Jet Ranger almost gets clipped by a unsuspecting Cessna taxing. Not sure who is at fault here, but thanks to the quick reaction of the helicopter pilot, nothing got damaged.

Here's a heart warming video of a deer that is trapped in incredibly thick mud to the point she is giving up on life. With the help of an excavator, she is gently lifted out of the thick mud and just watch what she does next. Video below.

Breed of Speed recently got the privilege to test the new K40 Electronics RLS2 laser/radar detector.  As usual with any product I was skeptical, lets be real, there are dozens of company's out there that claim a product does one thing, when in reality it does another. Not to be rude but I expected this to be just another radar detector that picks up a cop when it's already too late. I was wrong, very wrong. 


 

But first lets start with the quality, I tend to take a product basis of quality just from how it comes from  the company. The box was packaged and laid out nicely.  It was simple and straight to the point.

I like when a layout of a product is easy to figure out and not just bundled into one big grouping of complexity. The last thing one wants to deal with is figuring out which part goes where. This was convenient and simple. The package came with the usual owners manual, registration car, detector, power cord and mounting suction cup.

The owners manual was easy to read, laid out all the options needed. Frankly the detector itself is so incredibly easy to use, one could easily go without the manual to use it. However there are some pretty amazing features in this little detector. Which are clearly laid out. 

After installing the RLS2 and powering it up, it did the usual radar detectors chime and symphony of digital sounds. Then it did something I'm not use to in a radar detector. It prompted GPS connected. This was a first for me and I was intrigued. Turns out when its connected to a GPS it moniters your speed, marks typical police positions of speed traps are at and remembers these for future references. That was an aspect that definitely took it up a notch. Now it was time for the actual test drive.

Denver Colorado has it's share of both speed cameras and speed traps conducted by officers. My goal was to go out and find a couple of these bundles of frustration, for us speeders. The car of choice was my 2001 BMW M5, something that tends to entice me to go beyond the speed limit. Now the great thing about this detector is the options it offers, you can do City mode, which makes detection less sensitive. Highway mode inhibits more sensitivity to K-Band and Laser. The great thing is, a cop has both a handle held speed monitering system as well as one built into the car that is constantly running. This detector picks up both, shows the direction in which the signal is coming from, and displays the speed in which you are driving.

Today's preferred choice of speed measuring by officers is usually Laser. Laser has been a challenge for speeders due to one aspect, if the officer tags your car, your speed is returned to the cop's speed gun instantaneous. Unlike K-band which had a delay. 
Now this is where the RLS2 was put to the test. I knew of a speed trap in the area, where officers usually hid behind a pole and ran laser at an area where drivers usually sped. Sure enough as I drove by there he was (photo was just an example).  So I drove down a good distance, turned on the RLS2 and turned around in the path of the officer. I expected the detector to go off an warn me as I got closer, but after I turned it on it was already warning me, and I was surprisingly quite far away from the speed trap. I drove in his path, 1/4 mile away, the radar detector was going off like crazy. It showed both the direction of the officer, aswell as what he was shooting with. This is where I was impressed, I couldn't believe how far away I was from the speed trap yet the detector was going off as if I was right next to the officers. 
Now the last test was to find a cop not running a speed gun but driving in his car, as most detectors will not pick up on this. It took me a few minutes but I spotted a cop driving onto the highway on ramp. I was maybe less than 500 yards behind him and the detector was warning me of K-band and the intensity aswell.  I was downright impressed.

So whats our verdict on this little guy? For the price of this detector compared to the cost of a speeding ticket today? There's not doubt this is the route to go. Its easy to use, it gets the job done, and comes with features that sets it a bar above the rest. Of course with pro's comes cons to everything. I didn't like how the detector didn't have auto-power down when I turned my car off that would of been nice, Items such as it seemed to pick up signals of a cop when there was none in sight came into play even with sensitivity turned down. However these are quite minor aspects to consider. I frankly would rather have a overly sensitive detector than one that doesn't pick out a cop parked directly behind you. The product is great, the support team behind the product is even greater. They really are on the ball. It's easy to use, its powerful, and its nice to have that security when your going a few mph more that you should. Oh yeah did we forget to tell you, that K40 guarantee's you drive ticket free, if you get  speeding ticket they will pay it.
Well done K40, we approve. -Breed of Speed

In the late 1940's a man named Walter Soplata began collecting warplanes on some land in Newbury, Ohio, just east of Cleveland. Today, about 30 engines and 50 aircrafts currently lie in the "plane sanctuary." In the 60's and 70's Soplata hosted anywhere from 20-30 visitors every Sunday for a tour of his collection. The collection has been kept relatively secret since Soplata's passing in 2010.

Soplata was a son of Czech immigrants who supported his penchant for collecting by working in a junkyard in Cleveland and, after that, as a carpenter. He managed to amass an impressive collection of rare aircrafts: a prototype North American XP-82 Twin Mustang, an F-82E Twin Mustang with Allison engines, an early Jet Age Chance-Vought F7U Cutlass, and a prototype of the Douglas AD Skyraider series, to name a few.

Soplata never paid more than a few hundred dollars for a plane. One of Soplata's most prized warbirds was a B-25 bomber that he recovered from Lunken Airport in Cincinnati called "WILD CARGO." A man from Louisiana had been using the bomber to fly exotic animals from city to city, and was forced to make a belly-landing in the airport when the landing gear became inoperative.

Check out these eerie photos of the old planes courtesy of Jayson Shenk, 

Air Tahiti Nui released the jawdropping behind-the-scenes footage of its operations to celebrate its 15th anniversary. It was created by Matthieu Courtois, a 32-year-old technical engineer from Tahiti who has been working for the airline since 2007, with the help of pilot Ludovic Allain.

Using a go-pro, Courtois spent a month filming and editing the video, which follows the airline's A340 planes as they fly from Aukland to Paris via Papeete (French Polynesia) and Los Angeles.

The result? Viewers are taken on the ride of their lives on the runway, underneath the plane, into the turbines, inside the cockpit and over some spectacular sights.

There are some heavenly views of aircraft skimming through the fluffy clouds, before the clouds break and the incredible view of Tahiti's islands becomes visible.

One thing's for sure, the video captures the high life as you've never seen it before.

Youtube has an amazing and terrifying video of two coaches trapped by “shooting rocks” – very high velocity rockfalls – on the Karakorum Highway in Pakistan.  These boulders, some of which are very large, have managed to get into the high velocity, bouncing mode that is so dangerous:

Particularly impressive is the boulder at the 28 second point, shown below.  This boulder has entered the mode of movement in which it is rotating around its short axis, allowing very large bounces and high velocities to develop.  It is a good thing this did not strike the coaches:


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It is not clear as to where this occurred on the Karakorum Highway, but fortunately there were no casualties.  It must have been terrifying for those on the buses though.

Ken Freeman is the best custom car builder you've never heard of. The owner of a body shop in West End, North Carolina, Freeman is the man behind Spirit of Nemo, his take on possibly the most challenging movie car of all time: Captain Nemo's 24-foot-long convertible from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And guess what? Nemo is for sale on eBay. Normally, when someone builds a movie car, the result is a lot like a typical concept car—good from afar, but far from good. (Why not? It just needs to look good on camera.) Freeman's Nemo, though, stands up to close scrutiny. The details are impeccable and, amazingly, the car drives way better than you'd expect of a six-wheeled convertible with quad front steering and the width of a Peterbilt. It tracks just fine, the 425-cubic inch V8 happily thumping away like it meant to propel this leviathan. You could drive it on the street, provided you have a plan for where to turn it around. And I can vouch for that, since I'm one of the few people to drive it.

The car is loosely based on two Cadillac limousines, but it's not like this is a re-bodied Caddy. The frame, for instance, is based on steel I-beams from a dismantled bridge because the low-slung ride height wouldn't allow for the underbody bracing of a typical convertible. The hood and various other structural areas are reinforced with carbon fiber or Kevlar. The mammoth hood rises on struts—no prop rod necessary. The car's ornate details, from the elephants to the interior trim, were carved in reverse by Freeman and cast in molds. There were no shortcuts on this car. 

So what's it gonna take to get Nemo and its custom trailer aboard your personal submarine? Well, reserve is met, and the reserve is $165,000. As I told Freeman the day I drove it, wealthy people covet an object that nobody else can have, and there's only one of these. It's a beautifully executed car, but it took him 6,500 hours. He's not building another one.

A motorcyclist in the U.S. named Laney just uploaded heart-stopping footage of a kitten stuck on a busy road whose life she saved by driving into the intersection and grabbing her.

As soon as the motorcyclist noticed the kitten (which didn’t happen immediately), she gestured at passing vehicles to stop traffic and grabbed the kitten. Now, the kitten is living safe with heart home and has a new name – Skidmark (presumably what he might have become had his new owner not been more vigilant).

The driver of this Corvette had a scare at Sebring International Raceway last weekend, after a brake failure down one of the circuit’s long straights led to it running straight on at the Turn 7 hairpin.
The Corvette then makes a hard left turn and plows through a set of gates before trying to find its way back into the racetrack.
Corvette in one of the club races ahead of last weekend’s 12 Hours of Sebring.

At the time of writing, we’re not sure on who was the driver at the time, although we’re beginning to think it may have been a relative of Frank Drebin of the Police Squad.The incident came to light when sports car racer Andy Lally Tweeted about it on Saturday: Watch the video below.

As American involvement in the Vietnam War began, the A-1 Skyraider was still the medium attack aircraft in many carrier air wings, although it was planned to be replaced by the A-6A Intruder as part of the general switch to jet aircraft. Skyraiders from Constellation andTiconderoga participated in the first U.S. Navy strikes against North Vietnam on 5 August 1964 as part of Operation Pierce Arrow in response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, striking against fuel depots at Vinh, with one Skyraider from Ticonderoga damaged by anti-aircraft fire, and a second from Constellation shot down, killing its pilot.


In contrast to the Korean War, fought a decade earlier, the U.S. Air Force used the naval A-1 Skyraider for the first time in Vietnam. As the Vietnam War progressed, USAF A-1s were painted in camouflage, while USN A-1 Skyraiders were gray/white in color; again, in contrast to the Korean War, when A-1s were painted dark blue. In October 1965, to highlight the dropping of the six millionth pound of ordnance, Commander Clarence J. Stoddard of Attack Squadron 25 (VA-25), flying an A-1H, dropped a special, one-time-only object in addition to his other munitions – a toilet.

Once again history is stranger then fiction, and a lot funnier: USS Midway VA-25’s Toilet Bomb

In October 1965, CDR Clarence J. Stoddard, Executive Officer of VA-25 “Fist of the Fleet”, flying an A-1H Skyraider, NE/572 “Paper Tiger II” from Carrier Air Wing Two aboard USS Midway carried a special bomb to the North Vietnamese in commemoration of the 6-millionth pound of ordnance dropped.

The following is an account of this event, courtesy of Clint Johnson, Captain, USNR Ret. Captain Johnson was one of the two VA-25 A-1 Skyraider pilots credited with shooting down a MiG-17 on June 20, 1965.

The following is an account of this event, courtesy of Clint Johnson, Captain, USNR Ret. Captain Johnson was one of the two VA-25 A-1 Skyraider pilots credited with shooting down a MiG-17 on June 20, 1965


“I was a pilot in VA-25 on the 1965 Vietnam cruise. 572 was flown by CDR C. W. “Bill” Stoddard. His wingman in 577 (which was my assigned airplane) was LCDR Robin Bacon, who had a wing station mounted movie camera (the only one remaining in the fleet from WWII).

The flight was a Dixie Station strike (South Vietnam) going to the Delta. When they arrived in the target area and CDR Stoddard was reading the ordnance list to the FAC, he ended with “and one code name Sani-flush”. The FAC couldn’t believe it and joined up to see it. It was dropped in a dive with LCDR Bacon flying tight wing position to film the drop.


When it came off, it turned hole to the wind and almost struck his airplane. It made a great ready room movie. The FAC said that it whistled all the way down. The toilet was a damaged toilet, which was going to be thrown overboard. One of our plane captains rescued it and the ordnance crew made a rack, tailfins and nose fuse for it. Our checkers maintained a position to block the view of the air boss and the Captain while the aircraft was taxiing forward.

Just as it was being shot off we got a 1MC message from the bridge, “What the hell was on 572’s right wing?” There were a lot of jokes with air intelligence about germ warfare. I wish that we had saved the movie film.