The Mikoyan-Gurevich MIG-21 is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the former Soviet Union. Approximately sixty countries across four continents have flown the MIG-21, and it still serves many nations six decades after its maiden flight. It made records, becoming the most-produced supersonic jet aircraft in aviation history, the…
Category: #Aerotrivia
The real story behind Top Gun
It is August 1981, and the United States Navy’s Sixth Fleet is conducting real fire exercises in the Gulf of Sirte because some years before, in 1973, Muammar al-Gaddafi had claimed this sea zone as a Libyan territory with the opposition of the US and most of the European countries in a movement that could…
Sorry, we didn’t know it was invisible!
It is March 27th, 1999 the quiet nightfall in the Serbian countryside near Buđanovci gets broken by the thunderous screech of the NATO aircrafts descending from the North, in fact, those nights in the former Yugoslavian Federal Republic are everything except quiet: the NATO has been bombing the country for three days. Covered by their…
The Space Launch System (SLS) for Artemis I
On mid-March 2022, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) with the Orion spacecraft was first seen by the public on its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launcher will be subjected to a series of tests before its maiden flight in May 2022. The Space Launch System is the new super heavy-lift…
Antonov An-225 Mriya
Until not so long ago, it was the largest airplane in the world, it flew all over the world and it was loved by every aviation enthusiast. Its name translates as ‘dream’ and it was originally built in order to carry the soviet Buran-class orbiters. It was developed during the 1980s in Soviet Ukraine by…
The Boeing Case
On October 29, 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea shortly after departing Jakarta, killing all 189 passengers and crew aboard. In short order, questions emerged about the safety record of the Indonesian budget airline and the qualifications of its pilots. Few blamed the airplane itself, a hot-off-the-presses Boeing 737 MAX jet….
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
Evolution is constant, slowly but unstoppable, species are born and extinct, same happens to aviation technology in a faster way. But as it happens to animals, you can find specimens that belong to cretacic eras but somehow are still alive in plein 2022, in terms of comparison; we are going to talk about the tyrannosaurus…
The First European Reusable Space Transportation System
Over the past couple of years, SpaceX has captured everyone’s attention with their reusable space-vehicles, which allows an affordable access to space. Europe is now developing its first reusable spacecraft, called the Space RIDER. The Space RIDER (Space Reusable Integrated Demonstrator for Europe Return) is a project led by the Italian Space Agency (ASI, Agenzia…
What is the matter with aircraft and 5G?
As you may know, in the last weeks you’ve probably seen talk of 5g networks interfering with planes in the US. Earlier this year some companies like Emirates, Air India, All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa and British Airways all announced changes to some flights, citing uncertainty about potential interference between new 5G cell phone…
Hybrid airships, the low carbon alternative
Not only airplanes are looking to reduce their carbon emissions, but the current environmental situation has also pushed engineers to look for other green alternatives for air-transport. One of these new developments are Hybrid Airships their shape can easily be confused with a Zeppelin (as the Hindenburg). Hybrid Airships refer to any type of airships…