Comments on: The Skyhook

By: JarvisLoop

JarvisLoop — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 21:59:38 +0000

After lo these many years, I finally had time to read this article.

I was not disappointed, of course.

By: brickson98

brickson98 — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 19:21:53 +0000

This is the ONLY site I can find that explains how the line gets from the horns at the front of the plane, to the winch system in the back. Nothing else mentions the anchoring clamp, they just say it’s anchored, without explaining how. They also don’t explain that the line is grabbed from the back with a long hook when it trails behind, in the wake of the plane. Thank you for being one of the only resources to explain this. Very helpful to answering some questions I had.

By: Joe Garcia

Joe Garcia — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 19:42:18 +0000

I was a flight test technician working for Lockheed in the late 1990’s testing the Fulton Recovery system at Edwards AFB in California. We did 52 pickups out at the dry lake bed with various loads to simulate multiple individuals, I believe it was up to 4-6 people simultaneously. We used large white bags filled with sand, up to 2500 lbs. We had accelerometers and Straingages all over the aircraft for stress and vibration. The Radome in particular was heavily instrumented because of the direct forces that are applied during the initial contact with the static line. We had a small box on the package called an EDR that recorded accelerations during the pickup. At the moment of lift there is a Slingshot effect that puts more than 9 g’s on the package or individual. The rope was a product of Robert Fulton JR, he designed and manufactured this special 20,000 lb test line just for this purpose, there was one version that had IR lights woven in the line for night missions. Mr Fulton would periodically show up at the test site to observe, he was very active for his age, I believe he was in his early 80’s at the time. I recall seeing him one day at Lockheed Ontario, CA inside the C-130, on the ramp laying on his belly looking under the aircraft, I thought to myself “Who is that old guy on his belly” then I was introduced, he was a brilliant man. The C-130 we used was a Talon I aircraft from Hurlbert AFB, serial number 551 which was retired to the Davis Monthan Boneyard in 2013. I was very fortunate to be involve and just barely catch the tail end of the Fulton Recovery System late R&D.

Joe Garcia
Harker Heights, TX

By: Dacey Green

Dacey Green — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 10:19:52 +0000

Yes, you are allowed to express your opinion in a way that you see fit. However, when criticizing, try to do it contructively whenever possible. The authors don’t get paid for this free service, so a little thank you shouldn’t hurt.
And also, I find that many times what makes the articles from interesting to damn interesting are the comments left by readers that really add a lot to the article. On the other hand, comments like yours, I find useless.”

I was going to just let the “Prince” bashing pass me by, as an amusing troll, but after a massive Xmas sequential read of the articles (and the associated comments), I have to concur… Especially when the idiot posts “Second!”… I have had enough… Like others have said previously, the coments usually add information, but you, Sir, add nothing with your banal posts… Please refrain from doing so in the future… Merry Christmas. :-(

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 06:18:20 +0000

jimmyhdx said: “Check out he movie,”Green Berets” starring John Wayne. They us the skyhook to extract a captured enemy general out of Vietnam.”

James Bond (Sean Connery) and Claudine Auget are whisked from a life raft by a Skyhook-equipped plane in Thunderball.

By: lfp78

lfp78 — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 22:44:19 +0000

I just hope no one tells Michael O’Leary of RyanAir about this…

“Just stand in a big long row there, and keep still! What are ye complaining at?! – you’re only paying 10 euros!”

By: ChrisW75

ChrisW75 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:17:02 +0000

This needs to be re-posted following on from the new Batman movie. A guy here at the office said “That’s so far fetched” to which I replied “No it isn’t , I read about it on Damn Interesting!” and posted him the link.

By: Rachelita

Rachelita — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:50:58 +0000

[quote]vonmeth said: “Heh, well … maybe I have a macabre sense of humour, but I laughed out loud imagining the pig attacking the crew upon an airplane and not at the pig swirling.”[/quote]

I have to admit, I too only laughed at this point… xD

By: Nonesuch

Nonesuch — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 18:49:03 +0000

davethemann said: ""discombobulated" is certainly underused"

whereas combobulating ,which presumably is a more desired state of affairs and most certainly preferred by pigs in air or on land, I've found not to be used at all.

By: Aero

Aero — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 00:00:11 +0000

^^^^^^^^

Agreed. Pretty funny. Does anyone know if their is a more realistic video out there? I didn't see it at first, but nice air balloon.