THE HUNTRESS

A SUPERSONIC FLIGHT IN A HUNTER JET FIGHTER

A Hawker Hunter single-seat jet fighter aircraft sits in a hanger awaiting its next pilot. An experienced middle-aged male pilot is assigned to carry out an air test of the aircraft requiring a supersonic dive.

He approaches the aircraft. This pilot has flown many thousands of hours on this type of aircraft whilst serving on operational air force squadrons, mainly in his youth. He has not flown one for a few years, however. He completes his walk-round checks removing undercarriage and control locks and inspecting various probes, hydraulic gauges and the general condition of the fuselage and wings surfaces.

He then climbs into the cockpit and straps in. He completes his cockpit checks, this requires turning on electrical power switches, starting various gyros, fuel pumps and finally he starts the engine. He completes the after start, control and services checks, then taxies the aircraft along the taxi-way to the take-off point. Here the pilot makes a radio transmission to air traffic control and asks for take-off.

The aircraft is lined-up in the centre of the runway and full power is applied. The 10,000 lbs. of thrust is enough to dip the nose of the aircraft when the brakes are released. It then accelerates very quickly to its lift-off speed of approximately 150 knots. The pilot rotates the jet positively by pulling the control column back, to unstick the runway cleanly. He quickly raises the undercarriage and flap levers to give the aircraft a clean profile; this allows the fighter to rapidly attain its climbing speed of 400 knots. The Hunter, its nose pointing rapidly upward, roars into the sky.

After 5 minutes, the pilot levels out at 35,000 feet to prepare for the supersonic dive. To do this he rolls the aircraft on to its back and dives it steeply towards the ground. In about 20 seconds the shock waves surrounding the wings and fuselage sweep further and further to the rear of the jet. For the Hunter to go supersonic the waves need to detach completely from the aircraft. However, they are reluctant to detach and the pilot has to steepen his dive. At almost 700 knots, the Hunter breaks the sound barrier.

The aircraft is now travelling faster than the speed of sound, and far below on the earth, a double boom! boom! would be heard as the shock waves reach the surface. The pilot recovers positively from the dive, climbing the aircraft steeply upwards again to reduce his speed. He throttles back the engine and in a series of graceful aerobatic rolls and loops, he cruises back to a smooth touch down on the airfield at 135 knots.

Immediately the wheels touch the surface of the runway, a braking parachute is deployed, and this very rapidly reduces the aircraft's speed without using the brakes. This is felt as a very positive retardation by the pilot. Slowed to a fast walking pace, the chute is released and the aircraft turns off the runway. The aircraft is now taxied back to the hanger whilst the pilot turns off the various systems and raises the landing flap.

The engine is finally stopped, and with the instrument gyros still spinning and the engine cooling from its 600 degree temperatures, the pilot climbs out of the cockpit. He starts to walk around the aircraft replacing all the control and undercarriage locks, fitting the engine blanks and the probe covers. He then leaves the aircraft inside the hanger and closes the door.

 

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