hmmm nice work if u can get it
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 30
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From: Midlands
hmmm nice work if u can get it
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/image...ature_163.html
Anybody here doing this kind of work? Please let me know when a vacancy arises.
Anybody here doing this kind of work? Please let me know when a vacancy arises.
Iconoclast
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,132
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From: The home of Dudley Dooright-Where the lead dog is the only one that gets a change of scenery.
Ain't science wonderful?
This has already been done using specially equipped C-130s and I believe a similarly equipped C-119 or C-123. They were retrieving film canisters dropped from USAF spy satellites. Douglas aircraft for similar purposes proposed using a helicopter or a helicopter device. They eventually dropped the program. Regarding the present program as illustrated in the photo I can envision the captured parachute wrapping itself around the helicopter or the tail rotor or the main rotor. Maybe that is why NASA is using helicopter stunt pilots.
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 24
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From: Great Southern Land
Yes, I thought the length of that probe/hook pickup looks a little short for comfort. I know if I was trying catch many square metres of flapping silk, I'd want it a little further away from the whirly bits.
SLC.
SLC.
Joined: Aug 1999
Aviation Qualifications: ATP+Mil
Posts: 4,411
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From: Gold Coast, Australia
It must be a quiet news day, since one of our bulletins had a segment on this tonight 
Apart from the "Hollywood stunt pilot" 
, it was fairly informative, answering most of the questions raised here.
It requires to be captured airborne, since the package may not survive a parachute landing: with $$millions invested, this is a one off capture, apparently.
The hook arrangement shown in the photo is only part of the system: as the hook engages the parachute, it disconnects from the boom, and the hook then falls away on a line attached to the helicopter (probably the cargo hook strong point?). Thus, the captured parachute & payload remains suspended some 100 - 150ft below the Squirrel, to be returned "gently" to earth.
Interesting, although being a news report, not necessarily accurate. According to the same report, the Squirrel climbed to 17,000ft (yes, FL170!!) to drop a practice payload, then chased it all the way down to recapture it.
Apart from the "Hollywood stunt pilot" , it was fairly informative, answering most of the questions raised here.It requires to be captured airborne, since the package may not survive a parachute landing: with $$millions invested, this is a one off capture, apparently.
The hook arrangement shown in the photo is only part of the system: as the hook engages the parachute, it disconnects from the boom, and the hook then falls away on a line attached to the helicopter (probably the cargo hook strong point?). Thus, the captured parachute & payload remains suspended some 100 - 150ft below the Squirrel, to be returned "gently" to earth.
Interesting, although being a news report, not necessarily accurate. According to the same report, the Squirrel climbed to 17,000ft (yes, FL170!!) to drop a practice payload, then chased it all the way down to recapture it.
