Gorilla
King of Belize
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2005
- Posts
- 1,132
Hand-flying anything is fun except cruise flight. Who wants to cross-check a VVI 3X per second for hours on end? At least that's what you have to do at normal jet cruise speeds so as to avoid the dreaded "...say altitude" call from center. RVSM of course requires an altitude-hold function.
Mach 1, as the guys have stated, happen on 98% of fighter sorties when on a supersonic range. When the range is subsonic, it's a pain in the a$$ to keep it below the mach, and it inhibits good training.
Mach 2 is a different beast. F-15's can do it, but it requires a LOT of fuel, and a clean airframe, no external tanks, and Eagles are not normally launched for training without bags of fuel. FCF pilots do it regularly. I did it once over Tyndall; boomed the snot out of the Florida panhandle, by accident. :0 When you go to idle at mach 2, the linear, decelerating "G" felt like about 1.0, meaning you're slung forward at 1 G. It's impressive.
Mach 1, as the guys have stated, happen on 98% of fighter sorties when on a supersonic range. When the range is subsonic, it's a pain in the a$$ to keep it below the mach, and it inhibits good training.
Mach 2 is a different beast. F-15's can do it, but it requires a LOT of fuel, and a clean airframe, no external tanks, and Eagles are not normally launched for training without bags of fuel. FCF pilots do it regularly. I did it once over Tyndall; boomed the snot out of the Florida panhandle, by accident. :0 When you go to idle at mach 2, the linear, decelerating "G" felt like about 1.0, meaning you're slung forward at 1 G. It's impressive.
