In This Sh*t-Your-Pants Situation, These Guys Are As Cool As Frozen Cucumbers

"PatBateman" (PatBateman)
07/22/2020 at 15:32 • Filed to: Test Pilots, Aviation, STOP READING MY TAGS

Test pilots have ice running through their veins, and this is proof !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

DISCUSSION (20)

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 15:40

Hooooliiiii shiiiiiiiit

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 15:42

Do you fly?

ttyymmnn > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 15:44

Can they be my pilots every time I fly?

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 15:46

Nope nope and nope.

WilliamsSW > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 15:51

Some additional background:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.avgeekery.com/time-boeing-717-went-inverted-testing/amp/

And yeah, test pilots have to have ice water in their veins. They’re literally trying to see what happens when you are at the edge of the flight envelope and beyond.

PyroHoltz f@h Oppo 261120 > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 16:08

Professionals through and through with excellent training and a shit ton of fortitude!

Well done, I’d likely have passed out.

Ash78, voting early and often > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 16:08

I couldn’t read the altimeter, but as my dad used to say, altitude gives you time to think. He used to take small planes on periodic check rides in exchange for free seat time. It was more premeditated stalls and spins from at least 10k feet.

One thing that plagued some of the earlier DC-9 (and many planes with the engines mounted on the fuselage) is that if the angle of attack is great enough, the wings will starve the engines of air pretty quickly. There are all kinds of tricks to keep it from happening now, but I never looked at that engine layout the same way after learning that.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Ash78, voting early and often
07/22/2020 at 16:28

Huh - that actually makes a lot of sense - the wings cutting off airflow to the engines.

TheRealBicycleBuck > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 16:33

It’s really neat to see the same principles for stall recovery being applied on an aircraft so large. Power to idle, ailerons neutral, rudder opposite spin, pull up to recover from the dive. https://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/maneuvers/the-four-steps-of-spin-recovery-explained-pare-fly-it-safely/

Here’s my first really good spin (fast forward to 3:45 if it doesn’t start there) :

MoCamino > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 16:48

I don’t think “whoops” would have been the first word to exit my mouth. Calm, cool, and collected. These guys rule.

PatBateman > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
07/22/2020 at 16:56

In the back with the rest of the paying customers, yes.

PatBateman > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/22/2020 at 16:57

That’s an understatement.

PatBateman > ttyymmnn
07/22/2020 at 16:57

That’s a flight that some people would pay a premium for.

PatBateman > WilliamsSW
07/22/2020 at 17:03

The particular 717 was the first off the line. The aircraft had previously experienced some unusual stall characteristics. This test was an attempt to determine why so that engineers could solve the issue.

“Hey guys, the plane is doing something funky around stall. Can you stall the aircraft and see if you die?”

WilliamsSW > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 17:15

Exactly. And there ARE some aircraft that are considered to be unrecoverable from a spin (which seems to be what happened here).

I’ve stalled plenty of Cessnas and Pipers, and I always hated any kind of wing drop . That’s a cakewalk compared to stalling these things.

WilliamsSW > TheRealBicycleBuck
07/22/2020 at 17:21

Nice! Looks like about a half turn? What kind of airplane?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 18:18

In the tube , as my friend the retired P-3 driver would say.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 18:52

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck that.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > PatBateman
07/22/2020 at 22:04

Kinda surprised ATC wasn’t on the radio asking what the hell did you just do when they saw the rapid altitude loss.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > TheRealBicycleBuck
07/22/2020 at 22:08

Ya missed a step. Relax back pressure on yoke to break stall after rotation stops. I did four spins during my training to be a CFI, and I remember every damn one. The best part was rolling past 90 degrees during the initial break.