http://youtube.com/watch?v=OeX2MHBLwoU

worst airshow crash ever

something like 85 people died as a result of the plane plowing through the crowd

11/18/2007 11:32:23 PM

here's some cool in flight videos of a reporter riding along with the blue angels in atlanta:
http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/ajc/swf/blueangels/blueangels.swf

what does "high alpha stuff" mean in regards to airplanes?

11/18/2007 11:33:27 PM

alpha is the angle between the leading edge of the wings, and the direction the plane is going

so high alpha mostly comes into play when you're trying to fly slow, but maintain altitude. in order to keep the plane in the sky you have to continue to pitch the nose up to create sufficient lift.

so, as duke pointed out, these f-18 are performing a high-alpha maneuver (assuming they are maintaining constant altitude or descending)




its dangerous because eventually you reach a limit where the wing will stall and you start to drop out of the sky like a rock


[Edited on November 18, 2007 at 11:49 PM. Reason : .]

11/18/2007 11:35:51 PM

alpha = angle of attack (or AOA, for short)

and hornets can fly at a ridiculous AOA without stalling...the new super hornet remains controllable down to....well, i'm not gonna say unless i can find it on the open source internet (read: google).

also, from talking to Hornet pilots, I've gathered that the high-alpha flight the Blue Angels do in their shows isn't really even pushing the envelope...the jet has substantially more to give--but they don't want to be right on the edge at, say, 50' over the water.



here's a video of a Phantom doing some work down low...and there's a well known vid of a British Harrier making a low, fast pass that i'll post in a minute.



[Edited on November 18, 2007 at 11:45 PM. Reason : asdf]

11/18/2007 11:44:29 PM

i see. i saw the blue angels perform last year at dobbins in atlanta. it was easily the coolest and most frightening thing i've ever witnessed. awesome.

11/18/2007 11:51:27 PM

here's a good high AOA video with the super hornet and some blues

http://youtube.com/watch?v=P_NSxSyrvYA

and another:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1o7HePY0hp4&feature=related

[Edited on November 18, 2007 at 11:55 PM. Reason : m,]

11/18/2007 11:54:22 PM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=deVgrh8LESo



I think I'm going to take some time off work and go for my CFI once I sell my condo early next year.

11/18/2007 11:59:56 PM

yeah p-51 crash =

11/19/2007 12:02:01 AM

^^^ i was at that airshow. there's a folder of pictures from it in my gallery. here's my favorite:

11/19/2007 12:03:11 AM

corsair. very nice

11/19/2007 12:03:42 AM

back in the day, they used to put a lot more emphasis on LAT (low altitude training), as it would've been necessary to penetrate some Soviet air defenses. i've heard of Intruders and Prowlers coming back from training sorties with scuffs from bushes and shit on the bottom of the jets. I know one retired Prowler navigator who was out on a LAT mission one day, and the pilot flew under a set of power lines!

we still do some LAT, but not like that, at least not that i've ever heard of (although I do know a person from NCSU who's flown a jet at 500 kts at 37' on the radar altimeter)!

11/19/2007 12:17:43 AM

the Red Arrow just a few days after I saw them. in pic, flying over Dubai, with the world's tallest building under construction below them, currently at 600 meters.





Blue Angels

11/21/2007 7:06:01 PM

So they lettin you fly Ea-6s eh Duke....fun planes....super stable, a shame they are gonna phase them out and replace them with a F-18 variant.

On the low altute stuff, when I was a kid in San diego I saw A4s and F5s from the top gun school with "ground skuffs" on the bottom from agressor training int he desert

[Edited on November 21, 2007 at 7:25 PM. Reason : .]

11/21/2007 7:22:23 PM