Highest Flying Plane

I'm sorry, I thought you were talking about Fast when he's running away from my TV missile.
 
What's the SR-71 "Blackbird" record? Is this higher?

I thought Top Gear was a show about cars lol...
 
300px-Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird.jpg


SR-71A-

Altitude in Horizontal Flight: 85,068.997 ft (25,929.031 meters) SR-71A. World Absolute and World Class Altitude Record for Horizontal Flight July 27 1976

Surpassing the previous record of 80,257 feet set by a Lockheed YF12A in June of 1965.

Whats funny, is that the U2 is still in service. It was in use a full ten years before the SR-71 began production.
So I suppose, the U2, is the "worlds highest-flying airplane"; only because the SR-71 is retired.
 
Heat, Top Gear is a show about all things awesome, best show on TV.
 
The SR-71 is "retired" but it still flies. The best part about it is that it stretches in flight so while it's on the ground the panels don't quite match up so it leaks fuel all over the damn ramp and taxiway.
 
lolwtf... I knew it expands a lot, but the fuel tanks don't match up either? That's gotta be pretty interesting to see...

Kinda ridiculous to call this the highest flying airplane, just because the SR-71 is not in "active service" imo, even if it's close... They should've given Captain Slow a ride in a proper blackbird.

BTW for this airplane, I didn't quite see how it stops without tipping over and one of the wings digging in the ground at the end... it seemed like the wing landing gear detached at takeoff. Maybe the pilot has to balance it perfectly and they bring new gear lmfao...
 
I've seen the U-2 land. MX runs along both sides while it lands and puts the little polls with wheels on the end under the tips of its wings. It sounds like a rinky-dink way of fixing a design flaw but hell it works.
 
[quote1250004054=HeatSurge]
lolwtf... I knew it expands a lot, but the fuel tanks don't match up either? That's gotta be pretty interesting to see...

[/quote1250004054]

They don't really leak, unless they top them up too much. They would though if fueled fully on the ground. The SR-71 is given enough fuel for takeoff, and to cruise for about 15 minutes. They are then fueled in the air, once the skin of the aircraft has been given enough time to expand. At the speeds, and altitude this plane reaches, if they made all the body pieces fit together on the ground, once at the high atmosphere, these parts would destroy themselves. Just by expansion, parts would warp, and all sorts of bad stuff happens.

I guess that would be a major contributing factor for this planes seemingly early retirement. Perhaps the fact of always having to have a fueling plane, and crew just to gas this up in the air each flight, would get costly.
 
[quote1250004578=Deploymentking]
I've seen the U-2 land. MX runs along both sides while it lands and puts the little polls with wheels on the end under the tips of its wings. It sounds like a rinky-dink way of fixing a design flaw but hell it works.
[/quote1250004578]

I thought for landing, they just let the plane tip on it's wing. The tips are made of titanium for that reason. Then the flight crew runs over, places the "pogo" (little wheel thing) on the wing that is in pointing up, then zip over to the other side, grab the wingtip, (that's on the ground) and push the plane up level. Then the second pogo is installed.

For takeoff, these pogo's are used too, they just drop off the wingtips once the plane pulls up.

Also - I don't think it's a design flaw. the lack of gear in the wings is simply for more fuel to be carried. These planes were designed to go up in the air, and stay there for long, long periods of time.
 
Looks a bit frosty when ya get that high, and I mean more-so in a literal high, then a drug induced one, haha... and if I had to eat in tubes like that, I'd feel like an old person.
 
It's probably really cold in shadows / really hot exposed to the sun - kinda like in space / on the moon etc.

And the friction from the high speed heats up the metal too...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top