Originally published at: A pilot glides close to an Oklahoma landspout tornado to capture this amazing video | Boing Boing
…
7 Likes
A braver man would have flown right through it.
3 Likes
I don’t think that was a landspout, more of a weak funnel cloud?
The difference being that a landspout starts from the ground up, not the cloud down.
edit: yes, looks like I remembered the definition correctly
5 Likes
There is a wonderful passage in “Wind, Sand and Stars” by St. Ex where he describes a voyage across the Atlantic, delivering mail from Morocco to Brazil when he encounters a series of waterspouts over the middle of the ocean, and the clouds are breaking apart here and there with a full moon shining brightly above them…and so he takes his open cockpit plane and weaves his way among waterspouts and moonbeams. PURE MAGIC.
8 Likes
Here’s hoping someone on the ground got video of him flying around it too. That would also be pretty cool.
7 Likes
Having been through a F3 tornado, I would have not been anywhere near this in any aircraft. That could have gone full tilt before you even get a chance to figure out what happening and get yourself to safety.
4 Likes
motorized glider
??? Surely an oxymoron. Isn’t a motorized glider just a plane?
3 Likes
Nope. It has the long skinny wings and lightweight design of an unpowered sailplane to be able to ride thermals, but also has a small engine. Usually it rises out the top of the fuselage when needed, though there are also ones with a folding propeller in the nose.
8 Likes
And it’s not just gliders with auxiliary motors. There’s also tons of models that are basically ultralights with glider wings. The point being that they can take off by themselves rather than needing towing or winching but they are still designed to be flown with the engine off and the propeller feathering.
6 Likes
To complete the technology trifecta, it should also have one of those emergency airplane parachutes.
2 Likes
It’s a portal to another universe.
2 Likes
I knew you’d find out.
2 Likes
And been solar-powered, to complete the energy superfecta.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
