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Plane Under Pontcysyllte Aqueduct?


cheshire~rose

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Something for Hivemind of the forum to ponder upon:

It was one of those comments you see posted on Facebook that really needed to be scrolled past and I did, but it set me thinking and pondering on whether it is just an urban myth or not and, whether it would actually be possible. 

I read a comment that someone had once flown a plane through one of the arches of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. My initial reaction was, yeah right, then I tried to picture the width of the spans in my head and imagine the wingspan of a small plane and it seems fairly unlikely unless it was one of the crazy people who fly in those Red Bull races. 

The other thought I had was, if someone had ever done it is it possible that the entire world would not know about it? 

Having pondered for a while without actually trying to research the width of the spans and having no firm knowledge of the wingspan of a small aircraft I drew a blank but then the question popped back into my head as it touched the pillow last night and I asked Dave who knows far more about aircraft than me, he Googled the length of the aqueduct and divided it by the number of spans and had a think and said it was unlikely - then in the next breath said it could be done if it was a very skilled pilot and he flew through with wings tilted (a la Red Bull races) but he had not checked the width of the piers and it was late and ..... his last comment was if it was Commander Ken Wallace with his auto-gyro then he would have believed it. Then again, if it had been a military pilot doing it for a dare would it have been kept quiet?

Over to you then:  The historians, can you tell me if it has ever been done or is there a rumour that it was done once? The mathematicians - can it be done and if so just how difficult would it be? 

 

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according to what I can find...

the aquaduct has 18 piers 126ft high (38.4m) and 19 arches, each with a 45ft (13.7m) span

the wingspan of an extra 300s (a fairly popular precision aerobatic plane) is listed as 26'3" (8m)

other small planes (cessnas etc) seem to have a wingspan of around 11m.

my thoughts are that in something like an extra 300s it could be done with the aircraft horizontal (with about 9 feet clearance either side) but it would take a very skilled pilot given their flight speed. something a little slower flying like the cessnas could do it on paper but the reality of trying to fly with less than 4 feet of clearance on either side make it very unlikely (one gust of wind and you're f***ed)

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It's certainly possible I would say even if the wing span was too wide for the gap, but it would need as you say c~r something like the skill of the red bull pilots.....

sBzkVWNh.png

 

Edited by MJG
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Interesting

The Extra 300s is, I believe a fairly recent aircraft in the realms of flying history. The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is somewhat older than the type of flying machines that might be able to achieve the feat. 

Given that the comment was made by someone of around pension age who said they "knew someone who had flown under it" If we are to assume that comment is reliable it would kind of take us back to the days of the first flight potentially (is the person who said it was young when they "knew" the person who did it and the person who did it was significantly older) 

If it had been a military aircraft (which might account for nobody knowing anything about it) what might it have been? We can be fairly safe in our assumption that, if it did happen, it was a success as it may have been a little more difficult to keep it quiet if a wreckage in the valley needed explaining and, the pilot would have had to be charmed to be able to tell the tale if it had not been successful! 

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Flying under bridges has a long history.  I was amazed to find that the first plane to fly under the upper walkway of Tower Bridge was in 1912, only nine years after the Wright brothers first powered flight.  And in 1953, 'Mad Major' Draper flew under fifteen of London's bridges in one go.  His pilot's licence was revoked, but later restored.

So I can easily imagine that the Ponty could be underflown.

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21 minutes ago, cheshire~rose said:

Interesting

The Extra 300s is, I believe a fairly recent aircraft in the realms of flying history. The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is somewhat older than the type of flying machines that might be able to achieve the feat. 

Given that the comment was made by someone of around pension age who said they "knew someone who had flown under it" If we are to assume that comment is reliable it would kind of take us back to the days of the first flight potentially (is the person who said it was young when they "knew" the person who did it and the person who did it was significantly older) 

If it had been a military aircraft (which might account for nobody knowing anything about it) what might it have been? We can be fairly safe in our assumption that, if it did happen, it was a success as it may have been a little more difficult to keep it quiet if a wreckage in the valley needed explaining and, the pilot would have had to be charmed to be able to tell the tale if it had not been successful! 

A Spitfire has a wing span of 11 meters and a Hurricane 12 (which surprised me when I checked - I thought it would be same or shorter) - both hose aircraft were flown by pilots brave (or crazy!) enough to try it I would say.

(A tornado GR1 has a wing span of 12 meters in extended position but apparently only 8 meters when swept back - but surely nobody would be daft enough to fly a fast jet under there........would they???)

Edited by MJG
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8 minutes ago, cheshire~rose said:

Apparently they had Tiger Moths at RAF Sealand ;) 

I knew there would be loads of people at a lose end on a Sunday!

I am wondering how long before we get a photoshopped image of a Vulcan steering through the arch! 

My old man used to own a Tiger Moth, His dad used to work at RAF Sealand, neither has been through the aqueduct as far as I know.

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1 hour ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

Flying under bridges has a long history.  I was amazed to find that the first plane to fly under the upper walkway of Tower Bridge was in 1912,

1912:

frank.jpg

1968 (sort of):

6a014e888ede74970d01b7c82dfc67970b-800wi

http://www.aerialcombat.co.uk/2016/04/seven-seconds-the-tower-bridge-hawker-hunter-incident.html

Richard

MORE: The Spit fly through is from the series 'Piece of Cake'

Edited by RLWP
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5 hours ago, furnessvale said:

I once steered a 737 under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Mind you, that was on a flight simulator, does that count?

George

I got a Spitfire under the Eifell tower once - yet again in a flight simulator!

The story btw was around in the 1970's before health and safty came along so you never know!

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38 minutes ago, Laurence Hogg said:

I got a Spitfire under the Eifell tower once - yet again in a flight simulator!

The story btw was around in the 1970's before health and safty came along so you never know!

They have flown a drone under it, does that count?

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1 hour ago, Laurence Hogg said:

I got a Spitfire under the Eifell tower once - yet again in a flight simulator!

The story btw was around in the 1970's before health and safty came along so you never know!

Does the story you remember from the 70's give any more detail Lawrence? 

Were the people telling it any more reliable that Facebook? Scratch that, I think it might be impossible to be less reliable :)

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2 hours ago, cheshire~rose said:

Does the story you remember from the 70's give any more detail Lawrence? 

Were the people telling it any more reliable that Facebook? Scratch that, I think it might be impossible to be less reliable :)

It was just one of those bar stories you heard around, bit like "theres 3 four layers of boats in the Flash at Broken Cross", kinda true but stretched a bit !!!

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