Monday, July 4, 2022

Headache

 


12 comments:

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    1. Excessive aerodynamic pressure on the fuselage.

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  2. That’s what happens when Scotty ignores physics and gives the Captain all the engine power he demands.

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  3. "After a month of tests, Super Guppy suffered fuselage collapse on September 25 when undergoing high speed dives during certification tests. After starting a dive at 10,000 feet the upper fuselage collapsed. The plane had been carrying 30,000 pounds of borate in 100 pound sacks, which were damaged and spilled powder that temporarily blinded the crew. With the help of a DC-9 chase plane, the crew was able to land on the dry bed of Rogers Dry Lake and save the aircraft. After that, Guppy's upper superstructure was redesigned and rebuilt at Edwards Air Force Base.[3]"

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    1. did this particular aircraft fly unpressurized? I recall the GD Atlas missile booster was always stored and shipped with the fuel and oxidizer tanks pressurized to a few PSI in order to give rigidity to the monocoque tank skin and substructure when not standing vertically in order to prevent it from collapsing on itself. but then, the Guppy would have had to weigh much more as the structure to withstand the pressure differential would have lessened it's cargo/load carrying capacity....

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  4. Bird strike.
    -Snakepit

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    Replies
    1. What kind of bird? Tetradactyl?

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  5. Flew from NC to Panama in one of those once - the AF model C123 "Shaky". Looked like a whale on a tricycle and used every inch of runway to get off the ground (4 prop engines just barely had enough oomph).

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    1. Douglas made Old Shakey, but the guppies are based on the Boeing B377. They are not the same airframe.

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  6. Unscathed integrity depends entirely on the speed. Everybody knows if you're flying REALLY FAST the aircraft can slice right through a structure of concrete and steel and the nose exits through the other side fully intact.

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