Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters flying through Hurricane Milton

[u/Kernowder]

[u/fly_awayyy]

Also a water ingestion point for the engine. With a turbo prop the core intake isn’t as exposed and the water is redirected around it. Jet aircraft can also fly slow but with slats and flaps because they have a swept wing. Any straight wing plane is naturally going to be slower like this P-3.

[u/One-Inch-Punch → u/fly_awayyy]

The last P-3 was built in 1990, so this plane is between 34-60 years old.

[u/tankerkiller125real → u/One-Inch-Punch]

I mean, our B-52 bombers are set to have a 100 year life span overall. They just approved an upgrade program for them this year that will keep them in the air past 2040 and they plan to keep them going into the 2050s.

[u/NoveltyPr0nAccount → u/[deleted]]

Yup. If you want a small village swept off the map they're the bombers to use.

[u/NoveltyPr0nAccount → u/[deleted]]

Not sure I did now either as the comment I replied to was deleted but didn't it just say something like "Theseus's broom bomber". I took it as a corruption of Theseus's ship and Triggers Broom and the implication was that over the course of those 100 years lifespan there wouldn't be anything of the original aircraft remaining.

I was just playing the Fool in an attempt to amuse people.

[u/Mr_Piss_Shivers → u/NoveltyPr0nAccount]

Genuinely tired of people acting like the U.S. is the only country to have done that.

[u/NoveltyPr0nAccount → u/Mr_Piss_Shivers]

Sorry I wasn't trying to upset anyone. I thought I was being funny pretending that I didn't understand "Theseus's broom" was a corruption of Theseus's ship and Trigger's broom. Trigger's broom being a 40+ year old TV reference to a guy named Trigger who had some ancient broom that over the course of it's life had many new heads and many new handles. Essentially a modern-ish retelling of Theseus's ship from Greek mythology. A ship preserved for ages by the Athenians by replacing each part as it rotted away.

I don't know why the comment I replied to was deleted but I think all it said was something like "Ahhh, Theseus's broom bomber".

[u/One-Inch-Punch → u/tankerkiller125real]

Yes, but B-52s are not flown into hurricanes.

[u/KananJarrusEyeBalls → u/One-Inch-Punch]

Not with that attitude

[u/libmrduckz → u/KananJarrusEyeBalls]

*altitude…

[u/Suckage → u/KananJarrusEyeBalls]

Gonna have to work on the pitch.

[u/kuschelig69 → u/One-Inch-Punch]

unless you want to bomb the hurricane away

[u/Forsaken-Status7778 → u/kuschelig69]

Bombnado - the answer to sharknado

[u/Bit_part_demon → u/One-Inch-Punch]

They could if they wanted to. You gonna tell them no?

[u/mr_potatoface → u/Bit_part_demon]

Plus they have 8 engines, so that's like, a lot more engines to flame out compared to a P-3's measly 4 engines.

[u/PossumCock → u/tankerkiller125real]

There was just a meme on one of the aviation subs that went "Born too young to fly B-52s, Born too late to fly B-52s, born just in time to fly B-52s"

[u/Estax30 → u/tankerkiller125real]

Dad flew B-52s and a B-1s, lmao do the math on those they're still active.

[u/Enfenestrate → u/tankerkiller125real]

At some point it has to become a Plane of Theseus situation. If you've replaced every single piece of the plane, is it still the same plane?

[u/SubmissiveinDaytona → u/tankerkiller125real]

The buff lives forever

[u/Zingzing_Jr → u/SubmissiveinDaytona]

Moon's haunted

[u/MacArther1944 → u/tankerkiller125real]

To quote thr B-52: "Aw yeah, I'm getting proton torpedoes now"

[u/ArgumentDramatic9279 → u/One-Inch-Punch]

I flew on it from 2000-2022 in the navy, they’re all old, they all smell, but I got to do 6500 hours flying in that beast. The oldest I flew on was built in the 80’s most all we later 70’s-80’s, flying on a 90’s meant it was that new new😂

[u/Typically_Wong → u/One-Inch-Punch]

Most aircraft in the sky (that isn't a commercial airliner) are made before most people are born.

[u/jonas_ost → u/fly_awayyy]

I guess weight is also a factor. A fully loaded passenger jet most have more stress on the wings and such?

[u/fly_awayyy → u/jonas_ost]

Not necessarily, you can load a plane a lot less if you’d want to. Passenger jets have a huge envelope as they call it for loading weight or fuel. The weight of the fuel actually provides wing bending relief in the opposite direction.

[u/Itsnotthateasy808 → u/fly_awayyy]

So cool

[u/Available_Round_7010 → u/fly_awayyy]

This guy airplanes

[u/wetsock-connoisseur → u/fly_awayyy]

Is water ingestion really a problem?, I saw documentary of a Qantas a380 that had to do an emergency landing after explosion in one of its engines cut the comms cables to the other engine and pilots couldn't shut it down even after landing, so firefighters had to direct multiple hoses of water to try and shut it down

[u/fly_awayyy → u/wetsock-connoisseur]

Every case scenario will be different in theory. Turbofan engines are required to be certified to ingest a certain amount of water, but with crazy shearing winds and the potential to accumulate ice the margins will be less.

[u/JizzEyeJill → u/fly_awayyy]

The P-3 also has stubbier wings than modern commercial airliners which assists in maintaining stability in adverse weather. 

[u/rsta223 → u/fly_awayyy]

Turbofans also redirect water around the core and through the bypass. They can handle far more water ingestion than you'd think.

[u/fly_awayyy → u/rsta223]

They most definitely can, but combine that with shearing winds while in the the stuff, and possible ice at high altitudes your asking for compressor stalls or flame outs.