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Thursday, July 20, 2017

Top Dog


LA Speed Check

A little story about the SR-71. Via Popular Mechanics.

LA from Tucson at 25 miles elevation
I got to wondering if you really could see LA from Tucson, so I pulled up the new Google Earth, and it seems plausible. 80,000 feet is only 15 miles, not 25, but in order to get Tucson in the picture we have to be sitting some distance east of it. Los Angeles is right on the horizon. Shift the view a little bit and LA goes over the horizon and disappears from view.

How new is the new Google Earth? I have no idea. Seems to be the same as the 3D view you get with Google Maps except the pan and tilt is now done with a tiny little circle instead of being able to just grab a point on the screen and drag it around.

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1 comment:

  1. Ole Phat StuJuly 22, 2017 at 10:37:00 AM PDT

    LOVED that groundspeed story :-)

    I did the opposite once. I was flying a Fieseler Storch (which is VERY STOL)
    on a strong-windy day, Positioned myself over the runway in front of the tower,
    and then raised the angle of attack to get Vmin.
    Drifting backwards, I asked the tower for a groundspeed estimate ;-)

    They got the hint and sent a half dozen strong blokes to grab the wingtips and tail as I gently lowered the plane onto the strip, then walked me back across the apron to the hangar ;-)

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