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An Israeli F-15 landed without a wing (2020)

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Re: An Israeli F-15 landed without a wing (2020)

#14
post #3

Everything about the incident is surreal. Neither student nor instructor could tell the wing was missing until they landed because a fuel leak obscured their view. The instructor told the student, who outranked him, to eject. The student refused. They had to fly almost twice as fast as usual to remain stable when landing. The plane manufacturer didn’t believe the incident until in-flight photos were produced. And the…

They treated the plane like a rocket. Maybe the F-15 can land vertically too.

Isn't that what these planes basically are? They aren't very aerodynamic so they can maneuver quickly, so they need tons of thrust to stay aloft.

I heard one described as "a brick with a jet engine strapped to it".

Re: An Israeli F-15 landed without a wing (2020)

#15
post #3

Everything about the incident is surreal. Neither student nor instructor could tell the wing was missing until they landed because a fuel leak obscured their view. The instructor told the student, who outranked him, to eject. The student refused. They had to fly almost twice as fast as usual to remain stable when landing. The plane manufacturer didn’t believe the incident until in-flight photos were produced. And the…

They treated the plane like a rocket. Maybe the F-15 can land vertically too.

It does have >1 thrust to weight, but aereodinamic control surface aren't efficient enough to keep control at low speed

Re: An Israeli F-15 landed without a wing (2020)

#16
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They treated the plane like a rocket. Maybe the F-15 can land vertically too.

Isn't that what these planes basically are? They aren't very aerodynamic so they can maneuver quickly, so they need tons of thrust to stay aloft. I heard one described as "a brick with a jet engine strapped to it".

I think in the RC flying community there's a saying like "Anything can fly, with enough thrust".

Safely landing, otoh, now that's a feat!

Re: An Israeli F-15 landed without a wing (2020)

#17
post #16
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that what these planes basically are? They aren't very aerodynamic so they can maneuver quickly, so they need tons of thrust to stay aloft. I heard one described as "a brick with a jet engine strapped to it".

I think in the RC flying community there's a saying like "Anything can fly, with enough thrust". Safely landing, otoh, now that's a feat!

Rockets are a testament to the truth of that :P

Re: An Israeli F-15 landed without a wing (2020)

#18
post #4

What's so hard about this? It's sounds like they only had half as much plane to land, so it was probably even easier than usual. Onwards to management! :D

As you can see planes can fly with one wing.

Maybe we can cut down some costs and only use one wing in the future?

Re: An Israeli F-15 landed without a wing (2020)

#19
post #3

Everything about the incident is surreal. Neither student nor instructor could tell the wing was missing until they landed because a fuel leak obscured their view. The instructor told the student, who outranked him, to eject. The student refused. They had to fly almost twice as fast as usual to remain stable when landing. The plane manufacturer didn’t believe the incident until in-flight photos were produced. And the…

I had to reread the landing approach speed twice.

260 knots ~ 300 mph.

Thats 480 km/h.

Not a pilot, although I've flown propeller planes and landed a couple of times. I've driven cars just shy of 280 km/h (on a mostly clear autobahn). Those spec'ed 130 knots seem approachable (with training). But doing approach + touchdown at 480 km/h with controllable aircraft is already stretching my imagination, doing it while keeping attitude of an unbalanced brick under control is absolutely bonkers.

Re: An Israeli F-15 landed without a wing (2020)

#20
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They treated the plane like a rocket. Maybe the F-15 can land vertically too.

Isn't that what these planes basically are? They aren't very aerodynamic so they can maneuver quickly, so they need tons of thrust to stay aloft. I heard one described as "a brick with a jet engine strapped to it".

I feel that moniker is more appropriate for the previous generation of supersonic fighters that generally had fairly small stubby wings. This was exemplified by jets like F-104 or MiG-21 which according to wikipedia had wing areas of 18 and 23 m² respectively. In comparison F-15 has fairly generous 56m² wing area
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