PLANE FLIES FOR TWO HOURS WITH WING MISSING

Smitty Two wrote:
In article .com,
"Harry K" wrote:


Flyingmonk wrote:

I'm pretty sure they noticed... Maybe gettherenitis and not wanting to
admit fault (machismo) made them continue.

Bryan

Now I can accept that the plane could fly, better 'stay in the air',
that way. What I can't accept is that any knowledgeable pilot would
continue a flight for -2 hours- in a plane that heavily damaged or that
the passengers would agree to it. I can't feature fighting the
controls in an out of trim plane for that long. I suspect that if this
story is true, there is one pilot without a license now.

Harry K


Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan flew the Voyager around the world, a
non-stop flight of 10 days, with both winglets having been torn off
during the takeoff roll. They actually had to shake them loose by
manuevering, because the drag they were causing in the dangling form was
making the plane handle poorly. Still they were left with loose skin,
rough jagged foam sticking out, dangling wires, etc. Not to mention that
the tips had been added to correct a tail-heavy condition. I don't
recall that their licenses were revoked...

True, but I think they had the OK to continue from the airframe
designer. :-)


Matt

"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan flew the Voyager around the world, a
non-stop flight of 10 days, with both winglets having been torn off
during the takeoff roll. They actually had to shake them loose by
manuevering, because the drag they were causing in the dangling form was
making the plane handle poorly. Still they were left with loose skin,
rough jagged foam sticking out, dangling wires, etc. Not to mention that
the tips had been added to correct a tail-heavy condition. I don't
recall that their licenses were revoked...

And after they ripped them off, they returned to the airport from which they
started.

Tim Ward

Tim Ward wrote:
"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan flew the Voyager around the world, a
non-stop flight of 10 days, with both winglets having been torn off
during the takeoff roll. They actually had to shake them loose by
manuevering, because the drag they were causing in the dangling form was
making the plane handle poorly. Still they were left with loose skin,
rough jagged foam sticking out, dangling wires, etc. Not to mention that
the tips had been added to correct a tail-heavy condition. I don't
recall that their licenses were revoked...

And after they ripped them off, they returned to the airport from which they
started.

Tim Ward

After doing an outside loop!

Harry K

Smitty Two wrote:
In article .com,
"Harry K" wrote:

Flyingmonk wrote:
I'm pretty sure they noticed... Maybe gettherenitis and not wanting to
admit fault (machismo) made them continue.

Bryan

Now I can accept that the plane could fly, better 'stay in the air',
that way. What I can't accept is that any knowledgeable pilot would
continue a flight for -2 hours- in a plane that heavily damaged or that
the passengers would agree to it. I can't feature fighting the
controls in an out of trim plane for that long. I suspect that if this
story is true, there is one pilot without a license now.

Harry K

Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan flew the Voyager around the world, a
non-stop flight of 10 days, with both winglets having been torn off
during the takeoff roll. They actually had to shake them loose by
manuevering, because the drag they were causing in the dangling form was
making the plane handle poorly. Still they were left with loose skin,
rough jagged foam sticking out, dangling wires, etc. Not to mention that
the tips had been added to correct a tail-heavy condition. I don't
recall that their licenses were revoked...

Hardly the same thing. In that case, the damage was symmetrical and
involved only a small fraction of both wings. In the current case the
damage involved a significant fraction of just one wing.

Harry K

Harry K wrote:
Tim Ward wrote:

"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan flew the Voyager around the world, a
non-stop flight of 10 days, with both winglets having been torn off
during the takeoff roll. They actually had to shake them loose by
manuevering, because the drag they were causing in the dangling form was
making the plane handle poorly. Still they were left with loose skin,
rough jagged foam sticking out, dangling wires, etc. Not to mention that
the tips had been added to correct a tail-heavy condition. I don't
recall that their licenses were revoked...

And after they ripped them off, they returned to the airport from which they
started.

Tim Ward


After doing an outside loop!

Harry K

Yes, one long, slow outside loop

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

http://www.micom.net/oops/F-18mid-air1.jpg

http://www.micom.net/oops/F-18mid-air2.jpg

http://www.micom.net/oops/F-18mid-air3.jpg

Flyingmonk wrote:
http://www.micom.net/oops/F-18mid-air1.jpg

http://www.micom.net/oops/F-18mid-air2.jpg

http://www.micom.net/oops/F-18mid-air3.jpg


Well, the last picture sure isn't the same as the first two. And one
has to wonder if the first picture isn't computer enhanced in this day
and age.

Matt

And I suppose that pilot didn't notice any flight handling
differences, either.

wrote in news:1125931002.073241.151470
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

And I suppose that pilot didn't notice any flight handling
differences, either.

He may not have noticed any flight handling differences, but he sure should
have noticed all the visual and voice warnings.

But there is a bit of difference between a fly-by-wire aircraft with dual
flight control computers, quad redundent flight control data busses, and up
to triple redundent flight control actuators (hydralic, electric and direct
linkage), with the flight control software specifically designed to handle
battle damage and still complete the mission ...


.... and your standard issue general aviation aircraft, where fly-by-wire
refers to the steel cables in the control system.

It is completely possible for a F/A-18 (or, if it's wearing Canadian
colours (which is where *I* got my experiance), a CF-188) to fly and be
"completely" controllable with up to half of it's flight control surfaces
damaged, missing and/or inoperative. With more than half of the flight
control surfaces unusable; as long as both wings are intact out to the
wing-fold or better.

BTW, I've seen these photo's before, and this was an actual incident.
Although I've moved on and no longer work for the Canadian Department of
Defence, I keep in contact with some of the people I worked with.

Terry Aardema
ex-CF-188 Mission Computer Programmer
ex-CF-188 Flight Safety Invesigator (but only the computer side of things,
don't ask me about the physical side of things!)