C-GYFY: https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/CCARCS-RIACC/ADetHis.aspx?id=1554170&rfr=RchHsRes.aspx?st=2&m=%7C%7C&cn=%7C%7C&mn=%7C%7C&sn=%7C%7C&cnn=%7C...
Jump to postI for one am shocked! Lol Airborne strongly rejects CEO Jones statements “The leasing of the four Airborne-managed aircraft was terminated following a five-month long period, during which Flair was regularly in default of its leases by failing to meet its payments when due, with payment arrears rea...
Jump to postSo what's the point of carrying 22 AA missiles when you don't have stealth? Let's see. Right now the Ukrainian could really use an aircraft that can carry 22 AA missiles each time the Russian launch their swarm of cruise missiles and drones. bt I doubt that any fighter can fully use a loadout of 22...
Jump to postSo, what’s odd about all this is that there’s no way the investor would imperil their investment over a below market lease and $1M. Hell even $10M. And yet they didn’t step in. Something wrong with it. And it can’t be like “too bad no more line of credit for you!” I don’t think they must have been ...
Jump to postNo replacement: they are going to using VR simulators for pilot training:
https://www.flyingmag.com/u-s-air-force ... divesting/
As noted earlier, repossession is the last resort that lessors/creditors won't initiate until there is a consistent pattern of missed and overdue payments. This isn't just an "oops, I forgot the make the payment this month" scenario. The fact that Flair was in arrears on several aircraft f...
Jump to postPeople say drones can do CAS well they have zero pilots in the aircraft. The single seat F-35 will have far more situational awareness than a drone. Check that. Future CAS drone will have an AI pilot. Situational awareness can take a back seat if the drone is expendable. With 4 cameras and front an...
Jump to postAcc. to the news in Freightwaves https://www.freightwaves.com/news/cargojet-to-sell-777-aircraft-defer-cargo-conversions-as-demand-slips CargoJet has stopped the planned B-777-300ERF conversions ordered from IAI (for now) and will not move forward to convert the 2 ex Etihad-frames currently stored ...
Jump to posthttps://www.google.com/amp/s/www.freightwaves.com/news/cargojet-to-sell-777-aircraft-defer-cargo-conversions-as-demand-slips/amp Cargojet sells off 77W freighter conversion slots and defers 2 767-200 purchases a year. Still planning on adding 4 757s and 3 763s this year. Canadian dedicated freighte...
Jump to postCAS, done by any plane, requires a somewhat permissive environment. The A-10 was designed with missiles in mind—the engines in particular are of a type that minimizes heat signature and then the efflux is shielded by the twin rudders. It was fairly hard to get an IR lock-on with the older MANPADS. ...
Jump to postAdd additional legal trouble: Fox News (and the Trump campaign) are being hit with two FEC complaints stemming from the revelations that Fox News shared Joe Biden's campaign ad and debate strategy with Trump adviser Jared Kushner: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/fox-corp-trump-campaign...
Jump to postA7's then? All kidding aside, pretty soon the UAF is going to run out of it's SU-25's. Don't the Brits have a rocket powered ASM that would work on the A-10? Even just a few would tie up Russian air defense and planning. What aircraft did the US have in mind when it announced it was sending JDAM's ...
Jump to postVery cool. I’ve always found it interesting that the USMC is just insistent it can’t be ‘marinized’ sufficiently/affordably. It's not ideal from a maritime ops perspective. But it can be done, if need be. For example, the AH-64 for the longest time does not have a blade folding capability; in order...
Jump to postPending visual confirmation, let's take this as a rumor for now. This would be a significant development. The BYPOL initiative reports that a Russian military A-50 AEW&C aircraft was blown up at Machulishchy military airfield this morning. According to BYPOL, the front and center parts of the a...
Jump to postIt's a tough case because everyone knows the girl is exceptionally talented, and was failed by the adults around her. Yet the Russians have consistently been caught cheating, so you can't really let them off. The 1-day Russian suspension was pretty ridiculous, it was just a token gesture. They real...
Jump to postThis accident could have been prevented by simply LOOKING what levers you are touching and verifying before performing any function on the quadrant. Clearly a case of failed CRM. If you read the Nepalese report, it seems to indicate that the pilots might have been distracted because they were havin...
Jump to postAt least on paper, the 7500's range is almost twice that of the P-8. If you ask the Canadian logistic planners, they would vote 100 percent P-8A. Their experience with the various Naval excersises with the US and RAAF in the Pacific last few years probably told them that it would have been better t...
Jump to postI’d like to see the stats on piston engine failures vs. PT-6. I’d bet a lot the single PT-6 designs have a far better safety record than any light twin, even after an engine failure. Dick Collins decades ago did a lot of research and found twins weren’t that good after an engine failure. I’ve seen ...
Jump to postNote that procedures for a single and twin engine fighters are different when it comes to engine issues; in a twin engined fighter, the flight manual will usually call for the pilot to shut down the problem engine, while in a single engined fighter, the flight manual will call for maintaining a cons...
Jump to postThe preliminary investigation (which is referenced from the AvHerald link) from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of Nepal is below: https://www.tourism.gov.np//files/publication_files/343.pdf It also appears there is an issue with the approach to the airport; the report makes refe...
Jump to postAdd on top of this, a planned German airport strike for Friday, and it's going to be utter chaos:
https://www.dw.com/en/german-union-anno ... a-64703772
The Naval Tejas might not be so abandoned as you were led to believe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTEaLDL6pgk https://twitter.com/livefist/status/1622525835415814146?s=20&t=zKGbLVkE0LSubbvYTQExMg It's for PR feelgood purposes for internal consumption. Something to celebrate - an Indian-desi...
Jump to postWhat puzzles me a little is why the Vikrant was not designed with bigger lifts since it was known at the time that Tejas was not progressing as planned so a different type might end up being operated off the Vikrant eg Rafale M. Likely, too far along in the design and construction process to stop a...
Jump to postDisney went woke and is losing. I can't think of a thing they produce I'd want to see or want my kids to see (maybe Lion King and other than the classics of course). Filmmakers, Amusement Park proprietors and producers should stay out of politics; they're just going to cut their audience in half. W...
Jump to postScary and alarming. Just listening to the ATC replay, definitely sounded like that ATC needed a shot of caffeine this morning, no urgency, no care whatsoever. I understand that the weather was poor this morning, however no sense of situational awareness for what was going on. Yet another close call...
Jump to postAs a controller myself, I personally feel that it was absolute terrible judgment by the controller and absolutely nothing else. That controller could have literally done nothing and the outcome would have been perfect. Southwest would have been just fine sitting there for what, a couple extra minut...
Jump to postThe obligatory VASAviation video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjoDn8zQgb8
Yeah, that was a big mistake by the controller.
Shot down with a sidewinder missile… because why use 20MM when you can fire off a $400,000 missile? ‘Murica And before anyone says “oh it’s probably an old one due to be scrapped anyway” no. If it failed it would be a huge embarrassment for such a high profile mission. Please see this article: http...
Jump to postShot down with a sidewinder missile… because why use 20MM when you can fire off a $400,000 missile? ‘Murica And before anyone says “oh it’s probably an old one due to be scrapped anyway” no. If it failed it would be a huge embarrassment for such a high profile mission. 20mm's will only poke small h...
Jump to postYou can’t shoot it, the projectiles will land somewhere and small holes in a balloon this size won’t bring it down. Yep. Not many fighters can get up to the height of where the balloon is fly; the F-22 barely makes it, if it's relatively low. Firing at it with the internal gun does nothing, since t...
Jump to postYou can’t shoot it, the projectiles will land somewhere and small holes in a balloon this size won’t bring it down. Yep. Not many fighters can get up to the height of where the balloon is fly; the F-22 barely makes it, if it's relatively low. Firing at it with the internal gun does nothing, since t...
Jump to postI'm actually surprised and a little disappointed that the C-130J hasn't sold better over 23 years or so. I'm thinking part of this has to do with the low utilization of military aircraft. The H's and other earlier models apparently just weren't worn out...? Is that the basis of the comment that the...
Jump to postAC Cargo is adding flights to Liege, Belgium (2x weekly, eventually 3x weekly) starting in February and Basel, Switzerland (2x weekly) starting in April, from Toronto using their 767F fleet: https://www.aircargonews.net/airlines/freighter-operator/air-canada-cargo-adds-more-european-freighter-flight...
Jump to postOn the other hand Ukrainians mastered the use of the PZH2000 and they will send battle hardened Crews to Training. The Marder and Leopard were designed for Conscripts. The "Gefecht der verbundenen Waffen philosophy" might be new but they will learn. Something also tells me they already tr...
Jump to postAlso they are across the Atlantic, They can ship over a couple dozen M1 by air if they have to. Poland can also sign over their first contingent of M1. They seem to be bending over backward to support Ukraine. bt The US also has pre-positioned equipment overseas, with the European theatre being amo...
Jump to postAs for US M1 tanks, I've read multiple quotes from various officials/expert that the hold back is not political but rather logistics. So you can take those statement with the same considerations as those from German officials. So Germany don't want to send their Leo 2 unless the US sends their more...
Jump to postDoes anyone have an idea of how many Leo 2's are needed to give Ukraine dominance in an attack? Would half a dozen do that or are we talking 20 or more? I ask to get an idea of how many tanks would be needed to force a Russian retreat if Ukraine conducted an offensive somewhere along the front line...
Jump to postBut, the E-11 is, by miles, the highest utilization by flight hours in the US MIL. More normal Ute rates equals longer life. Fifty year old C-5As went to DM with less than 24,000 hours An aircraft that's being used as an airborne communications node has a very benign flight characteristics as it fl...
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