One of the most dangerous jobs in the United States Navy is to sit in an aircraft and be launched off the ship by catapault; unless you reach the proper airspeed you fall into the drink. If you fail to eject in time, you die; so although it is extremely dangerous the rules are really simple. Actually fighter pilots often fear the Cold Cat Shot when the steam powered catapult gives you a less than adequate amount of power and your airspeed is insufficient to fly. When taking off an aircraft carrier your aircraft is generally at gross weight; full of fuel, munitions and other load factors. Many aircraft must hit 175 Knots by the end of the deck or the plane falls into the water. Bummer, yes definitely that, what you said. There maybe a way to hedge your bet when launching aircraft, Up until now this concept would never have worked, but now that we have new materials it will be possible within a few years or less. I propose a large system in front of the aircraft carrier, which would funnel the air up in front of the aircraft carriers front edge. I propose that this system use the relative wind of the aircraft carriers forward speed and funnel this air directly in front of the catapult launching area. I propose we make this giant funnel out of nano tube sheets so that it can support itself, be light weight and somewhat flexible. By using the Bernoulli Principle the air coming thru the funnel will be sped up. The funnel can either push air up under the aircraft or the aircraft could fly thru the funnel. By adding the forward speed of the ship, the normal airflow from wind and the sped up air thru the giant nano-tube sheet material Bernoulli funnel, we can insure safer launches. Think on this. |
