Either way there is plenty of times to figure out the kinks. Like I said tailless design with such novel aerodynamic controls are challenging. No one has done it before so you gotta figure out everything yourself.
Shenyang next gen combat aircraft thread
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
It seems perfectly sensible to be that they want to test the sensitivity of the aircraft on landing approaches. You gotta make sure that the plane responds when you land man.
Could the J-50/SHAD be unmanned? We honestly have not seen the cockpit. The most we've seen is a slight bulge. That could be for any sort of onboard equipment. Conveniently hidden in basically every shot... which of course could simply be due to the location of the two airfields and their surrounding infrastructure not allowing a passerby to get footage of the cockpit like we have for J-36.
There was atleast one picture where the cockpit showed a pretty strong glare
One scenario that I can think of is landing in strong side wind. You wobble the aircraft in calm weather to see how responsive it is before you put it in actual strong side wind.
with modern helmet vision systems the visibility provided by canopy is no longer needed as urgently, optical systems can provide all-round vision even including through the floor of the cockpit. The less pronounced is the cockpit, the less aerodynamic drag it induces. Heck, lying flat in the cockpit can make 15g maneuvers possible even
If manned and designed with a greater seating incline, then SHAD may just place great emphasis on turning performance than even 4th and 5th gen fighters. Okay the inclined seating advantage in pilot G exposure may not be as big a deal as the reduced drag so maybe that statement isn't true but dogfighting may still be a role this fighter is designed for in case of merges. Would be a shame to dogfight the world's first operational next generation fighter though.
How'd you know SAC is gonna be CAC to IOC, at this point it's anyone but Boeing's race
I think SHAD beats CHAD in maneuverability. CHAD probably beats SHAD in cruise and top speed despite having a lower ratio between wingspan and fuselage length. Not an aerodynamicist though. Anyway none of those attributes are quite as important to get right as their role and the capabilities they bring under all that mechanical stuff.
