By design, a “flameout approach.” Click the still below for the full Military.com video.
How about that pitch attitude on final?
Wow.
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Mornin’ Lex!
The old Flying Brick eh? Great video.
I’m a longtime fan of your blog but not much of a commenter. Wow, I think your Rhythms work is fantastic stuff. Thanks.
I ran across a show on TV the other day and thought it was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever seen and was pretty sure you’ve never mentioned it before. Have you any comment about this?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4aVggpwrbc
Super cool video Lex, thanks for the link.
Hope you had a good day yesterday.
Plenty more where that came from. NASA records all the Shuttle’s landings for training and review purposes. Lemme know if you want a few more of ‘em.
Wow, that’s quite a nose down attitude… right up until the end where they flared. I wonder why they don’t come in a little flatter?
Jim C
Jim C – the attitude on final is a function of ye olde ‘trading altitude for airspeed’, with a sidedish of energy mgt. If you need a certain airspeed, you bunt the nose until you get that IAS and accept the vertical rate ‘it is what it is’. That is where energy mgt, the HAC (heading alignment circle) and lots of other issues come into play. Given the aerodynamics of the shuttle, the airspeed dictates a windscreen full of ground until the preflare/flare.
Malderi – would love to see your collection! The HUD symbology was somewhat washed out for this approach …. always interesting to attempt to keep up with’em but I always fall waaay behind the a/c … sorta like Sydney Student on his first ride.
I have the HUD landings for STS-81, STS-86, STS-94, and STS-112, all with cockpit audio. Dunno where I can upload ‘em for ya’ll, though.
What OldSchool says is correct, too – it’s all energy management. The Shuttle has no engines and the glide ratio of a brick. If it came in any shallower, it wouldn’t be able to land. The energy management makes it come in around 300 knots at the start of the outer glideslope. What’s interesting is that that 20 degree angle maintains airspeed. It needs to drop that fast in order to keep the airspeed at 300ish, then it flares and drops down to about 180-200 knots for landing. I’ve “done it” in the Shuttle motion-base simulator at JSC, it’s quite exciting (add in some crosswinds and ice on the runway, and it’s hard not to break the stick with the death-grip!)
Malderi, I don’t know what your job is in order to get to “drive” the motion-based sim at JSC, but I want it.
So, I’m curious: when the runway overlay was misaligned off to the right, did they just turn it off and go visual?
Dave,
I think the pilot just got concurrence from his CP, disregarded the HUD and flew his number one needle..a reality vs symbology thang.
I sees a big ole’ Coke machine fallin to earth. Not sure how much drag the gear create (must be a lot) but man, that’s close for droppin da gear..one shot -looks like fun! I understand they practice this (sorta) in a -38 along with all the sim.
b2
I asked an astronaut associate of mine once about that whole “gear down on short, short final and he told me that they’re basically foolproof. After all, they’re only designed to go down. The crew will never have to raise them, not ever.
Takes a lot of the engineering complexity out of the equation.
Shipmates,
If you wander over to the NASA website, and poke around a bit, you’ll find many of these videos. The next best ones are the shuttle lift-off. There’s a camera on the center main tank that points down during the whole ascent sequence. It’s amazing to watch, especially when the SRB’s seperate and then the main tank seperates from the orbiter. Watching the orbiter pull up and away from you is teh way-cool images.
Respects,
Yeah, they have about fifty gazillion sims for this sort of thing. I just work near JSC as a programmer, and was doing some work involving the cockpit displays, so I got the opportunity to see the closest thing to “real” at JSC.
The HUD has a “declutter” switch that progressively removes parts of the HUD. The first to go is the runway overlay. I’m not sure exactly what goes on the second, but I believe it includes the altitude tapes, etc. Most commanders flip it once as the runway overlay can be annoying if you’re not in heavy fog or cloud cover (in which case you probably wouldn’t be landing anyway). Landing the Shuttle is actually quite easy if things go right – the computers display that little circle-with-three-lines as where you are going, and the diamond as where you should be going. All you need to do is keep the diamond inside the circle and you’ll land safe and sound (it takes into account crosswinds, the HAC, etc.) Of course, astronauts practice landings with the HUD failed, which is considerably harder.
Bob-
I read a piece about the practice. They use a small, non-military jet that is, of course, specially designed.
To simulate the “flying” characteristics, they drop the gear and deploy the thrust reversers. Glide ratio is stupid low.
Once, while I was berating my detailer who was a friend, he threatened to send me to Diego Garcia to fill the “Alternate Landing site shuttle LSO” billet. He swore it was real, and just in case it was, I was nicer to him for a while.
Nose,
re- “Alternate Landing site shuttle LSO”
You shoulda took them orders. Imagine all that quality LSO racktime you could have logged ‘tween waves. LOL.
b2