What's the most unusual thing you've had the opportunity to do?

MMissile

MMissile

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I've always lived a pretty "edgy" lifestyle, and always grasped at opportunities, but the most amazing thing I've done, is to drive a "Boomer" sub. Twice.
A old female friend [never a girlfriend], stayed in touch with me after our little group disbanded. She married an old friend, who ended up being a missile-tech on board the SSBN-738 Maryland. He was on the "plank-owner" crew, when it was commissioned in 92.

So....her and I are talking one day, and she asks me if I want to be on the first "tiger-Cruise" of the new boat? I of course answer YES. She tells me they don't give notice of these deals, till a couple days before for security reasons. I of course, still say YES! So, we hang up and I don't talk with her for a little while. In the meantime, I start a new job and tell them of the upcoming/no-scheduled date opportunity. They tell me, "no problem". Of course, she calls me 3-4 days later with a scheduled date. Of course, the new bosses say NO. That was my last day. LOL.

Anyways, I go down to King's Bay [Ga.]naval installation on the appropriate day, things get complicated, and we have to meet elsewhere [Cape Canaveral Trident dock]... and I go on the first "tiger-cruise". The "boat" is brand new, and absolutely jaw-dropping. I could tell this story for hours, but we could go anywhere on the boat, except engineering/nuke, and could take pics anywhere else...except the sonar room. We got to go in there and listen, but no pics. Got to ride on/in the sail on the surface[at sea], do simulated missile launches, shoot water-slugs outta the torpedo tubes, check out the periscope, ate 3 meals/slept/showered, and a limited number got to drive the boat. I was the only one who got to actually move the Maryland from level and straight, as they needed to come up to periscope depth. It was a pretty simple thing, however a civi driving a brand-new nuclear boomer, made ya both anxious and a little squirmy in the lower extremities. It was mind blowing! They did the angles and dangles thing, crash-dive, emergency-blow[just like the movies]...the whole nine yards. The emergency-blow feels like riding in an elevator on an angle. The boat then seems like it sits in the air forever...then crashes down on the surface. Impressive, to say the least.

A couple years later, I went again and took my father. Man, did that boat look different...after a couple years in salt water and people wearing tracks in the floors. The cruise was shorter and I learned on the 1st one, if ya want to ride topside on the St. Marys river to the dock...you gotta be at the correct ladder/waiting, really early. We did, and it was worth the wait. The ride up the river was at sunset and very pretty.

I have 3-4 small albums of 35mm pics I took. I gotta get them downloaded, so I can share. I have a couple I managed to scan, but it takes me forever to find them in my computer. I'm looking......
 
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'Once sucked 100% Aviator's-grade oxygen to help cure a hangover while viewing the curvature of the earth & pitch blackness of space (during high noon), from just above 50,000' in the back seat of a Thunderbird F-16B, high over Texas in 1988. True story...
 
So true. She's been retro-fitted, and I believe she hauls SEAL-teams around now. I'm sure she's still armed heavily.....for now, sigh. It's amazing, how large these things are. You only see a small percentage of the boat. Basicly, the black part.

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My wife got to ride in our local KC-135's, and fly across the state to refuel A-10's. She rode with General Slocum and the crew, for a local government day. She rode -n-back with the "boom" to watch refueling, and in the cockpit when they landed.
Selfridge Air Force base is about 5-10 minutes from our home. We don't even hear them anymore...unless some thing odd comes in or out.

Pics are too large to load....
 
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I'm guessing what you did, with what...might be considered unusual. Traveling isn't unusual, unless it's like a trip up Everest or something. And I'm proud to say I don't travel abroad. Too many things to do and see in America. I like to keep my money here.

More people should experience America.
 
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Well driving a "Boomer" is going to be pretty much impossible to beat... congrats man that was beyond amazing.
 
A carrier landing or take-off would be very cool. My cousin who flew Marine-1, was an Air-Station Commander during his Marine career. I waited too long to think of that idea. He retired.
There are lots of things that would be just as cool/cooler....depending on your interests. That was just mine.
 
Unless someone has flown the space shuttle or spend some time aboard a space station, I can't see driving a sub being topped in this thread.
 
This wasn't posted as a contest. There are no "winners", and we all die.
Why does everybody have to try to make a competition outta everything? I just enjoy sharing people's adventures, and things they enjoy.

Here's another cool thing....
I've been drag-racing most of my adult life. Mostly average-fast cars, until the last 15-20 years. I've never had more than 1000 NA-HP, or gone quicker than 8.70's.

In 2005, I had signed-up for a Drag-racing school, to make myself a better driver. The classes were to be In Houston, after the NHRA event. Because of big-money teams wanting to rent the track on Monday-Tuesday, the classes were cancelled. I already had money and non-refundable things in the works for the trip. After a bunch of bitching with the class-owner and NHRA, NHRA they told us to come down and they'd take care of us for causing these issues. So no classes, but we were given VIP credentials and a guided tour thru the operations of an event. So, I took my 19 year-old nephew..and off we went to Houston. I've been to many NHRA races around the country, but this was from the inside-looking out. We saw everything/everywhere on the grounds. We were in the tower as they announced the race, shown what happens at the scales after a pass, toured anybody's racing pits we cared to and sat with drivers and teams to BS. We had a golf-kart for the weekend to get around, and hung with two teams in particular for the weekend of racing. BUT, the coolest thing we got to do, was stand in the starters box with NHRA starter Rick Stewart, for a couple of qualifying passes of Funny-cars. Being between 2, 10,000hp cars, running on nitro-methane is beyond description. Every one of your senses is being assaulted and violated. From the stands they're an assault on you, but this is nothing like that. Not many things make me a little nervous....but these were insane. I still laugh when I think about it, and feel the assault. That was a great weekend, and thankfully my nephew realized how cool it was, and how we'll never have that opportunity again.


If you've never been to a NHRA event and experienced being in the fuel-car pits during warm-up, or been trackside as nitro cars run.....It has to be experienced, to be believed. It's NOTHING like TV, and is incredible. On the top-end, you can feel the atmosphere around you move. If you're anywhere near the first 1/2 of a pass, your chest quivers and your entire body vibrates. You HAVE to wear hearing protection of some sort.

starting line 2.jpg

Here's some insane facts about fuel racing....
TOP FUEL ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE



Top Fuel dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of 335 miles per hour (539 km/h) and finishing the 1,000 foot (305 m) runs in 3.64 seconds. Here are some fuel facts.

* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower (11,000 HP) than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
* A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster's supercharger.
* With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane, the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
* Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.
* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.
* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, non-burned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.
* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence.
* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's.
* Top Fuel engines turn approximately 480 revolutions from light to light!
* Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.
* The redline is actually quite high at 9500 RPM.
* THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, & for once... NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second.
0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)
0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)
6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)
6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin chutes at 300 MPH An NHRA Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth . . quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle.
The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 3.628 seconds for the 1000' track (2018, Clay Millican). The top speed record is 336.57 MPH as measured over the last 66' of the run (2018, Tony Schumacher).

Putting this all into perspective:
You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged & ready to launch down a quarter-mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the 'Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment.
The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster catches & passes you.
He beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile away from where you just passed him. Think about it - from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 MPH & not only caught you, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1000 foot long race!
That's my friends, is acceleration!
 
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Razzle said:
Unless someone has flown the space shuttle or spend some time aboard a space station, I can't see driving a sub being topped in this thread.
Click to expand...

Does being liberated by EBE's and taken into outer space count? :alien::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Tony
 
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