High and Dry
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I was reading some old war stories from RAF pilots in the 70s seeing how high they could get an F-4. The answer was very high, but extremely dangerous due to hypoxia, lack of pressure breathing and the control that the rhino has at low speed high AOA. Good stories…
Anyhow, as I was not subject to any of those… I submit the following screen shot as my starter for 10. Anyone get any higher (with screenshot proof of course!).
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Nice…love the calibrated airspeed.
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I was reading some old war stories from RAF pilots in the 70s seeing how high they could get an F-4. The answer was very high, but extremely dangerous due to hypoxia, lack of pressure breathing and the control that the rhino has at low speed high AOA. Good stories…
Anyhow, as I was not subject to any of those… I submit the following screen shot as my starter for 10. Anyone get any higher (with screenshot proof of course!).
Which version of the F-4 are you using for that ?
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Thanks!
F-16 CM Block 52. I took the screenshot I think pretty much at the top of parabola - you are going pretty ballistic at around 65,000 feet and up, I tried to wait until I was in a virtual tail slide before taking the photo. I took a photo 3 seconds beforehand and was “only” at 71,890.
Procedure used: clean aircraft apart from 2 bags. (always fun as I forget how bloody fast the F-16 is when light).
Do a couple of Mach 1+ runs to get up to around 40k feet.
Accelerate and punch off bags
Continue to accelerate. I seemed to slow to marginal acceleration from about M1.8
Pitch up 60 degrees, and keep wings level and keep on profile
Pull back when nose starts to drop
Stall warning
Hang on…
Recover post tail slide with no control input. Actually the viper is surprisingly well behaved on re-entry if you leave well alone.
Recover around 40k feed going around M 1.5I was looking at the -1 to see if there was anything on flameout. I have a nasty feeling that the F100 probably doesn’t take too kindly in real life in what is likely to be a tail slide. I would have thought there would be nasty stagnation (or worse).
Anyway happily I landed with around 2,000 lbs of fuel.
Could probably do better if:
Released all countermeasures
Ripped the 500 rounds from the gun
Waited later so there was less fuel before initiating pull-up. -
Here’s another take on High and Dry…
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If you enter a flat spin/stall, recovery is much more difficult. You will need the MPO (Manual Pitch Override) and work against the oscillations to get control restored.
Edit: For flameout, look at BMS Training Manual.
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BMS 4.32, 2 years ago . . .
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78.170 (indicated @ 29.92 inHg)
90.444 from outside view
Recipe:
1. level off at 40k feet.
2. Reach Mach 2.0
3. Start a constant 2g pull-up
4. When AoA ~12 degrees, I reduce stick pressure to keep it there
5. Sped drops, pull on the stick again to get roughly 90 degrees nose up, and keep it there. -
78.170 (indicated @ 29.92 inHg)
I have not revisited this thread for a while (real life and all that). Super cool to get up to 78,170. I will have to have another go using your technique!
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i was about 20K higher a week ago IIRC (no intention to make any record)….but in MiG-31 - it is easy to jump there from 65K MACH 2,8
good guide Thunder
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78.170 (indicated @ 29.92 inHg)
90.444 from outside viewHow high does the temperature was? I think the outside temperature is very high to show two altitudes (true and baro) were different. I guess ~70 degs @sea level?