Wheelie to stoppie - in a C130

Fucking hell, what were they thinking?

Ah, this apparently:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credible_Sport

 

Thunderbirds are go .... [1]

If the mission profile was to land in a stadium to rescue hostages,
better hope they're not in front of the plane when the retro rockets
fire ...

Paul.

[1] Well, right up until the wing fell off.

 

Bugger being the test pilot, especially for the last landing.

 

Looks like he flicked the wrong switch on the approach - braking
thrusters instead of descent thrusters.

I've seen this befoe somewhere.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Pip Luscher

The braking thrusters were apparently not supposed to be fired until the
Herc was on the ground. But the flight engineer was blinded by the
descent thrusters[1] and fired them early.

[1] Who knew?

 

Have good, deadpan, "mission control" naration.


Loads of good film here.

There is also Fat Albert.

 

This is still one of my favourties:



That takes some balls.

 

Fat Alberts are very versatile, but that was taking it just a tad too far.

 

I thought he fired the top retro thrusters first, under manual control, got
semi blinded and buggered up the firing of the bottom retro's. This sequence
stopped the descent thrusters from firing at all.

Maybe I read it wrong. I shall check.

Quote

"During the test, the Lockheed crew determined that the computer used to
command the firing of the rockets during the landing sequence needed further
calibration to perform the crucial firing sequence during landing, and
elected to manually input commands. The reverse-mounted (forward facing)
eight ASROC rockets were situated in pairs on the upper curvature of the
fuselage behind the cockpit, and at the mid-point of each side of the
fuselage beneath the uppers. Testing had determined that the upper pairs,
fired sequentially, could be ignited while still airborne (specifically, at
20 feet), the lower pairs could only be fired after the aircraft was on the
ground. The flight engineer, blinded by the firing of the upper deceleration
rockets, thought the aircraft was on the runway and fired the lower set
early, while the descent-braking rockets did not fire at all. Later
unofficial disclaimers alleged to have been made by some members of the
Lockheed test crew asserted that the lower rockets fired themselves through
an undetermined computer or electrical malfunction, which at the same time
failed to fire the descent-braking rockets."

End quote


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

Talking of steel cojones :

My all time favourite gutsy flying manouvre [1][2] was this one :



(the Lufthansa A320 touching the wing down in a vicious crosswind)

Paul.

[1] Nods to Top Gun reference
[2] This one might get an 'also ran'

 

No, hairyplanes are big boys toys so they belong in the same place as
sportsbikes and fast cars.

 

It's all about getting someone else to live your dreams for you and
this is how some people do it. Nobody got hurt clicking a youtube
link.

 

Unlike you.

 

Look, will you stop letting logic get in the way of a good whinge? I'm
laid up indoors with a ****-off cold while Jude's out skiing, so I'm
buggered if I'm going to be reasonable.

 

Not helped by the jetlag. Lay in bed awake from 1230 to 0430 last
night, then again from 0830, when I really, really, could have done
with the sleep. Fucking business travel, I hates it.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Ace

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8339647.stm

GWS.

 

Ta. Snow's great, BTW. Lots of fresh fell last night and it's around
-10, so it'll be lovely fluffy powder. Skiied a couple of hours
yesterday and it was pretty good, but the gluhwein was the best bit of
the day.

I wouldn't worry about it - I brought back a couple of boxes from the
US, so we'll be OK for a while. But ta.

 

She's back. "The powder was just luurvely; I showed them all how to do
it." Up top was very windblasted though, and in fact they've closed
most of the chairlifts... no, all of them, in fact, with just the
bigger cable-cars and the drags still open. High winds lead to early
bath.

 

To the vicarious go the spills.

 

I came back from Chicago today, but the flight to colorado springs was
looking like it might get cancelled, so i took one to denver instead,
and drove. just got home, after an 18 hours day.

When are you stopping by again? We've got great snow, and my weekends
are now more predictable than last time you were here.