New B-2 Stealth Bomber Air-to-Air Footage

This video was uploaded by Northrop Grumman recently. It has amazing air to air footage of B-2 Spirit seen never before. Watch it in HD.

I couldn't write last week. My apologies. 

CK

Costliest Aircraft in the World

B-2 Spirit.

One B-2 Spirit cost $ 2.1 Billion. That is the entire fortune of Evan Spiegel, founder of Snapchat and currently the youngest billionaire in the world.

It's the most expensive aircraft in the world.

B-2 was designed and constructed by Northrop Grumman who were pioneers in flying wing technology. B-2 Spirit was a quantum leap in technology and modern warfare. It changed the entire aviation military as we know it.

During the cold war period U.S. Air Force needed aircraft that can penetrate enemy defense to gather strategic military data and bomb them. B-2 was designed to be the master of stealth and can penetrate any air surveillance radar network without being noticed. In other words, they were invisible.

Legendary aircraft like U-2, SR-71A and B-2 - all were designed to gather information. I think what we should take away from this is - Knowledge is actually a power we cannot even fathom.

The initial plan was to built 220 B-2 stealth bombers. Since the cost of units was way past billion dollars, only 21 were built. One B-2 sadly crashed in 2008. 

Only 20 B-2's exist in the world now. 

It's truly one of the magnificent and majestic machines in the world. They are planned to be in service till 2058. Suits well for a machine that cost $2.1 billion dollars.

Thank You for reading.

CK

Highest Manned Flight Altitude Ever Flown

In contrary to the popular belief, SR-71A Blackbird's record of highest manned flight altitude is not actually the highest. 

It was made by a legendary Russian Fighter Jet called Mig 25 Foxbat.

A symbol of the Cold War, the MiG-25 flew with Soviet allies and former Soviet republics, remaining in limited service in Russia and several other nations. It is one of the highest-flying military aircraft, and the second fastest after the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft.

On August 31st 1977, Mig 25 cruised at 123,520ft (37.50Km). SR-71 A Blackbird cruised at 88,000ft. 

In the movie Iron Man, JARVIS says "SR-71 A Blackbird" as the highest flying fixed wing aircraft. Well, that's false.

Thank You Guys for reading.

CK

Story of Russian Air Force

Russia is the only country in the world that can stand up against United States of America (USA) in military strength.

It's a fact and that is no small strength.

They were once a super-powered nation with massive arsenal of nuclear power. There ability to be a dominant country was partly due to its massive military strength.

Russian Air Force fly some of the most advanced jets in the world. The technology being used in Russian aircraft are state-of-the-art. 

The most famous Russian jets are Mig 29 and Su-35. Recently SU PAK FA stealth fighter which is planned to enter in service next year is also popular.

Russian fighter pilots are one of the most elite in the world with strict training regime and equipment.

Currently the Russian Air Force operates a total of 61 air bases. This includes 26 air bases with tactical aircraft, of which 14 are equipped with fighter aircraft.

In 2012, the Air Force was made up of:

• 38 fighter squadrons (7 operating MiG-29s, one operating the MiG-29S, 2 operating the MiG-29SMT, 7 operating the MiG-31, one operating the MiG-31B, 4 operating the MiG-31BM, 7 operating the Su-27P, 8 operating the Su-27SM, 1 operating the Su-27SM3 and Su-30M2, 1 operating the Su-35S, 1 operating the Su-30SM)
• 15 bomber squadrons (9 operating the Su-24M, 2 operating the Su-24M2, 4 operating the Su-34)
• 14 assault squadrons (10 operating the Su-25, 4 operating the Su-25SM)
• 9 intelligence squadrons (operating the Su-24MR, and various UAVs)
• 13 training and testbed squadrons

After the end of cold war in 1991; Russian Air Force was faced with financial scrutiny. There was a time when pilots were not paid for 7 months consistently. There was even a strike for monthly wages.

This caused the Air Force to take a down turn until the rise of Vladmir Putin. Putin later increased the defense fund massively. 

Aircraft technologies,be it commercial or defense were greatly appreciated and was funded. This resulted in developing advanced support aircraft , unmanned aerial vehicles to stealth aircraft. 

Keeping the communist political views aside; Russian aircraft technology deserves admiration and respect. Pushing the boundaries of technology has been the strategy of many countries lately. And those who excel in that has a chance to spread fortune and prosperity. Russian fighter aircraft are an example of that.

спасибо за чтение (Thank You for Reading).

CK

Airbus Flight of the Future

Charles Champion, the man behind A380 has a grant vision for the future Air Travel. Check the link below to find the video by Airbus. Even though the video is old, it is an indication that Air Travel will change in the coming decades. Watch Out~

CK

Dubai Air Show 2015

Famous for bagging big orders in 2013 for more  than $ 200 billion dollars, Dubai airshow became one of the largest airshow in the world & is considered close to Parish and Farnbourgh Air Show. 

With more than 1000 exhibitors and 6,000 visitors, the 4 day air show is a truly spectacular event for both professionals and aviation enthusiasts. 

Unlike former years, this years Dubai Air Show saw  the military companies bagging the most cash. Despite the lack of commercial deals, many companies including Lockheed Martin, Rafale and Jetpack Company Martin saw high potential deals raising up to more than $1 billion.

Dubai being the hub city of Gulf States saw the impressive display of USAF and UAE Air Force which included military aircraft like F-22, F-16, B-1B Lancer, F-15, V-22, Chinook, Rafale, Typhoon etc. 

In commercial department, the largest A380 with 615 passenger capacity was unveiled. 

Even though Boeing and Airbus returned home with less deals; a safety net for airliners is now clear. The four major airliners, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar and FlyDubai doesn't want to create a order-bubble that could rumble up middle east aviaiton market.

That being said, it is awesome that Dubai Air Show has grown into a world-class trade event and I am sure that anyone lucky enough to have attended it have been knocked out of their shoes. 

Thank You for reading.

CK

Be the Jetman: How to buy a Jetpack?

You saw how those guys flew with an A380. It's called being awesome. While watching the video, this were my precise thoughts:

Sadly, we cannot buy those used by Jetman. Yves Rossy doesn't plan to sell these - yet. His idea is to get close to perfection, to raise the bar of becoming totally free in air. 

Maybe, if you try hard enough, you can built one your own. Maybe.

If even you pull that off, these suits are not designed to take off from land. You would still need a helicopter and crew to support you. Jetman is being sponsored by various companies for marketing purpose; the main one being Breitling. A value close to a million dollars per year; is the entire operating cost Jetman. 

Yves Rossy has plans to built one wingsuit that will be able to take off from hill, just like a para glider.But this is in distant future.

Good news is that all is not lost for us.

My dear friend Mr.Deepak Pottanani Joseph (a.k.a. D.J.) told me about a jeptack we can buy.

"The MARTIN JETPACK."

Martin Jetpack is technically an ultralight airplane manufactured by Martin company from New Zealand. It uses ducted fan to fly. It has very basic flight movements, but hey this is the closest we can get to owning a jetpack. 

Martin jetpacks can fly upto 5000 ft (1.5 Km) at a speed of 40 mph (70 Kmph).

They go on sales next year at a unit price of 150,000 USD. Yup, costly. With 30 years of development cost, it's only logical that unit price exceed 100k USD. 

That being said, serious buyers can get these and fly around. 

The future of our own flying vehicles starts here. Let's be a part of it. 

Thank You guys for reading.

CK

Jetman

" The future of human flight is clear - completely autonomous like a bird. The real dream is to be completely free. Completely free." Yves Rossy (a.k.a. Jetman).

Yves Rossy's dream of becoming completely free in air has taken him to the heights of daredevil fame known as Jetman. He developed and built a wing-suit system comprising a backpack equipped with semi-rigid aeroplane-type carbon-fiber wings—with a span of about 2.4 metres (7.9 ft)—powered by four Jet-Cat P200 jet engines, modified from large kerosene-fueled model aircraft engines. (Ref: Wikipedia)

The system allow him to fly like an aircraft only that he use body mass to control the flight. Just like superman does. 

When I saw Jetman way back in 2009, I was astonished. It reminded me of the jet packs in GTA San Andreas. A wing with four jet engines mounted on carbon fiber wing. And instead of fuselage, there is a man. Amazing!

Me doing my graduate studies, wondered how he can pull this off. I mean it's definitely not like the one in GTA, where you have to take off like a rocket. And I thought maybe he invented new engines with some advanced complex chemical substance as its fuel. If it was just an RC model jet engine, others could have done it long time ago. 

The truth is, it was indeed an RC model jet engine. RC model jet engines are used in Remote Control (RC) jet model aircraft.

This aircrafts are very fast being powered by a miniature jet engine. Kerosene is being used a fuel. With RC plane flyers, flying a jet powered model is the ultimate dream. Check this video out to see how fast an RC jet engine really is :

Anyway, Jetman uses 4 of these. He didn't actually develop the system, it's a modified engine from Jet Cat (a leader in RC plane jet powered engine). 

The wings are specially designed to have maximum aerodynamic efficency while keeping the weight to strength ratio low. Carbon fiber is used for the wings.

After being fighter pilot and later an airline pilot, Yves wanted to take flying to next level. 

And he did. God bless, he did. 

It's one thing to develop and build. It's another thing to fly. 

 Without the clearance from authority he cannot fly. Yves system was licensed as an aircraft by FAA in 2011.

His recent flying with Emirates A380 is mindblowing:

Thank You Mr.Yves Ross for this awesome video!

Go behind the scenes : 

Yves Ross and his trianee did a flight over Dubai:

I also found him racing in Top Gear:

Watch this TED talk where he explains his system:

I wonder if there will be a time where we can buy these, strap it and just fly.  

Yves does this to push the boundaries of flight. It is a risk. But that should not keep anyone from exploring the possibilities. To achieve your dream. 

"If you have an idea or a dream , even if it's crazy, you should try it." - Yves Rossy.

Thank You for reading guys.

CK