Car crash fire water-bombed!

Car Crash Water-bombed

How cool is this. Overkill, but cool

Canadair CL-415 "Super cooper" water bomber aircraft are not only used to support ground firefighting activities in case of forest fires.

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The “Superscooper” planes can be extremely useful when you need to extinguish fire following a car crash and your firefighting trucks are several miles away.

Authorities in rural Canada have turned to an aerial water bomber to put out a dangerous fire after a truck crash.

Last week a semi-trailer collided with a road grader on the Trans-Labrador Highway in far northern Canada and when the wreck began to smoke, local firefighters called in their largest weapon, CBC News reports
Recently released footage shows the giant water-bombing aircraft slowly approaching the crash site before unleashing a torrent of water and fire retardant to extinguish the blaze.

The footage was taken by Shawn Noseworthy, a manager with Humber Valley Paving who was working on the road.
The driver of the truck was pulled to safety by the driver of the grader and taken to hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
Source: CBC News

Check out the amazing video:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/videos/9034214/Water-bomber-puts-out-highway-crash-fire

RNZAF De Havilland Vampires

RNZAF De Havilland Vampires

I went to the Soutward Car Museum in Paraparaumu, New Zealand with some visitors on Saturday, and found myself delighted to see a Vampire Aircraft suspended from the ceiling!

The aircraft is a Vampire (DH 100) FB.5 (NZ5770)

The aircraft is NZ5570, late of the RNZAF and Former Royal Air Force WA444

Previously WA444 delivered to RAF 20 July 1951 and served with Nos. 145 and 234 Squadrons and No. 2 Tactical Air Force Communications Support Unit. SOC with RAF on 17 May 1956.

 Shipped to New Zealand on 'Hertford". BOC 25 June 1956. Took part in Exercise Silver Bullet the farewell tour of New Zealand to mark the withdrawal of the Vampire during late 1972. 

Flown to Woodbourne for storage 15 December 1972 and sold by GSB tender number DO1523 16 March 1973. To Swedish Museum but sale fell through and aircraft was retendered.

Sold to Southward Motor Museum, Paraparaumu. Presently on display at Southward Motor Museum, Paraparaumu.

Also on display is this Bleriot replica, used in he 1960's movie 

'Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines'.

Other Kiwi Vampires:

(Copyrights as indicate, and happy to credit if notified)

Vertical Take-off Car a viability? Terrafugia thinks so...

The US Terrafugia company based in Massachusetts has just unveiled the TF-X, a car that comes with vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability with electric motors and custom-made quiet rotors.

While the electric motors provide the vertical liftoff, a powerful turbine engine produces the go forward in flight mode.

Terrafugia are the same company that unveiled the Transition prototype last year which was effectively a folding-wing aircraft that required a runway of 500 metres for take-off, but with the wings folded away, it could be driven on the highway, despite looking like a duck out of water.

The Transition, which is struggling for certification in the US but the company has around 100 orders for, currently has a price tag of US$279,000 (NZ$330,000) and the TF-X - which is at least 10 years away from becoming a production reality - is likely to top that.

 Terrafugia Transition:

"The final pricing will not be set until we are much closer to delivery,'' according to Terrafugia.

"The biggest price driver is the cost of production. It is likely that TF-X will be more expensive than a 'normal car' due to the higher costs of the enabling light-weight materials, but with investment in automotive scale production, early studies indicate that it is possible that the final price point could be on-par with very high-end luxury cars of today."

Terrafugia claims the TF-X will be capable of carry four people in car-like comfort, have a non-stop flight range of at least 800 kilometers and be able to fit inside a standard single car garage - although if you buy one you might like to leave it parked outside to show it off.

Powering the TF-X is set to be a plug-in hybrid propulsion system that pairs a 300-horsepower main engine with two 600hp electric motors to drive the outboard propellers. It will be able to recharge its batteries either from its engine or by plugging in to electric car charging stations.

Learning to fly the TF-X is said to be about five hours for the average driver and will come with both manual or automatic modes "between approved landing zones or airports".

The company says that it will be capable of taking off from a clear site of at least 30 meters in diameter and provide true door-to-door convenience.