civil aerospace Civilian aviation/aerospace thread

[muck]

On a lighter note, aviators have a great sense of humour! Check out these nicknames for aircraft common amongst German pilots:

(NSFW)

• Airbus A320: "Heckenschere" (hedge trimmer)
• Airbus A330: "Lastensegler" (cargo glider)
• Airbus A350: "Waschbär" (raccoon – seen face on)
• Airbus A380: "Calmund" (a notorious soccer club boss)/ Euromöse ("Eurosnatch" – it looks odd from the outside but once you're in it's quite nice)
• Airbus A400M: "Weinbomber" (wine bomber – German paratroopers wear bordeaux-red berets)
• ATR 72: "Gurkenhobel" (cucumber slicer)
• Boeing B737: "Donnerschwein" (thundering pig)
• Boeing B747: Buddha
• Boeing B757: Dolly Buster (a 1980's adult movie star, tall and with two big… engines)
• Boeing B787: Seven-late-seven
• Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet: "Reisefön" (travel hair drier)/ "Angströhre" (tube of fears)/ "Zäpfchen" (suppository)/ "Düsendackel" (jet-powered dachshund)
• British Aerospace BAe 146: 'Der Englische Patient' ('The English Patient' – the unreliable aircraft struck many crews as a person that was mentally ill), "fliegender Zigarillo" (flying cigarillo)
• Dassault & Dornier AlphaJet: "Kampfstaubsauger" (armed vacuum cleaner)/ "Luftvespa" (flying vespa)
• De Havilland Canada Dash 8: "Tretboot" (paddleboat)/ "Heuwender" (hay tedder)/ "fliegender Turnschuh" (flying sneaker)
• Eurofighter Typhoon: "Plastikente" (rubber duckie)
• Fiat G.91: "Gina" (Lollobrigida)
• Fokker 100: "Fliegender Holländer" (Flying Dutchman)
• Fouga Magister: "Zwiebackfräse" (rusk grinder – due to the whistling noise it produced)
• Lockheed F-104: "Witwenmacher" (widow maker)/ "Erdnagel" (tent peg)
• McDonnel F-4: "Luftverteidigungsdiesel" (air defence diesel)/ "Eisenschwein" (iron pig)
• McDonnell Douglas MD-11: "Dreilochstute" (three-hole mare – "Dreilochstute" is slang for a woman who'll let you penetrate her every orifice)
• Mikoyan MiG-29: "Rote Diva" (red drama queen)/ Stinker
• Panavia Tornado: "Klappdrachen" (folding drake)
• Tupolew Tu-154: "Lötkolben" (soldering bolt – which the crews often needed)
• VFW-Fokker 614: "Conterganflieger" (Thalidomide plane)

Anyone know funny nicknames from their neck of the woods?

 

[Fish&Chips]

Here are some German helicopter nicknames:

• Bell UH-1: "Teppichklopfer" (rug beater), cf. the distinctive "whop, whop, whop" sound
• Sikorsky CH-53G: "Flüsternder Riese", whispering giant

 

[1645556315]

Russian:

Mi-24: Крокодил (Crocodile)
Su-25: Грач (Rook)
Su-34: Утёнок (Duckling)
Mig-21: Балалайка (Balalaika, some musical instrument)
An-72: Чебурашка (Cheburashka, cartoon character with distinctive big ears)
Тг-134: Свисток (Whistle)

 

[muck]

@AND

Su-25: Грач (Rook)

Rook – the bird or the chess piece? Either option would seem suitable!

 

[snowmanca]

...

• Airbus A320: "Heckenschere" (hedge trimmer)

...

Sounds like a reference to a relatively well known accident when demonstrating the first A320 passenger flight, which soon after a planned very low pass in front of a crowd of an air show, the maneuver to clime before it hit trees was prevented by the flight computer to avoid that angle stalling the plane. So in front of thousands of people and caught on film by media present, it plowed into a forest.

 

[1645556315]

Rook – the bird or the chess piece? Either option would seem suitable!

Bird, because he is small, flies in flocks, flies low over the fields.

 

[muck]

Sounds like a reference to a relatively well known accident when demonstrating the first A320 passenger flight, which soon after a planned very low pass in front of a crowd of an air show, the maneuver to clime before it hit trees was prevented by the flight computer to avoid that angle stalling the plane. So in front of thousands of people and caught on film by media present, it plowed into a forest.

Yep. Also a nice demonstration of the rule "a negative first impression is a sturdy creature". The A320 family now comfortably sits at 0.09 fatal accidents per million flights; only the B737 NG's are slightly safer at 0.07. Statistically speaking, you're more likely to win the lottery than die on either model…

 

[muck]

Today Volga-Dnepr airlines An-124 expirienced engine failure and emergency landed few minutes after take off.

It seems as though the pilots pulled off an incredible feat of airmanship. Apparently, the catastrophic engine failure not only damaged the An-124’s hydraulics but also severed all electronics. The crew had no radioes, no instruments, in particular no indication of speed, height and their position relative to the ground – which was all to near given the fully-loaded aircraft's inability to produce enough lift on three engines.

Russian media have been quoting estimates by Anatoly Knyshov – a leading Russian test pilot familiar with the type – that the crew had all of between 2 to 3 minutes to avert inevitable disaster. Emphasising that the pilots had not only saved the crew's lives, but also any potential victims on the ground and even their valuable cargo, Knyshov was quoted as saying: "These pilots are heroes, let them go home and enjoy a nice glass." (via FlugRevue)

 

[Junglejim]

It seems as though the pilots pulled off an incredible feat of airmanship. Apparently, the catastrophic engine failure not only damaged the An-124’s hydraulics but also severed all electronics. The crew had no radioes, no instruments, in particular no indication of speed, height and their position relative to the ground – which was all to near given the fully-loaded aircraft's inability to produce enough lift on three engines.

Russian media have been quoting estimates by Anatoly Knyshov – a leading Russian test pilot familiar with the type – that the crew had all of between 2 to 3 minutes to avert inevitable disaster. Emphasising that the pilots had not only saved the crew's lives, but also any potential victims on the ground and even their valuable cargo, Knyshov was quoted as saying: "These pilots are heroes, let them go home and enjoy a nice glass." (via FlugRevue)

Not to rain on their parade as saving an aircraft after an engine failure, hydraulic failure and electronics failure on that type of aircraft... puts these pilots in God mode. However they would still have an airspeed indicator, altimeter and a compass as those do not need electricity to function

 

[muck]

Good point. I just checked the Russian primary source with Google Translator but can't quite make sense of it. Maybe they had trouble seeing the instruments or something?

 

[BravoZulu]

This photo shows test pilot Keith Hartley from the British Aerospace company flying a pre-production Panavia Tornado with the top down... or rather... completely off. In 1988, Hartley conducted the risky test, piloting the Tornado, number XZ630, at 500 knots without a canopy in order to ensure the safety and reliability of emergency escape procedures...

“In 1988, our test pilot Keith Hartley flew at 500 knots in a Tornado aircraft with the canopy off, testing the emergency escape procedures of the jet; just one example of the lengths we go to test the safety of the planes we build for the RAF.” BAE Systems

 

[muck]

Imagine how noisy it must be inside.

 

[Picanha]

A321LR

Record transatlantic flight Air Transat TSC-690 flew a distance of 7.651km (4.736 miles) from Montreal to Athens nonstop in 8 hours and 20 minutes due strong tail-winds instead of a scheduled flight time of 9 hours and five minutes.

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[colin traveller]

Pilot accused of lying about experience to land British Airways job

A pilot has been accused of lying about his flight experience and qualifications to land a job with British Airways.

www.standard.co.uk

 

[nobitadaidamvn]

Russian:

Mi-24: Крокодил (Crocodile)
Su-25: Грач (Rook)
Su-34: Утёнок (Duckling)
Mig-21: Балалайка (Balalaika, some musical instrument)
An-72: Чебурашка (Cheburashka, cartoon character with distinctive big ears)
Тг-134: Свисток (Whistle)

mig 21 in Vietnam mig nick name are en bac - silver swift
while b52 are call flying fortress
su22 are the magic wing
funny thing is there no nick name for mig 17

 

[colin traveller]

 

[muck]

Not to rain on their parade as saving an aircraft after an engine failure, hydraulic failure and electronics failure on that type of aircraft... puts these pilots in God mode. However they would still have an airspeed indicator, altimeter and a compass as those do not need electricity to function

Russian media now say the crew had no way of ascertaining the aircraft's speed, whatever that means. Perhaps conflicting readings?

Anyway, they brought that big bird down without working flaps, spoilers, brakes and thrust reversers. Simply amazing.

 

[Junglejim]

Russian media now say the crew had no way of ascertaining the aircraft's speed, whatever that means. Perhaps conflicting readings?

Anyway, they brought that big bird down without working flaps, spoilers, brakes and thrust reversers. Simply amazing.

I am not sure how they would have no airspeed indication, but if they say so then it must have damaged the probes outside. As for the flaps, spoilers, brakes and thrust reversers, that would indicate a serious hydraulic failure. Usually an aircraft has multiple hydraulic systems for redundancy to ensure that the pilot will have control. Example in Dash 8 400

Hydraulic #1 powered by Engine 1:
- Flaps
- Inboard Spoilers
- Brakes/anti skid
- Elevators
- Rudder

Hydraulic #2 powered by Engine 2:
- Landing Gear
- Nose wheel steering
- Outboard Spoilers
- Emergency Brakes
- Elevators
- Rudder

Hydraulic #3, is back up and powers elevators

Hydraulic #4 is for the alternate landing gear extension system.

Mind you the #1 and #2 has Power transfer Units, incase one goes down the other can serve as back up.

So to lose those thing in that Russian plane was catastrophic, though I am not familiar with Russian aircraft hydraulics. Sorry, been drinking so the reply was long

 

[digrar]

Like anyone needed more incentive to not fly Ryan Air?

 

[Junglejim]

Like anyone needed more incentive to not fly Ryan Air?

They are hella cheap compared to say trains in Europe, the only reason why I skipped on using those budget airlines last years was the fact that I would rather enjoy the scenery and more relaxed pace of a train than the stress of an airport. Though if you were just commuting then Ryan Air would win.... your chances of dying in a Ryan Air flight is very low, though after a 40 minute flight you might just off yourself.

Took a flight in one of the budget airlines here and tried to see what they offer... I was surprised they didnt charge me for the Air Conditioning or the lavatory. If you tallied it up compared to the full service airline I worked for, the air fare would just be the same or the budget airline would cost more.

A trick used by some budget airlines to make you buy that coffee/ soup/ etc... they set the cabin tempt to freezing.