A cool sight today

My Dad was a wingnut (electronic instrument tech) back in the 1960s and he was always impressed with the C130. Its ability to take off form a short jungle field, its ability to fly with engines falling off, its incredible lifting capacity, and its absolutely incredible reliability. Every time we see one he comments on the plane. Since I live about a mile and a half from a major marine corps air station we get to see them pretty often.

C-130 with JATO takeoff:

Look up the C-130 carrier quals for interesting video!

Damn, that's impressive.

Jon

"CaveLamb" wrote

That's gotta be a kick in the pants sensation when the rockets kick in.

I like watching gun camera stuff from Iraq and Afghanistan, and some of the C-130 stuff they show is just incredible. I wouldn't want one of those after me. We see all manner of aircraft at Nellis, but somehow, C-130's are not common.

Steve

Heart surgery pending?

I once actually saw a C-130 backing up under its own power.

Cheers! Rich

Or the more extraordinary C-130 with JACRASH landing:

-- Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. -- Epictetus

There's an old UL about some guys who attached a JATO bottle to a car, and splatted themselves into a mountainside.

This guy claims to be 99 percent sure he made it up in 1978; I'm 100 percent sure he didn't, because I first heard it in 1969.

Cheers! Rich

Most large turboprops can back up quite nicely with their props in reverse thrust.

Jon

OK, no argument there. But this was in the late 1960's or early 1970's, and I was in my early 20's, and (possibly unduly) impressed. :-)

Cheers! Rich

And it was most likely a UL. It might have been done (it was done more recently) but the results were probably not as dramatic as the tales tell. Myth Busters did this one and decided that apply horsepower to the road was much more efficient than applying it to the air.

Here is a picture of the first JATO on an aircraft.

John

"CaveLamb" wrote

The youtube videos always seem to end before the rockets do, but I don't imagine it is by that much. It says they run a 45 degree climb to 1500', so running it after leveling off would have no purpose. Or, that's what I guess from the info available.

Steve

Heart surgery pending?

Steve B wrote: (snip)

That doesn't make sense, unless there's a mountain at the end of the runway. If they don't light until the wheels have already left the ground, then they shouldn't really call it jet (or rocket)- assisted _takeoff_, should they? ;-)

Thanks, Rich