Any pilots on here?

[Longstrider]

Nice to know they could actually fly well.

The only time I saw them shoot was on a military firepower demonstration where a Harrier and an A10 took turns to strafe a few tank hulks.

Unfortunately, our American cousin was consistently missing 50 yards to the left and the Harrier was spot in

Oh but what a noise ! That GAU8 is just the dog's whosits isn't it ? I've only heard it from a distance 'in real life' (rather than recorded) as it echoed down the valleys from Afghanistan to where I was in Pakistan (right by the border) and it's doubly haunting when you know what hell is being unleashed on some poor soul.

 

[kenbro]

Ken.

 

[tarponhead]

I’ve just been watching video’s of F15’s and euro fighters doing the mach loop through the valleys, stunning to watch, my question is with all the modern flight aids on say the euro fighter would it be possible to fly so low through the valleys upside down ?

Yes

 

[tarponhead]

Oh but what a noise ! That GAU8 is just the dog's whosits isn't it ? I've only heard it from a distance 'in real life' (rather than recorded) as it echoed down the valleys from Afghanistan to where I was in Pakistan (right by the border) and it's doubly haunting when you know what hell is being unleashed on some poor soul.

How do you zero one of those? I’m guessing not with one shot and a digital scope…

 

[tackb]

Nice to know they could actually fly well.

The only time I saw them shoot was on a military firepower demonstration where a Harrier and an A10 took turns to strafe a few tank hulks.

Unfortunately, our American cousin was consistently missing 50 yards to the left and the Harrier was spot in

this is probably because the harrier pilot had to sign in triplicate for his three rounds (yearly limit) and bring the empties back whereas the A10 pilot would be dropping more ammo than the RAF got a year

 

[User00056]

So, is it possible to jinx left, right,up and down whilst flying upside down?

Theoretically anything is possible. It would just mean effectively reversing control inputs. In reality though, the workload on the pilot would be too great I reckon. Spatial awareness would probably be lost pretty quickly. Then there are the limitations placed on the airframe itself by the manufacturers, and the operating parameters the pilot needs to abide with.

 

[Heym SR20]

I’ve just been watching video’s of F15’s and euro fighters doing the mach loop through the valleys, stunning to watch, my question is with all the modern flight aids on say the euro fighter would it be possible to fly so low through the valleys upside down ?

Just spoken to my Brother in Law about this. He did two tours on Tornadoes and then became a fast jet instructor on Hawks, first tour as just an instructor and next tour as Sqd Leader where his main job teaching instructors how to instruct. He now as a civilian still training fast jet pilots albeit on simulators.

The short answer is no:

1) The jet engines are designed for positive G and flying upright. They can fly inverted for about ten to fifteen seconds before oil pressure warning lights come and the jets start rattling.

2) Fighter jets are designed for +ve G loadings, so too are pilots. They do a little bit of negative but not much. And cockpits are full of crap - pens, skittles (as in sweets) etc and when negative g occurs all these fly abput the cockpit.

3) a full aerobatic aeroplane such as the Red Bull stunt planes have engines and airframes that can take positive and negative g so you can fly upside down for extended periods.

My brother in law did have a situation over Iraq when his navigator/ wizzo, an American on loan to the RAF, opened a bag of skittles at altitude and the bag birst. It was one of the large bags from a US base. He had to roll the jet upside down and shake the wings - all the skittles fell into the canopy. They had to then grab hold of them, and cos the bag had burst they had to eat them, counting them as they went. And after about 15 seconds they had to roll back level to sort engine oil pressures out. And then go inverted again. In the meantime they had radioed back to base to find out how many skittles are in a bag, so that they would know if they had caught and eaten all of the escaped skittles.

 

[User00056]

My brother in law did have a situation over Iraq when his navigator/ wizzo, an American on loan to the RAF, opened a bag of skittles at altitude and the bag birst. It was one of the large bags from a US base. He had to roll the jet upside down and shake the wings - all the skittles fell into the canopy. They had to then grab hold of them, and cos the bag had burst they had to eat them, counting them as they went. And after about 15 seconds they had to roll back level to sort engine oil pressures out. And then go inverted again. In the meantime they had radioed back to base to find out how many skittles are in a bag, so that they would know if they had caught and eaten all of the escaped skittles.

I find that hilarious

Fair cheered up my morning

 

[Heym SR20]

I find that hilarious

Fair cheered up my morning

He has plenty of other good stories - many at the expense of our American allies and the major differences between our languages - particularly as regards names of operations and call signs.

 

[old keeper]

As a matter of interest, what causes those wing tip trails, especially when the planes are banking?

 

[User00056]

As a matter of interest, what causes those wing tip trails, especially when the planes are banking?

They're condensation vortices caused by temperature and pressure differences between upper and lower wing surfaces, especially if it's humid. Low pressure means lower temperature, and this causes the condensation

 

[old keeper]

They're condensation vortices caused by temperature and pressure differences between upper and lower wing surfaces, especially if it's humid. Low pressure means lower temperature, and this causes the condensation

Much obliged!

 

[User00056]

Much obliged!

You're most welcome

 

[opticron1]

Always impressive watching the fast jet jockeys in the Sutherland Straths..... especially when Joint Warrior is on and they are using live ordnance on the Caper Wrath Ranges and the much pummelled "target" Island. Even better when you've stopped for a pee on the hill and one of the jets is flying below you closely followed by his two wing men......

 

[enfieldspares]

My late friend Clifford Owen in the 1980s made a claim for damage to his roof tiles and chimney at his house from low flying aircraft from RAF Cottesmore. His house was a large country house, Keythorpe Lodge near Tugby, standing on its own on top of a hill in the Leicestershire countryside. He stated that they had flown as low as a couple of hundred feet over his house.

Out comes an RAF officer to meet him at the house. Says the officer "So Mr Owen what makes you think these 'planes were only two hundred feet above your house?" To which Clifford replied "First I shoot pheasants so I know what two hundred feet up in the air looks like and....secondly....unlike you....I have had the pleasure of having been dive bombed by Stukas." To which the RAF officer looked at him with the words "The cheque will be in the post as soon as I get back to the base."

So Clifford had the repair done. But he cannot have got on well with the roofers that did the do the work. For the story continues. Some few years later he had a different builder go up onto the roof to check to attend to something else. Who then, when he came down, asked him did he know that that in the lead flashing where the earlier repairs had been done the roofers had inscribed the words "The owner of this house is a miserable bastard."

 

[Morkai]

Not a pilot, and not worth starting a new thread, but I went on my first small aircraft flight today.

It was great flying over my home county in a 1969 Beagle.

 

[finnbear270]

Victory roll?

 

[John Gryphon]

I`d love to see the SR 71 ripping up the Loop.

 

[willie_gunn]

A nice obituary from last week's Daily Telegraphy of Flt-Lt Alan Pollock, who flew his Hawker Hunter through Tower Bridge in 1968, and was known for his inverted flying displays.

As one of his colleagues observed "No one got lower, or faster".

Flt-Lt Alan Pollock, pilot protester who in 1968 buzzed Parliament and flew through Tower Bridge

‘We had been taught that an ounce of timely action and initiative was worth weighty volumes of passive, pompous pontification,’ he said

www.telegraph.co.uk