Sad news indeed, R.I.P Tom. Just yesterday I was wondering what I did with my copy of Red Storm Rising.

Canadian Snowbirds Take The Skies At Annual California Capital Airshow
LINK - http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2013/10/05/canadian-snowbirds-take-the-skies-at-annual-california-capital-airshow/

Sukhoi has completed the first flight of its fifth prototype T-50/PAK FA stealth fighter at Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the company announces in a 28 October media release.

The NPO Saturn 117-powered aircraft flew for 50min and conducted stability and propulsion system tests, says Sukhoi, adding that the pilot reported that the aircraft?s system performed reliably.

After completing initial test flights, the aircraft will join four other T-50/PAK FA aircraft for more testing at Russia's flight test centre outside Moscow in Zhukovsky, says the company.

The T-50/SAK FA first flew on 29 January 2010, and the five initial aircraft have completed more than 450 flights, according to Sukhoi.

Dozens of local residents gathered to watch the hours-long process of
floating the ship in a dry dock. In the water for the first time, the ship was a
sight to behold.

?It?s absolutely massive. It?s higher than the tree line on the other side.
It?s an absolutely huge ship ? very imposing. It?s massively dominating the
waterfront,? said Amy Lent, executive director of the Maine Maritime Museum, who
watched the process from her office down river from the shipyard.

The big ship was supposed to be christened with a bottle of Champagne crashed
against its bow by the two daughters of the late Adm. Elmo ?Bud? Zumwalt, but
the ceremony earlier this month was canceled because of the partial federal
government shutdown.

Workers at Bath Iron Works, part of General Dynamics, will continue working
on the ship throughout the winter. The shipyard hopes to hold a rescheduled
christening in the spring, with sea trials following in the fall. Bath Iron
Works plans to deliver the ship to the Navy in 2015.

LINK - http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...f47_story.html




BATH, Maine (Oct. 28, 2013) The Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer DDG 1000 is floated out of dry dock at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard. The ship, the first of three Zumwalt-class destroyers, will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces and operate as part of joint and combined expeditionary forces. The lead ship and class are named in honor of former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo R. "Bud" Zumwalt Jr., who served as chief of naval operations from 1970-1974. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of General Dynamics/Released)

JOBAR DAMASCUS

WATCH IN FULLSCREEN

Skydivers Narrowly Escape Colliding Planes.

"Skydiving instructor Mike Robinson was at 12,000 feet, just seconds away from his fourth and final jump of the day, when a second plane carrying other skydivers struck the aircraft he was in, sending them all tumbling toward the ground.

None of the nine skydivers or two pilots sustained serious injury when the two planes collided in midair Saturday evening in far northwest Wisconsin near Lake Superior. Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration were in the area Sunday talking to those involved, and the cause of the incident was still being investigated, said FAA spokesman Roland Herwig.

Robinson, an instructor and safety adviser for Skydive Superior, said the skydivers had gone up for their last jump of the day ? called the ?sunset load? ? and the two planes were flying in formation. It was supposed to be a routine jump, and a fun one for Robinson, who usually jumps as a trainer.

All of the skydivers were instructors or coaches and had hundreds, if not thousands, of jumps under their belts. It was Robinson?s 937th jump.

?We do this all the time,? Robinson said. ?We just don?t know what happened for sure that caused this.?

He and three other skydivers were in the lead plane, and all four had climbed out onto the step at the side of the Cessna 182 and were poised to jump. The plane behind theirs had five skydivers on board, three in position to jump and two more inside the plane, at the ready.

?We were just a few seconds away from having a normal skydive when the trail plane came over the top of the lead aircraft and came down on top of it,? he said. ?It turned into a big flash fireball, and the wing separated.?

?All of us knew we had a crash. ? The wing over our head was gone, so we just left,? he added.

The three skydivers who were on the step of the second plane got knocked off upon impact, Robinson said, and the two inside were able to jump. The pilot of Robinson?s plane ejected himself, and the pilot of the second plane landed the aircraft safely at Richard I. Bong Airport, from where it took off. The plane was damaged.

Robinson, 64, who lives north of Duluth, Minn., watched as the plane he?d been in spiraled downward and broke into pieces.

?Looking around, we?re seeing the wing that came off. We?re seeing it?s on fire, and there are just parts of the airplane floating in the air with us,? he said. ?We were falling faster than those parts ? So the concern was we get away from the crash area.?

Robinson said the skydivers had parachutes that allowed them to steer themselves away from the falling debris and toward the planned landing spot. They opened their parachutes between 3,000 and 5,000 feet and landed safely.

The pilot of the lead plane, the one that broke apart, had an emergency parachute that cannot be steered, Robinson said. He landed elsewhere and suffered minor injuries that required medical attention.

Robinson said his group was lucky.

?It might?ve been a lot worse,? he said. ?Everybody, to a person, responded just as they should, including the pilots.?

He said that as he tracked away from the plane he grew concerned when he saw only one emergency parachute ? meaning only one pilot had ejected. He was relieved to learn that the pilot of the second plane was able to stay with the aircraft and land it.

Robinson said he suffered no injuries, but a few jumpers had bumps, bruises and muscle soreness. And despite the scare, he said he would not hesitate to jump again.

?Whenever the clouds and winds allow us to be up, we?ll be jumping,? he said, although now the company is without aircraft.

Recently, a skydiving accident in Belgium claimed the lives of 11 people. Part of the aircraft?s wing broke minutes after the plane took off from an airfield on Oct. 19, sending the plane into a spiraling nosedive. The parachutists, nearly all between the ages of 20 and 40, were celebrating a birthday and weren?t able to jump out. The cause of that accident is being investigated.

The National Transportation Safety Board did not return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment."

LINK, Watch the video in full screen - http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/nbc-news-lands-midair-footage-planes-colliding-article-1.1506488

By David Cenciotti

British Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 and French Mirage 2000N jets have been involved in Exercise Capable Eagle in the skies above northern England as part of Exercise Capable Eagle.

Capable Eagle, the air component of Exercise Joint Warrior, a ?twice-yearly, multinational, tri-service military exercise, and one of the biggest of its kind in Europe,? saw the participation of the Libya Air War 2011 veteran RAF Tornado GR4s, and French Air Force Rafale fighter jets, also deployed to RAF Leeming, in North Yorkshire, the main operating base for the drills.

The purpose of the exercise is to practice skills of a British-French Expeditionary Air Wing that must be capable to conduct, among the others, anti-terrorism, anti-piracy, anti-insurgency operations in crisis scenarios.

05.11.2013 Flug Werk Fw 190 D-FWMV Her 2nd maiden.
(this is the one that went for a swim) & she looks stunning.
LINK - http://forum.luftfahrtclubbraunschweig.de/05-11-2013-flug-werk-fw-190-d-fwmv-1-take-off-bwe-t3458.html

wooooaaahh ... what a cool plane

November ninth.



And in the UK the final section of HMS Queen Elizabeth is lifted into place.