AviationCV goodies

Civil supersonic aviation practically does not exist. With almost all planes, from the few there were, gone, it’s hard to find one and it’s even harder to get into one. This Tu-144 from Ulyanovsk, Russia, has been luckily restored to the flying condition. So here’s a chance to see how it looked from the inside. Have a look.

Full album here: http://www.aviationcv.com/pilot-forum/Thread-Welcome-Aboard-A-Supersonic-Aviation-Relic-Tu-144

[ATTACH=CONFIG]229976[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]229977[/ATTACH]

The result of a 30 minute flight around the Russian capital – Moscow. The journey was accomplished with the help of Mi-26, Mi-38-2, Mi-28N. Have a look and share.

Full album here: http://www.aviationcv.com/pilot-forum/Thread-Half-An-Hour-Trip-Around-Moscow

[ATTACH=CONFIG]229904[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]229905[/ATTACH]

Here are some of the photos from the Flying Legends show which happened in England in 2012, but you can be sure most if not all of the planes are still flying today. If you have any questions please ask.

Full album here: http://www.aviationcv.com/pilot-forum/Thread-Aviation-Legends-Still-Flying-In-England

[ATTACH=CONFIG]229870[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]229871[/ATTACH]

Châteaudun air base formed in 1951 is the largest aircraft storage centre in Europe. It is essentially a Gallic version of AMARG (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group), but unlike Davis Monthan AFB in the dry Arizona desert heat, the Armée de l’air (AdA) has to store its reserve fleet of aircraft inside climate controlled hangars awaiting a time when they are either returned to service or otherwise disposed of from the inventory.

Full gallery here: http://www.aviationcv.com/pilot-forum/Thread-Largest-storage-facility-in-Europe-Ch%C3%A2teaudun

[ATTACH=CONFIG]229796[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]229797[/ATTACH]

DHL wanted a smaller aircraft for routes that could not support larger planes like the 757 or 767, so they decided to convert a BN737 into a cargo plane for item delivery. The whole process started in 13th of November 2013 and ended on the 9th April 2014. Take a look how it looks like.

Full album is here: Boeing 737 conversion to a freighter

Have a look a these unfortunate planes just rotting somewhere in Ohio.

Full album is here: Abandoned plane graveyard in Ohio

Here is some unique engineering, turning a 307 into a boat. When it was introduced it is the first high-altitude commercial and first four-engine airliner in scheduled domestic service. And it already had 500 flight hours. Unfortunately when hurricane damaged it in 1964 it was never flown again. In 1974, wing and the tail were taken off and the fuselage was made into a yacht. The “plane-boat” features twin V-8 inboards incorporating the original aircraft cockpit controls that were used to fly the plane, propelling the vessel over 20 mph The plane boat can be found, seen and transported by in Miami.

Full album is here: Plane Boat

To drill for oil in the Arctic, Russian oil companies host a fleet of Arctic aviation and ships. The larger companies have hired atomic ice breakers to deliver their teams deep into the Arctic. Those ice breakers often carry helicopters on board. They are used for research and scouting, for human transportation and the delivery of shipments to the drilling operations.

Full album is here: Polar Helicopters Based on Atomic Ice Breakers

The collapse of Russia’s arms industry in the 1990s really hurt the SU-34′s development, but it has recovered. A development journey that began with the aircraft’s maiden flight in 1990, as the T10V/SU-27IB, ended in 2010 with deliveries and fielding under a 5-year production contract, followed by a 2012 full rate production order.
RIA Novosti put the plane’s mission simply: “The Su-34 is meant to deliver a sufficiently large ordnance load to a predetermined area, hit the target accurately and take evasive action against pursuing enemy planes.” Other reports have gone further, stating that the plane is also meant to be able to handle enemy fighters in aerial combat. Given its base platform characteristics, it would likely match up well in the air against many of America’s “teen series” aircraft.

Full album is here: Production Of Newly Adopted Su-34 Bombers

When the first ever copy of Tu-144 supersonic airliner was conceived they didn’t build it all together in one factory area. They built the fuselage in one place, inside Moscow city and then decided to move it to Zhukovski city where it should be supplemented with all other parts and systems. To move such thing out of the Moscow research center thru the city streets they had to build specially built trolleys that could turn the streets, as back in 1968 they didn’t have ready made means of transportation for this task. These are a few photos of this event.

Full album is here: First Tu-144 Body Transported Thru Moscow

One guy visited the Berlin Air Show 2014 in Germany last Saturday and noticed that some of the NATO countries are still equipped with Soviet planes and helicopters. He took a few photos to illustrate his story.

Full album is here: NATO Armies Still Use Soviet War Machines

Bruce Campbell is an inventive engineer who bought a retired Boeing 727 aircraft fuselage and upcycled it into an unusual and innovative home. The huge 3-engine commercial airliner is propped up on concrete pillars in a suburban wooded area outside of Portland, Oregon, and has its own driveway.
The aircraft features a makeshift shower, but he is still working to install a working lavatory and to restore some of the plane’s original interior elements, like seating and lights. Campbell lives in this plane 6 months every year, and spends the other part of the year in Japan, where he is also looking to buy and similarly re-use a retired Boeing 747 fuselage. The 10 acres where he’s building his Oregon home cost $23,000 when he bought them in his 20s, and the plane set him back $220,000.

Full album is here: Man Lives In A Boeing 727 In The Middle Of The Woods

As the author of the photos writes, this airfield was built in 1955. Its main purpose was to allow student-pilots to learn in the real life fighter jets. In 2009, all of the employees were sent to other airbases, even the guards so no guards were left on site and the place became a target for all sorts of visitors, including the ones who were just after scrap. We can still see what is left inside, thanks to the author.

Full album is here: Recently Abandoned Air Force Airfield Near Kamyshed

Sergei has visited an airbase in Lipetsk and taken photos of Russian jets preparing for fighting in “Air darts” drills. This time those are Su-25 and Su-24 attack bombers.

Full album is here: Lipetsk Airbase and Su-25 and Su-24 Planes

If helicopter guns can shoot all their ammo stock in just a few seconds, loading the ammo into them might take much more time. Here Dmitry Chuchkin has visited the airfield “Baltimor” to see how the Mi-28 and Ka-52 Russian copters are prepared before going to the drill. The story is inside. Don’t forget to click on the photos you like – they expand to widescreen ones.

Full album is here: Loading Ammo Into Helicopter

This is one of the sixteen ever built (as Wikipedia says). Fifteen of those had production numbers from 77101 to 77115. This particular plane was 77110. It has got 247 flight hours of which 116 hours were of supersonic flight. Since June 1st of 1984 this plane didn’t get up into skies, so today so to say its anniversary of thirty years total non-flying. Let’s see a few photos of it from 1984 till our times, you can see the year of the photo imprinted on the bottom of the photos, which were prepared by Valeri Timoffev.

Full album is here: One of Russian Tu-144 Supersonic Passenger Jets

This procedure trainer has been recently developed for training of pilots of a Su-35 fighter. Su-35 is a heavily modified Su-27, it belonged to generation 4++. The aircraft is intended for taking superior positions in the air and destruction of ground and surface targets.

Full album is here: Procedure Trainer of Su-35 Fighter

1960s – 1980s, Kharkov, Soviet Union. Photos of young Soviet future army pilots going through their daily routines: sleeping, physical training, getting their hands on the newest plane equipment, taking first test flights and more.

Full album is here: Young Soviet Pilots in Training

If there is a fire around but no fire trucks, then an MI-26 helicopter can bring you a fire truck on demand. As the author of the photos says, it takes less than two minutes to load the truck into the helicopter. He says those MI-26′s can carry a payload of up to 20 tons and the crew of each is six people. Also, the engines of the beast are rated at 11,400 horse power. The fire truck goes inside fully loaded with water in its tank, so if there is a fire somewhere where no trucks are available, they can be delivered in minutes right to the place.

Full album is here: Shipping Loaded Fire Trucks Where Needed

Soviet Union always loved everything big. So the decision to make the biggest helicopter with the largest carrying capacity was quite natural for the country.

Development of the V-12 project began in 1963, the serial Mi-6 helicopter became the basis for the new huge vehicle. To simplify the task the engineers just decided to double propelling plants. What they got was a “heaven monster” with four gas-turbine engines, 6497 hp each!

Full album is here: Mi 12: Real giant of helicopter engineering