" wrote:

Michael Williamson
wrote:

wrote:

Peter, what did they do to the Herc that they flew off of the
Forrestal(?) ? (without JATO at that!)

Well, it does help with ground run if you can guarantee a 30 kt
wind down the runway every time...

Mike


That's true isn't it?...one tends to forget that ~30 knots is a
LOT of airspeed gain, especially at the top of the take-off roll
range, takes a comparatevly long time to gather that extra speed.

An a/c that you normally rotate at 105 you now rotate at 75
(well, not really but you get my drift)

There's also the advantage that you don't have to pull G off the end of
the deck, in order to leave the 'ground' and climb over obstacles.
Indeed, you can even sink a bit. And of course, the a/c was almost
certainly nowhere near MTOW -- max. landing weight (8fps) is only
130,000 lb., vice the 155,000 or 175,000 lb. MTOW, and I imagine the
a/c was well under max. landing weight when it landed. The Herc's
power-on stall speeds (100% flaps) at landing weights are under 100
knots. For instance, at a landing weight of 110,459 lb. it has power
off/on stall speeds (100% flaps) of 80/65 kts. At 122,586 lb. they're
91/75 kts. 50% flaps would be used for takeoff, but even with no wind,
at a t/o weight of 100,000 lb. the a/c has a ground run of only 1,500
ft. at sea level. Add 30 kts or more of wind over deck and the Herc's
ability to land or takeoff from a large deck carrier isn't a surprise.

Guy