French aircraft-carrier: a floating embarrassment

I lived in Burbank when they had to clean up that environmental disaster. There was a whol section along San Fernando road that was a mess. They stripped off the top 24 inches of soil. I have no idea where it went. No one knows what was in the soil either, but a former lockheed employee told me not to stand downwind of the site when they were working.

I would venture to guess that the old Douglas plant in Long Beach has some of that as well. It has probably been there as long as Lockheed was in Burbank, if not longer. I would hate to see it go. But looking at California real estate prices and state taxation, I fear that more of the big companies are going to get the heck out. Can't say I blame them.

I live close to the Vultee plant here in Nashville. I can only assume now that Vought owns the plant that they have done some evironmental cleaning but how much is uncertain. Every so often they make like page 8 in the paper here for asbestos violations or some such thing. But the building and the facilities are to valubale to the aircraft industry to kill the building so the building will live for the time being.

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If they are actively using the plant some of the "nasty stuff" may be within the walls and buried. When I was at Lockheed, it wasn't until the old buildings (Plant B-1 for those of you who remember) were knocked down and then the clean-up folks started finding things buried.

My last few weeks at Lockheed someone found an assembly jig with partially assembled wing still in it. It seems someone rolled this jig into a small alcove and then bricked up the whole thing, probably right after WW2!!! I was told someone identified the tooling and it was supposedly used on the PV-1 Ventura. I don't know what happened to it or the partial wing assembly, but it was rumored it was given to a museum....

Airbus has finished its "to destruction" testing of the wings of its A380 superjumbo in static trials in Toulouse, the Financial Times said.

In its online edition, the newspaper said it was confident it remained on track to make the first delivery of an A380 for commercial service to Singapore Airlines by the end of December.

The report said in the test the aircraft's wings broke within three pct of the load target and had bent by 7.4m in the so-called "ultimate load test" before rupturing at a point between the inboard and outboard engines.

The paper said initial news of the rupture in the wings caused shares in EADS, the Airbus parent company, to fall sharply in after-hours trading in Frankfurt with a drop of 3.23 eur, or 10 pct, to 28 eur.

But Airbus said the test results should enable it to "fully demonstrate compliance with the certification requirements of the aviation safety regulators".

The 555-seat superjumbo is the largest passenger jet ever built.

The first delivery to Singapore Airlines has already been delayed by around six months to the end of this year because of manufacturing issues at the aircraft maker.

Airbus has so far secured 159 orders for the A380 from 16 customers.

FLYBOYJ said:

If they are actively using the plant some of the "nasty stuff" may be within the walls and buried. When I was at Lockheed, it wasn't until the old buildings (Plant B-1 for those of you who remember) were knocked down and then the clean-up folks started finding things buried.

My last few weeks at Lockheed someone found an assembly jig with partially assembled wing still in it. It seems someone rolled this jig into a small alcove and then bricked up the whole thing, probably right after WW2!!! I was told someone identified the tooling and it was supposedly used on the PV-1 Ventura. I don't know what happened to it or the partial wing assembly, but it was rumored it was given to a museum....

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I love stories like this! I would like to see a book that is written just about the aircraft factories. The stories that these places have hidden in them have always intriged me.

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Airbus should be concerned about the wing failure at 3% under design spec.

This is a commercial aircraft and the various govt regulatory agencies, insurance companies and airlines might get cold feet and demand "improvements".

The A380 is already above design weight, and if it means adding more strength to the wing to meet its safety margins, it means the plane is going to get even heavier.

Don't get me started on Airbus. The worse, scariest, most uncomfortable flight I ever had was on a Airbus. Also thier double decker liner, I have bad, tragic, feelinings about it.

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SCAREBUS!! Fly by wire - die by fire!

I don't believe that Airbus are that problematic today. Agreed, the reputation they have is well-founded. But today they're decent machines and get the job done, which is pretty simple really.

About the A380 - I don't know. The debate will go on and on until it's actually in service.

plan_D said:

I don't believe that Airbus are that problematic today. Agreed, the reputation they have is well-founded. But today they're decent machines and get the job done, which is pretty simple really.

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Actually they are pretty good - My father in law is currenlty flying A320s, he like em better than the 737....

Glorified bus-driver ... as my dad calls commercial pilots.

plan_D said:

Glorified bus-driver ... as my dad calls commercial pilots.

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Yea, but the moneys' good!

He took about a 40% pay cut after 9-11, I recon he's still making about 150K a year!

Of course the money is good. A friend of mine's dad is an airline pilot. I dated someone who's dad was an airline pilot. I'm seein' some kind of connection between me befriending or goin' out with rich people.

Anywho... yeah, my friend's dad is on £90,000 a year. He's been doin' it about 5 years now. So I'm sure he's up for a payrise.

plan_D said:

Of course the money is good. A friend of mine's dad is an airline pilot. I dated someone who's dad was an airline pilot. I'm seein' some kind of connection between me befriending or goin' out with rich people.

Anywho... yeah, my friend's dad is on £90,000 a year. He's been doin' it about 5 years now. So I'm sure he's up for a payrise.

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Yep!!

Focke Wulf FW-190 ARF: Try this aerobatic German rival of the Spitfire for geared SPEED 400
http://www.skycontrol.net/model-avi...n-rival-of-the-spitfire-for-geared-speed-400/

Aviation in the Movies will be the topic of the monthly special event to be hosted by The Air Museum "Planes of Fame" at the Chino Airport on Saturday, March 4, 2006. The event will begin at 10 am with a seminar on the subject and conclude with a flight demonstration of the "Planes of Fame" Curtiss P-40N Warhawk. NICE PIC OF THAT....
http://www.skycontrol.net/history/aviation-in-the-movies-march-4-2006-chino-california/

older news but about the C17
AAI Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of United Industrial Corporation (NYSE: UIC), has received a $4.25 million funded order from the U.S. Air Force for 10 Advanced Boresight Equipment (ABE(TM)) Model 310 systems. This is the largest single order for the ABE program to date.
The units will be used to align avionic systems and sensors installed in U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III heavylifter transport aircraft.
http://www.skycontrol.net/military-...ration-for-alignment-of-c-17-transport-fleet/

Cruise's Tomcat retired for want of a fight
David Nason, New York correspondent
February 20, 2006

AN era of aviation history that began in the skies above France in World War I has drawn to a close with the US-made F-14 Tomcat fighter plane - the one flown into the danger zone by Tom Cruise in the film Top Gun - being withdrawn from active service.

The Tomcat is going into mothballs because advances in military technology have made its greatest attribute - the ability to manoeuvre at high speeds and in close combat situations - redundant.

Fighter planes no longer need such abilities because they don't dogfight any more. Instead, pilots shoot at each other with target-seeking rockets, sometimes from 20km away.

The Tomcats were officially retired from service last week, replaced by FA-18 Super Hornets that are cheaper to maintain, easier to operate from aircraft carriers and able to carry more bombs.

The F-14 requires nearly 50 maintenance hours for every flight hour compared to five to 10 hours maintenance for the FA-18.






The F-14 entered operational service in 1974 when two squadrons were assigned to the USS Enterprise, replacing F-4 Phantom fighters that were eventually phased out in 1986.

The US Defence Department said the last Tomcat combat mission was a bombing raid in Iraq led by Captain William Sizemore who said the Tomcat was one of the best planes ever built. "It's just a beautiful airplane," he said. "It's powerful. It has presence and it just looks like the ultimate fighter."

In the 1986 movie Top Gun, Cruise played Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a brilliant but rebellious trainee pilot at the US Navy's elite flight school in Miramar, California.

The Tomcat was designed in the Cold War era to be the world's best fighter interceptor. Its primary task was to defend aircraft carriers against cruise missile-armed Soviet aircraft.

A supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat fighter, the Tomcat is capable of attacking and destroying enemy aircraft at night and in all weather.

The upgraded F-14A version was equipped with General Electric F-110 engines that made it the fastest close-combat fighter plane in history.

But following the loss of three aircraft over four weeks in 1996, the US Navy restricted Tomcats from flying high speeds at low altitude and prohibited afterburner use except for operational emergencies.

Tomcats provided air cover for the joint strike on Libyan terrorist targets in 1986, downing six Soviet-made MIG fighters in two dogfights.

They also flew 781 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq in 1991.

In 1995, as part of Operation Deliberate Force in Bosnia, Tomcats were nicknamed "Bombcats" for delivering laser-guided smart bombs to UN targets.

In the mid-1970s the US sold 79 to Iran before that country's 1979 Islamic revolution.

how is that the end of an era? yes aircraft don't dogfight anymore but today's fly by wire designs have made these high powered jets more manouverable then ever..........

£9m aircraft carrier for sale at theme park
By Richard Spencer in Beijing
(Filed: 18/02/2006)

The financial collapse of a Chinese theme park has left its owners with an unusual piece of surplus equipment - a fully-fitted Russian aircraft carrier.

The Minsk, a 1970s relic of the Soviet Union's Pacific fleet, was until recently the pride and joy of Shenzhen, the boom town near Hong Kong that has become the symbol of China's breakneck economic development.

As well as having some of its torpedoes and MiG-23 fighter aircraft on display, the ship also boasted Chinese guides in Soviet-style military uniforms and a Russian dance troupe.

RAF Eurofighter Crash-Landed: British Defense Chiefs
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, LONDON


A British Royal Air Force Eurofighter crashed on landing in eastern England when its front wheel failed to descend properly, the Ministry of Defence in London said Jan. 17.
The Typhoon jet suffered damage following a malfunction of its landing gear as it touched down at the RAF Coningsby station in Lincolnshire, eastern England, on Jan. 16, an MoD spokesman told Agence France-Presse.
No one was hurt and an investigation is now under way into what caused the problem, he added.
The Typhoon Eurofighter is produced by a consortium of EADS, BAE Systems and Italy's Alenia/Finmeccanica.
It is due to be introduced into the RAF in stages, reportedly within weeks, according to British newspaper The Sun in its Jan. 18 edition.
The daily tabloid also quoted unnamed official sources as saying it was not the first time the Typhoon had suffered problems with its landing gear.
The Eurofighter is a multi-role combat jet with a range of 2,500 kilometers (1,560 miles) and can be equipped with a mix of missiles depending on its mission.
The jets reportedly cost about 65 million pounds each (95 million euros, $115 million).
Last month Britain signed a multi-billion-dollar contract with Saudi Arabia to supply an undisclosed number of the jets.
They will replace the Tornado warplanes supplied to the oil-rich Gulf state in another massive, and controversial, deal two decades ago.

For some excellent snaps of the crash go to this forum:
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=54062

RSAF pins its future on F-15SG

Probably the biggest news in Singapore since the last Asian Aerospace show was the selection of the F-15T (since redesignated as the F-15SG) to fulfil the Next Fighter Replacement requirement.
http://www.flightglobal.com/Article...77/204927/RSAF+pins+its+future+on+F-15SG.html

Airbus, the world's biggest builder of commercial jets, is in talks with Russia to form a $25 billion partnership to develop a new aircraft as President Vladimir Putin accelerates plans to revive the country's aerospace industry, an Airbus executive said Tuesday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/260389_airbusrussia22.html