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  • I designed a human powered aircraft in 2nd year of uni, the group wasn't great but we had some good ideas.

    I'd like to think I am more mature and less interested in slacking off to go party. Some tv show on BBC last night renewed my interest, anyone want to join me in designing one again? No need to spend money on building unless we come up with something awesome?

  • my idea, take it or leave it

  • ^^^
    LiveLeak.com - A-10 Warthog Refuel
    One of the better jobs in the Airforce id say
    chilling with awsome planes and not having to kill anybody
    Although the barrel rollin A-10 does look incredibly fun

  • http://youtu.be/C-s_4r5Nrug?t=4m

    watch from 4 mins to 6mins

  • ninja edit broke the embed.

  • Some tv show on BBC last night renewed my interest, anyone want to join me in designing one again? No need to spend money on building unless we come up with something awesome?

    That was Bang Goes the Theory. I think Jem said 300w was the output he needed to be able to keep the thing in the air. Not an unfeasible figure. I think a part of the challenge is to keep it as light as possible while still being strong and controllable

  • I designed a human powered aircraft in 2nd year of uni, the group wasn't great but we had some good ideas.

    I'd like to think I am more mature and less interested in slacking off to go party. Some tv show on BBC last night renewed my interest, anyone want to join me in designing one again? No need to spend money on building unless we come up with something awesome?

    Wow! Did you do Aeronautical Engineering? And you entertained the idea of slacking off to go party? ...during the course? I think you might be a genius. I reckon you could win this no probs: http://www.worthingbirdman.co.uk/

  • Anyone going to RIAT this year?

    Camping in Kempsford, wonder how long the cider taps will last!

  • Wow! Did you do Aeronautical Engineering? And you entertained the idea of slacking off to go party? ...during the course? I think you might be a genius. I reckon you could win this no probs: http://www.worthingbirdman.co.uk/

    You sound like Nigel Farage.

    Can a plane not be designed on this thread?

    I would have thought bike mongers were well suited to understanding human powered vehicles.

  • Wow! Did you do Aeronautical Engineering? And you entertained the idea of slacking off to go party? ...during the course? I think you might be a genius. I reckon you could win this no probs: http://www.worthingbirdman.co.uk/

    Not sure if you're being sarcastic. But yes I did do Aerospace, no I'm not a genius, and I'm more interested in the Kremer marathon challenge as it's an international accolade.

  • You sound like Nigel Farage.

  • Not sure if you're being sarcastic. But yes I did do Aerospace, no I'm not a genius, and I'm more interested in the Kremer marathon challenge as it's an international accolade.

    Oh dear God..I'm really done for now aren't I? Not just on this thread but on the forum.. I'll get me coat.

    Aerospace is just the toughest course. Much respect for anyone who finishes - some people say it's like doing five degrees simultaneously. I'm ashamed to say I hadn't heard of the Kremer marathon challenge.. I will follow this with interest. May I ask whether you went to Southampton? For anyone considering Aerospace this is the absolute gold standard course from what I have observed.

    I wasn't meaning to be so flippant. It's just that I have known graduates who needed a year off afterwards to recover. I would just love to see them have some fun after years of hard slog.

    Best of luck if you enter. 'Luck will not be a factor' said NurseHolliday.

  • Turn the volume down for this video cos the music is abysmal. Looks fantastic tho'.

    http://vimeo.com/40935850

  • Oh dear God..I'm really done for now aren't I? Not just on this thread but on the forum.. I'll get me coat.

    Aerospace is just the toughest course. Much respect for anyone who finishes - some people say it's like doing five degrees simultaneously. I'm ashamed to say I hadn't heard of the Kremer marathon challenge.. I will follow this with interest. May I ask whether you went to Southampton? For anyone considering Aerospace this is the absolute gold standard course from what I have observed.

    I wasn't meaning to be so flippant. It's just that I have known graduates who needed a year off afterwards to recover. I would just love to see them have some fun after years of hard slog.

    Best of luck if you enter. 'Luck will not be a factor' said NurseHolliday.

    LOL, I only just finished...!

    I went to Liverpool, at the time it was considered top 5 in the country for Aerospace but I have heard in the last few years it has slipped a bit.

    My girlfriend got a 1st in Aerospace at Southampton though. Now I would call her a genius.

    Turn the volume down for this video cos the music is abysmal. Looks fantastic tho'.

    2012 Raytheon Award Video on Vimeo

    Sweet video, if anyone didn't make it to the end, the planes and pilots in the video are from the squadron voted best air-to-air at the Raytheon awards 2011. There is some sweet flying in that video, some of those manouevres are impressive.

  • If you're near the edges, you're outta ideas and outta luck

  • Love these

    and then pull the wings and have this:


  • Sweet video, if anyone didn't make it to the end, the planes and pilots in the video are from the squadron voted best air-to-air at the Raytheon awards 2011. There is some sweet flying in that video, some of those manouevres are impressive.

    I've never seen an Immelmann in a fast jet before. Stomach churning. Boik.

  • Went to Fleet Air Arm Museum on the way back from Stonehenge yesterday (I know it's the wrong direction...), it was awesome. I've never been before. One of my favourite bits was actually mini wind tunnels containing suspended models with moveable control surfaces so you can see what effects each control surface has on an aircraft.

    Kids were all over that and it's good because it's teaching them something. I was impressed.

    Also Navy planes are so much more awesome than RAF planes thanks to all the folding wings.

  • Unlike the last video I posted, this one needs the volume turning up. All the way up.

    RAF Bruntingthorpe English Electric Lightning - YouTube

  • [QUOTE=NurseHolliday;2874827]LOL, I only just finished...!

    I went to Liverpool, at the time it was considered top 5 in the country for Aerospace but I have heard in the last few years it has slipped a bit.

    My girlfriend got a 1st in Aerospace at Southampton though. Now I would call her a genius.

    Wow! They build an actual plane as part of the course at Liverpool don't they? Just excellent...

    Cosset that girl... she needs it after Powered Lift. Well, so do you!.. Treat yourselves to a basket weaving course at West Dean College.. therapy is good.

    If Alice Archer gets a 1st in Aeronautics from Southampton next year I will personally lob a Molotov cocktail at BBC Studios Birmingham. She's done nothing but doss about.

  • There was video of some chaps pulling ripping out some parts of it which was sad

  • Found the story I was looking for:

    Speed Is Life

    Never underestimate the importance of an instrument cross-check

    By Brian Shul
    As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I’m most often asked is “How fast would that SR-71 fly?” I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It’s an interesting question, given the aircraft’s proclivity for speed, but there really isn’t one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute. Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it run out to any limits of temperature or speed. Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own individual “high” speed that he saw at some point on some mission. I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way, and max power was in order. Let’s just say that the plane truly loved speed and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn’t previously seen.

    So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, “What was the slowest you ever flew in the Blackbird?” This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and relayed the following.

    I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England, with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 flypast. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do it. After a quick aerial refueling over the North Sea, we proceeded to find the small airfield.

    Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat, and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze. Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing. Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze. We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from the 325 knots we were at. With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said we were practically over the field—yet, there was nothing in my windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field.
    Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower in order to get a prime view of the flypast. It was a quiet, still day with no wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us, but in the overcast and haze, I couldn’t see it. The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward. At this point, we weren’t really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. Just at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was), the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face as the plane leveled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass.

    Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident. We didn’t say a word for those next 14 minutes. After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 flypast he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some of the cadet’s hats were blown off and the sight of the planform of the plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of “breathtaking” very well that morning, and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach.
    As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there—we hadn’t spoken a word since “the pass.” Finally, Walter looked at me and said, “One hundred fifty-six knots. What did you see?” Trying to find my voice, I stammered, “One hundred fifty-two.” We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, “Don’t ever do that to me again!” And I never did.

    A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer’s Club, and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71 flypast that he had seen one day. Of course, by now the story included kids falling off the tower and screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows. Noticing our HABU patches, as we stood there with lunch trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a thing had occurred. Walt just shook his head and said, “It was probably just a routine low approach; they’re pretty impressive in that plane.” Impressive indeed.

    Little did I realize after relaying this experience to my audience that day that it would become one of the most popular and most requested stories. It’s ironic that people are interested in how slow the world’s fastest jet can fly. Regardless of your speed, however, it’s always a good idea to keep that cross-check up...and keep your Mach up, too.

    Source: http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message949632/pg1
    Brian Shul spent 20 years as an Air Force fighter pilot, and now is a popular keynote speaker. Shot down in Vietnam, he spent one year in a burn ward. His comeback story culminated with flying the SR-71, which he detailed inSled Driver. Brian also is known for his nature photography, which is on display at Gallery One in California.

  • Superb stuff.

  • Kudos AlexB

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