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Re: KC-10 Retirement

The monetary gain from retiring the KC-10's faster is arguably negligible compared to the amount it would take to develop, test, contruct, and certify a brand new tanker. It may only be 1% of the total cost. With that said, I don't know how much the KC-Z(I will refer to the BWB/Replacement Tanker a...

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Re: State of the Union Speech

I thought it was amusing that Sanders said the choice is between normal and crazy, in the GOP rebuttal. That's true, but the majority of the country would interpret that in the reverse manner of how she intended. As had just been demonstrated during the SOTU. But it continues in the new tradition of...

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

good radar signature. Lots of sharp angles. Unless ofcourse if the structure is CFRP which won't give as good as a reflection as metal. bt Still highly visible though. Composite is not stealth. The DoD said they can track on radar, but the balloons move so slowly they aren't always identified. Also...

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

The cannon was ruled out from the beginning, based on prior experience. Yes, I read about the prior experience some 25 years ago. 1000 rounds and the weather balloon didn't go down. From the transcript, it sounded like they were tracking it visually through the sniper pod. Was there any radar track...

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

I'm thinking they have no choice but to use an IR missile. As noted a gun run at Mach speed may be difficult if you can't get a radar lock. Speaking of which could they even get a radar lock on the balloon? Do we know if the balloon was providing a good radar return? Additionally would any radar gu...

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Re: State of the Union Speech

The thing I noticed was how unhappy Kevin McCarthy looked. He was riding herd on the MAGA's to behave themselves beforehand. But he has no control over them, which was more or less expected, after he caved during his nomination. Heavy is the head that sells the crown. He did at least stop them from ...

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Re: Classified Documents found at Mike Pence's Home

But I do note the OP hasn't posted the latest transgressions on the other side of aisle. Hypocrisy, much? Lol! There are 15 posts in the Pence thread, because no one here is trying to persecute him, or calling for his head. His transgression is not much different than Biden's. Meanwhile in the Bide...

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Re: KC-10 Retirement

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/air-force-dumping-plane-hot-151500101.html Air Force argument is that three tankers is too many (KC-10, KC-46, KC-135). While the KC-10 is superior it's the smallest fleet, thus the savings to be realized are by its retirement. Interesting... Very interesting in d...

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Re: Bomber 139 - 737 Waterbomber Crashes in Western Australia

The aircraft had been delivered to Coulson just last year after a retrofit taking almost 50000 hours. Sad that so much time dedicated to the modification has been destroyed so early. It takes 6 years to refit a 737 for fire fighting duty? How can that possibly be cost effective? Well comes down to ...

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Re: Bomber 139 - 737 Waterbomber Crashes in Western Australia

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-07/ ... /101939554

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

Here is an article describing the comms traffic during the shootdown. GalaxyFlyer had it pretty much correct, F-22 fired missile while at Mach 1.3 from five miles distance. Balloon was at 64,000 feet, F-22 around 58,000 feet. Target was illuminated by following F-15 sniper pods so as to track the de...

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

DIRECTFLT wrote:

Probably should trust that report 100%..

I trust that the US has assets with that capability, including the two U2 aircraft that were flying above it.

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Re: United Launch Alliance - Tests, Launches, News, Developments

Returning to the topic of the thread, which was deviated by the horse comment and apparently has yet to recover, ULA has posted their stacking progress with Vulcan Centaur. The vehicle will now undergo integration testing in the VIF, then roll to the pad for WDR later this month. Early in March, it ...

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Re: United Launch Alliance - Tests, Launches, News, Developments

NASA defines a NEO: "Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighborhood. Composed mostly of water ice with embedded dust particles, comets originally formed in ...

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

More information emerging today: Adding to officials’ comments last week about the balloon that was shot down on Saturday’s ability to maneuver, Kirby said on Monday that the balloon had “propellers” and “a rudder … to allow it to change direction.” But that maneuverability was limited, he said, mos...

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Re: Bomber 139 - 737 Waterbomber Crashes in Western Australia

https://simpleflying.com/coulson-aviati ... 737-crash/

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

But hey we’ll never know because they never tried… would’ve been no harm in strafing it and seeing what happened… no result? Use the missile. It’s using a sledgehammer to crack a nut $400k up in smoke. Not my tax dollars. In actuality, the US and Canada have prior experience with strafing high alti...

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

Reports coming out that the US flew U2 aircraft above the balloon as it crossed the US, to conduct surveillance, signal intelligence, and probably jamming activities as well. This required special permission as surveillance assets are not authorized above the US. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...

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Re: SLS / Orion - Tests, Launches, & Developments

NASA has posted an update on progress for mission components for Artemis 2, 3, & 4 missions. The Artemis 2 engine section is the last major component for that mission. https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/progress-underway-on-moon-rockets-for-nasa-s-crewed-artemis-missions.html https://w...

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Re: Bomber 139 - 737 Waterbomber Crashes in Western Australia

Here is an article on the crash. The 737 was flying at 100 knots and 675 feet during a retardant drop. Those are basically landing conditions for a 737, which may explain why the crash was survivable. https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/plane-crashes-as-firefighters-battle-blaze-in...

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Re: Yeti Airlines AT75 crash in Nepal

https://simpleflying.com/yeti-airlines- ... ropellers/

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Re: Boeing KC-46 News, Production and Delivery Thread

So, the idea is to add another TYPE of tanker, to improve capability, right? Then why is the retirement of (quite capable) KC-10 tanker being argued, as a way to save money, by reducing number of types in the fleet? That question has been discussed in detail in this thread: https://www.airliners.ne...

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

Lasers don't have huge power delivery at 18 mile range in the atmosphere. And they would do the same as cannon fire, poke holes in the balloon which then take a long time to come down. If you loft a missile from a SAM, or from lower altitude aircraft that is climbing, it has a trajectory that will b...

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

Why take it down with the latest Sidewinder carried on board the 2nd most technologically advanced fighter in the USAF's inventory (sans whatever Skunkworks has in hiding}? It could have been taken down by a ground based laser. The shoot down was simply communication by YouTube. And communicating, ...

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Re: Boeing KC-46 News, Production and Delivery Thread

With the China becoming the big new enemy, IMO USAF could look for a bigger, longer range Pacific tanker/ transport, more 250t+ 777/A330/787 sized I guess. I think that's the goal for KC-Z, for which they are more interested in a BWB design rather than tube and wing. This has advantages for efficie...

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Re: Southwest to Halve Flying Time Needed for Prospective Pilots

It helps to realize that the experience requirement is a stand-in for judgement and emergency skills, which are difficult to measure directly. The premise is that these attributes are more highly developed in experienced pilots. Which is statistically true . But as with all statistical results, you...

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Re: Boeing KC-46 News, Production and Delivery Thread

In Air Force contracts, what are the limitations on doing a follow on buy sole sourced. I'm looking at whether there are advantages and disadvantages with the KC-46. I know in Construction there are caviots with prior unit pricing that binds the contractor to that prior unit price x a standardized ...

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Re: Fedex & Southwest Near Collision at AUS

Would it have made sense for the fedex pilot to call their own go around instead of saying “southwest abort”. That seems like it confused multiple parties. FedEx did both, within a few seconds, presuming it was them that made the call. "Southwest abort ... FedEx on the go" (go inferring g...

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Re: Fedex & Southwest Near Collision at AUS

NTSB is involved with their own investigation. I suspect the FAA will take this quite seriously, and will investigate thoroughly, in conjunction with the NTSB. I also suspect as Juan Browne said, the ever increasing pressure to be more time and cost efficient, inevitably puts pressure on safety, as ...

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Re: Classified Documents from Biden’s VP days found in office

Let's not pretend they didn't have probable cause to search. Not to say that the documents would be destroyed, but to secure any classified documents at the scene employing that now overused phrase, out of an abundance of caution. They would have obtained a warrant broad enough to search (all) our ...

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Re: Azur Air 767 rejected take-off at Phuket, engine catches fire and tires explode

According to the Turkish media, besides Russian airliners, Belarussian airline Belavia and Iranian planes from IranAir and Mahan Air are also on the "do not service" list issued by Havas on 31JAN. The following Russian airlines can no longer receive MX in Turkey: AirBridgeCargo, Azur Air,...

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Re: KC-10 Retirement

Helps to understand that all these decisions involve trades. It's just a question of the priorities the USAF assigns to the various trades. There is not one right answer, there's only the answer the USAF chooses from among those available, based on priorities. Sometimes that results in good and succ...

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Re: Southwest to Halve Flying Time Needed for Prospective Pilots

It helps to realize that the experience requirement is a stand-in for judgement and emergency skills, which are difficult to measure directly. The premise is that these attributes are more highly developed in experienced pilots. Which is statistically true. But as with all statistical results, you c...

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Re: Fedex & Southwest Near Collision at AUS

Here is the article from AVHerald. The SW was slow to roll, but ATC had advised each of the presence of the other. Someone called the SW abort as FedEx executed a go around. SW did not abort and the FedEx overflew the SW with both gaining altitude and turning in different directions. https://avheral...

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Re: Classified Documents from Biden’s VP days found in office

As explained here numerous times now, the allegation made without proof, followed by the allegation that no proof exists due to conspiracy to cover it up, Actually I haven't made any allegations. I have pointed out facts that might lead one to question whether we are being told the truth, when the ...

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Re: Classified Documents from Biden’s VP days found in office

I know, it's straight out of FBI procedure to let a criminal have free, unfettered, unsupervised access to a potential crime scene two weeks before they show up for a search, three months after an investigation started. I am pretty sure they teach that on Day One at Quantico. Maybe if "The Mos...

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Re: Classified Documents from Biden’s VP days found in office

Need to be perfectly clear that the allegation of Biden destroying documents remains entirely a MAGA conspiracy theory. Despite all the protests here to the contrary. There is not one shred of evidence. As to the reason for the conspiracy theory, that needs no explanation, with any knowledge of hist...

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

The reason cannon fire doesn't work well on a balloon, is that it offers no resistance to the round, and is pressurized only slightly higher than atmospheric pressure. You can hole it for sure, but then it requires gas diffusive & convective exchange through the holes to make it less buoyant, wh...

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Re: Fedex & Southwest Near Collision at AUS

This sounded like ATC saw and alerted SW to FedEx when it was farther out and expected a quicker roll from SW. But everyone remained calm and professional.

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

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...

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

Wonder if any elint a/c were launched to see if the balloon was still in active communication during its foray over the US? My line of thinking, if active that would be most important, imagine the reaction if it was a manned a/c, but harmless balloon, we already have the nay-sayers that China could...

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Re: United Launch Alliance - Tests, Launches, News, Developments

ULA is finally stacking the Centaur V stage, after a delay due to a crane problem in the Vertical Integration Facility.

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Re: Classified Documents from Biden’s VP days found in office

Firstly, absolute props to you for the style of your reply. It brought a genuine smile to my face, and credit is well due to you. The substance side is where it falls down. Quoting oneself always seems off, but Point it out in what I said. in Biden decided to go to Rehoboth two weekends ago, before...

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Re: SLS / Orion - Tests, Launches, & Developments

The NASA software load for Artemis 1, which governed orbital insertion by the core stage, had no observed issues and will be reused for Artemis 2 & 3. With Artemis 4 and the new EUS stage, the computers will be moved from the core to the upper stage, and the software will also control trans-luna...

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Re: Chinese Spy Balloon

Helps to keep in mind this is not the first time this has happened, it's just the first time it has hit the news cycle. Bringing down a balloon from high altitude in a controlled fashion, is not easy and has risks. The US is acting responsibly here. The balloon is most likely engaged in signal intel...

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Re: Non-combat military aircraft losses

Again this argument comes down to confusion regarding the purpose of accident investigation. The goal is to prevent future accidents, and that's all. When public knowledge and understanding are aligned with accident prevention, the information is released. When it isn't, it's not released. The purpo...

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Re: Classified Documents from Biden’s VP days found in office

Biden decided to go to Rehoboth two weekends ago, before the FBI searched. Don't worry about it being a potential crime scene or anything like that. Maybe his team finally got their act together and got the fireplace going and made some 'smores before the FBI's appointment. Go ahead Mr. President. ...

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Re: Classified Documents from Biden’s VP days found in office

Anybody other than me think this story is dying everywhere except on some chat boards? Whether he meant to or not, Pence’s disclosure has neutralized the issue. Everybody has done it. Get over it. Move on. Yes, for the future, tighten up procedures, maybe require a screening of all documents moving...

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Re: KC-10 Retirement

So if the KC46 can't fully replace the KC10 (1 for 1), what do you think the air force should do to have another tanker? A 777-based platform or stealth? Legitimately asking. The original mission of the KC-10 Extender has largely gone away. For the new mission emerging in the Pacific, we don't have...

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Re: Non-combat military aircraft losses

I'm all for OpSec, but why so much secrecy around safety stuff? What are they hiding or protecting? We're not China after all....I mean, it's not like we are prone to trusting the governing our culture. Helps to understand that the purpose of accident investigation is prevention of future accidents...

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