Tech NewsSploid

Here’s what it’s like to rent a MiG-29 to fly you above the clouds in the stratosphere

It’s good to be rich. Because when you’re rich you can easily justify the $18,000 necessary to rent—yes, rent—a MiG-29 fighter jet that will take you on the flight of your life to the edge of space. You fly above the clouds in the stratosphere at 70,000 feet in the air, you reach supersonic speeds, … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

Cool photo of fighter jets flying over an aircraft carrier

This photo shows US Navy fighter jets flying side-by-side with Chilean Air Force fighter jets next to the USS George Washington aircraft carrier. It’s like seeing little ducklings follow the big mama duck, only these are sophisticated weapons worth millions of dollars. U.S. Naval aircraft and aircraft from the Chilean Air Force participate in a … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

How the US Air Force reloads the largest combat jet gun on the planet

When you got one of the biggest guns in the world, you can’t just pop in a new magazine and start firing again. Well, you can but the new ‘magazine’ for the GAU-8 Avenger is so ginormous it needs to be trucked in and requires multiple Air Force guys to get the gun reloaded. It … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

How the USAF pilots and chase cars land the U-2 Dragon Lady

The Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady is a beautiful spy plane that flies at high altitudes (70,000 feet in the air) to provide reconnaissance for the military. It’s also a pain in the ass to land too, requiring an actual chase car on the ground to tell the pilot how far the U-2 is from the … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

F-18s against a wall of fire totally look like they’re escaping explosions

Oh, nothing to see here. Just two F-18 fighter jets sitting there, looking cool… while a giant wall of fire blazes on behind them. The photo was taken at the 2015 Air Show at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, California. It also looks like it could have been taken from explosions. Or … Continued

Tech News

The FAA Issued a $1.9 Million Fine to a Company for Illegal Drone Flights

The Federal Aviation Authority comes down on hard on illegal drone flights — and now it’s issued its biggest ever fine for the offence, demanding $1.9 million from the aerial photography company SkyPan International. The FAA claims the the company performed a total of 65 unauthorized commercial drone flights over New York City and Chicago … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

Watch a fighter jet land on the middle of a highway road

Here’s really cool footage of a Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripen fighter jet landing on a road in Finland. The Aviationist says both Finnish and Swedish aircraft were conducting a military force exercise at the Rovaniemi Air Base and on the strip of road. There are also pictures of the planes taking off from the road … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

The F-18 Blue Angels look truly angelic in this photo

They look supernatural, don’t they. According to the The US Navy, the Blue Angels are performing a “high speed diamond break-away maneuver” at the Miramar Air Show in this photo but to me, because of the way they’re in the clouds, they’ve never looked more angelic. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook, … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

Cargo plane makes a crazy low pass over fighter jets at an air base

Here’s a role reversal of sorts: an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane does a low pass right over some SU-25 fighter jets on a Ukrainian air field. Seeing the big boy plane delicately flying close to the ground over the nimble little planes makes for a pretty hilarious visual. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

Awesome view of a sunset through the nose of an old B-25 bomber

What. A. View. The nose of the B-25 bomber offers up such a fantastic view that it’s probably the perfect place to be for a sunset because not only do you get to see the entire world in a clear bubble, you get to see the old rickety steering wheel of a plane used since … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

These photos of F-22 Arctic Raptors in Alaska are so striking they look unreal

Taken by photographer John Dibbs for Lockheed Martin’s Code One magazine, these two F-22 Raptors are flying against the snowy picturesque backdrop of Alaska and they look absolutely stunning. So stunning and pristine and impressive that the pictures almost look fake. Code One writes: In addition, Alaska’s strategic location allows the Arctic Raptors to deploy … Continued

Tech News

Watch the Biggest Ever Drone Swarm Take to the Sky

The robots are coming, thick and fast. A team of researchers from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California has successfully lofted 50 drones into the air at once, all controlled by a single person — making it the biggest drone swarm ever to enter the sky. The Zephyr drones — custom craft made from … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

Cool video shows a spectacular B-52 bombing run from inside the weapons bay

Here’s really awesome footage that shows a B-52 bombing run on an island from inside the weapons bay. You can see the open doors of the plane peering down towards the ocean and then see the bombs drop away and strike the target and pepper the ground with explosions. Such a cool perspective. SPLOID is … Continued

Tech News

California Smacks Down Bill That Would’ve Limited Private Drone Flights

This week marked a win for fans of unmanned aerial vehicles: California governor Jerry Brown vetoed Senate Bill 142, which would’ve outlawed drone flights below 350 feet over private property. The bill, proposed by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, was introduced back in January. Its goal? To make drone flight above private places (like backyards) illegal, just … Continued

Tech News

The FAA’s Official App Shows Where It’s Legal To Fly a Drone

When I first set out to fly some hobby drones, I had no idea where to go. I had to scour the web to figure out where I could fly without getting into trouble. Even then, I found precious little info. The FAA’s new iPhone app sounds exactly like what I was looking for. Originally … Continued

Tech News

Some Cops Are Now Allowed to Taser and Tear Gas People From Drones

North Dakota just became the first state to legalize taser drones. Shocking. The Daily Beast reports that the state’s House Bill 1328 was designed in response to concerns over the militarization of police. The bill requires police to obtain a warrant before searching for evidence in a criminal investigation. The bill also originally prohibited the … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

All the US Navy combat jets in history

To celebrate the ingenuity of flying beast machines, we created this awesome video that catalogs all of the US Navy’s combat jets. You’ll see modern jets like the Harrier and F-18 and F-35 along with old school, bad ass planes with names like Banshee and Phantom and Panther and Skynight. It’s a really cool visual … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

A helicopter closely chases a race car in this truly insane stunt

You see the word insane get thrown around on the Internet a lot. It’s a good word! But few things actually deserve the word insane. This stunt does though. Felix Baumgartner (the dude who jumped from space) pilots a Bolkov BO105 aerobatic helicopter that is basically having a movie car chase scene with a race … Continued

Tech News

NASA Continues Crashing Airplanes For Science

NASA doesn’t just crash rockets — sometimes, it crashes cheaper aircraft too. This week, it’s the turn of a Cessna 172, being gratuitously destroyed to help improve airplane’s black boxes. The Emergency Location Transmitters (ELTs) in aircraft are supposed to send a distress signal in the event of a crash, but thanks to the forces … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

Even cleaning the V-22 Osprey looks cool

Here’s a really great shot of a US marine cleaning the tilt rotors of a MV-22B Osprey. Seeing the rotors this close and seeing the marine get dwarfed by them and then not being able to see the rest of the aircraft makes it seem as if the rotors are connected to a monster of … Continued