Welcome to Aviation Dimension. www.aviationdimension or AvDim,
began as South African Aviation's first true on-line magazine, news
and gallery resource. Today it is an international resource. The site is also known as www.avdim.com,
www.avdim.co.za ,
www.aviation-dimension.com you choose. AvDim through Andrea Serra and Frans Dely, provides
the public with a free aviation publication and image gallery
handling both military and civilian aviation matters. The publication
does not only handle a full magazine but also caters for news
snippets, general articles and regular columns together with
services such as aviation classifieds, classified submissions,
forums, a pilot shop and general aviation shop, calendars, posters,
museum updates and reviews, join the air force information,
general recruitment, specific and general aviation links, a
full aviation guide, services directory or for that matter an
information directory which is a "yellow pages" of aviation
type of production, web design services, web redesign services,
advertising and advert creation, graphic services, digital video
productions, curriculum vitae posting and evaluation, test flight
analysis of general aircraft, flight training, school coverage,
a what's new section, a general newsletter section, an aviation
business letter section, statistics of web media, marketing
of aviation products, presentations, promotions, air show coverage
and attendance by marketing teams, a general aviation links
section, link submission, link exchange, commercial and company
links, resource links, airline representations. With this and
so much in our future plans you will have the aviation world
and industry at your finger tips. The galleries spearheaded
by Frans Dely, known to some as Snapperjack and to others as
Dely, include the likes of Gripen International, SAAB (with
special coverage of the Gripen and Hawk weapons platforms),
Eurofighter, Boeing, McDonnel Douglas, Fairchild, Dassault,
Airbus, Cessna, Piper, Beechcraft, Lockheed, Tupolev, Mikoyan-Gurevich,
NASA, Sukhoi, British Aerospace or BAe, various airlines such
as South African Airways, 1time, British Airways, Lufthansa,
United and so much more. Some military aircraft types currently
covered either in air forces from all over or at military airshows
include: fighters, air superiority fighters, bombers, fighter
bombers, tactical strike, stealth, reconnaissance, low level
interdiction, spy planes, ground strike, trainers, transport,
remotely piloted vehicles, land and ship borne aircraft, carrier
aircraft, electronic warfare aircraft, tactical lift, experimental
and project platforms, space research vehicles, short take-off
and vertical landing, vertical take-off and landing, Hind and
Rooivalk gunships, Apache, Cobra, single-engine, multi-engine
from propellers or turboprops to turbojets and turbofan equipped
aircraft, subsonic to supersonic not to forget transonic either
afterburner equipped or not, armed aircraft, armored aircraft,
SST or rather Supersonic Transport Aircraft, the joint strike
fighter and more. These galleries are shot with various equipment
including Kodak, Nikon and other well known Digital photographic
names. www.faa.gov/index.cfm Military helicopters include: armed and unarmed types,
single-engine and multi engine, piston or turbine, battlefield
support, naval support, casevac specialized, ambulance types,
trooping specific, anti-tank and anti-armour or for that mater
anti-personnel, search and rescue types as well as airborne
jammers or signal intelligence orientated, hoisting, survival
support, encompassing all types from the mighty Chinook to the
Kamov models, the Mi-24 Hind and Eurocopter Tiger not to mention
other United States Air Force models such as the Huey, Cobra
and more. AvDim's civilian galleries will baffle you with our
own photography of rare aircraft such as Harvard, Spitfire,
Sea Fury, Bell helicopters, Robinson R22 or R44, Aerospatiale,
Mil, Yakovlev, Antonov, various wallpapers, Agusta, Mooney,
Aero-Vodochody L39 and L29 jets, the SASOL Flying Tigers, the
Shurlok Team under Scully Levin's leadership, Glen Dell and
his Slick 360, the new Ravin 500, Pierre Gouws in the AvDim
L39 jet display, the Wesbank team under Dennis Spence, various
schools such as Blue Chip, PFS, Central Flying Academy, Progress
Academy and so much more! Ballooning and micro light aviation
also receive our attention with coverage of experimental and
homebuilt aviation. We often attend Oshkosh EAA or Airventure
where we bring you experimental projects such as the Lancair,
Rand Robinson, Bush Baby, ultra-lights, sailplanes, parachuting,
gyrocopters, seaplanes, space ship one, airport information,
aerospace developments, air traffic control matters, weather
matters and the list continues. Articles and images also handle
matters such as air to air and air to ground weapons, laser
guided bombs, survival aids and matters which relate to cabin
attendants, pilots, navigators, flight engineers while also
looking into missiles and their capabilities related to aero
planes or for some aircraft. As long as it is flying, sailing
in the sky or ballooning we do our best to cover it. Furthermore,
Aviation Dimension tries to promote South African Aviation by
working together with the likes of African Pilot Magazine (serious
about flying), SA Flyer Magazine, World Airnews and at the same
time we are approaching the likes of Air Forces Monthly, Air
International, Flight International, Flying, Aviation Weekly,
Professional Pilot, Sport Pilot and other mags in order to improve
aviation awareness world-wide. Our working together with Siyandiza
and Vulindlela as well as the Royal Air Cadet Organization ensures
that we remain in a position to ensure that aviation development
and growth receives the fullest attention offering air forces
such as the South African Air Force and hopefully in the future
the likes of the US Air Force, the Russian Air Force, the Royal
Air Force and other world Air Forces the opportunity to contact
potential candidates through offering recruitment information.
Future plans include our hoping to cover matters from elite
sites such as NASA, the ESA (European Space Agency), Zukhovsky
Test Centre, Star City (Russian Space Agency), Empire Test School
and others such as the US Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards
AFB and the Navy School at Patuxent River, Epner, Denel, Armscor
and more. The shop section now also sports a wide variety of
ASA and many other aviation products. Garmin, Telex, David Clark,
Softcom, Avcomm are just some of the names of the carried products.
Aviation Shops and Pilot Shops are also offered for hosting
to companies wanting to sell their goods on the web. The e-commerce
section through Iveri is a secure connection which allows you
to use your credit card and mail order capabilities safely and
discreetly. Classifieds allow for submission, removal and browsing
of any products offered for sale and are free to view. Soaring
with Eagles has now established itself as a leading book and
is available in the shop. You will also find the Capital Sounds
page sporting Brian Emmenis and his Team, the voice of Airshows
who as attended shows such as Farnborough, RIAT, AAD (Africa
Defense and Aerospace), Oshkosh and many more. AvDim is your
resource, we pledge for it to remain free and only require an
admin registration. Please contact Andrea Serra on any of the
available numbers on site for any enquiries.
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(Adopted from Wikipedia under the GNU Free Documentation License .)
Aero L-29 Delfin The Aero L-29 Delfín (Czech : "Dolphin", NATO reporting name : Maya ) was a military jet trainer aircraft that became the standard jet trainer for the air forces Warsaw Pact nations in the 1960s. It was Czechoslovakia 's first locally designed and built jet aircraft.
Design and development In the late 1950s, the Soviet Air Force was seeking a jet-powered replacement for its fleet of piston-engined trainers, and this requirement was soon broadened to finding a trainer aircraft that could be adopted in common by Eastern Bloc air forces. Aero's response, the prototype XL-29 designed by Z. Rubliè and K. Tomáš first flew on 5 April 1959 , powered by a British Bristol Siddeley Viper engine. The second prototype was powered by the Czech-designed M701 engine, which was used in all subsequent aircraft.
The basic design concept was to produce a straight-foward, easy-to-build and operate aircaft. Simplicity and ruggedness was stressed with manual flight controls, large flaps and the incorporation of perforated airbrakes on the fuselage sides providing stable and docile flight characteristics, leading to an enviable safety record for the type. The sturdy L-29 was able to operate from grass, sand or unprepared fields. Both student pilot and instructor had ejection seats, and were positioned in tandom, under separate canopies with a slightly raised instructor position.
In 1961 , the L-29 was evaluated against the PZL TS-11 Iskra and Yakovlev Yak-30 and emerged the winner. Poland chose to pursue the development of the TS-11 Iskra anyway, but all other Warsaw Pact countries adopted the Delfin.
Production began April 1963 and continued for 11 years, with 3,500 eventually built. A dedicated, single-seat, aerobatic version was developed as the L-29A Akrobat . A reconnaissance version with nose-mounted cameras was built as the L-29R .
Operational history The Delfin served in basic, intermediate and weapons training roles. For this latter mission, they were equipped with hardpoints to carry gunpods, bombs or rockets, and thus armed, Egyptian L-29s were sent into combat against Israeli tanks during the Yom Kippur War . The L-29 was supplanted in the inventory of many of its operators by the Aero L-39 Albatros . More than 2,000 L-29s were supplied to the Soviet Air Force, aacquiring the NATO reporting name "Maya."
As a trainer, the L-29 enabled air forces to adopt an "all-through" training on jet aircraft, replacing earlier piston-engined types.
Operators
Civil operators
Specifications (L-29) General characteristics
Crew: 2: student and instructor Length: 10.81 m (35 ft 6 in) Wingspan :Height: 3.13 m (10 ft 3 in) Wing area: 19.8 m² (213 ft²) Empty weight: 2,280 kg (5,030 lb) Loaded weight: 3,286 kg (7,244 lb) Max takeoff weight :Powerplant: 1× Motorlet M-701 C , 8.7 kN (1,960 lbf )
Performance
Armament
200 kg (440 lb) of various guns, bombs, rockets, and missiles on external hardpoints
