Free Republic

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed he is looking “very actively” at a scheme for Poland to donate Soviet-designed jets to Ukraine and have them replaced with American jets — hours after the Polish government said the plan was “fake news”. “We are looking actively now at the question of airplanes that Poland may provide to Ukraine and looking at how we might be able to backfill should Poland decide to supply those planes,” Blinken claimed during a visit to Moldova, which borders Ukraine and, like its larger neighbour, involuntarily hosts Russian-backed separatist territory.

Not much of a description but it’s basically a jet powered leaf blower. It’s about as funny as you think it could be…but also cool to have it get as a Christmas gift!

LOS ANGELES, CA—One day after Governor Newsom fended off recall and secured the continuation of his reign, swarms of Californians descended upon Los Angeles International Airport desperate to escape. As planes filled and people began getting turned away, mothers attempted to pass their babies over the fence of the tarmac, and others clung to the landing gear of the last departing planes. Timothy Sawchuck of Pomona, who released his grip on the landing gear just before it became too late, said, “Grabbing the landing gear is what you do when you’re fleeing an authoritarian regime, right? I’m pretty sure I...

It wasn't immediately clear how many people were aboard the Bombardier CL 600. The Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft crashed at 1:18 p.m. on Monday while the pilot was attempting to land at nearby Truckee-Tahoe Airport. The owner of the aircraft and the flight plan were not immediately made public, although authorities later said it might have come from either Coeur d’Alene, Idaho or Florida. The CL 600 is a multi-seat business jet with twin engines mounted on the rear fuselage and a distinctive T-shaped tail. The jet can hold as many as 14 passengers and two crew.

"Whittle's jet engine design was a paradigm shift from the piston engines that were used in aeroplanes until that point," he said. "To understand a jet engine required a different understanding of aerodynamics and thermodynamics. A lot of very distinguished British engineers could not get their heads around that. As Whittle and his young family stood outside their Warwickshire home to witness the November 1940 bombing raid on Coventry, he was in despair. "He was born and bred Coventry," said Ian. "It was awful for my father. On 15 May 1941, Whittle and a party of interested engineers and RAF...

Loose lips sink ships, so discussion of location not necessary, BUT..On a DAILY basis I usually hear fighter jets (mostly F-35's) flying around my area. For more than a week I haven't heard ANY. NADA, ZILCH!

The jet belonging to climate czar John Kerry's family made its way to Idaho, where he and his wife have reportedly vacationed, as he traveled in Asia to promote the Biden administration's message on the issue. Flight records show that the jet left Boston late afternoon and landed in Hailey, Idaho, later that evening. It's unclear what the trip was for but the Idaho Press reported last year that he and his wife, Teresa, have been part-time residents in the nearby Sun Valley for decades. According to the State Department, the former secretary of state is currently on a trip...

A Marine Corps fighter jet collided in mid-air with another plane during a refueling operation in a remote desert area of Southern California Tuesday afternoon. But the pilot ejected and the other aircraft landed safely, the military said. The F-35B jet collided with a Lockheed Martin KC-130J tanker around 4 p.m., according to a statement from the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in nearby Arizona. The other plane reportedly had eight crew members on board. None were injured.

The Air Force Secretly Designed, Built, and Flew a Brand-New Fighter Jet And it all happened in just one year. Yes, that's mind-blowing. The U.S. Air Force revealed this week that it has secretly designed, built, and tested a new prototype fighter jet. The fighter, about which we know virtually nothing, has already flown and “broken records.” (The image above is Air Force concept art from 2018). The Air Force must now consider how it will buy the new fighter as it struggles to acquire everything from intercontinental ballistic missiles to bombers. The Air Force’s head of acquisition, Will Roper,...

The whispers started three years ago. A mysterious bullet-shaped plane was spotted at the Southern California Logistics Airport near Victorville in April 2017. Its unusual design prompted immediate speculation, with military website The War Zone being the first to report that the aircraft was the work of California-based Otto Aviation -- and that development was very much under wraps. Someone looking for an ID of an unusual looking aircraft spotted at the Southern California Logistics Airport. https://t.co/83J7RqOpvy pic.twitter.com/eAPrXNwIEf — John Wiseman (@lemonodor) April 16, 2017 Now, in the late summer of the strangest year in aviation history, the Celera 500L...

A surprise company outing to an air base caused a 64-year-old French man so much stress that he flung himself from a fighter jet in midair, grabbing the ejector button in a panic and tumbling through the skies above France before landing in a field. The man had been surprised by fellow employees, who had organized a joyride in a Dassault Rafale B jet for him as a treat. Once the man arrived at the Saint-Dizier air base in northeastern France and realized what his co-workers had arranged, he began to feel extremely stressed, according to a fairly remarkable aviation...

How dare you!

Elizabeth Warren is spotted getting off a private jet in Iowa - as Trump supporters accuse her of trying to hide behind a staffer when she realizes she's being filmed. Senator Elizabeth Warren was spotted getting off a private plane ahead of the Iowa caucus - with Trump supporters accusing her of trying to hide when she realized she was being filmed. The Democratic presidential candidate touched down in Des Moines on Monday on the private jet ahead of the caucus. Footage obtained by Fox News showed the 70-year-old stepping off the plane with several campaign staffers. The Massachusetts senator...

Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's president on Monday urged Tehran to hand over the black box flight recorders of a passenger plane mistakenly shot down by Iranian forces during a spike in tensions with Washington. President Volodymyr Zelensky met Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami in Kiev after Tehran suggested it would keep the black boxes. Zelensky told the minister "Ukraine has the technical capacity and experienced specialists" to read the information on the Boeing flight recorders, the presidency said in a statement. Iranian "representatives" would shortly travel to Ukraine "to acquaint themselves with those technical capacities. "The...

Tourists could fly from Britain to Australia in just four hours by the 2030s with a new hypersonic engine being developed by UK scientists, the head of the UK Space Agency has said. Reaction Engines, who are based in Oxfordshire, are in the process of building a hybrid hydrogen air-breathing rocket that will allow a plane to fly at Mach 5.4 - more than twice the speed of Concorde - then speed up to to Mach 25 in space. Not only would the new ‘Sabre’ engine allow speedier journeys - with a flight between London and New York slashed to...

Crews are searching for the pilot of a U.S. Navy fighter jet that crashed in Death Valley National Park, injuring seven people who were at a scenic overlook where aviation enthusiasts routinely watch military aircraft speeding low through a chasm dubbed Star Wars Canyon, officials said. A search was underway for the pilot of the single-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet that was on a routine training mission... The lookout point about 160 miles (257 kilometers) north of Los Angeles is popular with photographers and aviation buffs who gawk at jets flying in the steep, narrow canyon. Officials closed the area after...

June 18 (UPI) -- Israeli start-up Eviation showed off its all-electric airliner Tuesday at the Paris Air Show, and said a U.S. carrier has already made an order. Company CEO Omer Bar-Yohay said the plane, called Alice, is the first of its kind in the world. "The first all-electric commuter aircraft in the world, and it's out here ready and waiting," he told reporters. Eviation displayed a prototype of the nine-seat plane at Paris' Le Bourget Airport. It's designed to fly as fast as 650 miles per hour and has a cruise speed of 276 miles per hour. The goal,...

Al Arabiya reported that the Hafter controlled Libyan National Army has said that they have confirmed that the military jet they shot down south of Tripoli belonged to the EU’s Operation Sophia and that they will immediately return its foreign Portuguese pilot. Operation Sophia is part of an EU effort to monitor illegal immigration from Libya to the EU. A Libyan National Army spokesperson said that "We will deliver the Portuguese pilot to his country immediately after the treatment of his wounds and we appreciate the work of our European brothers in the fight against illegal immigration." “We care about...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A commercial jet carring 142 people went down in the St. Johns River near NAS Jacksonville on Friday, according to the Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department. All people on board were alive and accounted for, according to Fire Rescue and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. The plane was said to be a 737 airplane. These photos were shared by the Sheriff's Office:

One of Russia's richest women has died in a light aircraft crash in Germany. Airline tycoon Natalia Fileva, 55, the co-owner of Russian carrier S7, was on board a six-seater plane which crashed and exploded near Frankfurt today. German police said there appeared to be three people on board the plane, including the pilot of the flight, which originated in France. Two more people are believed to have died in a collision with a police vehicle which was responding to the scene. Business publication Forbes.ru estimated Ms Fileva's fortune at $600million (£460million), calling her Russia's fourth-richest woman.