The Aviationist Blog

Drone attack on President Maduro caught on video. According to press reports and official reports two drones armed with explosives detonated near Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Aug. 4, 2018, in an apparent assassination attempt that took place while he was delivering a speech to hundreds of soldiers, live on television. The assailants flew two […]

Incredible Group of Aircraft from the U.S. Air Force’s Elite Nellis AFB Test and Evaluation Squadron. There are good aviation photos, great aviation photos and exceptional aviation photos we may never see again. This photo from the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis AFB outside Las Vegas, Nevada is definitely in the last category. […]

Video of Heli Landing in Dense Fog Likely Shows Elite Joint 658 Squadron Helicopter Unit. A video of a helicopter flying incredibly low over a fog shrouded road that was shot two days ago in Kirkstone Pass in the English Lake District of County Cumbria has been featured in nearly every European news media. It […]

Flight tracking websites expose a sort of “close encounter” between a U.S. Air Force RC-135 and some Russian Tu-214 special mission aircraft over the Black Sea. The Tupolev Tu-214SR is a Special Mission Aircraft of the Russian Air Force. Actually, little details about this special plane are known: the “SR” is belived to be a […]

Where is Space Force When You Need Them? Scientists Tweet Incident; Air Force is Quiet. A curious and credible Tweet from the Director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists, Hans Kristensen, on August 1, 2018 at 5:14 PM Washington D.C. time claimed that a, “Meteor explodes with 2.1 kilotons force […]

A Su-34 involved in a runway overrun at Khurba airbase, Russia. On Jul. 31, a Russian Air Force Su-34 veered off the runway at Khurba airbase, near Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in the far east part of Russia. The aircraft had just landed after a night training mission and the incident was caused, according to unofficial sources, because […]

Take a look at these amazing clips filmed at 120 frames per second. On Jul. 31, the first prototype of the V-280 Valor, registration N280BH, performed a flight demo for invited media and dignitariest at Bell Helicopter Amarillo Assembly Center. The V-280 Valor is Bell’s submission for the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) […]

A monsoon hit Luke AFB, Arizona, yesterday. These shots show F-35s being moved to shelters. Not only are airfields in Afghanistan (such as the former UK’s main strategic base in the southwest Camp Bastion, Helmand) or Niger affected by sandstorms. For instance, fast moving dust storms, able to darken large areas in a very short […]

F-16 Viper Demo Team display at EAA AirVenture as you’ve never seen it before. Piloted by Maj. John “Rain” Waters, an operational F-16 pilot assigned to the 20th Operations Group, Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina and the United States Air Force F-16 Viper Demonstration Team commander, the F-16 of the Viper Demo Teaam performs […]

An Italian Navy “Jump Jet” landed aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) in the Med Sea. On Jul. 18, 2018, an AV-8B+ Harrier II belonging to the I GRUPAER (Gruppo Aerei Imbarcati) of the Marina Militare (Italian Navy), from Grottaglie, landed aboard USS Iwo Jima as the amphibious assault ship […]

Famous RAF Base Has Illustrious History Dating Back to WWI as One of Oldest Air Bases. The British Ministry of Defense (MoD) has announced the upcoming closure of the famous RAF Scampton air base outside the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, UK. The base is among the oldest military air facilities in the world, having commenced […]

A “Bone” taking off at night it’s always an impressive sight. The US Air Force B-1B Lancer (Bone from B-One within the pilot community) was once again one of the highlights of EAA AirVenture 2018 airshow in Oshkosh, Winsconsin. This year, during the Wednesday night airshow, the heavy bomber performed its usually noisy takeoff, kept […]

Swedish Gripen supported the firefighting efforts in Sweden dropping a GBU-12 bomb on a forest fire. Several large forest fires are burning in Sweden in Gävleborg, Jämtland and Dalarna areas. Among the aircraft supporting the firefighting operations there are also some Swedish Air Force JAS-39 Gripen C multirole combat aircraft. In fact, on Jul. 25, […]

Missile Interception Continues Escalation of Tensions Between Israel and Syria. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) reports that Israeli Patriot missile batteries have engaged and downed an unspecified Syrian Air Force Sukhoi attack aircraft. The incident happened on Tuesday Jul. 24 afternoon local time in Israel at the northeastern border with Syria near the Israeli town […]

An F-35, most probably one of the Adir jets recently delivered to the Israeli Air Force, appears on Flightradar24.com: deliberate action or just a case of bad OPSEC? On Jul. 23, an F-35 went fully visible on popular flight tracking website Flightradar24.com as it performed a mission out of Nevatim airbase. The aircraft could be […]

Geoffrey Wellum: Author, Pilot, Example of Gallantry and Courage in The Battle of Britain. WWII Royal Air Force Squadron Leader, Spitfire pilot and noted author Geoffrey Harris Augustus Wellum, has died. He was 96 years and 11 months old. Geoffrey Wellum was a revered treasure of British history and a living example of the heroic […]

New LM-100J Super Hercules Display Joins the Most Impressive Flight Demonstrations Ever. Video of a remarkable aerobatic display by Lockheed Chief Pilot Wayne Roberts in a new LM-100J Super Hercules variant is lighting up the internet in the last couple of days. Roberts flew an incredible demonstration routine at the Farnborough Air Show in the […]

Could Russia Develop A Turboprop Light Combat Aircraft? Most probably, no. But discussion brings some weird concepts to light… An obscure Russian language news story briefly appeared in social media earlier this week that raised an interesting question: why isn’t Russia more vigorous in developing their own light attack aircraft program, especially for export? The […]

The Royal International Air Tattoo 2018 at RAF Fairford, UK. RIAT 2018: a benchmark of an airshow, with its diversity, the flying program, the static display. They all come together to form an unbeatable whole. It is the largest international air show in Europe, with high diversity of participants, both on the ground, as well […]

Sacré Bleu! French Aerobatic Team Admits Color Blunder in Amazing Bastille Flyover. Following a week of spectacular flyovers beginning with the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force in London last week, the French were not to be outdone on the weekend of their annual national celebration of Bastille Day over Paris on Saturday, July […]