Aviation Fans

[Vegas Halo Fan]

2 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Still have the pics?

Tons of them. I will do some scans. I have one at the exact moment when the wheels hit the runway on the touch and go - all 32 of them.

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 4/9/2020 at 8:03 PM, gotbeer said:

This Man Owns The World's Most Advanced Private Air Force After Buying 46 F/A-18 Hornets

 

Interesting read.  Man, this guy has his own very capable Air Force.  

Legit as hell. Wonder if theyd ever offer flights to civilians. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 minute ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

Tons of them. I will do some scans. I have one at the exact moment when the wheels hit the runway on the touch and go - all 32 of them.

Lets see them!

Its a trip to see the really, really big planes. Crazy anyone thought up the idea to build them that big, and that they in fact can fly.

[arch stanton]

43 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Legit as hell. Wonder if theyd ever offer flights to civilians. 

I doubt it. Massive operating costs and insane liability. What's the benefit to them?

[Vegas Halo Fan]

2 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Lets see them!

Its a trip to see the really, really big planes. Crazy anyone thought up the idea to build them that big, and that they in fact can fly.

As soon as I locate the album they are in, I will get the scans done (it's all on 35mm film).

[Vegas Halo Fan]

I found some scans that I had done several years ago for an aviation forum on Facebook. The last photo is the touch and go. Several different angles of the AN-225. The Soviet Union had by that time faded into history, but the flag on the vertical fins of the AN -225 was still the hammer and sickle. In the fourth photo, one of the Sukhoi SU-27s shadows the AN-225.

[Tank]

those are fantastic, vegas. 

i'm in total agreement with you about how something so big can actually fly.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

Glad that you enjoyed them. I have more, but I will have to find the photo album first. These are just the ones that I had scanned previously, the ones that I considered to be the best of the lot.

[ten ocho recon scout]

3 hours ago, arch stanton said:

I doubt it. Massive operating costs and insane liability. What's the benefit to them?

To offset the cost.

Theres a handful of companies out there who will take people up. I know theres a pair of Su 27s in the US thst used to, but not anymore. 

Theres a company out of Texas who will as well.

If say the cost of a flight hour is 15 grand, I guarantee there would be some rich playboys out there willing to pay 16.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Nice shots, Vegas!

[ten ocho recon scout]

https://www.cnn.com/travel/amp/france-fighter-jet-ejection-scli-intl/index.html

And this is why they dont offer civilian flights

[ten ocho recon scout]

@Vegas Halo Fan,

that pic is pretty wild. Who wouldve thought youd ever see those two flying over the US? (Unless it got really bad)

In fact its almost how the main guy reacted when he heard the migs landing at the US air base in Iron Eagle 2, right @Tank

[Tank]

iron eagle 2 . . . does that mean it's twice as good as the original? if so, i may have to watch.

[ten ocho recon scout]

8 minutes ago, Tank said:

iron eagle 2 . . . does that mean it's twice as good as the original? if so, i may have to watch.

I mean, you cant beat the first. The first was like Omar on the wire. But part 2 is still pretty legit.

[Tank]

2 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

I mean, you cant beat the first. The first was like Omar on the wire. But part 2 is still pretty legit.

i haven't watched the wire.

hi @Lou

[Vegas Halo Fan]

1 hour ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

@Vegas Halo Fan,

that pic is pretty wild. Who wouldve thought youd ever see those two flying over the US? (Unless it got really bad)

In fact its almost how the main guy reacted when he heard the migs landing at the US air base in Iron Eagle 2, right @Tank

As a child of the Cuban Missile Crisis, living in Florida with a father in the military, I never believed that in my lifetime, I would walk up to and touch a Russian military aircraft. I have a closeup photo of the wingtip of one of the SU-27s with the Russian inscription on it.

The ironic thing about this particular air show is that Tom Jones, one of the organizers, was killed in a crash the day after I shot these photos. I watched him perform. The aircraft that he used to perform aerobatics was a Russian-built Sukhoi 26. The Russian delegation assisted in the investigation after the crash. As a tribute to Jones, on the day that he died every plane on the ground, from the AN-225 to World War II-era warbirds, took off and flew past the field in formation.

Director of Air Show Dies in Plane Crash

[arch stanton]

4 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

@Vegas Halo Fan,

that pic is pretty wild. Who wouldve thought youd ever see those two flying over the US? (Unless it got really bad)

In fact its almost how the main guy reacted when he heard the migs landing at the US air base in Iron Eagle 2, right @Tank

From August 1990 to August 1991 I was on remote assignment in King Salmon, Alaska. For the most part "fishin' was the mission" but this was also the time of Desert Storm and the Russians liked to test us. They'd send a Bear bomber up to cruise the coast and we'd scramble our jets to make sure they didn't cross the line. After a year of doing this and a lifetime of knowing they were our enemy I was a bit surprised to land at Anchorage and find two SU-27 on the ramp. This was the beginning of the end of the Cold War but 30 years later I still don't trust them and never will

[gotbeer]

Lol, not sure if this is true or not.  But funny.

Frenchman freaks out during jet fighter joyride, accidentally ejects himself at 2,500 feet

[arch stanton]

20 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

Lol, not sure if this is true or not.  But funny.

Frenchman freaks out during jet fighter joyride, accidentally ejects himself at 2,500 feet

He didn't feel the need....the need for Craig

Edited April 14, 2020 by arch stanton

[gotbeer]

1 minute ago, arch stanton said:

He didn't feel the need....the need for Craig

Haha.   Missed it.  Give me some slack, my ratio of post to Craig is pretty good.  

[Vegas Halo Fan]

22 hours ago, arch stanton said:

From August 1990 to August 1991 I was on remote assignment in King Salmon, Alaska. For the most part "fishin' was the mission" but this was also the time of Desert Storm and the Russians liked to test us. They'd send a Bear bomber up to cruise the coast and we'd scramble our jets to make sure they didn't cross the line. After a year of doing this and a lifetime of knowing they were our enemy I was a bit surprised to land at Anchorage and find two SU-27 on the ramp. This was the beginning of the end of the Cold War but 30 years later I still don't trust them and never will

Fighters from my father's ANG unit in Florida used to routinely intercept and shadow Bear bombers off the coast of Florida.

Not long after the air show where I shot the pictures, I was on my way to work along I -235 in suburban Oklahoma City. The hospital where I worked at the time was in Midwest City, OK, home of Tinker Air Force Base. I was passing near the flight path of Tinker when I saw a plane approaching that had a familiar yet unfamiliar profile. Three-engined passenger jet, but obviously not a Boeing 727. As it got closer, I recognized it: a Tupolev TU-154, basically the Russian equivalent of the 727, on final approach to Tinker. Another thing that I never thought that I would see in my lifetime, a Russian military plane landing at a US Air Force base.

[Redondo]

On 4/13/2020 at 4:56 PM, Tank said:

i haven't watched the wire.

hi @Lou

@Tank you are missing out. Good show.

[Tank]

13 hours ago, Redondo said:

@Tank you are missing out. Good show.

let me get through ozark first.

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 4/13/2020 at 6:25 PM, Vegas Halo Fan said:

As a child of the Cuban Missile Crisis, living in Florida with a father in the military, I never believed that in my lifetime, I would walk up to and touch a Russian military aircraft. I have a closeup photo of the wingtip of one of the SU-27s with the Russian inscription on it.

The ironic thing about this particular air show is that Tom Jones, one of the organizers, was killed in a crash the day after I shot these photos. I watched him perform. The aircraft that he used to perform aerobatics was a Russian-built Sukhoi 26. The Russian delegation assisted in the investigation after the crash. As a tribute to Jones, on the day that he died every plane on the ground, from the AN-225 to World War II-era warbirds, took off and flew past the field in formation.

Director of Air Show Dies in Plane Crash

Thats a pretty cool tribute.

I was at El Toro in 93 when a plane crashed... maybe 30 minutes after the show went on.... i always felt that was kind of shitty.

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 4/13/2020 at 9:02 PM, arch stanton said:

From August 1990 to August 1991 I was on remote assignment in King Salmon, Alaska. For the most part "fishin' was the mission" but this was also the time of Desert Storm and the Russians liked to test us. They'd send a Bear bomber up to cruise the coast and we'd scramble our jets to make sure they didn't cross the line. After a year of doing this and a lifetime of knowing they were our enemy I was a bit surprised to land at Anchorage and find two SU-27 on the ramp. This was the beginning of the end of the Cold War but 30 years later I still don't trust them and never will

I think thats fair when we talk about the russian government. And to be fair, IMO, they have reasons to feel the same towards us. But I think the average joe russian private could care less about us, and would rather drink some smirnoff and listen to 80s rock with us than fight.