Real manual flying. Amazing 'interception'
Avoid imitations
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Stanwell, I'm not expert enough but too old, with only forty two years of aviation under my belt, thirty seven of it for a living. But in my younger day I'd certainly have loved to have had a go, obviously having practiced the necessary skills well in advance and made the other necessary preparations as well as this team obviously did. But I have a fair amount of close formation experience, in fact the military thought I was good enough to teach others how to do it, in both fixed wing and rotary wing. These days I fly far less exciting stuff, mainly in straight lines. 
Tourist, who was informed of some basic aerodynamic facts will also be very well acquainted with flying very close to the downwash of much larger aircraft.
Tourist, who was informed of some basic aerodynamic facts will also be very well acquainted with flying very close to the downwash of much larger aircraft.
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Yes. a most impressive vid. I dips me lid to the whole team. 
I take my hat off to you and Tourist, as well.
I'm envious that you had the opportunity to develop those skills - and get paid for it.
Personally, I prefer to keep as much air as possible between me and other aircraft.
I take my hat off to you and Tourist, as well.
I'm envious that you had the opportunity to develop those skills - and get paid for it.
Personally, I prefer to keep as much air as possible between me and other aircraft.
C'mon Megan, flying a multi-ton airliner 5 miles behind another is hardly similar to a man-sized jetpack metres from the wingtip..
I think that the three months they took in planning and briefing this exercise (by professionals) were fully aware of the risks and what was needed to ameliorate those risks.
"unnecessarily reckless"? Absolutely not. No different than the formation carried out by aircraft large and small in the worlds armed forces. The only difference is the capabilities of the respective aircraft and the limits applied, and their three month preparation would have covered all that, as I said in my post repeated above, "were fully aware of the risks and what was needed to ameliorate those risks".
This Blue Angels Diamond Formation Is Terrifyingly Tight
That's not to say even the experts don't get it wrong
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Of course, you know what they could do next time...
Ditch the flaps on the A380 to pump up the wingtip vortices, nibble in tight and "surf" the front edge a la dolphins on a bow wave...
I wonder if they could turn their engines off?
Ditch the flaps on the A380 to pump up the wingtip vortices, nibble in tight and "surf" the front edge a la dolphins on a bow wave...
I wonder if they could turn their engines off?
Originally Posted by Tourist
The fact that the biggest vortices come off the outside edge of the flap, or that they are biggest when slow and heavy?
Originally Posted by Tourist
Yes, they will flick you out
The concept of "oh well if the wing gets ripped off they'll just chute to the ground" is similarly ridiculous.
PS: Good to see a Flying High officianado...
Megan,
I was referring to this silly comment of yours:
Every aviator is aware of what tangling with vortices implies. Why do you think ATC ensure landing aircraft have a defined spacing? On your premise that would be "unnecessarily reckless",
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I said that "the biggest vortices come off the outside edge of the flap when slow and heavy" and I stand by that.
Watch this video again with particular attention to the approach from about 1:20 onwards. That approach has the "little visual twister on the end of the flap" plus it flies through cloud perfectly visualising where the "wingtip" vortices actually come from in landing config.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfY5ZQDzC5s
I did wonder if they actually were flying the A380 with more flap than required to deliberately shrink the wingtip vortices for the comfort of the jetpacks.
I've been spat out before. Never been flicked right over, but run out of control authority many times.
Just like being in a small yacht is safer than a supertanker on a huge wave, they are better off being tiny....
Last edited by Tourist; 8th Nov 2015 at 11:03.
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The World's Only KC-747 Tanker Is Flown By The Iranian Air Force
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Yes, they will flick you out
No, up and in. the flow goes from the bottom to the top.
Yes, I will grant you that, I phrased it poorly. I should have said it will spit him out of formation.
Suck you in, chew you up & spit you out, more like. It seems to me they are staying above the wing and engine centre line; no doubt to stay in as calmer air as possible. I wonder if they practiced with smaller prop a/c, moving onto smaller jets and then this extravaganza. There ain't no simulators. Perhaps somewhere there is a more detailed documentary of the R&D of the jet pack. I remember the 1st experiments made with rockets; but they had little thrust control. Light the blue touch paper and enjoy the ride. If these are jets I assume there is some kind of thrust lever. Next question is what will the military think of it. Usually, when they get their hands on something, it whizzes along its development path.
No, up and in. the flow goes from the bottom to the top.
Yes, I will grant you that, I phrased it poorly. I should have said it will spit him out of formation.
Suck you in, chew you up & spit you out, more like. It seems to me they are staying above the wing and engine centre line; no doubt to stay in as calmer air as possible. I wonder if they practiced with smaller prop a/c, moving onto smaller jets and then this extravaganza. There ain't no simulators. Perhaps somewhere there is a more detailed documentary of the R&D of the jet pack. I remember the 1st experiments made with rockets; but they had little thrust control. Light the blue touch paper and enjoy the ride. If these are jets I assume there is some kind of thrust lever. Next question is what will the military think of it. Usually, when they get their hands on something, it whizzes along its development path.
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Thanks FlyDive1. Finally I have an excuse to use that very much overused word by the Americans. "Oh my god, that's awesome."
Truly astonishing, and wishing I was 20 years younger. There was a Tony Hancock radio script, years ago in 60's, where there was a knock on the door of an airborne airliner and the classic words, perhaps from Kenneth Williams, "oh 'hello, can I come in." Who would have thought...55 years later.......
The first time I saw a paraglider do a loop = infinity tumble, I was in disbelief. Now the best pilots do a continuos descending series of loops that must be mind blowing; on a tea towel and a few bits of string. Add to that the other aerobatics they do. Risky, brave, adventurous? All of that. Reckless? No way. The known boundaries of so many things are now in places undreamed of. Where will all these adventurers take us? The goal was to fly a microlight over Everest. Impossible. Well the geese do it. Now it's been done. Will the jetpack man do it? Probably. Why? because it's there. Where to next? No idea, but the untrodden road is a magnet, it's just the first step that is difficult, and 50% of the journey.
Truly astonishing, and wishing I was 20 years younger. There was a Tony Hancock radio script, years ago in 60's, where there was a knock on the door of an airborne airliner and the classic words, perhaps from Kenneth Williams, "oh 'hello, can I come in." Who would have thought...55 years later.......
The first time I saw a paraglider do a loop = infinity tumble, I was in disbelief. Now the best pilots do a continuos descending series of loops that must be mind blowing; on a tea towel and a few bits of string. Add to that the other aerobatics they do. Risky, brave, adventurous? All of that. Reckless? No way. The known boundaries of so many things are now in places undreamed of. Where will all these adventurers take us? The goal was to fly a microlight over Everest. Impossible. Well the geese do it. Now it's been done. Will the jetpack man do it? Probably. Why? because it's there. Where to next? No idea, but the untrodden road is a magnet, it's just the first step that is difficult, and 50% of the journey.
Rossy is quite experienced with formation flying using his wing, in the past, besides flydive1 video, he has flown with a DC-3, B-17 and Spitfire.
Capn Bloggs, I can only assume from your comment that the spacing on finals of landing aircraft has absolutely nothing to do with wake/vortices. I am under the misunderstanding then that it is the prime reason.
Capn Bloggs, I can only assume from your comment that the spacing on finals of landing aircraft has absolutely nothing to do with wake/vortices. I am under the misunderstanding then that it is the prime reason.
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Not enough prep:
Why do I need a 'privacy policy' to look at one of their videos.
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