September 2008 Archives

click through to the extended portion of this blog post to watch the embedded video.

Last week I visited the home of racing, Silverstone, to take part in a once in a lifetime opportunity - an aerobatics session with expert aviation instructors Ultimate High.

This was in aid of the World Aerobatics Championships, a biennial event that next year will be held in England.

I think the video neatly captures my excitement and gradual fear as my instructor takes me through various aerobatic manoeuvres, but notice how my face gradually gets pale and I get quieter as the tricks start to get bigger.




As well as losing my stomach, I also had the opportunity to interview some of the significant backers of the British team for next year's World Aerobatic Championships, to get an impression of how the championship format worked and what spectators of the event can expect to see.

If like me you are more excited than Richard Branson's bank manager at the prospect of the new James Bond film, then fear not, as we are hear to bring you some more exclusive shots from the new "Quantum of Solace" movie.

We have already revealed that a DC-3 will feature in the movie and we gave you screenshots of an exciting dogfight , but here are some pictures of the more sophisticated Bond as he (and his nemesis) use an Citation CJ3 and Gulfstream 605 from Ocean Sky Aviation.

Photo 1

'007' agent James Bond played by Daniel Craig checks in at the Ocean Sky desk for his flight

Courtesy of Craig Hoyle, Defence Editor:

"Bit heavy on the C-4 there, Hoskins", as the departed Uncle Roger might have commented about this, erm, generous use of explosives.

 

Freshly posted via the Live Leak website, the above video(which contains strong language) shows the last moments of UK Royal Air Force Lockheed Martin C-130J ZH876. Worth an estimated £45 million ($82 million), the aircraft was destroyed by coalition forces the day after after sustaining heavy damage in an incident while landing at a remote site in Iraq's Maysaan province on 12 February 2007.

The aircraft, which was carrying six crew and 58 passengers, veered off the runway after being hit by two improvised explosive devices, catching fire on its badly damaged port wing. Three people suffered minor injuries on evacuating the stricken transport, which was subsequently "deemed unrecoverable due to operational constraints", according to a Board of Inquiry investigation into the mishap.

Published in May, the BoI report also revealed that an RAF C-130K involved in evacuating personnel 40min after the incident also suffered damage to its nose and main wheels and underbelly after striking debris while landing on the strip. The second aircraft also landed despite it being unclear whether further IEDs had been placed, it says.

BoI recommendations included that remote sites should be better inspected prior to use, and weapons storage and evacuation practices improved on the C-130J.

Meanwhile, its report noted: "Even if this aircraft had been fitted with explosion suppressant foam it is the board's opinion that it would not have reduced the damage sustained." The Hercules' potential vulnerability to wing fires had been exposed during a prior fatal accident involving RAF C-130K XV206 in May 2006.
 
ZH876 remains the only new-generation Hercules to have been lost by C-130J-operating nations, and a testament to the type's particularly hard use in the hands of the RAF in Iraq and Afghanistan.