Donald Trump's Plane

Billionaire, presidential candidate Mr.Donald Trump has a private jet of his own. It's a Boeing 757 manufactured in 1991. This aircraft is modified into extreme luxury and pride as anyone would expect from Mr.Trump.  So extreme that the bathroom sink is 24K gold plated. 

The 757 first flew with Danish budget airlines called Sterling Airlines. Couple of years later it was in fleet of Mexico's TAESA airline. After the airline became defunct, it was bought by billionaire Paul Allen of Microsoft. Paul Allen used it for almost 15 years until in 2011 Donald Trump bought it from Paul.

Soon after it was bought, Trump modified many external and internal features.

Externally, the plane got brand new engines from Rolls-Royce. The new Rolls Royce RB-211 turbofan engines made the aircraft a hotrod among its kind. He also splashed the name Trump in its fuselage making it very distinguishable. Duh!

Internally, it was all state of the art. Starting with cockpit - was upgraded into glass cockpits. The 243 passenger aircraft was turn into a 43 passenger aircraft with dining hall, bedrooms, shower, guest room and other stuffs you common find in a house. Even the belt buckle and other metal linings are gold plated.

With purchase and modification, it cost Trump, $100 million. It's one of the costliest private jet in the world. Again, Duh!

Check out the vide below to see for yourself:

Cheers!

CK

CyPhy Works

This is a drone company that works with US Air Force for betterment of military technology. They have raised a series of capital investment recently being a $22 million from Bessmer Venture Partners. 

The company is lead by co-founder of iRobot Helen Greiner. 

Ever since I read "I am Malala" , I have been looking out for influential woman figures who does awesome things for the world. Helen Greiner is one such person. She says her interest in Robots and Drones were inspired by R2D2 from Star Wars. That's so cool. 

I found a video in Forbes where she talks about thier latest cosumer focused drone Lvl 1.

Check out the video below:

Thank You for reading Guys.

Cheers.

CK

21st century's first bomber

Formally designated B-21 signifying the aircraft as the 21st century's first bomber.

The new B-21 aircraft is a long-range strategic bomber for the U.S. Air Force. The program was initiated in 2014, with contracting being awarded to Northrop Grumman (B-2 Spirit).

Oh, and it looks lot like B-2.

B-21 will cost about 700million a piece. U.S. Airforce needs around 200 of these and expects 100 to be in operation by 2020. I gotta say, tight schedule. 

Ofcourse the new nbomber will be stealth and more.

This aircraft is no ordinary bomber. Even though it's primary purpose is long-range strategic bomber; it will also be designed to these three things:

1. Intelligence gatherer: basically a surveillance aircraft like SR-71 A Blackbird or U-2. It would have all high grade surveillance sensors.

2. Battle Manager: coordination, commands, guidance and direction in any battle environment just like an Northrop Grumman E-8. 

3. Interceptor Aircraft: I am little skeptical about this. Interceptor aircrafts engage in dogfights. Can a long range bomber engage in a fight like that? Only time will tell.

Thanks for reading guys.

Cheers

CK

Top 10 Aviation Quotes

AIM-9 Sidewinder Missile

AIM-9 Sidewinder Missile is one of the oldest and most successful weapon of all time. 

They are heat seeking missiles with photovoltaic cell attached to them. 

Check out the video below:

Have a great day.

CK

Virgin Galactic unveils new Space Ship

Virgin Galactic officially unveiled their new space ship called "VSS Unity". It's the predecessor to previously crashed SpaceShip in 2014 (Read about it). 

The new ship is named VSS Unity by Prf. Stephen Hawkins. 

'We are entering a new space age, and I hope this will help to create a new unity,' he said, launching the craft via a video message of behalf of Virgin boss Richard Branson.

'If I am able to go & if Richard will still take me, I would be very proud to fly on this spaceship,' he said. (Ref: Dailymail)

The new ship is packed with many safety features, including a lock mechanism for "feathering unit". The last ship was crashed due to the early deployment of feathering (which is rotating the wings 65° to increase drag) at transonic speed. It was a pilot error. 

Since the crash there were only few cancellations. Majority of the passengers who signed up still wants to go. 

We will have to wait till end of the year to see how VSS Unity performs. 

In high school I once read an article in Popular Mechanics magazine. The article was about the most desirable jobs in the future. After seeing the first one, I was skeptical. I am not now. 

The first job was : Commercial Space Ship Pilots. 

Great age of space will commence soon. 

Good stuff Virgin. 

Cheers.

CK

A350-1000. Like a Boss.

Airbus has commenced its final assembly of A350 - 1000; the largest variant of A350 family. Its maiden flight is planned by end of 2016.  

Couple of years ago when I heard about A350 - a composite material aircraft, increased aerodynamic efficiency including many other features - I was curious to see what would happen to this aircraft. I was a huge fan of Boeing 787 Dreamliner by then. 787 had design attributes from Boeing's work with Northrop Grumman in the production of B-2 Spirit back in 1970's. 

787 was one of the pioneer airliner to use composite material as its primary material. It also had chevron nozzles which reduce noise and looks freaking awesome. 

When Airbus revealed its plan to produce a new airliner to compete with Boeing 787, I was happy. Back then new A350's cockpit, nose, front, wings, winglets and stabilizers - looked stuff from future. I also noticed it had 1000 series number, usual for an airline. Usually they use 3 digits. 

But after that initial hype, I slowly forgot about A350. There were so many incidents with 787, I just looked at it as the real deal. A350 was a flickering thought deep back. 

I was surprised to find out when Qatar Airways received its first A350. It was then I realized that Airbus had done it. 

For me, thinking of producing an entirely new aircraft from scratch, even by Boeing or Airbus - is an herculean incredulous complex task. The development cost itself would be crossing $10 billion. Different countries were involved in the manufacturing of 787. They met lot of delays. There was cost over run. 

On one hand, it's inspiring to see countries working together to produce an aircraft. It's a herculean task, but they do it anyway. That's faith and strength. But on the other hand, all of this for a cash flow proposition that would take years to break even. It's a risky business. 

Boeing successfully pulled it off. And now Airbus too. 

We have to give it to these companies. They're the bosses. Battle after battle they do the impossible. 

I am so happy and proud to see these aircrafts taking flight after all the hardships these companies went through. 

Good stuff. 

Cheers.

CK