Watch this fighter jet's insane vertical takeoff
Technically Incorrect: It seems like a normal takeoff for this MiG-29. Until it isn't.
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
Some things make sense to me.
With others, I struggle.
So when I watch this footage of a Polish Air Force MiG-29 taking off, I go along for the ride. Until my stomach takes an involuntary turn.
I imagine, you see, what it would be like to be in the cockpit as the pilot decides to have a little fun.
The takeoff seems entirely normal until the pilot appears to push the "Make Like A Rocket" button. Suddenly, the plane turns to the vertical and rises like a NASA shuttle.
Polish pilots are world-renowned for their extraordinary skills, even the ones on the national airline LOT. (I used to fly it all the time.) This must clearly be just another example.
TopFelya, who posted it to YouTube, says that the action occurred at the recently concluded Royal International Air Tattoo.
The MiG-29 has been around since the 1970s. But I wonder how often its pilots have performed this maneuver. It might remind some of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner offering its own version of the vertical takeoff at this year's Paris Air Show.
But that was a more graceful, slow-motion and not-quite-as-vertical affair. This appeared to be so fierce and dynamic as to be utterly frightening.
I know some of you have your own private planes. I hope, should you choose to try such a maneuver, that you know what you're doing.
I'll stay down here on earth and happily watch the film, thanks.
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