Ok, I was thinking the other day about aircraft carriers and got to thining, would it be posiable to land a 727 on one? If you have a 80 Knot headwind and the ship is heading into the wind at full speed, couldnt a 727 fly at something like 120 knots and essentially land on the deck like a helicopter?

HAHAHA no its impossible...

well from what i heard is that a carrier can only go 35 knots so he would land at a speed of 5 knots. personally i think its possible very very unlikely but possible. but to do so he would have to stop fast enough to not hit the towers. don't know but pass it in to myth busters and they WILL find out if you can.

such a shame I dont have cable.....

But with a speed of 5 knots thats what made me think it is capable of doing it (say a plane was about to run out of fuel near the coast and there just happened to be an aircraft carrier and a really strong thunderstorm...... Of course the hull would be moving up and down and the pilot would have to be carefull....

PS. If this ever airs on myth busters I want to know please

kinda reminds me of the "CAN A PLANE TAKEOFF ON A MOVING CONVEYOR BELT" topic a couple of months ago. wonder what eventually stopped that topic.

I think the biggest plane to land on a carrier was a C130 Hercules. A 727 would have several problems. It´s wingspan is to wide. It´s landing gear might have a problem.The approach speed is too high....so just don´t try it.

If I recall correctly, someone made a 'can it land' topic which asked if it could land on a conveyor, someone proved that it could(or couldn't) and that also proved it could(or couldn't) take-off and that's how it all ended!

ahem


I think you might have missed the 80 knot headwind and carrier travling into the headwind at full speed.......

If you look at tech books and specs, Nimitz class Carriers are labeled as having a speed of 35+ knots, with the actual speed being classified. Take a look at one on high speed sea trials, they freaking FLY!!!!






Um, I think you're mistaken. A Herc wouldn't fit on a carrier either. We're forgetting one important fact too, arresting gear and launch gear. You can't just land any aircraft that'll fit on a carrier. They have special suspensions to cope with the extremely rough landings, a hook to catch the wire, and a t-bar to catapault them off. None of which would fit on a herc (safely).

But jumpshot, a Marine C-130 did land and takeoff from a carrier without using the arrestor cables or the catapult.

See the videos here...

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/...tal_takeoff.mov

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/...tal_landing.mov

Amazing, huh.

OK, landing during trials is one thing, doing so under not perfect conditions another. Furthermore, the C-130 is built for short fields ops, the B727 is not. The pilots of this military obviously practiced before, a civil pilot in an emergency would not have this advantage.

Bit I think due to breaking problems it is more or less impossible...

Regards, Bernhard

Thank you Glenn. That was what I was thinking of. I couldn´t find the link.

Greetings All,

Let us also remember the raid on Tokyo performed by bomb-laden B-25 Mitchell bombers, lead by James Doolitle. Although this was a takeoff-only situation, it proved that unconventional use of carriers is possible given planning, practice, and guts. The C-130 example of both takeoff and landing is awesome, and I remember reading about it before the visual magic of the internet. Didn't believe it until I saw the video posted back in 2000.

I think a 727 could easily LAND on a Nimitz...the concern would be arresting the landing and then STOPPING in time before the ocean bed became littered with aluminum and jet fuel...

Cheers,
Michael

The Level D Learjet 60 simulators at CAE SimuFlite in Dallas have an aircraft carrier programmed into them (perhaps other sims, too, but I only know of the 60).

The carrier is in the Gulf of Mexico off Corpus Christie, Texas. It looks quite realisic and can steam ahead at something like 10 knots. The instructors like to get in there and try landing on it. Well, I wanted to try it, too.

I talked my sim instructor into letting me try (a very cool guy who used to be a Hollywood stunt pilot). He only allowed a touch-and-go at first. If I "crashed" the sim ride could get a bit violent, as the instructors discovered when one of them hit the fantail of the carrier.

So, the carrier steams ahead at about 10 knots and the instructor programs a 70 knot wind going right down the deck. You have an effective 80 knots wind speed on the "runway." The Vref speed of the Learjet 60, at normal landing weight, is 132 knots. That minus 80 gives you a speed of 52 knots when touching the deck of the carrier.

I "flew the meatball," came over the deck at Vref minus about 5 knots, landed, reconfigured for take-off (I re-trimmed while my FO handled the flaps), and executed a pretty good touch-and-go. Having done pretty well I talked my instructor into a full stop landing.

I flew the approach as before, coming in over the deck at about Vref minus 10 knots. I hit the deck and stood on the brakes, not bothering with the reversers because the landing would be over beford they could deploy and the engines spooled back up.

Anyway, I got the plane stopped on the carrier deck with about 1/4 of the deck remaining.

Now, the problem is that the deck up front is not wide enough to turn around on. So, you're stuck there unable to taxi to the stern, turn around and take off from the boat. And the sim software doesn't allow for the instructor to position you on the boat. So a take-off just isn't possible, but the landing is more fun anyway.

So, under the right conditions you could probably land a 727 on a carrier, though I think the wing would probably hit the island. And whatever emergency might require you to immediately land while over water, ditching the plane next to the carrier would be a whole lot smarter than trying to land on it.

Assuming everyone onboard can walk, what if you have a disabled passanger? They wont be able to get out of the plane without help

Actually guys the 727 has a smaller wingspan than a Herc 106' vs 132. Do I think it could stop on a carrier no.

with a Ground Spped of 5-15 you dont think it could stop?
Im talking about the plane and the carrier heading into the wind (slowing the GS while keeping the IAS up)

What is this ?

Let's suppose you could safely land a 727 in a carrier. How do you get that 727 back in the air from the carrier? I don't think a stock 727 has landing gear strong enough to survive the catapult at launch.

80-knot winds are in the hurricane force winds range. You would need an aerodynamic aircraft carrier that minimizes turbulence around and above the ship at those wind speeds or your 727 would probably flip over. Add the 35+ knots the carrier can go and you have got quite strong winds there. Looks like hazardous for landing.

That is a DeHavilland C-8 Buffalo modified by Nasa for upper surface blowing experiments that airframe was also modified for a air cushion landing gear " think hovercraft" to allow landing in swamps etc...

I did not know about that. That had to have been a test of some sort though, I doubt that the herc had any cargo and it had to have had the lowest amount of fuel on board. For proving me wrong though, I salute you



Sure any aircraft can land on a carrier, the problem is stopping before taking a swim . a 727 (if i'm not mistaken) has a much higher approach and landing speed than a Herc does.

The strangest contraption my eyes have ever had the misfortune to witness!

LOL How about a 737?
http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=ma...to/howtolan.htm

It wouldn't be nearly as easy if it was a real situation!

Next you should try to find out how to land the ISS (International Space Station) on the Nimitz.

Only problem is that if the ISS were low enough to land on a Nimitz, it would have disingrated and if it crashed into the ship it would also start a ship fire (or at least make a decent sized hole!) and if the shipe were in space with the ISS, well the crew would all be dead now wouldnt it?

I'm pretty sure he was kidding....

I know but I like to kid back with reality when someone becomes sarcastic

Lol, ok. Can't always tell with everyone on here

It's even harder because you can't decipher tone from writing.

You could be sarcastic, serious or insane!

Well, I was going to say we should land the Deathstar on a carrier but I don't think it had a tailhook. *sarcasm*

And where is "baggage claim"?
How do I get to long term parking?
What happens to "The white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only"?

I remember reading a novel a few years back based on just that scenario. I think it was Medusa's Child by John Nance.
At the end of the book the pilot lands a nearly empty cargo 727 with only 2 engines on the deck of a carrier during a hurricane with 70knots wind + 35kts speed of the boat making for a final approach relative speed of ~20kts.

Oh DUDE! You can so completely freaking screw that! We'll let one of those sierra hotel tailhook dumptruck drivers try that...I'm out...