[simpits-tech] So THAT'S how they set those records....

[Brian Sikkema]

First, for a little background. For those of you who
aren't aware, the KC-135R holds a variety of
time-to-climb records for a couple of weight classes,
all viewable here:
http://records.fai.org/general_aviation/aircraft.asp?id=965

Just for an example, for the 45,000-60,000kg weight
class (~100k-132k lbs), the record to 15,000m (just
shy of 50,000 feet) is just 8 minutes, 15 seconds -
an AVERAGE of just under 6000fpm! That's completely
retarded fast, if you hadn't noticed....

Anywho, yesterday I was supposed to have a sim along
with another new copilot and an instructor. Due to a
scheduling mixup our instructor couldn't make it...
So there I sit with this other young Lt. Neither of
us is qualified to operate the sim, but the
maintenance guy there basically shrugged his
shoulders and said as long as we left the motion off
and didn't do anything crazy, she was all ours! >:D
Imagine two young copilots getting tossed the keys to
a multi-million dollar high-fidelity sim and being
told "have at it!" :) Fun times, I tell ya.

Anyway, for the first 1 1/2 hours or so we kept
things pretty vanilla, just practicing our approach
and landing work, a few VFR patterns, etc. But then
we decided to have some fun before we hopped out.

So we put it on the runway ready for takeoff, and
dropped it down to a 20,000lb fuel load - for
reference, our max fuel load is 200,000, and we are
supposed to plan to LAND with 20-25k. Min fuel is
14k, emergency is 10. Then we did a static,
takeoff-rated thrust (full throttle, essentially)
30-flap takeoff.....






I damn near wet myself.


That jet got off the ground so fast it made my head
spin. I totally forgot to call for the gear because I
was just in awe of what was happening - and we STILL
climbed out at almost 30 degrees nose high, never
hitting much more than .4 AOA (with 1.0 being a full
stall, .6 being our standard approach AOA).

I never even thought to look at my VSI, I was too
busy saying "Holy !@#$" over and over again in my
head. It was a religious experience, let me tell you....

So then we had to do it again, naturally! :) Still
just as jaw-dropping the second time.

I'm gonna have to do it again someday, with a video
camera in tow... I'd love to actually record the
numbers of just exactly what happened. Back at Altus
they had a recording setup that would take all the
data plus video from several different angles.
Unfortunately I don't think they have that setup here...

Good times, good times. :)

Brian