(I don't know which forum to put this in as it may have civil as well as military connotations)
About 10 years ago a Antonov 70 plunged to disaster because an Antonov 72 or 74 "chase plane" tipped it over in flight.
In about 1930 a fighter pilot did the same thing to the Tupolev mega airliner.
In both cases with tragic results.
Is it coincidence that we only heard of the "chasing planes" concept in the FSU? Or that only in the FSU was it done badly with disastrous consequences? Or that elsewhere when it is done equally badly it gets hushed up?
Please can anyone explain, what is the "chase plane" phenomenon about, what is its purpose?
Thank you,
Why chase planes?
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Thanks so much for the informative links.
"They would also monitor the surrounding airspace for other aircraft that could pose a hazard to the flight"
It is as if they forgot to not pose a hazard, themselves.
"to get pictures of the bomb coming off the airplane. They were too close. They changed the rules for how close a chase plane could fly as a result of this accident"
With satellites photographing minutely from thousands of miles up, if that's not enough, I would have thought a camera capsule on a thin line would do the trick - after all one has been refuelling through a line with inflammable fuel for decades.
Do unmanned UAVs fly fast enough to be programmed to fly in parallel and get photos of things of interest on test flights? One could programme in the minimum separation distance and also an allowance for the lift under the wings, or whatever the relevant characteristics are. Maybe the Skyhawk pilot was concentrating on too many things - the events of the F-18 as well as manoeuvring his own plane rather close to another.
Why not more than one plane, then it doesn't have to dodge into different positions to get different camera angles - a different plane can take over a different 'shot'.
And a crewed plane with a person with binoculars to take some tasks off the pilot ...
The F-18 being a two seater can a second crew member observe missile firings?
Perhaps some of the things I mention weren't available when this was filmed? I suppose the F-18 while still very up to date now, was actually under development a lot of years ago?
"They would also monitor the surrounding airspace for other aircraft that could pose a hazard to the flight"
It is as if they forgot to not pose a hazard, themselves.
"to get pictures of the bomb coming off the airplane. They were too close. They changed the rules for how close a chase plane could fly as a result of this accident"
With satellites photographing minutely from thousands of miles up, if that's not enough, I would have thought a camera capsule on a thin line would do the trick - after all one has been refuelling through a line with inflammable fuel for decades.
Do unmanned UAVs fly fast enough to be programmed to fly in parallel and get photos of things of interest on test flights? One could programme in the minimum separation distance and also an allowance for the lift under the wings, or whatever the relevant characteristics are. Maybe the Skyhawk pilot was concentrating on too many things - the events of the F-18 as well as manoeuvring his own plane rather close to another.
Why not more than one plane, then it doesn't have to dodge into different positions to get different camera angles - a different plane can take over a different 'shot'.
And a crewed plane with a person with binoculars to take some tasks off the pilot ...
The F-18 being a two seater can a second crew member observe missile firings?
Perhaps some of the things I mention weren't available when this was filmed? I suppose the F-18 while still very up to date now, was actually under development a lot of years ago?