I just saw a video of NASA's Super Guppy delivering the Orion space capsule. What a crazy airplane. I didn't find any topics on this, so I figured I'd start one.

Anyone know if landing nose first is the technique of choice? It looks pretty intentional here. I can't imagine these are a joy to fly, or to land, or to taxi. Anyone here flown one?

[youtube]https://youtu.be/HuDB_V-21yU[/youtube]

Looks like a good way to ground loop an airplane.

Vince

Land on front tire first; check

Three landings in 5 seconds in the book; check

Sweating like Ted Stryker because there is a guy filming your landing; check

I have heard that during certification testing of the 377 Stratocruiser, the FAA representative did not like the stall characteristics, and insisted on modifications that resulted in a higher stall speed and the need for the nosewheel first landings. Apparently, the C-97 on which the 377 was based did not have these modifications. I am not sure whether this is relevant to the Super Guppy, as it is not clear to me whether it has 377 or C-97 wings. It would be nice if someone who really knows what they are talking about would chime in.

Regards,

Bob

10 points awarded for the Stryker reference.

Looks like a disembodied floating alien head for about the first :20 or so


I WANT TO BELIEVE

A decendant of the B-29 still working for a living today.

I assume it's unpressurized? The highest altitude I see on Flightaware is 14,500'.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N94 ... /KEFD/KTTS

Dave

Bob, I am no expert but I do recall Jack Conroy of Aero Spacelines was the original brain behind this project. It was based on the C-97 and built, IIRC, at the Santa Barbara Airport. I saw it at Van Nuys when I was a kid. Weird, purpose built aircraft, used to transport the Saturn 5 to FL.

I see them going in and out of Ellington regularly. You should see the trail of smoke they leave. Got be getting everything those engines have to keep it in the air.

A show called Mega Plane did an episode on the Super Guppy. Basically flying along as they transport a piece of equipment across country. I don't recall if they explain why they do the nose wheel first landings but it does show the small cockpit section as being pressurized and how all the flight control cables have to be disconnected in order to get the nose to swing open on a single hinge.

Jeff

Boeing did basically the same thing with a 747. Pretty neat.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Dreamlifter

Nosewheel first is normal, and they told us they have pretty strict crosswind limits. They were talking about retiring it several times, something about issues getting parts for engines or props, I forget which. The Super Guppy was based at ELP for part of the time I worked there. Glad it's still flying. They let us crawl up in it once, felt like being inside a gym.

Here is the Wikipedia article on the Super Guppies - there were five built, one still working, the other four are on display in various museums.