RIP John Glenn

[Spirit]

Dead at 95.

 

 

 

[mtangelsfan]

RIP, true American hero.

[Spirit]

Those early pilots that became astronauts had absolute balls of steel. 

 

 

 

[Ray McKigney]

RIP. He was a total stud.

[Tank]

what a great guy. i loved that he got to go up on the space shuttle.

[NJHalo]

He deserved to live a long life. Talk about a list of accomplishments!

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/17/us/john-glenn-fast-facts/

 

[red321]

Lived a truly remarkable life. RIP.

[Adam]

1957 - Sets the speed record flying from Los Angeles to New York in three hours and 23 minutes.

 

WTF commercial airlines? Pick up the pace

[Jay]

Agree with everything that's been said here. Marine pilot, test pilot, astronaut, U.S. senator.

He had a good long run. RIP.

 

[fan_since79]

Major John Glenn & Captain Ted Williams discussing aerial maneuvers at K-3 Air Force Base in South Korea (1953)

[ten ocho recon scout]

I dont often get sad for famous people passing, but this is different. dude was a beast.

Guys like him are who the term role model was made for.

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 hour ago, fan_since79 said:

Major John Glenn & Captain Ted Williams discussing aerial maneuvers at K-3 Air Force Base in South Korea (1953)

Yep, little known fact. they were wingman for each other. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zxYucS88cxA

[JAHV76]

RIP one the Mercury mission astronauts before the Apollo flights 

[Redondo]

RIP John

[ten ocho recon scout]

[ten ocho recon scout]

[ten ocho recon scout]

[ten ocho recon scout]

10 hours ago, mtangelsfan said:

RIP, true American hero.

Not just true american, but true human. people like him make the world turn. its one thing to make your mark as an athlete, a movie star or whatever...he "lived"...kind of man that never took shortcuts, took the hard way but did what the f*ck he said he was going to do...guys like that are who i chase. everyone should.

[NJHalo]

18 hours ago, Adam said:

1957 - Sets the speed record flying from Los Angeles to New York in three hours and 23 minutes.

 

WTF commercial airlines? Pick up the pace

I agree.

With all the advances in technology, we are no better off getting from coast to coast quicker than we were 50 years ago. I know it's because of fuel cost/consumption and airport gates, but that should have been figured out as well.

They need to load jets quicker from multiple access points, and containerize luggage so just a few bigger "bomb proof" containers need to be loaded onto the plane at once instead of every single piece being loaded one at a time.

Then the problem becomes too many planes trying to take off at once..

[Adam]

I'm going to talk to my engineer friend who builds planes and see wtf is going on

[fan_since79]

Boston Globe has a great article about the friendship between Glenn and Ted Williams.

http://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2016/12/08/ted-williams-john-glenn-photo

Williams reflected on the friendship he developed with Glenn after the latter gained fame as the first American to orbit the earth in February, 1962. In a rare column that he wrote himself for The Boston Globe in June of ’62, Williams said that even in Korea, he knew Glenn was going to be special.

“This was a man destined for something great; it was an intuitive feeling I had” wrote Williams. “John always had exceptional self-control and was one of the calmest men I have ever met, no matter how perilous the situation.”

In one especially difficult moment, Williams recalled how Glenn offered advice that helped Williams fly back to base safely. After getting hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire, Williams’s F9F Panther jet was ablaze. Glenn flew next to his wing and pointed up. Flying higher into thinner air, the fire was extinguished, allowing Williams to fly back to base.

[Adam]

3 hours ago, NJHalo said:

I agree.

With all the advances in technology, we are no better off getting from coast to coast quicker than we were 50 years ago. I know it's because of fuel cost/consumption and airport gates, but that should have been figured out as well.

They need to load jets quicker from multiple access points, and containerize luggage so just a few bigger "bomb proof" containers need to be loaded onto the plane at once instead of every single piece being loaded one at a time.

Then the problem becomes too many planes trying to take off at once..

Here was his response.

One is that commercial planes today fly about Mach 0.8 or 80% the speed of sound. If they were to go faster they would have to go above the sound barrier (Mach 1 or supersonic) because apparently flying right at the speed of sound you would go above and then below and then above, etc. This would cause a lot of turbulence which is obviously undesirable. Also, once you pass the speed of sound you get a sonic boom, now imagine if every commercial jet created a sonic boom every time they took off, that would be a problem (and against most noise pollution laws). 

Second, to achieve and maintain supersonic speeds the engine need a lot of thrust, much more than is needed to maintain Mach 0.8. Current engines are ~70% more efficient than even engines from 20 years ago, and much more than it would take for supersonic speed. This is why the concorde went out of business, too expensive.
 

However, Airbus has filed a patent for a hypersonic plane to fly from London to New York (over the ocean so who cares about sonic booms) feel free to dare to dream.

http://www.businessinsider.com/airbus-just-patented-a-jet-that-can-fly-from-london-to-new-york-in-1-hour-2015-7

[Blarg]

10 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Stephen King looks like he is photobombing . 

[arch stanton]

1 hour ago, Adam said:

Here was his response.

One is that commercial planes today fly about Mach 0.8 or 80% the speed of sound. If they were to go faster they would have to go above the sound barrier (Mach 1 or supersonic) because apparently flying right at the speed of sound you would go above and then below and then above, etc. This would cause a lot of turbulence which is obviously undesirable. Also, once you pass the speed of sound you get a sonic boom, now imagine if every commercial jet created a sonic boom every time they took off, that would be a problem (and against most noise pollution laws). 

Second, to achieve and maintain supersonic speeds the engine need a lot of thrust, much more than is needed to maintain Mach 0.8. Current engines are ~70% more efficient than even engines from 20 years ago, and much more than it would take for supersonic speed. This is why the concorde went out of business, too expensive.
 

However, Airbus has filed a patent for a hypersonic plane to fly from London to New York (over the ocean so who cares about sonic booms) feel free to dare to dream.

http://www.businessinsider.com/airbus-just-patented-a-jet-that-can-fly-from-london-to-new-york-in-1-hour-2015-7

There's definitely no worry about building planes that could do it.  I would guess that the biggest reason it isn't happening is that nobody thinks they could fill flights that would need to be much more expensive due to fuel and maintenance costs for a time savings of maybe 90 minutes on a cross country flight.