I hate flying

[Sev]

Most commercial planes have a large enough wingspan that they can still make a semi-controlled descent without engines... However once the wings go, so does the plane.

Fighter planes on the other hand... engine goes out, so do you.

Who needs engines? A commercial plane can glide quite well without engines. I know of a few cases where a commercial jet lost power in all engines and glided to a safe landing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider - Boeing 767

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236 - Airbus A330

Both ran out of fuel for various reasons.

In single engine fighters, like the F-16, it's safer to eject that to risk gliding to an airport and making a deadstick landing. Unlike airliners, fighter planes tend to spend much of their time close to the ground, out of gliding range of a suitable runway.

Exactly.

[flynrider]

Flying is wonderful, it's crashing that always bothered me. Many thousands of air miles over my working career, and my knuckles still get white just thinking about it. I'll need a drink, please.

The crashing part does suck (BTDT). But it's the same deal with motorcycling. It's great, until you bend some metal

[CNF2002]

"Oxygen gets you high. In a catastrophic emergency, you're taking giant panicked breaths. Suddenly you become euphoric, docile. You accept your fate. It's all right here. Emergency water landing - 600 miles an hour. Blank faces, calm as Hindu cows. "

such a great movie

No, according to the movie at the beginning of the flight, the oxygen masks will deploy while I am sitting calmly, smiling and reading a magazine.

[Myself002]

I'd say the single most safest plane to be in is the A-10. Damn things can have half a wing blown off and still make it home. Not to mention a 20mm machine gun can't penetrate a lot of the armor.

Funny you should mention flying with half a wing blown off. This Israeli F-15 had its entire right wing torn off in a mid-air collision. It still managed to fly home to a safe landing. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen the pictures.

my uncle flew f-15s before he went coporate.I used to love going down to florida and going on base and playing with the planes. He used to let me sit in the cockpit of a hangered jet and the one thing I wasnt allowed to touch was the eject lever lol.

As for a-10s they are sweet planes. Last year when I was flying around one of my schools practice areas a couple a-10s came in and were doing sick 90 degree banks. I also saw a video of one using continous fire of its gun. The thing produced so much recoil it made the plane go backwards.

[camthepyro]

I admit, I don't know anything about planes, but would the eject button really work with the plane not running, and it on the ground? And how would the propulsion from the gun make it fly backwards?

[dieziege]

Let's put it this way:

If you were designing an "oh #*&$" control to get you out of a failed and about to crash airplane... would you hook it to the electrical system? Or would you figure that the electrical system was probably one of the things that has already failed....

I've never been in a plane with an eject system, but as far as I know they are armed by pulling a pin that locks the handle(s). I do (did) know someone who killed themselves with an ejection seat... as far as anyone can tell they cracked the canopy then decided to eject... it is fairly commonly taught crash preparation to crack doors/open canopies so they don't wedge in the crash but on that plane the canopy had pads which lined up with pins on the ejection system to throw the canopy clear of the pilot. With the canopy cracked the pads didn't line up, the pins drove through the canopy rails, and he broke his neck punching through the lexan. That's all theory of course. Anyway, if they don't have interlocks to prevent that sort of accident, they probably don't have interlocks to prevent "the key was out"/"I didn't think it was loaded" type accidents either.

Edit: at least, that's how it was relayed to me... I wasn't there, didn't see it, never examined the aircraft, bla bla bla.

As for the flying backwards, a large dose of wishful thinking really helps there....

[Myself002]

no man it went backwards google the video and with enough search I'm sure you'll find it. Theres a reason while training a-10 pilots are taught to only squeeze the trigger for 4 to 5 seconds.

The reason I was told not to touch it was because we were in a hanger and if I did I would of gone through the ceiling and wouldnt be here today. As I remeber it it was a red with yellow caution tape handle on the right side of the seat.

People never believe me when I say a plane can fly backwards. So dieziege I say rent a c-152 and do some slow flight with the flaps down into a heavy low level winds. First time I did it I was a bit freaked out. My instructor at the time just laughed at me.

[NorthernPete]

perhaps the plane was on the ground doing a demonstartion of said cannon?

[flynrider]

I admit, I don't know anything about planes, but would the eject button really work with the plane not running, and it on the ground? And how would the propulsion from the gun make it fly backwards?

Yes the ejection system will work on the ground. It is not dependent on any aircraft systems. People have been killed when they accidently activated the ejection systems in parked aircraft. It's one of he main reasons you can't get into the cockpit of military planes at airshows anymore. They used to pick a plane, put some airstairs next to it, and allow the public to take a close look inside. Even with safety pins in the mechanism, it's still considered to high a risk.

An A-10 in flight will not go backwards, but a sustained burst on the Vulcan cannon will give it an immediate 20-30 knot drop in airspeed. If the A-10 was sitting on the ground, it would roll backwards if you fired the cannon (assuming it was not secured to the pavement).

[dieziege]

People never believe me when I say a plane can fly backwards. So dieziege I say rent a c-152 and do some slow flight with the flaps down into a heavy low level winds. First time I did it I was a bit freaked out. My instructor at the time just laughed at me.

Into a headwind is no problem... but what is the A10's VS1? I'm guessing it is above 80Kts. Musta been a heck of a head wind in that video.

Some of the small experimentals designed for short field work can do amazing things in a headwind. The recommended strong crosswind landing technique for a CH701 is to land across the runway, into the wind. Yep... with a headwind they fully expect you can land in 0-40 feet, and most runways are wider than that... so if your maximum crosswind component is exceeded, no problem.