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Tech NewsSploidHere’s the Crazy Wing Bending Airbus Does to Stress Test Its Airplanes
You would never want to look out of your window on a flight and see the airplane wing bend like this but it’s nice to know that Airbus stress tests the hell out of their flying tubes to make sure that even if the wing is at such an obscene angle, it won’t snap in … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsDARPA’s Building a New Drone That Turns Small Ships Into Aircraft Carriers
Nowadays, drones are found nearly everywhere: Farms, fields, even underwater. They could soon be found on the decks of a new kind of aircraft carrier combing the vast oceans for valuable intel. The US Navy has long wanted to line smaller ships like frigates and destroyers with drones that could buzz around the open seas, … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech News
Go Register Your Drone Right Now (Credit Card Number Required)
Today’s the day, folks. Today, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will let you register your drone on a brand new and surprisingly sharp-looking website. Well, saying the government will “let you register your drone” is putting it lightly. The FAA is forcing you to. New drone rules mean that any aircraft weighing more than 250 … Continued
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Tech News
Report: The FAA’s Drone Registry Will Be Public—Including Names and Addresses
On Monday, the FAA will launch its online registry for drone operators with the aim of collecting personal information from the owners of these unmanned aircraft. But according to a report from Forbes, all those names and addresses will eventually be publicly available. Which seems… kinda scary? Over at Forbes, John Goglia says he’s been … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
Cool photo of a V-22 Osprey launching from an amphibious assault ship
The MV-22 Osprey is such a damn photogenic aircraft. It can be at night, it can be during the day, it can be in a rainbow, it can be on a commando carrier, it can be during cleaning, it can be any place and any time and the tiltrotor aircraft would always look good because … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsOpulent Air Travel Is Reaching a New Level of Lunacy with Seats On Top of the Plane
Instead of offering reliable on-time service, zero baggage fees, and decent meals, airlines seem willing to try anything else to fill seats. According to Windspeed, an aerospace engineering company, one aircraft maker plans to offer its over-the-top SkyDeck seats as an option to its clients. The upgraded aircraft will have a pair of seats, about … Continued
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Tech News
Tokyo Is Fighting Rogue Drones With Its Own Net-Carrying Drones
Fight fire with fire, so they say. Clearly Tokyo officials have been listening to that advice, because their police force is launching a fleet of net-carrying drones that will locate and capture other rogue drones being flown by members of the public. The BBC reports that the new squad of police drones will be used … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidWatch the first aerial test of the F-35’s gatling gun
Woo, boy. Here’s video showing Lockheed Martin conducting the first aerial test for the F-35’s gatling gun. Called the GAU-22/A, the weapon can pop off 3,300 25mm rounds per minute. The gun fires so fast that your eyes might miss it. Even though the test was successful, the GAU-22/A won’t be combat ready until 2019 … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
A Rare Glimpse of a US Seaplane Lost In the First Minutes of the Pearl Harbor Attack
For the past 20 years, divers have unsuccessfully tried to explore and photograph a PBY-5 Catalina seaplane shot down during Japan’s opening salvo of the Pearl Harbor attack. Now, some 74 years after that fateful day, archaeologists have finally accomplished the task. Here’s what they saw at the bottom of Kāne‛ohe Bay’s murky waters. Just … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidHow the gun turrets work on a B-29 bomber
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers were one of the biggest and deadliest aircraft used during World War II. They were the bombers used to drop the atomic bomb and were also used during the Korean war. Here’s a video from Bryce Richert showing how the gun turret system worked on the B-29. Like the … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidAwesome time-lapse shows the complete disassembly of a U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane
Here is exclusive footage showing how their technicians disassemble an entire U-2 spy plane for inspection. It’s a remarkable feat because every part of the plane gets inspected and repaired or replaced if necessary. That is, more than 40,000 rivets and 1,800 individual parts gets looked at and then gets reassembled for every 4,700 flight … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploid
Awesome photo of a F-15 being refueled from the air fuel tankers perspective
What a view. Here’s a KC-135 Stratotanker refueling a F-15 in the air from the perspective of the air tanker. Actually, it’s almost like seeing the whole process from the perspective of the boom, as we see the probe arm reach into the receptacle. It’s such an awesome angle. The US Air Force says: A … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploid
Awesome picture of a V-22 Osprey makes it look like an invisible plane with star engines
The V-22 Osprey is easily one of our favorite aircraft in use today and this picture of it might be the coolest photo of the tiltrotor aircraft ever taken. Because of the haziness and the dust and the focus of the camera, it looks like the Osprey is about to turn on an invisible mode. … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidThe world’s first supersonic private jet just got a lot closer to reality
Meet the Aerion AS2. It’s the first supersonic private jet in the world and it just got a 20-unit order from Flexjet, a private air company. It’s going to change the way some people (rich people!) fly because it can hit speeds of Mach 1.5 thus shaving down the hours needed to travel across the … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidWatching how airplanes used to aerial refuel is totally incredible
The history of aerial refueling is pure nuts. Back on November 12, 1921, the first airplane to airplane refueling happened and it required a guy, Wesley May, strapping a 5-gallon can of gasoline on his back and walking on the wing of one airplane and hopping over to the wing of the other airplane to … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidNATO’s biggest military exercise since the Cold War is scary impressive
Wow. This totally looks like the beginning of World War III but thankfully it’s just Operation Trident Juncture, a military exercise by NATO. But not just any old exercise, it’s the biggest military exercise NATO has done in decades and one that required 36,000 troops and more than 140 aircraft and 60 ships from over … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidThe flight of a U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane from beginning to end
Getting inside the cockpit and seeing the flight of a U-2 spy plane is so damn cool. Not only because it’s such a gorgeous looking plane—it’s basically a glider with an engine attached that can take it to the stratosphere—but because it’s also such a delicate one too. We get to see it take off … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidWatch how supersonic Russian bombers drop their giant cruise missiles
The Russian Air Force’s Tupolev TU-160 is a gorgeous-looking plane with sweeping wings and the capability to reach supersonic speeds. It’s also a scary powerful bomber aircraft with the ability to launch the frightening KH-555 cruise missile, an air-launched missile that can be equipped with a nuclear warhead and has a 2,175 mile range. Here’s … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidWhat it’s like to be inside the cockpit of an A-10 Thunderbolt when it flies over the desert
Here’s a video from inside the A-10 Thunderbolt as it flies through Arizona. The perspective is really cool because you get to see how the world looks from inside the aircraft and see things flip and turn sideways too. It also totally looks like it’s flying over Mars or something. The Aviationist says that the … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploid
Awesome photo of a V-22 Osprey inside a rainbow
Just a perfect photo of a Marines MV-22 Osprey landing on the flight deck of the dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry. The timing is lovely because it’s landing right through a rainbow, making the color of the aircraft (or at least the part that’s inside the rainbow) just a little more shimmery and different. … Continued
By Casey Chan