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Dannywilson posted:Big Safari would like a word with you... Yeah, that's my point. From the link you posted it looks like they're a fast track acquisition team, not actual design engineers doing FEA or CFD etc in uniform. If the AF wants design work they go to a contractor or the manufacturer, they don't do it in house (well, I've never heard of them doing it in house, which I'll admit isn't the same as not doing it)
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Jun 6, 2016 13:42
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The issue that's affecting the AWACS fleet manifest on the system/sub-system level. Parts availability and equipment failing in new and interesting ways. When I left the world in 2013, there was a rash of weird incidents ranging from silly to near-disaster. How things are today, I've got no idea.
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Jun 6, 2016 13:43
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Big Safari is the government's rapid acquisition program. Everything they do is 80% good enough, otherwise it would have to go through the normal contracting process. The majority of poo poo they give us is awesome, right up until it doesn't work. For example, an FMS that only allows us to use 80% of it's capabilities, or a sweet flight director that the autopilot doesn't talk to, so the autopilot is one level from worthless. Or huge digital displays that don't give you any options, but man they look sweet. That's Big Safari. It's like one giant tease.
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Jun 6, 2016 14:02
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Captain Postal posted:The latter. Operators like Airlines and Air Forces have engineers that track paperwork and schedule/certify maintenance, not design engineers. Those work at the manufacturers. Anything more complex than a cup holder would go back to the manufacturer When two E-3s were having electrical problems, Boeing's solution was to have remove some of the laptops the crew was using to compensate for the inadequate mission computer. Because when you're powering a 1MW radar, having 5-6 laptops plugged in is a problem. That only manifests on two aircraft. holocaust bloopers posted:The issue that's affecting the AWACS fleet manifest on the system/sub-system level. Parts availability and equipment failing in new and interesting ways. When I left the world in 2013, there was a rash of weird incidents ranging from silly to near-disaster. How things are today, I've got no idea. Not better. I've still got a bunch of friends at Tinker and I actually work with OSK regularly. Well, that's for 30/35 anyway. The 40/45 jets are too fresh out of depot to be having any major issues besides the usual "jets fresh out of depot are the biggest pieces of poo poo until they're broken in." Godholio fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Jun 6, 2016 |
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Jun 6, 2016 15:45
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I keep in touch with a few guys. There's a FB group for engineers that's pretty much old guys being incredibly racist or outwardly experiencing issues in letting go of their glory days. I left that shitshow a while ago.
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Jun 6, 2016 15:54
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Appears that Canada is buying some Superbugs. http://news.nationalpost.com/news/c...35s-sources-say No word yet if its interim like the Australians or if they'll be ditching the F35 altogether. I can't imagine the Liberals not wanting to ditch the F35 altogether but they're probably just trying to find a way to do it without the bejesus sued out of them. Dannywilson posted:Big Safari would like a word with you... I once read a very interesting write-up about he reactivation of the SR-71 and Big Safari. A quick google didn't find it, but I'll try and track it down.
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Jun 6, 2016 19:10
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For the past several years, Britain has been building an airport on the island of St. Helena. I've been following this story on and off because it's downright fascinating how much work had to go into basically bootstrapping the island for modern transportation. New port facilities had to be built just to get the equipment in to build the airport. It's like colonizing Mars or something. At the cost of tens of thousands of dollars per inhabitant of the island (which has about 4000 people on it), the airport is now complete and flights are scheduled to start...never. They were supposed to start weeks ago but now it is an open question whether the airport will ever open at all thanks to intense wind shear. Runway pictured below. The airport is surrounded by huge cliffs on three sides:  It was obvious from the beginning that wind shear would be a problem but apparently nobody realized it would be as bad as it is. >20 knot winds or any gust reportedly make the runway unsafe for the 737-800 that's supposed to serve the route from Johannesburg. I find the entire project a bit ridiculous because quite frankly, St. Helena's decline goes beyond the lack of an airport. It's because it's in the rear end end of nowhere, there are no resources worth mentioning, the weather is awful, and getting anything there is going to be expensive no matter how nice the infrastructure is. People are leaving the island because that's the logical thing for them to do. That said, I do hope they find a way to open it after all that money has been spent. But I don't know how they can fix the wind shear.
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Jun 6, 2016 20:22
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IDK how you could get rid of that wind shear without taking off the top of that mountain. God drat what a bad idea. How did they not figure this out before? A few months with a temporary weather station would have given them all the data they needed to know this was a terrible idea.
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Jun 6, 2016 20:32
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EvilJoven posted:IDK how you could get rid of that wind shear without taking off the top of that mountain. God drat what a bad idea. How did they not figure this out before? A few months with a temporary weather station would have given them all the data they needed to know this was a terrible idea. They've apparently flown planes in and out for a while so landings are possible sometimes at least. Its a very small airport with a short runway so its restricted to the 737-700, A319, C-130 and... 757-200. 757-200s can land anywhere on anything.
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Jun 6, 2016 20:51
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It's not the first time I've heard of a major civil engineering project being hosed up by what you'd figure would be basic details Was the airport part of some plan to keep people on St. Helena? Why is the government trying to keep people on St. Helena?
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Jun 6, 2016 21:33
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If you don't keep inhabitants on the island it's hard to still claim it as your territory and the most important part of that island for sure isn't the island it's the territorial waters surrounding it.
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Jun 6, 2016 21:36
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Nebakenezzer posted:It's not the first time I've heard of a major civil engineering project being hosed up by what you'd figure would be basic details Rabbit hole goes deeper than that. Tristan da Cunha, even more isolated (~1500 miles from anything) and with only about 300 people, was completely evacuated in the '60s due to a volcanic eruption but then for some reason people went back.
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Jun 6, 2016 21:50
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It'll be a useful waypoint the next time Argentina invades the Falklands.
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Jun 6, 2016 22:00
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Nebakenezzer posted:It's not the first time I've heard of a major civil engineering project being hosed up by what you'd figure would be basic details The airport is for tourists from Europe. No, seriously. Oh and all this activity on the island has absolutely nothing to do with it being the closest crown dependency to the Falklands.
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Jun 6, 2016 22:05
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Godholio posted:Those E-767s use exactly the same mission hardware as the 707. And really, the 707 airframe is beefy as gently caress and lives a pretty tame life in the USAF. I don't doubt the JSTARS airframes are more worn out than the AWACS jets, just from their previous lives. Wanted to chime in: The JSTARS are worn out because they are overloaded. Seriously overloaded. In fact, cracking in the backbone has become a major issue, requiring extensive depot time.
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Jun 6, 2016 22:07
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What's your alternate when landing at St. Helena? RAF Ascension, or some place in Angola?
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Jun 6, 2016 22:15
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Safety Dance posted:What's your alternate when landing at St. Helena? RAF Ascension, or some place in Angola? The gcmap shows RAF Ascension being the only alternative in the ocean. You need ETOPS 120 for that to be an alternative and 138 to be able to get that far into the Atlantic.
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Jun 6, 2016 22:28
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Linedance posted:Doesn't the air force have some kind of engineering department that can draw up an in house mod for an in air refuelling system based on existing components to retrofit whatever airframe needs that capability? Or do they just outsource engineering to the manufacturer? No, a tremendous amount of engineering goes into an AR mod. You need things like detailed understanding of the source code for the AFMC, a very detailed understanding of the structure (like a technical fellow who has been on that program a very long time) full access to every 3D model, etc. etc. The list of resources you need access to to add AR is basically "every detail of the plane"
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Jun 6, 2016 23:51
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Spotted a Super Guppy flying into Ellington today Man, the proportions of that thing really fucks with your perspective when you see it in the air
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Jun 6, 2016 23:53
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Mortabis posted:Rabbit hole goes deeper than that. Tristan da Cunha, even more isolated (~1500 miles from anything) and with only about 300 people, was completely evacuated in the '60s due to a volcanic eruption but then for some reason people went back. They're all members of a super insular unique culture and would probably have trouble adapting
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Jun 6, 2016 23:56
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Here's a quick writeup on that Piedmont Dash-8 painted in the retro livery for their CEO's retirement. I'd kind of put it out of my mind since the project was so hush-hush, but now that the company is writing about it, I guess I can finally say that our paint shop really knocked it out of the park with that one.  Those guys really do a great job on everything they touch, but this one was a cut above. We might not be a huge company as far as MROs go, but our CEO is awesome about bringing in the cool stuff when he can.http://cla.aero/cl-completes-one-kind-piedmont-retro-livery-american-airlines/
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Jun 7, 2016 00:12
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^That looks awesome.CommieGIR posted:Wanted to chime in: The JSTARS are worn out because they are overloaded. Seriously overloaded. In fact, cracking in the backbone has become a major issue, requiring extensive depot time. That's strange, since the E-3 has a higher max takeoff and empty weight. But the fuselage isn't completely standard. The J-compartment, which includes the struts, is seriously beefed up. There might've been other alterations to the design. Godholio fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Jun 7, 2016 |
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Jun 7, 2016 00:27
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Godholio posted:That's strange, since the E-3 has a higher max takeoff and empty weight. But the fuselage isn't completely standard. The J-compartment, which includes the struts, is seriously beefed up. There might've been other alterations to the design. Dunno, but I know frame and backbone cracking is a major issues that is resulting in long groundings and inspections for the fleet right now. I'm assuming beefing up the tail for the radar platform helped the E-3 a bit.
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Jun 7, 2016 00:30
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hobbesmaster posted:The airport is for tourists from Europe. Yeah there's some fanciful notion that the island's economy which is ~100% dependent on British subsidies will become self sufficient with tourism to their precisely one landmark of note, the house where Napoleon was imprisoned. I really doubt the Falklands are a significant factor because the runway is half the length of Ascension's and it's only 100 nmi closer to the Falklands. Plus Argentina is in no shape whatsoever to take the Falklands back; their only jet fighters (A-4s) are presently grounded and have been since January. The UK's military has deteriorated since 1983, but Argentina's is in even worse shape.
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Jun 7, 2016 00:42
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Acid Reflux posted:Here's a quick writeup on that Piedmont Dash-8 painted in the retro livery for their CEO's retirement. I'd kind of put it out of my mind since the project was so hush-hush, but now that the company is writing about it, I guess I can finally say that our paint shop really knocked it out of the park with that one. To bad the giant, terrible American logo is making GBS threads it up.
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Jun 7, 2016 00:42
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CommieGIR posted:Dunno, but I know frame and backbone cracking is a major issues that is resulting in long groundings and inspections for the fleet right now. Some of the E-8s are actually older airframes, too. I'm sure it's an awesome combination teaming up.
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Jun 7, 2016 00:43
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Godholio posted:Some of the E-8s are actually older airframes, too. I'm sure it's an awesome combination teaming up. They are almost all old airframes, 0006 is actuall ex-German Air Force, a couple confiscated from Drug runners, and a couple Cattle transports.
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Jun 7, 2016 00:44
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Mortabis posted:Yeah there's some fanciful notion that the island's economy which is ~100% dependent on British subsidies will become self sufficient with tourism to their precisely one landmark of note, the house where Napoleon was imprisoned. Laffo - so all this spending is to save the British government money Glad to see the "switching F-35 types for our carriers for budget reasons" was not just a one-off
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Jun 7, 2016 00:52
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CommieGIR posted:They are almost all old airframes, 0006 is actuall ex-German Air Force, a couple confiscated from Drug runners, and a couple Cattle transports. Well yeah they're all old, I mean older than the E-3s which are mostly 1970s vintage. Some of the E-8s were C-137s built in the 60s. I used to have a powerpoint with all the E-8s in their former liveries and reg numbers, but that's long lost. Rivet Joint and the other weirdo siblings still have everyone beat, I think.
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Jun 7, 2016 00:59
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Godholio posted:Well yeah they're all old, I mean older than the E-3s which are mostly 1970s vintage. Some of the E-8s were C-137s built in the 60s. I used to have a powerpoint with all the E-8s in their former liveries and reg numbers, but that's long lost. I used to have the photos on my wall. Wish I still had it.
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Jun 7, 2016 01:00
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Mortabis posted:Rabbit hole goes deeper than that. Tristan da Cunha, even more isolated (~1500 miles from anything) and with only about 300 people, was completely evacuated in the '60s due to a volcanic eruption but then for some reason people went back. Some people get deeply attached to their home of choice. See also: Americans always rebuilding in forest fire zones, directly on eroding beaches that get slammed by hurricanes all the time, and in flood planes.
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Jun 7, 2016 01:06
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mlmp08 posted:P People living just above the current sea level in Florida
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Jun 7, 2016 01:27
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Yeah but that's most of the state, and there's no income tax there.
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Jun 7, 2016 02:12
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mlmp08 posted:Some people get deeply attached to their home of choice. I don't find those people any less ridiculous.
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Jun 7, 2016 02:13
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If it means I never have to deal with the average idiot in the neighborhood or HOA again, I'm ok with living in a cabin until I die of smoke inhalation as I watch the wall of flame climb up my forested hill.
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Jun 7, 2016 03:52
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Godholio posted:If it means I never have to deal with the average idiot in the neighborhood or HOA again, I'm ok with living in a cabin until I die of smoke inhalation as I watch the wall of flame climb up my forested hill. My creepy neighbors have been filming me working on my car again. So We've started doing interpretive dance for them.
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Jun 7, 2016 03:58
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Last couple of times I've flown there's been a new line in the safety speech - right after tampering with lavatory smoke detectors is "federal law also prohibits consuming your own alcohol." Is this a recent change? Last time this topic came up I remember reading there were rules against it (maybe in a CFR?) but it was unclear whether or not they were actually law and/or enforceable. Did something come out to change that? also the odds that this will affect anyone's inflight drinking are so close to zero as to be indistinguishable, so whatever
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Jun 7, 2016 05:11
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Psion posted:Last couple of times I've flown there's been a new line in the safety speech - right after tampering with lavatory smoke detectors is "federal law also prohibits consuming your own alcohol." Is this a recent change? Last time this topic came up I remember reading there were rules against it (maybe in a CFR?) but it was unclear whether or not they were actually law and/or enforceable. Did something come out to change that? http://www.flask.com/can-i-bring-my-own-alcohol-on-an-airplane/ I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that if the flight attendants being able to meter how much passengers drink as well as charging out the rear end for mini-bottles.
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Jun 7, 2016 05:58
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Mortabis posted:Yeah there's some fanciful notion that the island's economy which is ~100% dependent on British subsidies will become self sufficient with tourism to their precisely one landmark of note, the house where Napoleon was imprisoned. I'd visit. But I'm sort of an outlier in that "the middle of nowhere" is kind of an interesting place to visit for me. 
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Jun 7, 2016 06:16
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EvilJoven posted:IDK how you could get rid of that wind shear without taking off the top of that mountain. God drat what a bad idea. How did they not figure this out before? A few months with a temporary weather station would have given them all the data they needed to know this was a terrible idea. I don’t know, either, but it’s a great excuse to throw money at some geoengineering research. I’m talking about something like FIDO.
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Jun 7, 2016 07:47
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