Look Ma, No pilot
Air Force Maj. Gary Foust was part of a fighter training exercise with four newly inaugurated planes. They were going to have a two-on-two dog fight to get the feel of the new aircraft. The first plane to take off had its braking chute open so it was out of the game. They decide to go 2 on1 and play chicken and chase each other to train the pilots and prove the aircraft. Foust was flying at around 40,000 feet in a combat maneuvering session they met and got into a vertical scissors. The point of the exercise was to outmaneuver one’s opponent and gain a valid firing position. “We got into a vertical rolling scissors. I gave him a high-G rudder reversal,” said Curtis, referring to Foust. “He tried to stay with me, [but] that’s when he lost it.” Foust’s Delta Dart began to spin out of control. Foust experienced post-stall gyration, a situation in which an aircraft can roll left and right and suddenly swap ends. His attempts to regain control failed, and the fighter went into a flat spin at 35,000 feet, turning like frisbee.
Gary rode the aircraft down to 15,000 feet, all the while trying spin recovery procedures without success. Lowe, an instructor pilot, followed behind until the aircraft had descended to as low as 12,000 feet. It was time to eject. By this time, Foust had gone through many recovery procedures. As he floated down on his parachute, he watched the aircraft stabilize itself from a flat spin and coast off into the distance to land in a farmer’s field near Big Sandy, Montana. The Air Force alerted the local emergency services and they found the plane with its motor still idling an hour and one half later. It had landed on its belly and skidded about one and one half miles through the snow covered field before coming to rest. The plane was eventually repaired and reused without Gary Foust flying it.
Take a spin in my airplane
A friend has bought an old aircraft, taken the wings off, and turned it into a restaurant. I don’t think it will take off.
Bought a new plane the other day. I was disappointed that they wouldn’t let me keep the hangar.
A man says to a doctor, “Doctor, whenever I get up from my sleep, for half an hour I feel dizzy, and then I’m alright.” The doctor told him, “Get up half an hour later.”
I wish I knew how to turn off my carbon monoxide alarm….
It’s been going off for about fifteen minutes and the noise is making really dizzy and lightheaded.
December 31st Birthdays
1966 – Paula Barbieri, 1996 – Nadia Parkes, 1999 – Hunter Schafer, 1948 – Donna Summer
1960 – Van Kilmer, 1937 – Sir Anthony Hopkins, 1994 – Max Bowden, 1943 – John Denver