From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #7 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Thursday, 10 February 1994 Volume 05 : Number 007 In this issue: F-117A mystery location in Maryland See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ab107@dayton.wright.edu (Timothy R. Gaffney) Date: Wed, 9 Feb 94 22:13:24 -0500 Subject: F-117A From Thomas Gauldin Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 > Several years ago, my family and I visited the open house at Pope > AFB in North Carolina. One of the highlights was a fly-by of the > F117. I recalled that a nickname of the plane was the "wobblin > goblin." As the plane flew a runway heading at about 500', I was > surprised to see that the plane continually rolled about +-20 > degrees around its longituninal axis and seemed to yaw and pitch as > well, but on a lesser basis. At first I thought the pilot was merely > doing it for effect and to show the upper and lower surfaces to the > viewers more clearly. > > In retrospect, I wonder if my initial impression was correct. > > The plane is actually flown by computer, with the pilot merely > directing the computer in the desired attitude, direction etc. I > believe that this is called fly-by-wire with computer override. > This should result in a very, very smooth flight unless the program > called for something else. > I wonder if the roll/pitch/yaw characteristics of the flight I saw > weren't part of the stealth characteristics of the plane. In > otherwords, they were designed in to the flight pattern.... > By rolling/pitching/yawing, the program concedes that at some point > in time that SOME surface would be at right angles to the beam and > would probably give a return. However, the probablity of this > occurring two, three or more times in a row are siginficantly > diminished and thus a "lock" is virtually denied. > I really wonder if the well discussed coatings are really effective > in "trapping" the radar signal of if the real "stealth" features of > the plane come from simple faceting of the surface (as opposed to > rounding) and the wobbling flight of the plane. I'm no fighter pilot, tactics scholar or stealth expert, but I flew the F-117A simulator at CAE Link in Binghamton, NY, last year and have interviewed numerous F-117A pilots. Here are my observations (based on unclassified information): The F-117A is an extremely stable platform. It has a very sophisticated autopilot system, combined with an autothrottle system, that lets the airplane fly a preprogrammed course, including altitude and heading changes, with arrival over the target area timed to the second. The pilot's main job is to take off and then watch the computer displays, but he can certainly hand-fly it and reprogram its flight plan. I wasn't allowed to use the tactical systems, so I don't know whether the airplane could actually drop the bombs itself, but I imagine it requires a human to visually identify the target, designate it with the laser and let the bombs go. The autopilot/autothrottle held its settings to the foot and knot, at least in the sim. The autopilot can fly the airplane right down the runway, although I was told the usual practice is to take over around 200 feet. (If there are standard IFR procedures involved, I don't know; I'm just a sunny day pilot.) I believe the maneuvering reported at Pope was done by the pilot for the benefit of the crowd. There would be no reason to program something like that into the mission planner, and I doubt if such incidental maneuvering is programmable; besides, I can't imagine any pilot pushing buttons when he could be flying. F-117A pilots I've talked to emphatically deny the airplane was ever called the ``Wobblin Goblin'' and take offense at the term. As a radar evasion tactic, I would think bobbing and weaving would tend to attract attention. I imagine that even to ground-based radar, an airplane is presenting a front, side or rear cross-section most of the time; it would only show its belly as it passes close to the antenna. An interesting note about the F-117: That low wing and delta shape give the airplane a lot of ``float'' in the landing flare; I kept bounding back into the air when I tried to land it. The sim itself is not a motion-based simulator. The Link system is used as a system integrator; the operational weapons system trainer is at Holloman AFB. You can find more info, including the most detailed cockpit photos available, in the September 1993 POPULAR SCIENCE. -- Timothy R. Gaffney ------------------------------ From: TRADER@cup.portal.com Date: Wed, 9 Feb 94 22:51:18 PST Subject: mystery location in Maryland Can anyone out there shed some light on why the Naval Support Facility at Thurmont, MD is such a restricted area? (For those of you who are pilots, Thurmont is the center of prohibited flying area P-40). Paul McGinnis / TRADER@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #7 ******************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". 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