Very impressive but I hope no pilot takes off that steeply when I am on the plane

Boeing Preps the 787-9 Dreamliner for Farnborough:

Quiz time - What's the plane and what film does a plane of this type appear in? The answer.

The plane is a Thurston Teal TSC-1A Teal. A plane of that type is the plane flown by Edward Woodward, playing Sergeant Howie, at the start of the wonderful 1973 film 'The Wicker Man'. If you have not seen this film then you really must; it's a classic and very, very odd and disconcerting. It also has some lovely naked dancing and singing by Britt Ekland. Please do not confuse this film with the dreadful remake starring Nicolas Cage.


Here's Britt Ekland in her unforgettable role in that film

And here is the NSFW video that I mentioned

Now do you want to see the film? There is a lot more to the film than delightful nudity, prepare to be shocked and scared...

Quiz time - What's the plane and what film does a plane of this type appear in?

Answer tomorrow night.

An interesting landing

Cars with propellers

This article does exactly what it says on the tin... Here's one example



Thanks to Theo Spark for the spot.

Video of that plane crash

Capt. Brian Bews, practising on Friday in a CF-18 Hornet jet over Lethbridge County Airport for an international air show when things go wrong... Capt. Bews survived pretty much unscathed but I think the plane was a write-off.

No flights flying into or out of London airports? Really?

BAW102 from Calgary was heading to Heathrow although has now turned back on itself and is circling over the North West at 35,000 feet.

BAW274 from Las Vegas to Heathrow is currently over the West of Ireland at 35,000 feet describing a circular pattern.

BAW84 from Vancouver to Heathrow is currently over the Isle of Man at 34,000 feet and heading for the South East.

BAW17V from Denver to Heathrow is also near the Isle of Man at 37,000 feet.

An unknown(!) BA 747 is also just nearing the Cornish coast, presumably heading for Heathrow or Gatwick...

EZY30M appears to be shuttling between Luton and Liverpool.

A private Cessna 550 from Monte Carlo is currently over Nottingham.


In fact at present I can see 12 flights over the UK and Ireland

You can monitor them, along with me at Watch Air Traffic - LIVE!".


The identifiers are the plane callsigns not the flight numbers, although those are also shown on the linked website.


What is going on?

Daily Mail idiocy

This Daily Mail article on celebrities New Year Caribbean holiday plans is the usual envy raising article and an excuse to show pretty women in bikinis, and none the worse for that BUT then I saw this

"Celebrities staying at other islands in the Caribbean, including Barbados, have been reportedly offered private jets to ferry them to St Barts to welcome in 2010."

Private jets landing on St Barts? Really? Here's some video of small propeller powered planes landing at SBH, fancy landing a small jet?

Here's an experienced pilot getting it wrong in a slow landing propeller powered plane...

crash SBH from Mo Po on Vimeo.

Have BA lost the plot?

£60 per seat per route to reserve a seat, are they mad. I fly BA a lot but this could tip me over to another carrier.

Story details here or here.

Is there a successor to the SR-71 Blackbird?

My recent post about the SR-71 Blackbird lead me to some speculation about a successor plane; variously known as Aurora, SR-91 and

Here are some interesting links:
BBC Newsnight
Detailed speculation
More detailed speculation

What a plane

The best "fact" about the SR-71 Blackbird is that if the pilot detected a surface-to-air missile launch then standard evasive action was simply to accelerate.

Don't worry it will make great TV

A bit lower than the reporter was told the Spitfire would fly?


But not as low as this DC3 was when it took off over this unfortunate cameraman

Vulcan XH558

Yesterday at RAF Cosford XH558 flew again and what an incredible sight it was...




Well done to Vulcan to the sky and all who supported them. This plane must keep flying, it's what it was made to do.

What's the relevant fact not being discussed here?

The BBC report that:

"Airport operator BAA saw passenger numbers at its London airports fall 10% in the first three months of 2009, as it was hit by the recession."

But nowhere in the report, that includes analysis from Robert Peston, is there any mention of the BAA's desperate need for a third runway at Heathrow, a runway whose building is strongly supported by Gordon Brown... Why?

Some seriously scary airplane landings

The F35B

Remember the rather fancy looking and performing fighter plane in Die Hard 4? Well I see that the first F-35B (STOVL version, designated BF-01) made its maiden flight in June of this year. The flight, which featured a conventional takeoff, was piloted by BAE Systems' test pilot Graham Tomlinson.


Here's some video of a plane that finally makes the brilliant Harrier Jump Jet look past it. Hopefully the UK will still be able to afford to buy the 138 F35-B's that we have ordered.





Thanks to Theo Spark for the spot.

Mobile phones on planes

The mobile phone is a curse and many a tube or train journey has been ruined by morons conducting loud conversations over their mobile phones. Now Ofcom have decided that we should be able to use our mobile phones on planes once they are above 3,000 metres (around 10,000 feet in real measurements), so not for take off and landing but for the rest of the journey. Aeroplanes are bad enough with the sound of drunken fools shouting competing with the sound of babies screaming and small children shrieking without adding people using mobile phones to the mix.

Clive James feels the same way as me, read his wittier remarks here.

Low flying planes

From Theo Spark comes this video of low flying planes, mostly from air shows.



If you want to experience this everyday, then can I recommend a visit to the beach at the end of St Martin airport runway for big jets or or at the end of St Barths runway for lots of very low flying props.