Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Airbus A400M

The Airbus A400M Model is a European four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military to replace or supplement aircraft used in the tactical airlifter role. The A400M was originally ordered by nine nations; however, the South African order was cancelled in November 2009. The aircraft’s maiden flight, originally planned for early 2008, took place on 11 December 2009.

The A400m USA military

These Model Airplanes are finely handcrafted, and hand painted by our artists – to scale and museum quality. 16” inches in length with custom models available.

General characteristics

▪ Crew: 3 or 4 (2 pilots, 3rd optional, 1loadmaster)

▪ Capacity: 37,000 kg (82,000 lb)

116 fully equipped troops / paratroops,

up to 66 stretchers accompanied by 25 medical personnel

Design:

The Airbus A400M Model Model Airplanes will increase the airlift capacity and range compared with the aircraft it was originally set to replace, the older versions of the Hercules and Transall. Cargo capacity is expected to double over existing aircraft, both in payload and volume, and range is increased substantially as well. The cargo box is 17.71 m long excluding ramp, 4.00 m wide, and 3.85 m high. The height is 4.00 m aft of the wing and the ramp is 5.40 m long.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Secret NASA Model

Up in the heavens is the US military isecret space plane, the X-37B. Based on my research, it disappeared for 2 weeks, as it changed its orbit. This little fat guy was launched in August. I am lost, why am I only finding out about this Secret NASA Model now? It must have been top secret, but we do have a picture! Perhaps it is the future of space travel and based on this picture, it looks like it is prepared to come back to Earth one day:

X-37B Boeing

My pal found this on the internet (http://heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=36514&lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=CET) where you can actual view this NASA Models orbit:

Search period start: 00:00 Sunday, 29 August, 2010 
Search period end:00:00 Wednesday, 8 September, 2010
Observer's location: Unspecified, 0.0000°N, 0.0000°E
Local time zone: Central European Summer Time (UTC + 2:00)
Orbit: 431 x 441 km, 40.0° (Epoch Aug 28)

Click on the date to get a star chart and other pass details.

Date MagStarts Max. altitude Ends
TimeAlt. Az.Time Alt.Az.Time Alt.Az.
30 Aug5.2 21:47:2010SW 21:47:3812SW 21:47:3812SW
31 Aug2.9 21:04:2410SSW 21:07:3937SE 21:07:4637SE
1 Sep3.6 20:21:3610SSW 20:24:3124SE 20:27:2410E
1 Sep5.3 21:59:5810W 22:01:2216WNW 22:01:2216WNW
2 Sep4.3 21:16:1910WSW 21:19:2128NW 21:21:3914NNE
3 Sep5.5 07:17:5410N 07:19:4414NE 07:21:3310ENE
3 Sep3.5 20:32:5410WSW 20:36:1443NW 20:39:3210NNE
5 Sep2.3 07:28:0010NW 07:31:2890SE 07:34:5710SE
6 Sep2.9 06:46:2422NNW 06:48:2155NE 06:51:4510ESE
6 Sep5.8 20:03:4610WNW 20:04:5211NW 20:05:5810NNW
7 Sep4.6 06:06:3724E 06:06:3724E 06:08:2510ESE

Friday, August 27, 2010

Qatar Airways 777-300 Boeing Model Airplane

Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. Is the flag carrier airline of Qatar, based in Doha. It operates a hub and spoke network, linking over 80 international destinations. It is among the only six airlines awarded 5-star rating by Skytrax along with Kingfisher Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Asiana Airline, Malaysia Airline and Singapore Airline

These Model Airplanes are finely handcrafted, and hand painted by our artists – to scale and museum quality. 18” inches in length with custom models available.

The longer-range Qatar 777-300ER and 777-200LR variants entered service in 2004 and 2006, respectively, while a freighter version, the 777F, debuted in 2008. Both longer-range versions and the freighter feature General Electric GE90 engines, as well as extended and raked wingtips. Other model airplanes are equipped with either the GE90, Pratt and Whitney PW4000, or Rolls -Royce Trent engines.

Destinations:

As of December 2009 Qatar Airways Models serves 85 destinations and Qatar Airways Cargo serves 19 (including 15 destinations served by Qatar Airways also) destinations in 53 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Australia from its hub at Doha International Airport.

Qatar Airways recently announced that it will launch 6 new destinations during 2010. These new destinations include Ankara, Bangalore, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Tokyo and Sydney. The introduction of these new destinations will bring the number of destinations Qatar Airways serves from 85 to 91 destinations worldwide.

Aircraft specification:

Passenger Capacity: 2class-451

Cockpit crew:            2

Length:            242ft 4in

Wingspan:            212 ft 7 in

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Antonov An225 Model Airplanes

These Model Airplanes are finely handcrafted, and hand painted by our artists – to scale and museum quality. 17’ inches in length with custom models available.

The reduction of the ground structures on Baikonur and the beginning of making heavy launchers have increased the air load transports. The plane VM-T “Atlant” can transport loads of 50 t, but the future projects envisaged to carry loads of 200 t. Antonov studied the way of building a transport plane of greater capacity by making modifications on the An-124 model, it created the An-225. The An-225 Mriya (“Мрiя” means Dream in Ukrainian) has a load capacity of 250 t (initialy 225 t), is 84 m long, 88.4 m of scale and 18.1 m in height. It made its first flight on December 21, 1988 (breaking 106 world records) and transported Bourane (60 t) to Le Bourget (France) in 1989.

It is until now the largest working plane in the world, there is only one specimen of it and it is used by Antonov Airline for exceptional transport mission. Mriya now has the Ukrainian flag painted on its drift and is recorded under the name UR-82060. Moreover, it has undergoes some modifications such as the addition of new safety systems, navigation and communication. According to the manufacturer the fuselage was reinforced to support heavier payloads. Lastly, it was equipped with a new cockpit and a new passengers cabin. Those improvements cost more than 20 million dollars in 2000.

Construction of a second An-225 had also begun during the 1980s but was stopped in 1994. Despite the numerous rumors about the continuation of the assembly of the second plane this one has never been finished. Even if it is the biggest fret plane in the world the Mriya is not really profitable, it’s used only when the load is too voluminous to be put in a An-124. Nobody asked yet to Antonov Airlines to buy this plane. In fact it’s more economic to use 2 Russlan (An-124) than the Mriya. But the Mriya is a technological showcase for this company and each move of it come with articles in the local press.

The Antonov An-225 Model Airplanes should have been later used as a launcher for the MAKS shuttle and the english HOTOL shuttle.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Remembering two Aviation Icons: Kai Tak and Ansett Australia

Here you see Ansett Australia's Boeing 747 Model landing during the last day of operation of Kai Tak. Anyone that has flown in to Kai Tak would remember the turn on landing and looking at people's washing as you landed! Would have been great for watching aircraft models as the apartments were so close to the arriving aircraft.

The Boeing 747 Model had Sydney 2000 logo up the side and the airline collapsed nearly to the day, 1 year after the Sydney Games. Ansett Australia was headquartered in Melbourne.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Cool website for flight tracking

I found a cool website that tracks the status of flights - http://flightaware.com . I am sure you can find it useful for tracking the flight of you loved one as they were arriving at the airport and time you parking your car in the carpark just as their plane touched down.

However, I have found another use for it... tracking the flight testing of Boeing 787 Model Airplanes. It has ZA001-ZA005 daily flights tracked and you can see where they are heading and even what they are up to. The two attached pictures show the flight path, and then speed and altitude for the duration of the flight. This example is ZA005 for yesterday.

The more time I spend on this site, the more things I find! Currently, there is a Qantas A380 enroute to Singapore with 3h21m to go, and the scheduled arrival time has been updated several times. It is somewhere over India presently, probably with all the passengers dining or shades down sleeping.

The other, and last, amazing thing I want to call out, is the statistics of each flight for the last 2 weeks... you may be able to use this if you are about to fly a particular airline and are setting up meetings at the other end - are they prone to delays?

I think I have found my new favorite site!

AH-1W Supercobra Model

These Model Airplanes are finely handcrafted, and hand painted by our artists – to scale and museum quality. 18” inches in length with custom models available.

The AH-1W Super Cobra Model is a two-place, twin-engine, day/night marginal weather Marine Corps attack helicopter model that provides en route escort for assault helicopters and their embarked forces. It had been the only western attack helicopter with a proven air-to-air and anti-radar missile capability. The primary mission of the AH-1W aircraft is as an armed tactical helicopter capable of helo close air support, low altitude and high speed flight, target search and acquisition, reconnaissance by fire, multiple weapons fire support, troop helicopter support, and point target attack of threatening armor. The AH-1W provides fire support and fire support coordination to the landing force during amphibious assaults and subsequent operations ashore.

The AH-1W is a two-place, tandem-seat, twin-engine helicopter capable of land- or sea-based operations. The rear seat pilot is primarily responsible for maneuvering the aircraft. The front pilot controls the aircraft’s weapons systems, but also has a full set aircraft controls. The AH-1W distinguished itself with its more powerful T700-GE-401 fully marinized engines and advanced electronic weapons capability. The AH-1W has significantly improved power available in high altitude, hot environment, and single engine performance. The Super Cobra is armed with a 20mm turret gun, and is qualified to carry TOW, HELLFIRE, Sidewinder, Sidearm missiles, and 5 inch or 2.75 inch rockets. The HELLFIRE Missile System increased ordnance delivery and firepower capabilities. The AH-1W Super Cobra provides full night-fighting capability with the AN/AWS-1(V) Night Targeting System (NTS)The AN/AWS-1(V)1 NTS further enhanced the AH-1W’s warfighting capability by adding FLIR sensor, CCD TV sensor, Laser Designator/Rangefinder, Automatic Target Tracking and FLIR, and CCD TV video recording.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde Model Airplane

The Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde model airplane is a turbojet- powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport (SST), which flew from 1969 to 2003. It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aerospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation. (The French word concorde translates to the English concord as agreement, harmony, or union.) The Concorde Model Airplane entered service with Air France and British Airways in 1976

These model airplanes are finely handcrafted, and hand painted by our artists – to scale and museum quality. 18” inches in length.

In stock and available to be dispatched within 24 hours of receiving your order

Concorde flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (Air France) to New York JFK and Washington Dulles, flying these routes at record speeds, in less than half the time of other airliners.

With only 20 aircraft built, the development phase represented a substantial economic loss. Additionally, Air France and British Airways were subsidised by their governments to buy the aircraft. As a result of the type’s only crash, (on 25 July 2000), economic effect arising from the September 11 attacks, and other factors, operations ceased on 24 October 2003. The last “retirement” flight occurred on 26 November 2003.

Regarded by many as an aviation icon, Concorde has acquired an unusual nomenclature for an aircraft. In common usage in the United Kingdom, the type is known as “Concorde” rather than “the Concorde” or “a Concorde”.

Scheduled flights:

Scheduled flights began on 21 January 1976 on the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio (via Dakar) routes. Then, the route Paris-Caracas (via Azores) began on 10 April of this year. The U.S Congress had just banned Concorde landings in the US, mainly due to citizen protest over sonic boom, preventing launch on the coveted transatlantic routes. However , the U.S Secretary of Transportation, William Coleman, gave permission for Concorde service to Washington Dulles International Airport , and Air France and British Airways simultaneously began service to Dulles on 24 May 1976.

Engines:

To be economically viable, Concorde needed to be able to fly long distances, and this required high efficiency. For optimum supersonic flight, turbofan engines were considered, but rejected, as due to their large cross-section they would cause excessive drag. Turbojets were found to be the best choice of engines. The quieter high bypass turbofan engines such as used on Boeing 747 could not be used. The engine developed was the twin spool Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus, a development of the Bristol engine first used for the Vulcan Bomber, and developed into an afterburning supersonic variant for the BAC TSR-2 strike bomber.

General characteristics for the model airplane

Crew: 3 (pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer)

Capacity: 92–120 passengers
(128 in high-density layout

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner Model is a long range, mid-sized, wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It seats 210 to 330 passengers, depending on variant. Boeing states that it is the company's most fuel-efficient airliner and the world's first major airliner to use composite materials for most of its construction. Its development and production has involved a large-scale collaboration with numerous suppliers. The composite material can be seen on the landing of the first aircraft, with the wings flexing offering load distribution and Turbulence Dampening. This 787 Model Airplane is a great aircraft and I can not wait to see it hit the skies in commercial operation.

Korean Air Boeing 777 - Rough Landing

This was shared by a friend as I love to travel with Korean Air. They have fantastic service and have a nice fleet of 777 models. I am just shaking my head at this one though:

If you notice at the end, the wind sock is not moving, indicating the weather is calm. The gusts were probably cause by wake turbulence of a previous landing or taking off aircraft. Or the pilot is struggling to learn the 777 airplane models controls... either way, I think the passengers would be thinking themselves lucky if they ever saw this video. Kudos to the pilots!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

F-15 Eagle Strike Military Model Airplane

These Airplane Models is finely handcrafted, and hand painted by our artists – to scale and museum quality. 16” inches in length 

The Eagle’s air superiority is achieved through a mixture of unprecedented maneuverability and acceleration, range, weapons and avionics. It can penetrate enemy defense and outperform and outfight any current enemy aircraft. The F-15 has electronic systems and weaponry to detect, acquire, track and attack enemy aircraft while operating in friendly or enemy-controlled airspace. The weapons and flight control systems are designed so one person can safely and effectively perform air-to-air combat.

The F-15’s superior maneuverability and acceleration are achieved through high engine thrust-to-weight ratio and low wing loading. Low wing-loading (the ratio of aircraft weight to its wing area) is a vital factor in maneuverability and, combined with the high thrust-to-weight ratio, enables the aircraft to turn tightly without losing airspeed.

A multimission avionics system sets the F-15 apart from other fighter aircraft. It includes a head-up display, advanced radar, inertial navigation system, flight instruments, ultrahigh frequency communications, tactical navigation system and instrument landing system. It also has an internally mounted, tactical electronic-warfare system, “identification friend or foe” system, electronic countermeasures set and a central digital computer.

The head-up display projects on the windscreen all essential flight information gathered by the integrated avionics system. This display, visible in any light condition, provides the pilot information necessary to track and destroy an enemy aircraft without having to look down at cockpit instruments.

The F-15’s versatile pulse-Doppler radar system can look up at high-flying targets and down at low-flying targets without being confused by ground clutter. It can detect and track aircraft and small high-speed targets at distances beyond visual range down to close range, and at altitudes down to treetop level. The radar feeds target information into the central computer for effective weapons delivery. For close-in dogfights, the radar automatically acquires enemy aircraft, and this information is projected on the head-up display. The F-15’s electronic warfare system provides both threat warning and automatic countermeasures against selected threats.

A variety of air-to-air weaponry can be carried by the F-15. An automated weapon system enables the pilot to perform aerial combat safely and effectively, using the head-up display and the avionics and weapons controls located on the engine throttles or control stick. When the pilot changes from one weapon system to another, visual guidance for the required weapon automatically appears on the head-up display.

The Eagle can be armed with combinations of four different air-to-air weapons: AIM-7F/M Sparrow missiles or AIM-120 advanced medium range air-to-air missiles on its lower fuselage corners, AIM-9L/M Sidewinder or AIM-120 missiles on two pylons under the wings, and an internal 20mm Gatling gun in the right wing root.

Low-drag, conformal fuel tanks were especially developed for the F-15C and D models. Conformal fuel tanks can be attached to the sides of the engine air intake trunks under each wing and are designed to the same load factors and airspeed limits as the basic aircraft. Each conformal fuel tank contains about 114 cubic feet of usable space. These tanks reduce the need for in-flight refueling on global missions and increase time in the combat area. All external stations for munitions remain available with the tanks in use. AIM-7F/M Sparrow missiles, moreover, can be attached to the corners of the conformal fuel tanks.

The F-15E is a two-seat, dual-role, totally integrated model airplanes fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and deep interdiction missions. The rear cockpit is upgraded to include four multi-purpose CRT displays for aircraft systems and weapons management. The digital, triple-redundant Lear Siegler flight control system permits coupled automatic terrain following, enhanced by a ring-laser gyro inertial navigation system.

For low-altitude, high-speed penetration and precision attack on tactical targets at night or in adverse weather, the F-15E carries a high-resolution APG-70 radar and low-altitude navigation and targeting infrared for night pods.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

A380 Model Airplane

Even though Eithad do not have an A380 Model Airplane, this is still the best model I have seen.... huge, and flies very well... I will post a pic of their engines soon, they are like small rollers! I want one of these...

Emirates 777-300ER

Emirates 
is an major airline in the Middle East, and a subsidiary of The Emirates Group. It is the national airline of Dubai, United Arab Emirates and operates around 2200 passenger flights per week, from its hub at Dubai International Airport Terminal 3, to 96 Destination in 59 countries across 6 continents. The company also operates four of some of the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight from Dubai to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and, Houston all on the Boeing 700-200LR. Emirates is a subsidiary of the Emirates Group, which has over 40,000 employees, and is wholly-owned by the Government of Dubai directly under the Investment Corporation of Dubai. Cargo activities are undertaken by the Emirates Group’s Emirates sky cargo division.

Emirates Airline B777-300ER

This Model Airplanes is finely handcrafted, and hand painted by our artists – to scale and museum quality. 18” inches in length with custom models available.


777-300ER:

The Emirates 777-300ER (“ER” for Extended Range) is the B-market version of the -300. It features raked and extended wingtips, a new main landing gear, reinforced nose gear, and extra fuel tanks. The -300ER also has a strengthened fuselage, wings, empennage, and engine attachments. The standard GE90-115B turbofans are the world’s most powerful jet engines in service, with a maximum thrust of 115,300 lbf (513 kN). The maximum range is 7,930 nautical miles (14,690 km), made possible due to a higher MTOW along with the increased fuel capacity. The -300ER can fly approximately 34 percent farther than the -300 with a full load of passengers and cargo. The Model Airplanes following flight testing, the implementation of engine, wing, and weight modifications produced an added 1.4 percent reduction in fuel consumption.

Specifications:

Cockpit crew:   2

Seating capacity:

3 class 364/358/354

2 class 451

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Video of a simulated 747 Explosion on board

This video is a simulated explosion in the rear cargo hold of a Boeing 747 Model Airplanes. The plane was pressurized on the ground that would simulate if it were cruising at a height of over 30,000 feet. You can see how the Lockerbie disaster or Air India aircraft disintegrated in mid air.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Boeing 787 Order book

Up to August 3, 2010, the Boeing 787 had 847 Orders. In the last two years, the order book has gone backwards - notably the global financial crisis hitting the airlines hard. For each type of aircraft model, this is where the order book stands:

787-3
787-8                    190  
787-9                    657
Unspecified    
Total firm orders     847

Since launch, the year on year orders looks like this:


2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total
Net orders 56 235 157 369 93 -59 -4 847
          

Canceled orders are indicative of the airline industry at the present time, however, with the cost savings that the 787 will deliver the obvious choice will be to replace aging fleets with this new aircraft in the years to come. So as Boeing rolls out it's latest baby, it is unbelievable that it is 10 years more advanced than the A380 which entered service in 2007! Even with the delays the Boeing 787 is a true magnificent airplane model.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

GEnx Engines for the 747-800

These engines are for the 747 Model - the 747-800 freighter and the Intercontinental passenger version.... very interesting video from GE showing the improvements in the engines to reduce emissions but increasing the power...

Let me know what you think!

The F22 Raptor

The F 22 Raptor advanced tactical fighter entered service with the US Air Force in December 2005. The USAF requirement is for a fighter to replace the F-15, with emphasis on agility.stealth and range.


This model aircraft is made from  Mohogany wood its 16′ inches in length and in stock  and available ready to dispatched within 24 hours receiving your order.

Recent Achievement:

 

  • The Air Force and F-22 industry team were awarded the 2006 Robert J. Collier Trophy, The most distinguished honor in aviation, for designing, manufacturing, testing and operating the F-22 Raptor.


  • F 22 Raptor demonstrated exceptional performance at joint training exercise Northern Edge in Alaska during June 2006. Raptors flew 97 percent of planned sorties, ensured air dominance by going undefeated against 144 adversaries, and enhanced the success of  combat commanders by improving battlespace awareness for all aircraft


  • The 27th Fighter Squadron, based at Langley AFB, Va., completed the first overseas operational deployment of F-22s at Kadena Air Base, Japan, in May 2007.


  • F-22s participated in the U.S. Air Force’s Red Flag exercise at Nellis AFB, Nevada, for the first time in February 2007 with superb performance in air maneuvers as well as maintenance: 100 percent of planned sorties successfully generated.


  • The Multiyear Procurement (MYP) contract approved by Congress in July 2007 for FY 07-09 allows for production of 60 Raptors at a savings of $411 million (according to a RAND study certified by the Secretary of Defense) while ensuring stability of production and improving cycle time.


  • Five bases currently operate F-22s: Edwards AFB, Calif. (test); Nellis AFB, Nev. (weapons/tactics); Tyndall AFB, Fla. (pilot training); Langley AFB, Va. (operational); Elmendorf AFB, Alaska (operational).


  • Future operational bases are scheduled for activation in 2008-09: Holloman AFB, N.M.; Hickam AFB, Hawaii.

Key Data for this model aircraft:

Crew : 1

First Flight: 7  September 1997

Dimension :

Wingspan: 44ft 6in

Length: 62ft 1in

Height: 16ft 5in

Wing Area:840 ft²

Horizontal Tailspan: 29ft

Tailspan: 18 ft 10in

Track Width: 10.6ft