fly by

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

check out this fly-by

http://www.angelfire.com/hi/luckypuppy2840/MADDOGJET/videos/F14flyby.mpg

[LA_MERC_M@lACHi]

Wow.....was he just barely pushing the sound barrier? Wonder what caused it to explode and did the pilot make it?

[LA_MERC_goose]

He had just broke the sound barrier (notice the mushroom behind the engines as it passes the destroyer) then notice it flinches and the plane turns - I'm going with an afterburner blew a line.

[LA_MERC_Cowboy_From_Hell]

Oooff....not good.

[npor]

Goose, in real life, when you break the sound barrier, can you see the mushroom? Or is it just with video cameras?

[LA_MERC_goose]

I've never seen one do it in real life. I've been told by my father (retired Navy) that it's more of a blur than a mushroom cloud.

[npor]

Yeah, it's pretty sick looking :D

[LA_MERC_LaTech]

I've got a couple videos of jets doing faster than sound flight...but that's the first one that ends with a bang...pretty cool, and I hope the guy was ok. As it passes the carrier, you can see the jet dip then roll right with smoke trailing behind it. I would agree with the blow out, or loss of thrust on one side. If it were a ruptured line that tried to relight, that would cause a nice bang (then again, one would assume that it would realize that there was a leak and wouldn't try to relight)

[~a/c]

wow, that sucks for the pilot

[LA_MERC_Andyconda]

I checked that one out on the government websites and the pilot did make it. He was severly injured from the ejection, not as much from the explosion but more from the intense pressure put on his body during such a high speed ejection. Right after breaking the sound barrier an aileron (wing elevator) stabalizer malfunctioned. The pilot waited to slow under the sound barrier to eject. He was unconsious when pulled out of the water. If help wouldn't have been so close he wouldn't have made it. Even though his suit has an auto inflate collar and vest the sea was choppy enough that he may have drowned. The pilot had requested a fly by due to a succeful mission. Mission data was still classified.

[LA_MERC_Andyconda]

P.S. I have witnessed some sound barrier fly byes from being a navy brat and also being to tons of air shows (most of the time though they don't break the sound barrier for air shows as they are too close to residential areas, breaks glass and pisses people off). I witness fly bys like this and you can see the sonic cone if you really pay attention. The problem lies in the fact that as the plane gets close your anticipating the noise and you flinch or don't pay atention. We had one do a fly by while we were out at sea on my Dad's destroyer (U.S.S. Adams) and he was close enough to the water (300 feet) that is made the water stand (a few inches or maybe half a foot) up in a trail behind him (looked like an invible power boat was tearing through the water. I wish they had that on film.

[LA_MERC_goose]

aileron (wing elevator) stabalizer malfunctioned.
ahhh, the reason for the wing dipping to the side


Mission data was still classified.
My dad still gives me this crap - If I tell ya, I have to kill ya. And I really don't want to do that I just want to know the good stuff already! lol

[LA_MERC_Andyconda]

He's right though, my Dad still tells me the same bull. He is under government orders not tell about things he did in Vietnam. He couldn't even tell his spouse, Sorry Mom. Also you do know that they are not suppose to break the sound barrier around civilians any more. Something about a hearing law suit. Come on people. lol.

[JUNKY]

Here's another one where the pilot had to take a walk before he was done flying. This one was at an airshow in either Idaho or Iowa in 2003/2004 I think.

http://www.adrenalnjunky.com/media/Thunderbird.mpa

[LA_MERC_Andyconda]

I remeber seeing that one on the TV show you've gotta see this. The plane was losing power and the pilot could not complete the loop. He stayed with it until very close to the ground and the fact that the ejector seat shot him into the air gave the chute enough time to partially open and keep him alive. Thunderbirds and Blue Angels roxor your boxor. I can't wait till air show season opens again, I'm right here next to the Blue Angels.

[JUNKY]

Andy ...

One thing you might want to look into since you're in a good driving distance to P'cola - The Blue Angels will perfom "practice" shows when they're not on tour, or happen to be home for a break in touring. The shows are free to attend, all you have to do is call the Naval Air Musuem there on the base (http://naval.aviation.museum/home.html) and get the schedule. You just go to the museum like normal and park in their lot - but behind the museum building is a big hangar and then tarmac with a lot of static Display aircraft. You just walk down to the end of the tarmac and the main runways are about 200 yards in front of you.

The only drawback is that the shows are at like 8am in the morning, and the last one I saw was back in August - You could tell they weren't quite flying in "Show"trim - just not quite the spit and polish that you see when they're at an airshow. (Still better than some of the Thunderbirds shows I have seen at airshows though), But since they were on the airbase, they did allow the solo and opposing solo to do a supersonic pass right on the runway, which is something you don't get to see usually during a civilian airshow. Scared the crap out of my wife :-)

Heres a link to some pics that I took with my crappy digital cam from when I was there. http://www.nelarc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49

[LA_MERC_Diesel]

nice pics Chris, air shows are the best...Andy set a date and we will have to have a MERC day Air show!!