Blue Angels Question(s)

I read somewhere that during the Korean war, a wounded
plane/ pilot was kept on course to a water bail-out by
bumping the wing to keep the wings level. Any truth to
that?



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"Dudley Henriques" wrote in
message
ink.net...
| Yes, they do "bump" once in a while in the formation.
There have been
| numerous sheet metal "benders" through the years.
Naturally, these are
| wingtip hits laterally rather than nose hits :-) I
remember one of these
| occasions quite vividly during the 73 season.
| The flow patterns in the diamond are unique to close
proximity similar
| aircraft. I say similar because in a close Diamond of
dis-similar aircraft,
| the flow patterns would not be as predictable.
| Tip vortices on the left and right wing positions in close
tend to cause a
| roll away from the opposite aircraft and have to be
countered. You can
| really feel this as you get in close.
| Lead and the slot position have their trim affected as the
slot sticks his
| nose in where it should be. Lead can actually "feel" the
slot in position
| and knows by his trim change if the slot slides out too
far. The trim change
| is nose down for the lead and nose up for the slot, again
caused by the flow
| patterns.
| It's not nearly as smooth in the Diamond as it looks to
you from the ground.
| There is a lot of movement going on in the formation,
especially through
| rough air. It takes intense concentration to hold
position.
| On the cross over question. They use pre-selected hack and
checkpoints
| briefed by photo recon before the show as well as radio
calls when visual.
| Timing on the high show bomb burst is a hack call down
from lead to the
| split S pull on his cadence. There is a visual call by
each opposing
| aircraft (lead/slot) (left/right wings) and adjustments
made during the
| downside recovery for altitude and airspeed to seek
co-cross at show center.
| Naturally, both sides of the runway are used. It saves a
hell of a lot of
| sheet metal work after the show :-)
| Hope this helps a bit.
| Dudley Henriques
|
|
|
| "three-eight-hotel" wrote in
message
|
ups.com...
| Our family went to the airshow in northern California
last weekend. It
| was a blast, to say the least. It blows me away to
think about the
| things people can do with planes and that they can have
the
| where-with-all to pull off some of the manuvers they do,
and under the
| G's they are pulling at times!
|
| The Blue Angels were incredible, as were the rest of the
performers,
| but I left the show, as I'm sure others did, scratching
my head
| wondering how they do some of the things they do without
tragic
| results.
|
| I heard that in some of the tight formation flying, they
get as close
| as 18 inches to each other. If this is true, and I have
no reason to
| believe it isn't, I have to wonder if they ever bump
into one another?
| If they were to bump into one another, would that be
catastrophic, or
| would they merely make contact and separate back into
position? They
| are all flying in the same direction, and at the same
speed, so it's
| conceivable that contact could be farily incidental.
|
| Another question I had was regarding two Angels flying
in opposite
| directions and crossing by each other at a combined
speed of 800 mph.
| Do they have equipment on board that gives them precise
situational
| awareness, or do they use ground references? My thought
was that one
| of them could be lined up to fly right down the runway
center-line, and
| the other could line up just outside the runway which
should guarantee
| separation??? Their timing, so that they cross right at
midfield is
| amazing!
|
| They put on an incredible show, and I'm glad my kids got
a chance to
| see them. I hadn't seen them in about 20 years, so I
forgot how much
| fun they were to watch.
|
| Best Regards,
| Todd
|
|
|