I’d imagine that if China reverse engineered a product that upset a large corporation like Boeing,Lockheed or Sikorsky they may find their bid for WTO membership torpedoed by stiff US opposition.

I believe there was a Su-27/P-3 mid air crash years ago- correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it was a Norwegian plane, or at least happened somewhere near Norway.

Yeah I remember reading something about that during the 2000 Chinese crisis . The incident involved a US Navy P-3 off the northern coast of Norway,which was intercepted by a pair of SU-27’s that took off from somewhere on the Kola penninsula. The Sukhoi’s pulled up on either wing of the P-3 and turned it gently away from Soviet airspace,but as they parted company,and in a similar fashion to the the Chinese J-8 pilot Wang Wei’s actions,instead of peeling off to the side,one of the Flanker pilots throttle slammed his aircraft to full afterburner,but pulled back on the stick to climb before he’d gained enough momentum to take him out of the P-3’s path,causing the P-3’s leading edge and outboard propeller to strike the the tail section of the Flanker. However,I think in this instance they both managed to limp back to a friendly airfield and put down safely.

Cheers.

The funniest one I can remember hearing of involved a small commuter aircraft that was carrying a treatment group for those who suffer from a fear of flying amongst it’s passenger’s. Apparently,after hearing from one of the crew that some of the aforemetioned group were uneasy with being on such a small aircraft,the captain goes onto the PA system to give the group a bit of sight seeing to take their minds off their nerves,or so the passenger’s think, he began the tour with

“Ladies and gentlemen,I understand some of you are a bit nervous about being on such a small aircraft,so to take your mind’s off it I’d like to show you some of the sights we’ll be overflying today.So to begin,if you’d look out over the right wing………….IT’LL TIP OVER!”

Apparently this set off panic attacks and the whole works,so I don’t imagine the guy keeping his job somehow, pretty funny though…..

As I recall we had this discussion on the old Flanker 2 website,with some clown claiming he’d seen a German Phantom come down here,a B-2 crew arrested there and so forth. Going from his (Rabid) claims,by the end of it all I think NATO’s offensive air arm must have suffered a 300% loss rate or there about’s,it wasn’t even funny when you think of the fragile mental state the guy must have been in at the time

Then we will have a chance to see a dogfight of Mig-23 vs Mirage F-1 or Rafale! Provided Ivory coast can manage to get them on air.

Then I should hope the MiG-23 pilot has his will signed and authenticated if it’s a French Navy Rafale he finds himself up against,he’d soon find himself on the recieving end of an actively gudied MICA Electro Magnetique!

A MiG-23 and a Mirage F1 might be a good match up,I’m not sure but I’d imagine the Frenchman would easily have the edge in terms or training and equipment again though.

1.American Airlines, bmi, Virgin Atlantic
2.Lufthansa (Plain and just…boring to look at)
3.Continental’s Peter Max scheme(Awful,look’s like it slammed like a lawndart into a paint shop at 500mph!)
4.Air Atlanta
5.Lufthansa
6.Air Canada/ British Airways

Well,I do hope it is the 1st of many,but I’ll have to find some way of making room,but for now I’m just gonna collect,say the top ten model’s that float my boat. I THINK I’m gonna collect as many different 777 model’s in as many varied colour schemes as I can,as I just love the look of that aircraft,I don’t know why…..