Search Results for: Lockheed

Perhaps because of its various attractions, night flying presents its own set of challenges. Let the sun go down, and all kinds of aviation-related mischief can ensue. The basic problem, of course, is humans are not well-adapted to seeing and doing complex things in low-visibility conditions. So, we have to compensate.

Passengers of a Douglas DC-3 belonging to Yellowknife, Canada-based Buffalo Airways got a wild ride after one of the two big radial engines caught fire shortly after takeoff from the Yellowknife Airport, Canadian news network CBC reported. The pilot of the heavy taildragger circled back to the airport, but didn’t quite make it to the […]

de Havilland Mosquito photos by Scott Slocum| When I first came across Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft as a new associate editor at Flying magazine in the mid-1990s, I was already a longtime aviation-history enthusiast — an incurable condition I inherited from my father. Jane’s, as I hope you know, is the record of aircraft […]

An excerpt from “One of the Trusted” by Gill Robb Wilson: _You look down at your _ hands on the wheel. They are veined and hard and brown. Tonight you notice they look a little old. _And, by George, they are old. _ But how can this be? _Only yesterday you _ were in flying […]

Of all the major components of a conventional airplane, the tail—empennage, if you prefer—may be the least understood. Yes, we generally know it’s there to help balance and stabilize the airplane’s attitude in flight, and to help control yaw and pitch, but that’s often the extent to which we paid attention in ground school. If we were paying more attention, we might have learned airplane tails come in many different shapes and sizes, and can be placed at either end of the airplane. They can be partially or totally omitted from some airplanes, while others might be considered to have more than one.

Flight test crews at Lockheed Martin have hit some milestones this month as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program slowly progresses. At the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland on May 10, the F-35B short-takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) Lightning II test airplane completed its first vertical takeoff — a flight that also included a vertical […]

The National Aeronautic Association announced on Tuesday that the team behind the Mars Curiosity Rover will be awarded the 2012 Robert J. Collier Trophy. The award was given “…in recognition of the extraordinary achievements of successfully landing Curiosity on Mars, advancing the nation’s technological and engineering capabilities and significantly improving humanity’s understanding of ancient Martian […]

A half-inch-long crack in a turbine engine blade prompted the Pentagon to ground the fleet of 51 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters on Friday, the latest black eye for the troubled and oft-delayed military jet program. Engineers at Pratt & Whitney planned to conduct a detailed examination of the turbine blade on the F135 engine as […]

A history of Collier awards for achievements that didn’t work out as planned. Plus, a look at this year’s nominations and a chance to vote for your favorite.

The Collier Trophy honors the outstanding achievement in aerospace during the previous year, and 2012, as you’ll see from these nominees, was a year of innovation for the ages. Also, a look at Collier awards for achievements that didn’t work out as planned.