Mystery - Jet Powered Sailplane - Van Nuys Airport

"Paul Remde" wrote in message
news:XDV2f.237781$084.175922@attbi_s22...
Hi Wayne,

I'm curious - why was that landing interesting? I would think it would
land
much more slowly than most other planes.


It does land slower; however, it doesn't have a tail hook to stop it. It
doesn't have the usual trucks that run down the runway along side to catch
the wings. The starboard wing comes mighty close to the island and the
port wing tip wheel outrigger is out over the water.

To land, the ship turns into the wind and generated about 20 kts of wind
across the deck. It lands, then a mass of deck hands run out and grab it to
keep it from blowing away while they tie it down.

It is much more impressive than seeing a C-130 land and go to full reverse
to stop prior to running of the angle deck. At least the C-130 has a wing
load heavy enough to not get blown around and has the ability to taxi.

Wayne