What flies at FL600?

E6BAV8R said:
Just for clarifications sake, F-16s, or many fighters at all for that matter, do not meet RVSM requirements and can not go above FL280.
Click to expand...

"Can not go above 280" is a massive overstatement. I can't FILE that high, but if the controller can make the altitude deconfliction work when I request it, fighters can cruise up into the low 40s. I've cruised well above 280 in the post-RVSM world numerous times when the traffic allowed.

As far as service ceiling goes, USAF aircraft are limited to FL500 by regulation if we're not wearing pressure suits.

To answer the previous question, no the NASA T-38s are definitely not the ones operating up in the 60s. The engines can't do it.
 
E6BAV8R said:
Just for clarifications sake, F-16s, or many fighters at all for that matter, do not meet RVSM requirements and can not go above FL280.
Click to expand...

F18s' GPS/INS isn't FAA certified, so they can't use it for navigation, but they do...

They have way of getting around things.
 
I heard one of these while flying in the California central valley two years ago.

It was around 6:00AM and we were on our way up the valley having departed Riverside at around 4AM. I didn't get the callsign but it checked on "FL650 descending to 600." I looked it up later that day and concluded it was one of the TR-2 planes that Staplegun linked a picture of.
 
I would have just asked

xxx center, just curious, whats kind of plane is up there so high?

I don't think that'd piss anyone off lol.
 
taseal said:
F18s' GPS/INS isn't FAA certified, so they can't use it for navigation, but they do...
Click to expand...

Well, not completely the truth. Again, they can't *file* using GPS navigation criteria, but they can sure do it. I have the same situation in both the F-15E and the T-38C I used to fly -- you have to file from point-to-point using the standard radio NAVAID procedures. Once you get airborne, though, you simply "request direct" destination and you go for it.
 
Off the top of your head, do you know how high the F-15 would be when it was giving that anti-satellite missile a shot?

Edit: Oop, found it
Vought ASM-135 ASAT

ASATs were generally given low priority until 1982, when information about a successful USSR program became widely known in the west. A "crash program" followed, which developed into the Vought ASM-135 ASAT, based on the AGM-69 SRAM with an Altair upper stage. The system was carried on a modified F-15 that carried the missile directly under the central line of the plane. The F-15's guidance system was modified for the mission and provided new directional cueing through the pilot's heads up display, and allowed for mid-course updates via a data link. The first launch of the new anti-satellite missile took place in January 1984. The first, and only, successful interception was on September 13, 1985. The F-15 took off from Edwards Air Force Base, climbed to 80,000 feet (24,384 m) and vertically launched the missile at the Solwind P78-1, a US gamma ray spectroscopy satellite orbiting at 555 km, which was launched in 1979. Although successful, the program was cancelled in 1988.
Click to expand...
 
Hacker15e said:
Well, not completely the truth. Again, they can't *file* using GPS navigation criteria, but they can sure do it. I have the same situation in both the F-15E and the T-38C I used to fly -- you have to file from point-to-point using the standard radio NAVAID procedures. Once you get airborne, though, you simply "request direct" destination and you go for it.
Click to expand...
their only way of filing (afaik) is via TACAN. they can't do VOR since they don't have VOR... the GPS isn't legal (altough they use it) because the points can be edited in flight.
I'm just saying what my friend said. of course my knowledge of military aviation could not be anywhere near yours...

here is what he emailed me word by word:

Our GPS/INS is not FAA qualified since we can manually edit the points in-flight. Secondly, the real ILS in the hornet is setup on Navy freqs, not Airforce/civilian freqs. This means that the best approach we can do is a TACAN approach (we don't even have VOR). Well, actually, we use PAR's or ASR's all the time.

Interestingly of our navigational capability of those 60 waypoints: these are actually termed "targets" or "offset aim-points". We basically trick our computer to use targets as navigational waypoints. This is how we fly everywhere: we go from target to target. The hornet is designed for bombing, not for jetroute navigation. I guess in the 1970's, the Navy assumed we'd always use Tacan stations for navigation and waypoints for bombing... I guess they're wrong.
Click to expand...
 
airplanerik said:
I don't really understand the obsession with flying high? :confused:
Click to expand...

Many cool things i would think, not the least of which would be getting a view of the earth that no one else has - the curvature, the black above, with the bright blue glow, etc.

Also, I beleive that over 100k feet, you are an Astronaut and can have astronaut wings - I believe the X-15 guys got this.
 
Your astronaut wings come when you break FL264 which is 50 miles high. Yup, I do believe a few X-15 pilots received this honor!
 
AirVenture said:
Your astronaut wings come when you break FL264 which is 50 miles high.
Click to expand...

Hey, We typically fly between FL310 and FL390. Where are my astronaut wings? I even have a case of adult diapers ready to wear when I get my new wings. Anyone up for a roadtrip?
 
Alleged True story... flying out of Kadena, Japan, Request comes in "Naha, <Call sign> request FL600"
Naha control reply "<call sign> rojah, you can have flight level 600 if you can make it"
Reply "roger, descending to FL 600"
It was an SR-71 coming back from a mission. Also the USAF still flies the U2.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top