Unofficial Aviation Buff Thread
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AD1184
Celestial
Yes, the graphics in Microsoft Flight Simulator are quite convincing these days.
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Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Really? That's sim? I can't believe
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
This May Be The Best F-22 Raptor Demo Shot Ever
BYOLIVER PARKEN, TYLER ROGOWAY|PUBLISHED OCT 10, 2023 7:53 PM EDT
THE WAR ZONE
Rohan Patel
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OLIVER PARKENView Oliver Parken's Articles
TYLER ROGOWAYView Tyler Rogoway's Articles
Aviation_Intel
It's pretty hard to get a bad picture of the F-22 Raptor, but getting a really, really good one is far harder. These jets are photographed at air shows throughout the year by the best aviation photographers on the planet, and they are anything but camera-shy when it comes to their global real-world operations. Yet one photographer attending the Pacific Air Show in Huntington Beach, California, recently took perhaps the best air show image of an F-22 we have seen, or at least one of the best.
The photograph in question, which features at the top of the article, was captured by Rohan Patel (@photo_rohan) on September 29. In it, an F-22 flown by the Air Force's highly popular F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team releases infrared decoy flares during a post-stall maneuver under incredible backlighting, just as a business jet makes a cameo in the background.
Close-in perspective of the F-22 deploying flares. Rohan Patel
The deployment of expendable infrared countermeasures is a regular feature of military aerobatic routines around the globe, due to their eye-catching nature and ability to 'punctuate' certain dramatic maneuvers. But as we recently noted in relation to the Air Force's F-35A Demonstration Team, the normal use of them for American military airshow acts is something new. This is true with the F-22 demo team, as well, with the Raptor's post-stall capabilities — thanks to its thrust vectoring, enormous thrust, and huge control surfaces — really making the most out of them. You can see what we mean in the videos below:
The combination of the F-22's vertical position, coupled with the dramatic lighting that illuminates the flares and the fine details of their trailing smoke, gives the photo a true sense of atmosphere and spectacle. Patel, who is a space mission design engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, offered us a detailed explanation of how he was able to capture the scene, using a Sony A7R IV DSLR paired with a Sony FE 200-600 telephoto lens, on the Huntington Beach shoreline:
"When the Raptor began its performance, the clouds were just starting to break over the show-center, but it was still mostly cloudy out on the horizon and towards show-left. This posed a bit of a challenge as low passes and turns had significantly different lighting conditions than when the jet went vertical. I set up the camera for the optimal settings when the aircraft was in the shade. I only opted to change the shutter speed, and leverage the backlighting, to capture flare details when it went vertical. A very fast shutter speed allowed for both the Raptor and the flares to be frozen in the frame; the backlighting helped to emphasize the bits and pieces of the flare canisters and the trailing smoke."
Moreover, Patel was equally candid in his appreciation for the F-22 when speaking to us:
"The F-22 Raptor has always been one of my favorite military aircraft and this was the first time I’d seen it perform at an airshow. That being said, I was very excited to finally see the Raptor in its element, but at the same time, I was focused behind the camera. It can be difficult to appreciate the performance in real time as you’re concentrating on composition or changing settings to nail the shot. In the moment, I did see there was a second airplane in the frame, but I didn’t have time to review the shot. The performance kept going and I didn’t want to miss other opportunities. It was while reviewing the images after the fact, when I began to appreciate all the little details captured and how I was quite lucky with this frame. The show can be overwhelming to the senses and small intricacies often go unnoticed. Thankfully, still images freeze the moment indefinitely and help me relive it whenever I want. This is the main reason I am a photographer."
You can check out the F-22 Raptor Demo Team's full display at the Huntington Beach Air Show, where the image was taken, in the awesome video below:
The Air Force is ultimately looking to replace its F-22s with a new sixth-generation stealth combat jet in the long term, which is currently being developed under the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. The service's total number of Raptors is also set to decrease in the near term, too. As we've noted before, the Air Force's 2024 Fiscal Year budget request indicates it wants to divest 32 Block 20 F-22A Raptor stealth fighters (currently tasked with training and other non-combat duties). This would reduce the total size of the F-22 fleet from 183 to 151 aircraft.
However, despite these plans, the F-22 very much remains the 'centerpiece' aircraft within the USAF's inventory and will see continued upgrades in the coming years. They are also being used to trial NGAD capabilities, and will eventually receive technologies from said program.
Our thanks to Rohan Patel for allowing us to share his wonderful F-22 photography. Be sure to check out his Instagram page, which features a range of beautiful aviation images.
Contact the authors: tyler@thedrive.com, oliver@thewarzone.com
This May Be The Best F-22 Raptor Demo Shot Ever
The stunning image shows an F-22 spewing flares against incredible backlighting at the Pacific Air Show in Huntington Beach.BYOLIVER PARKEN, TYLER ROGOWAY|PUBLISHED OCT 10, 2023 7:53 PM EDT
THE WAR ZONE
Rohan Patel
SHARE
OLIVER PARKENView Oliver Parken's Articles
TYLER ROGOWAYView Tyler Rogoway's Articles
Aviation_Intel
It's pretty hard to get a bad picture of the F-22 Raptor, but getting a really, really good one is far harder. These jets are photographed at air shows throughout the year by the best aviation photographers on the planet, and they are anything but camera-shy when it comes to their global real-world operations. Yet one photographer attending the Pacific Air Show in Huntington Beach, California, recently took perhaps the best air show image of an F-22 we have seen, or at least one of the best.
The photograph in question, which features at the top of the article, was captured by Rohan Patel (@photo_rohan) on September 29. In it, an F-22 flown by the Air Force's highly popular F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team releases infrared decoy flares during a post-stall maneuver under incredible backlighting, just as a business jet makes a cameo in the background.
Close-in perspective of the F-22 deploying flares. Rohan Patel
The deployment of expendable infrared countermeasures is a regular feature of military aerobatic routines around the globe, due to their eye-catching nature and ability to 'punctuate' certain dramatic maneuvers. But as we recently noted in relation to the Air Force's F-35A Demonstration Team, the normal use of them for American military airshow acts is something new. This is true with the F-22 demo team, as well, with the Raptor's post-stall capabilities — thanks to its thrust vectoring, enormous thrust, and huge control surfaces — really making the most out of them. You can see what we mean in the videos below:
The combination of the F-22's vertical position, coupled with the dramatic lighting that illuminates the flares and the fine details of their trailing smoke, gives the photo a true sense of atmosphere and spectacle. Patel, who is a space mission design engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, offered us a detailed explanation of how he was able to capture the scene, using a Sony A7R IV DSLR paired with a Sony FE 200-600 telephoto lens, on the Huntington Beach shoreline:
"When the Raptor began its performance, the clouds were just starting to break over the show-center, but it was still mostly cloudy out on the horizon and towards show-left. This posed a bit of a challenge as low passes and turns had significantly different lighting conditions than when the jet went vertical. I set up the camera for the optimal settings when the aircraft was in the shade. I only opted to change the shutter speed, and leverage the backlighting, to capture flare details when it went vertical. A very fast shutter speed allowed for both the Raptor and the flares to be frozen in the frame; the backlighting helped to emphasize the bits and pieces of the flare canisters and the trailing smoke."
Moreover, Patel was equally candid in his appreciation for the F-22 when speaking to us:
"The F-22 Raptor has always been one of my favorite military aircraft and this was the first time I’d seen it perform at an airshow. That being said, I was very excited to finally see the Raptor in its element, but at the same time, I was focused behind the camera. It can be difficult to appreciate the performance in real time as you’re concentrating on composition or changing settings to nail the shot. In the moment, I did see there was a second airplane in the frame, but I didn’t have time to review the shot. The performance kept going and I didn’t want to miss other opportunities. It was while reviewing the images after the fact, when I began to appreciate all the little details captured and how I was quite lucky with this frame. The show can be overwhelming to the senses and small intricacies often go unnoticed. Thankfully, still images freeze the moment indefinitely and help me relive it whenever I want. This is the main reason I am a photographer."
You can check out the F-22 Raptor Demo Team's full display at the Huntington Beach Air Show, where the image was taken, in the awesome video below:
The Air Force is ultimately looking to replace its F-22s with a new sixth-generation stealth combat jet in the long term, which is currently being developed under the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. The service's total number of Raptors is also set to decrease in the near term, too. As we've noted before, the Air Force's 2024 Fiscal Year budget request indicates it wants to divest 32 Block 20 F-22A Raptor stealth fighters (currently tasked with training and other non-combat duties). This would reduce the total size of the F-22 fleet from 183 to 151 aircraft.
However, despite these plans, the F-22 very much remains the 'centerpiece' aircraft within the USAF's inventory and will see continued upgrades in the coming years. They are also being used to trial NGAD capabilities, and will eventually receive technologies from said program.
Our thanks to Rohan Patel for allowing us to share his wonderful F-22 photography. Be sure to check out his Instagram page, which features a range of beautiful aviation images.
Contact the authors: tyler@thedrive.com, oliver@thewarzone.com
Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Nice reconstruction of a true dogfight story from a Battle of Britain:
View: https://youtu.be/tyqCFBP1u_Q
View: https://youtu.be/tyqCFBP1u_Q
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Yesterday I saw a C17 at extremely low altitude making a sharp turn - a much sharper bank that you'd ever see a commercial aircraft. I want something better than an iPhone for this and my wife produced this out of a closet. Barely used but old. Any opinions?
Nikon COOLPIX L820 Digital Camera | Digital Camera from Nikon
Nikon COOLPIX L820 Digital Camera | Digital Camera from Nikon
AD1184
Celestial
The image quality is probably not as good as a recent iPhone, but it definitely has better optics to enable you to get closer to the subject to photograph things like planes or birds in flight and other wildlife, or UFOs.
Where it says on it that it has "30x zoom", that means the longest focal length (120mm) divided by the shortest focal length (4mm). That is not the magnifying power at the longest focal length. The actual magnification at the maximum zoom will really only be about 13.5 (it lists a 35mm format equivalent maximum focal length of 672mm in the specification, and each 50mm of focal length in 35mm format has a magnification of one). Your minimum magnification is 0.45, at the shortest focal length.
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Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Very relaxing video explaining how they maintained WW2 aircraft. Quite oily business ;-)
View: https://youtu.be/wkt2vtWzJcU
View: https://youtu.be/wkt2vtWzJcU
Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Just imagine how big F-14 had to be to carry 6 of these Phoenix missiles:
View: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=769243641910653&set=a.516531417181878
View: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=769243641910653&set=a.516531417181878
AD1184
Celestial
Depends entirely on the subject. If you wanted an external shot of the Empire State Building, not only is an iPhone adequate for this, but you would probably also want to stand further than fifty feet from it to take your picture.
A recent experience I had attempting to take photographs of dragon flies (about five inches in length) at a distance of around only 25 feet proves that a 600mm telephoto lens on my crop-sensor DSLR (giving a 35mm equivalent focal length of 960mm) showed that this equipment is barely adequate for this task.
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Actually, an interview with Kevin Knuth is what got me trying to photograph planes with my iphone. I guess be challenged his students with that. I’m familiar with Albany and the airport he’s near and see that’s a good idea. Target rich environment.
I know Knuth is involved in UAP studies and has published papers on the topic. Last I heard he got involved in what sounded like ‘fringe pseudoscience’ although admittedly I didn’t look into it much. Whales. Good Star Trek movie, not so sure about this
I know Knuth is involved in UAP studies and has published papers on the topic. Last I heard he got involved in what sounded like ‘fringe pseudoscience’ although admittedly I didn’t look into it much. Whales. Good Star Trek movie, not so sure about this
Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Knuth is doing the right stuff.
He's researching UFOs along the same lines as myself, using mainstream science to make sense out of physical effects around UFOs. We are both reaching the same or similar conclusions. I just don't have time for public speeches and making videos.
Basically, if one doesn't know physics, one should not research UFOs at all. Common sense will just leave one confused, because we are not yet on that same tech. level to understand UFO propulsion.
Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
This is going to be the greatest fun in the aviation business.
View: https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=1498529147654823
Only thing is I can't see where are the batteries. Thy must be very small, so flight time must be very short.
View: https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=1498529147654823
Only thing is I can't see where are the batteries. Thy must be very small, so flight time must be very short.
Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
WARNING - Click bait site.
But aeroplane is really weird and out of this world. Lots of great photos.
planehistoria.com
But aeroplane is really weird and out of this world. Lots of great photos.
Leduc 021 & 022: Aviation Genius at Work - PlaneHistoria
The Leduc 021 and 022 was the creation of an aviation genius. But if you were to compile a list of the best-known and most innovative and influential
planehistoria.com
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
I'm surprised nobody's commented on the pilot who flipped out and had to be restrained.
You know they're not telling us the complete truth. There was a man .... on the wing .......
Off-duty pilot Joseph Emerson accused of trying to crash Alaska Airlines flight
You know they're not telling us the complete truth. There was a man .... on the wing .......
Off-duty pilot Joseph Emerson accused of trying to crash Alaska Airlines flight
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
AD1184
Celestial
I thought that thing had been mothballed since the death of Paul Allen. I didn't realize his estate found a buyer for it.