Plane Stopped in Midair

bOn Thu, 11 Nov 2004 09:10:35 -0700, DM
wrote:

Could
someone here explain how such a thing is possible?

It is indeed possible for an airplane to hover. I saw a Feiseler
Storch (German liaison aircraft of WWII) sit over a runway without
forward motion. Its stall speed of say 30 mph was the same as the wind
speed.

But what you saw was more likely an optical illlusion. The bigger the
aircraft, the slow it seems to move because it is farther from you,
and it is *very* difficult to know how far an airplane is away from
you. I once watched a slow-moving USAF cargo plane searching for
bodies in the water over an inland bay. It appeared to be motionless
because it was twice as large as the planes I usually see land at this
airport.


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

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