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Old 22nd Nov 2002, 06:21
  #19 (permalink)  
BEagle
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
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Quite so.

The Hawk certainly has an automatic RAT- and glides pretty well. Much better than the Hunter and far better than attempting a deadstick approach in a Gnat in manual!

My comments followed a lecture some years ago from a (then) EFA TP who described the departure to double amplitude time as being extremely short - part of the characteristic needed for the TypHoon's supersonic agility. We asked what the effect of total hydraulic failure would be..."If you had time to spot it, you'd punch out immediately - otherwise you'd be unconscious", he said. Even the Phantom would pitch up uncontrollably with a double PC failure.

You cannot 'glide' an aeroplane which is naturally unstable in the accepted sense of the word 'glide'. Thus so long as the engines are windmilling and you have some hydraulic and electrical power, you could probably control such an aeroplane to a bail out area. But you couldn't land it...........
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