Cockpit view of shuttle landing

[dudeman750]

Hey guys!



Check out the glide slope on this flying brick!

Dudeman

[Frazer]

That is the worst glider ever!

[Teej]

I still remember watching this on TV as a kid...

[dudeman750]

I just read that we might be getting one of 3 retiring shuttles here at Wright Patterson. I hope so, our USAF museum has a great collection!

[Gunner]

I just read that we might be getting one of 3 retiring shuttles here at Wright Patterson. I hope so, our USAF museum has a great collection!

That is one of the best museums I've seen...and it's been 30 years! I'd love to get out there one of these days and check it out with you.

[SilentEagle]

I only live 90 minutes from the USAF museum. Been a few years since I've seen it, but it was a pretty cool experience!

[dudeman750]

Hey SilentEagle, if you ever head this way let me know, I will be more than happy to walk through with you. It never gets old for me. I live about 2 miles from it. My family dosen't care for it much.

[Robert-Fierce]

As I am sure Blaze would agree with, the Shuttle's re-entry definitely makes itself well known in Florida!

The famous twin sonic boom!!

[Blaze]

Agreed! The pictures and windows shake with a noticable boom or firm "thud". Nothing though beats watching a night launch on Daytona Beach with pizza and beer! Sure gonna miss 'em when they're retired.

[Lawndart]

Ten years ago, KSC would let you fly a "Shuttle tour" which included a low approach down runway 15 and a turnout/circle of Launch Complex 39 and/or the VAB. Did a few of these with students back when I still spent long sweaty days flying bug smashers, but since 9-11 they'd become a thing of the past. There would never be a better view of the Shuttle (if you were lucky enough to actually see one up close on the pad) than at a distance of 500' from above!

I always found it deceptive how the runway would appear shorter than the 2 1/2 miles it is, because the shoulders add a full 100' in width, making it 300 feet wide.

Watching a Shuttle launch from the air is also quite a sight to behold.

[Robert-Fierce]

Agreed! The pictures and windows shake with a noticable boom or firm "thud". Nothing though beats watching a night launch on Daytona Beach with pizza and beer! Sure gonna miss 'em when they're retired.

Oh yea, those nightime launches are just awe-inspiring. It literally lights the whole sky up, makes it day again!!

[Ray]

Very cool! Watching Teej's video is a good example of how angle of attack varies with aircraft weight at a given speed. The Shuttle's deck angle is at the horizon and the '38 is really pitched over to keep up

I've only seen one shuttle launch in person and it was from the air, out the right side passenger window of an MD-88 leaving Melbourne. The pilot made a slight course change to bring us closer to the launch pad (I'd guess we were ~6 nm away at about 10,000 ft) and it launched about the time we were abeam the pad heading north. There was a very thin cloud layer at about ~2,000 AGL above the launch site and it looked awesome as it punched up through the layer, the exhaust gases evaporated some of the cloud and left a nice hole. I was able to watch it until the boosters separated at which point the shuttle just looked like a twinkling bright blue star.

[Teej]

Very cool! Watching Teej's video is a good example of how angle of attack varies with aircraft weight at a given speed. The Shuttle's deck angle is at the horizon and the '38 is really pitched over to keep up

Heh. 'Go diamond!'

[Lawndart]

The pilot made a slight course change to bring us closer to the launch pad (I'd guess we were ~6 nm away at about 10,000 ft) and it launched about the time we were abeam the pad heading north.

That's a view afforded only a few or for operational reasons. For normal Johnson's there's a TFR in place prohibiting general aviation and VFR operations within a 30-nautical-mile radius of Launch Pad 39A from the surface to 18,000 feet. Among the public-use general aviation airports affected within this area are Space Coast Regional Airport and Arthur Dunn Airpark, both in Titusville, and Merritt Island Airport on Merritt Island.

Within an airspace radius between 30 and 40 nautical miles, a discrete transponder code must be obtained and clearance granted from air traffic control before entering this airspace. Continuous radio communications must be maintained.

This, as far as I can remember, hasn't changed the last decade.

Ray, you were lucky to be on a scheduled air carrier flight operating under IFR at the right place and at the right time!

[Ray]

I think I was 16 at the time and didn't know much about IFR operations but did know about TFR's and I was wondering how we were able to be flying that close to the pad when it launched. Glad I was on that flight!

Watched the first video again, the radio call at :52 "Looks like Taco is going to get to log some instrument time on this one!"

and it sounds like he's trying his best to keep from just exploding with excitement at 4:39 "God this is fun" - "ooh I like it up here" "I know ya do"

Pretty cool HUD flight director following that curved glideslope as he rounds out into the flare. It's really a bummer that the Shuttle will be no longer after this September - marks the end of an era for space exploration.