Can an RV do This?

otterhunter2 · #1 11-24-2006, 08:07 AM

Unbelievable!!

Heard about it but never did see the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3KI_sCx164&NR

pierre smith · #2 11-24-2006, 09:04 AM

No!! I heard him say that he crossed the threshhold at 250-275 knots!
A friend of mine had a midair at Dulles in 1972 during a Formula One air race and lost one wing of his Cassutt........he augered in.

f14rio · #3 11-24-2006, 06:23 PM

I seen a picture of something like this with an F15 in Korea some 15-20 years ago. Same story... pilot flew it home with one wing, landed and all was good. Simply amazing!

az_gila · #4 11-24-2006, 06:53 PM

Yes... but did the pilot actually do this, or did the Control Augmentation System (CAS) do the work?

Sounds like there is a mode were the pilot just makes suggestions to the computer, and the computer does the flying....

-- a bit like the on/off switch on your new TV...

http://www.edwards.af.mil/history/do...aft/eagle.html

Gil in Tucson

...worked a bit on the LANTIRN, AIM-9, APG-70 radar and AMRAAM systems

RScott · #5 11-25-2006, 11:43 AM

A few years ago (before I got kicked out of the Oregon Air Guard for turning 60), we got a PR release from Boeing bragging about the air to air kill ratio for the F-15. It was about 106 to none! Not bad, considering one of our F-15's at the ANG was built in 1973 and the rest in '76 or '77. Of course they didn't mention the plane was not a Boeing design; McDonnell-Douglas built it before Boeing bought them out.

Bob Axsom · #6 11-26-2006, 07:02 AM

Some information and history. The F-15 does have a control augmentation system that was designed to reconfigure control response (differential stabilators for example) for controlled flight after airframe damage. Even more specifically as to manufacture, the F-15 was designed and built by the McDonnell Aircraft Company in St. Louis, MO. I don't remember any components being built by Douglas. The two companies merged in 1967 but the heated high end, low end Navy and Air Force competitions that produced the F-14, F-15, F-16 and F-18 (derived from the F-17 developed by Northrop which lost out to the F-16 in the Air Force low end competition) were churning mightily in that period. I went to work there on the F-101 in March of 1958 and saw the very first flight of the F-4 (F4H) which was made at Lambert Field. The first F-15 flight was at Edwards AFB in California. The first use of the use of the battle damage survivability capability that I heard of was in the early 70's when an F-15 from Hill AFB in Utah was reported in our company paper to have hit a hill (ironically) and returned base with a similar but not so severe a wing loss. It must have been a low flight since the wing is at the top of the fuselage. The first F-15 I saw was one of the test aircraft (I believe there were 12 of them) painted "Air Superiority Blue" and "Day Glow Orange" in 1972. I had just transfered from the Electronics part of the company in St. Charles to Building 105 in St. Louis to work on the Harpoon development project. I believe the F-15 is the highest performing airplane MAC ever made but the F-18 seems mighty good as well. I went to work on the F-15 in 1973, shortly after finishing an assignment in Joplin, Missouri for the development, fabrication and test of the large batteries for the Skylab. The F-15 was well into production by that time. McDonnell Aircraft Company was founded on July 6, 1939 by James S. McDonnell and one employee, the secretary. Old Uncle Mac, as he sometimes called himself when he addressed us over the public address system, was an inspired and inspiring leader.

Bob Axsom

Low Pass · #7 11-26-2006, 08:32 AM

Advanced flight controls surely contributed, but fuselage lift had to be the reason it stayed in the air.

Just watched an edition of Heavy Metal that featured the F-15. They dedicated 5-10 mins to the Israeli AF mid-air collision. With or without advanced flight control systems, it took a significant amount of guts to commit to a 250+kt landing! That's better than double the normal landing speed. Another consideration in deciding to try and land might have been the value of the plane to the Israelis. Loss of an F-15 would have been a significant hit.

Deuskid · #8 11-26-2006, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Axsom

<snip> McDonnell Aircraft Company was founded on July 6, 1939 by James S. McDonnell and one employee, the secretary. Old Uncle Mac, as he sometimes called himself when he addressed us over the public address system, was an inspired and inspiring leader.

Bob Axsom

If memory serves - I believe his 'training' was that of a machinist?

John