Operation Red Flag is ok. Some good cinemetography but way too much CGI. Almost all the onboard shots show fake aircraft, Top Gun had better footage more than 20 years ago and that's kind of embarrassing for the IMAX producers IMO. They also make Red Flag seem very casual and like a game. That's not how it is in reality.

This is much better onboard stuff:

Ya, that Red Flag production was horrible.

Vid put together a few years ago by a CF pilot. Probably seen it before but still cool.

That was one of the best F-18 videos I've seen! It was new to me! Was the pilots callsign actually Squish? My dad wants to know, thinks he knows him.

Yup, funny guy.

Got to be honest, the USSR and (present day Russia) had some really great aviation engineering achievements. :thumbsup:

^^^ i know it's probably convergent engineering evolution (similar mission parameters determining similar designs) but really, don't you think quite a bit of spywork went into their designs?

i mean, it's like a military version of this:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c4...pergeelyge.jpg

well, that and not surprised if some engineers get hired overseas....


look at china's new stealth fighter.. lots of characteristics from the PAK-FA.. not surprised some Russian engineers are behind it.. i bet the chinese pay those guys more than the Sukhoi does..

Photo sequence of the F-18 crash at Lethbridge this summer:

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8...thbridge23.jpg
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3...0104739046.jpg
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/8...0104739047.jpg
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/871...0104739190.jpg
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/3...n?size=620x400
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/3...n?size=620x400

must be a pretty jarring experiance to be ejected lol

look at his neck/head in the eject picture.

fuck i would be so scared of actually landing in the wreckage fire

The sneak pass is my favorite part of a fighters routine at airshows. But a couple years ago the Blue Angels lead solo took sneak passes to a new level...

i see your low pass and lower you a raise pa... i mean raise you a lower pass.



love the comment below "The reason the third pilot was flying so low is because his balls were weighing him down."

Alright I'll raise you a flypast so low the pilot dips below the press boxes in a stadium before a college football game!

lol. understatement.

especially for that CF-18 pilot, there was the initial shock of the ejection, the sudden jerk of the parachute when it inflated, and then the inevitable crash into the ground from having ejected at too low a height, too low for the parachute to sufficiently slow his descent for a landing without some sort of injury.

Guy on my other forum flew for the USAF. Had to eject while rotating (needed 200' minimum). Destroyed his back and left the AF. Funny part is, he was taking off/leaving for scheduled R&R.

must get a pretty sweet pension if you injure yourself like that

although i'm sure for a pilot he'd rather be in the air than sitting on a couch collecting a check

i forget, did they come to some conclusion as to why that cf-18 crashed?

EDIT:

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets...lt-rafaele.jpg


Off Gizmodo today.

Couldn't tell ya, i'm assuming so. Doesn't seem like he works anymore:P He owns a small air strip in the middle of nowhere USA.

He still flies Cessnas and what not, but ya. I'm sure he wishes he could be back on a fighter.

There is still an on going investigation but here's an initial report from "From the Investigator" about the crash.

Just by looking at the engines you can see something is wrong. The left engine is wide open which means it's under full power, the right engine is half closed which means it's basically idle. Pilot says he gave it full power to climb away and the jet yawed hard right. Looks like a right engine failure to me.
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Yeah, but the mystery is; "why did the right hand engine fail"? Keep checking the From the Investigator reports, they usually solve the accidents and publish their reports when they are solved.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ej5kQwZWlz...hter_jet_6.jpg

http://www.comhaha.com/img/upload/china-j20.jpg

so soon china..???

Word on the street, is the engine flamed out, but the pilot didn't get the caution until he was already in the maneuver. It takes about 10 seconds from flameout until the caution is illuminated. Unfortunately, the engine data is stored on a small "flash drive" card in the cockpit, which was destroyed.