Corvette chases U-2 during landing

[hentschelmann]

DAMN!! The plane is cool...the video is cool... the sound of that corvette is orgasmic!! Nothing else like it!!

[trafficvegas]

"supped up" huh? is that what they called it back then ;)

[controlledburst]

$*#(%&&# recruiter never told me about this job when I enlisted!!!

[starguard]

Why exactly do they chase these planes?

[bradkrit]

REALLY cool video. I always wondered what happens next though... Does it come to a stop then tip over onto one wing?

[Samimiamiv1]

why they chasing them

[alexander1485]

@Samimiamiv1 make sure it lands ok?

[papabugs71]

@Samimiamiv1 U-2's are very hard to land. The chase cars provide a 2nd set of eyes for the pilot. He's talking the aircraft down, calling out the distance between the landing gear & the ground. :)

[sonictales69]

what is the point of a chase car?

[NotYour94Ranger]

@sonictales69 those planes can't land while actually flying, the ground effect prevents them from ever touching ground, so they have to stall the plane (stop it from flying by moving too slow) at just the right time or the landing gear could be damaged, leading to expensive repairs.

[sonictales69]

@NotYour94Ranger oh ok



[atvmaster281]

@sonictales69 to help with landing, mostly telling the pilot how close he is to the ground since its such a complex plane to land

[sonictales69]

@atvmaster281 oh ok. thanks for gettin back to me.

[Jejh4lom]

The plane only has 2 sets of lg

[jdoggybizzle]

What......accepting applications? I'll work for free.

[driftinthroughtime]

where do i sign up?

[SCHIZOPHRENlC]

That is fucking badass, spotting for a U-2 in a Vette... fucking sick.

[The808monsta]

i gotta hand it to spy plane pilots. Really great piloting up there and especially landing. Those U2's are tricky so if you can land them without a problem hats off to you!

[IIIIN3ROOIIII]

whats a U2? is it a fighter jet or a radar plane?

[heathirving]

@IIIIN3ROOIIII

high altitude reconnaissance over 70000 ft 

[IIIIN3ROOIIII]

@heathirving aha thanks.. askin me why its okay to drive on a runway while theres planes there?...

[NGUdOlLoFf]

@IIIIN3ROOIIII The U2 spy plane is very hard to land. It is light, has a huge wingspan, and will float in the air forever. The pilot literally has to stall it when it is close to the ground. Moreover, the plane has to be level or it will tip over and crash. Finally, ground visibility is virtually nil for the pilot. A chase car is needed to talk the pilot down

[IIIIN3ROOIIII]

@NGUdOlLoFf thanks for the info :)

[bratboy90]

0:46 for good part

[familyman4193]

Smellcaster- The Chase car is the to give guidance to the pilot on how high he is off the runway due to lack of sight from the cockpit. The drivers of the chase cars are also U2 pilots.

[420hih]

@familyman4193 Why don't they just mount a camera on the plane?

[smellcaster]

@LetItAllFall6 I think the Guy in the Car is a Friend of the Pilot. He followed the Plane to pick him up.

[MyAGUAS]

cara de pene o monda mentiroso tu hijo de puta madre

[fs10inator]

James May said that this plane is a pig to land.

[hogey74]

@fs10inator A pig to fly as well - until it hits about 50 thousand feet when the controls apparently start working the way they're designed to...

[Ryan61598]

@LetItAllFall6 ok thanks

[Ryan61598]

@LetItAllFall6 u2 pilot? or any in the airforce?

[Ryan61598]

how the fuck do i get that job

[RyeOnHam]

Strangely, the U2 always seems to win.

[huskyjerk]

What's the point of all this?

[KeiYuuki2011]

@huskyjerk The U2 always has chaser vehicles, on take off and landing. For assistance on a level landing because of its landing gear.

[Treetop64]

I don't know who has the better job. The guy flying the plane or the guy driving the Vette?

[Samimiamiv1]

@Treetop64 what the hell are they chasing them for?

[deovalente]

@Treetop64 Guy flying the plane, by far.

[streetracer6rpt]

The drivers are other U2 pilots.

[nethoser]

What a sweet, sexy, gorgeous, graceful dragon lady of an aircraft.

[Achiliesguy21]

seriously? just 2 wheels? its like landing a bike!

[Atlink]

@Achiliesguy21 Technically, there's 4 wheels. Two regular rubber tires forward, and two hard rubberish wheels aft. But they are a bicycle setup (wheels in line with each other), so we have pogos for them. (detachable wheels that go on the wings).

[azthundercloud]

i remember at osan they had mustangs. the base commander made them paint the vehicles OD green. oh hellll no that wasnt going to happen and it didnt. it was one of the coolest jobs chasing the dragon

[wetwater90]

The engine sound gave me a boner!

[worldtravel101]

i came here for the plane, but wow that vette sounds pretty mean!

[markwills77]

sounds so great!

[gbsons]

um.... how do i apply for this???

[darklight1313]

@gbsons You master the dragon lady

[gbsons]

@darklight1313 I see I see. One must learn the ways of the dragon.

[zombie2uonROBLOX]

That is what they always do. The U2's are so hard to land, they need eyes on the runway to watch what they do. So this is no big deal.

[timbowood]

Sick. way frickin cool, I was there at times and you'lll never ever get it.. God bless America

[Treblaine]

Hmm, this I do believe is the coolest actual paying job in the world.

[justadroid]

@Treblaine short of flying the u2....you could be right

[KDALove]

@justadroid I Believe the drivers themselves that guide the planes down are pilots themselves. So driving isn't the only thing they do =P

[SecondStepGaming]

sweet i was hoping to get to see the parts where the skids come into play

[yblocker]

nice landing i hear this is one of the most challenging planes to land.

Thumbs up!

[gazovbolton07]

The Corvette didnt have to do much to keep up with that. sweet vid

[girishmuraly]

what a precise landing!

[mindreeder93]

sir, you were booookin

[Belikon1]

my dad put landing gear on every U2 that flies

[78720]

@Belikon1 how do you put them on when they are on?

[futureav8r]

i've noticed on all U2 spyplane landings that i have seen there is a chase car, can anyone tell me why they do that? cheers :)

[AquaLoki]

because the u-2 only has 1 wheel with stabilizers on the wings. They need someone to tell the pilot how close they are to touching the tarmac with the stabilizers. The planes land at 150mph roughly, that means a fast car to keep up.

[futureav8r]

@AquaLoki

ahh right :) thanks must be quite a hard job for the pilots!

[vaudevilleUK]

@AquaLoki Sorry to be pedantic but you'd really struggle to land the U2 at 150mph, final approach shouldn't be much more than 95mph. I believe the cars are tweaked for acceleration rather than speed per se.

[Bullzeye95]

@AquaLoki It actually has two sets of wheels (nose and tail) in-line, a so called bicycle configuration. This is compared to the usual tricycle landing gear, but was done solely to save weight.

The actual purpose of the chase car is very specific but also necessary; in order to land the U2, the pilot has to literally stall the aircraft (gently) at 2 feet AGL. That's the method. This is too small for either himself or his instruments to see, hence the chase car to call out distance for him.

[dasadler123]

@Bullzeye95 Very accurately put!

[Bullzeye95]

@dasadler123 Thank you sir.

[JGMagoo]

@Bullzeye95 Another reason for the bicycle landing gear configuration was to keep the wings thinner and more aerodynamic by not having to contain the wheels and gear that a tricycle landing configuration would require.

[Lonewolf36]

For all replys, when I was in the AF during Viet Nam we launched/landed U2 planes regularly every 12 hrs at Osan AB. In essence the "plane" is a rocket with very long wingspans for gliding once in the stratosphere. Upon landing we had "muscled" up El Camino's chase the bird down the runway until the plane tilted 1 wing onto a "T" shaped platform for the wingtip to rest upon, full taxi to hanger from there. Then the "bicycle" wheels installed for next take-off. Take-off? Like a rocket into space

[hankwvu]

So is that regular practice when they got to an air show? If they forget their chase car they go find some random 'hot rod' and ask to barrow it for a few minutes?

[ding0925]

Not hardly!!! it wont fly ....That was funny....

[Bullzeye95]

All of this rigamarole with the chase car and the stall-speed landings and the ridiculous bicycle landing gear were implemented with the singular purpose of saving every possible pound from the airframe. If you're slow and want to go super high, you'd better have huge winglift and be as light as a feather. They are really not the sturdiest of designs, either.

[xfire7]

Its not balanced ,thats flying on the ground.untill it gets so slow that there is no lift one wing will touch the floor.I believe they move in andsupport it.I thought they were winding me up when I was in the airforce,but apparantly its true.

[zorro051969]

If it had gone around, the corvette would have been blown...

[Sean9rw84]

the plane is in a stall to land so the engines r at idle

[CrashDRFC]

how does the U2 keeps it balance ???

[wolf1010]

Well on landing when it doesn't have to do any turns and has little to no fuel left in the wings, the central fuselage is the heaviest part enough that it will balance (it will tent to lean with the wing carrying the most fuel though). But for taxing small wheels are attached to the ends of the wing to keep them from tipping.

[daflyinhawaiian2]

Without getting to deep, It's like riding a bicycle. As long as you are in motion it will stay upright until you stop. Then depending if the pilot did a pretty good job on his fuel management and the crosswinds are not to bad the aircraft will stay righted. If not the aircraft will lay over to the heavier side on the wingtip that has a skidplate mounted to it. Then the POGO Team will go to the high wing, jump and hang on to make the aircraft level while a member of the team will insert a pogo.

[tannerfeldhausen]

wen it lands it just let 1 wing hit the ground and set it up for takeoff

[zzddytt]

it doesn't. wings have skid plates to prevent damage.

[AirSquirrel1]

there not skid plates, there a last resort.

[flyerholland]

using its ailerons as long as its possible. and steering

[plaiskool]

this is like gliders..the wing tip will provide lift at very slow speed cause the wing is very long, so you can control the balance with the stick until very slow speed

[Sean9rw84]

pogos

[Enderwiggan1]

What a job!!

[uploadJ]

Cool; talk-down instructions (height). 5/5

[FlamAble94]

Exactly this isn't for the show, this is for ;anding purpososes only...

[uploadJ]

Yup; obvious from the audio track (which one has to strain to hear over the roar of the Corvette motor)!

[LhongJhon]

and he never even smashed on it

[kevinbigbird]

That engine has a sweet sweet sound!

[multisyncxp]

@kevinbigbird idk how they got this job... but dam

i want it :)

[homewrecker9]

cool! from homewrecker at corvette forum!