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Tech NewsSploidWatch an Airbus A380 Abort a Landing When It’s Incredibly Close to the Ground
Here’s a British Airways Airbus A380 attempting to land at the Vancouver airport. You can see the world’s largest passenger airplane make its final approach and come so, so close to the ground—but then decide to abort and make a go-around instead. It’s crazy impressive to see such a big plane make a maneuver like … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidThis Badass Photo of a Fighter Jet Looks Like a Comic Book
Just a great photo. Here’s the wall of fire display at the 2016 Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. The silhouette of the plane against the giant dark orange and black flames makes it look more like art from some comic book than a real life shot. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsA Prototype of DARPA’s Badass Vertical Take-Off Aircraft Can Already Fly
Earlier this year, DARPA unveiled its latest concept design for a new vertical take-off and landing craft. Now, a working scale prototype has already made its first successful flight. Aurora Flight Sciences has been working on the new vertical take-off aircraft—which is called LightningStrike according to The Verge—since it was awarded the second phase of … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidCheck Out All the Largest Flying Boats in History
There really should be more flying boats flying around these days. They’re comically large and equipped with so many engines and their ability to take off and land on water is just so cool, from floating around to flying in no time. Here’s a collection of the biggest flying boats ever made, some of these … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
The Government Blew $86 Million on a Would-Be Drug-Spy Plane That Never Flew
When the DEA bought a spy plane in 2008, it was supposed to be a way to catch and transport dealers in Afghanistan. Instead, it turned into a corroding rust bucket in the desert, and a reminder of how dumb the government can be. The “Global Discovery” program is focused on a single aircraft, an … Continued
By Kate Knibbs -
Tech News
Our First Look at Airlander 10, the Largest Aircraft in the World
Here it is, folks, our first glimpse of the fully constructed Airlander 10. This floating behemoth measures 302-feet-long, which is 60 feet longer than a jumbo jet. If all goes well, the British-designed hybrid vehicle could see its inaugural test flight later this summer. British firm Hybrid Air Vehicles has been working on the $35.6 … Continued
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Tech News
UN Aviation Agency Demands Real-Time Airplane Tracking in Emergencies
The UN’s panel on aviation has announced that airplanes should now be fitted with autonomous distress tracking devices which allow them to transmit their location during emergencies. The International Civil Aviation Organization announced the new provisions yesterday—a year to the day since the MH370 disaster. The new devices should be able to transmit “information at … Continued
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Tech NewsDARPA’s New Vertical Take-Off Aircraft Concept Looks Totally Badass
Yesterday, DARPA unveiled the latest concept design for its new vertical take-off and landing craft. And hell this electric airplane look impressive. DARPA has in fact awarded the second phase of its design contract to the concept, which has been created by Aurora Flight Sciences. Called X-Plane, it will use a 4,000 horsepower engine—actually the … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Here Is Our First Look at Virgin Galactic’s New Space Plane
Two years ago, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceshipTwo, the space plane it hoped to use to send tourists into space, failed on a test flight and crashed in the desert. Now, it’s revealed a brand new version of SpaceShipTwo. Virgin Galactic rolled-out the new SpaceShipTwo—the VSS Unity, as named by Stephen Hawking—in its Mojave hangar late this … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech NewsSploidHere Are All the Awesome Vertical Landing Jets in History
We all know how badass the Harriers and F-35s of the world are but some of these other vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircrafts from history are totally wild. The Williams X-Jet was essentially a flying one-man podium barrel thing. The Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar was legitimately a man-made flying saucer. And so many other … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Airplane Makes Safe Landing Despite Having Huge Hole Blown in Fuselage
A passenger jet has safely made an emergency landing at Mogadishu’s international airport after an explosion pierced a large hole in its fuselage. Two people were injured and unverified reports claim that a person may have fallen out of the hole during the incident, which occurred above Somalia. A policemantold the Associated Press that “residents … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidAll the Bomber Aircraft That Could Carry Nuclear Weapons
Only 5 countries have been able to create strategic bomber aircraft with the capability of carrying nuclear weapons. That would be the US, Russia, the UK, France, and China. We’ve put together this video that details every single one of those bombers. It’s fascinating to see how each country develops its only style of aircraft … Continued
By Casey Chan -
EartherClimate Change
Don’t Let These Horror Stories About Turbulence Keep You From Flying
The internet is filled with butt-clenching stories of horrifying plane turbulence lately. Is dangerously rough air becoming more common nowadays, or what? Well, yes and no. Despite the scary news stories and terrifying viral videos, take a deep breath and board your next flight without fear. Even though turbulence might be increasing due to climate … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech News
UN Panel Wants to Ban Li-On Battery Shipments in the Hold of Passenger Airplanes
Li-on batteries can, in some circumstances, be really rather dangerous. A UN panel agrees: the agency has recommended banning rechargeable li-on battery shipments from the holds of passenger airplanes. The Associated Press reports that the UN’s International Civilian Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is nervous about li-on batteries catching fire, which could ultimately lead to the destruction … Continued
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Tech News
Airbus Working With Uber to Provide On-Demand Helicopter Flights
Airbus will provide helicopters to Uber in order to establish an on-demand flight service. The initiative, said to be a “pilot project,” will debut at the Sundance Film Festival later this week. The Wall Street Journal reports that the service, confirmed by the Airbus chief executive Tom Enders, will use H125 and H130 helicopters to … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
Fantastic Photo of a F-16 Flying Perfectly Straight Up in the Air
This here is one helluva shot. The F-16 looks suspended in space and time, perfectly perpendicular to the ground and the horizon while shooting straight up to all that is holy. The vertical pose reveals the weaponry on its underside and the super slick maneuver shows just how incredible these airplanes are. Great, great photo. … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploid
How a F-18 Super Hornet Gets Built from Beginning to End
Each F/A-18 Super Hornet carries a sticker price of about 60 million dollars and requires a whole lot of work to put together. This fun time lapse video shows the entire building process of an F/A-18 and you can see where a lot of that money goes. To transform scraps of metal into a flying … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
These Remarkably Detailed Paper Airplanes Actually Fly
Despite what you may have learned in school behind your teacher’s back, paper airplanes don’t have to be completely featureless and boring. With the right materials, or these kits from Huntly’s Paper Warplanes, they can actually look like real-life aircraft and still be able to glide across a room. You still get the satisfaction of … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidHere’s the Totally Awesome Way an Airplane Gets Painted
It takes a whole team of painters, an orchestra of machines and paint spray, what seems like miles of tape and paper, and oh so much work (not to mention the planning process) in order to paint an entire plane. Southwest Airlines shows some of its detailed plane paintings in the videos below (the Missouri … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
How Nuke-Sniffing Air Force Planes Are Hunting for North Korea’s H-Bomb
Late last night, North Korea said it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, triggering a mini, human-made earthquake near the test site and causing the UN Security Council to call an emergency meeting. Hydrogen bombs are even more destructive than atomic bombs, so it’s very scary—but experts think North Korea’s bluffing. How can we make sure? … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin