On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 01:05:01 GMT, Ed Rasimus
wrote:

I will have to say that having been from the generation of flying
barndoors, driven at Mach 2 by hugely inefficient powerplants, that
the canopies of modern "teen" fighters are incredible engineering
achievements. I always get the sensation that I'm sitting above the
airplane, riding on a broomstick and unrestrained, about to fall out
into the nothingness of space.

I had that same feeling flying the F-16, like I was in a plexiglas
bubble zooming through the sky. (Of course, I only have the front
seat of the NT-33 to compare it to, since I rode in the backseat in
the F-104 and F-4.) When I told our test pilots about this, they all
agreed and one of them told me that there had been some accidents
involving pilots with the same illusion. Apparently, they forgot they
were dragging an airplane around behind them and hit something with
it.

Of course I've always had a healthy
dose of acrophobia.

I have a bit of acrophobia, but I've never noticed it in aircraft.
Apparently, this is common. I guess it's silly to require senseless
phobias to be consistent, though.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer