U2 aircraft footage

[Lazarus]

I know we have a few aviators here. BBC special on high flight.

Pretty cool video.

Breathtaking spy plane footage. [VIDEO]

[Old Tele man]

...a jet-powered glider that flies at the very edge of "space."

[Rokeby]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...a jet-powered glider that flies at the very edge of "space."

More properly, a powered sailplane. Gliders can only descend, albeit
slowly, from a higher elevation to a lower one. Sail planes, usually visually
identifiable by high aspect -- long, thin -- wings, have a lift/drag ratio of 40
feet of forward travel to 1 foot of altitude loss and better, can soar, or gain
altitude using any of the various kinds of vertically rising air that arise
naturally in the atmosphere.

When I passed through Midway Island in 1971, there on the runway, amid
the flapping, squawking, and viciously snapping Goonie Birds was a flat
black U2, no markings whatsoever. All it was was cockpit, engine and high
aspect wings that sagged noticably and were supported by wing tip mounted
wheels. (Presumably there were fuel tanks, probably in the wings, but the
thin, sleek form suggested otherwise.)

Parked next o the U2 was a similarly flat black, unmarked HC-130.

Very sinister...

[Old Tele man]

...gliders can both ascend, as well as descend, using thermals and updraft wind currents.

...I know, I've watched the desert heat thermals spiral RC-planes almost beyond vision; and, watched films of gliders "climbing" on updrafts in european alps.

[Rokeby]

A friendly note:

Currently the glider-sail plane distinction is little known in the
general population.

Most RCers couldn't care less.

On the other hand the full-scale, big bucks, life-in-their-hands
soaring community will take very strong exception to calling a sail
plane a glider -- think the towed, one way only troop carriers used
in WWII.

[Lazarus]

Ah I see where your coming from. With the high performance gliders you can pretty much stay airborne as long as you like.

You won't see this in the U2 but pretty impressive flying.

[Old Tele man]

...I stand corrected!

...of course the 145,000 lbs gross takeoff weight (including 8,758 gallons of 115/145 AVGAS) of our 'Connie sorta negated any meaningful "gliding" or "soaring" so how would I know?

...learn something "new" everyday!

[Old Tele man]

...that Bob Hoover film looks like it was filmed at Tucson International Airport, Tucson, AZ?

...coffee, tea and centripedial force?

[MetroMPG]

I remember seeing that U2 film on Top Gear. It'd be an understatement to say Mr May was suitably impressed with the ride.

Kind of looked like kind of a hard landing to me (non aviator).

[bgd73]

that is amazing.

I flew on kc135 tankers, and they went max height sometimes, 30k feet range wasn't abnormal. 40k is max, the photo below is 40k feet frm another plane.



I thought sure on a flight I saw a hint of darker blue and curvature, and shrugged it off, until we landed the summertime flight, and I wandered around the ice dropping off the wings on the 100 degree runway of san antonio.

they don't tell us crew chiefs everything. another phenomona is sound at high altitude. It is as if to need nothing on my ears, and it is a hoax not to fall for.

No extra suits in the 50 year old plane. I did go through a bizarre pressure phenomona in the brain, all my teeth are shattered, and I attracted lightning for several years (my car got hit more than once). I even bent my car in relation to where a driver sits. I have broken steel in places that does not break. I am one who could gain weight to 200 pounds and look like I am starving to death skinny...no explanation to this very day.

the vid is beautiful and scary to me at the same time.