Such is the case with the mysterious SR-91 Aurora spy plane.
This airplane may have been nothing more than an artist rendering of a concept, even though one witness said he saw it in action. Let’s take a deeper dive into whether the Aurora actually existed.
Why the SR-91 Aurora?


In the 1980s, the Air Force was looking for something that could replace the SR-71 Blackbird. The Blackbird was considered expensive to maintain as SR-71 flight operations cost a reported $200 to $300 million a year.
The SR-91 Program Was Ultra-Secretive If It Existed

The word “Aurora” came into public consciousness when the moniker appeared in a “black program” spy plane budget request in 1985. Could this expenditure refer to the SR-91 Aurora? This would have been a record-setting airplane – flying at over MACH 5 and streaking by at 90,000 feet. But what if Aurora was instead a different codename for the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber? The B-2 was flying in the late 1980s and was introduced in 1997. The name Aurora thus became an enigma.
SR-91: Better Described as a Hypothesis
DefenceAviation.com referred to it as a “hypothesis.” The website cited a British source with the following statement. “A British Ministry of Defence report released in May 2006 refers to U.S. Air Force priority plans to produce a Mach 4-6 highly supersonic vehicle, but no conclusive evidence had emerged to confirm the existence of such a project.”
Only One Alleged Sighting
Was there ever an SR-91 prototype produced?
One eye-witness claimed to have seen a triangular-shaped airplane that could have been a new reconnaissance plane flying in the late 1980s. This sighting happened over the North Sea in 1989. An engineer named Chris Gibson claimed to have seen it. But again, this could have been the B-2 or even an F-117 Nighthawk. The US Air Force was flying the F-117 at the time. But if that was really an Aurora, it would have been difficult to spot since its believed speed was MACH 5.


Did It Produce Those “Sky Quakes?”
Another enigmatic example attributed to the Aurora flight was the so-called “sky quakes” that happened over Los Angeles in the early 1990s. It was hypothesized that an Aurora could have caused these loud booms when it flew out of Groom Lake, Nevada (also known as Area 51). That’s pretty thin evidence that it was actually the Aurora causing sky quakes.
SR-91 Concept That Didn’t Live
If the Aurora was a concept, it probably got canceled.
What deemed the SR-91 redundant was the advancement of spy satellites and reconnaissance drones that made a hypersonic spy plane unnecessary at the time. Even though the SR-72 Son of Blackbird spy plane program is advancing now.

There is just not enough evidence to determine the existence of the SR-91 Aurora. It makes sense to call it a hypothesis because it is only plausible that Lockheed Martin Skunk Works was working on a new spy plane. The technology may have been there to produce a MACH 5 aircraft but that doesn’t mean it survived beyond the drawing board.
Skunk Works Director Denies SR-91 In Memoir
Speaking of Skunk Works, the National Interest cited a book by Ben Rich, who is a former director of Skunk Works and he poured cold water onto the Aurora hypothesis.
“Somehow the name (Aurora) leaked out during congressional appropriations hearings, the media picked up the Aurora item in the budget, and the rumor surfaced that it was a top-secret project assigned to the Skunk Works—to build America’s first hypersonic plane. That story persists to this day, even though Aurora was the codename for the B-2 competition funding,” he wrote.

As already reported, an F-117 Nighthawk stealth jet deployed to Savannah Air National Guard Base, Georgia, to take part in Sentry Savannah, the Air National Guard's premiere exercise held annually at the Air Dominance Center.
Running from May 2 to 15, Sentry Savannah is the ANG's largest fourth- and fifth-generation counter-air, large-force exercise that allows fighter units from across the country to train on integrated tactics such as ground training, offensive/defensive counter-air missions, cruise-missile defense and weapon-drop training on the range.
Although several interesting assets have deployed to Savannah for the drills, the most intriguing platform that quite surprisingly made its way to Georgia for Sentry Savannah is one F-117 Nighthawk from Tonopah Test Range.
The stealth jet, believed to be part of a unit known as the "Dark Knights," has deployed to Georgia (and, to our knowledge, this is the first time the stealth jet deploys to the East Coast since it was officially retired in 2008…) to take part in the first week of the exercise.

The aircraft, registration 84-0828, sported the "TR" tail code observed on the F-117s operating from Tonopah Test Range since 2020 along with a 40 years of operations logo on both tails that celebrates the 40th anniversary since the maiden flight that took place on June 18, 1981 at Groom Lake, Nevada.
The emblem says: "40 years of owning the night."
During its deployment to Georgia, the iconic stealth jet it flew two daily sorties. Here's what we wrote about the flying activity of the "retired" F-117s in our previous story on Sentry Savannah:
As explained in various articles, while some of the F-117s that were retired in 2008 and initially kept in a "Type 1000" storage at Tonopah Test Range have now been disassembled and transferred to museums around the US, F-117s have continued to fly. We have reported sightings in 2018, in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. After all, the F-117s are not completely retired, quite the contrary.
As of January 2021, the US Air Force had 48 F-117s remaining in its inventory. The service is disposing approximately four aircraft each year, meaning that +40 should still be available. The jets fly the adversary stealth role allowing U.S. squadrons to perform DACT (Dissimilar Air Combat Training) against a LO (Low Observable) aggressor and are also believed to simulate radar-evading cruise missiles during various exercises The Nighthawks are most probably also involved in the development and testing of stealth or counter-stealth technologies and tactics, as some photographs showing at least one airframe sporting a mirror-like coating similar to the one applied to two F-22s (one that has appeared quite recently) and to an F-35, seem prove.
Few weeks ago, the iconic stealth jets have have teamed up with the U.S. Marine Corps' F-35 Lightning IIs involved in the Lightning Carrier demo integrating with the F-35B Lightning II aircraft attached to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 122 operating from the flight deck of amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7). Previously, the Nighthawks had conducted DACT with the F-35Bs of the Marine fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 225 "Vikings" of Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 13, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, US Marine Corps, deployed to MCAS Miramar from MCAS Yuma.
Anyway, our friend Misael Ocasio Hernandez has produced a stunning +9-minute video of the F-117 operations during Sentry Savannah.

A passenger with no flying experience landed a plane in Florida after the pilot passed out.
In a audio recording from the flight, the passenger, Darren Harrison, can be heard telling air traffic control a "serious situation" was unfolding.
An air traffic controller - who also teaches new pilots - helped guide the man down to Palm Beach International Airport just after noon on Tuesday.
The two later met on the tarmac for a hug.
The pilot of the Cessna 208 had been flying to Florida from the Bahamas when he told his two passengers he wasn't feeling well, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
He fell against the controls, putting the small aircraft into a nosedive and a sharp turn.
The nature of the medical emergency has not been revealed, but the pilot is being treated in hospital.
An on-board conversation between Mr Harrison and air traffic control caught the drama:
HARRISON: "I've got a serious situation here. My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the aeroplane."
CONTROL: "ATC: 333 Lima Delta, Roger, what's your position?"

HARRISON: "I have no idea. I can see the coast of Florida in front of me but I have no idea."
CONTROL: "Maintain wings level and just try to follow the coast, either northbound or southbound. We're trying to locate you."
Robert Morgan, an air traffic controller at Palm Beach International Airport, was on his break when a colleague came to alert him to the situation.
A long-time flight instructor with more than 20 years' experience in air traffic control, Mr Morgan had never flown the specific model - a single-engine Cessna 208 - but was able to use a map of the aircraft's cockpit to give instructions to the flier.
"I knew the plane was flying like any other plane. I just knew I had to keep him calm, point him to the runway and tell him how to reduce the power so he could descend to land," Mr Morgan told WPBF-TV.
He told the FAA the surreal experience was "like a movie".
​

In the recording, Mr Morgan is heard teaching the man to "push forward on the controls and descend at a very slow rate" as he approaches for landing.
After the plane landed, Mr Morgan can be heard in the recording praising the heroic passenger to other pilots on the tarmac.
"Did you say the passengers landed the airplane?" the pilot responded. "Oh, my God. Great job."
The passengers had planned to land at Boca Raton in Florida, but Mr Morgan instead guided Mr Harrison to Palm Beach airport because it had a longer runway, was less congested, and had much-needed radio coverage, the FAA said.
Under Mr Morgan's tutelage, Mr Harrison flew the plane into its final approach, successfully landing the aircraft at 16:37 local time. Neither passenger had any injuries.
The FAA is investigating.

The Federal Aviation Administration has found that Trevor Jacob, a daredevil YouTuber who posted a video of himself last year parachuting out of a plane that he claimed had malfunctioned, purposely abandoned the aircraft and allowed it to crash into the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California.
In a letter to Mr. Jacob on April 11, the F.A.A. said he had violated federal aviation regulations and operated his single-engine plane in a “careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another.”
The agency said it would immediately revoke Mr. Jacob’s private pilot certificate, effectively ending his permission to operate any aircraft.
Reached by email on Wednesday, Mr. Jacob appeared unaware of the F.A.A.’s ruling and replied, “Where’d you get that information?”

He did not immediately respond to follow-up emails.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel last week, Mr. Jacob, a former snowboarding Olympian turned YouTuber with more than 100,000 subscribers, briefly addressed the airplane controversy, saying, “I can’t talk about it, per my attorney.”
“But the truth of that situation will come out with time,” he added, “and I’ll leave that at that.”
The F.A.A. does not have the ability to prosecute; it can only revoke and suspend certificates and issue fines. The agency ordered Mr. Jacob to surrender his private pilot certificate and said he could face “further legal enforcement action” if he did not do so, including a civil penalty of up to $1,644 for each day that he did not return it.

A spokeswoman for the Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General said in a statement that the agency, which oversees the F.A.A., could “neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation” into Mr. Jacob’s flight on Nov. 24.
A 13-minute video of the crash, titled “I Crashed My Plane,” has more than 1.7 million views. It shows Mr. Jacob piloting a small 1940 Taylorcraft plane with several cameras attached, recording the sweeping views of Los Padres National Forest.
Mr. Jacob said in a statement in January that he had flown that day to spread the ashes of his best friend, Johnny Strange, over the top of a Sierra Nevada mountain. Mr. Strange died in 2015 while BASE jumping, an extreme sport in which people parachute from a fixed object or structure, such as a cliff.
In the video, Mr. Jacob unleashes a flurry of expletives when the propeller stops spinning. He opens the plane’s door and jumps out with a parachute, abandoning the plane as he descends toward the forest, a selfie stick in hand to record it all.
“I’m just so happy to be alive,” he says after landing in prickly brush. He documented his hike through the forest, which, he says in the video, lasted at least six hours until a farmer found him at dusk. Earlier, he had found the wrecked, mangled plane in a thicket of dried shrubs.
Almost immediately after he posted the video on Dec. 24, viewers and aviation experts expressed doubts online over his portrayal of the crash. It was orchestrated, they claimed, for views and likes, and several steps Mr. Jacob took, such as wearing a parachute in the first place, were evidence of a preconceived publicity stunt.
Mr. Jacob turned off comments for the video.
The F.A.A. agreed about the parachute in its letter, which it released in response to a request from The New York Times, and pointed out other revealing details that officials had uncovered during an investigation.
“During this flight, you opened the left side pilot door before you claimed the engine had failed,” the F.A.A. wrote.
Before jumping out of the plane, the agency said, Mr. Jacob made no attempt to contact air traffic control on the emergency frequency, did not try to restart the engine by increasing airflow over the propeller and failed to look for a place to safely land, “even though there were multiple areas within gliding range in which you could have made a safe landing.”

After the crash, Mr. Jacob also “recovered and then disposed of the wreckage,” the F.A.A. said.
“You demonstrated a lack of care, judgment and responsibility by choosing to jump out of an aircraft solely so you could record the footage of the crash,” the agency said. “Your egregious and intentional actions on these dates indicate that you presently lack the degree of care, judgment and responsibility required of a certificate holder.”

A Ukrainian MiG-29 pilot who goes by the call sign ‘Juice’ has been giving interviews to media outlets about how Ukrainian aircraft and air defense systems have managed to keep the Russians in abeyance for over a month now. The Ukrainian Air Force has managed to do this with MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters.
While the MiGs are used for air-to-ground and air defense missions, the Su-27s are primarily kept for air-to-air missions. The Su-27 is a more powerful air defense asset, however, the early loss of aircraft units has shrunk the size of the fleet, which was always smaller than the MiG-29 fleet.
A typical air defense mission of a MIG-29 involves patrolling an area in search of an aerial threat, ‘free hunting’ or sometimes just pushing the enemy aircraft outside the area.
“If they have us on their screen, especially if we have a few guys patrolling the area, they don’t want to get into trouble. So, we push them from this area,” Juice explained in his interview.
Besides Russian manned aircraft, the MiGs are also tasked with neutralizing drones and cruise missiles which are hard to detect. However, Juice thinks ground-based air defenses (GBADs) are more effective against them.
“I think ground air defenses are much more capable against them. They have a lot of kills of cruise missiles every day. Drones are also a great problem for us, but I think it’s a much bigger problem for them, our Bayraktars are much more capable than their UAVs,” says Juice.

Multi-Layered Air Defense Network Manned fighters like MiGs work closely with GBAD units to form a multi-layered air defense network which involves sectors separated into different engagement zones for the fighters and GBADs to prevent friendly fire and also the manned fighters can try and push Russian aircraft into GBADs kill zones where “the more stupid ones” can then be picked off, Juice explained.
This is the first time in decades the world is witnessing a large-scale conventional war which also includes the aerial domain and many young pilots like Juice have no combat experience.


Older pilots who had taken part in combat during the height of the battle in 2014 in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions ahead of the signing of the Minsk agreements have since shared their knowledge with new graduates joining the air force.
The training since 2014 has stressed flexible tactics and keeping aircraft on the move from one airfield to another and flying difficult flight paths to reduce the chance of the enemy catching them on the ground as part of their air interdiction efforts.


“They had pretty interesting experiences. Of course, we use that during our training: low-altitude flights, using alternative airfields, etc,” said Juice, of the old combat veterans.
How ‘Clear Sky’ Drills Helped UkraineAlso, the Ukrainian pilots had some experience with large-scale high-intensity conflict scenarios from lessons learned from the US Air Force, particularly during the ‘Clear Sky’ series of drills in 2018 which was the first-ever joint multinational exercise hosted by Ukraine.
During Clear Sky, the MiG-29s and Su-27s sparred with the F-15Cs of the California Air National Guard’s 144th Fighter Wing wherein the F-15s replicated the tactics and performance of Russian Su-30 and Su-35S Flanker fighters.

The F-15s that took part in these maneuvers were older than the Ukrainian MiGs, they had been highly modernized and were considered much more capable than the Ukrainian MiG-29s and Su-27s that have undergone only modest and piecemeal upgrades.
Even still, the Ukrainian pilots were “sometimes pretty successful, just using our flexibility and creation of non-standard decisions,” Juice recalled.
“We did plenty of (basic fighter maneuvers) with our F-15Cs against their MiG-29s and Su-27s and to be honest we could tell instantly that their pilots were very good. They are very tactically inventive, they know their airframes and also understand what they are lacking. I mean, they fly old jets. Our F-15s for example are old airframes, but they have been constantly upgraded with new avionics,” retired Jonathan ‘Jersey’ Burd, the lead planner for the 2018 Clear Sky exercise told The War Zone.


Above all, the Ukrainian pilots got a much better understanding of the NATO fighter pilot mindset through their sharing of methods to defeat Russian tactics which have made a huge difference as even after one month, Russian forces have not been able to dominate Ukraine’s airspace.
The various tactics and techniques used by the Ukrainian Air Force in this war remain classified for obvious reasons but surely the war has reset the bar on a wide range of established air combat doctrine and dogma.


“The Ukrainians are defining modern warfare,” Jersey told Coffee or Die.
“Whatever ideas, assumptions, and tactics we believed were set in stone were done so by a nation that has not faced a peer threat for a very long time,” Jersey added. “Let me be clear, we trained the Ukrainian pilots as experts, but there is no substitute for aerial combat. They are the experts now.”
Meanwhile, the Russian Air Force has so far used Su-30 and Su-35S aircraft for almost all of their air-to-air missions.

Of these, Juice considers the Su-35s as the most dangerous because of its powerful radar and long-range R-77-1 air-to-air missiles with an active radar seeker that enables ‘fire and forget’ capability which is absent in the Ukrainian armory.
“It’s very capable, unfortunately for us,” said Juice of the R-77-1. “The lack of fire and forget missiles is the greatest problem for us. Even if we had them, our radars couldn’t provide the same distances [as the Russian fighters].”
Also, the disparity between the number of Russian and Ukrainian aircraft is a big problem for Ukraine.
“Sometimes they’re just trying to exhaust us,” Juice said, “flying near the border to get us to scramble, just to exhaust our manpower with these fuc***g stupid night flights.” With a huge advantage in sheer numbers, this tactic makes sense for Russia, as the Ukrainian jets can only be in one place at any time.
Furthermore, the Russian side has an advantage in air-to-air missions as well “because sometimes it’s one versus 12 or two versus 12,” explained Juice. “They have the advantage of situational awareness, radar range, missile range, missile [guidance] principles, and electronic warfare, and they still are sending so many jets against one MiG.”

A man has been sentenced to one year in prison for lying about his job experience before working as a commercial pilot in the U.K. for two years.
Craig Butfoy, 49, entered false details and fabricated his experience in his flight logbook so that he could appear more qualified to work for BA CityFlyer, a British Airways regional airline, and former Irish regional airline Stobart Air.
He pleaded guilty to several charges of fraud on Monday and was handed the prison sentence at Snaresbrook Crown Court, in east London, according to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Butfoy was employed with each airline for one year, from 2016 to 2018, according to The Times of London. During that time, officials at BA CityFlyer reportedly became suspicious of his experience after an incident occurred in Switzerland when he pressed a button that "no qualified pilot would," a source told the news outlet.

He was later investigated by the CAA, when it was found that he had given false information on his résumé and fabricated the details of his flight experience in order to "obtain and retain employment," the authority said. Among those fabrications included false claims that he had flown 1,610 hours as a captain and received a training course certificate. He also falsely stated that he had held a private pilot's license since 1998, according to the Times.
Butfoy reportedly falsified his flight hours while he was working for a previous employer, Hangar 8 Management, according to the Times. That company also operates the same Embraer 190 jets as BA CityFlyer, the news outlet noted.


However, a spokesperson for British Airways maintained that Butfoy was still fully qualified and certified to operate as a pilot, and that the case was related to false information he provided in references during the application process. The airline said passengers were never put in harm.
"The safety of our customers and crew is always our priority, and the fully qualified pilot was suspended and an investigation launched as soon as BA CityFlyer became aware of discrepancies in his employment record," an airline representative told Newsweek in a statement Saturday morning. "At no point was there any risk to customers or colleagues."
​

Jonathan Spence, general counsel at the CAA, said earlier this week that Butfoy's prosecution and sentence shows that "offenses of this kind are taken very seriously by the Civil Aviation Authority and the courts," adding that "pilot integrity is at the heart of aviation safety and we will take all steps necessary to maintain that position."
BA CityFlyer is a regional operator that flies aircraft from London City Airport to domestic and European destinations. Stobart Air no longer operates, but was previously owned by Aer Lingus.

NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology, or QueSST, the experimental aircraft, is bringing the agency ever closer to making the quiet commercial supersonic travel over land a reality. The space agency is developing new designs and the technologies needed to limit the noise created by supersonic booms, allowing supersonic aircraft to surpass the speed of sound while flying over populated areas. And soon, the aircraft, which is being developed by Lockheed Martin, is expected to take to the sky for the first time.
The ground noise is expected to be around 60 dB(A), about 1/1000 as loud as current supersonic aircraft. This is achieved by using a long, narrow airframe and canards to keep the shock waves from coalescing.
This week, NASA announced several upcoming milestones, including its plans to fly the X-59 QueSST over select communities to gather information about how the public perceives the quiet noise the X-59 is designed to produce (early 2024). Major ground testing will conclude in early 2022, leading to a target date for the first flight. Next year should bring acoustic validation flights.
The test flights should continue for the next three years, and the results of the community overflights will be delivered to the International Civil Aviation Organization and Federal Aviation Administration in 2027. With that information in hand, regulators will be able to decide if a change should be made in rules that prohibit supersonic flight over land – a decision that would be expected in 2028.
NASA recently completed the first successful wind tunnel test using a small-scale model of X-59 QueSST supersonic aircraft at its Glenn research facility following its assembly and transferral to Texas in December last year. The next test will take place in this year in the supersonic wind tunnels at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, which will allow researchers to compare results from tests of the same small-scale model.

The Air Force C-130 is one of the most versatile aircraft in its arsenal: it can deliver close air support, put out wildfires, and pick up special operators from austere landing strips in the middle of nowhere. In fact, the Hercules showed off its ability to pick up cargo and rapidly take off again recently in the Northeast.
Early Friday afternoon, residents of the famous Massachusetts island vacation town Martha’s Vineyard were surprised to see a C-130 with its four big, loud turboprop engines appear in the sky, land at the Martha’s Vineyard airport, drop its cargo ramp, pick up a motorcycle, then take off again in just about 15 minutes.

“Don’t see that every day,” said local resident Doug Ulwick, who was dining at the nearby Plane View Restaurant at the time and could see the whole affair, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Times, which first reported the story.
Unlike white-threaded sparrows, American goldfinches, or cedar waxwings, the C-130 is not a bird often seen in Martha’s Vineyard. In fact, this particular Hercules had come all the way from Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, where it is assigned to the 403rd Wing’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. A spokesperson with the 403rd Wing confirmed the incident.
“The crew picked up a motorcycle that belonged to one of the crew members,” said Lt. Col. Marnee Losurdo, the wing’s Chief of Public Affairs. “Leadership is aware of the incident, which is under investigation. Once the investigation is complete we will provide additional information.”


Better known as the “Hurricane Hunters,” The 53rd Reconnaissance Squadron is a reserve unit unique in the Air Force because it flies straight into fierce storms to collect data that satellites can’t. Their WC-130J aircraft have a suite of special sensors to pick up data on humidity, wind speed, wind direction, temperature, air pressure, dewpoint and other elements which help scientists at the National Hurricane Center figure out where the storm is heading and when it will get there.
Even when hurricane season wraps up in late November, the Hurricane Hunters keep flying through the winter as part of its atmospheric river mission, where they track massive bands of moisture crossing the sky above the Pacific Ocean. Like with the hurricanes, the 53rd tracks these atmospheric rivers for scientists on the West Coast who can use the data the airmen collect to help prepare for flooding or snowfall.
“The big thing is water management,” said Lt. Col. Tobi Baker of the 53rd in a recent press release. “The better the forecast, the more local agencies along the coast are aware of how much water they can use from the reservoirs or how much they need to conserve.”

Now the 2022 hurricane season is on the horizon, but it was unclear exactly what the crew of the 53rd was doing in the Martha’s Vineyard area last week. Losurdo said they were performing “an off-station training mission” before making “an unplanned stop,” but did not share additional details.
Of course, with inflation and gas prices being what they are, it’s hard to blame a crew member for making a quick pitstop to pick up their bike on the way back home. Still, there’s a reason why Air Force Manual 11-202  compels aircrews to “ensure off-station training achieves valid training requirements … and avoids the appearance of government waste or abuse.” That is because aircrews have made far more wasteful pitstops for personal reasons in the past. 
For example, back in 2018, the commander of the Vermont Air National Guard was booted from his job after using an F-16 fighter jet to fly to Washington D.C. for an interstate booty call. Even further back, in 2006 two airmen from the New York Air National Guard pleaded guilty to narcotics charges after smuggling more than 200,000 pills of Ecstasy from Germany aboard their C-5 Galaxy cargo jet.

Besides the financial cost of fuel, there is always the safety risk of something going wrong during an unauthorized personal flight. As bad as the headlines are after an airplane crash, imagine how much worse it would be if that happened during an interstate booty call. Still, if the description of the motorcycle is accurate, it could be a ride worth getting in some hot water for.
“I saw a vintage BMW motorcycle. I used to own old vintage BMW motorcycles, so that’s how I know,” Tristan Israel, a local county commissioner who was also eating lunch at the Plane View Restaurant, told The Martha’s Vineyard Times. Israel guessed it was pre-1972 based on the logo. 
“I was eating next to the window,” he added. “We looked out and we saw the plane. We saw people walking a vintage motorcycle up to the plane.

Hulu is presenting Red Bull’s latest death-defying aerial stunt as the exclusive U.S. livestreaming partner. The opportunistic rights pickup shows how Disney is hunting for new head-turning opportunities to help Hulu stand out in the crowded streaming market.
In Red Bull’s Plane Swap event, set for Sunday, April 24, skydivers and pilots Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington — each piloting single-seat Cessna aircrafts to 14,000 feet in the skies over Arizona — will put their planes into a vertical nosedive. They’ll then jump out in midair at 140 mph (leaving the cockpits empty) and attempt to skydive into each other’s planes as they hurtle toward the ground.
The never-before-attempted Plane Swap stunt will be livestreamed on Hulu beginning at 4 p.m. PT on April 24. Hulu is the exclusive streaming partner of Plane Swap in the U.S. (available to all subscribers) and Red Bull TV is the broadcast platform for rest of the world. On Hulu, the event also will be available to watch on-demand starting the next day.

Plane Swap is the latest in a series of live news and sports programing for Hulu’s on-demand subscribers. Past events on the streamer have included Lollapalooza 2021, the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop and 75 live NHL games.
The Plane Swap stunt required the development of a purpose-built airbrake system installed on the aircrafts’ belly, designed to control aerodynamic stability. Aikins and Farrington worked with aeronautical engineer Dr. Paulo Iscold, who served as lead engineer on the project. Once engaged, the airbrakes will ensure the planes maintain a relatively controlled terminal velocity in nosedive that closely matches the speed of the skydivers’ descent.
The Plane Swap concept is Aikins’ brainchild, inspired by a photo he saw in an aviation magazine in the ’90s. As a professional skydiver, he’s made more than 21,000 jumps and served as the skydiving consultant on the Red Bull Stratos mission (where Felix Baumgartner jumped from a record-setting altitude of 127,852 feet in 2012). Aikins also performed the first-ever skydive without a parachute on live TV (in 2016) and developed Red Bull Aces, the world’s first wingsuit slalom competition that began in 2014. Farrington, meanwhile, boasts more than 27,000 skydives himself. The two are cousins who live together on a 40-acre property in Washington State.
“Plane Swap is the natural progression and culmination of my life’s work as a professional, both in the air as a pilot and skydiver and on the ground as an innovator,” Aikins said in a statement. “It’s the pinnacle of my career, and my goal is to inspire the world and show that anything is possible.”

The world’s biggest aircraft, the Antonov-225 cargo plane, was destroyed by Russian forces while it was under repair at an airfield in Gostomel near Kyiv, according to Ukraine’s state-run Ukroboronprom. 
Restoration of the aircraft, known as Mriya, will take more than five years at a cost of over $3 billion following the attack, Ukroboronprom said in a statement dated Sunday, adding that it aimed to ensure Russia covers the costs.
“Russia has hit the Mriya as a symbol of Ukraine’s aviation capabilities,” the company said.