Or, How to Get Your Press Credentials Revoked in One Easy Lesson…Every aviation journalist gets excited about a big story, especially when they get to bring us hot news from live and on location. But aviation reporting can be dangerous, and common sense dictates you give large bombers a wide berth when landing on a foreign runway for the first time. Unless you’re the reporter in this video.
We’re not sure who she is, but she might be in the market for a new job after this “girl on the runway” report where the reporter, obviously excited about the arrival of two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers earlier this week in Venezuela, nearly backs onto the runway as one of the bombers touches down.
The video surfaced today after more sedate news of the Tu-160s visiting Venezuela has been circulating across social and news media.
Given this reporter’s level of enthusiasm, hopefully we see more of her during the week when Russia and Venezuela are conducting joint training exercises with the Tu-160s and Venezuelan Air Force. And hopefully she doesn’t wander onto any active runways. Maybe it is a good thing they didn’t take her on any midair refueling missions yet…
Here’s the video (if the embedded version below does not work, just click here).

A critically ill patient’s life was saved when an F-16 fighter jet was used to rush specialized medical equipment more than 280 miles in less than half an hour.
After falling ill, the man had been taken to a hospital in Bodø, Norway, but the hospital did not have an ECMO machine – a device that supports the heart and lungs – without which he would die.
Doctors at the hospital knew the nearest available unit was at a hospital in Tondheim, 280 miles to the south. With the machine more than 10 hours away by car due to terrain, they believed the man would die before the machine could arrive.
Before resigning themselves to fate, the medical team contacted the air force base near Trondheim to ask if there was any way they could help save the patient, who was in critical condition.

“Chance would have it that we had two flights bound for [nearby] Moss on an exercise,” Lieutenant Colonel Børge ‘Gaff’ Kleppe, leader of 338th Squadron, told local media outlet.

​“One of them had even a cargo tank where there might be room. I called and asked them to keep [back] one plane, while we checked on it [for] all the possible places which could accommodate the machine.”
Militaries around the world have often helped with civilian medical emergencies, yet this is believed to be the first time a fighter jet has been used in such circumstances.
“Usually we spend about 35 minutes in flight,” said Lt Col Kleppe. “But because of the special cargo, the pilot gave a little extra, so he was there in less than 25 minutes.”

tags: breed of speed , f16 used to save mans life , f16 falcon , nathan finneman , nathan finneman colorado , fighter pilot , medical emergency , norway , military medical

Florida man’s hang gliding ride in Switzerland turned into a “near-death experience” when the pilot forgot to strap him in for the trip — leaving him dangling from the craft hundreds of feet in the air.
Chris Gursky, who lives in North Port in the Tampa Bay area, posted a GoPro video of his wild ride on his YouTube account.

“My first time Hang Gliding turned into a near death experience as my safety harness was never hooked to the Glider,” Gursky wrote on the YouTube account. “For 2 Min. 14 seconds I had to hang on for my life! The landing was a rough one, but I lived to tell the story.”
The video shows there was trouble immediately after takeoff when Gursky realized he was not attached to the craft. With his left hand trying to hold onto to a control bar, his right hand kept seeking something to hold onto — including the pilot.

After takeoff, the pilot tried to quickly land the craft but instead he ended up going hundreds of feet higher into the air before navigating the hang glider over a forest of trees and down the side of a mountain to a grassy field — where Gursky dropped off the glider before it landed.
“I remember looking down and thinking, this is it. I was losing grip with my right hand, that was holding onto a strap on the pilot's right shoulder. He was trying to make a bee line to the landing field as he knew what the situation could bring,” Gursky told London’s Daily Mail newspaper.
“I ended up holding on bar with the left hand and the lower part of his leg with the right when we were nearing the ground. I looked down to see my feet hit first, which ripped me off at about 45 mph as it was a hot landing and I was under the landing gear.”
But Gursky said in his YouTube video that he’s not too traumatized by the experience.
“I will go hang gliding again as I did not get to enjoy my first flight.”

tags: hang gliding , hanggliding accident , pilot hang glide passenger , passenger holds on for dear life , nathan finneman , breed of speed , nathan finneman colorado , hang , glide , switzerland , flying , aviation , viral hang glider

Russia’s Zvezda TV channel “accidentally” exposed model of a secret hypersonic 6th-generation fighter jet.
In a live broadcast of the Zvezda TV Channel was revealed a model of modern Russian-made hypersonic 6th-generation fighter jet that is likely in unmanned version.
Russian sixth generation combat aircraft will be hypersonic, first flight is scheduled until 2025. This was reported on 09 June 2016 by TASS, citing the head of the directorate of military aircraft programs, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Vladimir Mikhailov. “He [prototype] rise into the air, as we plan, no later than two or three years after 2020”, said Mikhailov. United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) expected to fly a hypersonic “sixth-generation” fighter before 2025. Mikhailov stated it was currently under research and development, including engineering design.
Certain military experts point out that the project of a new hypersonic fighter jet is called the Pigeon, because of the similarity of the tail assembly.

The new Pigeon fighter jet will have massive twin-tail that allows it to use its own shockwaves to increase its lift and decreases drag.
Russia’s unnamed Pigeon hypersonic 6th-generation fighter jet would smash records and travel at five times greater than the speed of sound, over Mach 5-6. Quite possibly, the cruising speed of the future fighter aircraft will be identical today afterburning speed – Mach 1.5-2.
The type of engine is not reported. Maximum speed is not specified also as a range. Officials declined to comment on the image of the new aircraft model.
But some source reported that this only photo consists of Russian disinformation campaign or a joke of Russian military sector because the model in the photo “accidentally” released is a 1/72 Italeri Mig-37 “Ferret” or a 1/48 Testors Mig-37 plastic model.

tags: russian stealth , russian air force , top secret aircraft , classified aircraft, nathan finneman , breed of speed

An Air Force pilot with the Thunderbirds flight demonstration team was killed in an April 4 crash after he lost consciousness while performing an aerial maneuver, the investigation into the incident determined.
Maj. Stephen Del Bagno died after his F-16CM went down at the Nevada Test and Training Range near Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.
Released on Tuesday, the investigation found that Del Bagno blacked out for five seconds after pulling 8.56 Gs. He regained his bearings one second before impact, but he was not able to pull the plane out of its dive.
Del Bagno "had a reputation for exceptional fitness" and had successfully performed many maneuvers that require pulling a lot of G-Forces, the investigation found. But being physically fit is not enough to protect against the effects of going from negative to positive G-Forces, which can cause a rapid drop in cerebral blood pressure.
Just prior to the crash, Del Bagno had been flying inverted, the investigation found. In the last two seconds of flying upside down, he endured a sharp increase in negative G forces, which lowered his blood pressure and heart rate at precisely the wrong time.
"The resulting outcome was more vascular space created by the widened blood vessels for the blood to flow away from the brain at the onset of the [positive G-Forces] and a lowered heart rate and blood pressure making it more difficult for the body to counter that dynamic," the investigation said.
As a result, Del Bagno was not physically prepared when he began a descending half-loop maneuver called a "Split S," during which he pulled nearly 9 Gs, according to the investigation, which said that he should have waited two extra seconds before pulling the stick up for the final maneuver.
Fighter pilots are taught several ways to prepare for the sudden onset of positive G forces to avoid losing consciousness, said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Darren Sorenson, a former F-15 pilot whom Task & Purpose consulted about this incident.
"Many other factors could have effected this pilots G tolerance on that particular day," said Sorenson, who had not read the crash investigation. "Very sad and unfortunate mishap."

On Wednesday, Virgin Orbit attached its prototype rocket, LauncherOne, to a modified 747 for the first time at an airport in Long Beach, California. The company hopes to send the rocket into orbit early next year.
LauncherOne is 70 feet long and weighs 57,000 pounds. It’s designed to carry small satellites into orbit around Earth. But instead of blasting off directly from the ground like a typical rocket, LauncherOne will start its journey on a runway.


The team were carrying out the integration check of the rocket with Cosmic Girl to verify mechanical, electrical, software, and dynamics all work together for the first time,” Virgin Orbit owner Richard Branson wrote in a blog post. “It’s an incredibly exciting moment for us, as Virgin Orbit’s first test flights move ever closer.”
To prepare for the eventual test flights, engineers altered the plane, stripping out seats and bulkheads from its interior to cut down on weight. Cosmic Girl is now designed to take off carrying LauncherOne under one of its wings.
The plane will fly LauncherOne to an altitude of about 30,000 feet. At that point, the rocket will release from the plane and engage its thrusters to travel into orbit at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour, which is 20 times the speed of sound.

By using a plane to assist with the rocket launch, Virgin Orbit hopes to offer satellite launches on shorter timelines and at lower prices than competitors, many of which rely on expensive ground-based infrastructure. The company eventually hopes to launch from multiple locations around the world, including the United Kingdom.
Virgin Orbit is a spinoff of Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company also owned by Branson. While Virgin Galactic is focused on bringing people to space, Virgin Orbit’s goal is to launch small satellites into space. Since its founding last year, the company has already signed on several customers for future satellite launches, including the Department of Defense and the European Space Agency.

Race pilot Matt Hall experienced an accelerated stall his aircraft less than 100 feet off the ground. Fortunately, he was able to bring the aircraft to wings level before bouncing off the water, and fully recovered to return to the airport.
This is an extreme example, but it goes to show how important it is to watch your airspeed and bank anglewhen you're in the traffic pattern.

This sounds like something straight out of a goofy military comedy, but I assure you this is real: a Belgian technician accidentally set of the cannon of a military plane during maintenance, which shot another plane. That plane blew up, damaging the initial plane in the process. Talk about a bad day.
The event took place at the Florennes Air Base on October 11. A bunch of planes were being serviced, since some were heading off for a training mission. A technician in one of the F-16s accidentally hit that metaphorical big red button and activated its six-barreled Vulcan M16A-1 cannon.
 Presumably before he even had time to utter “oh, shit”, another F-16AM had burst into flames. This one had recently been fully fueled for a training run, and yes, the bullets hit the gas tank. Oops!

And because the world is cruel, the blast from the exploding F-16AM also impacted the plane that delivered the shots.
Unfortunately, two technicians were also injured during the blast. The full extent of their injuries isn’t known, but the Belgian Aviation Safety Directorate has opened an investigation to see what, exactly, they can do to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again, possibly with even worse results.

we’re not exactly sure why or how these guys were there, but judging from their other videos on Youtube it seems like they are hunters. With a woodsy and mountainous setting in the back, we’re assuming that the guy that captured this footage and his buddies were just strolling through the woods when all of the sudden they were greeted by not one, but two A-10 Thunderbolts. More often than not called Warthogs or just Hogs, their pilots just kept on doing low flybys and looping around for another set.
A-10’s official name is Thunderbolt II, a name which comes directly from the P-47 Thunderbolt that was used during World War II.
Warthogs were the only planes ever developed specifically for CAS (close air support.) Entering service in 1976, the entire plane was actually built around its gun, namely, the GAU-8 Avenger rotary gun. Able to fire up to 4,200 30mm rounds a minute, this plane/gun combination is the most effective CAS platform ever built.
It is also the safest plane for its pilots as well. With a myriad of precautions taken in design stages, engineers knew this aircraft would be taking on a lot of enemy fire. For this reason, the engines were taken off the wings to decrease the likelihood of fires. Also, the pilots sit in a 1,200 lb. titanium armored “tub,” protecting him from small arms fire while strafing.

Ann Hansen is young, but she isn’t letting that stop her from living her dream, even if it is a dream fraught with danger.
Hansen, 19, was in Mariposa over the last few weeks battling the Ferguson Fire — just not as a firefighter on the ground.
She is a copilot of a Sikorsky CH-54A Sky-crane helicopter. Along with her captain, Gregg Deacon, she has been flying into dangerous areas near the fire and dropping water and retardant to douse the flames.
“At most times out here, people ask if I’m with my dad or grandpa,” said Hansen in an interview while stationed at the Mariposa Yosemite Airport. “I look young for my age, like I’m still in high school.”
Indeed, Hansen looks like she could still be in high school. But don’t let the youthful face fool you. She’s up to the task.

“I’ve been very impressed with her, especially considering her minimal amount of experience,” said Deacon, the pilot. “It’s a complex aircraft and our mission is complex. She’s monitoring a lot of instruments and dealing with most of the radio calls. She’s doing a lot of multitasking. And we go into some difficult types of places.”
Hansen is from Philipsburg, Mont. It was there that she developed an interest in flying. Her father worked as a ranch manager. Every year, Hansen would be inspired by watching crop dusters fly overhead.
Adding to her interest in flying was the fact that her father also wanted to be a helicopter pilot. Only he never took the opportunity.
“I always had that in my head growing up,” she says of wanting to fly a helicopter.
Ten days after she graduated high school, she started in flight school at Rocky Mountain Rotors, in Belgrade, Mont. Shortly thereafter, she transferred to Jerry Trimble Helicopters flight school in Oregon.
“I never had any previous aviation experience,” Hansen said. “It was overwhelming.”
She stuck with it, and in a short period of time, she became certified to become a helicopter co-pilot.
“My parents are thrilled with it,” Hansen said, acknowledging that in a way, she is fulfilling her father’s dream of flying.
She now works for Helicopter Transport Services and has the opportunity to work on fires as well as other special projects.
“It just depends where they need me to go,” said Hansen. “The challenge is fun.”
She admits there is danger in what she does. Engines could fail on the copter, or worse.
“Everything we do has a little risk,” Hansen said. “(But) it’s fun, for one, and you’re helping with something.”
Hansen’s end goal is to become a “PIC,” or a pilot in charge. Essentially, it’s the rank of captain.
“There is still a lot to explore,” she said.
There may be plenty to explore, but for someone who is only 19, Ann Hansen has already experienced quite a bit.