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James Goes For A Ride.....

Redbrick

By Redbrick
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Firefight911

Firefight911

Posted
Posted
I don't care who it was. Very cool......

 

Totally

 

Damn, that completely beats my jet flight last year! And they sent the slow guy on the trip!!!! Hmmm, Hammond couldn't see above the cockpit so he could see out the canopy and Clarkson couldn't get the canopy closed! :)

 

His reaction is truly priceless. Awe inspiring and truly leaves one without words enough to describe the experience.

 

Yet another Kelly Johnson triumph of design!

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Ken H.

Ken H.

Posted
Posted

"If everybody could do that just once, it would completely change the face of global politics, religion, education, everything.”

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Joe Frickin' Friday

Joe Frickin' Friday

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Helluva landing; I thought the wings were gonna snap off. :eek:

 

In defense of the pilot, the U2 sounds like a pretty tough plane to fly. From Wikipedia:

 

High-aspect-ratio wings give the U-2 some glider-like characteristics, with a lift-to-drag ratio estimated in the high 20s. To maintain their operational ceiling of 70,000 feet (21,000 m), the U-2A and U-2C models (no longer in service) must fly very near their maximum speed. The aircraft's stall speed at that altitude is only 10 knots (19 km/h) less than its maximum speed. This narrow window was referred to by the pilots as the "coffin corner". For 90% of the time on a typical mission the U-2 was flying within only five knots above stall, which might cause a decrease in altitude likely to lead to detection, and additionally might overstress the lightly built airframe.[4]

 

The U-2's flight controls are designed around the normal flight envelope and altitude that the aircraft was intended to fly in. The controls provide feather-light control response at operational altitude. However, at lower altitudes, the higher air density and lack of a power-assisted control system makes the aircraft very difficult to fly. Control inputs must be extreme to achieve the desired response in flight attitude, and a great deal of physical strength is needed to operate the controls in this manner.

 

The U-2 is very sensitive to crosswinds which, together with its tendency to float over the runway, makes the U-2 notoriously difficult to land. As the aircraft approaches the runway, the cushion of air provided by the high-lift wings in ground effect is so pronounced that the U-2 will not land unless the wing is fully stalled. To assist the pilot, the landing U-2 is paced by a chase car (usually a "souped-up" performance model including a Ford Mustang SSP, Chevrolet Camaro B4C, Pontiac GTO, and the Pontiac G8) with an assistant (another U-2 pilot) who "talks" the pilot down by calling off the declining height of the aircraft in feet as it decreases in airspeed.

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Joe Frickin' Friday

Joe Frickin' Friday

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Posted

The prelude to the OP's profound flight segment:

 

Part 1

 

Part 2

 

They deal with all of the prep/training involved for the flight, and while neither is as awe-inspiring as the third segment (the actual flight), they are interesting from a tech perspective.

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ESokoloff

ESokoloff

Posted
Posted
"If everybody could do that just once, it would completely change the face of global politics, religion, education, everything.”

 

Na, wars are far more cost effective :grin:

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bayoubengal

bayoubengal

Posted
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We did a test several years ago to see if we could operate the U2 off of a Naval carrier. Didn't work out because the chase cars kept falling into the water! (Old AF joke)

 

Thanks for sharing. Very cool.

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