Comments on: LANDING A PLANE

By: Rubby

Rubby — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:07:13 +0000

OK, NOW yer pissin me off he’s OBVIOUSLY flying REALLY LOW while shopping!

By: TC

TC — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:56:01 +0000

Look at the exhaust outlets. They’re in the “closed” position, indicating full throttle. It’s not landing. Different angle of same plane:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Russia—Air/Sukhoi-Su-30LL/1053653/L/

By: JLaw45

JLaw45 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:41:35 +0000

This is not a MiG-29 or and Su-27. This is an Su-30MK.

Check the link in my name for a MiG-29. They are wholly different aircraft.

By: B. Phil

B. Phil — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:14:55 +0000

There’s a line in the Air Force Song that goes “If you’ll live, to be a grey-haired wonder, keep your nose, out of the blue!”

Basically indicating that being a pilot is itself a good way not to see old age.

By: B. Phil

B. Phil — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:09:27 +0000

“Yo Russian fighter pilot, I’m happy for ya and I’ll let ya finish, but the Thunderbirds are the greatest jet acrobatic team of all time!”

By: B. Phil

B. Phil — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:07:21 +0000

I like to joke that American weapons systems are designed to be so maintenance-intensive that nobody would ever be able to use them against us without having our own logistical network backing them up.

By: B. Phil

B. Phil — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:01:49 +0000

I had a teacher in high school who used to fly B-52s in the Air Force. He said one strategy they trained for was flying the bomber about 50 feet off the ground at high speed. The ground effect (basically a “cushion” of air due to wing vortices or some such) kept the plane off the ground. Indeed, they had to fight to keep it down.

Two problems with this though:

1) If you go into ground effect while taking off, you can find yourself airborne before the plane is traveling fast enough. If you don’t know what’s going on, you might then pull up, thinking you had successfully taken off. Then your plane leaves the cushion, loses lift, and falls back to the Earth. This is followed up by Maintainance and Civil Engineering guys having to clean up the mess and fix the runway, and if you are very lucky, the Medical guys having to fix you.

2) Ground effect does nothing in particular to keep you from running into power lines, trees, buildings, trucks, or in the case of this picture, wayward lolcats (would they be WTFcats in this case?)

By: paws4thot

paws4thot — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:21:51 +0000

A C-130 Hercules has performed takeoffs and landings aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59) in 1963.

By: tyberius

tyberius — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:31:16 +0000

“Kay
September 20, 2009 at 4:18 pm

how does one land a 747 on an aircraft carrier Answer find one in a hurricane facing into a headwind so you can do 170 Knots airspeed and O ground speed ”

Now there’s an episode pitch for Mythbusters if I ever heard one…

By: Colin

Colin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:36:36 +0000

Not to rag on your boss, but at this low level, lift is actually greater courtesy of ground effect. I could explain, but that would get long winded.

By: coffeeislife

coffeeislife — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:17:38 +0000

doggonemess,
You point is well made, and I agree, but I also have to defend the Russian pilot:
There is an aerobatic manoeuvre for which they are justly famous: Yanking up their landing gear while the plane is only a few feet off the ground.
From a still pic like this, it’s very difficult to tell if he’s landing or taking off. (I’m not a pilot, so I couldn’t tell you.)
So, this might be part of his intended routine during an air show.

By: Rivahcat

Rivahcat — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:17:58 +0000

My boss agrees with you; he says that plane canNOT fly so low to the ground as it would lose lift and crash. It’s totally Photoshopped.

By: Lee

Lee — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:12:35 +0000

That is not a galley, that is a caravelle!

By: paws4thot

paws4thot — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:08:22 +0000

Some of both I think; I suspect the Googlers are the oens who’ve incorrectly identified the type as a MiG-29; it’s a Su-27 or variant (and there are about 6 of those with different type numbers).

By: Keith Hackney for President

Keith Hackney for President — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:53:51 +0000

This place full of jet pilots or just angry googlers?

By: paws4thot

paws4thot — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:43:19 +0000

Nope. I’m not sure which one it is, but it’s a Sukhoi, not a MiG-29. Look at the tailcone between the exhausts (well, you can’t because the cone stops you seeing the port exhaust, but then that’s rather the point).

By: paws4thot

paws4thot — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:38:59 +0000

Speaking of being “full of it” – F-111s don’t have wing landing gear.

By: Kay

Kay — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:18:25 +0000

how does one land a 747 on an aircraft carrier Answer find one in a hurricane facing into a headwind so you can do 170 Knots airspeed and O ground speed

By: Sika

Sika — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:55:15 +0000

Personally I also think there is a caption fail. Instead of reading “Landing a Plane” it should have read “Landing a Multi-Million Dollar Jet”

By: lewisifer

lewisifer — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:08:16 +0000

It’s an SU-27 at an airshow, not a Mig 29.

By: Probably Independant

Probably Independant — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:54:34 +0000

WARNING–TROLLING/YOUTUBE JOKE AHEAD!!!

Do a barrel roll!!!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:38:15 +0000

yeah, that’s a Mig-29, not an SU-30, not the absence of the front stabilizers.

By: RobZip

RobZip — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:24:34 +0000

Take a look at this page, download the video and watch:
http://www.aviapedia.com/aerobatic-teams/russian-knights/su-27-belly-landing

Despite the comments it would seem to be an intentional gear up landing. Near the end of the video, the plane is lifted on jacks (they seemed to have everything needed in place already) and the gear is activated, extending normally.

The Ukraine airshow indeed was an accident.

By: phoenixegmh

phoenixegmh — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:58:37 +0000

Chief of the Gromov Flight Research Institute Anatoly Kvochur at the controls of a Su-30 display in China. I have seen him perform similar numerous times, a truly skilled aviator.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:31:30 +0000

that airshow thing wasnt a demonstration it was an accident.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:28:39 +0000

i’m pretty sure ferrari’s are from italy and vw’s are from germany but i get ur point.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:23:24 +0000

actually the mig-29vft beats all of our planes in manuverability.(think of the abilities of the talons in the movie stealth)

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:17:36 +0000

at least we can still look forward to christmas…

By: Torus2112

Torus2112 — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:53:06 +0000

This is one of the only ripoff ISR jokes I’ve heard that actually makes perfect sense. FTW indeed.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:51:47 +0000

oh my gosh i cant believe i did that i must be really tired……I blame too much college!!!

By: Ivan The Floydist

Ivan The Floydist — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:32:11 +0000

And where’s the discussion about Kanye? And Joe “You lie!” Wilson? This is atrocious.

By: Ivan The Floydist

Ivan The Floydist — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:27:41 +0000

Oh, you speak Jive!

By: Ivan The Floydist

Ivan The Floydist — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:26:22 +0000

Do you like gladiator movies, Timmy?

By: Ivan The Floydist

Ivan The Floydist — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:25:07 +0000

I actually HEARD the rim-shot in my head.

By: PortlandMark

PortlandMark — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:48:32 +0000

The white zone has always been for loading and unloading. You’re just pissed off that I asked you to get that abortion!

By: scathingharpy

scathingharpy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:05:38 +0000

and btw, i have personally witnessed A-10s doing the
same thing. fyi-our boys and girls push that envelope too.

By: scathingharpy

scathingharpy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:01:04 +0000

plane land you. now thats funny.

By: charro the Floydist

charro the Floydist — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:01:19 +0000

Exactly.

By: charro the Floydist

charro the Floydist — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:00:53 +0000

I am.

By: Russian

Russian — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:00:36 +0000

Close, but, not exactly. Both sides used the best technologies they could find, Russians a bit sucked on high-tech electronics, though. But, they had an advantage in being able to use what they had in the most systematic and witty way. Another thing that is right there, Soviets expected a war to be extremely rough and devastating and were ready for the worst conditions. Just previous experience. Cost effectiveness also was kept in mind.

By: Russian

Russian — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:52:16 +0000

Pretty much right.

By: Russian

Russian — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:51:23 +0000

It’s an aerobatic trick, to fly really low. But, actually, late Russian planes were designed to be able to land on belly, as well as some American.

Talking about rough landing, in Afghanistan on Soviet combat airfields, sometimes the problem was that trucks with fuel couldn’t reach landed Su-25s because of mud.

By: No1askedme

No1askedme — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 05:47:38 +0000

Russia has always lagged technologically, but their training has always been top notch. Their combat style is a little unorthodox, but has proven effective many times.

By: Bitter's Chef

Bitter's Chef — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 05:34:28 +0000

Nope, Bubba has it pretty much right. The Russkies didn’t spend near the money (per plane) that we did, and never reached technological parity, electronic or otherwise. We spent money with the idea that we could make a brick fly if we just put a big enough engine on it.

Their planes weren’t better because of know-how per se, but rather because of a common-sense realization that the planes would be worked on by poorly educated teens with sledgehammers, flown from bad to non-existent runways, and flown by marginally trained pilots if they were ever pressed into combat.

We built Ferrari Enzos, they built VW Beetles. The Enzo does some cool stuff, but when the crap hits the fan and survival is the goal, the Beetle is the better pick.

By: RobZip

RobZip — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 03:54:41 +0000

Look at the SU-27 vids on YouTube. This may be a still pic from an airshow demostration of the SU-27’s ability to land gear up. A superior asset in the event of not having a suitable paved runway. land gear up in an emergency rather than trash the plane. Good thinking.

The video I recall shows the plane being hoisted up by a common forklift, the gear lowered in place, then the whole thing rolled away. Jeebus people – do a Google search before screaming fake or shopjob.

By: typical american

typical american — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 03:40:52 +0000

LOL, typical Russian

By: Kiljoy

Kiljoy — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:41:56 +0000

No, the red zone is for loading and unloading. There is no stopping in the white zone.

By: viking gal the Floydist

viking gal the Floydist — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:20:45 +0000

There isn’t? I have a sad now….

By: viking gal the Floydist

viking gal the Floydist — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:15:40 +0000

Don’t worry. Dhoti, and the rest of us, are occasionally humor-impaired. Too many debates make us over-serious at times!

By: viking gal the Floydist

viking gal the Floydist — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:14:15 +0000

The white zone is for loading and unloading only.