Mach 2.0 Without a Canopy, on Purpose

[Tyyr]

Maybe

The spectacular picture above was (reportedly) shot high above the set of a movie. Producers for an unknown movie paid a couple of Russian pilots to fly their SU-35UB jet at speeds past Mach 2.0... without a canopy! After the flight, the pilot said, "While on this speed I even managed to pull out my fingers in glove for an inch or two outside - it became heated very fast because of immense friction force plane undergoes with the air."

The script also required one of the pilots to eject from the cockpit, as seen below.

Whatever movie this ends up being part of, I'd buy my ticket now if I could. I hope it's in 3-D.

Depending on the airflow around the cockpit area this is not entirely implausible. Depending on the airflow coming off the forward windscreen the canopy itself can have little to nothing to do with the aerodynamics of the aircraft.

[Mikey]

Certainly possible. I wouldn't have been the one to try it, though.

[Lighthawk]

If you've ever seen the mythbusters about driving with the top down in the rain, you've seen how this could be pulled off. The windstream forms a bubble from the edge of the end of the widshield that extended over the back of the car (the plane, in this case).

[Tyyr]

They use the same principle in sub launched ballistic missiles. Ever see the pictures of the blunt nosed missiles with a long spike out in front of them? The spike extended on launch and created the same effect as having a nice aerodynamic nose cone without needing a huge submarine to house them in.

[Lighthawk]

They use the same principle in sub launched ballistic missiles. Ever see the pictures of the blunt nosed missiles with a long spike out in front of them? The spike extended on launch and created the same effect as having a nice aerodynamic nose cone without needing a huge submarine to house them in.

That's rather awesome.

[Mikey]

I'm reminded of how pickup trucks are affected. Removing the tailgate reduces mpg, not increases it - a bubble forms in the bed, and airflow is directed over the top of the bubble. Wouldn't that cause an uncomfortable - at best - back-to-front vortex in the cockpit?

[Lighthawk]

I'm reminded of how pickup trucks are affected. Removing the tailgate reduces mpg, not increases it - a bubble forms in the bed, and airflow is directed over the top of the bubble. Wouldn't that cause an uncomfortable - at best - back-to-front vortex in the cockpit?

It might not. A truck's bubble isn't really even noticable if you're sitting in the back, even at highway speed. I don't think the bubble vortex is much more than a tiny fraction of the air stream going overhead. Granted yes, there is a world of difference between 60mph and mach 2, but seeing as the pilots weren't smashed into their controls, I'm guessing whatever vortex effect they had going on wasn't all that bad. Plus they did have on full flight gear and were strapped in.

[Tsukiyumi]

...A truck's bubble isn't really even noticable if you're sitting in the back, even at highway speed...

It is when you have long hair.

[Mikey]

You've got it all wrong, Tsu - you sit in the cab, and put the dog in the back.

[Tsukiyumi]

You've got it all wrong, Tsu - you sit in the cab, and put the dog in the back.

That explains everything!