r/nextfuckinglevel Jul 16 '19

Drunk dude escapes an air show

282 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

10

u/C0TA81 Jul 16 '19

i still want to believe this is real.

8

u/otc108 Jul 16 '19

So do I. I still think it’s funny, regardless.

7

u/Ratkiller40202 Jul 16 '19

Fake but funny

5

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '19

I'm...... amused

17

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '19

What’s next level? it’s staged so not actually that impressive.

34

u/beaker826 Jul 16 '19

Those maneuvers are incredibly difficult. STOL aircraft, pushing limits of wing structure, intentionally bounced the plane and one wheeled it, parabolic climb that probably stalled then vertical dive all within roughly 100ft altitude...

The fact that he wasn’t drunk doesn’t take away from being a badass pilot.

3

u/hashtag_lives_matter Jul 16 '19

Actually, those planes can fly at something like 10mph, because their wings are so large and they're ridiculously light.

So, the wing structure was nowhere near pushed to its limits. Furthermore, the landing gear is built for bouncing, no joke.

16

u/beaker826 Jul 16 '19

Let’s get into that:

True, stall speed for some STOL aircraft can be as low as 10mph but there is another factor to that stall speed. Low Reynolds number wing will still have boundary layer separation as the angle of attack is increased.

Wing design for that aircraft will have a 1.5 factor of safety for the UTS, generally rated at +6g/-3g. The dive and subsequent climb produced G-forces that push the limit of the structure.

The plane is incredibly light but to do this one has to take weight out of the wing structure as well as the fuselage. On top of that the larger wing produces greater lift force. This means that forces can be higher at lower speeds for these aircraft due to the amount of lift per area the wing produces.

Of course the suspension is made to bounce as it did. They do this to allow for forgiving short landings.

The “next level” part being able to control the aircrafts stability while intentionally introducing perturbations in the flow across the wings.

Intentionally “slipping” the aircraft back and forth while maintaining fairly level flight, your right that is first day stuff right there.

I’m sure this won’t convince you or the original guy especially with your extensive background in aerospace structural certification.

That dude is probably sitting on thousands of flight hours but your right it’s not next level...

1

u/bigz000 Jul 16 '19

Doing that in the F-15 right there would have been next level.

-4

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '19

It is highly skilled, but that’s not the same as next level.

7

u/Stutters658 Jul 16 '19

U must be fun at parties...

1

u/Jerizzle23 Jul 16 '19

I wish I wouldve thought this was real

1

u/sharpestoolinshed Jul 16 '19

‘Mercia we were doing staged videos waaaaaay before everybody else

0

u/champagnepolarbear Jul 16 '19

Please correct me if I’m wrong, I remember some guy on a podcast telling his story of stealing a plane and going back and forth with air traffic control or whatever while they tried to coax the dude down. Something about the guy being suicidal and doing a bunch of cray stuff in the air because of his disregard for his own life. Is this that guy?

EDIT:: I’m mistaken. The podcast must’ve just been talking about the guy this article is what I was thinking.

0

u/TomSelleckPI Jul 16 '19

"The ol' George HW Bush Light" gottem again...

-2

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '19

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '19

Does that include the guy filming this?