Shuttle Enterprise bouncing during its last landing, Oct 26 1977

[NickEspo1000]

dont drink and fly kids.

[MustNotRead]

do the landings of these space shuttle have missed approach contingency plans? what happens if a shuttle (for whatever reason) cannot make the final landing?

[plsniper]

@MustNotRead No missed approach here. These things are huge and heavy gliders. The runways are also extremely long, so if you bounce it in like in this case, just let the airspeed bleed off by pulling back slightly on the yoke and hold it there. Speed comes down and it sits down firmly.

[MrSouthphillyitalian]

atleast they landed safely

[cdudetheassassin]

HOLY SHIT IT HAS THRUST VECTORING I DIDNT KNo

[amgen52]

@cdudetheassassin What is thrusting on landing ?

[HunterPilot24]

@amgen52 Nothing.  Dead stick. Glider. One shot. Don't screw up.

[Stoory]

I never realised Flightsim X could look so real.

Same crazy pilots though :)

[Death1458100]

Enterprise was a test shuttle it never went into space. There were five shuttles that went into space; Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeveur, and Atlantis. Out of these five Challenger (1986) and Columbia (2003) had fatal accidents. The shuttle program also flew for 30 years (1981-2011). Its greatest accomplishments being the Hubble space telescope and the International Space Station.

[Apjooz]

It has so small tires and landing gear. It must be hard to control because it's more of a glider than an aeroplane.

[bryanttillman]

also, I imagine the test orbiters to be somewhat "lighter" than the actual space shuttle.

[MarsFKA]

@bryanttillman Enterprise was the only test orbiter, and was the same weight as the later operational orbiters. In fact, Enterprise was originally intended to be upgraded to full space flight standard after its atmospheric test flight programme was completed, but subsequent design changes made the cost prohibitive and the orbiter was retired and transferred to the Smithsonian in November 1985. It is now being transferred to the Intrepid Museum in New York, to make way for Discovery.

[MHR218]

fastest camera man!

[Randomnick123]

I think its because they had problems with air brake which is in vertical stabilizer. It opens just before TD and causes some drag and lift to the nose. So it keeps the shuttle in the air and just before stalling speeds it comes down.

[afgrocks123]

@Randomnick123 could be, but the main prblem is that they come down with no power,, they basically glide down,, and to be on the safe side, the calculate some speed higher than the safe glide speed, just in case,, so higher speed gets the shuttle off the ground easily again..

[Randomnick123]

@afgrocks123 I bet they know that they come down with no engines... Theres energy, altitude and speed, and those are dear friends for this fellow twisting and turning that joy.

Secondly, it's not ''...COULD BE'' since I know that IT IS, the reason. If theres no mistakes or troubles affecting on shuttle, it would land smoothly.

[afgrocks123]

@Randomnick123 oh, okay.. but i just gave my advice.. to come down with a higher than decent speed,, you WILL bounce,, unless you do it perfectly..

[w5cdt]

He did the right thing....keep the nose UP ....bounce on the mains. No problem. :-)

[w5cdt]

Hey...we've all bounced our aircraft before.

[4d616c65737469636b]

go around???

[Ryan19812012]

@4d616c65737469636b

Was space shuttle enterprise ever on the launch pad just for show.

[MADdrummer971]

Ah yes the days when you can stand right next to the runway and watch it land, good times good times...

[ustiansniper]

well so what its her last flight. might as well just lands without its gear. lol joke

[shaunsprogress]

Go around!

[BOOM7STAR]

Does anybody know where i can find a doc on building jumbo jets, etc etc starting from the metal that is used, how it was shaped tested etc etc... I would like to see the complete making of a jumbo jet, from start to finish. Thanks

[djwilko7]

@BOOM7STAR guess you will have to find out through boeing



[highskyeagle]

@ 0:08

.

1st pilot: dude pull it up, we forgot Stan at the freaking satellite!

2nd pilot: leave the fu**ing stick, I said Discovery will get him

Stan: where the hell are these guys, I need to pee

.

Next day forecast: We detected a miniature amount of acid rain in the top of our atmosphere, experts say its an early result of the increasingly produced green house gases.

[krazykhrisya]

@highskyeagle Haha that's funny. But just fyi the Enterprise never left Earth's atmosphere. :P

[xXDEICIDE216Xx]

@highskyeagle oh god, WIN.

[SJKMAD]

@highskyeagle haha... but you still did not explain the kangaroo jump during the touchdown LOL. What about a serious burp, or even better an extra jet stream of gases inside a suit LOL, that could lift a shuttle some 100 yards, wouldn't it :-) Anyway, awesome vehicle.... and it is no more, now we hitchhike with Russians like sardines, and only with a toothbrush... forget science lab development, real delivery, real space exploration progress. We are back to square 1 and for what... for money!

[Deltaglider777]

This was not bad piloting! It was part of a test, the bouncing was induced purposefully by the pilot to see how the shuttle would handle it!

[kenyajin]

@Deltaglider777 I certainly have high regards for both Haise and Fullerton, but from 00.09 to 00.12 it looks to me that the ship is temporarily out of control, as evidenced by the sharp dip of the left wind at 00.12. Unless he was crabbing to offset some crosswind.... but at that height he's committed to landing besides its a shuttle no choice but land right? no go around..lol Or did he execute the oscillation poorly. because the ship seemed to be out of control even if so briefly.

[Deltaglider777]

@kenyajin Hmm, You do make a good point. It is to my understanding that the oscillation was intentional, but perhaps the conditions were not favorable for the perfect execution of it.

[averyozzy]

so no star trek theme song in the background??????????

[428cougar]

im an airline pilot...just guessing cause I dont know anything of a shuttles ref speeds, but he just "looked" to be about 15 knots too fast...maybe more

[pstawi403]

not every one can land a space shuttle,not even computers cuz there isn't any autopilot

[xfilesmanson]

people were thinking, oh shit, its gonna crash into me

[bobac1083]

Thats why we let the computer land the shuttle now.... They cant have that bounce anymore but now the shuttle program is retired.

[usnsquirrel]

@bobac1083 The orbiter is landed manually. It's reentered by computer. There's a human actually maneuvering the orbiter when the wheels hit the runway.

[bobac1083]

@usnsquirrel You definently sure about that? I will ask my dad since he might have worked on parts of the shuttle from Lockheed Martin. If its landed manually then that sets an example to all commercial airline pilots for a very soft landing...

[usnsquirrel]

@bobac1083 Look up STS-3's landing. you'll see a conflict between the 'autoland' and the PIO (pilot induced oscillation). The CDR lets the PLT handle part of the landing through the HAC, but resumes control for landing. They are THAT good. There have been a couple of minor issues with energy management, but for the most part, they're spot on.

[bobac1083]

@usnsquirrel AHH thanks. Yea i guess it is better for pilot input but today with the computers so far advanced compaired to the computers we had in 1980s, Autoland would be alot better today. I got flight sim on my computer and tried autoland a few times with autopilot and it does a hard landing all the time. Thats why i fly manually. I guess thats also the reason why they fly manully to upon short final.

[Brandonloveslegos]

That's not how a shuttle's supposed to land

[kamwrites]

@Brandonloveslegos Ya think?

[mattjohnkearney]

holy crap its coming in hot

[mattjohnkearney]

holy crap thats coming in hot!

[yelpavel]

Seems to have propulsion..

Thats not gliding ¬¬

something is going on in there! ¬¬

[jhamilton07]

@yelpavel Enterprise was built for glide tests only. No engines or heat shield were ever installed.

[usnsquirrel]

@yelpavel See ground effect.

[mattyry38]

Nice

[trent1963]

Who piloted. Truly?

[dpcnull]

@trent1963 This was mission designation ATL-16. Fred Haise was the commander and Gordon Fullerton was the pilot. I do not know who was at the controls at the time.

[redsblackipod]

@dpcnull wasnt fred haise on apollo 13?

[LIGHTNICK625]

@dpcnull No way! Fred Haise went to space again after Apollo 13 mission?

[mkp823]

@dpcnull The commander, always.



[wollin20]

@trent1963 Not me. I would have crashed it.