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Old 16th Jul 2010, 21:44
  #2476 (permalink)  
John Farley

Do a Hover - it avoids G
 
Join Date: Oct 1999
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That sort of event did occur if there were cracks in the surface which allowed the exhaust to penetrate along below a surface layer and build up a hovercraft effect.

Five pounds per sq in (a nothing pressure such as one might find remaining in an apparently flat tyre) generates a 144 x 5 lb lift force on a single sq ft! So a slab of 3 sq ft would sometimes appear to float up off the ground like a leaf unless it weighed over a ton! In the 60s and early 70s we learned several of these type lessons the hard way.

I am a tad surprised the mechanism was not appreciated by people in the 90s.
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