shuttle
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·With the first Swedish astronaut on board! Christer Fuglesang. But his not driving an GL1800 as far as I know so maybe this is off topic 
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It landed at about 5:30 P.M. and I think it is great what the good O USA can do with that space shuttle.
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Was able to watch it on AFN here in Afghanistan as well. Looked really neat when they showed the view from the Pilot's HUD. Now that was a really, really steep angle of attack to the runway. Makes you go WHOA!!! :shock:
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Heard the sonic boom as it passed over yesterday evening. Always scares the he!! out of everyone around here....
As I was riding westward towards home, I noticed several police cars along the side of the road and most folks were looking north. Then I heard this explosion like a bomb. I didn't realize that it was the shuttle's sonic boom until I heard about the landing later.
You never know what's going to go BOOM in central Florida.
You never know what's going to go BOOM in central Florida.
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Yeah, that view through the HUD was cool! They were coming down 1000' every 10 seconds, 6000' a MINUTE! DAMN!!!!! I'm used to flying 172's and my decent rate is about 500' a minute. I know they refer to it as a flying brick, but WOW! I'd love to experience that ride just once.SilverHawk said:
Bartman
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That's not flying... it's controlled falling!SilverHawk said:
LOL :lol:
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Angle of attack kinda reminded me of the very first stall recovery I attempted during my student pilot days... my instructor nearly swallowed the big black cigar he was chewing on. After he realized I had no clue as to what to do...he said "aaaaaaaaah, I have the aircraft". I didn't argue a bit. :shock: :shock: :shock: After he recovered (from the almost heart attack too), he told me to try again. I did, but it still scared the dickens out of me. I did get better on my stalls a bit later.
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Why is it a double boom?
TR
TR
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The air molecules tell each other to look out, you are about to bet hit in the butt, when an airplane is flying throught he air. These little guys send the message forward about 1100 feet a second, and the molecules move as required to let the airplane go by.
As the airplane gets faster, the little guys have less time to react and get out of the way. Finally when the airplane gets above 1100 feet a second, the molecules get stacked up because no one told them in time to move over. The get compressed and the pressure rises sharply as the molecules groan in pain. The are suddenly going very fast and when the airplane goes by, they have to slow down again, creating a second pressure change in a hurry. The first change causes a wave that we hear as a boom, and that wave is in the shape of a funnel being drug along by the airplane. The faster the airplane is, the sharper the shape of the funnel. As the funnel drags along the ground we hear the pressure rise as it passes us. The second pressure wave from the transitiion back to subsonic also radiates as a funnel shape and follows the first and when it passes, we hear it again.
When those little guys are stacking up, the heat they contain stacks also and that is what causes the temperature rise on the surfaces.
I watched the shuttle go by south of here in Texas a number of years ago. It was 13 minutes before the sonic boom passed where I was, which at 1100 feet a second meant it was 168 miles away when it went by.
They are going pretty fast when they first enter the atmosphere, around Mach 22 I think. That is about 22 times faster than a 22 bullet.
Also, if they enter too steeply, they bounce off the atmosphere and the second rentry could be deadly as it would be steeper yet.
As the airplane gets faster, the little guys have less time to react and get out of the way. Finally when the airplane gets above 1100 feet a second, the molecules get stacked up because no one told them in time to move over. The get compressed and the pressure rises sharply as the molecules groan in pain. The are suddenly going very fast and when the airplane goes by, they have to slow down again, creating a second pressure change in a hurry. The first change causes a wave that we hear as a boom, and that wave is in the shape of a funnel being drug along by the airplane. The faster the airplane is, the sharper the shape of the funnel. As the funnel drags along the ground we hear the pressure rise as it passes us. The second pressure wave from the transitiion back to subsonic also radiates as a funnel shape and follows the first and when it passes, we hear it again.
When those little guys are stacking up, the heat they contain stacks also and that is what causes the temperature rise on the surfaces.
I watched the shuttle go by south of here in Texas a number of years ago. It was 13 minutes before the sonic boom passed where I was, which at 1100 feet a second meant it was 168 miles away when it went by.
They are going pretty fast when they first enter the atmosphere, around Mach 22 I think. That is about 22 times faster than a 22 bullet.
Also, if they enter too steeply, they bounce off the atmosphere and the second rentry could be deadly as it would be steeper yet.
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I am not sure what causes it but I heard them both and thought that there was wreck close by and a friend told me later that the shuttle landed. Cool huh
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When I still lived in California the shuttle once made a landing at Edwards AFB. I lived just 2 miles from the beach (near Pismo Beach) at the time. Since the shuttle's approach was over the ocean we were able to hear the double boom quite easily (i.e., LOUD! :lol: )
The funny thing was that we were watching the landing on TV and the shuttle had just made it's turn onto final approach when we heard the booms. That's pretty darn fast!
The funny thing was that we were watching the landing on TV and the shuttle had just made it's turn onto final approach when we heard the booms. That's pretty darn fast!
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