Oh, and by the way, the one that crashed at the Paris Air Show crashed not as a result of failure of the airplane, but as a result of a deliberate incursion into the flight path by a French fighter. NOT an accident, although I really don't think the fighter pilot expected the TU-144 to come apart in the air.
By flying directly into the flight path of the TU 144, the fighter caused the pilot of the TU to "bunt" -- that is, pull up too sharply, stalling the engines and causing a severe temporary loss of power, leading to an aerodynamic stall at fairly low speed and altitude. The recovery attempt resulted in a tail failure to from over-stressing the airframe in a desperate attempt to keep from pancaking. Not a failure of design or execution of the airframe, it's very unlikely any aircraft would survive those conditions intact. The flight path incursion was planned deliberately to make the TU-144 look bad (remember, it was flying before the Concorde was ready) and there was significant interest in supersonic transport at the time, and there was no market for TWO SSTs. I would presume the subsequent crash was NOT planned. Peter _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
