🇺🇸 The Interesting 🤔 Lockheed U-2 Landing Procedure

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Interesting to see, as the U-2 jet plane comes down to land, rolling slowly to a halt, one wing flops to the ground, then the truck with the pogo wheels comes along and fits them in for the aircraft to taxi on round to its apron position on the airbase.

The U-2 is very sensitive to crosswinds, which, together with its tendency to float over the runway, makes the aircraft notoriously difficult to land. As it approaches the runway, the cushion of air provided by the high-lift wings in ground effect is so pronounced that the U-2 will not land unless the wings are fully stalled. A landing U-2 is accompanied on the ground by a chase car, which is driven by a second U-2 pilot who assists the landing U-2 by reporting the aircraft's altitude and attitude.

Once the aircraft has descended to an altitude of two feet above the runway the pilot initiates a stall and the aircraft falls from this height. Chase cars and live calling of aircraft altitude are necessary because the landing gear is not designed to absorb the weight of the aircraft when falling from altitudes much above two feet.