Even funnier when it was actually overcast. Maybe that's why they couldn't properly identify the plane using their sophisticated visual inspection technique instead of stupid old transponder codes... http://www.meteoprog.ua/en/weather/Luh…

And there is a correction on that account already (http://vk.com/strelkov_info). Seems that the guys running this have just heard from someone "look, there is a big jet smoldering on the ground - must be that our guys have shot down another mid-sized Antonov Turboprop", posted this on some forum, and this account with…

...and we have a rebel-force commander announcing via russian social network vk.com that his troops have shot down an An-26 which was warned to enter their airspace near Torres, where MH17 went down as we know. No residential areas were hit, and no civilians hurt. Also downed another Su, from how I understand it. The…

Pro-rebel site (?) vognebroda.net claimed shortly after the fact that the rebels have actually repaired a captured Buk SAM system with the help of a russian civilian company and used it to shoot down that An-26 - if my read of the google translation is correct. Please anyone, feel free to translate:

It is, or at least you can say this happened directly where the fights are going on right now (Donetsk - Luhansk area), and a plane entering from Ukrainian airspace will probably have looked to the rebels like a Ukrainian attack or recon plane - or maybe (not an expert on such things) they confused it with an actual…

Not that I have anything against that in general, but that's a surprisingly inefficient figure if you calculate it - if I got that right, 1.5 Gallons (US) ~ 5.7l gasoline, which contains about 30.5 MJ/l, therefore about 175MJ of energy released over 60 seconds ~ 2.9 MJ/second, which equals 2900kW or about 3900hp of…

Well, I3s at least have a nicer exhaust note than most I4s in my opinion. Add a turbo and a not-too-Nazi-ECU, and you got yourself a nice tunable little "first car" that is cheap to run, simple to maintain, gets good mileage and is actually fun on a racetrack. Also works in the role of "oh, that's just my runaround…

Wow, slow down... A simple "the actually proposed panels are several times stronger than what he based his calculations on" would have sufficed. I have read through your post, but I suppose not too many will.

Umm, just saying... when your simple guesstimation for optimum conditions (no rocks, no dynamic loads) has the actual load at about 35-100 times higher than what your planned surface is rated for, do you really need to do an elaborate calculation to see whether it will maybe fail under adverse conditions?

Not a good name for the German market either. Could result in hilarity (which usually is not a good result when Germans are involved).

I guess you're referring to the dashcam coordinates only in the second video, as I couldn't find any coordinates in the first one. However, there are some roadsigns at around 0:58 in that video, which tells you the distance to Krasny Sulin (13km, if I read that right), to Gukovo (17km), and most telling, to Zverevo…

Judging by what I hear from Africa, it'll be instant success. There is something about three friends fighting it out on a journey that is almost universally likable. However I simply cannot get why the NK censors would allow this show to enter - they have spent decades to portray the West living in utter despair and…

I can certainly relate, one of my favorites still is the plain old (it doesn't get much plainer actually, in terms of luxury car design) 1990's Audi V8 - I'd certainly be up for a similarly minimalist, subtle car. However, what the market is willing to pay for is a different question. At least over here, even the…

Simple plot: In 2025, most jets in the US arsenal are faded out or converted to unmanned drones - until a terrorist group manages, due to a massive NSA fuckup, to get their hands on US drone communication protocols. They use this knowledge to steal a significant number of stealth attack and combat drones with the…

Don't know, especially over here in Germany it's a pretty bold move to buy a Rolls - your neighbours, even if they themselves are wealthy, will give you that "Rolls Royce is driven by nobility, oligarchs and pimps, which are you?" look - you surely don't get that with a BMW at any price point. Guess they could be on…

After doing a bit of back-of-the-envelope calculation, I think it might indeed be necessary or helpful for the pilot to climb as high as he can, assuming he must get it all done and repressurize the cabin within the 15-20 mins his own chemically generated oxygen grants him, otherwise he would risk passing out and…

Ok, after doing a bit of back-of-the-envelope calculation, I think it might indeed be helpful or even necessary for our hypothetical terrorist/pilot to climb as high as he can, assuming he must get it all done and repressurize the cabin within the 15-20 mins his own chemically generated oxygen grants him, otherwise he…

Well, according to this online quiz (bear with me... I know how stupid that sounds but have a look) it seems the pressure relief valves are at least large enough to prevent overpressurization under any flight circumstances if one valve malfunctioned. They are also large enough to never exceed a very slight…

Oh, and I think you're right about the lower cabin height. Wasn't sure about the actual pressure, I just knew it's usually quite a bit thinner air than ground level.

And what would have prevented them from doing so at any normal flight level?