Military AircrewA forum for the professionals who fly the non-civilian hardware, and the backroom boys and girls without whom nothing would leave the ground. Army, Navy and Airforces of the World, all equally welcome here.
No - it can be used in the descent but not with the slats extended (due to the exhaust flow). Even so, and albeit with an acceleration, it can still achieve up to 20,000fpm RoD.
It certainly makes for an interesting (and mostly green) view from the flightdeck of a 200ton jet!
411A you are indeed correct it was for the -71 & -73 fitted with the CFM motors, I was flying into Lagos with Southern when the Capt used them and for his trouble got wacked on the back of the head by the FE as He was worried about them stowing and being stuck there, as the flt mech I was not overly happy about the situation either
It certainly makes for an interesting (and mostly green) view from the flightdeck of a 200ton jet!
Uncle G
I'm tempted to say 'no sh!t Sherlock' but it does sound fairly hairy! I've see empty ones go up like a rat up a drainpipe but 20K per min downwards (intentionally) must give you lots of options in a (mostly brown?) tactical environment.
The Herc K can also do it - the only limitation on use of reverse thrust is a speed one - not above 115kts IIRC. It has been done in the sim to quite dramatic (and controllable) effect (1nm short finals, 5000ft agl, successful landing!)- however, it'd take some cojones to try it in the aircraft....prop hangup, anyone?
The Trident reversed thrust, (outers) could be used anytime, any speed, right down to turning off the runway. Very useful on a shortish runway when you could be pulling reverse in the flare.
Bakedwell are you sure that the JT 3s had a in flight reverse capability? as my memory thinks they could not, though no speedbrakes as such they had inboard and out ground/flight spoilers that deployed on touchdown spent many an hour in the german cargo hangar rigging them.
Even though it's gated through the WoW on Tornado, it's still a bad idea to pre-select thrust-reverse on approach because if you make a hash of the landing, it kicks-in just as you bounce and makes your second landing even heavier!