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Touch-roll-touch in a F-104
This is rather old but I thought it was interesting enough to share anyway. The legendary Belgian Air Force pilot Bill Ongena used to do something with his F-104G that even Lockheed and its test pilots deemed impossible: a touch-roll-touch with an airplane notorious for its lack of aerodynamic friendliness at low speeds. (www.youtube.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Jaw-dropping.
The Blue Angels' solo has performed a roll on takeoff for many years as part of their opening maneuvers and I have seen the aircraft come close to the runway many times.
However . . . at Andrews AFB in 2000, the weather was not good on the practice day the day before the airshow. The Thunderbirds did a practice demo, wrapping it up as it started to rain lightly. The Blues took to the runway anyway for their practice and it was raining steadily though lightly when they were doing their EOR checks. The solo did his usual roll, in-the-rain, and came within a couple of feet or so of making contact with the runway. Everybody watching no doubt got wide-eyed, anticipating what was about to happen. Even with the sound of the rain, you could hear his engines at full throttle trying to climb. A very close call, and I'm sure there was some bravado involved with the Blues practicing during a steady rain. I thought for sure I was about to witness a crash and thank goodness, I didn’t. A crash is not something I want to see. Ever.
However . . . at Andrews AFB in 2000, the weather was not good on the practice day the day before the airshow. The Thunderbirds did a practice demo, wrapping it up as it started to rain lightly. The Blues took to the runway anyway for their practice and it was raining steadily though lightly when they were doing their EOR checks. The solo did his usual roll, in-the-rain, and came within a couple of feet or so of making contact with the runway. Everybody watching no doubt got wide-eyed, anticipating what was about to happen. Even with the sound of the rain, you could hear his engines at full throttle trying to climb. A very close call, and I'm sure there was some bravado involved with the Blues practicing during a steady rain. I thought for sure I was about to witness a crash and thank goodness, I didn’t. A crash is not something I want to see. Ever.
Well that was pretty awsome. I don't know what an F-104 uses for a climb speed, but I'll bet there is a hell of a lot rudder involved in this manouver! Great clip.
Doubt it. It looked like a simple 1g alieron roll vs a slow roll that needs lots of rudder to keep the nose up. Impressive roll rate for not going very fast!
Have you seen the size of the ailerons?
Well they are pretty far inboard on those little wings, and the tail is pretty far back on that long fuselage! Not like a glider, which has ailerons far outboard and a tail that is close to the nose. An old instructor of mine used to always say how when jet pilots came back to general aviation, he had to remind them what their feet were for, presumably because there isn't much adverse yaw to deal with in jets.
400Knts-.85 Mm, and I bet you are right about the rudder. Always and still my favorite century series airplane.