Posts Tagged ‘warplanes’
Kingsley Field instructor pilot reached milestone
Posted by Jobelle in F15 News, F15 Pilot, F15 Trivia on September 7th, 2011
Lt. Col. Wes “Pappy” French, a Kingsley Field instructor pilot, passed a significant flying milestone this summer. On June 8, the 45-year-old fighter jet pilot logged his 3,000th hour flying the F-15, becoming the third active Kingsley pilot to reach the mark.
If you do the math, that’s 125 days spent roaming the skies in the tight cockpit of the air-to-air fighter jet.But that doesn’t take into consideration the countless hours French and about 25 other instructor pilots at Kingsley spend preparing to the fly the $30 million machines.
“Every milestone has been a proud moment, but to me the more important part is that every hour I’m up there I’m providing good training for the guys I’m working with,” said French, a member of the Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing.
Instructor pilots at Kingsley fly about four days a week, logging five to six hours in the air over that time period. Kingsley trains pilots to fly the F-15 and is the base to train pilots on the F-15C, a single-seat version of the fighter jet.
“We take a guy that is straight out of pilot school and train him for about six months to make the F-15 a fighting machine,” French said. “It’s very tough for them.”
Source: Herald and News
F-15 lands in Tri-Cities for air show
Posted by Jobelle in F15 News, F15 Trivia on July 27th, 2011
Two F-15 fighter jets performing at this weekend’s air show during the Columbia Cup land in the Tri-Cities Tuesday morning. The Air Force F-15 fighter planes will perform tricks and spins over the Columbia River for tens of thousands of hydroplane fans.
Since this is the first time these premiere planes have been involved in the annual show, pilots say they plan to show off the full aerobatic capabilities of their planes.
“We’ll get it low, we’ll get it on the deck, going almost the speed of sound, we’ll be doing the rolls and the loops, showing off the maneuverability of the airplane,” says Major Mike Maeder. “We’re gonna climb it. It’s got a max climb that’ll go 3 miles high in less than 20 seconds. Just lots of after burner, lots of noise, lots of fighter jets up close and personal.”
The F-15 planes are set to perform on Saturday and Sunday.
Source: kvewtv.com
Japan F-15 crash causes grounding of entire fleet
Japanese officials said Wednesday that it has grounded its entire F-15 fighter fleet following the crash of one of the jets into the East China Sea.
Japan’s Defense Ministry ordered the fleet to remain on the ground pending an investigation into the cause of the crash Tuesday, when an F-15 based on the island of Okinawa went down during a routine training mission.
The pilot of the jet remains missing and about a half dozen naval ships have been mobilized in a search for him, the ministry said in a statement. Debris from the jet’s tail has been spotted in the ocean. It was not known if the pilot was able to eject before the crash.
Japan, with 202 F-15 fighters, is the biggest foreign user of the popular U.S.-designed planes but is currently looking for a newer aircraft to replace its aging fleet.
Though many upgrades and changes to the planes have been made over the years, F-15 fighters have been in service since the early 1970s and are increasingly expensive to maintain. The United States, which also relies heavily on the aircraft, is planning to phase out its F-15s in favor of the more advanced F-35 and F-22.
The Japanese versions of the plane, originally built by McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing, are produced domestically under a license by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
-japantoday.com
F-15s intercept small plane flying over Camp David
On June 11, two US F-15 fighter jets intercepted a small civilian plane flying near Camp David, the presidential retreat where Barack Obama is spending the weekend with his family.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said the F-15 jets intercepted the Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft near the Maryland retreat at around 3:25 pm (1925 GMT).
NORAD said they escorted it away “without incident.”
“The civilian aircraft, which was out of radio communication, was intercepted approximately 11 miles from Camp David,” it said in a statement.
“The F-15s… escorted the aircraft out of the area and it landed at Hagerstown, Maryland, without incident.”
NORAD spokeswoman Stacey Knott said the plane was intercepted out of an “abundance of caution” because it was out of radio contact, adding that it did not appear to pose any threat.
Camp David is one of the United States’ eleven ‘No-Fly Zones.’ Originally a three-mile radius, it was increased to eight-miles after September 11, 2001.
The area, known as Prohbited Area 40 is over Thurmont, Maryland, surrounding Catoctin Mountain Park.
The retreat has been used to host multiple heads of state since Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Winston Churchill to join him there in 1943.
The camp is also U.S Navy installation and is alleged to be one of the safest places in the world.
-dailymail.co.uk
South Korea speeds up combat fighter purchase
According to the Jan. 30 Yonhap news report, South Korea will bring forward its planned purchase of an advanced fleet of combat fighters with stealth capability to 2015, a project estimated at 10 trillion won ($9 billion).
The move comes as tensions persist on the Korean peninsula as the South is concerned about North Koreas’s missile building, while China confirmed earlier this month it had held its first test-flight of a stealth fighter jet.
U.S. and European defense companies have been gearing up for the third phase of South Korea’s fighter modernization program to replace decades-old F-4E and F-5E/F jets that have been involved in several fatal crashes in recent years.
Boeing Co F-15 fighters, Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 multinational Joint Strike Fighters and EADS Eurofighter jets are likely to join in the competition.
“There is a consensus building within the government to speed up the next-generation fighter project,” Yonhap quoted an unidentified government source as saying.
“A budget of 300 million won is earmarked for the research and development this year, but (the government) could set aside additional money through a budget adjustment if needed.”
Under the original timetable, South Korea would receive proposals from defense companies early next year and pick one in August 2012 to introduce fighter jets with stealth capability between 2016 and 2020.
-thestar.com.my
Warplanes.com’s Win an F-15 Model Contest
Posted by admin in F-15 Model on September 21st, 2010
“Blog, Grab and Brag”
Warplanes.com’s Win a Model Airplane Contest
Calling all collectors, veterans, historians and aviation aficionado! Warplanes is throwing away an early Christmas gift just for you! Three lucky bloggers will have the chance to own one of our awesome model planes. The contest is pretty simple: just write (or blog) about: why you should be given a beautifully hand-crafted model plane?
So go write that blog entry and post that article now! The contest starts September 23 and ends on October 22, 2010. For your entry to count, you need to post a link to your article on Warplane’s Fan Page.
Here are the contest mechanics in detail:
- Warplanes, makers of museum-quality model aircraft and ships, is saying “thank you” to our customers by giving away three model planes. Winners can choose between a scale replica of an F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon or an Apache Longbow AH-64D.
- To join, you have to write a blog entry or an article telling us why you should win. If you don’t have your own website or blog site, no worries! You can ask a friend, a relative or a co-worker to post your blog on their site. Each entry must have a link to the Warplane’s website and the Warplanes Facebook Fan Page.
- Let us know about your entry by posting a link on Warplanes’ wall. The link should direct us to your write-up. Once acknowledged, you entry is counted and your in!
- Warplanes’ panel of judges will read all the entries and the person whose entry we find most compelling owns a model airplane of his/her choice.
- One winner will be selected by fans, based on the number of “likes” to the link. The entry that gets the most “likes” on our page automatically gets one awesome model airplane! (tip: once posted, spread the news and tell all your friends to like your wall post!
- One lucky customer will be chosen at random by the organizers and gets his/her desired model plane just like that!
- Warplanes administrator will notify the winners as soon as they are determined.
Warplanes is giving you this rare opportunity of owning one of our best products for free! An advance Christmas gift it is, and our way of saying how much we appreciate your continued support.
F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon or an Apache Longbow AH-64D model plane – whether you are planning to give it to your dad, grandpa or just for yourself, you know you just can’t resist masterpieces like these!
- This could be yours!
Good luck everyone!
