Posted Wednesday 6th May 2009 09:38 GMT
US manufacturers and government departments always triple the success rate of any project to justify the cost, so this is probably very noisy and struggles to hover at more than 8,000ft if theres a breeze. If it works at all, that is. Oh, and it'll cost enough to feed the world six times over too.
Posted Wednesday 6th May 2009 09:41 GMT
But I'm sure I won't be the first one to say that.
It's nice to see that the yanks ability to fight a stand-off war is improving all the time, hopefully this increasing lack of risk to their people will encourage them to become peace-loving and stop trying to be a global police force or resource thieves.
Wait .. maybe I haven't thought that through properly.
For some reason I just had a vision of a stealth chopper designed by the Sun (the newdspaper that is, not our nearest star) which would achieve it's stealth by dangling a PH lookalike underneath the helicopter, thus diverting everyones attention from the massive chopper above.
back to work I guess, coffee break over.
ttfn
Posted Wednesday 6th May 2009 10:32 GMT
"the Sun"..."a PH lookalike"..."massive chopper"
I think that's the bit you haven't thought through...
/dirty mac
Posted Wednesday 6th May 2009 11:33 GMT
'At altitude, as in the highlands of Afghanistan,'
surely you mean at altitude, as in above the downwash... where no downwash meets the ground...
In the highlands of Afghanistan you can still use Ground Effect, even though it may be at several thousand feet... its the out of ground effect altitude that is important.
Posted Wednesday 6th May 2009 12:59 GMT
I'm wondering if the high altitude (thin air up there) might mean that 10,000 feet above the highlands of Afghanistan really makes a difference to our heli-overlords ability to fly as opposed to 10,000 feet above sea level. Are there any chopper pilots reading this who can advise? boom boom!! Coat, got etc...
Posted Wednesday 6th May 2009 12:59 GMT
Does six feet tall corn fields count as foliage?
Posted Wednesday 6th May 2009 14:31 GMT
The bloke's never going to get an aviation story out without all the details being dissected is he?
Lower air density (thin) reduces aerodynamic lift and also the power of engines. Air density reduces with a combination of altitude (height above mean sea level) and high temperature.
Ground effect is a reduction in drag and an increase in lift experienced when a wing is flying close above a surface.
With the powered rotary wings on an egg-beater this means reduced torque (power) needed from the engine when hovering in ground effect.
Posted Wednesday 6th May 2009 14:52 GMT
massive chopper,
PH,
newdspaper,
are all deliberate, thanks for noticing.
I was also going to mention (as part of the vision) the Suns' attempt at radar baffling by using smooth and rounded objects on the surface of the craft to absorb and deflect radar signals, but I needed a lie-down by that time.
I guess PH is used to vibrating machinery by now.
ttfn
Posted Thursday 7th May 2009 08:46 GMT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haRZxPw0JYg&feature=related
poor old gary kasparov ....
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