Awesome Airplanes

The latest attempt to combine a car with an airplane may be the most successful yet. The impressively engineered Aeromobil 2.5 fits in a regular parking space, but can sprout wings to take off and land at standard airport runways.

During a training mission in 1970, the F-106 plane that Retired Maj. Gary Foust was piloting went into an unrecoverable flat spin. He ejected, assuming the plane would crash. And then the plane went into “It’s cool bro, I got this” mode.

The folding-wing ICON A5 is already an impressive little flying machine. Now, it’s been made just that much more awesome thanks to a custom design which covers the two-seater aircraft with blueprints of its internal systems.

(NSFW: Language) Next time you’re stuck on an airplane forced to watch whatever dumbed-down, edited for TV flick they’re offering, whip out your iPad and hit play on this supercut by Screen Junkies, loaded with air disasters.

Jet World Masters is a competition where builders show off detailed scale jet models. The planes look amazing up close, but they really shine when they fly. The 2013 show is over, so you’ll have to wait til next year to attend.

YouTuber golfcharlie232 pieced together several videos to simulate the standard procedure for firing up a Boeing 737 airliner. Needless to say, it involves fiddling with dozens of cryptic switches, knobs, buttons and more.

UK creative group HangFire were given access to an out of use Boeing 737 airliner, and turned loose graffiti artists Sat One and Roids to work their spray paint magic on the plane. We wish all airplanes looked this awesome.

Rugby player Brian Habana can outrun a cheetah. But can he beat something that has a top speed of 140mph… on land? Granted, the Airbus A380 also weighs over 300 tons. How much does it cost to fly on Brian Airways?

When their flight is delayed, members of the Philadelphia Orchestra decide to break the boredom with a impromptu rendition of the last movement of Dvořák’s American Quartet. This stuff never happens to us. (Thanks Aetherion!)

Gulfstream? Pfff. The billionaires of the future will take to the skies in a Saker S-1. This concept for a two-seater plane is designed after fighter jets, with a maximum speed of Mach 0.99. That’s 754mph. More at Gizmag.

We may not have jetpacks or hoverboards yet, but we do have a street-legal car that transforms into an airplane. The Transition’s 100hp engine lets you go up to 65mph on the road and up to 115mph in the sky.

An Airbus A340 makes a landing on a foggy runway in Zurich, Switzerland, creating a beautiful vortex effect as its wings penetrate the misty night air. (Thanks Michael!)

An incredible full-scale model of a Mark I Spitfire, created from 6500 egg cartons (over a timber and steel frame), by sculptors Jack Munro and Charlotte Austin for Eggs for Soldiers, a charity fundraiser.

Awesome footage of a U.S. Navy pilot from Carrier Strike Group 8 and his F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The plane takes off, practices aloft and lands back at the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

When they’re not stunting on their motorcycles, ThoseCrazyTexans are unwisely hanging out on runways. We can’t decide who is crazier in this clip: the people on the ground or the plane’s pilot.

Red Bull Air Race stunt pilot Martin Šonka manages to deftly maneuver his plane into a tilted position, hovering like a helicopter for a brief moment alongside parachutist Petr Měšťák.

Currently being developed by sport aircraft maker Sonex, the SubSonex has a cruise speed of 170mph, a smooth ride, great visibility and is said to be akin to “driving a car that only has fifth gear.”

The Tacocopter is probably a hoax, but the Food Delivery War marches on with the Burrito Bomber. Darwin Aerospace built an unmanned drone and an app to make an awesome food delivery system.

Inspired by this famous image, photographer Cy Kuckenbacker compressed five hours of landings at SAN down to just 30 seconds, by using the blue sky above to chroma-key each plane into the scene.

By tweaking the of footage of planes landing at London’s Heathrow Airport to 17x normal speed, Cargospotter created an strange, mesmerizing illusion that makes the jumbo jets look like toys.

RC Design forum member native18 made a replica of the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters as seen in The Avengers movie. The remote-controlled replica floats on water and flies like its CGI counterpart.

Most people take it slow their first time performing in front of a crowd. Not Joe Smith though. He was just 17 and had only been flying for 2 years when he put on this amazing RC plane demo.

Similar to the ICON A5, the AKOYA is a two-seater LSA with foldable wings. It also has a pair of skis and retractable landing gear, enabling it to alight on land, snow and water.