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RV wannabe?

That thing is too cool. Got to see the 2-ship demo at OSH last year. And I have a question for the experts...

What's the max G that the pilot is subject to in those maneuvers? At face value it looks pretty intense, but I wonder if during those rapid pitch-ups the plane is just "aiming" up rapidly, but using vectored thrust to allow the direction of travel to change more gradually...maybe inducing less G on the pilot. Curious here! Anybody know the details?
 
Most of the rapid pitch attitude changes are done well below corner velocity, so the g is considerably less than 9. The double pivot loops they do are at roughly zero airspeed - so there's no g available. The high speed turns are up to 9g though.

All the F-15C & F-16 shows over the last 10 years have been 9g shows. The addition of thrust vectoring & gobs more thrust really makes the low speed portion of the Raptor display very impressive & "unnatural" looking.

All fighter pilots really wanna be RV pilots (some of them might not know it yet though).
 
Ah I remember...

I remember the maneuver that set the F/A-18 apart from any of the other aerial demonstrations was when it would do a high AOA/slooooooooooooow speed fly-by - and was pretty impressed. This F-22 demonstration makes the F/A-18 demonstration look like a C-152 being flown by a 20 hr student pilot.

That was awesome.
 
depends on lift vector

Dan

G onset rate is intense and thing thing we guard most against. 9G positive is physically tough to sustain even though latest generation jets can sustain for a long time. Some of our jets in the right configeration can do a limiter pull, Remember in an electric jet you pull and the computer decides what you get, and lay on 6 Gs per second. G suit cant keep up with that, you have to start straining before the pull.

Thrust vectoring gives you potential for higher G onset rate beyond 6. But even with a limiter pull you still only get a vote, the computer will ultimately decide based on "Cat Switch" Category of configuration.

Lift Vector up and your working against gods G ie gravity on top of what you generate with the lift vector.

Your body can handle an instantaneous G of 25 G for up to 10 seconds without blackout do to stored oxygen in the brain. Thats why folks didnt GLOC from a ballistic ejection seat, the G wasnt sustained. Problem is high onset rates set you up for a regime where you dont get grey out you just go from awake to asleep. Aerobatic aircraft can lay on a tremendous G onset rate comparable to top line fighters, they just can sustain it.
 
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