Goodbye Harrier old friend
- Thread starter TheMightyTen
- Start date
As for whether you could just buy and fly a Harrier, not a chance. It's a military plane and as such is/will not be certified by the CAA, therefore no fly in UK airspace (just have a look at the hassle the Vulcan got before it started flying). That's why there are no ex military jets flying in UK airspace (excluding the Vulcan). So unless that changes whether you could VTOL or not would be a moot point...
Well the are Private F16's/4's and MiG's flying in America and they have the same air laws as us, I guess if the Harrier was de-weaponised and passed an air worthiness test it could be used (Pilot having the civilian rating to fly it is another thing) the main thing that would stop people I would think would be the insane maintenance costs and thats a real killer for any private flyer regardless of wealth, I mean if you can afford a Veyron you can afford an F1 car but you don't see every millionaire people buying them and converting them for street use do you
He speaks the truth
Technically speaking hes been flying single engine* light aircraft so anybody who has more airtime than him in a twin prop would be further down the route to jumping into an Airbus.
*Planes like jet fighters that have both engines together fall under the "centre thrust" category and are for all intents and purposes treated as single engined for licence/training purposes as if one engine fails it will not turn the plane as i owuld if the engines were mounted apart.
Soldato
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Most jet engines are like that in terms of the core and dealing with the HP airflow. You just wont see it as Turbojets have the large bypass ration turbofans infront of the core.
Its to guide the flow to the first stage of compression stage with an element of angular velocity rather than purely axial.
Its more efficient to guide the air with the stator where you know air can only be travelling axially as its ingested into the engine, turn it with a blade and then get the rotor behind it to pick up that angle and compressor the air more efficiently. The engine speed gives you an angular velocity (which increases as you go outboard along the blade to the tip) so you resolve the axial speed of air moving through the core to the angle the stator directs air at so they are inline and the air doesnt churn. This is why an optimised blade angle changes across the length of the blade and you can see it 'twist'
U is the angular velocity that changes along the blade.
Well the are Private F16's/4's and MiG's flying in America and they have the same air laws as us, I guess if the Harrier was de-weaponised and passed an air worthiness test it could be used (Pilot having the civilian rating to fly it is another thing) the main thing that would stop people I would think would be the insane maintenance costs and thats a real killer for any private flyer regardless of wealth, I mean if you can afford a Veyron you can afford an F1 car but you don't see every millionaire people buying them and converting them for street use do you
I disagree, the US makes it far easier to get ex military craft airworthy and rated than the CAA. The fact there are loads of ex military aircraft being flown around the world backs up that argument. If there are a lot of ex British aircraft being flown in South Africa for example (they fly the Lightning) there would certainly be a few schools and private individuals that would fly complex jets over here too if the law was as easy.
Soldato
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We get some JSF's as replacements?
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A great shame and a silly decision.
Most military based decisions our country has made in recent years have been diabolical.
Diesel powered aircraft carriers, really?
Better hope no form of war happens for the next decade.
It's all the bankers fault!!!!!!
Most military based decisions our country has made in recent years have been diabolical.
Diesel powered aircraft carriers, really?
Better hope no form of war happens for the next decade.
It's all the bankers fault!!!!!!
The main propulsion is actually provided by MT30 gas turbines (the yanks just selected them to power their LCS). Not sure what is wrong with Diesel in any case, the Invincibles had deisels as well as their Gas Turbines, they just provide flexibility into how much power you need, for changing speed and for low speed manoevers. Again the Americans changed the propulsion of their latest Wasp class LHD to include a couple of Diesel generators