Sometimes the best resources are hidden right under your own nose! I went trolling across flightglobal.com yesterday and found some extraordinary features of this website that I don't utilize nearly enough and you really should take a look at. Five things I didn't know about flightglobal.com
1. Cutaways - Flight has always been known for its cutaway drawings. Okay, I knew about this one already, but trust me, go exploring, you won't be sorry. I've got more than enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that they have inspired many a child to become an engineer. We've got most of the database online. It's definitely worth taking some time to explore. Each one is about 1000 pixels wide so you really get a good view.
When you throw apture in the mix you get a better look at things like the tail section of an Airbus A300 or flight deck of a Lockheed L1011.
http://flightglobal.com/cutaways
2. 100 Years of Flight Archive - Every issue of Flight International from 1909 to 2004 is available in a searchable PDF database. Every page, every issue. What about the August 16, 1945 issue at the end of WWII? Neil Armstrong walking on the moon in 1969? Want to see when the idea of the 787 was born? Watch the 20th century unfold in the sky.
http://flightglobal.com/archive
3. Incident Watch - Hidden beneath a few layers of content, I discovered that we keep a constantly updated log of incidents with any powered aircraft (GA and above, including military) that happen around the world. It's an excellent resource for boiling down an incident to its core elements. It also includes links to news stories and photos if they're available.
http://www.flightglobal.com/staticpages/incidentwatch.html
4. Commercial Aircraft Directory - Flight has compiled an impressive database of the vital statistics of a huge number of commercial aircraft. It even includes the thrust rating for all the possible type of airframe/engine combinations. For a data junky like me, it's a goldmine. Best yet, it's available in metric and imperial.
5. Videos, videos, videos - I had no idea how many we actually had. Some recent ones like the delivery tour of the QANTAS A380 or interviews with airline CEOs provide an often unseen glimpse into the workings of the aerospace industry. There are even a few on there that were produced by yours truly. You can even upload your own to be featured on flightglobal.com.
on November 12, 2008 10:38 AM | Reply
wow!
The pdf archive is simply impressive...
Thanks a lot, it is really a goldmine for bookworms like me that have lots of spare time during nastran runs and file tranferring...reading about rubber-impregned silk as the latest technology (1909 issue) makes us take some perspective about been now working with composites...
on November 12, 2008 12:45 PM | Reply
Is this your hand?
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1954/1954%20-%201050.html
on November 12, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply
Hahahaha! Nope, definitely not my hand. I'm surprised it's only one page that has this.
Jon
on November 17, 2008 7:23 PM | Reply
Although it has to be said that while Flight and its archives are a source of great content, it has more dead links and dead ends than any site I use. Even a few of the links you suggested in the above entry didn't work.
on December 16, 2008 8:11 PM | Reply
how do I get (buy) hi resolution versions of the cutaways?
on July 28, 2009 8:31 AM | Reply
i am mani my school teacher flight explaion place any idea!