WOW! I've seen some cool stuff in my day, but that's really something. Lotta power in those old KC-10's. It puts into perspective the kind of weight they can carry. I'd have loved to have been on board for that. Probably would have been a good idea to wear brown pants.
Unbelievable KC-10 Takeoff
- Thread starter john_pifer
- Start date
WOW! I've seen some cool stuff in my day, but that's really something. Lotta power in those old KC-10's. It puts into perspective the kind of weight they can carry. I'd have loved to have been on board for that. Probably would have been a good idea to wear brown pants.
One other thought - if you pull up to say, 40 degrees (very steep for an airliner, but not impossible) and then unload to 1/2 G or so, you’ll get a lot more vertical run by taking some of the induced drag off the wing.
When you slow down to close to V2, fully unload and push the nose down to a more normal 15 or so pitch attitude.
Looking at it, it appears that the pitch might be slowly decreasing (which would happen in a slight unload) and then the full unload happens at the top of the zoom.
When you slow down to close to V2, fully unload and push the nose down to a more normal 15 or so pitch attitude.
Looking at it, it appears that the pitch might be slowly decreasing (which would happen in a slight unload) and then the full unload happens at the top of the zoom.
I believe an empty DC-10 commercial cargo plane could do the same thing. It’s maybe 90% common parts and basically everything that moves it. However, there are quite a few DC-10s modified by Boeing with glass cockpits as the MD-10. I’ve been in the cockpit of a KC-10 and it’s old school dials and gauges everywhere.
There's more to the physics than just that, to one inexperienced with that kind of departure. At the same time the wings are unloaded, the pants tend to take on an equal and opposite load!
Spoke too soon on the cockpit. They're getting them upgraded to glass cockpits by Collins Aerospace.
www.mwrf.com
www.aviationtoday.com
When I was in there I was wondering what the transition would be like for a pilot to commercial aircraft with glass cockpits.
USAF Contracts Rockwell Collins for KC-10 Avionics Upgrade Path
The U.S. Air Force recently awarded Rockwell Collins with a sustainment contract for the 59 aircraft in the KC-59 fleet.
www.mwrf.com
L2 Aviation to Install ADS-B Upgrades for U.S. Air Force KC-10 Tankers - Avionics International
Collins Aerospace has awarded L2 Aviation a subcontract for installations of Mode 5 Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) upgrades for the U.S. Air Force’s fleet of 58 Boeing KC-10 Extender tanker […]
www.aviationtoday.com
When I was in there I was wondering what the transition would be like for a pilot to commercial aircraft with glass cockpits.
Isn’t that just an ADS-B standalone installation? Not a full flight instrumentation upgrade.
I don't fully understand the lingo. That being said, I've interviewed with Collins Aerospace before but wasn't sure about moving to the locations where they were. I figure taking one of those jobs would have improved my understanding.
But the first link mentioned the upgrades to the full avionics.
https://www.mwrf.com/markets/defens...ckwell-collins-for-kc10-avionics-upgrade-path
Rockwell Collins recently completed upgrades for the full communications, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management systems (CNS/ATM) for the 59 aircraft in the KC-10 fleet, and will now be providing ongoing engineering support for the KC-10 Flight2 integrated avionics system (see photo). The open-architecture system employs a modular design approach that allows operators to customize their operating systems. For example, pilots have options of installing 5 × 5, 6 × 8, or 9 × 12 in. large-format liquid-crystal-display (LCD) primary flight displays (PFDs) and multifunction displays (MFDs) for mission-critical data.
Found a photo.
9th ARS certifies first Travis aircrew on upgrades
The 9th Air Refueling Squadron successfully certified Travis' first aircrew on the KC-10 Extender's first major avionics and air traffic management upgrade May 7.Having been in operation with the U.S.
www.travis.af.mil
Here’s a fun LM-400J/C-130J demo
My mom technically worked for him when she was at Boeing in Cocoa Beach in 1966-68. Then my family all moved out here to work at Aero Spacelines where Tex was the test pilot for the Guppy. My grandpa was a VP and my grandma was an executive assistant. My mom ended up lookign for work elsewhere because she didn't want to be "Ed and Shirley's daughter". She ended up at Raytheon for 43 years. Tex was one of the few people that could come into the house and pour his own drink whenever he wanted. My grandpa was always bummed I never got to meet him.If you know what your doing. He knew what he was doing and never even came close to exceeding any limits G wise. No plane will survive if it’s limits/envelope are exceeded ( enough ). The only limit he pushed was doing something Boeing never authorized IIRC.
Like Clint Eastwood said in one of his Dirty Harry Movie’s.....” a man has to know his limitations”. Same with pilots and planes.
