HTV-2 Results are in…

Once again reality overcame modeling and simulations… Big surprise… NOT!!!

Aerodynamic assumptions and extrapolations from known flight regimes proved inadequate when preparing for HTV-2 inaugural flight test. The data from second flight revealed that extrapolating from known flight regimes and relying solely on advanced thermal modeling and ground testing could not successfully predict the harsh realities of Mach 20 atmospheric flight. 

In other words, Falcon came apart because holes were burned in the aerostructure…

You can read the entire article HERE

In other news, the Navy is going back to ‘real’ training, rather than simulations, as they’ve finally admitted the only way to train full crews is the old BIS (Butts In Seats) and underway or airborne…

Reality doesn’t have a reset button, and that is what folks in the gamer world tend to forget.  Instaneous turns aren’t real, unending ammo isn’t real, G-forces cannot be simulated effectively, and the real world isn’t air conditioned to 72 degrees, brightly lit and/or Day VFR all the time…

Costs will go up, and realistically, we will lose some folks if we actually train like we’re going to fight; but overall the skill levels will have a definite uptick! 

Just like shooting, trigger time/range time is needed to maintain one’s skills…

Which reminds me, I need to go to the range… 🙂

Comments

HTV-2 Results are in… — 13 Comments

  1. We haven’t done any actual nuclear tests in likely 15 years, instead relying on computer models.

    I’m no nuclear physicist, but I’m skeptical of just how good the models are. And I know old school nuclear physicists who think the same.

  2. Somehow, I find simulation-heavy flight training akin to letting a 16yr old “drive” in a simulator and then being disappointed when he can’t navigate rush hour traffic. There’s a reason driver’s ed still uses an actual car.

  3. Hello NFO
    Having grown up around a bunch of
    military pilots, I have been told the fatility rate for fighter pilots is the same in peace time as it it is in combat.
    Another phrase that come to mind, When you play near the edge, sometimes you fall off. All of these pilots had stood at the edge, with there toes hanging over. They accepted the risk.
    You are correct about the simulators. They are a procerudre trainer. Some times the bad guy doesn’t follow the procedure.

    Thanks for the info and insight.

    DS

  4. There’s nothing like pulling a trigger and feeling the frame actually rattle, whether it be an airborne or ground based frame. Yeah, simulators are good for lots of things, but sometimes you have to get out into the field.

  5. WSF- Yep.. dammit!

    GB- LOL SO True!

    BP- Yeah… sigh

    CF- Great point!

    Carteach- OH YEAH… The edges of the envelope get ‘interesting’

    DS- Thanks for the comment, and you are correct. We NEED to train like we will fight, which is at the edge…

    Paw- VERY true!

  6. Nice to see the Navy waking up..a little.
    As to range time/Earth Day.
    I helped a hundred clay birds return to it’s roots today.
    [Well 97 of ’em. The other three didn’t cooperate.]

  7. Modeling in this case was based on assumptions not data.

    Murphys rule 2.6.1 All assumptions are wrong.

    Gerry

  8. Back in the day we used a cabin from a shot down Army Huey or the forward fuselage of the Cobra from Bell (now at the Naval Aviation Museum in P’Cola) to practice egress, crew coordination, and emergency procedures with the FNGs fresh from Corpus Christi.
    That’s ALL. Everything else was in the air. I understand that now there are some computerized simulators.
    But, I’m told, just for the basics, with an instructor, and to save fuel and maintenance. You still have to get in the air (and stay there) to fly the syllabus to get designated H2P in model.

  9. BZ, Janes said that the Aurora had been sighted, back in 1994, by Royal Observer Corps members. And I heard the strange sonic boom that was purported to be made by an Aurora in March of 1994 when I was out in the boonies of northern AZ at night. No, I never saw anything or heard anything more about the beast.

    And I agree that even full motion sims are great procedure trainers, especially for things like 737s. I watched a wind shear/ microburst evasion training episode from outside – blarg. That looked miserable.

    LittleRed1