Blue Angels Jet Crashed

A Navy Blue Angels F-18A Hornet jet crashed during an air show Saturday, plunging into a neighborhood of small homes and trailers and killing the pilot, LCDR Kevin Davis.

Witnesses said the planes were flying in formation during the show at the Marine Corps Air Station at about 4 p.m. and one dropped below the trees and crashed, sending up clouds of smoke.

Raymond Voegeli, a plumber, was backing out of a driveway when the plane ripped through a grove of pine trees, dousing his truck in flames and debris. He said wreckage hit “plenty of houses and mobile homes.”

The Blue Angels were formed in 1946 to promote public interest in naval aviation. Flying F/A-18s painted navy blue, the team performs nationally at air shows, spring through fall, executing highly synchronized aerial acrobatics that bring the fighters within feet of each other at high speed.

Twenty-four Blue Angel pilots have died in accidents, including the one killed Saturday. In 1999, two were killed when an F/A-18 crashed into a stand of pine trees in Georgia as the team practiced for a show.

Profile of killed pilot: http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/off_06.htm

News sources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/21/AR2007042100834.html?hpid=sec-nations
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/21/blueangels.crash/index.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18248797/
http://www.wsav.com/midatlantic/sav/news.apx.-content-articles-SAV-2007-04-21-0003.html

Airplane Art Wallpapers

If you want some new cool aviation wallpapers for your computer desktop, I have a nice link for you.
Henry Lam did some very nice 3d aircraft art. You can find his gallery over there at cardatabase.net/modifiedairlinerphotos

Aircraft Art

He did:

  • ANGEL WINGS Boeing 747-400 & Boeing 777-300ER
  • Virgin Blue Airlines Boeing 777-300ER
  • Emirates Airlines Boeing 747-800
  • Amalie Jet Express CL-605
  • Singapore Airlines Boeing 787-800 & Bombardier Challenger 605
  • Air China Boeing 747-400
  • Air Canada Airbus A320 EP
  • Qantas Boeing 747-400
  • Continental Airlines Boeing 787-800
  • Cargolux Airlines Boeing 747-800 Cargo
  • Singapore Airlines Airbus A320EP
  • Emirates Airlines 787-10
  • Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-800
  • Icelandair Boeing 787-800
  • All Nippon Airways (ANA) Boeing 787-800
  • Westjet Boeing 787-800
  • Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus A380 (my personally favourite)
  • Qantas Boeing 787-300
  • Qantas Airbus A330-300
  • KaktusAir Boeing 787-300

… and some others

BMW presents Bond-style 787 cabin concept

Boeing commisioned BMW to come up with a 787 interior concept for an imaginary mid-thirty Russian tycoon. To be presented at this year’s Aircraft Interiors Show in Hamburg, the result is this very sleek, sophisticated and masculine design that even Roman Abramovich would love.

http://www.flightglobal.com/assets/getAsset.aspx?ItemID=17289

View all pictures: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/04/17/213328/pictures-bmw-presents-bond-style-787-cabin-concept-for-russian.html

Last Airbus A300 built

This is a sad day. In Toulouse the last Airbus A300 ever has been built. It’s F4-605R MSN 878 F-WWAT, a freighter for FedEx.
It was shown at Toulouse in primer with a sticker all along the fuselage reading “I’m the youngest of the eldest Airbus Family” with the flags of France, Germany, UK and Spain.

Last Airbus A300

The Airbus A300 was the first aircraft produced by Airbus. The first A300 went to service on March 15 1974. First customers were Lufthansa and Air France.

The last Airbus A300 F4-605R MSN 878 F-WWAT was delivered to FedEx on 12th of July 2007. Over the life of the programme a total of 821 A300/A310 have been ordered and to date there are more than 630 A300s and A310s in service with about 80 operators. Airbus’ long-term fleet support programme will continue to enable their operation until the very last aircraft is retired from service, with half of the current fleet expected still to be in service beyond 2025.

With more than 120 A300s and A310s aircraft currently in service, FedEx is a long-standing operator and the largest customer for these aircraft types.

The Airbus A300, launched in May 1969 and entering service with Air France in May 1974, was the very first wide-body, twin-engine aircraft ever brought to the market. It set totally new standards in the industry. The innovative two-man glass cockpit was implemented on the A310, launched in July 1978 and entering service in April 1983 with Lufthansa and Swissair.

The History: http://www.airbus.com/en/corporate/people/company_evolution/a300/index.html
Read the whole story about the Airbus A300: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A300

MV-22 Osprey going to Iraq

The Marine Corps announced Friday the V-22 Osprey will see action in Iraq in September when it will be deployed for seven months to help move troops and equipment. Gen. James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, made the announcement in the Pentagon, in what was called a historic move for the Marines.

The Osprey, manufactured jointly by Textron’s Bell Helicopter in Texas and Boeing in Ridley Township, will be the first tilt-rotor aircraft used by the military. The Osprey can take off and land like a helicopter, tilt its rotors and then fly like an airplane.

The aircraft has been much-maligned for operational test failures over the years, including two fatal flights in 2000, but has the capabilities to fly faster, farther and higher than the CH-46 Sea Knight it is replacing.

Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, or VMM-263, which consists of 171 officers and Marines, will operate 10 Ospreys — known as the MV-22 in the Marine Corps.

“The commander had decided this is where the greatest need for this capability is,” said Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas, spokesman for the Marines, explaining the decision to deploy the aircraft to Iraq.

Fazekas said he has not spoken with the pilots who will be flying the V-22 in Iraq, but he has “spoken to several people who have flown the V-22 and they have every confidence in the aircraft.”

The Marines also said VMM-263 could use the Osprey to conduct casualty evacuations or liaison work in a combat environment.

Boeing spokesman Jack Satterfield said the company had expected the aircraft to be used in Iraq because of its improved capabilities.

“I think everybody who’s worked on the program is probably quite proud of the fact that the aircraft is actually going into an operational theatre,” Satterfield said. “I think everybody who has worked on it..ill expect it to do extraordinarily well.”

This will be the very first use in combat for the MV-22 Osprey.

Source zwire.com