Gliders!

 They were at their hey day during World War-II (1939-45).

During the D-Day landings these enginless birds, if they made it safely down were a God send to the operations to crush the Nazis in Northern France, carrying in weapons, men and essential equipment?

Both the American Jeep and the British Bren carrier with light artillery were the importance of the day, allowing troops to move fast ahead of the main divisions and their heavier armor

But many did fail and many lives were lost, but after all is said they did have their respective successes, as in comparison today the glider is more of a sporting craft, towed up and glides back down again allowing many people to experience real flight!

It is unlikely that the transport gliders will ever be used again, technology has moved to helicopters and now to drones and their aircraft equivalents?

Micro-Lights?

 Sales are down since October 7th 2023!

After Iranian backed terrorist used these machines to carry out the worst attack on Jewish people since the Nazi Holocaust in 1945, demand for the types have come under more scrutiny and more so in the United States?

What was a pleasure experience has now become a weapon and many smaller nations are using these type for various roles, some armed, others working in teams to isolate various threats and also training pilots!

We don't hear much anymore about them and many have moved back over to gliders for the thrill of flight, rather than be accused of scarring people as one or more incidents were reported in the west-midlands last year!

More Drones?

For Now!

It would seem that there are limitless roles for all the new high flying drones and glider types that are available on the market, over that of conventional propeller types?

These new aircraft are unmanned, agile, light and can stay up now for days rather than hours and with the various sensors and optics provide 24/7 coverage!

This does not mean that we are done with conventional commercial aviation, since people still need to get from A to Z and so does cargo! Despite the much protest world-wide one does not think that aviation will slacken off since we are now comfortable with it?

Mid-sized and small airlines may be the short future, but the long haul will continue, despite the demise of the giant Airbus A380, the ageing Boeing 747 Jumbo and the problematic 737-MAX?

Many new types are coming to the fore from Japan, China and Russia, along with Brazil, while others are being maintained to extend their operational lives!

Ballooning.

First solar powered.

We tend to forget about the balloon in the age of machines, but it was the balloon (Montpelier's) that opened modern society to aviation well before the invention of the (Wright brothers) aeroplane. Today ballooning is a major sport and can be a dangerous pursuit.   

Recently Bristol University in England have been the first to develop the totally Solar powered balloon and fly it safely, this a a major breakthrough that will perhaps spread to Micro-Lights and Gliders/Hand-Gliders in the near future.

Solar scientists in Wales have been developing a flexible solar panel skin and I had wondered if this had been Incorporated into the Bristol project.

Microlights. Part-Two.

From the Wright Brothers.

With the invention of the first air plane, which was a glider with an engine, there has since been an explosion of design and invention. But in all human achievements to fly, people have always wanted their own basic simple machine to be as near as possible to being a real bird.

So the Microlight gives the pilot this experience to be in control of their machine and to enjoy slower manoeuvrable flight. The commercial market is dominated by dozens of kit build aircraft from the simple and basic to a small single engined plane.

Meanwhile there are also various hand gliders, and other none powered machines. You will find a selection of them on my You Tube 121jaykay, which fly locally.