Civil

With the captain pinned against the window frame for twenty minutes, the first officer landed at Southampton Airport

British Airways Flight 5390 was a flight from Birmingham Airport in England for Málaga Airport in Spain. On Jun. 10, 1990, the BAC One-Eleven 528FL suffered explosive decompression resulting in no loss of life. With the aircraft flying over Didcot, Oxfordshire, an improperly installed windscreen panel separated from its frame, causing the plane’s captain to be blown partially out of the aircraft. With the captain pinned against the window frame for twenty minutes, the first officer landed at Southampton Airport.

‘On Jun. 10, 1990, the windscreen blew out in front of the captain of British Airways Flight 5390 shortly after takeoff from Birmingham, England,’ George Smith, an aviation expert, says on Quora. ‘The change in pressure sucked Captain Tim Lancaster (age 42) out of the aircraft, but his legs were grabbed by flight attendant Nigel Ogden. Without such heroics, Lancaster would have fallen to his death or been sucked into the plane’s engine.’

Nigel Ogden recalls in an article appeared on The Sunday Morning Herald;

‘He had been sucked out of his seatbelt and all I could see were his legs. I jumped over the control column and grabbed him round his waist to avoid him going out completely.

‘Everything was being sucked out of the aircraft: even an oxygen bottle that had been bolted down went flying and nearly knocked my head off. I was holding on for grim death but I could feel myself being sucked out, too. [Steward] John [Heward] rushed in behind me and saw me disappearing, so he grabbed my trouser belt to stop me slipping further, then wrapped the captain’s shoulder strap around me. Luckily, Alistair [Atchison], the co-pilot, was still wearing his safety harness from take-off, otherwise he would have gone, too.’

Lancaster was exposed to the equivalent of 345 mph winds and 1.5 F (-17 C) temperatures.

Ogden continues;

‘I was still holding on to Tim but the pressure made him weigh the equivalent of 500 pounds [about 200 kilograms]. It was a good thing I’d had so much training at rugby tackles, but my arms were getting colder and colder and I could feel them being pulled out of their sockets.

‘I couldn’t hold on any more, so [steward] Simon [Rogers] strapped himself into the third pilot’s seat and hooked Tim’s feet over the back of the captain’s seat and held on to his ankles. One of the others said: “We’re going to have to let him go.” I said: “I’ll never do that.” I knew I wouldn’t be able to face his family, handing them a matchbox and saying: “This is what is left of your husband.” If we’d let go of his body, it might have got jammed in a wing or the engines.

‘I left Simon hanging on to Tim and staggered back into the main cabin. For a moment, I just sat totally exhausted in a jump seat, my head in my hands.’

At the same time, Atchison put on his oxygen mask and managed to land the plane 22 minutes later. Everyone survived, including Lancaster, 81 passengers and four crew.

Ogden concludes;

‘The paramedics had Tim in the cockpit on a stretcher and I went in to see him.

‘He was lying there, covered in blood, but to my amazement I heard him say: “I want to eat.” I just exclaimed: “Typical bloody pilot.” Luckily, he’d been in a coma throughout the ordeal, his body had just shut down. I went out onto the front steps, and shouted at the others “He’s alive!” and then I cried my eyes out.’

Lancaster had frostbite from exposure to the extreme cold and several fractures. Ogden also suffered frostbite and had a dislocated shoulder.

Within five months Lancaster was flying again and he became a pilot for easyJet.

Ogden returned to work after a break but suffered post-traumatic stress and took early retirement in 2001 on the grounds of ill health. He then became a night watchman at a Salvation Army hospital.

In 1992, a report was published showing that a BA engineer, working under pressure, had fitted a new windscreen with bolts that were too small.

Photo by screenshot from YouTube video and Rob Hodgkins via Wikipedia

After Mathias Rust’s landing in Red Square, Muscovites joked the place was now Sheremetyevo 3, as Sheremetyevo 1 and 2 Airports are still Moscow’s primary international airports

On May 28, 1987, West German Private Pilot Mathias Rust managed to make international headlines by flying his Reims Cessna 172P from Helsinki Finland to a spectacular landing in Moscow’s Red Square. His flight was both an amazing achievement, and an immense humiliation to the Soviet War Machine. Indeed, Gorbachev would attempt to use the fallout from this event to purge anti Glasnost and Perestroika elements from the Soviet Military. His success may be gauged by the Anti-Glasnost Coup of August 1991, which in its own way was a last-ditch effort by the Old Guard of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to maintain the old order.

The fact a Western Sport pilot could sneak into the Soviet Union and land in front of the Kremlin at the very heart of the Soviet Empire resonated far beyond Soviet Borders. All the Billions of Rubles spent on Soviet Air Defenses, and the very existence of the Soviet Air Defense Forces (PVO) appeared to be a gigantic waste of money. After all, how could the Soviet Military defend the Rodina (Motherland) from Western Air Attack if they couldn’t even stop a 50-hour Private Pilot in the world’s most common light aircraft? However, the events of that flight showed both a liberalizing trend within the Soviet System, and a mishmash of command-and-control miss-coordination which resulted in Rust’s Cessna being allowed to continue flying all the way to the heart of the Soviet Empire.

According to Wikipedia;

‘Rust, aged 18, was an inexperienced pilot, with about 50 hours of flying experience at the time of his flight. On 13 May 1987, Rust left Uetersen near Hamburg and his home town Wedel in his rented Reims Cessna F172P, registration D-ECJB, which was modified by removing some of the seats and replacing them with auxiliary fuel tanks. He spent the next two weeks travelling across northern Europe, visiting the Faroe Islands, spending a week in Iceland, and then visiting Bergen on his way back. He was later quoted as saying that he had the idea of attempting to reach Moscow even before the departure, and he saw the trip to Iceland (where he visited Hofdi House, the site of unsuccessful talks between the United States and the Soviet Union in October 1986) as a way to test his piloting skills.’

Thus, a newly licensed 18-year-old Aviator decided on the ultimate stunt. Rather than pushing limits with aerobatics, low flying, water skiing wheels on water, or buzzing, Rust would continue a long tradition of Stupid Pilot tricks by young, low-time pilots by flying into the Soviet Union in the name of World Peace. Taking off from Helsinki, he continued eastbound, crossing the Soviet Frontier over Estonia, close to Russian Oblast of Pskov.

The city of Pskov has resonated throughout Russian History, as the scene of a Big Battle led by Alexander Nevsky against the Tueutonic Knights, an event made famous by Soviet Director Sergei Eisenstein’s classic Propaganda Film Alexander Nevsky. Ironically enough, the film was meant to stir up Anti-German War feelings among the Soviet Population, but was thence suppressed when Stalin aligned with Nazi Germany before the Invasion of Poland until Hitler’s Double Cross Invasion Operation Barbarossa. American Author Tom Clancy would write of Soviet Pre WW3 Anti-German Propaganda efforts when they broadcast the film in his Novel Red Storm Rising, released the year before in 1986. Pskov was the home of the 76th Guards Air Rifle Division, which was used to take Iceland from NATO at the beginning of this fictitious conflict.

I visited the Russian Poet Pushkin’s estate there, and remember encountering a 76th Guards Air Rifle Division Paratrooper on Sentry Duty near the Cathedral of the Pskov Kremlin, who spoke of parachute jumping being similar to “that feeling you get when you first kiss a girl you love.” The Unit from Clancy’s book stationed in Pskov has subsequently become an Air Assault Division after long service in Chechnya. It is currently embroiled in the Ukraine Conflict, operating in Eastern Ukraine as an elite formation within Russian Invasion forces there.

Rust was first spotted on radar at 1429 hours local time, and was tracked by THREE Different Surface to Air Missile Batteries which were never given permission to engage. A Newsweek article of the time cited Soviet Air Defense Generals arguing whether he was a flock of migratory geese, with nobody quite figuring out why said geese were flying eastbound. A Soviet MiG-23 interceptor spotted Rust’s White Cessna over the city of Gdov at 1448. He too was denied permission to engage. It should be noted that the PVO had recently been reorganized into different regions, and mis-coordination among handoffs between regions hampered their response. It should also be noted that Rust was fortunate that the Soviet Air Defense Posture was not where it was at the height of the Cold War, or else his attempt would have had a similar outcome to prior incursions of Soviet Airspace during the deepest, darkest days of the Cold War.

On it went, Rust continuing to fly eastbound, disappearing from radar in what one publication speculated was a temporary landing where he changed clothes before taking off again and continuing Eastbound. The Comedy of Errors among the Soviet Air Defense System continued, with Rust’s Cessna being mistaken for training traffic, a rogue Soviet light aircraft, and helicopters on various Search and Rescue missions. At 1900 Moscow Time, Rust arrived over Moscow. He decided against landing within the Kremlin, lest he “disappeared” by the KGB, instead he attempted to land in Red Square, managing to dodge the many pedestrians there to land on a bridge close to the Iconic St. Basil’s Cathedral. His landing area was fortunately clear of the trolly bus wires normal strung overhead, and made a successful end to his amazing flight possible.

Gorbachev used the resulting fallout to implement the largest purge of Soviet Military Leadership since Stalin’s Purges of the late 1930s. The flight was indeed a comedy of errors on the Soviet Side, but anyone who has ever seen actual Radar in action knows that radar target acquisition is impacted by a variety of factors, electromagnetic, weather, and target aspect. Radar Blips are not as clear as in the movies, and it is a constant challenge for even Civilian Air Traffic Controllers to monitor traffic in a 3D environment using 2D screens with the situational awareness limitations noted above.

Thus, the failure of the Soviet Air Defense System to shoot him down was more on a command level than an operational issue, but Gorbachev was able to use the PVO’s failure to implement his purge of political opponents. After his landing in Red Square, Muscovites joked the place was now Sheremetyevo 3, as Sheremetyevo 1 and 2 Airports are still Moscow’s primary international airports. For the Soviets Rust’s flight would set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union itself.

Mathias Rust’s life thereafter hasn’t been as smooth as his fortunate flight proved to be. Rust would be held at Lefortovo Prison for several months of a 4-year sentence, only to be released by Gorbachev in a goodwill gesture thereafter. Arrested for stabbing a female who rejected his advances, he spent several years in Prison, before disappearing into relative Oblivion and resurfacing as various reincarnations of his former self, as a Peace Advocate, Professional Poker Player, and analyst for an Investment Bank.

Despite all these subsequent events, Rust will always be remembered in Aviation History for his bold penetration of the most comprehensive Air Defense System in the World with a Cessna 172.

Be sure to check out William Cobb’s Facebook Page Pensacola Aerospace Museum for awesome aviation’s photos and stories.

Photo by: Udo Grimberg, Lizenz, Andrey Belenko from Moscow, Russia and U.S. Air Force

‘While I was flying a [Boeing] 727 over the middle of North Carolina, a passenger saw a huge thunderstorm cloud and started a ruckus in the back by telling everyone it was a nuclear bomb mushroom cloud,’ Ron Wagner, former airline pilot

‘While I was flying a [Boeing] 727 over the middle of North Carolina, a passenger saw a huge thunderstorm cloud—one of the biggest I’ve ever seen and started a ruckus in the back by telling everyone it was a nuclear bomb mushroom cloud,’ Ron Wagner, former USAF pilot in the Presidential Wing at Andrews AFB and former airline pilot, recalls on Quora.

‘It was a really big s****r! It towered up to nearly 70,000 feet.

‘This was WAY before security was an issue, so we had the flight attendant bring him to the cockpit so we could talk to him about it.

‘He claimed he was a former engineer who worked on above-ground nuclear tests and that THAT was a nuclear explosion. We said it’s a really big-ass thunderstorm. He said he knew exactly what thunderstorms looked like and THAT wasn’t one of them.

‘He insisted that we land immediately because the USA was now, officially, in a nuclear war and we needed to get on the ground.

‘He finally went back, but then everyone around him wanted to know what we said. He told them he didn’t know why we’re lying, but that as a nuclear expert, he assured them that North Carolina had now been nuked and we needed to land, but the crew was covering up something. Probably because we were all former military pilots and were now following orders.

‘The passengers started to get riled up and the flight attendant came back up to tell us what he was saying.

‘We called the guy back up and told him that if he didn’t shut up and say not one more single word, then we would, indeed, give him his wish by landing immediately, whereupon he would be removed by the FBI for interfering with an airline flight.’

Wagner concludes;

‘We told him he’d better be REALLY sure of what he was telling everyone. Of course, if he was right, then he’d be a hero. If he was wrong, he might end up with either some psychiatric care or some prison time.

‘His choice.

‘He decided that it could be a thunderstorm and went back and didn’t say another word the whole rest of the flight. He exited quietly with the rest of the passengers.’

Photo by: Felix Goetting via Wikipedia and United States Department of Energy

Flying on the Concorde supersonic airliner was different, but not a true luxury experience

The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde was a British-French supersonic passenger jet airliner. It had a maximum speed of Mach 2.04 (1,354 mph or 2,180 km/h at cruise altitude, over twice the speed of sound), with seating for 92 to 128 passengers. The aircraft entered service in 1976 and continued flying for the next 27 years.

Concorde, which was jointly developed and manufactured by Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) under an Anglo-French treaty, was built in twenty samples including six prototypes and development aircraft.

Air France (AF) and British Airways (BA) were the only airlines to purchase and fly Concorde.

The supersonic airliner flew regular transatlantic flights from London’s Heathrow Airport and Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Washington Dulles International Airport and Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados; it flew these routes in less than half the time of other airliners.

Was the experience of flying aboard the Concorde much different from a regular commercial plane?

‘It was different, but not a true luxury experience,’ a Pilot (ATP) & Air Traffic Controller (FAA Terminal ATC-12) nicknamed Hachi Ko, explains on Quora.

‘The interior of the airplane could best be described as premium economy, and even then, the seats were quite narrow. Concorde used 2×2 seating, due to its very narrow fuselage.

‘The performance of the aircraft was its biggest perk. If you were willing to take 2 – 3 more hours to cross the Atlantic, you could pay less for a more luxurious experience on one of British Airways’ 747s.

‘BA did go out of their way to make it as luxurious as they could. Onboard meals and dedicated airport lounges were top-notch.

‘Acceleration on the runway was the most noticeable performance difference. Actually going Mach 1, you had to look at the display at the front of the cabin. Otherwise, exceeding the speed of sound is unnoticeable.’

The Concorde was eventually retired in 2003 after the crash of Air France Flight 4590 on Jul. 25, 2000, in which all passengers and crew were killed. The general downturn in the commercial aviation industry after the September 11 attacks in 2001, and the ceasing of maintenance support for Concorde by Airbus (the successor company of both Aérospatiale and BAC), also contributed.

Photo by: Martin J.Galloway Dotonegroup via Wikipedia and Crown Copyright

If the An-225 has been as badly damaged as some pictures suggest, repairing the aircraft may not even be possible

Representatives of Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov have conducted a damage assessment of its An-225 Mriya (Dream) aircraft Simple Flying reports.

The world’s largest aircraft was damaged during the Battle of Antonov Airport, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, after it had arrived at Hostomel airport for maintenance in early February.

According to Simple Flying, ‘Access to the airport remained impossible until April 2nd when Ukrainian forces regained control of the area as Russian troops retreated to the East of the country.

‘It is believed that the nose and wings of the aircraft, in particular, suffered considerable damage. However, until now the full extent of the damage has remained unknown.’

Antonov’s team of investigators along with the An-225’s chief pilot Dmytro Antonov went on-site to survey the damage and conduct a preliminary analysis of the repair costs. They worked in collaboration with the Ukrainian defense company Ukroboronprom.

Simple Flying says that ‘The full findings of the damage assessment have not yet been released, although previous statements from the Ukrainian defense company Ukroboronprom put the cost of repair at $3 billion over five years. It also declared that the aircraft would be rebuilt at Russia’s expense.

‘However, if the An-225 has been as badly damaged as some pictures suggest, repairing the aircraft may not even be possible. Many of the aircraft’s parts were constructed in the 1980s, and replacements may be difficult to come across today, almost 40 years later.

‘Both Antonov and aviation enthusiasts worldwide are keen to see Mriya back in the skies, and the manufacturer recently called on public donations to support the rebuild.

‘Yet perhaps a more feasible option would be to continue construction of its second An-225, which was started but never completed.’

Early reports suggest that, even though this semi-built aircraft was stored in the same hangar at Hostomel Airport at the time of the attack, it appears to be intact.

The news that the An-225 was destroyed was confirmed by the Ukrainian Government on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022.

The An-225 made its first flight on Dec. 21, 1988 taking off from the factory aerodrome in Svyatoshyn. The airplane was flown by a crew headed by Oleksandr Galunenko. Mriya was developed for the transportation of the Buran shuttle orbiter and components of the Energiya carrier rocket.

The An-225 was also expected to be used as a flying space launching site in the reusable aerospace transport system (MAKS) with the airplane making its first stage and a small-size space shuttle with a fuel tank – the second stage. Mriya can deliver extra-heavy oversize cargo to any point on the globe carrying it either inside the fuselage or on external stores. Two An-225 airplanes were built. Construction of one of the two aircraft was completed. Fuselage and tail unit were assembled at Antonov Kyiv Mechanical Works facility in Kyiv, while the wing center section and outer wing panels were assembled at Valerii Chkalov Tashkent Production Association in Tashkent. The wings and wing center sections were transported from Tashkent to Kyiv on the An-22 Antaeus (Antei).

The single example built had the Ukrainian civil registration UR-82060. The second airframe had a slightly different configuration. Its construction was halted in 1994 because of a lack of funding and interest, but revived briefly in 2009, bringing it to 60–70{% completion. On Aug. 30, 2016, Antonov agreed to complete the second airframe for Airspace Industry Corporation of China (not to be confused with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China) as a prelude to commencing series production.

Photo by: Antonov

‘When I went to the seats over the wing to look at the hole I could see the landing gear through the hole,’ Paul DeBusschere, Boeing 767 pilot

The Boeing 767, built in Everett, Wash., can carry from 200 to 300-plus passengers. The 767 is a wide-body, double-aisle jet, but, like the smaller standard-body 757, it was designed for fuel efficiency. Both planes have nearly identical digital cockpits, allowing crews to be easily qualified on both. In 1985, as the pioneer for ETOPS (for “Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards”), the 767 was certified for extended flights that would make it the first commercial twin jet to fly regular routes across the Atlantic. The US Air Force (USAF) new KC-46 Pegasus tanker is based on the 767-2C, a freighter version of the 767-200ER.

‘A late night takeoff out of São Paulo, Brazil. Just before takeoff on a fully loaded Boeing 767 a tire violently blew,’ recalls Paul Debusschere, Boeing 767 pilot and 32yr airline pilot, on Quora.

‘On climb out at 1000 feet I had my FO (Because it was such a long flight I had 2 highly qualified FO’s. I had 2 excellent copilots, both Air Force Academy graduates) raise the flaps and only one side came up. On a Boeing this asymmetric trailing edge flap configuration caused the aircraft to start to turn towards the mountain on climb out. Full rudder allowed us to climb out straight ahead. I instructed my FO to declare an emergency and to tell control we needed to dump fuel to get down to an acceptable landing weight.

‘In the hour it took to dump 100,000lbs of fuel we calculated our approach speed with one wing’s flap at 1 and the other wing’s flap at 5 would be 193 knots or about 55 knots faster than normal. When ready to begin our approach we put the gear handle down only to have a main gear indication showing it was not down and locked. We realized with the blown tire, asymmetric trailing edge flaps, increased airspeed, degraded braking, and full rudder that the landing distance would be greatly increased. We then began our approach to São Paulo Airport around 1 AM. The landing with only flaps 1 and 5 and a blown tire was very bumpy despite being one of the best landings of my 33-year airline career due to the blown tire. The aircraft came to a stop 300 feet from the end of the runway with red hot brakes.

‘After landing, it was discovered that the blown tire had not only hit the landing gear sensor but blown off a flight spoiler. It also placed a 5 by 6-foot hole all the way through the wing. When I went to the seats over the wing to look at the hole I could see the landing gear through the hole. My legs then turned to rubber. I realized how close 260 passengers and I had come to a disaster.’

Debusschere concludes;

‘This incident caused me to wake up and have nightmares for weeks after.

‘The funny thing was that no official at my airline ever called me to discuss this incident.’

Photo by: Tim Felce (Airwolfhound) via Wikipedia

‘Co-pilots are absolutely essential to airline safety. I would rather have a good co-pilot than a good #2 engine any day,’ Randy Duncan, airline pilot

In aviation, the first officer (FO) is the second pilot (also referred to as the co-pilot) of an aircraft. The first officer is second-in-command of the aircraft to the captain, who is the legal commander. In the event of incapacitation of the captain, the first officer will assume command of the aircraft.

But besides that, what does a co-pilot do on a plane?

‘That’s a good question,’ Randy Duncan, airline pilot, says on Quora.

‘I think the co-pilot is more important than the captain (and I’m a captain)!

‘The job of the co-pilot at my airline is far more difficult than mine. Her workload on the ground is very, very high. She reviews the flight plan and weather with me and consults with me about fuel, route, and mechanical issues. When she’s done with that she does the walk-around inspection, sets up the cockpit for the flight which includes setting the pressurization, loading the computers with our route of flight, runway for takeoff and departure procedure, and arrival procedure. She tests all the systems that need testing and sets the instruments, checks the fuel load against the gallons loaded, checks the hydraulic, O2, oil, and other levels. Reviews the logbook for maintenance issues and recurring problems. If something’s not right, catering, fueling, lavatory service, cabin cleaning, passenger boarding, external power; she calls someone on the radio to get it fixed. She interfaces with the flight attendants and mechanics about issues that arise during boarding. She gets our ATC clearance and checks it against what was loaded in the computer, sets the transponder and radio frequencies for taxi and takeoff. Then she reads a checklist to me and I just see that everything she’s done is done. Whew, that’s just the stuff before we even close the door!

‘For pushback and taxi, she has to keep tabs on the radios and calls for all the clearances and talks to ATC. She also has to start the engines and run the after-start checklist and taxi checklist. She has a lot of switches and knobs to manipulate as she does her flows for each checklist. She monitors the route of the airplane as I taxi it to the runway. She makes a PA announcement to the passengers when we’re about to take off. If we are taxiing on one engine, she starts the second engine before we get to the end of the runway. Right before takeoff, she runs the before-takeoff checklist.

‘Then, it it’s her leg, she flies the airplane and I talk on the radios.

‘After landing, it’s more of the same. She does all the work, and I just taxi the airplane.

‘Okay, so we’ve established that a co-pilot does most of the work.’

Duncan continues;

‘Now the important part.

‘A good co-pilot monitors the captain and informs the captain if she observes any problems. If the captain is unresponsive, she makes a more intense suggestion. If the airplane is in danger and the captain is unresponsive, she takes control of the airplane and returns it to a safe condition. She is invaluable and ever since the industry empowered co-pilots with both responsibility and authority, the number of crashes has fallen to almost zero. there used to be a “Captain’s Authority” concept that made the captain solely responsible for the safety of the airplane and the final authority but that’s long gone.

‘The law is still on the books but the FAA has not pursued a violation in decades. It’s a dead regulation and it’s not enforced nor will it be. Today, co-pilots are given violations along with captains for misconduct of a flight. That means the captains no longer have sole responsibility. Since they no longer have sole responsibility, they also no longer have full authority either.

‘I know a lot of captain’s really treasured that old concept because it was a huge ego booster but it’s not that way anymore and I’m glad it’s not. The cockpit is far more democratic and an empowered co-pilot is a huge reason for the industries amazing safety record.’

Duncan concludes;

‘Co-pilots are absolutely essential to airline safety. I would rather have a good co-pilot than a good #2 engine any day.’

Photo by: Algkalv (talk) via Wikipedia and Unknown via Quora

As Elon Musk tweets challenges to Vladimir Putin, launches astronauts to the International Space Station, builds electric vehicles, attempts to solve traffic issues with his Boring Company, and warns humanity about the dangers of AI, his greatest creation is being developed and test flown over Boca Chica, Texas

What Starship Really Is.

As Elon Musk tweets challenges to Vladimir Putin, launches astronauts to the International Space Station, builds electric vehicles, attempts to solve traffic issues with his Boring Company, and warns humanity about the dangers of AI, his greatest creation is being developed and test flown over Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX has already given the US a viable replacement for the Space Shuttle with its Crew Dragon. Now its successor Vehicle has been undergoing testing and is being developed to take humanity to the Stars. Those who have watched its test flights stand in awe of its capabilities. Starship represents a unique platform whose very form hearkens back to Science Fiction films from America’s Golden age of flight.

The Starship represents a unique capability in Aerospace world, a spacecraft designed to capable of transporting personnel and cargo from Earth to the Moon and Mars and back. In addition, the Starship has the capability to provide rapid transport to any point on Earth. With a designed payload of 100 tons of Cargo or 100 personnel, Starship has the potential to revolutionize travel within the planet we live in. Once fully operational, the Starship will be able to fly and land on any point on Earth within an Hour.

Those who decry the expense of the Space Program, whether Public or Private, are ignoring the capability such a platform will offer. The capability to rapidly transport critical cargo anywhere on earth means that high value cargo can be brought to wherever it is needed on a near instant basis. This unique ability has obvious utility for both civilian and military purposes. Whether for disaster relief or emergency supply in wartime, Starship will be able to lift an Airliner’s worth of personnel or a cargo capability approaching that of the Air Force’s largest Transport, the C-5M Super Galaxy.

In many ways, Elon Musk is building a 21st Century version of the Classic Douglas DC-3, an aircraft which had a similar impact on Aviation when it was first designed in the 1930s. The DC-3, which developed into the C-47 Transport aircraft for the military even flies to this day in many underdeveloped regions on earth. The aircraft was the first plane flown by the airlines that allowed them to make a profit with passengers aboard. Prior to that, what became the Airlines depended on Mail Subsidies, just as SpaceX depends on NASA contracts in order to become a viable company.

If at first you Don’t Succeed. Taken on Mar. 3, 2022 the following video features Starship SN10, which performed the first fully successful launch and recovery of the Starship Spacecraft.

Be sure to check out William Cobb’s Facebook Page Pensacola Aerospace Museum for awesome aviation photos and stories.

Photo by: Timothy Smith – Tas and Jared Krahn Own work via Wikipedia

The legendary Antonov An-225 Mriya was destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Taken on Feb. 5, 2022, the interesting footage in this post features the final landing of the legendary Antonov An-225 Mriya (The Dream), the largest plane ever built, in Antonov / Gostomel / Hostomel airport.

As we have already explained the An-225 was destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine last month.

The news that the An-225 was destroyed was confirmed by the Ukrainian Government on Sunday, Feb. 27.

The An-225 made its first flight on Dec. 21, 1988, taking off from the factory aerodrome in Svyatoshyn. The airplane was flown by a crew headed by Oleksandr Galunenko. Mriya was developed for the transportation of the Buran shuttle orbiter and components of the Energiya carrier rocket.

The AN-225 was also expected to be used as a flying space launching site in the reusable aerospace transport system (MAKS) with the airplane making its first stage and a small-size space shuttle with a fuel tank – the second stage. Mriya can deliver extra-heavy oversize cargo to any point on the globe carrying it either inside the fuselage or on external stores.

Two AN-225 airplanes were built. Construction of one of the two aircraft was completed. The fuselage and tail unit were assembled at Antonov Kyiv Mechanical Works facility in Kyiv, while the wing center section and outer wing panels were assembled at Valerii Chkalov Tashkent Production Association in Tashkent. The wings and wing center sections were transported from Tashkent to Kyiv on the An-22 Antaeus (Antei).

The single example built had the Ukrainian civil registration UR-82060. The second airframe had a slightly different configuration. Its construction was halted in 1994 because of lack of funding and interest, but revived briefly in 2009, bringing it to 60–70% completion. On Aug. 30, 2016, Antonov agreed to complete the second airframe for the Airspace Industry Corporation of China (not to be confused with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China) as a prelude to commencing series production.

H/T: Denis