The view from an F18 fighter jet never looked more amazing.

Find someone who has a Yak-52. It isn't your normal commercial ride.

 

Completely agree. I think .7 in the back seat of a tactical aircraft would go so fast that the average aviator wouldn't even be able to appreciate how capable it is. I'm not saying it wouldn't be awesome, but you'd get much more out of an aerobatic piston, not to mention you'd actually be able to fly it.

Compare it to passing your drivers test in your mom's camry, then someone giving you the keys to an Enzo for 40 minutes. You'd know it's insanely fast, turns great, and looks cool, but you really wouldn't have any idea what's going on.

 

Or I suppose you could become a journalist and possibly get a ride in a blue angel or thunderbird.

One of our fellow f-chatters got to do a cat-shot and a carrier trap in an F-14..either his dad was in the navy, or his dad was the friend of someone important in the navy, can't remember which. Either way, he had just the right connections. It's not something you can just sign up for.

 

Getting a ride in a T38 Talon on Friday. Can't wait. Owner has promised me he will go supersonic. Hope I don't throw up...I hear it's common, and I get motion sickness quite easily. I will ask him to keep it fast and level, no fancy sustained aerobatics.

 

heh. It seems like a bad idea to ask a fighter pilot for "no fancy sustained aerobatics". I can imagine that to them it sounds like "lets see how sick you can make me". Besides, you can fly straight and level on a 737 any time =)

 

i *really* don't want to be sick. a loop and a barrel roll is more than enough, and i hope i can survive that without throwing up! straight and level is exciting enough, as long as it's close to a visual reference point and gives me a sensation of (extreme) speed!

i will be paying close attention to ejection procedures.

 

That looked like it was probably taken from Whidbey Island. Local terrain looked kinda familiar. Pretty cool video!!

The Blue Angels usually show up in Seattle every year for Seafair and offer rides to the media.

I agree with Bob, a cat shot off a carrier would be about the ultimate thrill. Have witnessed test shots before but never the real thing in person.

 

I think that the surprise to those neophytes who do get a flight in a high performance airplane is the instant and tremendous G accelerations for which you must prepare your body and mind or you turn into a fluid blob in the bottom of the seat.

 

Hence why the fighter pilot diet is high in red meat and beer.

 

You need to be in shape, the last time I went up in a Yak-52, we did -3.5 to +4.0g. I was more beat up in 30 minutes than an hour of lapping at Road Atlanta. And we never went over 160 mph...

 

160 mph? You talking about the Yak or Road Atlanta?




Yak's top speed is probably less than 200 mph...