"New" Chinese attack helicopter not so new

New in that the Chinese are now making a 30 year old helicopter in-country. The Blaze is reporting it as it is a brand new heli but it is obviously a weaponized Eurocopter Dauphin (commonly seen used in the US by the Coast Guard).
The Chinese actually have a true indigenous attack heli called the Z-10
which looks a bit like a cross between an Apache and Mi-28.

Not so secret Russian plane becomes un-secret

The F-22's brother from another mother will make its public debut at a Moscow airshow this week. Avweb is reporting that the Russian T-50 Pak-FA will wow the crowds, perhaps show-off the amazing 1200 foot takeoff distance, and hopefully not test its ejections seats.

UPDATE: Looks like there are still some significant bugs to work out on it.

Woman uses banner plane to make statement to wrong people.

A woman upset at the S&P downgrading of the U.S. credit rating decided she wanted to send a message to the powers at be. Apparently her first choice was to fly her message over Washington D.C., but of course you can't fly anything over D.C. (unless the president is in it). So, her second choice was to fly the banner to Wall Street in NY which was also where S&P offices are located. Great for making the news, but kind of like blaming your mailman for telling you your mailbox is broken. I'm thinking the banner should have been also in Chinese.

F-104 vs. NCC 1701

This has to be one of the most beautiful CGI renderings ever done. Douglas E. Graves fired up Lightwave to re-create a famous scene from the original Star Trek. The big E goes back in time to the 1960's and is chased down by a F-104 who's pilot eventually gets taken aboard. The composition, lighting, and detail are beyond words.

Rutan builds "flying car", Star Wars fans rejoice.

The only thing car-like about Scaled Composites' flying car is that it has four wheels. The rest, not so much.

Grandma, Noooo!

See Myrtle. See Myrtle fly her J3 Cub. See Myrtle fly her J3 Cub over the President's birthday party. See Myrtle get greeted by F-16s and have a chat with the FAA. See Myrtle pay more attention to NOTAMs in the future.

I have to agree, it is a nice looking Cub.

Chinook Down in Afghanistan

Woke up to some bad news this morning in the form of hearing what apparently was a CH-47 "Chinook" shot down in Afghanistan by a RPG. It seems all crew were lost including many members of a Navy SEAL team. Chinooks have been in service since Vietnam and have a very good safety record.

I recall talking to a CH-47 pilot once and was amused when he told me that just before takeoff, you really had to stand on the wheel brakes otherwise the helicopter would try to scoot down the runway like an airplane.

Red Tails trailer will have you running with your tail between your legs.

Good news is George Lucas's movie about the Tuskegee Airmen is nearly completed and has a flashy new trailer. Bad new is that George Lucas has nearly completed a movie about the Tuskegee Airman. Regardless, it sure looks purdy and more importantly, accurate. I'll admit, I almost fainted at the 2:00 min. mark. We Fight!

Lucky bastage talks of flying rare A6M3 Zero

It’s from an island named after Rocky, so it has to be good! AvWeb brings us a great video of a modern Zero pilot discussing what it is like to fly a rare and amazing bird. I hate him. Some great stuff about the history and handling characteristics of the plane. I hate him. I love the radios wedged in between the machine guns. Did I mention I hate him? Enjoy.