Co-Pilot Needed (URGENT)

"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
In a previous article, "Jay Beckman" said:
The Shuttle Landing Trainer is a clip-winged Gulfstream that is flown at
or
slightly above gross weight and it glides like a brick.

I was under the impression that the SLT flies with thrust reversers on.

You are correct. I double checked and they do use the reversers in flight
to give the proper descent profile.

Jay B

"Roy Smith" wrote in message =
...
"Jay Beckman" wrote:
The Shuttle Landing Trainer is a clip-winged Gulfstream that is flown =
at or=20
slightly above gross weight and it glides like a brick.
=20
I read an article about that once. If memory serves, it's got more =
mods=20
than just cliped wings. The use reverse thrust on the engines in =
flight to=20
get the (lack of) glide characteristics they need.

I don't think the G-II wings were clipped, but there is a pair of =
ventral fins
added under the fuselage to make lateral stability more like the =
shuttle's.
They use up to 90% thrust in reverse, and fly about a 20=BA glide slope,
with a 14000 fpm rate of descent.

There's a photograph of the Shuttle Training Aircraft in this good =
article:
http://www.aviationnow.com/content/ncof/lo_nfm05.htm

During the orbit prior to the shuttle's re-entry burn,
one of the other astronauts runs approach after approach,
starting from somewhere around FL300,
getting all the speed-brake settings just right for the existing wind =
profile,
so the shuttle pilot won't have to guess at much.
While the shuttle is undergoing re-entry, the G-II pilot will make
at least one more "proof" run to verify that all the settings are still =
satisfactory.
There would still be time to send up any needed final tweaks.