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Featured Replies

On 2/10/2025 at 12:09 PM, Hagbard Celine said:

BAY AREA ALERT

SAN DIEGO ALERT

 

THE LAST MARTIN MARS FLEW FROM VANCOUVER TO ALAMEDA YESTERDAY

IT IS SCHEDULED TO FLY TO SAN DIEGO TOMORROW (TUESDAY)

THEN IT WILL FLY TO AN "UNDISCLOSED" LAKE IN ARIZONA where it will be taken apart and trucked to pima

 

THIS IS THE LAST TIME A LARGE SEAPLANE WILL TAKE TO THE AIR

if you live in the bay area, especially if you have kids, pack a cooler and get to the alameda seaplane pier before sunrise TOMORROW!!!!!  - departure time is not announced

7 were built - the 2 survivors were delivered to the US Navy in 1946 - others at bottom of ocean or broken up

 

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/re-engined-philippine-mars-ready-for-final-flight/

https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbirds-news/philippine-mars-takes-flight-again-embarking-on-its-journey-west.html

https://skiesmag.com/news/philippine-mars-lands-in-san-francisco-bay-en-route-to-final-resting-place/

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/wwii-flying-boat-20157568.php (visible in read mode)

https://www.scimag.news/news-en/112365/marooned-in-maintenance-the-philippine-mars-epic-journey-to-an-arizona-museum/ (stupid ai graphic)

 

 

I’d never heard of a Martin Mars before, but I can see from your post it’s a pretty big deal. We took off out of Oakland yesterday and I guess the FO was looking straight down at that airplane on our climb out.  He mentioned seeing a really big seaplane right down there near Alameda. I couldn’t see it from my side I didn’t think much of it until I saw this post.  

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  • InkaUtexas
    InkaUtexas

    Was surprised today. went up to see my dad. He says, hey, want to go see a 1929 Ford Tri Motor? Hell yeah is the correct response. So we go out to the airfield near Sherman. He volunteers with the Civ

  • Longhornmaniac8
    Longhornmaniac8

    Best office in the world.  

  • Gil Bang
    Gil Bang

    some of you may recall that my kid is an Army Apache pilot.  He's currently on a pretty long mission domestically, and had to land to refuel (several times).  He spotted this.  sorry for the poor qual

Posted Images

Someone on here may know him. 

Quote

An experienced aviator from Dallas has been identified as the man killed in a plane crash in Arizona this week. 

Joe Vitosky, 78, was piloting the jet owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil when it crashed, killing him.

The pilot's daughter says she heard the majority of the information through the news Monday. She learned the plane belonged to Neil, and she knew immediately.

What we know: 

Joe Vitosky was piloting a jet on Monday from Austin, Texas, to Scottsdale, Arizona.

Video from the runway shows the Learjet colliding with a parked Gulfstream Jet.

Officials say the Learjet's landing gear failed.

Vitosky was killed. Three others on the plane were hurt.

 One person on the parked Gulfstream was injured.

"If there would have been anybody there who could have done anything in this situation, I wholeheartedly believe he did it, and he saved their lives," said Jane Schertzer, Vitosky’s daughter.

Multiple investigations into the crash are still underway.

Debris was still being cleared from the Scottsdale Airport on Wednesday.

Schertzer says at 78, her father was still mentally and physically fit.

"You still have to go through all these physicals and other things," she said. "They won’t let you fly if you can’t pass them. Well, he passed with flying colors."

The backstory:

Joe Vitosky spent his life mostly in the air.

The seasoned aviator flew choppers and fighter jets in the U.S. Marines, serving in Vietnam.

Vitosky worked for American Airlines and then went on to become a longtime flight instructor at Southwest Airlines.

In addition to time with commercial aviation, Vitosky flew private charter planes.

Dallas was his home for 25 years.

Schertzer, who lives in Mississippi, wants her father's life to be remembered with deep ties to North Texas. 

"My dad lives there, and he is married. His wife lives there and overseas between the two. He always travels back and forth.  He's literally a world traveler," she said.

What's next: 

Schertzer is still working on her father’s funeral plans.

Vitosky's body is still part of the ongoing NTSB investigation. 

6 hours ago, CycleTex87 said:

Well it’s Laredo, so…..

You should see how many car wrecks they have on a daily basis.  Dad has more or less stopped going there for stuff.  Now he goes to Roma or Mission. 

Tucson wants to party. 

Quote

At least two people are dead following a midair plane collision at an airport northwest of Tucson, police said on Wednesday.

What we know:

The Marana Police Department says the crash happened on Feb. 19 at the Marana Regional Airport, located near Avra Valley and Sandario Roads.

"Two confirmed dead and both planes were smaller fixed wing single engine planes," police wrote in a Facebook post.

The Federal Aviation Administration says a Lancair collided midair with a Cessna 172 just before 8:30 a.m. Two people were on board each plane.

The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the crash. 

https://www.fox4news.com/news/least-1-dead-marana-plane-crash

On 2/18/2025 at 10:05 PM, Party_Taco said:


Got damn that anchor is horrible… AI would be a marked improvement over whatever the fuck that was…

KRIS-TV Corpus Christi is going to be her ceiling.

2 hours ago, locodos said:

fuckkkkkkk

Take that fucking license...

17 hours ago, Litig8r said:

Take that fucking license...

At the end of the audio, the tower gives him a phone number to call ASAP.  Called to the office in front of god and everybody.  Fucking moron.

On 2/26/2025 at 10:06 AM, Mittens said:

At the end of the audio, the tower gives him a phone number to call ASAP.  Called to the office in front of god and everybody.  Fucking moron.

And by now he has received a call from the dreaded 405 area code. 

4 hours ago, markstanco said:

And by now he has received a call from the dreaded 405 area code. 

Well deserved.

That would have been a disaster in low visibility. 

  • 1 month later...

Damn.

Lost a friend and his parents this weekend.  His son was on the Middle Tennessee State golf team, and his Dad (my friend) along with both of his grandparents went down in a M20 in the Cherokee National Park.  They were headed over to watch him play. All three passed.

https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-news/mtsu-golfers-father-grandparents-dead-after-plane-crashes-in-cherokee-national-forest/

I'll update in here when I get some details. 

Holy crap this guy was lucky.

 

Boeing sells Jeppesen and ForeFlight to a private equity firm. Can't wait for price increases with a deteriorating product. Unless, given Boeing's recent woes, maybe these two units were being neglected and the PE firm will be better for them... 

 

and the PE firm will be better for them... 
 


Give us some recent examples of that happening…


we’ll wait.
This Embraer Phenom 300E would be cool….
 
IMG_0088.thumb.jpeg.778abf4ebd6cc148cb9c63ae494ec492.jpeg

Phenom 300 is such a great plane.
10 hours ago, Handcruser said:


Phenom 300 is such a great plane.

Yep, apparently the longest range and fastest single pilot-rated passenger jet available to the civil market.

  • 2 weeks later...

For some reason, our little airport is favored by blimps.  I saw the goodyear blimp there this week and called the city manager to see if we could get on the tarmac for a better look.  He picked me up and we drove out on the tarmac.  The guy who was there was the camera operator and couldn't have been nicer.  He let us get in the gondola and explained how everything worked.  The steps were to high for my secretary to board so he said "hold on" and got a giant joystick board and lowered the blimp so she could go inside.  They were coming back from the golf tournament in NOLA and started having problems with one of the engines and stopped here for repairs.  He was pissed about the malfunction because they were scheduled to go to the Derby but they gave that assignment to another ship.  

That’s pretty cool. I guess there are only so many airfields they can stop at

I wonder how fast it can go?

Should’ve asked him to put Ice Cube’s a Pimp on the lights on the side.

On 5/2/2025 at 4:50 PM, Updawg said:

I wonder how fast it can go?

bout tree fiddy

On 5/2/2025 at 4:50 PM, Updawg said:

That’s pretty cool. I guess there are only so many airfields they can stop at

I wonder how fast it can go?

55 or so without a tailwind   Can fly for 24 hours

Went down to Dallas Executive yesterday with Jr to see the Warbird Weekend. It was nice and low key considering it was Mothers Day. Sometimes mom just wants the boys to be gone.

bfa9d2a50c5120f60b655cfc91079b00.jpg
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B-24A - currently the only B-24 flying

a67ff7ccd58b6fb7d03b6b02a334629d.jpg
1d31136000e02cca05baedd3d9b006d9.jpg
Fifi03d6760a66f2c7469fa739b48315d212.jpg
91967a7c555c39e68df451ff8ed94dc7.jpg
b2d5a8b7976041a00173d853499748c1.jpg

Currently down for maintenance. A six figure problem. Engines 2 and 4 have issues. And they’re not rolling out R-3350 parts like they used to.

3f2e78751b8700803f518c3897b6641c.jpg
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They were selling rides in the last two. They had the P-51 “Gunfighter” but it was up on a ride sortie when I was taking pics.

The museum was smaller than I recall the original in Harlingen and as moved to Midland, but it is nice. They have some of the nose art on display. The more risqué stuff wasn’t on show this weekend. They told me to come back on a weekday.

156a97909d553a9578f33f036ab3f024.jpg
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/2/2025 at 2:28 PM, Litig8r said:

image.thumb.jpeg.ec124aac5882a6a3efab3199fa149058.jpeg

Flying in and getting to sit in the right seat of a Goodyear blimp was an awesome experience

Edited by Tyrone Krivacs

  • 4 weeks later...

From The Dazed Group/Austin Edition-Pieces Of The Past FB group

Bergstrom AFB RF-4Cs over Austin, c. 1988. The aircraft are the flagships from the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, The 12th and 91st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadrons and the 45th and 62nd Tactical Reconnaissance Training Squadrons.

May be an image of aircraft

Same group, same poster: Walter Haussner

Austin skyline, c. 1991, as seen from "SAC Hill", the north end of the runway, at Bergstrom AFB. The RF-4C is the 67th Reconnaissance Wing flagship.

May be an image of aircraft

On 5/12/2025 at 8:03 AM, Chad Fuck said:

Went down to Dallas Executive yesterday with Jr to see the Warbird Weekend. It was nice and low key considering it was Mothers Day. Sometimes mom just wants the boys to be gone.

bfa9d2a50c5120f60b655cfc91079b00.jpg
d2319aa822980aa7acb92cd86c1fd9b7.jpg
3299a9a344ca27203173233e692961d6.jpg
1d319184dde46995b33c1547a0dfa12a.jpg
B-24A - currently the only B-24 flying

a67ff7ccd58b6fb7d03b6b02a334629d.jpg
1d31136000e02cca05baedd3d9b006d9.jpg
Fifi03d6760a66f2c7469fa739b48315d212.jpg
91967a7c555c39e68df451ff8ed94dc7.jpg
b2d5a8b7976041a00173d853499748c1.jpg

Currently down for maintenance. A six figure problem. Engines 2 and 4 have issues. And they’re not rolling out R-3350 parts like they used to.

With the old part in hand and a 3D printer you're pretty much in business.

That was in 1968 and the pilot who did it and got into trouble for it, has just passed away

image.jpeg

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