• Gizmodo
  • bestmodo
  • lifehacker
  • kotaku
  • Profile logout login

#u2

Gizmodo

Share Cancel
   
Upload an image | Add an image URL
×

logging in
  • FAQ. Include # before tag:
  • #tips,
  • #dealzmodo,
  • #rumors,
  • #broken,
  • #iphoneapps,
  • #apple,
  • etc.

New York, 2:59 AM
Thu Nov 26
57 posts in the last 24 hours

FR | IT | DE | SP | JP | AU | BR

Gizmodo Team

Tip your editors:
tips@gizmodo.com

Editorial Director:
Brian Lam | Email | Twitter

Editor:
Jason Chen
Email | AIM | Twitter

Features Editor:
Wilson Rothman
Email | Twitter

Senior Contributing Editors:
Jesus Diaz
Email | AIM | Twitter
Mark Wilson, Reviews
Email | AIM | Twitter

Contributing Editors:
Matt Buchanan
Email | AIM | Twitter
Adam Frucci
Email | Twitter
Sean Fallon
Email | Twitter
Jack Loftus
Email | Twitter
John Herrman
Email | Twitter
Dan Nosowitz
Email
Chris Mascari
Email
Danny Allen
Email | Twitter
Rosa Golijan
Email | Twitter
Chris Jacob
Email

Columnist:
Brendan I. Koerner

Interns:
Don Nguyen
Email
Kyle VanHemert
Email

Comment Intern:
Nick Ellenoff | Email

Heroes and Friends

Comment Account Questions:
Comments@gizmodo.com

SUBSCRIBE TO Gizmodo RSS

New: Breaking news and daily top stories via email
9515 Subscribers
Gizmodo
  • posts about #u2 more →

    This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane

    Inside U2's Behemoth 74-Ton 360° LED Concert Screen

    BlackBerry's U2 Commercial...Brought To You By Apple

    Bono Gets Laser Jacket, Public Gets Dizzy

    Bono Is Going to Make a "Spectacular" BlackBerry (or Something)

    Bono Loves Own Voice So Much He Blasts New U2 Album Loud Enough for Fan to Record, Leak It

    Asus U2 Laptop Rocks So Much Harder Than Bono

    Apple Updates U2 iPod, Bono Give Thumbs Up

    DLO U2 iPod Case

    Apple Re-Releases iPod U2 Special Edition
  • Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.
    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Coolmodo Coolmodo
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    Amazing video, beautiful scenery. Put me on the list of those who are envious of Captain Slow.
    It appears the cockpit isn't pressurized (enough)? Or, why do they have to wear these suits and helmets?
    Shouldn't it be possible to create an environment inside the cockpit where the pilots don't have to wear these rather uncomfortable suits and helmets?
     Reply
    Coolmodo was starred Coolmodo was unstarred
    Image of badasscat badasscat
    08/07/09

    @Coolmodo: Not without making the plane impractically heavy. You saw that climb performance on only one engine - that's because of how light the plane is. Also, its airspeed at 70,000 feet is only about 100 knots. Any heavier and it wouldn't be able to maintain that altitude without more lift, which would also mean heavier wings, which would mean more structure to hold them on, which again means more weight. It's a vicious cycle.

    The air is so thin at 70,000 feet that to pressurize the cockpit to a comfortable level in a bubble canopy would be almost impossible. The pressures even on airliners are enormous. I don't know if you ever saw the Mythbusters episode where they pressurized a DC-9 cabin on the ground to simulate the stresses in the air, but they had a lot of trouble just keeping the cockpit windows from blowing out. And airliner cockpit windows are about an inch thick, are held in by metal structure all the way around and secured with something like 1/4" bolts all the way around. Imagine what you'd need for a bubble canopy at twice the altitude.
     Reply
    Edited by badasscat at 08/07/09 2:18 PM badasscat was starred badasscat was unstarred
    Image of Coolmodo Coolmodo
    08/07/09

    @badasscat: Thanks for the explanation
     Reply
    Coolmodo was starred Coolmodo was unstarred
    Image of Froggmann Froggmann
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    Whoa whoa whoa! I thought the pilots of these aircraft had to have excellent vision? The pilot's glasses look thicker than Larry King's!

    Oh cool GTO pilot cars!
     Reply
    Edited by Froggmann at 08/07/09 10:53 AM Froggmann was starred Froggmann was unstarred
    Image of trev trev
    08/07/09

    @Froggmann: i'm kind of wondering what happens if the glasses fall off inside the helmet, or slip to an uncomfortable position. then again they probably damn near super glue them to his face before takeoff.
     Reply
    thegreatpablo promoted this comment trev was starred trev was unstarred
    Image of thegreatpablo thegreatpablo
    08/07/09

    @trev: If you look, he's not wearing them at the end of the clip. I think they must be some sort of protective eye wear or something required of all pilots of the U2.
     Reply
    thegreatpablo was starred thegreatpablo was unstarred
    Image of nachobel nachobel
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    By the end of this video I was just staring at my computer screen with my mouth open. How truly amazing something like that would be to see, just to be up there, gazing down and seeing...everything! Everyone in their own little place.
    Viewing the world without our fabricated political borders would be a wonderful experience indeed.
    Dear Air Force, pick me next!!
     Reply
    FredicvsMaximvs promoted this comment nachobel was starred nachobel was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    Blackberry loves Lockheed!
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of UnderLoK UnderLoK
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    I had thought NASA and a private organization still flew the Blackbirds (SR-71)?
     Reply
    UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred
    Image of Jim Topoleski Jim Topoleski
    08/07/09

    @UnderLoK: for a short time after retirement they did. But even they stopped flying it before 2000 due the prohibitively high costs in maintaining and fueling it.
    Nasa DOES have its own U-2s though and they still operate them also.
     Reply
    Jim Topoleski was starred Jim Topoleski was unstarred
    Image of KEVINMC KEVINMC
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    When I was trying to get into Airforce ROTC and wanted to be a pilot, one of the requirements was 20-20 vision. What's with the coke bottle glasses on that pilot?
     Reply
    KEVINMC was starred KEVINMC was unstarred
    Image of closhedbb closhedbb
    08/07/09

    @KEVINMC: Official AF requirement for pilot is "correctable" to 20/20. You can wear glasses.
    Likely though, this pilot had 20/20 when he went through UPT, then his vision deteriorated. The AF will go to great lengths to keep well-trained pilots despite physical difficulties. Too much money invested in their training.
     Reply
    FredicvsMaximvs promoted this comment closhedbb was starred closhedbb was unstarred
    Image of der boschtel der boschtel
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    One additional minute and HD quality:
     Reply
    Margatron approved this comment der boschtel was starred der boschtel was unstarred
    Image of pushmonk pushmonk
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    That was so amazing to watch, because it made me feel like I was along for the ride. He made me actually feel that. I'm actually speechless. I just wanted to say how amazing that that made me feel.
     Reply
    Margatron promoted this comment pushmonk was starred pushmonk was unstarred
    Image of Margatron Margatron
    08/07/09

    @pushmonk: I felt that way too. I think since they did something very human and had lunch, that helped the "along for the ride" feeling.
     Reply
    Margatron was starred Margatron was unstarred
    Image of ytkliu ytkliu
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    Incredible. I hope we get commercial space flight before the end of my lifetime.
     Reply
    ytkliu was starred ytkliu was unstarred
    Image of antitrust311 antitrust311
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    That was one of the most amazing videos I have seen. I am so envious right now. That must have been breathtaking and truly an honor I am sure he will never forget.
     Reply
    antitrust311 was starred antitrust311 was unstarred
    Image of Rincewind Rincewind
    08/07/09

    @antitrust311:
    Really. How does "Captain Slow" get to do all this cool stuff? Fly to the edge of space, build a full size house out of Legos, race in a road rally with a model for a navigator (she didn't seem quite ditzy enough to be a supermodel). I haven't felt this jealous since Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave: ♥'sSummermodo promoted this comment Rincewind was starred Rincewind was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
    08/07/09

    @Rincewind: Well, Jeremy is huge and can't fit in most things, and The Hamster is probably still a little punch shy after the crash.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag was starred GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag was unstarred
    Image of ysleiro ysleiro
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    Why would we burn up there? I thought it was freezing up there not burning hot.
     Reply
    Edited by ysleiro at 08/07/09 1:51 AM ysleiro was starred ysleiro was unstarred
    Image of appletoad appletoad
    08/07/09

    @ysleiro: Lack of pressure affects boiling points of liquids. I think, somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
     Reply
    appletoad was starred appletoad was unstarred
    Image of The Donut Pirate The Donut Pirate
    08/07/09

    @appletoad: No, you're right. Since the boiling point of a liquid is the point at which a liquid becomes a vapor, most liquids would boil in space because as the liquid enters a vacuum, the molecules of the liquid would disperse to fill the vacuum.
     Reply
    d_r_e promoted this comment The Donut Pirate was starred The Donut Pirate was unstarred
    Image of nala1908 nala1908
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    i want it go up there sooooooooo bad.
     Reply
    Jesus Diaz promoted this comment nala1908 was starred nala1908 was unstarred
    Image of cinejoe cinejoe
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    fkn.a
     Reply
    Jesus Diaz promoted this comment cinejoe was starred cinejoe was unstarred
    Image of deliciousburglar deliciousburglar
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    all it landed with were those two sets of wheels?
     Reply
    Jesus Diaz promoted this comment deliciousburglar was starred deliciousburglar was unstarred
    Image of spyguy99 spyguy99
    08/07/09

    In reply to This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane
    Wow. Just wow.
     Reply
    Jesus Diaz promoted this comment spyguy99 was starred spyguy99 was unstarred
    Earlier discussions Other discussions Show all discussions Show featured discussions only Start a new discussion

Login

Enter your username and password.

Please enter a username.
Please enter your password.
logging in
Login via Facebook | Sign Up | Forgot Password?

Reset Password

Please enter your email address to have your password reset.

Please enter your email address.
Please enter a valid email address.
requesting password reset

Register

Registering will give you a user profile and the ability to add other users as friends. To become a commenter, however, you need to audition.

Want to know more? Consult the Comment FAQ and legal terms.

Please enter a username.
Please enter a password.
Please confirm your password.
Passwords are not identical.
Please enter a valid email address.
registration sent, waiting for reply

Submit Your Comment

You don't need to login to comment. Just enter your email address below.

See how your address will be displayed in the Comment FAQ.

Please enter a valid email address.
Please enter a valid email address.
logging in

Login with your Facebook or Gizmodo account.

Sign up here.



  • Archives
  • About
  • Advertising
  • Legal
  • Help
  • Report a Bug
  • FAQ
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.