USAF | International Aviation HQ

Pilatus PC-12: The Best Corporate Turboprop Yet?…

27Mar

By Alya Kulikova1 Comment

Executive

Pilatus PC-12: The Best Corporate Turboprop Yet?…

In recent years, the Pilatus PC-12 has proven to be one of the best and most versatile turboprop aircraft ever built. Whilst principally a corporate aircraft, the PC-12 has also been used in hundreds of different capacities! Indeed, recent years have seen many hail the aircraft as one of the best corporate aircraft you could fly on. And it's not me who says that, it's the people who actually operate the Pilatus PC-12! Since its introduction in 1994, Pilatus has produced almost 2,000 PC-12s, and looks set to produce many more in the coming years... (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Development In the late 1950's, Swiss aircraft manufacturer, Pilatus Aircraft, released what it called the PC-6. Within only a few years, the PC-6 had proven to be qu...

F-16 vs F-35: The Future of The Air Force?…

5Dec

By Christopher HarrowNo Comments

Aircraft Compare

F-16 vs F-35: The Future of The Air Force?…

The F-35 is supposed to be the world's most advanced fighter jet. It is supposed to replace every other aircraft in a modern air force's fleet, including the F-16. This has caused many to wonder which is better- the F-16 and F-35? In recent years, the cost of the F-35 has skyrocketed, combined with several other issues regarding the F-35, has caused many to say that we should modify existing F-16 fleets rather than buy a relatively untested aircraft. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); F-16 vs F-35: What is a Fighter Jet? Today, the term "fighter jet" is used quite a lot. Mostly, it is used as a blanket term for military aircraft, both by the media and general public. However, this is not really true, at least not in a military sense, anyway. Th...

7Nov

By Alexander PaskNo Comments

History

History of Air Force Two

Air Force One is arguably the most famous private jet in the world, with it being the President of the United States' private aircraft. With that being said, few remember the Vice President's Air Force Two aircraft. Due to safety concerns, the President and Vice President of the United States can never fly together. As such, both need completely different aircraft when they're traveling by air. Air Force One's history is well known, expediting through films such as Air Force One. The history of Air Force Two on the other hand, is less well known... (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Pre-Air Force One The concept of government owned aircraft predates the Wright Brothers' first flight in 1903. Many contemporary journalists saw the airship desi...

17Jun

By Alexander PaskNo Comments

History

History of Air Force One

Air Force One is perhaps the most famous presidential aircraft of all time. However, it didn't always exist, so why was it made and how has it evolved over time? Today we will find out! Air Force One isn't actually one aircraft, in fact it refers to any aircraft that is carrying the President of the United States. The aircraft's name has inspired several films, including Air Force One, starring Harrison Ford. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The First Although he wasn't in office when he first flew, former President Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to fly. He did this on October 11 1910, over a year after he left office. The first serving president to fly was actually Teddy Roosevelt's cousin, FDR. He flew on a specially reconfigu...

Grumman X-29: The World’s Most Unconventional Aircraft Design

18Dec

By Gareth SeagullNo Comments

Aircraft Digest

Grumman X-29: The World’s Most Unconventional Aircraft Design

In recent decades, the concept of swing wings has become widely adopted. However, most of the time, they aren't forward swing wings, like the Grumman X-29! Despite Grumman and the USAF spending millions of dollars developing the jet, much of its technology has since been proven to be useless. So what exactly did the US get out of the program? And why did it fail? As a result of the aircraft's technology and primary objective, the X-29 has arguably the weirdest aircraft design in history! (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Pre-X-29 The concept of forward-swept wings is not a new one. Rough sketches of forward swept aircraft date back to the time of the Wright Brothers! However, these designs proved to be ultimately futile. During WWII, the ...

6Jul

By Christopher HarrowNo Comments

Aircraft Digest

F-35: America’s super jet

The Lockheed Martin F-35 is the United States Air Force’s newest and most powerful aircraft, is it the United States most significant aircraft yet? The Lockheed Martin F-35 is the United States' premier fighter aircraft, it was originally developed from the Lockheed Martin X-35 (pictured below). The development of the F-35, at the time called the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as they hadn’t given out a contract for the development at the time. The development began in 1992, the two main contenders for the JSF contract were the Lockheed Martin X-35 and the Boeing X-32 (pictures below), the final design was chosen based on the X-35. Boeing X-32B on display at Patuxent Naval Air Museum Lockheed Martin X-35 on a test flight The X-35 was then christened as the F-35 Lightning II, it was design...

22Jun

By Christopher HarrowNo Comments

Aircraft Digest

Harrier: The Best British Jet?

So a few days ago, I was speaking with some former British Royal Air Force and United States Air Force pilots. And they were talking about how they missed the the BAE Systems and McDonnell Douglas Harrier jets of the past. Rather than this ‘American crap’ as one of the former RAF Pilots said (referring to the new F-35 Lightning II). The RAF pilots then started wining about how they detest the new F-35 that replaced the Harrier. So was it really as good as they say it was? (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The Beginning It was originally developed by the UK-based aircraft manufacturer Hawker Siddeley in the 1960’s. Hawker Siddeley is now part of BAE Systems so it is sometimes called the BAE Harrier. It emerged as the only successful V/STOL (Vertica...