RAF Tornado near miss with glider
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RAF Tornado near miss with glider
Stumbled over this page. Is it really possible for a tornado travelling 500 mph to do such a maneuver? I think he was low-level flying. If he really did that without impacting the ground, the negative Gs must have sent his blood pressure in the head to astronomical levels.....
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crazyaviationcom/160488930648-
Edit: On the facebook page, it's the first link (top left) called "close call"
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crazyaviationcom/160488930648-
Edit: On the facebook page, it's the first link (top left) called "close call"
Last edited by Bogey71; 3rd Aug 2013 at 19:37. Reason: adding information
From the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Aviation:
Bunt:
i. An outside loop in which the aircraft remains on the outside throughout the maneuver.
ii. A maneuver involving a negative g pushover
The DM has assumed, wrongly, that the reference to the Tornado performing a bunt means the former (which, given that the Tornado was at 250' AGL, was clearly impossible).
From the Airprox report:
"Whilst transiting along the W side of the River Spey valley, heading 045° at 420kt and 250ft AGL and keeping clear of the Highland Wildlife Park to the W, he saw a glider at an estimated range of 500m, slightly above and to the L, which had been hidden behind the canopy arch. He bunted and passed 100ft below it." [my emphasis]
In other words, the DM's graphic is pure :
Bunt:
i. An outside loop in which the aircraft remains on the outside throughout the maneuver.
ii. A maneuver involving a negative g pushover
The DM has assumed, wrongly, that the reference to the Tornado performing a bunt means the former (which, given that the Tornado was at 250' AGL, was clearly impossible).
From the Airprox report:
"Whilst transiting along the W side of the River Spey valley, heading 045° at 420kt and 250ft AGL and keeping clear of the Highland Wildlife Park to the W, he saw a glider at an estimated range of 500m, slightly above and to the L, which had been hidden behind the canopy arch. He bunted and passed 100ft below it." [my emphasis]
In other words, the DM's graphic is pure :
The glider uses the updraft from the Tornado to climb 50ft?
Back in the early 70s I went gliding at the Cairngorm Gliding Club at Feshiebridge between Aviemore and Kingussie. Lovely part of the world with a ridge running paralell to the runway so with the wind blowing on to the ridge (which it did quite a lot) you could get a quite reasonable time in the air with the winch launch they used at the time.
One day, most of us were lazing on the ground watching the T-21 beating up and down the ridge when we heard a jet. A Canberra came up the valley, passed beneath the glider and continued on his merry way. No bunt, no panic, just happened.
One day, most of us were lazing on the ground watching the T-21 beating up and down the ridge when we heard a jet. A Canberra came up the valley, passed beneath the glider and continued on his merry way. No bunt, no panic, just happened.