Posted on 09/25/2006 6:34:12 PM PDT by naturalman1975
PETER Costello emerged pale-faced and bleeding from the ears yesterday after nearing the sound barrier in an FA/A-18 Hornet fighter test flight he described as "the ride of a lifetime".
Travelling at speeds of more than 850km/h over Williamtown in NSW, the Treasurer was strapped into an anti-gravity suit to protect against potential flight side effects such as blackouts during turns and manoeuvres.
It was a case of, "Does my bomb look big in this?" as Mr Costello expressed pre-flight jitters that he was too fat to fit into a cockpit that had been personalised by painting his squadron-assigned nickname "Treas" on its side.
"I don't think I've got the right physique ... for the RAAF. But that's not the story - the story is how brave I was to try," he laughed. "I'm putting my life in your hands."
After the warning, "Everyone vomits and everyone shits themselves", the deputy Liberal leader downed an omelette and sandwiches before rigging himself up for a flight in which his body would withstand six times the force of gravity.
His Top Gun adventure began with an invitation from defence force chief Angus Houston to take a test ride in the $25million fighter and see where $3billion of taxpayers' money was spent upgrading the 71-strong Hornet fleet between 1995 and 2009.
A wobbly legged Treasurer emerged from the dogfight exercise ashen-faced but happy.
"That's the ride of a lifetime. You're just going straight up and straight down and taking out targets in the middle," he said. "I wouldn't do it for fun. We apparently hit six Gs during one of the combat parts. I tell you, you can feel it.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
Bleeding from the ears? You know, I'm not completely sure they followed SOP...
Does me bum look big in this?
Further reading suggests his ears were bleeding but that he wasn't actually bleeding from them - he may have scratched them.
For future reference, the best meal to have before a ride like this is bananas. They're about the only food that tastes the same coming up as they did going down.
Does this mean he flew in like Superman?
Never heard of an Anti-Gravity suit, unless its been in a SciFi show.
When are idiot journalists going to grow a brain?
I don't know why, but I'll probably tuck that tidbit away in the "information you'll probably never need" part of my brain for the rest of my life.
I'm curious though, before it goes into permanent storage, is this first person, or did you read it somewhere?
Actually, it's a legitimate alternative term for a G-suit - less common but it is used, especially in Australia where some of the first such suits were developed under that name in the 1930s.
Well, it's an anti G-FORCE suit, but as far as I know, it does not negate gravity, as I'm sure any pilot wearing one who's "punched out" will attest.
Sorry for the double post - got disconnected as I pressed post and didn't realise it had gone through.
Second hand. When I was in the Navy my roommate at Department Head School was an F-14 flight officer. He told me.
The same wisdom circulates among some blue water sailors.
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