(snip)

I realize this has nothing much to do with this discussion of glide ratio
but you've just dug up a memory/question.
A couple instances back around Iraq #I when I was out running in
the Palo Alto Baylands when I would pretty much stop and watch in
awe as a U-2R2 would take off from Ames Moffett about three
miles away. The aircraft would fly a perfect straight line in pretty
much an up-westerly direction until I would lose the speck in a
perfectly clear sky directly overhead. Yes, I did the 360 deg.
twist to verify the directly overhead part. Always wondered
where it may be heading.
JK (recalling the great old sights and sounds living near Moffett)