Re: SEL 'FIRM' landings

On 6 Jan 2006 06:56:53 -0800, "Tony" <ajw27703@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

During my initial private pilot night training I had plenty of "black
hole" landings where I just "knew" the runway had to be inches below
when it was actually several feet. After one particularly hard night
"drop in" I actually asked my instructor to inspect the landing gear
area the next morning with me; he laughed, but looked at the 172
anyway.

Since this ng dosen't seem to be limited strictly to winged aircraft
(I haven't read the FAQs or charter if there is one) I'll mention my
second hot air balloon landing. I wasn't able to arrest the descent in
time to avoid slamming into the ground in no-wind conditions; My
instructor and I were completely surrounded by the balloon skirt as
the envelope kept descending after the basket hit the ground. Worse,
we did it all over again twice seeing a little less skirt each time
before the thing just ran out of bounce.

Ricky
.

Relevant Pages

  • Apollo LEM computer
    ... descent software. ... Allan was one of about 300 people who designed the LM's software over a 7 year ... Such frightening alarms occurred during the Apollo 11 landing (first moon ... descent engine. ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: Fw Triebflugel page is Up!
    ... The thinking was they could dispense with the need for aircraft carriers to provide air cover for convoys and assault landing forces by deploying a couple of VTOL fighters on the fantails of each of the various ships. ... Given the difficulties in getting the thing down in one piece on a tarmac firmly attached to terra firma, ya' gotta wonder who had the bright idea that that backwards landing maneuver could be successfully completed on the deck of a pitching ship. ... The thing that would spook me is crosswinds; imagine trying to get the descent rate right onto a pitching deck while also tying to compensate for a wind that wants to blow you into superstructure or off the fantail. ...
    (rec.aviation.military)
  • Re: aborting a lunar lander
    ... If the descent engine ... the landing would be aborted. ... is discarded and the ascent engine is fired to return them to orbit. ... mile up you have lots of time in which to do that, ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: Apollo 11: A Night to remember
    ... Gate' - about 500ft above the programmed landing site. ... the point in the descent trajectory where the LM was pitched into an ... 113:00:32 Schmitt: Okay, you're 31 feet per second, going down through 500. ...
    (uk.tech.broadcast)