#flight performance

[historyofguns]

The article "Beautifully Flawed Douglas X-3 Stiletto" on The Armory Life, written by Friedrich Seiltgen, explores the history and design of the Douglas X-3 Stiletto, an experimental aircraft from the early jet age. Designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1949, the X-3 intended to test sustained Mach 2 flight and the feasibility of titanium structures. Despite its sleek, cutting-edge design with a unique short wingspan and semi-buried cockpit, the project faced significant challenges. Initially equipped with underpowered Westinghouse J34 engines instead of the planned J46 engines, the X-3 struggled to exceed Mach speeds in level flight. Test pilot Joseph A Walker's experiences with roll inertia coupling underscored the aerodynamic complexities the plane encountered. Although the X-3's flight program was limited and failed to meet its ambitious performance goals, its contributions to aerospace engineering were significant, influencing the design and construction of future aircraft, such as the SR-71 and the F-104 Starfighter. Today, the sole completed X-3 resides at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, marking its legacy in aviation history despite its operational challenges.

[tunamayuuu]

someone suggested stewie for drawing reqs and i got inspired to try drawing an incorrect quote :)

bonus below the cut!

+ the cloud patterns on nesting and flight guides' robes reflect the skies of the realms they're from! i think it'd be silly if the apprentices of elders get intricate fabrics incorporated into their daily wear

[empiireans]

almost abandoned these sketches but i decided to lazily color them with brushes i recently modded

as always, bonus doods vv

i doubt i’ve ever mentioned my family headcanons on here so just to clarify for these doods, i hc sparkler parent, dreams guide, rhythm guide, performance guide and thoughtful director as siblings because why not

weird ahh family tree

[spadeset]

✨️ Travelling Season Spirits ✨️

These four spirits (plus two more yet to be revealed!) will be made available in the April 7th shop update! These charms are on a specialty sequin acrylic with embedded flower petals just as my Golden Flowerbed charms are. I thought they looked like the light in the game and just had to have them on it!

These will be releasing alongside the previously-posted Eden Gate standee, the shrine standee, two more new designs, a new teeny standee, and one long-awaited restock.

✨️ See you in the skies! ✨️

[skijumpingf1]

Interesting statistic from skijumping.pl about the quantity of long jumps in vikersund 🤔 we all know that the hill was rebuild (sigh) but is it just that but also the jury?

[lindwur-fr]

Headcanon: The Light Ancients are particularly lizard-like with funky chameleon tongues because they'd hunt Veilspuns like that

[empiireans]

screw it, a very mild assortment of stuff i’ve neglected to post on here for good reasons

ty and have a blessed day/night

s1 ep8: stagehand dies and doesn’t come back

[fairyoctopus]

got some outfits planned for my new xmas hatches... hehehe...

left | right

[lord-squiggletits]

Pharma's place in a Functionist society (headcanon)

So I've talked in some previous posts about all the reasons that Pharma isn't a functionist because canon never showed him espousing functionist ideals + he's actually in a place to be a victim of functionism. And I've been working on a Pharma-centric oneshot that made me put into words the best metaphor I can think of for Pharma's relationship with Functionism:

He doesn't support Functionism, but is simultaneously a beneficiary of it and also marginalized by it, because his position of being forged both a doctor and a jet basically turns him into a "token minority" of sorts.

I know that sounds kind of silly or maybe like a clumsy political allegory, but hear me out. There are a couple facts about Pharma and the circumstances of his forging that put him at the crossroads between privilege and marginalization within Functionism:

Tyrest says that Pharma was "famous for being forged." Not famous for being a forged medic-- otherwise surely Ratchet would be just as noteworthy-- but famous for being FORGED. But also, note that this is an opinion that SOCIETY had about Pharma, not something that Pharma espouses about himself. (For the sake of an example, Pharma isn't Starscream, who has an explicit, deep-seated need for others' love and approval. Pharma himself doesn't express any opinions on his own popularity or convey that fame/adoration is something he wants.)

Functionism on Cybertron held that if someone was born with a certain alt-mode, they can/should only have certain jobs. For people born with flight alt-modes, those people were almost always regulated to military or transportation/courier jobs

SIMULTANEOUSLY, Pharma was forged with medic hands, which under a Functionist society were viewed as the peak of medical care and all the best doctors were forged or at least had a "special something" that non-forged hands lacked (according to Ratchet).

So taken in combination, this means that from the moment of Pharma's birth, he straddled a line of Functionism between two different "predestined" paths for him, where he was simultaneously forged to be a doctor and also forged to fly, fitting into BOTH of these categories despite norms of Functionism which say you're one or the other. And I speculate that the reason Pharma is "famous for being forged" is precisely because of those lines he straddles: his very existence is a contradiction, but he was also FORGED that way. The same creed that dictated the two different functions of "hands" and "alt-mode" also says that Pharma should be what he was born to be. What he was born to be was a forged medic jet.

In my opinion, I think that being "famous for being forged" is sort of like a token-minority situation for Pharma, where perhaps Pharma was seen as a curiosity or even something exotic, not just as a person. Maybe because he was a jet and people assumed jets were only soldiers/transportation, a lot of his achievements were put in the light of "Oh, he's a really amazing doctor, for a jet" or "It's crazy that he's a doctor AND a jet at the same time". The attention Pharma received for the unique circumstances of his birth WAS positive, but it would've likely been framed in a bit of a condescending way, as if Pharma is noteworthy and famous not for being a good doctor, but for being a good doctor despite being born a jet.

So I would say that as far as Pharma's personal experience with Functionism, he simultaneously experienced privilege and marginalization. He enjoyed the privileges of being a medic while avoiding the restrictions of being a flight frame. However, a lot of the idolization and attention he received would have also come from a place of tokenizing Pharma: he's "famous for being forged," because in this society he's defying expectations merely for existing as himself. That is to say, Pharma in a Functionist society wasn't treated as remarkable because of who he is as a person and how hard he worked to be a good doctor; he was treated as remarkable for the circumstances of his forging, something he had no control over and can't change, and apparently Pharma being a forged medic jet is such a noteworthy origin that he's "famous" for it.

The above paragraph is purely headcanon, of course, but I like to imagine that part of Pharma's reason for having a big ego isn't out of simple vanity or insecurity, but because of a sort of "gifted student" syndrome, in a sense. From the moment he was forged he was treated as a rarity and an incredible phenomenon, and he would have had to work incredibly hard to be seen as "an incredible doctor" in his own right rather than just "that forged medic jet." Maybe, as a jet, he also had something to prove; he had to show to a Functionist society that being a jet doesn't make him an inferior doctor and that his alt-mode has nothing to do with his skills at his profession.

That is to say, I don't think Pharma would have been openly anti-Functionist, or had many opinions about it at all. I actually lean towards the interpretation that Pharma basically saw himself as getting lucky with the way he was forged and being content with the fact that he'd managed to carve out a reputation for himself as being incredibly skilled. However, Pharma not getting involved politically in Functionism doesn't change the fact that he WOULD have had a very complicated relationship with Functionism, in that alt-mode discrimination would have had an effect on him even though he was in the scientific/medical class and supposedly privileged.

[pathologicalrunaway]

i put some of aviary residents into the incorrect quote generator and...

birb twins being insane

nestie isn't paid enough to deal with their neighbours

next door shop drama

this somehow aligns with the personalities i gave to these guys in my head. not sure if it's a good thing

stewie trying to organise a bonding activity in the village

flight... r u ok...

this explains who is responsible for the food in aviary

[lovetilltheam]

They knew things were about to get gay so they had to bring tractor on stage

[vabam-fr]

redressed these girlies.

lesbian moms with their tiny son!!

[dress-my-dragon]

Cloudsong Star // Outfit Catalogue

Keep reading for apparel list!

━ Apparel List (8 pieces)

Aerborne Gustgather

Diaphanous Sylvan Headpiece

Bamboo Breeze Cape

Lemongrass Feathered Wings

Wooden Pipeflute

Viridescent Harvest Sandals

Lemongrass Tail Feathers

Diaphanous Sylvan Filigree

(looks best on skydancers due to the way the lemongrass wings are layered! looks very busy on other moderns because of this)

[ironmaidengifs]

HAPPY 72ND BIRTHDAY NICKO MCBRAIN (5 JUNE 1952)

[little-eye-guy]

my shady carnies.....

[werewolfetone]

Favourite Irish history fact?

Now this is VERY difficult but right now it's probably the way that renowned early eighteenth century presbyterian philosopher samuel boyse, who ran in the same circles as the people who started the scottish enlightenment and whose religious thought strongly influenced modern ireland on both sides of the border through william drennan, would raise money when he couldn't pay his rent