US Navy C-37A 375 Gulfstream GV

Callsign was "Ghost Three-Niner." Very Cool.

It would be even more cool if it could drop torpedoes and land on a carrier.

Russia Chelyabinsk Meteor Photographed From Airplane

A passenger aboard a Cathay Pacific 777 photographed the Chelyabinsk metor from 38,000 feet.

Cathay CX270 was enroute from AMS-HKG.

This photograph and all licensing was obtained by Airplane Life in an agreement with the original photographer who has chosen to remain anonymous.

VP-BJI BD-700-1A10 Global Express XRS (GLEX)

FLIGHT movie technical accuracy & errors - Denzel Washington

OK, we get it. It's a movie.

But certain things about this bother us.

Ignore the fact that it's an MD-80; well kind of. With winglets. And hydraulic flight controls. And fuel dump capability. And the cockpit is wrong.

But since they call it a JR-88, we'll let all that slide. Maybe JR stands for Junkers-Ryan.

Our rental on iTunes has expired, so we have no way of double-checking these things. But here is what we noticed in one showing :

Captain doing the walk around? No. In the rain? Even more No.

Captain orders coffee during boarding when coffee is stowed. And he gets it right away.

Crew enters cockpit repeatedly when the door would be locked.

Accelerating to max speed to get through a storm is not a good idea.

They seemed to have pitch control (sometimes), even though the jackscrew was busted.

Captain talks way too much to ATC. During an emergency, it's :

1) Aviate
2) Navigate
3) Communicate

.. in that order. They talked so much on the radio I expected someone to order a pizza.

Extending flaps and gear at max speed would probably shred 'em all off.

Crew puts one engine to "full power" after pulling the fire handle which would have closed the fuel valves.

And just one more thing : Tex Johnson might disagree, but commercial planes can't fly upside down.

Other than those relatively minor details, the movie is "OK." We give it 3.60482 stars.

The official trailer :

             

Name That Airport

'Hoping one of our sharp readers will know this one !

We took the picture, but don't remember ...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UPDATE 2/9/13 :

We figured it out.

No, we didn't suddenly remember.

We got it by systematically eliminating qualifying airports.

Hint: Just as you thought, the ICAO airport code begins with, "K."

Hint: There is a topographical peculiarity to this airport that is disguised by the angle of the photo creating an optical illusion.

Good Luck.

UPDATE 2/10/13

Congratulations to AA278 who was first to identify this airport !

You can find out where is is by clicking : HERE

Sunset 727's N70755 and N765AT

We like 727's.

These two were blasting off from Las Vegas.

Four Corners Quadripoint

So now they say that the real position is some 1,807 feet to the East.

But the guys who put the marker there in 1875 were trying real hard to get it right.

And since everyone already signed the papers agreeing that this is the place, then this is the place.

Surreal Cereal

We love the Hustler.

So we're a little surprised that this is it's first appearance on Airplane Life.

               

N384HA Hawaiian Airlines Hōkūpa′a Airbus A330-243 LAX

Our Long Beach Bureau Chief caught Hōkūpa′a landing at Mines Field.

Hawaiian Air has previously used the birds of Hawaii for names of their planes. But with the introduction of the controversial Airbus, they switched to naming those planes after constellations.

Constellations that were used by early Polynesian navigators.

Hōkūpa′a means : "North Star," or "Polaris."

  

Hawker 900XP N482MG

A tip for the aspiring rookie aviation photographers visiting our site for college credit.

This is a shot you don't want.

Sometimes you can use this angle to grab an N- number...

But usually, if one of these is your best picture it means that you screwed up and missed the better shots just before it.

(Like we did)

In this case, it's a junk plane anyway so who cares  ....

$10,000 Bill

You'll recognize Salmon P. Chase on the Ten Thousand.

He was a U.S. Senator who served as Treasury Secretary under President Lincoln.

They had 100 of these at the Horseshoe in Las Vegas - with sequential numbers.

Mark Spitz 1972 LAX

Here's Mark Spitz retuning home from the 1972 Summer Olympics in München where he won 7 Gold Medals, while setting new world records in each event.

And he happens to be wearing a gold shirt.

Kodak Instamatic X-15 with flashcube.

The "Airplane Life" Vest Contest !!! Coming in February !!!

STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS OF OUR OUR BIGGEST GIVEAWAY YET !!!

       

Tuna Pizza

This pizza features Ahi tuna, olives, anchovy aïoli, and jalapeño.

It was created by "Iron Chef" Masaharu Morimoto.

Boeing 2707-300 SST

I happened to be looking at some Concorde pictures today, while envisioning a future post. But that got me thinking about the US SST. I'm still mad at Senator Proxmire (D-Wisconsin) for his role in shutting down that project back in 1971. It had over 100 orders. More than the Concorde.

  

De Havilland DHC-8-103

Bombardier has introduced new weight saving techniques for the Dash 8 aimed at reducing the fuel consumption rate. N809WP shown before and after retrofit.

James Bond 007 "Casino Royale" airplane - Skyfleet X570 prototype

This modified 747-236B appeared in the Bond movie "Casino Royale."

We extend a special thanks to our colleague n94504/jetphotos.net for allowing Airplane Life to display these images :

After 007, the same jet was in a VW commercial :

Airport Warning Placard

Now let's just think about this for a moment ...

Terror in the Sky

The turbulence we had on descent into Dallas on this particular Southwest flight from Memphis back in 1991 was radical.

Photo depicts my unwitting seatmate ...

I hoped this picture might be recovered amidst the twisted shards of burning wreckage because we thought it was the last photo we'd ever take.

    

Passenger Warning Placard

Now let's just think about this for a moment ...

UPS MD-11F N291UP

I wonder why these guys changed their radio callsign from, "UPSCO" to "U-P-S."

We liked it better the other way.

Send a letter to your Congressman.

  

Rolls Trent 1000, GEnx, P&W JT8D

OK, we don't know which motors these 787 jets over at at Kilo North are fitted with.

Either way, what we don't understand is how those things are supposed to make any thrust !

It looks like they would just add drag ...

Same goes for this 747 with the rain gear on. It says 14,000 lbs of thrust, so we're assuming that must be a Pratt & Whitney JT8D on there.

Playboy Jet N950PB DC9-32 the Big Bunny

'Don't talk about it much, but yes .. we were there.... secrecy vow still applies  ...

                   

Vasútállomás Budapest

Nem emlékszem, hová megyek.

Happy New Year from Airplane Life !

Happy 2013 everybody !

We wish all of our readers the best of everything in 2013 !

Please enjoy Airplane Life responsibly  ...

Hawaiian Airlines DC-10 overshoot

We thought a motorboat audio soundtrack would be an appropriate way to wrap up our posts for the year 2012.

Here's an excerpt from the official investigatory transcipts of the cockpit tape:

Pilot 1 : "Let's evacuate this thing"

Pilot 2 : "Oh (...)"

        

Lufthansa 747-8i D-ABYD landing LAX

More LBBC pics ... I dig those "sawtooth" motors ...

F-100 Super Sabre

It just wouldn't feel like the holidays without something from the Century Series.

Likely these would soon be redesignated QF-100's ... they were being converted to target drones at GYR.

And probable that both are at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico now, having fallen victim to some Tomcats.

  

Merry Christmas From Airplane Life !!

On Christmas 2012, we wish a Merry Christmas to our readers around the world. 

Korean A-380 HL7614 Takeoff LAX

Man, we feel kinda stupid today for believing that apocolypse crap yesterday.

Oh well, I guess it's not the end of the world ...

Now where were we. Another LBBC shot from LAX.

They say those big Airbusses are, "runway hogs." This shot was taken down along the beach, and she's still cycling gear.

  

Apocalypse 12/21/12

***Airplane Life Classics***

The sun is now setting on Planet Earth's short era of Human civilization.

Soon we will all be vaporized into the same cosmic dust from whence we came.

I sit before this old computer one last time, and wonder how my grandfather must have felt when he made the very first Airplane Life post on the internet back in 1964. 

Regrets? Sure.

I regret not drinking those last few bottles of Scotch. We just dumped them down the toilet rather than allow them to be enjoyed by the Martians, Giant Nuclear Cockroaches, or whomever it is that inherits this place.

And so it goes ... See you in oblivia ~

China Eastern A340-600 B-6053 LAX Skyteam

We'll be posting some new LAX images by our Long Beach Bureau Chief  in the coming days.

He's now using a Nikon D7000 ...

C-5 Galaxy Steerable Mains

The rear mains of the Galaxy are steerable. Makes parallel parking easier.

You can see them skewed in these dynamic photos.

 

Tillamook Air Museum, Oregon

Pictures from the Tillamook Air Museum.

There must be more somewhere, but we're not quite sure where they are ...

We'll find them someday ...

~ ~ ~ 

The Tillamook Air Museum is not far from the Tillamook Cheese Factory Tour.

We reccomend that as a good tour to go on.

Unfortunately, we can't find any of the pictures that we took at the cheese factory ...

We'll find them someday ...

Hey, that's a nice '93 Thunderbird. We used to have one. 'Never shoulda sold it ... 

Smoking Section on the Plane

From the Golden Age of Aviation ...

Or maybe this was the Marlboro Red era.

Hard to tell  ...

'Kinda doesn't look like a Stratocruiser ...