Message posted by Magoo on May 20, 2000 at 00:10:08 EST:

Jeff

The thing is, because there are no KNOWN PDW engines in operational use, it is not known whether the bright flash is a characteristic of these engines or not, except perhaps by a handful of scientists.

The only possible explanation of the phenomena you witnessed that I can think of, is that perhaps it was a jet aircraft having engine troubles, or a military jet going into and out of afterburner, or, although you say you are 100% sure it wasn't, possibly the sunlight reflecting off the airframe.

You are correct when you say that it would not be desirable for a 'black' aircraft to have such visible characteristics, and this has been one such argument bandied about amongst researchers of late. Basically, it is very difficult to combine 'stealth' operations with extreme high performance flight, mainly because of the energy required to achieve that performance and the resultant heat and noise signatures given off. Heat and noise (and contrails) are not stealthy!

The SR-71 for example, had a very small radar frontal cross section, and so it was operationally savvy to fly directly towards known radar sites rather than to try to fly around them and present a larger side-on profile. Once the 'SR' was overhead or past the radar, it could be more easily tracked due to it's larger profile, and the noise and IR signature, but by then its departing speed of Mach 3+ and extreme altitude of 80,000 feet meant that there was no missile or fighter that could engage it in a tail chase!

Magoo

In Reply to: Re: Doughnuts on a rope plane sighting-with request posted by Jeff on May 19, 2000 at 22:08:02 EST:

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