Tom Cruise hangs on an A400M

[bobward]

Looks as if Airbus are going for the recordfor product placement in Hollywood block busters....

Thinks 1:
The last time I remember so ething like this was when they had Concorde dog fighting F4s (using a very pistol to decoy an AIM 7 Sparrow) in one of the Airport films....

Thinks 2:
If I were hanging on the outside of an airctaft at 500 feet, I think my shoes would go from black to brown....

[KenV]

I'm pretty sure that the F14, in common with most US Navy jets of that time, delivered permanent 100% oxygen (and maybe they still do?).

Unfortunately 100% oxygen doesn't stop airsickness.

Since the mid '50s all USN ejection seat equipped aircraft did not use console mounted O2 regulators and instead used mask or torso harness mounted mini-regulators which always deliver 100% oxygen.

The MIL-R-81533 mini-regulator built to the CRU-79/P specification was active from the late 1960s thru early 2000s. So that is what would have been mounted in the Topgun Tomcats, as well as the A-4s. And they deliver 100% oxygen.

And yes, 100% oxygen does not prevent motion sickness, as Tom Cruise experienced, as well as any of the numerous civilian folks who have flown with the Blue Angels in their A-4s and F/A-18s. And BTW, Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo all had 100% O2 environments and the majority of astronauts still got sick, just as they did in the Shuttle and Space Station which have a nitrogen/oxygen environment.

[VX275]

When we were discussing with Airbus whether or not the A400M was going to have air deflectors I did wonder if, with them open, we'd be able to put a deck chair on the jump step, or the patio as I started to call it.

[tartare]

...funny, 100 per cent oxygen helped this joyrider when he was taken up for a jolly and felt a little queasy.
"Just flick that switch my son, oh, and would you like a fly?
Holy heck - yes thank you sir."
Pending airsickness promptly sorted.
MB339 - April 1995.
OK, not a true heavy iron jet, but still able to pull G's.

[dmussen]

100% O2

Good for hangovers at dawn.

[Martin the Martian]

Is that door-like item just forward of him what they are using to break up the airflow prior to paradropping?

[melmothtw]

That's right Martin.

[KenV]

...funny, 100 per cent oxygen helped this joyrider when he was taken up for a jolly and felt a little queasy.
"Just flick that switch my son, oh, and would you like a fly?
Holy heck - yes thank you sir."
Pending airsickness promptly sorted.
MB339 - April 1995.
OK, not a true heavy iron jet, but still able to pull G's.

Aaaah, that explains it. Taking the stick often helps vs being a passenger. Works that way in cars too. The driver is much less likely to get car sick than the passengers. With your hands doing the flying, your brain is much better able to sort out the disconnect between what your eyes see and your inner ears sense. It's that disconnect that drives motion sickness.

[Lonewolf_50]

Originally Posted by dmussen

Good for hangovers at dawn.

Yep.
KenV

Taking the stick often helps vs being a passenger.
With your hands doing the flying, your brain is much better able to sort out the disconnect between what your eyes see and your inner ears sense.

Funny, back when I was teaching basic aerobatics to nuggets, I hated getting on amusement park rides.
Probably psychological.
At least with the nuggets, I could take control when I wanted to!

[Martin the Martian]

melmothtw:

Ta.

[tartare]

True Ken.
We'd just pulled 4.5g at the bottom of a loop.
"I can show you 6g if you want," says young Squadron Leader Callum.
"No thank you," says I.
But then two minutes later, happy as Larry, was flying the same loop again myself, same pullout (not quite as tidy, mind) feeling just fine.
Amazing experience - and have been utterly hooked on fast jets ever since.

[Valiantone]

Probably the most exciting thing that's happened in Stamford for a while.....

Its a nice place honest

V1

[ORAC]

And BTW, Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo all had 100% O2 environments

After the Apollo 1 ground fire in which the crew dies, Apollo was redesigned to use a 34% oxygen mix, use in all later craft, including the Shuttle, since.

[KenV]

After the Apolloa 1 groundf fire in which the crew dies, Apollo was redesigned to use a 34% oxygen mix, use in all later craft, including the Shuttle, since.

Apollo only used a two-gas mix on the pad and during launch, and only in the capsule. The astronaut's suits were still pressurized with pure O2, which is what the crew breathed. During the launch the capsule was vented and then repressurized with pure O2. Once in orbit both the Apollo capsule and LM used a pure O2 environment. But the pressure was low (around 4.5 PSI) so the partial pressure of O2 in flight was essentially the same as the partial pressure of O2 in Earth's atmosphere. It's the partial pressure of O2 that determines the flammability. Flammability becomes a problem at partial pressures of around 5 PSI and above.

The two-gas mix was used only on the pad and during the launch (basically only when in the earth's atmosphere) because the capsule's structure could not handle a negative pressure differential, so it always needed to be pressurized at least the same as the outside pressure. With a pure O2 environment, the result was a partial pressure of oxygen on the pad of around 15 PSI. VERY dangerous, as Apollo 1 showed. Once in space, the capsule was pressurized to around 4.5 PSI and they could safely use pure O2.

[wiggy]

ORAC

Apollo was redesigned to use a 34% oxygen mix.

Nope.

After "The Fire" Apollo procedures were changed so that an oxygen/nitrogen mix was used in the cabin, but only prior to launch, in flight it quickly transitioned back to 100% oxygen at I think 5 p.s.i. (In old money).

Edit to add that I see Ken beat me to it.....but I'll add AFAIK I'm not sure anyone really thought oxygen at 5 psi was ever safe but it was a trade off between the fire risk vs. perceived complications of a two gas environmental control system. There was also the need to run suits at low pressures (for mobility purposes) and so given there was supposedly a race on in the 60's and there was no time for a complete redesign it was decided to retain a pure oxygen environment in flight. These days they use a nitrogen/ oxygen mix for cabins and "space walkers" have to pre-breathe pure oxygen in their suits prior to reducing pressures for space walks.

[Al R]

Tom Cruise films Mission: Impossible 5 over Wittering - Rutland and Stamford Mercury