Unadulterated Jet Noise. U-2 Dragon Lady Takeoff and Landings at Sunset.

[skillethead12]

love the dragonlady!!!

[Wingdinger1]

Wow, awesome... Fantastic video, audio, and aircraft... Radically powered, I might add.

[uzipanti]

freakin bicycle act... bravo

[Coaljet]

Also, can you imagine what a lovely blast of jet fuel that driver must get every time he chases it down that runway? :D

[Coaljet]

Is its engine the same as what was known in the civilian world as the Pratt and Whitney JT4A turbojet? In the military they call it the J75, I guess? Are they the same thing? Cause if so, then I guess we now know what the JT4A sounded like...

[71superbee3]

One day that car is gonna catch'em.

[Sunburn2007]

Looks like its getting pulled over at 0:42. Damn speed limits!

[xoio]

Interestingly, they have a similar 'howl' to the Avro Vulcan.. Most impressive!

[CTSV4MEE]

Holy crap.... That things take off role is like 100ft!

[matteighm]

I worked in the control tower at an AF base back in the early 70's that had a bunch of these 'Ladies' assigned there. The normal routine would be to have one take off around sunrise and not return until sunset. Always assigned an altitude of above 60,000 ft. We would make a blanket broadcast that one was going to land in 15 minutes because sometimes it would tie up the runway for awhile. They were very impressive. We had a couple of tandem-seated ones for training, too.

[cfelan143]

I used to work on this jet at that base. I miss it SO much! Pain to work on but I miss it. Definitely miss the smell of JP8!

[kade6]

looks like trying to land a unicycle!

[Mondscheinfpv]

i wonder how much runway it needs to land if its going to glide that long with a realitively low landing speed.

[Turieb]

I've never seen a plane that can maintain such a high VS. That must be a thrill to fly.

[mikeakaspike]

What's with the GTO?

[DynastyLang]

@mikeakaspike the U2 is very hard to land bc of the inline config of the wheels and the long nose makes forward visibility while landing limited. So there is a second U2 pilot in the chase car telling the pilot in the U2 how centered he is on the runway and giving him his height above the runway.

[CabbageNappa]

@DynastyLang Why are the other two wheels ejected? Is it for balance?

[DynastyLang]

@CabbageNappa No its not for balance. The wing span is so long that it need extra support while taxiing and taking off. the wheels fall off because there is nowhere for them to fold into the wing, its basically a trade off between weight/wing performance and wheel storage. And they decided to ring every last drop of performance out of the wings. haha

[uaetub]

Always nice sunsets at Beale. Makes for great photography :)

[MrJRies17]

Regarding the ejection seat, specifically, it is a Martin-Baker. It is the most violent ejection in the world, but unfortunately, it is the only seat that will fit in such a small cockpit and still leave enough room for the space suit. As far as I know, every pilot who ever survived a U-2 ejection did so with broken bones, concussions, etc.

[bi0mega84]

@KuostA yes it does have an ejection seat. if you watch his video "Sagar Pathak - Soaring tawards the Stars" at the end if you look at his feet he has gray spurs that pull back his feet when ejected so they arent torn off.

[MrJRies17]

First, the skids are on the bottom edge of the wing tip. They are there to protect the wingtip radomes when the jet tips over after it stops. Now, onto the pogos. They are locked in place by something similar to a cotter pin. When the jet gets onto the runway for takeoff, a "pogo crew" comes out to remove the pogo pins and also pick up the pogos after they fall out. Once the pins are pulled, the only thing keeping the pogos in their sockets is the weight of the wings.

[KuostA]

WOW...this is AMAZING footage. holy crap i can't believe how short their take-off roll is! they get into the air almost instantly. thats freaking crazy. THAT is STOL capability..who needs a harrier/J35 lol.

but how the heck do they land this thing with 2 wheels like that in a crosswind? i can't even imagine that..wow.

[marshallallensmith]

@KuostA The aircraft has titanium "skids" located near the hookup point of the pogos (the wheels that fall off during takeoff) aside from that they have to depend on the pilot in the chase vehicle to direct the best angle of attack to safely land. The fact that the plane barely needs runway also means it is very easy to throttle up and takeoff again for another try.

[KuostA]

@marshallallensmith yes, im aware but still, u can only go around so many times. in the end though, i still cant imagine the plane being stable when it eventuallly does need to get down in a severe crosswind with only one main bogey to touch down on LOL.

are the pogos jetisoned by the pilot's command on takeoff or do they naturally physically fall off themselves at speed?

also does the u2 have an ejection seat?

[hankwvu]

Love the GTO chase cars....... Will be keeping my eyes open at the government auctions when they go to get rid of those.......

[ExploreDestination]

Dragonladys are so sexy,specially on takeoff with those bending wings and that beautyfull rippling roar! sounds so orgasmic..... xD Ive grown up around the U-2 alll my life and i never get tired of seeing or hearing them,the only menace is the global hawk,i hope it fails.I dont want to see the worlds #1 perfect Reconn plane retired.IF IT AINT BROKE DONT FIX IT.

[OsanBlackCat5RS]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS FINALLY MORE U-2 NOISE!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

[nick0912nascar]

AWESOME vid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!

[636roadrunner]

"In god we trust, all others we monitor." My favorite saying! Thanks for the vid.