NASA's Super Guppy

[krnlpanick]

Just saw the NASA Super Guppy delivering parts for the Orion Project. Man is that thing huge in person. I was also invited back to take pictures and see the delivery of the Heat Shield for the Orion Project - so I will definitely have some cool pics to share of that early next year.



Inspired me to look at putting together an AE class about the Orion Project - anyone here have anything that they have done similar?

[a2capt]

I love how simple that image makes it look.  A couple of stilts so it doesn't fall over, the nose wheel turns, and an extra smaller set drops out, rolls out of the way. 

A nice cargo net. I'm sure that's got floors like a C17, just no way to make an air drop    

This SGT is the last one of 4 manufactured that is still flying. Built by Airbus Industrie, NASA obtained it via bartering to offset the transporting of ESA sourced segments to the ISS. 

A prior model, that delivered prior mission hardware is at the Pima Air and Space museum, near Tucson.

The Full Fuselage Trainer was delivered to Seattle using the SGT as well.

http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/06/30/12498544-nasas-super-guppy-delivers-piece-of-space-shuttle-history-to-seattle?lite

[sardak]

I love how simple that image makes it look.  A couple of stilts so it doesn't fall over, the nose wheel turns, and an extra smaller set drops out, rolls out of the way. 

And just one relatively small hinge on the port side, where all the control cables and wires cross over too, visible in photos at the link for the Seattle delivery.

Mike

[krnlpanick]

The guy from Lockheed was telling me that they have to park it so that the wind is always blocked by the body of the aircraft otherwise a good wind gust could rip the nose right off due to the relatively small size of the hinge that holds the whole thing together. Bet that makes that crew feel all warm and fuzzy when they are flying around in that beast. Couple of latches and a hinge.

[Майор Хаткевич]

I'm sure there are substantial locks when not open...

[krnlpanick]

It wasn't always so, this is a pretty interesting account of the history of this aircraft...

http://www.allaboutguppys.com/sg/377sgf.htm

Shortly after take-off one day in 1967, the crew flying the Super Guppy heard an ominous noise coming from the rear of the cockpit. After making a hasty landing, while preparing to unload the S-IVB stage, they found a gap of almost a foot wide in the nose/fuselage joint resulting in a partial redesign in the hinge latching mechanism.

[a2capt]

I wonder if it's crewed in such a way like the SCA, where crew members duties are simply to monitor the load and airframe. You can see where the cockpit is it's own pressure vessel, so that probably rules out cabin flight though.

In the SCA, they would have people onboard that listen for any little noise. Moonraker would have not been possible, even if the Shuttle could attain positive flight on it's own fuel supply.

[krnlpanick]

When they come back next year I will see if I can catch the crew - I would be interested to know more what it's like to fly that monster.

[PHall]

The Super Guppies have been flying for over 40 years. This particular NASA bird is the last active one in the US.
The cargo compartment is pressurized and if you look at the area where the nose and fusalage mate you will see the locking mechanisms
that holds everything together.
The C-5 Galaxy has the same type of locking arrangement for the nose visor.

[Al Sayre]

When I was at boot camp in San Diego back in the Stone Age, I would frequently see the avgas burning versions coming and going. Pretty impressive aircraft when it goes roaring overhead at about 500 ft...

[Brad]

Haven't seen this thing but I stay in North Charleston, so I've seen the Dreamlifter over at KCHS a few times. Even seen it fly right over my apartment, I'm runway heading for 33/15.

[Garibaldi]

The guy from Lockheed was telling me that they have to park it so that the wind is always blocked by the body of the aircraft otherwise a good wind gust could rip the nose right off due to the relatively small size of the hinge that holds the whole thing together. Bet that makes that crew feel all warm and fuzzy when they are flying around in that beast. Couple of latches and a hinge.

Having seen the trouble a C-5 can have with its nose door, it's a wonder how these things even manage to have the safety record they do.

[Texas Raiders]

Here's a nice vid with some good footage of the Super Guppy taken at Ellington Field.  Super Guppy Test Flight & Tour 

You'll also see NASA's T-38 fleet as well as one of their two very rare WB-57F Canberras.  On a side note..... I can remember seeing the T-38s over my home town quite regularly.  NASA pilots used to come over to Beaumont/Port Arthur (BPT- Jack Brooks Regional, former Southeast Texas Regional/Jefferson County Airport) to shoot approaches, refuel, and conduct various training evolutions.   

As for the comment about C-5s having trouble......you ain't kidding!  Though, it seems as C-5s typically have more issues when going places, rather than flying home.  At least that's the way my unit saw it when deploying and returning from Kuwait.  We were supposed to depart MacDill AFB on the day of the super bowl in 2004.  Needless to say, our C-5 had an issue with kneeling and then she wouldn't pressurize.  By the time all this had happened, it was late in the day and they told us that they would have to wait until the next day for a part to come in from Dover.  Well, we got to see the game after all!  The plane broke again in Moron, Spain causing us a delay of over eight hours.  However, the return trip home in Jan of 2005 went off with out a single hitch! 

[PHall]

The C-5's main problems are mainly hydraulic related.
The landing gear on this aircraft is very complex and everything has to work properly or you end up with a broke airplane.

The good news is that the C-5M "rebuild" fixes many of the C-5A/B's long term problems.

[bosshawk]

Guess that I was lucky on an A model in 1996: flew Travis, Elmendorf, Yokota to Kunsan, no problems.  At least, none that the crew talked about on the flight deck, which is where I rode the entire trip.  Froze my butt off on a C-141 from Korea to Okinawa, riding in the troop compartment.  Sure was nice to get on the World Airways MD-11 from Kadena to LAX the next day.

[PHall]

Paul, if you didn't kneel and then unkneel the landing gear. You usually didn't have that many problems.
The kneeling mechanisms were usually a hydraulic leak looking for a place to happen.


And let me guess where you were seated on the 141, the rear third of the cargo compartment aft of the wing.
You're at the very end of the heat ducts there and it shows.

[bosshawk]

Phil: you are correct on the 141 location: aft of the wing in the troop seats along the side.  Fortunately, it isn't a real long flight from Korea to Okinawa.  I had a much better 141 ride on the Embassy Flight from Saigon to Bangkok.

[Garibaldi]

The C-5's main problems are mainly hydraulic related.
The landing gear on this aircraft is very complex and everything has to work properly or you end up with a broke airplane.

The good news is that the C-5M "rebuild" fixes many of the C-5A/B's long term problems.

Where I am living now is near Dobbins ARB, and I was riding around Monday and saw this giant grey thing in the air and realized it was a C-5. We passed the runway and I saw it land. Then it took off again and I got a couple pictures. Really looks like it is fighting to stay in the air.

[PHall]

The C-5's main problems are mainly hydraulic related.
The landing gear on this aircraft is very complex and everything has to work properly or you end up with a broke airplane.

The good news is that the C-5M "rebuild" fixes many of the C-5A/B's long term problems.

Where I am living now is near Dobbins ARB, and I was riding around Monday and saw this giant grey thing in the air and realized it was a C-5. We passed the runway and I saw it land. Then it took off again and I got a couple pictures. Really looks like it is fighting to stay in the air.

Shouldn't be fighting too hard. Brand new GE CF6-80E2 engines replaced the old TF39's. 62,000lbs thrust vs 41,000lbs thrust.
The TF39 was the first high by-pass turbofan to go into service. And it shows...

[a2capt]

This particular NASA bird is the last active one in the US.The cargo compartment is pressurized ..

I know, Wikipedia .. I hate citing that thing, but the photo showing the cockpit looking very chamber like, and the article stating that of the improvements to the SGT, being the pressurized crew cabin ..

I just can't imagine pressurizing that whole thing with that huge breach possibility. Sure, it's got the motherlode of clamps in it, but can a joint like that be that secure, on an old airframe like that especially?

Also, the last one, period, is that one that NASA is operating. The first one is probably going to become a museum piece where as the rest are .. parked someplace probably picked apart. Also, from a space.com article, "Once he finished, Thompson and Coyne went down into the lower cargo hold to shut the lower door that separates the unpressurized back of the plane from the pressurized cockpit".

http://www.space.com/16379-nasa-super-guppy-cargo-plane-first-person.html

The article tells of a segment of the delivery of the Shuttle Trainer to the Seattle Museum of Flight.

[SarDragon]

Regarding pressurizing the entire plane, it's not like it's being pumped up to a couple of hundred PSI. The absolute maximum pressure differential is less than 15 PSI. Sure, there's a huge volume, and a large leak would be interesting to watch. I'd think that a pump big enough to supply that much air would be the limiting factor.

[PHall]

Regarding pressurizing the entire plane, it's not like it's being pumped up to a couple of hundred PSI. The absolute maximum pressure differential is less than 15 PSI. Sure, there's a huge volume, and a large leak would be interesting to watch. I'd think that a pump big enough to supply that much air would be the limiting factor.

Max pressure is usually in the neighborhood of 8 psid with the safety valves opening at 9 psid or so.    (psid = pounds per square inch differental)

On the C-141 and the C-5 it was 8.3 psid with the safeties opening at 8.7 psid.