C-5 ICBM drop

[WeatherManC130]

Pretty cool article, I guess C-130s and C-17s can't take all the airdrop credit.

WxMan

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/09/travel/c5-galaxy-dover-museum-minuteman-missile/index.html?hpt=hp_c4

[rancormac]

For those that do air drops -- how does pitch control come into play as the cargo is exiting? Never really thought about that

If the Minuteman exited the plane incorrectly it could dangerously push the C-5's nose upward, making it difficult to control.

[TacAirCoug]

For those that do air drops -- how does pitch control come into play as the cargo is exiting? Never really thought about that

A lot. It takes quite a bit of forward pressure on the yoke while the heavier loads are exiting. Of greater concern, though, is in the case where the load doesn't exit. It might still hit the DZ, but the extraction chutes you're dragging behind you will ensure you'll be joining it.

[Hercster]

Depends on what's going out. A single training CDS: not much. A full load of Army dudes going out? A loooooot....power back and trim down. Don't recall that CBT anywhere, had to figure it out on my own first time I dropped personnel lol.

[LJ Driver]

That thing weighs 86,000 pounds, pretty damn heavy. Never flown a C-5, but I'm guessing there would be a huge CG effect as it goes aft. A 15,000 pound Humvee popping out a C-130 is a massive CG shift, and the edge of the ramp isn't nearly as far from the CL as on the C-5.

[rancormac]

Since the CG is shifting, is it better to get the cargo out as soon as possible, or as slowly as possible?

Why power back for a load of army dudes? Just to slow it up since dudes are jumping out of it?

[Dead Last]

Since the CG is shifting, is it better to get the cargo out as soon as possible, or as slowly as possible?

Why power back for a load of army dudes? Just to slow it up since dudes are jumping out of it?

The faster the load leaves the aircraft the better, makes the cg shift easier to handle than it happening slowly.

The reason for the power pull on paratroopers, think 60-ish jumpers weighing 250 lbs a piece all moving aft all at once and as each one jumps...

Again, never saw the cbt... Had to figure that out myself.

[Hercster]

The faster the load leaves the aircraft the better, makes the cg shift easier to handle than it happening slowly.

The reason for the power pull on paratroopers, think 60-ish jumpers weighing 250 lbs a piece all moving aft all at once and as each one jumps...

Again, never saw the cbt... Had to figure that out myself.

Exactly. Less power is needed to maintain drop airspeed as the load lightens so keeping the same power setting will result in increased airspeed.

[Toasty]

Figured that out on my first JFEX as well. Night 4-ship with full sticks at Sicily. We were three, and we see #2 balloon up about 3/4 through his pass...saw some chutes get pretty darn close to our props.

I, also, don't recall any extra briefing for heavyweight large stick drops and forward stick.

The Herk only weighs ~130k, so when you lose 15k in personnel, it likes to pitch up.

[addict]

On CG shift - lots of factors, but the simple thing is that it is engineered to be smooth:

With a nose-high attitude, the platform is allowed to fall several feet during the exit. 1 G down and a couple G's backwards make for some platforms that just sail smoothly out the back as if they're already in free fall. Deck angle is only a few degrees, but it reduces that moment at the ramp that would be exerted by a static platform. The faster the exit, the more the "weight" is really just vertical acceleration and not a problem.

The pre-drop and post-drop CG being identical would be best, but to load a heavy so far forward makes for a long exit time, so just keep both numbers in limits and consider the worst case of a platform that gets stuck at the ramp edge.

Edited August 19, 2013 by addict