Draken at waddington
Discussion
I've always liked the name of the draken and I see that one is flying at waddington this year: http://www.waddingtonairshow.co.uk/aircraft/displa...
My question is, since I'm going to fairford the week after, is it worth really going for just the one plane? I assume it's fairly unlikely to be flying its cobra manoeuvre. While I would be disappointed if it didn't fly, I'd still enjoy the rest of the day, but there's just nothing else special going to justify the day out...
My question is, since I'm going to fairford the week after, is it worth really going for just the one plane? I assume it's fairly unlikely to be flying its cobra manoeuvre. While I would be disappointed if it didn't fly, I'd still enjoy the rest of the day, but there's just nothing else special going to justify the day out...
mcdjl said:
I've always liked the name of the draken and I see that one is flying at waddington this year: http://www.waddingtonairshow.co.uk/aircraft/displa...
My question is, since I'm going to fairford the week after, is it worth really going for just the one plane? I assume it's fairly unlikely to be flying its cobra manoeuvre.
Not quite sure what you're referring to here regarding the Cobra manoeuvre.....????My question is, since I'm going to fairford the week after, is it worth really going for just the one plane? I assume it's fairly unlikely to be flying its cobra manoeuvre.
The Draken appearing at Waddo or something flying at Fairford that does a Cobra manoeuvre that you want to see?
The coup of getting the Swedish AF Historic flight Viggen & Draken over for this has just persauded me to make the effort to go to Waddo this year

aeropilot said:
Not quite sure what you're referring to here regarding the Cobra manoeuvre.....????
The Draken appearing at Waddo or something flying at Fairford that does a Cobra manoeuvre that you want to see?
The coup of getting the Swedish AF Historic flight Viggen & Draken over for this has just persauded me to make the effort to go to Waddo this year
At about 2 minutes in the draken does it here: http://www.youtube.com/v/Hax3rhqGJcQ I'm trying to justify going in order to see one plane.....The Draken appearing at Waddo or something flying at Fairford that does a Cobra manoeuvre that you want to see?
The coup of getting the Swedish AF Historic flight Viggen & Draken over for this has just persauded me to make the effort to go to Waddo this year

mcdjl said:
aeropilot said:
Not quite sure what you're referring to here regarding the Cobra manoeuvre.....????
The Draken appearing at Waddo or something flying at Fairford that does a Cobra manoeuvre that you want to see?
The coup of getting the Swedish AF Historic flight Viggen & Draken over for this has just persauded me to make the effort to go to Waddo this year
At about 2 minutes in the draken does it here: http://www.youtube.com/v/Hax3rhqGJcQ I'm trying to justify going in order to see one plane.....The Draken appearing at Waddo or something flying at Fairford that does a Cobra manoeuvre that you want to see?
The coup of getting the Swedish AF Historic flight Viggen & Draken over for this has just persauded me to make the effort to go to Waddo this year

But, it doesn't matter as I can assure you a Draken can't do a Cobra manoeuvre, it would fall out of the sky

No 1950's designed jet can perform that kind of manoeuvre.
It certainly seems to be performing a passable impression of a Cobra in that video. Are you saying that the video is a fake?
Edited to add:
A quick bit of research on the net reveals that these are genuine videos but aren't strictly speaking, true "Cobra" manoeuvers.
The Draken had a tendency to "superstall" at high angles of attack causing loss of control. Draken pilots were taught how to recover from such problems by deliberately stalling the aircraft at an extreme angle of attack. Unlike a true Cobra, the aircraft was essentially not flying at its most extreme angle. The trick was to ensure that the plane fell out of the stall without entering a spin.
Edited to add:
A quick bit of research on the net reveals that these are genuine videos but aren't strictly speaking, true "Cobra" manoeuvers.
The Draken had a tendency to "superstall" at high angles of attack causing loss of control. Draken pilots were taught how to recover from such problems by deliberately stalling the aircraft at an extreme angle of attack. Unlike a true Cobra, the aircraft was essentially not flying at its most extreme angle. The trick was to ensure that the plane fell out of the stall without entering a spin.
Edited by Eric Mc on Monday 19th May 10:02
It's just too dangerous a manoeuver in a Draken. You can see from the video that the exercise was conducted at a fairly high altitude to allow space for recovery.
The Draken flying at the moment is a preserved example and they would not want to risk the aircraft in a frankly reckless manoeuver.
I am pretty sure it would not be authourised by the airshow safety committee at Waddington either.
The Draken flying at the moment is a preserved example and they would not want to risk the aircraft in a frankly reckless manoeuver.
I am pretty sure it would not be authourised by the airshow safety committee at Waddington either.
aeropilot said:
Link doesn't work.....
But, it doesn't matter as I can assure you a Draken can't do a Cobra manoeuvre, it would fall out of the sky
No 1950's designed jet can perform that kind of manoeuvre.
It was part of the training - https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detai...But, it doesn't matter as I can assure you a Draken can't do a Cobra manoeuvre, it would fall out of the sky

No 1950's designed jet can perform that kind of manoeuvre.
But they wouldn't do it today.
Eric Mc said:
It's just too dangerous a manoeuver in a Draken. You can see from the video that the exercise was conducted at a fairly high altitude to allow space for recovery.
Exactly.This was never a lowlevel 'airshow party piece' by any Draken operator, even in their operational days, it was part of the operational pilot flight envelope training.
I do recall them doing slow highish AoA passes at shows back in their operational days, but I suspect given that this is one of only a few left flying as part of the Swedish AF Historic Flight, such high AoA passes are off the display menu now.
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