Flying at 70,000 feet

[spidey07]

Incredible cockpit footage of spy plane from the 1950s. Think about flying in normal commercial airplane, then double the altitude.

Holy curvature of the earth batman!
http://www.flixxy.com/u2-world...st-flying-airplane.htm

 

[jagec]

The U2 is still flying, and they grounded the SR-71?

 

[jlee]

Was that an actual Top Gear show? If so, I completely missed it!

 

[WA261]

Originally posted by: jagec
The U2 is still flying, and they grounded the SR-71?

My fave place of all time, SR-71.

 

[spidey07]

Reading on another forum - the suits are fully pressurized and the "astronauts" breathe pure oxygen to not get decompression/nitrogen sickness. The cabin is only pressurized to 29K feet. There is a heater, but with so little air to heat it doesn't do much good and many got frostbite.

 

[l0cke]

Originally posted by: JLee
Was that an actual Top Gear show? If so, I completely missed it!

No, it was just something with James May.

 

[Crusty]

That view is amazing.

I wonder how much a trip like that would cost! :Q

 

[BEL6772]

In my younger days I lived near Edwards AFB and knew a U2 pilot. He had a lot of great stories to tell. He had some of the food that they eat and I got to try it. It was tasty, but the texture was weird.

 

[destrekor]

wow.

I would love to personally see the curvature of the Earth from that altitude.

amazing

 

[coxmaster]

Awesome. That could possibly be the single coolest flight ever.

 

[hiromizu]

that's just amazing.

 

[WT]

Awesome vid !!! :thumbsup:

 

[keird]

I was posted as a close bound sentry for a U-2 and I was checking it out for a while. Underneath is the camera bay and all the interior frames are painted that old hospital lime/green. The camera bay was empty and I could look inside the aircraft from beneath. Some joker wrote "All your base are belong to us" in pencil on one of the interior supports.

I had some lulz

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: keird
I was posted as a close bound sentry for a U-2 and I was checking it out for a while. Underneath is the camera bay and all the interior frames are painted that old hospital lime/green. The camera bay was empty and I could look inside the aircraft from beneath. Some joker wrote "All your base are belong to us" in pencil on one of the interior supports.

I had some lulz

What was the purpose of the U-2?

 

[timosyy]

Did one of the pilots have glasses? Wouldn't that be a pain in the butt to adjust under that helmet if they started slipping a little -.-

 

[FelixDeCat]

What did you think of Presidnet Kennedys speech tonight? Do you think the naval blockade of Cuba is wise? Gee, I hope the Ruskies dont nuke us.

In other news, a U2 spy plane was shot down by Cuban forces using Soviet AA. Send the B52s to Moscow! :|

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: keird
I was posted as a close bound sentry for a U-2 and I was checking it out for a while. Underneath is the camera bay and all the interior frames are painted that old hospital lime/green. The camera bay was empty and I could look inside the aircraft from beneath. Some joker wrote "All your base are belong to us" in pencil on one of the interior supports.

I had some lulz

What was the purpose of the U-2?

the "camera bay" part didn't help?

it was surveillance. part of the Cold War race to make everything better in every way than the red's stuff.
The Blackbird was similar, but also added a speed capability that could outrun anything shot at it.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Very cool!

 

[jaha2000]

The U2 was not all that fast of a plane. Well, compared to a missile.
Like was said above, it was replaced in spy plane duties by the SR-71, the whole idea of which if a missle was shot at it, you could drop the hammer and run away from the missle.
They still fly the U-2 because compared to the SR-71 its cheap to fly.
Remember the SR-71 was designed for such high speed that while sitting on the ground the jet fuel poured out of the seams on the gas tanks, not what we would call fuel efficient.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: timosyy
Did one of the pilots have glasses? Wouldn't that be a pain in the butt to adjust under that helmet if they started slipping a little -.-

I noticed that too. I thought they had to have uncorrected vision?

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones

Originally posted by: timosyy
Did one of the pilots have glasses? Wouldn't that be a pain in the butt to adjust under that helmet if they started slipping a little -.-

I noticed that too. I thought they had to have uncorrected vision?

Did you see the size of those glasses? They could fall off of his nose and he'd still have some lens to look through.

 

[ivan2]

this must be James May - My Sister's Toy

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones

Originally posted by: timosyy
Did one of the pilots have glasses? Wouldn't that be a pain in the butt to adjust under that helmet if they started slipping a little -.-

I noticed that too. I thought they had to have uncorrected vision?

Did you see the size of those glasses? They could fall off of his nose and he'd still have some lens to look through.

Why not just have a prescription helmet?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones

Why not just have a prescription helmet?

I hope you're kidding. Then again I was told in high school that I couldn't be a pilot without 20/20 vision.

 

[TehMac]

The U2 is such a fantastic aircraft. It's interesting to see that it's still in use. I guess they don't really need a new plane considering most of their surveillance is done by satellites and other more military suited airframes.