Jet Fridays!
We love fighter jets. In fact, we support jet aircraft like the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F-5 Tiger II. We also love Fridays. Combine those two together and you have this collection of fun facts and interesting stories about fighter jets and jet engines. Enjoy our Jet Friday posts below.
If you have a jet engine topic for Fridays you would like to see us discuss, email us at About@DuotechServices.com
Jet Friday: Carrier Landings Are Tough Even For Experienced Naval Aviators
How hard is it to negotiate a carrier landing? It's a precision dance between pilot, plane, and ship that takes lots of practice. As a pilot approaches the deck, they must make many minor adjustments to get the aircraft in line with a constantly moving target. Not...
Jet Friday: 2 Tours of an F-16 Fighting Falcon Cockpit
Ever wanted to see the inside of an operational jet fighter cockpit? More than that, are you interested in having a professional explain what this stick controls and what action that button performs in one of the most successful fighters in the world, the F-16...
Jet Friday: Tales of the SR-71 from a Blackbird Pilot
As a reconnaissance plane that flew missions during the Cold War across foreign lands like Russia to find out just what they were up to, a pilot needed something that flew high and flew fast. With the ability to cruise at +2,200 MPH in excess of 80,000 ft, the SR-71...
A-4 Skyhawk – The Vietnam Era Fighter Flown by John McCain and 13 Other Facts
It was a single seat, subsonic jet-powered aggressor aircraft that was designed to replace the A-1 Skyraider. The primary operators of this delta wing, carrier-capable attack aircraft were the United States Navy and Marine Corps, as well as the Israeli and Argentine...
Unique F-16 Cockpit View Fixed on Horizon During Flight
If you check out our previous #JetFriday videos, you will see that Duotech has shared many great cockpit based videos recorded during flight demonstrations in the F-16, F-18, F-5, A-10, and others. This video we are sharing today is the most unique view we’ve seen...
Jet Friday: His Own Airshow Daily; A Refueler Boom Operator Shares His View
Watch Video Below: When you take your family to an airshow, you’ll see a lot of civilian aircraft parked near the runway that you can walk in and around. There will be flight demonstrations of specialty aircraft and sometimes aerobatic demonstrations that will amaze...
Jet Friday: All the Fighter Jets in the U.S. Air Force
In 1907, the U.S. Air Force, which was originally part of the United States Army as the Aeronautical Division using balloons for observation, took its first steps to leave the earth by requesting bids for heavier-than-air aircraft. In July 1909, with President Taft...
Jet Friday: An F-18 Screaming Through Downtown Chicago
We have shared video footage of F-18 Hornets piloted by the Navy’s Blue Angels as they put on air shows in previous Jet Friday posts. We have also shown you low flying jets on training maneuvers just above the landscape, zipping through canyons and into snowy mountain...
Jet Friday: The Unmanned Jet Landing that Didn’t Start Out As A UAV
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are more commonplace today than they were in 1970. Often, these unmanned technological marvels are operated remotely by a ground-based controller, from take-off, through the mission, and during landing. Still, even a UAV will not land in...
Jet Friday: Dogfight Video Between a F-16 Fighting Falcon and a F-15 Eagle
A dogfight between a Dutch F-16 Fighting Falcon and an American F-15 Eagle--This video is shot from two angles inside the cockpit of the F-16. One perspective is forward facing off the starboard side of the pilot’s helmet and the other from the port side of the...
Jet Friday: An F-5 Low-Level Flight, Skimming Lake Tahoe
The F-5 Tiger II is a light fighter that was developed to be a high-performance day superiority aircraft. When loaded, the F-5 weighs only 15,745 lb compared to the F-16 at 26,500 lb. Combine that with its two turbojets propelling it to a maximum speed of 1,060 mph, a...
Jet Friday – Developing the V/STOL Aircraft and Close Air Support
A Marine infantry squad is assigned house-to-house clearing of a couple of small buildings in a small village. The Marines have already pushed through four of them with little resistance. Dividing the village is a rough, dirt-covered street and on the other side are...
9 Facts About the C-17 Globemaster III
C-17 Globemaster III is the USAF’s primary strategic, large transport aircraft developed to replace the C-141 Starlifter. The C-17 is operated by three crewmen: a pilot, copilot, and loadmaster. The first production C-17 was delivered to Charleston Air Force Base in...
Jet Friday: Request a Speed Check – Blackbird SR-71
What's long, black, sleek and leaks aviation fuel onto the ground prior to takeoff (and this does not alarm anyone)? The answer would be the Cold War spycraft SR-71 Blackbird. In 1976, the SR-71 set the record for altitude and speed by an air-breathing aircraft at...
Jet Friday: A 1000 mph Car Developed To Break a Land Speed Record
In an attempt to break the current land speed record of 760.343 mph set by Andy Green in 1997, a new jet/rocket powered car is being developed that will take the driver over 1000 mph. The new vehicle, named the Bloodhound Super Sonic Car, is, according to The...
Jet Friday: A Whittle Jet Engine History
The United States is a very large country. Before passenger aircraft were introduced, long distance travel for most Americans was a major inconvenience. To drive across the country, allowing time for rest, would take four or five days. Today, the ability to travel...
Stunning Combat Aircraft Photos from Alaska!
Since the United States acquired Alaska from Russia in 1867, the U.S. military has maintained a strong presence in the upper territory. In the beginning, it was responsible for governing Alaska until it became a district in 1884. Today, the Alaskan Command provides...
12 Military Fixed Wing and Rotor Wing Aircraft in the Movies
We all love movies, right? It seems some our favorite movies tend to include those with military aircraft screaming across the sky, piloted by big movie stars who defy all odds, and often orders, to carry out impossible missions. The aircraft are mostly tools that...
Jet Friday: 0-160 MPH < 4 Seconds...On a Tricycle
0-160 MPH in under four seconds. That seems quite exhilarating to those thrill seekers who like speed. A naval aviator in an F-18 Super Hornet being launched off a carrier catapult will experience 2.5g of g-force when accelerating from 0-170 mph in two seconds in only...
Jet Friday: A Rocket Engine Underwater…In Slow Motion
If you like rocket engines, you’ll like this video. If you like watching animated objects filmed in slow motion, you’ll like this video. If you want to see what happens when a model rocket engine is fired underwater and filmed in super slow motion, then you will love...
Jet Friday: Top Advanced Fighter Jets of the World
The jet fighter - as the first line of defense for most countries, this tool has become the tip of the spear since the first jet powered aircraft was introduced in 1944. Following Germany’s flight of the Messerschmitt ME 262, which had a top speed of 540 MPH, these...
Enter the Stingray – the Evolution of the Carrier Based Bomber?
The US Navy desires a carrier based unmanned combat refueler system and it looks like the Stingray will answer the call. The MQ-25 Stingray is an unmanned carrier aviation air system (UCAAS). The successful launch of the first unmanned plane on an aircraft carrier...
Addressing Obsolescence Keeps The Bone Flying
Its designation is the B-1 Lancer. By combining the B and the one(1) it is often referred to by those who fly it as “Bone.” A supersonic heavy bomber, the B-1 Lancer was introduced into service in 1986, but its first flight was in 1974. Why so long from first flight...
Aircraft Carrier Landing Made Easy(er)
As a military aircraft pilot, besides just simply knowing how to operate the plane, the military continually trains you to take-off, fly in tight formation, perform combat operations, and return to land safely. However, training to fly in the United States Navy, one...
Jet Friday: Video of Insane Footage Takes You Inside the Cockpit
Watch Video Below Many videos exist of journalists or celebrities taking part in a fighter jet ride-along with the United States military. Many of these videos include a camera pointed at the passenger to see their reaction during the flight, but most importantly,...
Jet Friday: Why Fighter Pilots Wear Masks
Watch Video Below We grow up dreaming of flying. When you are on a commercial jet aircraft, like a passenger airliner, the cabin you sit in is pressurized and you are able to conduct your business without a mask for oxygen. If an incident occurs when the aircraft is...
Jet Friday: Some Fly The Jet…Some Become The Jet
Watch Video Below We grow up dreaming of flying. We watch in wonderment of the little brown bird hopping off the branch of a tree, spreading its wings, and slipping freely into the air. We stand by a river and look up at an eagle soaring above, scanning the water...
Jet Friday: The A-10 In Close Air Support
Watch Video Below Let’s be honest: if you’ve found this article then you’re like us and can’t get enough of the A-10 Thunderbolt II. You’ll see it’s the truth just by following the links to previous articles we’ve produced: Four Factors that Make the A-10 Thunderbolt...
Jet Friday: What’s the Science Behind the Forces You Feel in a Jet Fighter
Watch Video Below We watch videos of pilots performing crazy stunts, surviving near death experiences, and ‘on the edge of your seat’ harrowing landings. In person, you may see these pilots in their fixed-wing fighters screaming across the sky at air shows. Their...
Jet Friday – As a Fighter Pilot You Definitely Recognize This Aircraft
If you are a United States fighter pilot, you don’t need an introduction to the T-38 Talon. This swept wing supersonic jet is used as the training aircraft that has prepared pilots to operate the F-15, F-16, A-10, F-22, and other fighter aircraft for over 50 years....
Missile With a Man In It – the F-104 Starfighter
[Watch Video Below] The 1967 Shelby Cobra - an iconic muscle car with a spartan interior and no need for a radio because you couldn’t hear it over the engine anyway. When the driver hammers down on the pedal, the Shelby’s 427ci engine digs in with all 425 hp and...
Jet Friday: How to Build an Aircraft Carrier
[Watch Video Below] Since the United States launched its first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley, in 1922, these floating air bases have been a symbol of American power and presence around the globe. These carriers can be large nuclear powered supercarriers with over...
Jet Friday: Unconscious F-16 Pilot’s Life Saved by Auto-GCAS
To maintain dominance in the world of air superiority, the F-16 Fighting Falcon was designed in the mid-1970s to win the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Fighter Competition. It did in fact win and In 1974 the Falcon was launched into service with the USAF. Over the next 40...
Jet Friday: Stealth – Now You See Me. Now You Don’t.
[Watch Video Below] Not all military jet aircraft are meant for close-air support or air-to-air combat. Some have missions that are for bombing select targets. One of these aircraft is the B-2 Spirit, also known as a Stealth Bomber. The B-2 does not have defensive...
Jet Friday: How Does RADAR Work, a Video by James May
Today we take a different angle for Jet Friday. In this issue, we will talk about one of the most important components to a jet fighter, its RADAR. Nearly every aircraft utilizes RADAR, and for reasons beyond just the targeting of aircraft. In the video below, James...
Jet Friday: When is a Jet Fighter Too Close to You? When It’s This Close.
How close is too close when flying at approximately 700 mph? You may be mesmerized at an airshow, watching aerobatic flight demonstration teams from the ground, or see them in a picture like the one above. But neither of these examples allow you to see how close these...
Jet Friday: F-15 Strike Eagle Fighter Jets Wingtip to Wingtip
[Watch Video Below] It takes steady hand-eye coordination, great situational awareness, and lots of training to perform formation flying like in the video below. Military pilots conduct formation flying for the purpose of concentrating firepower, strengthening the...
Jet Friday: The Hush-Hush Boys? A Nuclear Powered Jet Engine?
Recently, we stumbled across an article by GE Reports called, “The Nuclear-Powered Jet Engine, Ceramic Turbines And Other Gems From The History Of Flight.” From one article to the next, we learned about General Electric’s history as an innovator in jet-powered...
Jet Friday: F-22 Raptor Insane Take-off!
[Watch Video Below] Hold onto your hats, guys. Today we share with you an exciting demonstration flight of an F-22 Raptor during an airshow at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The video includes an insane take-off followed by the pilot twisting and turning the aircraft in ways...
Jet Friday: It’s BUFF, The Big Ugly Fat Fellow
[Watch Video Below] It may be known in the B-52 community as BUFF, the Big Ugly Fat Fellow, but officially it is the B-52 Stratofortress. That title alone gives the visual that this jet-powered strategic bomber is every bit of a behemoth. Its length is 158 feet....
Jet Friday: Comprehensive Chart Displays Military Fighter Jets
This week, we don’t zero in on just one jet fighter. Instead, we are sharing what we consider to be a great online find from this past week. It’s a poster that presents a side-by-side layout of all military vehicles, including jet aircraft, currently in services with...
Jet Friday: Top Gun Introduced Kids to the F-14 Tomcat
[Watch Video Below] Top Gun, one of the iconic movies of the 1980s, is about a Naval Aviator who is selected to attend the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School. In the movie, the student pilots fly the U.S. Navy’s F-14 Tomcat, a supersonic, twin-engine, variable-sweep...