Here’s an article about it. The tl;dr is: test pilot shoots at ocean, kicks in afterburners, bullets start out faster, but slow quickly. They reunite in mid-air and sparks fly.
What I don’t get is… I mean, the relative speed difference between the bullets and the plane just doesn’t seem like it would be enough to cause them to rip through the plane as if the plane was shot on the ground from a dude with a gun or something.
He shot the bullets, then tilted down a little more and hit his afterburners. He had to pull up so not to continue on to a salty grave and his parabolic trajectory and the bullets surprised each other. So, a pinch of the bullets slowing significantly and a sprinkle of the plane speeding up.
Right but what was the speed difference at impact? Like if the jet was only going say, 60 MPH faster than the bullets, wouldn’t it just be like when some gravel on the road bounces off your car on the highway?
Yeah in the end it IS what happened, so I guess the speed difference must have been considerable. I just wonder how it could have been so much. Maybe the afterburners can create a LOT of acceleration/thrust, idk.
There were angles involved - imagine throwing a Frisbee forward and running fast enough to bump into it. Now imagine you throw it up, and you run until it hits you in the back of the head
No matter how fast you’re going forward, it’s still coming at you from an angle you’re not moving
Here’s an article about it. The tl;dr is: test pilot shoots at ocean, kicks in afterburners, bullets start out faster, but slow quickly. They reunite in mid-air and sparks fly.
Instant karma
Never shoot at the ocean, kid. Mother nature takes it personally
I mean Xerxes and Caligula also attacked Ocean and look what happened. And it wasn’t even really Ocean.
What I don’t get is… I mean, the relative speed difference between the bullets and the plane just doesn’t seem like it would be enough to cause them to rip through the plane as if the plane was shot on the ground from a dude with a gun or something.
He shot the bullets, then tilted down a little more and hit his afterburners. He had to pull up so not to continue on to a salty grave and his parabolic trajectory and the bullets surprised each other. So, a pinch of the bullets slowing significantly and a sprinkle of the plane speeding up.
The bullets lose momentum once fired, but the jet added momentum after firing, so it’s more like it caught up to the bullets.
Right but what was the speed difference at impact? Like if the jet was only going say, 60 MPH faster than the bullets, wouldn’t it just be like when some gravel on the road bounces off your car on the highway?
Indeed. I read a little more and it did indeed shoot itself down, so… 🤷♂️
Yeah in the end it IS what happened, so I guess the speed difference must have been considerable. I just wonder how it could have been so much. Maybe the afterburners can create a LOT of acceleration/thrust, idk.
There were angles involved - imagine throwing a Frisbee forward and running fast enough to bump into it. Now imagine you throw it up, and you run until it hits you in the back of the head
No matter how fast you’re going forward, it’s still coming at you from an angle you’re not moving