Comments on: 70,000 Feet Up In A U-2

By: Animal Mother

Animal Mother — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:07:32 +0000

The Avro Arrow was Canadian junk and we forced them to cance it. Bwahahaha….

By: FRAGaLOT

FRAGaLOT — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:10:40 +0000

What’s stopping a craft like this from just taking off into space?

By: jbellies

jbellies — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:29:35 +0000

Political? OK, here’s a political question: how does the ride in a U2 compare with the ride in an Avro Arrow?

By: ridin the short bus

ridin the short bus — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:00:47 +0000

I used to watch these Aircraft..U2/TR1 take off on almost a daily basis from an disclosed place in the Middle East. I eas interesting and Loud.

What I found more intersting was everyday you would see a differnt Tail ID on the Aircraft and Some days the tail would be Black with no Identifiers…

We had Flight Line passes to go anywhere.. “except” the U2 Hanger… it was a heavily guarded/restricted hanger…

The Climb rate was interesting to watch.

By: Zybch

Zybch — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:46:18 +0000

#9 stop fooling yourself. The GH is a collosal waste of money, time and effort. The other countries that helped fund its development all now realize the mistake they made spending billions on the GH white elephant.

And as much as I don’t want to condone piracy tinyurl.com/n5rrh3 (mininova) has the full show the clip was from (plus extra stuff too), not that anyone should pirate stuff of course….

By: Uncle Patso

Uncle Patso — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:38:42 +0000

Wow.

Thanks, Uncle Dave, that was great.

We’ll never run out of people willing, even eager to do this.

By: Steve S

Steve S — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:44:18 +0000

From the book: Secret Empire (by Philip Taubman):

Martin Knutson’s account of taking off in the U-2.

“Almost as soon as you put it at full throttle it was ready to come off the ground,” Knutson said. “Keep in mind that this aircraft will come apart if it goes over 240 knots at lower elevations. To keep the airspeed down after takeoff, you had to bring up her nose. Almost instantly you get into a 60-degree climb or pull back on the power. Nobody liked to pull the power back; they liked to experience that eye-watering takeoff”

By: deowll

deowll — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:30:55 +0000

The replacement will fly higher and longer because it will leave the meat on the ground.

Enjoy it fly boys while it lasts.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:53:09 +0000

very cool-what a wonder thanks john dv for such a great website

By: rajihammr

rajihammr — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:45:09 +0000

Can’t see any stars, obviously a fake.

By: BubbaRay

BubbaRay — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:09:12 +0000

Ah, the glory and beauty of low space, where the curvature of the earth is apparent and the sky is black. What a lucky man to have taken such a ride.

By: hhopper

hhopper — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:47:54 +0000

This video of the training he went through to take that flight is pretty good too:

By: derspankster

derspankster — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:44:32 +0000

#6 – Ahh, we have a resident curmudgeon! Leave it to somebody to make a political statement about just about anything!

By: Moi

Moi — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:23:46 +0000

@ #7 Underwhelming? While stationed at Moffet Field in Mt. View Ca. Used to watch the NASA Ames Facility U2 depart on a regular basis. I wouldnt exactly call the U2 takeoff underwhelming. Probably one of the loudest planes I have ever heard at full power, coupled with such a amazingly short take off roll and insane angle of climb, it never got old to watch one depart.

By: Phydeau

Phydeau — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:10:20 +0000

I’m surprised they let people with glasses pilot those things. What if his glasses slid down his nose? Or if he sneezed and they came off? He couldn’t very well open his helmet to adjust them, could he?