On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:56:19 -0500 OK Don <okd...@gmail.com> wrote: > I can't verify this, but it sounds legitimate.
>From searching legitimate sites about the ferrying of the Shuttle back to KSC, it's close. But I say no cigars: > I said "is that a skunk I smell?" and the veterans of shuttle carrying > looked at me and smiled and said "Tires"! I said "TIRES??? OURS???" > They smiled and shook their heads as if to call their Captain an > amateur...okay, at that point I was. The tires were so hot you could > smell them in the cockpit. With the aircraft moving forward through the air, any smell from the tires would not be able to get to the engines to get funneled into the compressor air directed to the cabin ventilation system. Besides, every time a plane lands, there is a LOT of smoke from the tires. Have you ever smelled ANY burning rubber on landing? > We were burning fuel at a rate of 40,000 pounds per hour or 130 pounds > per mile, or one gallon every length of the fuselage. The websites I consulted say a gallon every length-and-a-half of the fuselage. > Airliners and even a flight of two F-16s deviated from their flight > plans to catch a glimpse of us along the way. Extreme doubt. > We dodged what was in reality very few clouds and storms, They have a lead plane that seeks out the smooth route for the 747/shuttle. > I had an idea...let's fly low and slow and show this beast off to all > the taxpayers in Florida lucky enough to be outside on that Tuesday > afternoon. So at Ormond Beach we let down to 1,000 feet above the > ground/water and flew just east of the beach out over the water. Another extreme doubt. > Then, once we reached the NASA airspace of the Kennedy Space Center, we > cut over to the Banana/Indian Rivers and flew down the middle of them to > show the people of Titusville, Port St.Johns and Melbourne just what a > 747 with a shuttle on it looked like. We stayed at 1,000 feet and since > we were dragging our flaps at "Flaps 5", our speed was down to around > 190 to 210 knots. Yet another extreme doubt (YAED). In addition, the following two extracts seem to contradict each other: > The 747 flies with its nose 5 degrees up in the air to stay level, and > when you bank, it feels like the shuttle is trying to say "hey, let's > roll completely over on our back" > So at 300 feet, we flew down the runway, rocking our wings like a whale > rolling on its side to say "hello" to the people looking on! With a $6 Billion shuttle?! Craig _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
