Friday, February 18, 2011

Miss Collegiate Aviation 1941


In the interest of preserving NIFA tradition, I hereby propose the immediate and permanent reinstatement of the "Miss Collegiate Aviation" award.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

The AWACS That Might Have Been

It's really a pity that the B-52 and E-3 never really hit it off.  Had the -52 been a bit more persistent, or had the E-3 had more of a morally casual attitude, this could have been the resulting love child:

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Design Study: MD-90 Pylon Flaps


***UPDATE***

I have, at long last, captured a photo and video of the pylon flaps in the deployed position:






------------------------------------------------------

Did you know the McDonnell-Douglas (ahem...Boeing) MD-90 has control surfaces that are not elevators, rudders, wing flaps, or ailerons?

Meet pylon flaps:




They are hydraulically powered, and are activated when the yoke is pushed near full forward position.  They aid in recovery from nose-high attitudes.  Presumably, the increased weight of the IAE V2500 engines in back makes nose-high recovery a bit more challenging than the MD-80 series with the comparatively lighter JT8D engines.

I'd love to see some photos of MD-90 pylon flaps deployed.  Anyone out there have access to an MD-90 maintenance hangar?  There may be beer in it for you.