Dragon Lady, home to roost....

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Almost absurd and totally cool!  

 

 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

Almost absurd and totally cool!  

 

 

 

 

Love the chase vehicle talking the pilot through the last few feet down. 

 

And watching the wings droop as it slows down. 

[Eyesa Horg]

Puts a different meaning to " manually deployed landing gear" 

 

[Chantry]

I know they used Mustang 5.0's in the late 1980's and earlier 1990's 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

A multi-million dollar aircraft with a two bit 19th century landing gear?

 

Probably done to get every ounce of extra weight off the plane, but couldn't someone have designed something better?

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Saw them fly many times a day when we lived in Palmdale near Plant 42.

[Chicken Rustler, SASS #26680]

30 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

A multi-million dollar aircraft with a two bit 19th century landing gear?

 

Probably done to get every ounce of extra weight off the plane, but couldn't someone have designed something better?

No, at altitude it's meant to act more like a glider than a jet, there's a very narrow flying window between flat and level flight and stalling out and this is the best design for that.

[Chicken Rustler, SASS #26680]

13 hours ago, Chantry said:

I know they used Mustang 5.0's in the late 1980's and earlier 1990's 

They've also used El Caminos and Camaros and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo rally cars. The driver is a pilot and he does the walkaround before flight because it's too hard for the one in the space suit to do it.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

22 hours ago, Chicken Rustler, SASS #26680 said:

No, at altitude it's meant to act more like a glider than a jet, there's a very narrow flying window between flat and level flight and stalling out and this is the best design for that.

I'm not questioning that, but those add-on wheels that are put on manually after the plane lands are absolutely primative.  They make that elegant plane look like a kid's toy.

[Chicken Rustler, SASS #26680]

3 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I'm not questioning that, but those add-on wheels that are put on manually after the plane lands are absolutely primative.  They make that elegant plane look like a kid's toy.

It's elegant on purpose and the reason is the wingspan, more than 3 F-16s. All that wing surface has to be balanced and they do it by transferring fuel between the tanks. The crew chief does it for takeoff and the pilot does it at altitude and for landing. A lot of effort goes into weight and balance and heavy things like sensors, avionics and landing gear are kept close to the center of gravity. If you notice in the video, those big wings can be moved up and down pretty easily.

You're right though, it is kind of like a kid's toy. It can be taken apart and reconfigured with different sensor configurations and put back together, some people call it a tinker toy plane.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

You're still missing my point.  I don't give a hoot about the things you are saying, just the funny landing gears.

 

Done with this message.

[Eyesa Horg]

Do those funky wing wheels just fall off on take off, or do they sort of drag a wing like a small glider til the wing gets lift?

[Chicken Rustler, SASS #26680]

On 11/30/2024 at 9:48 AM, Eyesa Horg said:

Do those funky wing wheels just fall off on take off, or do they sort of drag a wing like a small glider til the wing gets lift?

The plane taxis out and then waits for them to remove the pins so as soon as the wing gets lift they fall out.