Andrew Lim

The F-15C is a very old airframe so its little wonder that things like these are happening. If you look at the video, the seperation occured at the neck which connects the main body of the airplane with the more slender nose/cockpit section. The slender cockpit section is basically cantilevering off the main body throughout the flight, and when the plane turns or banks, bending stresses will be imposed upon the neck. When you have this cyclic bending stress occuring repeatedly over a span of 25 years, it will be bound to fail, even with regular maintenance. This incident is very similar to the Aloha Airlines 737 incident where the 'roof' of the front section fuselage flew off during a routine flight. Time to speed up deployment of the F-22s I'd say. Fitri, this problem should not affect our young Sukhois, but if it did, it will almost definitely be design fault by the Russians, in which case, I hope we can claim compensation for. Does anyone know if fighter jets are covered by manufacturer's warranty for a certain period? You know, like when you buy a new TV, you get one year guarantee...

Boeing books record 1,413 commercial jet orders in 2007 4 Jan, 2008, 2210 hrs AGENCIES WASHINGTON: The Boeing Company received a record 1,413 orders for commercial airplanes in 2007, in a three-year streak of orders above 1,000, the US aerospace giant said on Friday. Boeing also set new order records for its new 787 Dreamliner, the 737 and for Boeing freighters, the company, which is battling European rival Airbus for the lead in the global market, said in a statement. The 2007 total topped the previous Boeing records of 1,044 net orders in 2006, and 1,002 orders in 2005. "It has been another strong year for commercial aviation, and we are grateful for our customers' trust in our team, and our products and services," said Scott Carson, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and chief executive. The Chicago-based company said Friday it has more than 3,400 unfilled orders for commercial airplanes. "We are now focused on executing this strong backlog position," said Carson, citing "challenges" in the past year in which the aerospace giant had to push back the first flight of the fuel-effficient 787 Dreamliner to 2008 because of technical problems. The revised 787 schedule calls for a first flight at the end of the first quarter and first deliveries in November or December. Boeing said 80 different customers ordered airplanes in 2007, including passenger airlines, cargo carriers, leasing companies and unidentified customers. "2007 told us that global demand for commercial airplanes remains strong and sustained," Carson said.

Pieter, Nice shots of the UH-1, my fav helicopter. I believe the USAF did operate a small amount of these helicopters during the Vietnam War...

How about Mighty Wings from the movie Top Gun?? It's just a ball of dust Underneath my feet It rolls around the sun Doesn't mean that much to me I take a chance on the edge of life Just like all the rest I look inside and dig it out Cause there's no points for second best There's a raging fire in my heart tonight Growing higher and higher in my soul There's a raging fire in the sky tonight I want to ride on the silver dove Far into the night [Chorus] Till I make you take me On your mighty wings Make you take me On your mighty wings across the sky Take me on your mighty wings Take me on your mighty wings tonight With just a little luck A little cold blue steel I cut the night like a razor blade Till I feel the way I want to feel There's a raging fire in my heart tonight Growing higher and higher in my soul There's a raging fire in the sky tonight I want to ride on the silver dove Far into the night [Chorus] Till I make you take me On your mighty wings Make you take me On your mighty wings across the sky Take me on your mighty wings Take me on your mighty wings tonight Take me on your mighty wings Take me on your mighty wings

Yes, Izanee. They need both an AEW and maritime patrol aircraft (such as the P-3 Orion).

Definitely no future. I wouldn't even call RMAF an air force.. it's more like a nice collection of modern warplanes. Whoever is in charge of the buying process is obviously just going after whatever is the most popular (SU-30MKM) or just copying someone other country's procurement pattern (RAAF F/A-18D). If you look closely, our immediate neighbours are attempting to strike a balance between quantity and quality. RMAF has only quality (I hope, with the price that we're paying). In the event of an air war, RMAF's expensive jets will easily be outnumbered by our neighbours'. What's the use of being able to pull off impressive braking action in mid-air? Looks nice duing airshows lah, but in real combat, the SU-30MKM will end up as a sweet $50 million sitting duck for someone to shoot at! You force the other plane to overshoot by making him fly too fast, NOT by reducing your own speed to 35 knots! Any fighter pilot knows that speed is life. Lose speed, lose the fight. Also, Malaysia has a vast expanse of forested and built up areas. Do the Air Force generals expect these fast moving planes to be able to find and kill enemies hidden under a tree canopy or in a building? The current procurement policy of the RMAF undoubtedly shows that its battle doctrine is either flawed or, more possibly, non-existent. They will not the slightest idea of what to purchase until they can clearly identify what and where the threats are and how to counter them...

Weight distriibution should be checked as well... You shouldnt let too many fat ppl sit at the rear end... Thats why I always get front row seats... ahaha!

Chunk of jetliner wing found on Indonesian runway. Last month, a similar-sized piece of wing fell from a jetliner minutes after it took off from the same airport. JAKARTA (AP): Workers found a piece of a wing from a passenger jet on the runway at Indonesia's main airport and investigators are trying to determine which plane it fell from, officials said Wednesday. The 10-foot (3-meter) piece of wing was found Tuesday at Jakarta's Sukarno-Hatta international airport, said Yurlis Hasibuan, a senior air transportation official. "It has been identified as a side engine cover, but we do not yet know which plane it came from," he said. The wing piece was found on a runway used by planes on domestic flights as well as some cargo planes flying internationally, he said. Last month, a similar-sized piece of wing fell from a jetliner minutes after it took off from the same airport. The Boeing 737, which was operated by a local airline, landed safely but the incident added to safety concerns about commercial aviation in Indonesia. The country suffered a series of accidents earlier this year that killed more than 120 people, leading the European Union to ban all the country's airlines from landing there. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration downgraded the nation's rating to its lowest category. Experts say the industry is plagued by poor maintenance, rule-bending and a shortage of trained professionals. (**)

Would ove to see more of the Agusta/Wesland LUH pics., Geoff.. It looks well sleek and dangerous... I notice that the paint on the chopper is very similar to the army's uniform camo colors Anymore info on the bird? For e.g. payload, mission specification? Thanks

If i had the money, would have bought the whole flight deck ... however, I wouldnt mind the landing gear assembly either... 3000 euro not so steep... however, some afficiandos will probably outbid me and buy it for 30,000 euros.

Two years ago, I took an Air Asia flight from KUL to BKI. It was on a brand new Airbus A320. After we landed and parked on the tarmac, we were stuck in the cabin for a good quarter of an hour because, according to the pilot, the engines failed to shut down. In the end, he managed to switch off the staboard engine and we exited the aircraft on the right hand side door. Any explanation guys why engines can't be shut down? Is it because the APU wont switch on? In which case that pilot is foced to keep one engine running so that the plane has enough power to switch the other one back on when its time to take off?

When I was staying in an apartment near Sunway Pyramid, I remember seeing an A109 aprproaching and landing in the vicinity of Sunway Hotel quite a few times. By looking at its approach pattern, it would seem that the helicopter is landing on a high building but i cannot be sure as the helicopter always dissappear behind another building before touchdown.

Yes, the original Huey is still in limited use with some Armies but no longer in production. It has been superseded by the Bell 212 and 412 which looks like the Huey generally but has a more streamlined airframe and twin engines. These 'new generation Hueys' are in service with the Canadian Armed Forces (known as CH-146 Griffon), US Marines, Royal Air Force (Bell 412 Griffin) and a few other nations. Back to the main topic, I feel thay the RMAF should get the Merlin as the main workhorse (troop/equipment ferrying) and buy the Bell 412 for SAR/training. Both the Merlin and NH-90 is a bit too big to land in the dense Msian jungles for rescue ops. This is what the Royal Air Force has done, i think. I may also be saying all these just because I'm a Bell 412 fan. I have a question here: Wy is the Nuri (and its new replacement) still under RMAF and not the Tentera Darat (TD)? I realise that our new Agusta A109s are already under the TD's controls, but why not the Nuris? Surely it would make more sense as the Nuri is really there primarily to serve the TD.

In the 70s, you could have a nice meal on 20 cents.

I think the age limit for MAS pilot intake is 26 years old. I remembered the limit coz im 27 this year and i know i've just missed out. ahaha oh well... i wont trust myself handling a 737 anyway.

Ignatius, The holes in theparachutes are placed intentionally and is designed to limit their horizontal speed and to make the chute more streerable. Fitri, any idea which unit these guys are from? 8 Rangers? Nice pics, btw, more please!

Iwan, Thanks for the article. I have read a similar version which says that by pulling the cobra manouver, the SU-30 will slow down significantly to defeat radar detection. That sounds terribly inconvenient as the plane would have to do this constantly all the way to the target. Why don't the pilot just fly level at a slow speed to start with instead of bobbing up and down as if the pilot has some obsessive compulsive disorder? Another thing about the cobra, it looks nice and seems to work well on paper and in movies (Top Gun), but in real life, every fighter pilot knows that airplane speed and constant visual on target is crucial to winning a dogfight. BY doing the cobra, the pilot will lose speed and sight of his enemy. And in modern day combat, very rarely is it one on one. So while the SU-30 pulls off the cobra move, the pursuing enemy (say an F-16) would zoom past him from under at 3 times the Su-30's speed. and disappear. Meanwhile, the SU-30 would be a sitting duck there with nearly 0 knot airspeed ready to be eaten for lunch by the F-16's wingman.

I'm not sure how an aircraft can achieve stealth by pulling some special manouvers. Maybe what you mean is that the Su-30 can break radar lock by rapidly changing its location? I'm not sure either as i have not read that article. But AFAIK, SU-30 has not stealth capability. And to answer your last question, disappearing from radar does not help against heat seekers as the missiles rely on heat signature and not radar guidance. An aircraft without a radar can still kill using heat seeking missiles.

Yep. In the future air wars, especially with our immediate neighbours, we will be exchanging volleys of AMRAAM and R-77 at BVR ranges and be hoping that ours are more accurate than theirs. Unless the SU-30 has stealth capabilities, it probably wont be able to get in close enough to show off its thrust vectoring ability. Also, you cannot use thrust vectoring to fight crimes or terrorism, which is a more immediate threat that our country is facing today. The chances of having our neighbours attack Msia in the near foreseeable future is akin to eliminating corruption in the police force, which is obviously nil.

The Argentines only had a handful of Exocets (about 10 i think). A lot of the anti shipping missions were conducted with bombs and rockets. They didn't perform as well in the air to air sorties because they only had the rear aspect Sidewinders and not the more advanced all aspect ones. There were even claims that the British aircraft carrier was hit even though this was disputed.

Whilst I agree with Phil Aysho's opinion, I do find the last paragraph derogatory. Nevertheless, I do not think that TUDM needs such advanced and expensive fighters to fight its war. Just one type of multi roled aircraft would have sufficed. Only the big Air Forces can justify owning specialised airplanes. I don't think our ministers have thought about the purchase properly. The way the defense budget is being spent at the moment gives me the impression that they are just buying whatever that's popular, and not to suit the defense doctrine (if there is even one!). This is clearly evident when you look at the fact that we have three different types of frontline fighter planes which does more or less the same job! It must be one logistical nightmare maintaning the fleet. Remember how the Argentines' relatively small and old air force managed to kick the Brit's arse during the Falklands War through superior tactics? They even used a C-130 to bomb a warship. Anyway, the Su-30s do look nice and fearsome. I notice they have similar paint scheme as our Hornets.

One part of me is happy that my country now boasts a modern fighter aircraft. The other part feels sad to see such waste of money Theres a lot more benefit to be gained if the govt invested the money in the rakyat. Anyway i would like to see the pics too..

Heard that the RMAF F-18s have Harpoon ASM as well. Rozhan, indeed US has released the AMRAAM to Thai and Sg but they will be kept in US soil until such a time that they are required.

I have a few questions too. 1. What will the primary role of the SU-30 MKM be? Air superiority or ground attack? Or will it be a swing role aircraft? 2. Will the R-77 AAM be part of the purchase? Thanks in advance. I tried to look for these info on the net but no joy so far.

Building plant in China? Another one of Airbus's cost cutting exercise?