Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!motcsd!hpda!hpcuhb!hpindda!mears
From: mears@hpindda.HP.COM (David B. Mears)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: more 747 drop tests?
Message-ID: <3330020@hpindda.HP.COM>
Date: 16 May 89 17:09:30 GMT
References: <1989May9.014323.13717@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 20

> Considerably higher.  The 747 with a shuttle on its back flies pretty
> much like a heavily-loaded 747, which is not a terribly difficult thing
> to land, given an adequate runway and good conditions.  A shuttle landing
> is much dicier, with a very high descent rate and no chance of going
> around for another try.

Just out of curiosity, how much do the aerodynamic surfaces of the shuttle
affect the flight characteristics of the loaded 747?  I.e. do the shuttle
`wings' add to the lift of the combined 747/shuttle, etc?

> -- 
> Mars in 1980s:  USSR, 2 tries, |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
> 2 failures; USA, 0 tries.      | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
> ----------

David B. Mears
Hewlett-Packard
Cupertino CA
hplabs!hpda!mears
mears@hpda.HP.COM