To clear up the confusion, the company that operates the aircraft is based at KSC and has authorization to operate within their restricted airspace. For a flight such as this one, the restricted area goes hot, sometimes the full deal from surface to unlimited. The operating area extends well offshore over the Atlantic. At 45,000 ft/min climb and 0.92 mach cruise, it doesn't take long to get offshore into an area in which unrestricted operations are permitted.
12:44 I just recognized that he was flying at the Kennedy Space Center, thats the VAB and he's landing on the Shuttle landing facility. How cool is that. I live 40 minutes away from there!
What a great ride you gave us. Thank you sir! The transition to supersonic was so smooth that I couldn't tell when it occurred. It would have been nice to have seen the mach meter. I've never flown in an F-104. What a great plane.
@@debbies3763 not sure if your comment is an actual question or not but, at Mach 2.2 (F104 top speed) it is doing about 28 miles a minute. So at full balls out speed one of these would do 100 miles in about 3 and a half minutes.
Great vid, and I think I speak for most aviation fans, when I say THANK YOU for not adding some shit soundtrack to this. Jet noise IS my soundtrack! Thanks, again, sir!
Lame soundtrack addition to any cockpit footage should result in permanent expulsion from the Internet. I am so sick of the number of times I've heard Thunderstruck over AH-64-footage.
The J-79 is music all by itself. Nothing else made by humans sounds like that, and it will be a sad day the last time a J-79 or LM1500 shuts down and is never heard again. That sound. That SOUND. nothing even close to it
+Micheal Donovan This was an issue with this concept,The British E.E. (B.A.C.) Lightning Fighter also had the same initial limitation.It was inherent in its very specialised role of High speed,High level Interceptor,i.e. 'get off,get up,locate,kill,get back,all in around 20 minutes or so.It was not meant to undertake extensive Air Combat Manouveres,or engage in any 'Multi role' or strike missions.This was quickly found to be of very little use to Air Forces that simply needed far more 'bang for their buck'!Indeed many believe it was Lockheed's deliberate corruption of the Star-fighters role from bespoke Interceptor to 'Multi role Combat Aircraft that led to the tragic losses suffered by the Luftwaffe.The Starfighter like all Thoroughbreds was a magnificent beast,but very highly strung and unforgiving! I.M.H.O. of this generation and type of aircraft only the MiG 21 managed to successfully become a useful M.R.C.A.!
I understand that those 'protectors' really were needed to prevent Groundcrew being cut by the sharp edges of the wings! It had its limitations but the F104 was without a doubt one of the most beautiful 'Jets' ever built,especially when 'stripped down' and in 'Silver' U.S.A.F. 'Colours'.as a boy in the 60's they were the epitome of American Military style to me,and began an admiration for U.S. design that I still have to this day!
Hello again Micheal! Yes the ' Under and over' engines meant a fairly long 'ladder' had to be fabricated to effect Crew access! The sight of a 'Lightning' going vertical,burning pure 'Avpin' is one of the Memories that made my heart swell 'back in the day' The 1960's were the Golden age of military Aviation!Planes had character and unique styles,not like today's flying 'bugs' (I think it's time for my Medicine now,! Ex R.A.F. 'Erk' 73-79!
It really too close to call on Scotland,but as a Englishman,Who was glad to serve at Lossiemouth and Leuchars (Buccaneers and Phantoms) It would be heartbreaking!Never has the 'West' needed unity of purpose more,it's either make a stand for freedom now or wait for the Caliphate to spread like a cancer,until that Black Flag flies over Buckingham Palace and the Whitehouse.I used to live at Beck Row,worked for U.K. D.O.E./P.S.A. at Mildenhall,my Brother in law served 4 years there!
Yes indeed Micheal,my American family all live around The Cape (Satellite,Cocoa,Rockledge,etc)! I can't help but think we've hijacked this a bit,but W.T.H.,! I couldn't have been more disappointed with President Obama.He seems to have bungled every thing,corrected none of the things he said he would,and initiated nothing.He has had opposition,but he doesn't seem to have been able to sell his pitch,and in a 'democracy' that's everything!Whatever we ( UK,US,EC,even Russia,China and India) need to wake up to the fact the the SHTF,After Iraq and now we have to find a way to restore our safety.I.S. is now to all intents a National entity,well equipped for ground combat with millions of dollars of equipment and weapons we paid for,and the useless Iraqi armed forces threw on the ground at the first sight of a black flag.These Murderers and bandits are coming to kill us,they have said so quite clearly,unless we kneel to their perverted perception of Islam.Our Current Air dominance must be exploited soonest for maximum effect,but only ' boots on the ground' and many NATO boots at that,will turn this tide,and then hopefully terminate this threat!If this current NATO summit doesn't sound a 'muster for combat' call we might as well learn Arabic and buy a Prayerrug!
+Mick Muscles The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.
Awesome from Kennedy Space Center, the pilot basically went the same route the Space Shuttle would have on it's way to orbit I'm pretty sure anyway... Lucky person that to fly shotgun ... Awesome video, thanks for sharing !
I saw F- 104's land at McConnell AFB in Wichita, KS in the early 70's and was amazed at the high angle of attack as they came in. The tail would be hanging low and looked almost like it was close to dropping out of the sky in a stall. Can any former pilot talk about this. I have never seen one land like that in a video. Is that a normal landing maneuver?
great video.... Never gone supersonic before... the F104 didn't even notice.. Im restoring a Mig21.. it supposed to shudder at the point of supersonic. Just past mach 0.97
Berke Beenhouwer Sure am. I have a 1967 ex Egyptian mig21u. Once its up and ready I will be flying adventure flights in it over here in Perth Western Australia.
I know where this was filmed at. Thats the shuttle landing strip isn't it? I can tell by the surroundings and the white gravel road outlining the marsh below. I wish I could have been out there to see you during this fly overhead that would have been awesome. Amazing flight man thanks for sharing this video and doing what you do. I couldn't fly because my eye sight being bad. Maybe my next life right?
Did the 104 have a bit of yaw instability in cruise? While he's flying straight and level out over the water the nose seems to walk around a little bit at about 1 hertz along with a bit of associated roll. Is that the autopilot in use or perhaps a yaw damper characteristic?
+Schluesselmensch I noticed it looks like it has a slight wander on the runway on the takeoff and landing runs; you can see the nose searching slightly as it rolls.
The GE J-79 Turbojet Engine with Afterburner in this F-104 Starfighter has quite a "Boom" noise,when you kick in the Afterburner prior to the takeoff roll. I didn't hear the Afterburner "Boom' noise kick in on this video prior to his takeoff roll. How come?
The aircraft in the video goes supersonic while on a due east heading away from the coastline. And as someone previously stated, there are exceptions for aircraft such as the F-104 for violation of the 250 knot limit below 10,000MSL. .
@h1dden Apart from the Mach meter showing it, you would get a slight sensation of increased pressure in you ear as the normal shock wave passes over the canopy and simultaneously your VSI and Altimeter will show a descend due to the same increase in pressure. A short lecture on normal shock waves - the form in the transonic speed area between M0.8 to M1.2 (mostly but type dependent) and the form where there is an accumulation of air molecules when the free airstream decelerates from supersonic to subsonic speed
The second object at 4:17ish appears from behind clouds. As it goes around it then goes behind clouds again. If you slow it down to .25 speed that is how it looks. While it is in plain sight it looks like a gnat or something inside the glass crawling. Especially where it stops and then starts again goes up and then turns around. But when it appears it looks like it comes from behind clouds, and then goes behind clouds again.
Freaking awesome !!!! 👍👍👍👍 Great landing !! I Just don't get why German Air force pilots simply hated the F-104, loosing lots of them back in the 80's.....
German pilots certainly didn't hate them, they absolutely loved them! I've never seen an interview of a German F-104 pilot where he even remotely criticises the plane. On the contrary, they all sing its praises. Their widows and the German press, on the other hand...
@@geraldheinig4205 ...yeah ! That may explain the negative issue, then. (Press... always manipulating public opinion according to their interest $$$... It's not new). Do you know why they got so many losses, then ???
@@Tiagomottadmello Hey Tiago, tudo bem? I wrote an answer to your question this morning, but it got censored, probably due to my comment about the press and its job. I was thinking of replying in Portuguese, but thought better of it in order to reach a wider audience.
@@geraldheinig4205 Hey! Tudo muito bem, e com você ?? 😂😂👍👍 Good try answering in portuguese, man. It would have been real cool to know what you know and had to say about the press... It's annoyingly impressive how the censorship is broad these days, in every single country in the world !! That's why we call It "DictaTube"... It does the same to us all the freaking time over here in my country. It's all about manipulation and interest $$$$. Ridiculous all that !
@@geraldheinig4205 ...👉 Just a tip : whenever you want to write something that's subject of DictaTube censorship, select and copy it before sending It out.... If DictaTube censors you, paste It back changing only the critical words, and try again... 👍👍. . NEVER ALLOW THEM TO BREAK YOUR FREEDOM !! 👊👊
Man that thing drops like a rock when you pull the power back! What is your final approach speed when you're lined up on the runway just before coming in?
+DVRCGreg The 104's landing speed is 150 knots minimum from what I've read. Over the fence at about 180kts. They have blown flaps and also have to maintain above about 83% N1 Rpm to avoid losing control. images.dailykos.com/images/127026/large/F-104_Landing.jpg?1422875842 That image should help you with how crazy fast the pattern is with these.
Caught the bird at the 58 second mark. That's what would really make me nervous about flying this or any jet. By the time you see it, it's too late to do anything about it. Wouldn't stop me if given the chance though!
Given the fuel burn of these old jets (600 gallons/minute w/afterburn) I bet that was an expensive afternoon. I swear my ears started to pop on that dramatic climb!
Well he took off from the shuttle landing runway at Cape Canaveral. You can see the vehicle assembly building at 2:16 and the launch pad at 8:34. And it looks to me like the supersonic run was at about 6:45ish. Max speed...no idea.
Slow the video speed down to 0.25 and watch at 4:14. A bright object, seemingly quite close, cuts across the center of the screen from top middle to lower right diagonally. It's so fast you can only see it at quarter speed. A few seconds later at 4:17 a similar object appears, now seemingly much further away and moves from center right upwards, appears to stop very briefly, then changes direction downward moving much faster and makes some quick turns before disappearing. Right after it stops briefly there also appears to some kind halo effect, not unlike a shock-wave, as it starts moving again. What the is that? I have no belief in UFO's by the way but it is weird!
Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He takes off and lands on the Space Shuttle Runway. You can see the Vehicle Assembly Building on his final landing approach.
Did we go supersonic? I wanted to see a transsonic machmeter. Can you imagine what that flight cost?? BIG Bucks! I had more fun in my Experimental Amateur Built plane - 3.5gph @ 80mph. And, loved doing those Hammerhead Turns!
At 4:14 head not moving and that's when you can see something streak by from eleven o'clock down to five o'clock in that moment. At 4:15 he moves his head. Now we have a bug running circles at one O'clock in the canopy. Forget it, sit back enjoy the flight. Where we going anyway?
...🤔... Just picture yourself in this pilot's place, in a hurry to intercept a Mig-21 fleet... (You may come back to the ground or not, your body being torn to pieces by a missile you didn't even see coming....). Great respect for all the fighter pilots and their bravery !! 👊👊
man , I would love to be a pilot. My own hope now is to fly in heaven. Just as Jesus ascended into it, to fly in the sky. So amazing. The clouds ripping by is extraordinary.
