Nitro-powered RC helicopters are breathtakingly expensive, noisy, hard to fly, and dangerous. So why not add a wireless video camera and a .45-cal 1911A1 pistol on the front?

It seems like you’d be better off with something in a smaller caliber with more magazine capacity and less recoil, like a 9mm Glock or even a .22LR, but I suppose that when one is working on a project like this, one uses that which is just laying around the shop at the time…

The next logical step here is to make this thing web-enabled so people from all over the globe can log in and fly it remotely!

Most of the time, the links my dad sends me are, well, the kind of links your dad sends you. Occasionally, though, my dad sends me gems…

You might assume at first that this is a video of a model airplane. It isn’t. There’s a guy in there. A very lucky, very cool-under-pressure, very talented guy.

I know I keep posting video links (the lazy man’s way to blog) but doing real work has kept me pretty busy lately. Until I get some time to generate some actual content, please enjoy the following…

How about a little straight-up F-35B STOVL porn?

The clip’s title is almost certainly a lie - I find it unlikely that you’d make the first test flight in such a demanding regime, taking off in close proximity to obstacles (instead of in the middle of a conventional runway, with nothing around to run into for miles, for instance), then landing while perfectly silhouetted by the setting sun. But we can dream, can’t we?

I’ve uploaded a few pictures I took during a recent visit to the March Air Museum in Riverside, California. There are more than 70 aircraft on display spanning WWI to the present day, and I spent the whole day wandering around and taking photos. Click on the B-17 below to go to the album…

Last summer, I had the chance to go and watch the Red Bull Air Race here in San Diego. For those who have never heard of it, RBAR is best thought of as "autocross with airplanes" - a timed slalom course through inflatable pylons, with the aircraft never more than about 100 feet above ground. The aircraft are the same kind used in international aerobatic competition, and the pilots are certifiably insane.

I took full advantage of my media credentials, and took literally a thousand photos in one day. I’ve finally put them up in my Photobucket album for your viewing pleasure. Here’s the link to the gallery, and for more information about the 2008 Red Bull Air Race events in San Diego and Detroit, visit their website at www.RedBullAirRace.com.