That might be the ugliest face we've ever seen, but when it hovers it'll be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

Wonder if they've ever considered lithium and electric power, they only need 6mins for an airshow.

Love that Sukhoi, has some resemblence to the TRaven, wonder if it really was a SUkhoi and not a Giles, or maybe one copied the other.

WE WANT VIDS' what a silly question. WE need them,
if a picture is worth a thousand words, what's a vid them.

that egde is very low down for that manouver, how does he get his speed back up without putting the nose down too far into the ground, or is it a model

foofydoo go to Kirby's site and check out his vids. They are sweet, check out his takeoffs..insane. [link=http://www.chamblissaerobatics.com/downloads.html]chambliss aerobatics[/link]

If I had a turbo Raven I would have to put a turbo prop in it. no two ways about it. That would be awesome . hehehehe

well skibo, that was amazing for IC engine, he is so damn close to hovering it, may an extar 150bhp would do it. Hey haven'y they thought of adding Turbochargers and nirtous, especially nitrous, flixk of a switch and you can have up to 300+ extra horse power. that would make 700hp - 50 less than the Traven and I bet that was only at 80% of maximum power with turbines being very sensitve to outside air temp.

Hey Guys,

Just like Skibo777 said go to "chamblissaerobatics.com" and go to downloads. He has two videos there. The longer one "Flying on the edge" has some awesome footage. A camera is mounted on the end of one of his wings and it is really cool to see what kind of beating he gets doing these stunts and how the control surfaces move so violently. He does a little high altitude hovering in this video. In the second video, "Flying at Oshkosh", it shows his trademark takeoff hover. It pretty impressive. I am on the executive committee for our local Sertoma club that puts on the local airshow here in town every two years. We are very excited to have Kirby coming to town to perform on October 30-31. His new Red Bull scheme is awesome! I am counting the days...

Ray

Eyeguy,

Here is my Turbo Raven from www.airasys.com. Just thought I'd share with you guys. Should have a Turboprop in it within the next few months. Then it will be totally scale.

Gary Hess

ghess you're evil

I think Kirby is an awesome pilot. Just like Jim Leroy and Sean Tucker but, none of those guys are actually "hovering" like the RC planes are. If you look at any of these guys videos or if you've seen them fly in person they are not 100% perpendicular to the ground for more than a few seconds. Then they have to start getting the nose down so they don't stall the plane. Go to Jim Leroys site and look in his video section. I think its the video from Sussex, NJ. He does something very similar to Kirbys takeoff except he hits the rudder to turn the plane so the top of his plane is to the crowd. It's a very high alpha maneuver. It's no hover but, it's still awesome! Until I see one of these guys or someone else pull up and hold it for an extended period of time AND THEN climb out of going straight up, I won't be happy or consider what they are doing a "hover". When it does happen again, and it will one day it will be the most awesome thing we've all seen in a long time!


Gary Hess

Thanks foofydoo! I try!

Looked up 'Hover' in the dictionary. The definition is ----

To remain or linger in or near a place

or

To remain floating, suspended, or fluttering in the air

I guess for airplanes, you would have to add that the aircraft was supported only by the thrust of the engine.

If the above is true, then the comments about pulling out vertically from the hover, and comments about 5secs not being a hover are really moot points. While duration and vertical pullout may make for a more impressive feat, they don't define or refute a maneuver as being a true hover......

With all that in mind, I can't say that I have seen Kirby hover, however I have seen him do some really impressive harriers and tailsliding torque rolls. I have some video of the TurboRaven, but I don't remember it hovering in any of them, but he does do some really impressive 'up' lines in it.

cobra is the full scale name for a harrier. tyhe Sukhio fighters and the new Eurofighter can do them, seen them on TV and the commentater clearly says

"cobra pass"

The best cobras are the ones when the crazy russian pilots with big ballz do some wall thingy, or the full cobra where they flip whilst still moving forward. Considering how big those Sukhois are (huge, bigger than a lancaster bomber) its very impressive.

the Cobra isn't a harrier, it only stays nose high for a short time, harriers you fly along in that state. i can see some of it in the first vid posted.

you said cost is why another raven hasn't been built, but $600,000 is still only just over half a mill, not "that" much.

Yeah SU-31s get around that much I tink £300,000?

Anyway Phil is right, my russian book sez so, the cobra is a very sharp snap up wall but walls while still mvong forward. So a forward moving wall for 2 seconds is my explanation.

I dunno is they harrier but a cobra ia whole different manoever.

Although my russian book also outlined the cobra as lfying down and then turmning the nose upwards to shoot at the enemy, a sort of funny elevator

Those crazy SU-27 guys never cease to amze me.

Now someone will come up and disprove me but I dont care, I have seen vids and proof.

This is what happens when you get too ballzy....

Bet that guy on the ground doesn't go near airplanes anymore.

did he die?

No

The pilot in that Sukhoi pic was doing a low-level outside loop and hit the top of a building. I read that he survived the crash, although I have no idea how.

I've seen a video of that, it was at the indianpolis track or something similar, definately a race track though.
Caught the side fencing that supposed to stop the cars going into the spectators.

or in this case, planes [X(]

do you think the plane is repairable, maybe some epoxy will do the trick, and he'll be able to fly for interlude

There was a special on TV I believe WINGS or something I caught and it profiled the new Su-31, and they had film from I believe the Paris Airshow. It was unbelievable. The 31 accomplishes it's extreme maneuvering from a vectoring exhaust nozzle on it's jet engine that instantly changes the thrust line. Very, very cool.

Len

I've stood VERY close to one at Farnbrough while it does it stuff.
forget the crowd line, walk back down to the car park, you get even closer!

watching this huge thing strut it's stuff is awesome