The Aviationist Blog

Devotion Tells Harrowing True Story with Incredible Aerial Scenes and Solid Cast. Let me save you some time: director J.D. Dillard’s new film, “Devotion”, really is better than “Top Gun: Maverick”. It really is. “Devotion” [...]

The post Move Over ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, ‘Devotion’ Is Authentic Aviation Cinematography appeared first on The Aviationist.

Falcon Autumn 2022 saw the participation of Dutch, U.S. and Polish helicopters. Between Oct. 31 and Nov. 18, 2022, exercise Falcon Autumn 2022 took place in the Netherlands. Over 1,000 troops and 37 helicopters from [...]

The post More Than Three Dozen Helicopters Take Part In Exercise Falcon Autumn 2022 appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Bayraktar Kizilelma drone has successfully completed the first autonomous taxi and take-off roll test. Baykar, the Turkish aerospace company that produces the Bayraktar TB2 Unmanned Aerial Combat Vehicles which have played a starring role [...]

The post Turkey’s First Indigenous Unmanned Fighter Aircraft Carries Out Autonomous Taxi Tests appeared first on The Aviationist.

Some of 5th gen. aircraft have operated in “full stealth mode” to train in the most realistic scenarios. As we already reported, F-35s from Italy, United States and the Netherlands are training together at Amendola [...]

The post U.S. And Dutch F-35s Have Flown Without Radar Reflectors During First Week Of ‘Falcon Strike 2022’ appeared first on The Aviationist.

World’s Largest Aircraft Seen with Engines Running and New Test Payload at Mojave. A tip from one of the most accomplished spotters in the U.S. on Thursday, October 13, 2022, led TheAviationist to the Mojave [...]

The post Stratolaunch Prepares for Reported In-Flight Drop Test of Talon Hypersonic Testbed appeared first on The Aviationist.

Convincingly Real Darkstar Movie Prop from “Top Gun: Maverick” Will Display with SR-71. It’s a movie prop, but it’s a very convincing movie prop. The hypothetical U.S. Navy, Lockheed Skunk Works Darkstar hypersonic test aircraft [...]

The post We Got A Spectacular Close Look At The Darkstar Movie Prop That Broke Cover at Edwards AFB appeared first on The Aviationist.

The “Top Gun: Maverick” Darkstar movie prop is going to be the highlight of the Edwards AFB airshow. As already extensively reported, the Darkstar hypersonic test aircraft featured in the opening scenes of blockbuster “Top [...]

The post Here Are The First Images Of Lockheed Darkstar On Display At Edwards AFB appeared first on The Aviationist.

The SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy) aircraft leaves an important legacy of science and engineering. As announced earlier in 2022, with the end of this fiscal year, NASA retired, on September 30, 2022, its [...]

The post NASA Has Retired Its Boeing 747SP SOFIA Airborne Observatory After Eight Years Of Scientific Activity appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Italian Eurofighters deployed to Poland have carried out 16 alert scrambles to intercept 19 Russian combat aircraft in the last few weeks. An “impressive number” according to the commander of the Italian Task Force. [...]

The post Russian Air Force Activity Near Polish Airspace Is ‘Intensifying’ According To The Italian Air Force appeared first on The Aviationist.

Fictional Movie Prop From “Top Gun: Maverick” Will Appear at STEM Display. The fictional movie prop of the Darkstar hypersonic test aircraft featured in the opening scene of “Top Gun: Maverick”, will be on static [...]

The post Report: Lockheed Skunk Works Darkstar Movie Prop to be At Edwards Air Show appeared first on The Aviationist.

The country’s fifth and sixth aircraft have been delivered as the first four reached the milestone of 100 flight sorties. The third delivery flight of the Kuwait Air Force’s new Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, which [...]

The post Kuwait Receives First Single Seater Eurofighter Typhoon appeared first on The Aviationist.

South Korean lawmaker concerned about the issues affecting ROKAF F-35s. The reliability of the ROKAF (Republic Of Korea Air Force) F-35A fighters is causing concern in South Korea according to an article published by the [...]

The post Lawmaker Says South Korea’s F-35As Grounded By Malfunctions 172 Times Over 18 Months appeared first on The Aviationist.

Interesting video shows a RAF Typhoon avoiding impact with two birds on final at RAF Coningsby. The video in this article was taken at RAF Coningsby on Sept. 20, 2022. It shows a Royal Air [...]

The post Watch This: RAF Typhoon Takes Evasive Maneuver To Avoid Birds On Final Approach appeared first on The Aviationist.

The sinking of the decommissioned USS Boone saw in action, for the first time, many offensive capabilities, like the Quicksink bomb and the SM-6 missile in the anti-ship role. On September 7, 2022, a SINKEX [...]

The post Ex-USS Boone Sunk Using SM-6 Missile, Paveway IV and Quicksink Bombs During US-UK Drills appeared first on The Aviationist.

Only three out of twelve aircraft might be currently operational after delays in the supply chain of spare parts. The Philippine Air Force confirmed that some of its FA-50PH jets are currently non-operational and are [...]

The post Philippine FA-50PH Jets Undergoing Mandatory Precautionary Maintenance appeared first on The Aviationist.

Extreme Turbulence, Equipment Flying, Mattresses Falling and a Very Cool Crew! A video surfaced yesterday across social media and news outlets of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration member Nick Underwood on a weather surveillance flight [...]

The post Check Out This Crazy Video of a NOAA Aircraft Flying inside Hurricane Ian appeared first on The Aviationist.

U.S. Air Force F-35s and U.S. Navy Super Hornets from USS George W. Bush took part in latest TLP flying course. Running from Sept. 12 to 30, 2022, Tactical Leadership Programme Course 22-3, held at [...]

The post Tactical Leadership Programme Course 22-3 At Albacete Hits Two Firsts appeared first on The Aviationist.

Naval Capabilities Exist That Could Have Caused the Nord Stream Pipeline Damage. It’s a non-fiction story that fiction writers like Tom Clancy or Ian Fleming could have dug their teeth into: a pair of mysterious [...]

The post Could Sabotage Have Caused Nord Stream Pipeline Ruptures? And If So, How? appeared first on The Aviationist.

Student naval aviators at NAS Whiting Field began training on the new helicopter that will replace the aging TH-57 Sea Ranger. The U.S. Navy announced that the first class of twelve student naval aviators began [...]

The post U.S. Navy Begins Training On New TH-73A Thrasher Helicopter appeared first on The Aviationist.

For the first time an Italian Air Force F-35 launched from Ghedi Air Base and recovered there after conducting a training mission with the local-based Tornados. On Aug. 29, 2022, an F-35A of the Italian [...]

The post Italian F-35A Launches First Round Trip Mission From Ghedi Air Base appeared first on The Aviationist.