On Sun, 14 Oct 2012 19:09:06 -0400, Alan Browne
wrote:
: On 2012.10.14 18:56 , the Legend of LAX wrote:
:
: Here is a link to a small website I put up. The second page is mostly
: detail reference shots for model builders. In the last picture of the
: first page, you can see me shooting the landing. I'm fourth from the right.
:
: http://home.roadrunner.com/~laxet3/
:
: Some nice shots there!

I've often wondered what it must feel like to fly a 747 with that beast on its
back. I'd think that a plane that top-heavy would flip over at the slightest
erroneous tweak of the roll angle. I suppose what you have to do is fly the
entire trip on autopilot and hope like hell that the programmers got it right.

Loading the plane with extra weight might increase stability, but then how
would you get it off the ground? One hopes that the next generation of
spaceships will be able to take off as well as land.

Is it a pipe dream that the shuttle's wings themselves may contribute to roll
resistance, at least in level flight? An aeronautical engineer I'm not,
obviously.

Bob