HeyEng

This is starting to get suspicious, apparently one of his colleagues went missing last year and was never found. She was instrumental in developing a new metal material to replace a proprietary metal found in Russian rocket motors used in commercial rockets.

Good analysis of recent Naval engagements from the “Sub Brief”

Is this the first sinking of an enemy surface ship by a US Navy sub since WWII? Definitely a first for a US Nuke Sub!

Taking an AA missile up the pipe makes much more sense for all three crews surviving than being struck by a a SAM fragmentation warhead and I was a little skeptical of the Patriot missile story. Ward covers this story as well as the Yak shootdown by a F-35. https://youtu.be/3cb7R1xEZBI

Apparently this happened two days ago but got overshadowed by current events. A Bolivian C-130 crashed into a crowded street, killing numerous people. It was also transporting cash for their National Bank and riot police had to be called in to subdue looters.

Yea, I’m assuming it was a head-on shot too. Real lucky!

An AFSOC C-146A Wolfhound struck a concrete barrier while taking off in the Philippines causing substantial damage to the aircraft and some injuries to the crew. When this appeared on my feed my first question was what the hell is a C-146A? It's a Dornier Do 328 twin turboprop aircraft that's part of the eclectic coterie of Key West Agreement sized aircraft that the Air Force operates with a diaspora of aircrew in far-flung corners of the world. When I worked at ATA years ago I used to jumpseat on these all the time, I cannot remember which airline operated them but they had a fairly modern glass cockpit layout at the time and had a unique navigation system. Instead of INS, IRS, or Ring Laser Gyro they used a system that would triangulate multiple radio Navaids for a position solution. I don't remember what it was called but the crews seemed to really like the aircraft. The Do 328 was short lived in US Airline service and quickly replaced by Regional Jets so I'm sure the AF picked up some of these for a reasonable cost.

Apparently some party balloons were shot down over El Paso, what’s the ratio now for balloon vs. drone engagements over North America?

Several YouTube videos have appeared on my feed about a failed Coup attempt which is the reason for these sudden purges. I take most of them with a grain of salt but they cannot be completely discarded.

The NTSB did an update to the crash investigation. It appears that the aft spherical bearing race was cracked in half at the grease groove which caused excessive movement of the aft pylon mount.

Drones sighted over Ireland allegedly targeting Zelenskyy’s aircraft during his visit.

I attended the funeral this weekend for Richard Wartenberg. In addition to all his Squadron mates attending there was a large UPS pilot presence as well. I was talking to one of the UPS pilots about their MD-11 and plans to replace them and he was saying that UPS has been working on an Airbus/Boeing widebody freighter for years due to the increased MX issues with the MD-11 and scarcity of parts and engineering expertise. One interesting point he said was that UPS elected not get the STC (supplemental type certificate) pylons that the FedEx MD-10/11 fleet have. These are stronger pylons that require less MX and replace the original pylon.

One of the pilots was a Squadron Mate of mine but his name hasn’t officially been released yet. I was an FE on the DC-10 for about a year and I don’t know if the MD-11 was similar but I was never impressed with the aircraft especially the slat system. For an aircraft that was so dependent on leading edge slats there was a lack of backups to prevent them from retracting if you lost hydraulics! Pictures have surfaced of the number one engine and nacelle cowl laying off the side of the runway and I have heard from the grapevine that another engine was damaged as well.

OA-1K crash landing, luckily no injuries due in no part to the rugged airframe. https://www.twz.com/air/air-forces-crop-duster-converted-into-attack-plane-crash-lands-in-field

Here is the full story: https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/mystery-object-hits-united-airlines-flights-windshield-36000/story?id=126705192

You are right, I thought these were limited to slow movers like the A-10 and helicopters due to the barn door aerodynamics of the rocket pod but they have been used on F-16 and F/A-18. These would definitely have been a more cost effective answer when we shot down those Chinese Spy balloons over Lake Huron, Alaska, Canada, and North Carolina.

Bothe the War Zone and the Mover and Gronky show report an A-10 sporting two drone kills on its nose. The kills were allegedly performed by APKWS II 2.75” (70mm) laser guided rockets. If true this offers a much more cost effective alternative to shooting down drones.

To be fair, the Danes said that some of these drones are aircraft and others still remain unidentified but it looks likes they have backed off labeling them as “attacks”. According to this video many of these drone incursions predate the Russian invasion of Ukraine.