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Old 27th July 2020, 01:03   #136
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re: Indian Civil Aviation

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Originally Posted by Sutripta View Post
Can't believe 20 years have gone by. If suddenly asked, would have replied something like 'happened a few years back'!

Sutripta

Why is this in the Indian Aviation thread?
Well I suppose a tenuous link is that Air India had expressed an interest to acquire 2 in the 60s! How incredible would that have been?
Indian Civil Aviation-picture1.png

Link: Mustard had a new video out on the programme that'll probably be of interest.


PS: There's an additional video to go with the above but you need to be a Nebula subscriber ($12 for a whole year and you get access to Curiosity Stream)

Anyway, a friend of mine while going through his late grandmothers loft happened to stumble across a boarding pass and menu card for a Concorde flight. I'll try to find the photo he sent me.

For those wondering about the fate of supersonic transport, NASA is funded for the QSST programme, essentially Quiet Super Sonic Transport. They have an odd looking flying prototype as well, the funky nose being all about getting around the adverse effects of a sonic boom and the shock wave causing it.

Interestingly it seems there's another private firm that's pinned it's hopes on the future of supersonic civilian air travel being in the form of private jet buyers. I suppose I can see the angle where those normally used to private jets probably having the wherewithal to be open to the added cost of getting somewhere Even faster, thus making the tricky economics of super sonic flight work out.

Here are some videos to get you up to speed (sorry couldn't help myself):


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Old 27th July 2020, 06:59   #137
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re: Indian Civil Aviation

NASA was (at least pre Covid) quietly (terrible pun!) confident of the technical success, and commercial need and viability of their SST.

Sutripta
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Old 27th July 2020, 10:47   #138
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re: Indian Civil Aviation

Concorde still stands out in terms of an incredible engineering feat.
Travelling at Mach 2+ for hour after hour, in comfort at the time was just incredible. This was the time that fighter jets could only just muster Mach 2 and only for a short while and the pilot was wearing a pressure suit.

I have flown on her only once, short demo flight, not supersonic. But I have seen and drooled over several Concordes the world over in various museums. And of course, I got to fly the last remaining ex BA Flight Simulator in 2016.

The cause of the crash is still somewhat controversial. Years after the crash and the publication of the official investigations, other insight materialised.

Quote:
The plane went down not because of any fire, directly, but because 1., it was flying too slowly; 2., it was several tons overweight and beyond its aft center of gravity limit; 3., two of its four engines were damaged or erroneously shut down.
The short version here: https://askthepilot.com/untold-concorde-story/

A lot of these findings were uncovered by 15 year Concorde Captain veteran John Hutchinson

A hugely interesting pod cast of him explaining in detail:

https://www.podcastingonaplane.com/p...ir-france-4590

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Old 28th July 2020, 10:20   #139
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re: Indian Civil Aviation

The carbon dioxide pollution that hundreds of supersonic flights will create will simply not be compatible with the world's movement {albeit reluctantly} towards reducing the carbon footprint. Further advancement in technology for virtual meetings and the change in attitudes & habits brought on by CV19 means more people will simply go for a top class virtual meeting software/hardware than travel for business. Of course all business travel cannot be cut out but a significant volume will.

The Concorde, in my opinion will for the foreseeable future remain the first and last successful commercial supersonic airliner. As Jeroen mentions the Concorde reflects how competent British & French aerospace technology was in the 1960s. The French sensibly retained their capability by forming Airbus Industrie with the Germans, Dutch etc and Govt military contracts to Dassault and Aerospatiale and building their Ariane rockets. The British Govt and BAC sadly did not support Airbus for the initial almost ten years and neither did the Govt support their own industry adequately.
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Old 28th July 2020, 13:13   #140
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Originally Posted by V.Narayan View Post
e Germans, Dutch etc and Govt military contracts to Dassault and Aerospatiale and building their Ariane rockets. .
I am generalising here: the world often mocks the French on all sorts of topics, but when it comes to technology the French are and have been at the foreground of many technical developments since the industrial revolution. Often far ahead of many other nations in various disciplines.

They build the largest/most powerful steam engines at the time. They are one of the most experienced nations when it comes to nuclear/fusion technology. And these days they still have a leading position in certain aspects of aviation technology. (E.g. recovering data from black boxes springs to mind).

Obviously, nobody knows, because it’s all done in French!

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Old 28th July 2020, 13:51   #141
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re: Indian Civil Aviation

Quote:
Originally Posted by V.Narayan View Post
The Concorde, in my opinion will for the foreseeable future remain the first and last successful commercial supersonic airliner.
I've been following a startup called Boom that seeks to re-introduce supersonic passenger flights to our world. They had pre-sold 30 jets to Japan Airlines and to Virgin, at least as of March 2019. This had bagged them $200 million.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/22/bo...its-game-plan/

They state that they'll start off from where the Concorde left us essentially, and show us a lighter and more fuel-efficient version. I'm not saying that they're using the Concorde's design; but the founder is openly acknowledging that their aim is to bring us a modern Concorde for today.

I feel sorry for them now...I fear that in today's pandemic-hit world, their pre-sales money would've been called back by their two to-be customers (how do pre-sold deals work really?)
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Old 29th July 2020, 09:11   #142
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re: Indian Civil Aviation

Dassault Rafale arrives.......

No need for words the photos say it all......I've been waiting for this day since 2006. Jai Hind.
Attached Thumbnails
Indian Civil Aviation-915783iafrafalefrance.jpg  

Indian Civil Aviation-15504098283727.jpg  

Indian Civil Aviation-jetsthedispatch.jpg  

Indian Civil Aviation-rafale.1.691480.jpg  

Indian Civil Aviation-rafale_july29_fr9edry.jpg  

Indian Civil Aviation-rafale-2.jpg  

Indian Civil Aviation-rafale-3.jpg  

Indian Civil Aviation-rafale-4.jpg  

Indian Civil Aviation-rafale-5.jpg  


Last edited by V.Narayan : 29th July 2020 at 09:17.
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Old 29th July 2020, 09:26   #143
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re: Indian Civil Aviation

Which AFS is this? And are the first batch pilots for Rafale selected from Mirage 2000 squadrons because of the compatibility?
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Old 29th July 2020, 11:56   #144
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re: Indian Civil Aviation

Rafales incoming baby!

Some snaps from IAF's twitter of the mid-air fuel replenishment:

Indian Civil Aviation-eeauze3u8aad3ck.jpeg

Indian Civil Aviation-eeauxwbuyae6jbp.jpeg

Indian Civil Aviation-eeau03fuwaetefj.jpeg

Indian Civil Aviation-eeauxkfueaarulu.jpeg

Historical moment for India IMO. These would be based out of the Ambala air force base while the next batch is said to be stationed at Hasimara, WB. The govt. has imposed Section 144 in Ambala.

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Originally Posted by Gansan View Post
Which AFS is this?
The last snap is from the Al Dhafra air base at the UAE when the Rafales halted for the night and the Indian ambassador to France visited the base.
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Old 29th July 2020, 15:26   #145
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re: Indian Civil Aviation

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gansan View Post
Which AFS is this? And are the first batch pilots for Rafale selected from Mirage 2000 squadrons because of the compatibility?
The level of compatibility / interoperability would be very - VERY low actually. But yes - being from Dassault and a sort of an evolution of the Mirage lineage, the Mirage2000 would still be the nearest in the IAF inventory to the Rafale. I don't think there would be a dearth of pilots to train for the Rafale & so might not have been a need to specifically pick from the Mirage specialists. Of course I'm just speculating, I don't know. Your theory may quite well be right.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gannu_1 View Post
The last snap is from the Al Dhafra air base at the UAE when the Rafales halted for the night and the Indian ambassador to France visited the base.
I think the last snap is from France before seeing them off towards the east. Don't see why the Indian ambassador to France would visit an airbase in the UAE to see off the planes.

Also - that particular snap has been doing viral rounds on social media since before the planes were scheduled to arrive at Al-Dhafra by my calculations.

Last edited by Reinhard : 29th July 2020 at 15:29.
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Old 29th July 2020, 15:47   #146
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re: Indian Civil Aviation

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Originally Posted by Reinhard View Post
I think the last snap is from France before seeing them off towards the east. Don't see why the Indian ambassador to France would visit an airbase in the UAE to see off the planes.
Yep, I stand corrected. The snaps were tweeted by the Indian Embassy in France - Link.
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Old 29th July 2020, 15:52   #147
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As much thrilled I am as an aviation geek, and the fact that it is the first new frontline fighter aircraft in some 20 odd years since Su30, I think that the TV media has gone absolutely bonkers about this in the past few days.
It simply doesnt behove a mature, strong (supposedly top-5) military and economic power to display this immaturity over the induction of a weapon system, as if it were the equivalent of the Brahmastra (which it certainly isn't uniquely so).
I am sure even our potential adversaries are having quite a laugh about it frankly, while the TV media is already deciding the forward deployment , the mission-profiles and the weaponry, even before the planes have touched their landing gear on Indian terra firma.

If the government agencies are endorsing this euphoria, it is a scary thought that we were so much the worse off without them so far.

Last edited by fhdowntheline : 29th July 2020 at 15:55.
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Old 29th July 2020, 16:13   #148
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Lovely article... https://www.news18.com/photogallery/...s-2337431.html

For laymen like me

For above poster, India is a free country, and so is the media for better or for worse

Just that when the news bulletins change seamlessly between the rafales and Rhea I get a brain freeze.

Last edited by Red Liner : 29th July 2020 at 16:15.
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Old 29th July 2020, 16:30   #149
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Originally Posted by Red Liner View Post
As is a sort of a norm with Indian media publications (They just don't like to get facts and technical details right!) - they have used the photo of a formation of Jaguar IS and IM (Samsher) (different nose cones) under the heading of "Mig-27" (Bahadur).

An indictment of our education system perhaps. Never an emphasis on attention to detail. So many left behind.
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Old 29th July 2020, 19:51   #150
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Today, my TV was blaring of the news of arrival of Rafale.

Well, normally my TV stays quiet except for some news (one news a day - stretched to an epic) or some devotional discourse that my wife is interested in while I sip a bit of what others use for washing hands.
As it started, there was a countdown of landing on the screen and remaining time of 3:29. OK! 3 minutes, I can wait. After about a minute a news ' Rafale are near Mumbai' as tweeted by Rajnath Singh. If I believe (normally I do not believe Politicians), which Aircraft can reach Ambala from Mumbai in 2 minutes ? Possible only in Punjabi where the answer for any duration is Bas Do mint.
Well the wait continued for over an hour with voice recording between Pilots of Rafale and Indian Warship in Indian Ocean, played again and again.
Coming to Ambala Airfield, we saw the Military Police controlling their own Traffic. Rafale would be landing any minute now. Another news 'Rafale are informed to be flying over Agra'.
I wish the News Anchor to be admitted in Agra Specialist Hospital, but all wishes do not come true.
Finally, I understand Rafale to be actually at Ambala as their thunderous sound was relayed on TV. They would be given 'Water Shower' on arrival.
The Camera scanned the skies for Rafale, while the commentator stated that 'Rafale have landed, It is understood that they have been given Water Shower and the IAF Chief would be meeting the Pilots and Welcome them'.

I was reminded of the times when we had only 2 Doordarshan channels. It was the occasion of an Eclipse. A panel of Astrophysicist was on the screen giving their opinion. How it happens, effects and all blah blah. And then the camera was turned to show the dying moments of the eclipse.
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