FL 300

Interesting pictures, videos, and stories about aviation. Feel free to submit, ask, and make any suggestions or requests!

[military-life]

[rvsm-blog]

Really Bugs Me by Morgan Swant on Flickr.

[rvsm-blog]

Giant Fly By by Morgan Swant on Flickr.

[rvsm-blog]

Longdog “Airport” by Morgan Swant on Flickr.

[rvsm-blog]

Haywire by Morgan Swant

[rvsm-blog]

The Gap by Morgan Swant

[rvsm-blog]

Reblogging this to finish out the week!

Thanks again to Morgan Swant for all the wonderful pictures, this concludes this week’s series of photos.  Stay tuned for next time!

[rvsm-blog]

Leaving KWVL

[rvsm-blog]

Portland, ME at night.

[yasminsmolbean]

Forget about the co-pilot who killed everyone. He WANTED everyone to know his name. 

Remember the pilot. Remember him. He was kicking that door as hard as he could, he was trying to save everyone. 

I want to know his name. 

[yasminsmolbean]

Captain Patrick Sondheimer

Remember this name. 

[a-stray-lollypop]

i don’t care if I’ve re-blogged this once or a hundred times, as my last post or not for days, whenever i see this post i will re-blog it because that man deserves to have everyone know his name

[jeonsdear]

I can’t even imagine the dispair he have must felt knowing he wasn’t able to save his passengers.

[myshipmyrules-deactivated201603]

he tried to open the door with an axe. He kicked and screamed with all his strength until the last moments. Give this man the credit and memory he deserves.

[imonmywayup]

Going to have to start watermarking my photos, too many people reposting without credit. Sorry in advance.

[rvsm-blog]

Sorry to hear that! It's certainly a compliment, though not the type that's appreciated.

[see-the-world-from-a-small-plane]

The Great North by Jason Pineau on Flickr.

[jayalvarrez]

[imonmywayup]

Red over white…

[beautiful-lines-321]

[rvsm-blog]

I wish people blogged this with the source and story, because it is pretty interesting.

In June 1982, Columbia Helicopters was hired by Sohio to participate in a test on Alaska's North Slope. The purpose of this test was to evaluate the ability of a helicopter - the Boeing Vertol 107-II - to tow a fully-loaded hover barge over water, snow and ice.

The test began in Prudhoe Bay on June 17. The Vertol's 600-foot long line was connected to hover barge ACT-100, jointly owned by Global Marine Development and VECO. Air blowers on the 170-ton barge forced a cushion of air under the barge, which was kept in place by rubberized skirt material.

This first test was run around Prudhoe Bay with an empty barge, and was successful. During this and subsequent tests, the aircraft often flew with a nose-down angle approaching 25 degrees. Next, ACT-100 was loaded with 40 tons of cargo for another close-in test run. Once more, the helicopter showed it could move the barge despite the additional weight. The final aspect of the test was to tow the hover barge over a 50-mile course to a drill site named Alaska Island where Sohio had just completed an oil well.

During the tow to the island, headwinds over 30 knots were encountered, and snow and ice buildup were also factors. Regardless, the Vertol was able to bring the empty barge to the island successfully. On the return trip to Prudhoe Bay, when this photo was taken, the barge carried 50 tons of cargo, bringing the total weight to 220 tons. As with the previous tests, this task was accomplished successfully.

This photograph is one of longtime Columbia Helicopters' photographer Ted Veal's most famous photographs. The use of a powerful telephoto lens makes it appear as though the helicopter is closer to the ice than is actually the case.

Link to source.

[danielodowd-deactivated20170124]

[jennisbaum]

Jeans so tight I could probably pull high positive g’s for longer periods of time without blacking out

[jennisbaum]

So I had my first in-flight emergency today and it was terrifying but somehow I stayed completely calm and everything is fine now but I’m still so hyped on adrenaline someone is going to have to pry me off the ceiling later

I was flying with this other, more experienced pilot to pick up a part for another airplane at Van Nuys. We were flying over the Santa Suzana pass when we started smelling something funny. And then I said to him “The cockpit is full of smoke”. So we started going through emergency procedures, making radio calls, and looking for a place to land. And then I looked at the panel and I was like “Yo, we don’t have any oil pressure.” But the engine was still running fine and we made it to Van Nuys and landed. When I got out I saw that the four quarts of oil that were supposed to be in the engine were spread down the side of the airplane. Turns out the oil pressure gauge line broke. The engine was probably totally out of oil for 5-8 minutes, but we were able to land, thankfully!

[rvsm-blog]

The first one is always the craziest, Sounds like you handled it very well!

Glad to hear you're safe!