These are purportedly photographs (click to enlarge) of the worlds largest helicopter, sighted on the tarmac in Dease Lake, B.C., a couple weeks ago. It was apparently being used to move mining equipment and cargo to Galore Creek, a new mine in that area. Called the Utsky and owned by a Russian company, the behemoth chopper couldn’t land at the unpaved air strip at Bob Quinn Lake (its rotor wash blows 12-inch rocks around like leaves!) so it had to land at Dease Lake until the landing site north of Bob Quinn could be inspected. It’s probably bigger than anything ever seen at the Dease Lake Airport, including the terminal building!

Stats (unverified):

• Russian crew of 6 (2 pilots, 1 navigator, 2 engineers (mechanics), 1 cargo person)

• Carries 75 troops

• Consumes 2000 litres of fuel per hour

• Range: 580 km

• Rental rate: $30,000/hr

• Length: 40 metres

• Rotor: 8 blades, each about 2 feet wide

Thanks Davey!

A great demonstration of low level “on the deck” flying from Michael D. The aircraft is a French Air Force Mirage F1. There’s some debate over where and why, but we can all agree it’s a fun ride! The music is “The Champions,” by Era, on the album “The Mass.” Works well with this video… Not available on iTunes.

YEE HAW! Have a great weekend, all!

Think helicopters can’t perform aerobatics? Think again! This BO-105 helicopter piloted by Charles Aaron performs maneuvers impossible by any other aircraft (except maybe the F-22.) Aaron is one of only four helicopter specific aerobatic pilots in the United States. Watch as this machine does backflips, half cuban 8s, rolls and pedal turns. Amazing!

Have a great weekend!

Today’s “fly-by” shows the new Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. The first production flight was December 15, 2006 and it is expected to be in full deployment by 2014. Its huge engine produces 43,000 pounds of thrust giving it supersonic capability, yet it’s capable of a short takeoff using only 400 feet of runway at a take off speed of just 80 m.p.h. If that’s not enough, it’s a hover craft capable of vertical takeoff and landing! All that and stealth, too!

You might also enjoy this video report on the progress of the F-35 program for the first quarter of 2007. These are exciting times in military aviation history!

Michael sent this nice collection of 40 aviation images ranging from commercial to military to aerobatic. I extracted them from the Powerpoint file so they could be posted here. Click on the image below to view them all (Click  any image to enlarge.)

This may be a stretch for a Patriot’s Journey post, but one of the things I love about America is our airshows. We have dozens of them annually that are within reasonable driving distance and many feature either the U.S. Navy Blue Angels or the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. There are no better airshows anywhere in the world! And whenever I see either of these precision flying teams perform, my heart beats faster and I’m reminded why I’m glad to be an American. You can’t watch the Thunderbirds and not agree!

That said, the second annual California Capital Airshow at Mather Field will run this weekend featuring the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, Red Bull Air Force, Jim Varden, Greg Poe and many more. Local Aerobatics Champion Julie Clark will also perform. It promises to be a great show… If you can get in.

Last year’s show, featuring the Blue Angels, suffered a bit of a logistical snafu - planners so grossly underestimated attendance that Highway 50 was gridlocked for hours, parking was impossible, and many folks, including us, finally gave up in frustration.

Supposedly, planners have “solved” the problems and promise smoother sailing this year. Their  “plan” seems centered around encouraging attendees to ride buses and  the RT. Says RT Driver, “Imagine upwards of 50,000 people trying to exit at Mather Field Rd. over the few hours leading up to the show… Now imagine that you and your family are not among them!!” Hmmm… We’ll see.

With that in mind, we won’t be attending the show this year. Instead, we’ll be spending part of Saturday afternoon at a friend’s home near Mather so, if I’m lucky, I might get off a few shots of aircraft flying over their house… I’ll wait and see how the traffic situation plays out this weekend before deciding whether or not to give it a try next year.

But tomorrow afternoon Dawn and I will be sitting comfortably around a pool, sipping mojitos, enjoying the company of good friends and watching the show action right over our heads. Life is good! God bless America!

The Bethpage Federal Credit Union New York Air Show returns to Jones Beach May 26-27 and this year features the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. If you’re in the area, it’s a show to see.

Meanwhile, here are 12 great images taken by Victoria Arocho during last year’s Memorial Day weekend show.

Davey sent this photo of a radial engine motorcycle built by JRL Cycles taken at the 2006 annual EAA Fly-in in Oskosh, WI.

For more images of this attention getting machine, visit Mark Forman’s site. I especially like the pyro background added in Photoshop on one of his images.

The world’s largest passenger airplane, the Airbus A380, made a near perfect landing at Los Angeles International Airport Monday. Hundreds of spectators lined up to see the plane,  arriving non-stop from France, land and roll out on the northernmost runway of LAX. A second A380 had landed just moments earlier at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport after its non-stop flight from Frankfurt, Germany. 

The landings were part of a PR move on the part of Airbus officials who so far haven’t landed any orders for the behemoth A380 from U.S. carriers.  Perhaps they wanted to prove that the monstrous eight-story double-decker, with a wingspan the length of a football field and described by some as a sperm whale with wings, could actually fly.

But LAX, who in recent years has lost market share to competing terminals,  is spending billions in upgrades, some of which are designed specifically for the A380. For example, the southern-most runway has been closed for an entire year while construction crews completely remove it and build a new one just 55 feet further south. The reason? The A380’s wingspan is 50 feet greater than the 747. It’s a big bet on an airplane that may not be as successful as the competing Boeing product. But if Los Angeles wants to remain competitive, they’ve got to spend money to make money.

As it stands now, there are no orders for the cargo version of the A380, and only 150 or so orders for the passenger version, none from U.S. airlines, presumably due to the A380’s history of wiring problems, weight issues (how very American), and long delays.

But the airplane is certainly impressive; in single class configuration it can carry as many as 853 passengers. Of course, I’m not aware of any airline interested in using that configuration. Launch customer Singapore Airlines settled on a three-class 485-seat configuration and Quantas a 500-seat arrangement. With those numbers, the advantage over the 747 is far lower than it initially appeared.

Still, it’s an impressive airplane, even more so because of the multi-national conglomeration which overcame the inefficiencies of administrative overhead and diverse geography to build the thing in the first place.

Airbus claims the A380 will yield a 35 per cent savings in per passenger operating costs while being faster and quieter than competing aircraft. It remains to be seen whether some of that will translate into lower air fares.

This week’s “flyby” comes via Dave… 

Forty six year old Swiss born Yves Rossy is a professional pilot and “polysportsman.” A former Swiss Army pilot, he flew the Mirage III and, later as a corporate pilot, Airbuses. Over the past seven years he’s not only created and developed wings which allow him to fly, but also built and personally tested them. Since last Autumn, with the aid of four model-engines attached under his wing, he’s been able to fly at over 200km/hr.

During flight, Yves’s body works much like that of a bird and, other than employing a fuel control, he does not ride his wings but truly flies them, controlling the wing using various light body movements. Though the most important part of this project has been achieved, there still remains some necessary fine-tuning to allow Yves to take-off, perform aerobatics, vertical climbs and participate at air shows…

This has to be the ultimate adreneline rush. Watch more of his amazing performances here.

From Dave with the caption, “Wow, this looks like fun!”