Which cockpit has the best visibility?

"WaltBJ" wrote in message
om...
F86 Sabre was a visibility standard for a long time until the F16 came
along. I got to sit in one (that's all they'd let me do!) and it beat
the Sabre. You coud see even further below the horizon looking back at
6:00. The 22's rudders are going to block some viz off at 5 and 7.
Worst viz was the back seat in a 105F. My one ride in that jet,
McClellan to Edwards.
Walt Bj

No I have to say that the worse was the back seat of the RA-5C. But that had
some good points too. When the GIB got really excited you knew you it was
time to get out of Dodge.

Red Rider

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 23:56:38 GMT, "J" wrote:


"WaltBJ" wrote in message
. com...
F86 Sabre was a visibility standard for a long time until the F16 came
along. I got to sit in one (that's all they'd let me do!) and it beat
the Sabre. You coud see even further below the horizon looking back at
6:00. The 22's rudders are going to block some viz off at 5 and 7.
Worst viz was the back seat in a 105F. My one ride in that jet,
McClellan to Edwards.
Walt Bj

No I have to say that the worse was the back seat of the RA-5C. But that had
some good points too. When the GIB got really excited you knew you it was
time to get out of Dodge.

Red Rider



Or how about one of the back seaters on the B-58?

Odd thing, acrophobia. I have worked on oil rigs (when I was 18 and
immortal) but have experienced airborne acrophobia twice - once in the
nose of a B25 looking for a crashed T33 - suddenly realized I was at
the wrong end of a long narrow tunnel with no parachute and a very
thin sheet of aluminum under my 225 pounds. But I stayed there anyway
because the view was superb. (We did find it. The crew had punched out
safely at about 43000 when an 11FIS F102 shot its rudder off with a
Falcon (radar!) missile. Big oops; an aircraft swap and the pilot
didn't know the bird was loaded, so he ran the systems check he was
briefed to do. System worked just fine.) The second time was in a 747.
There were only 50 or so people aboard so I was wandering around
checking it out. I was standing in door 4L, all the way back, looking
at the Rockies about 6 miles below, when I discovered I could look
straight down out the door's window due to the curvature of the
fuselage back there. About then I realized I was standing with my nose
against the door window - sans parachute. Always having had a healthy
distrust of machinery - probably from 600 hours flying the F86D, a
flying demonstration of Murphy's Law - I hastened back to my seat and
belted myself in. No 'Mary Poppins' for me!

Walt BJ