Andras Sobester

The last Boeing 727 ever built is still airworthy and has a very important job (clue in the livery!). In this video you can see the combination of a team of three awesome aviators + 75t of deliciously analogue trijet skim the North Sea at 150ft and 170mph. Many thanks to @2Excel_Aviation and @oilspillexperts for this unique insight into their super cool ops!

On-board weight and balance, as you say, is trickier than it would first seem. A few years ago at a Farnborough Airshow I bumped into these people - their system, if I recall correctly, was based on oleo flow metering (which, I thought at the time, wouldn’t have been my starting point). I wonder how they have been getting on - at the time they seemed confident that they’d cracked the problem.

How could an airplane find itself trying to take off with a hundred thousand kilos more weight on board than what the pilots had calculated with? And exactly what would happen if it did? Let's find out 👇 youtu.be/Sjrz3zdHqRE

@graeme_cobb This is the dream, sadly a one-off only.

Should Estate Cars Make a Comeback? Leave a comment underneath explaining your choice.

@spirit_spitfire Maybe I need a course in using that AR app, because this is the best I got after half a dozen attempts 😁 In any case, I cannot wait to be standing under the real thing - thanks for all your hard work towards making this a reality.

Curious about what the National Spitfire Project will actually look like? Down at Mayflower Park, Southampton, you can now experience the monument in full scale through augmented reality. Simply scan the QR code on site and watch the monument come to life right in front of you.

@trend_nosig Thanks. So if the THS position is frozen, does it achieve the target pitch attitude of -2deg by deflecting the elevator? If so, what is the role of the pilot in what happens to the pitch attitude during the flare?

@ASobester THS: Trimmable Horizontal Stabiliser. This is frozen during the flare. Non 321 Neo “freeze” THS at 50’. The attitude of the airplane is memorised. Passing 30’, the airplane starts commanding nose down movement. Targeting a pitch attitude of -2° over the next 8 seconds.

Attention Airbus 321 Pilots ! Ever since the advent of the 321 Neo, we've seen a spate of dramatic landings. Hard ones, long ones and the more than occasional tail strike. She came with a modified flare law which got activated 1 second after passing 100' RA. The airplane didn't pitch down either, unlike its predecessors. x.com/trend_nosig/st… For the longest time, Airbus maintained that the flare technique was the same as the shorter siblings. However, in the latest update to the FCTM, the flare height for the A321 has now been modified to 40' instead of the earlier 30'. Inter alia, the "actual" flare height depends on a variety of factors. Let's quickly review the FCTM. 1) Compared to typical flare height at sea level for flat and adequate runway lengths, the flight crew needs to be aware of external factors that have an impact on the flare height, particularly: ‐ High airport elevation: An increased altitude results in a higher ground speed during approach with an associated increase in descent rates to maintain the approach slope. ‐ Steeper approach slope ‐ Tailwind: An increased tailwind results in a higher ground speed during approach with an associated increase in descent rates to maintain the approach slope. ‐ Increase in runway slope: An increase in runway slope and/or rising terrain in front of the runway affects the radio height callouts until the runway threshold. This can cause late flare inputs if the flight crew relies on those callouts to assess the height and start the flare. This may also cause a visual misperception of being high. 2) The weight of the aircraft has a direct impact on the VAPP. Depending on the aircraft variant, the flight crew needs to anticipate the flare height for aircraft with higher weight and inertia. Note: The cumulative effects of any of the above factors combined for one approach will require the anticipation of the flare maneuver. If the flare is initiated too late, then the pitch changes do not have sufficient time to enable the necessary change to the aircraft trajectory. Late, weak or released flare inputs increase the risk of a hard landing. For a stabilized approach, the flare height is around 30 ft for A318/A319/A320, and around 40 ft for A321. A flare in time, saves a 2.9 (g). A big thanks to Capt @MohitBiala for bringing this to my attention a few weeks ago.

@graeme_cobb I’ll have to concede - by a whisker!

It’s that time of year where I start getting ridiculous efficiency on my commutes. Today was 5.67 miles/kWh at 9°C Wasn’t even trying!

@ArronJ89 @tesla_jokes @MattJsyChemist @TeslaJigsaw @EvEvangelist @evsmiles @SomeUKTeslaGuy @robotinreallife @YTJustGetATesla @RSymonsLTD @FSDJourneyUK @die_wende_ @m8nimal @travelwithtesla I’m getting a long-winded ‘dunno’…

Anyone else? FSD early access. UK @tesla_jokes @MattJsyChemist @TeslaJigsaw @EvEvangelist @evsmiles @SomeUKTeslaGuy @robotinreallife @YTJustGetATesla @robotinreallife @RSymonsLTD @FSDJourneyUK @die_wende_ @m8nimal @travelwithtesla

@AirMobilityRAF As an aside, what a stunning image of the water drawn into the prop wash! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a water cannon salute with a big turboprop like this - very cool.

Final RAF sortie after 36 years. Flight Lieutenant Dunc has marked the end of his long RAF career with a final sortie in an Atlas A400M, touching down at RAF Brize Norton. Find out more: Link in comments.

@OnDisasters Good thing none of us have strong opinions about aircraft liveries 😝

I know the Condor livery isn´t very popular around here, but I like it a lot

Uh-oh. The Condor ‘beach towel’ livery has jumped the species barrier.

@OnDisasters Presumably when they did the field performance calculations that morning, V_rotate came out as -2 knots.

Reversing Luftwaffe A400 pulling a wheelie on a demo at RIAT 2025 📹 FDRV (RD)

@DaveWallsworth Literally the question I asked myself as I stood in the middle of my kitchen a few minutes ago. (Welcome to sunny Hampshire in any case 😎)

Just arrived here. Anyone know where it is and why I’m here? 😊🪐

@OnDisasters As @BigJetTVLIVE Jerry would put it: EASY BIG FELLA!!! That’s a great sporting location at EGVA, btw, I always love hanging out there on RIAT arrivals days.

Gotta love the spotters enthusiasm

@david__s @OnDisasters I have two copies. One at home and one at the office, just in case it’s urgently needed 😝

@ASobester @OnDisasters His autobiography ("A View from the Hover: My Life in Aviation") is well worth a read. Especially getting his own back on one of his least favourite flying instructors, in a Vulcan being used to test new instruments for Concorde😀

Harrier elevator ride... had never seen this before "The "Farley Takeoff," developed by legendary test pilot John Farley, involved hovering a Harrier jet at 100 feet before pitching the nose up to a steep 60-degree angle while still in a hover. ⁠ ⁠ Once in this vertical position, he would apply maximum power to "rocket climb" away, a "seat of the pants" maneuver that was strictly forbidden for Royal Air Force and Royal Navy service pilots due to its extreme difficulty and lack of instrument guidance. ⁠ ⁠ Credit: Hawker Siddeley (later British Aerospace/BAE Systems)" ℹ️historyphotographed

@OnDisasters Yes. Beyond the Harrier, he was the first Western pilot to fly a MiG-29 etc. And he always played down the difficulty of flying the Harrier, “same as any other fast jet really, give or take some levers in the cockpit….”

@ASobester The guy was very badass

@dailyecho I guess it didn’t work then…?

Royal Navy warship that boasts 'invisibility cloak' spotted off Hampshire coast ift.tt/OpRCDtE

@OnDisasters @analyticflying Funny how we have come full circle and it’s such a relief now to see an aulde worlde safety video…

BREAKING from @analyticflying - the new Qantas safety video. Like it, simple, shorter, and no celebrity cameos.

@lucyblackmur When is it expected to depart, do you know?

A Spitfire comes in to land at Southampton airport.

@SteveNomadic Cool! Does it generate fake altitudes and speeds that someone has to cross-check on the flight deck displays? Does the aircraft have a special mode for this test, where it doesn’t freak out because of the vast discrepancy between the zero GNSS speed and the zillion knot airspeed?

91.411 Pitot Static test in progress… required every 24 calendar months