I love the Ilyushin IL-96 (and IL-86). With the older Aeroflot livery, it looks all Russian. This video shows off the IL-96T, the freighter version, at the Moscow Airshow in 2005. She takes off, does a fly-by and then lands. Love the sound of her four Aviadvigatel PS90 Pratt & Whitney PW2337 turbofans.
Although many view the IL-96 as a less safe aircraft, no fatal accidents has ever occurred with the aircraft type (no passengers have died in the IL-86 either). I have never been able to fly on one, but it is on my to-do list. Have any of you been able to experience flying on an IL-96 or IL-86?
If you like wings, you are going to love the Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano. It had nine wings and was set to be a 100-passenger flying boat. To help get the 100-passenger aircraft and its nine wings off the ground, it had eight engines.
The plane was 30 feet tall – about three stories – and only 77 feet long. One would think the plane might not be the most stable and it wasn’t. It took flight one time, got up to 60 feet before crashing on March 4, 1921.
There was quite a bit of lead ballast in the aircraft and it is assumed they got lose and caused the aircraft to nose dive into the water. Luckily the test pilot survived.
The Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano might not have been successful, but it is one unique looking airplane.
Ah, Saturday Night Live is always (or sometimes) good for a laugh. Every once in a while a nice airline-related gem will pop up. This one is a bit old, but still a good one, making a little fun of Captain Sully and US Airways flight 1549.
I recently connected with film studio Filmetria, which is based here in Seattle and fell in love with new project: Team Marco Polo.
I know it is not exactly airline-related, but it does deal with travel and I think it is frek’n cool, so I am sharing it with you (and no I am not getting paid to write this, thank you).
It is a travel show for kids, but it is quite entertaining for adults too. It is as if Bill Nye The Science Guy, Steve Ricks and a barrel of laughs sat down and created a show. One of the main people behind the show, Bill Jeakle, was a writer for Bill Nye’s show and if you are a local Seattlite, you might also remember him as one of the high-5’n white guys on local comedy sketch show Almost Live (I am working on getting a picture of me giving Bill a high-5).
Anyhow, the Marco Polo character gives people a way to learn about travel without being bored. There are many other characters, as well: a Rick Steves spoof (he gives travel tips), a Tim Gunn Project Runway spoof (he covers fashion), an art loving nun, A bombastic history professor named Professor Bombast, Shakespeare, Voltaire, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Odysseus, and dozens more. They all do skits and songs to bring the art and culture of foreign lands to life.
Currently the show is only on YouTube, but they are hoping to change that. They are working with Seattle’s local PBS station to get the show on the air.
If you like what you see, please support their efforts. You can add them on Twitter, join their YouTube channel to know when new episodes are posted and of course watch and enjoy the show.
I think if you are reading this blog, you probably have a pretty good idea what jetliner ended up winning transporting passengers across the Atlantic. However, at the time of this video, it wasn’t quite sure if the Boeing 707 would be able to beat out the Comet. The Comet had some serious issues with coming apart in mid-flight, but the Boeing 707 was an unknown new-comer. Boeing put a lot of money and hard work to make the Boeing 707 successful and it paid off.