What would you change on your favorite?

[brickhistory]

For those that have been there done that - whether in the cockpit or arms deep fixing them - what would you change about the air(aero)plane?

Please keep it within the realm of physics and aerodynamics, but not necessarily considering budget.

[WeeMan18]

If Boeing can make an airliner airtight and pressurised, they should be able to make a Chinook cockpit waterproof. Having one's map dissolve in the puddles on the combing, whilst the intercom fails and your seat swamps was not ideal. Other than that, a pretty awesome aircraft.

[brickhistory]

For Vulcan crew, would it have been possible to put a canopy with bigger windows (would they have helped?).

I've talked with some about rearcrew ejection seats. Would that have been practical?

[Gainesy]

Martin Baker made and demonstrated a rear crew triple ejection system but the idea was dropped as the Vs were "not going to be in service much longer". That was in about 1963 I think.:hmm:

[cornish-stormrider]

Gainsey, you of all people should know that phrase translates to "suck it up, no money for it, no interest in the big house and you are only peons anyway"

I would like an aeroflyingmachine that is possible to be simply and easliy maintained, and not be designed "for example" not to need wire locking and yet be wire locked anyway due to the insistance of some crusty old duffer that doesn't understand what is possible now.

Ah well, wishful thinking

[PFMG]

An oven that actually gets hot and a kettle with a spout would be wonderful additions to the Sentinel R1

[Shack37]

Is wire locking still in fashion now? Used to be tons of it on Griffons.
s37

[Gnd]

I'd like some engins that didn't whimp out at +30 degrees!

[N Joe]

A suggested improvement for each ac I worked on:

Tornado GR1 - F3 engines.

Tornado F3 - Bombs, another gun and green paint.

Jags - The aircraft was fine, we just needed a smaller Earth (increased curvature to help them get off the ground with their bomb even in hot weather).

Herc J - All the bits that the Gucci Mk1s have (apart from the Nav).

N Joe

[9.81m/s/s]

Shawbury being equipped with helicopters in which the crewman can stand up! Lets stave off those injuries for as long as we can................

[Seldomfitforpurpose]

"Herc J - All the bits that the Gucci Mk1s have (apart from the Nav)."

Not long now chap and I will bet my house the J will never stink of wee :p

[BEagle]

Hmm, if I might be permitted:

Chipmunk: Bigger engine, proper radios and a way of knowing where you were above cloud without having to ask some ground-pounder!

Jet Provost: Anti-skid brakes. Otherwise the Mk 5A was great - could have done with the Finningley tip tanks though.

Gnat: More fuel and a better pilot! Oh - and more fuel!

Hunter 6/9: Offset TACAN! And a better fuel gauging system.

Buccaneer: A MUCH better pilot!

Vulcan: Bigger cockpit windows, lower glareshield, radios on the flight deck - and something to tell you where you were without having to ask the lower deck all the time. And definitely bang seats for the lower deck team!

Jetstream: Scrap the bastard thing and start again!

Hawk: Offset TACAN and a more swept wing. Never flew one with AHARS, so I guess they now have a compass system which actually works?

Phantom: A quieter cockpit and a better pilot.

VC10: Better headsets, a modern autopilot and lighter controls.

Bulldog: Bigger engine and a less draggy cockpit canopy. And a GPS.

[StopStart]

Really dull but the ability to schedule a lower blade angle in flight and actually slow the bugger down (herc J).

Oh, and laser cannon.

[brickhistory]

Oh, and laser cannon.

Try for an exchange tour with the 417th Test Squadron, Airborne Laser 747 :}

[ProfessionalStudent]

Nothing major - on the CH47, I'd change the "D" for a "F"...

[Take That]

F4: Better engines, soft wings and a quieter cockpit.

F3: Bigger engines, wings, twin fins, integral steps and a bubble canopy. Keep the load out, JTIDS and RHWR as all leading edge.

[peppermint_jam]

Tornado GR1/4 - Better Radios

[Truckkie]

C130K:-

ANR headsets
JTIDS display in the front
HEVS displays where the pilots can see them
An NVG compatible weather radar
A fully supported RWR with raw audio

More powerful engines with the new wings to support them

Wessex HC2:-

A better coupling gearbox/transmission to allow the full power of the mighty Gnome turboshafts!

:ok:

[PFMG]

A fully supported RWR with raw audio


I take it you're not massively impressed with 56M then? :eek:

[airborne_artist]

Whistling Chicken Leg:

Seats that don't force you to sit with a curved back.

Tail that does not strike the ground when less experienced aviators practice autos :ok:

[elf]

At the risk of being accused of thread drift, has BEagle inadvertently given a taster (see 21:18 yesterday) for a new topic loosely based on Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man?
Jacques’ melancholy reflections (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII) bear comparison to Beagle’s eleven.

At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice
In fair round belly, with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

From the “mewling and puking” in the Chimpunk nursed by the QFI through to the “second childishness” on the Bulldog, the comparisons are close. The “whining schoolboy with his satchel” learns the ropes on the JP before moving on to the heat of the Gnat. As the soldier, he becomes the Hunter (“quick in quarrel”), the Buccaneer (“jealous in honour”) and the Vulcan (oh, that reputation) before moving on to the justice of the Jetstream “full of wise saws” and the “fair round belly” of the Phantom . In his sixth age, the close fit of the pantaloon might well be as a result of a spreading midriff but the “slipper’d” image of the VC10 pilot flying across a “world too wide” is perhaps closer to the truth. And last of all, “sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything”: the Bulldog.

As for changes, I'd want a "whisper mode" and a 180db(A) sound system so I could fly up behind people and then scare the pants off them.

[kluge]

What are you smoking ?

[Marly Lite]

Puma:

MORE FUEL!!!!!!

(oh, and a second u/vhf radio)

[Flight Detent]

Australian Air Force just took delivery of several C-17 large jet transports....

My wish is they had a real Flight Engineer as part of the crew !!!

[fade to grey]

My 757, I'd change the whole thing for something fast and spunky like you lucky f... folks get to fly

[GZ stickman]

Typhoon

- Higher IAS limit to enable supersonic flight at 100'. (I've always wanted to do that!)

- Aircraft noise friendly neighbors to enable more reheat takeoffs.

[Gnd]

The Government ?????

[spottyemm]

Blimey..I've scored a couple of points on a Typhoon Jock!

Supersonic at 100ft...done that

Reheat TO...every time.

Don't suppose you'd swop your seat for a GR4?

Back on thread, Tornado GR1(little bit of time on the GR4)

Twin fins, Bubble canopy, MUCH bigger donks,bigger wings that don't move,PD radar, Amraam on the outboard stubs. maybe rename it the F15E.

Otherwise there are still lots of days that I really miss the old girl. (Night Heraklion coming up tomorrow)

[Stitchbitch]

Typhoon T-Bird: 1 less seat... :}

[KeepItTidy]

Nimrod

A Microwave, simple clean quick

:E

Im sure somebody will tell me microwaves mess with radio waves and all that stuff.