Live data from Hacker News

Watch 5 Hours of Airplane Takeoffs in 30 Seconds

motherboard.vice.com

1–10 of 21 posts

Re: Watch 5 Hours of Airplane Takeoffs in 30 Seconds

#3
post #2

That photo is a photoshop; some planes wouldn't be able to take off at those angles.

I'm also suspicious of the video: won't planes on localizer approaches all be flying the runway centerline? I just don't see the opportunity for as much horizontal deviation as the video shows. (Though I guess the video is taken pretty far away from the airport since the landing gears aren't down. Maybe we're watching departures instead of "landings" as the video title suggests?)

Re: Watch 5 Hours of Airplane Takeoffs in 30 Seconds

#4
post #3
post #2

That photo is a photoshop; some planes wouldn't be able to take off at those angles.

I'm also suspicious of the video: won't planes on localizer approaches all be flying the runway centerline? I just don't see the opportunity for as much horizontal deviation as the video shows. (Though I guess the video is taken pretty far away from the airport since the landing gears aren't down. Maybe we're watching departures instead of "landings" as the video title suggests?)

It is a landing flight path and is about 1 mile away from the airport. Departures are westward over Ocean Beach unless there is heavy fog and they reverse, pretty rare. The video is taken from the middle of Balboa Park under the Laurel street bridge over the 163 freeway. I can sit out on my deck and watch these plane's final descent and their horizontal position and altitude varies quite a bit and I'm about a half mile from where the video was shot.

Re: Watch 5 Hours of Airplane Takeoffs in 30 Seconds

#6
post #3
post #2

That photo is a photoshop; some planes wouldn't be able to take off at those angles.

I'm also suspicious of the video: won't planes on localizer approaches all be flying the runway centerline? I just don't see the opportunity for as much horizontal deviation as the video shows. (Though I guess the video is taken pretty far away from the airport since the landing gears aren't down. Maybe we're watching departures instead of "landings" as the video title suggests?)

Not really. Approach != landing. Those are visual conditions, most airplanes we landing on CAT I (or visual) precision system. By the time the airplanes were so low no auto pilot was on, actually.

Looks normal (I used to fly for a living)

Re: Watch 5 Hours of Airplane Takeoffs in 30 Seconds

#7
post #5

The more interesting video was the crosswind landing one at the bottom of the page. Really incredible!

If you want to see some more, check out the world famous approach at Kai Tak (Hong Kong), now out of use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtnL4KYVtDE

Re: Watch 5 Hours of Airplane Takeoffs in 30 Seconds

#8
The rudder deflection on the cross-wind one is the most interesting. The landings is just a lot of ILS approaches so not much variance, although you can see the auto-pilot compensation on the LHR approaches, which is kind of cool.

Cross wind landings are fun once you get used to looking at the runway from the side window and getting tossed around in a Cessna like a kite.

Re: Watch 5 Hours of Airplane Takeoffs in 30 Seconds

#9
post #7
post #5

The more interesting video was the crosswind landing one at the bottom of the page. Really incredible!

If you want to see some more, check out the world famous approach at Kai Tak (Hong Kong), now out of use. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtnL4KYVtDE

The migration from Kai Tak to Chek Lap Kok is also a story of its own. All the staff and equipment were moved in a few hours from one to another while some of the planes scheduled to land on the new one were already mid-air.
Post reply on HN