A Stealth Fighter Left Too Long in the Freezer

seen here is a lockheed f-117 nighthawk frozen in ice military aircraft are expected to perform flawlessly in an endless array of environments from the burning sand of the middle east to the freezing snowstorms of the arctic rigorous testing is required before a new airplane is brought into service common sense suggests that aircraft should be tested in real ecosystems but that can be expensive and unpredictable in the 1940s the us air force built an engineering marvel a weather laboratory capable of simulating all kinds of weather possibilities military aircraft and private corporations would be able to test their upcoming projects in the facility named the mckinley climatic laboratory [Music] as the largest indoor weather testing facility in the world the mckinley laboratory has been active for almost 75 years it's been crucial since world war ii for developing and testing america's most advanced fighter aircraft and bombers outdoors indoors a failed weather testing facility in alaska where temperatures couldn't be predicted or managed at will inspired the idea to build a giant lab where many different weather conditions could be simulated in a controlled environment [Music] the laboratory began testing in 1947 at building 440 on eglinton air force base in the florida panhandle the purpose of the mckinley lab was to measure the performance of aircraft parts and other items in extreme temperatures to find faults and the causes of said reactions these measurements are made by instruments and read by engineers the aircraft is supported and tied down so the wheels don't move the engines can keep running the ability to make detailed measurements and reports during these operations is the most significant advantage over outdoor testing and while most of the testing done at mckinley is by government agencies such as the department of defense other private industries have also used the facilities it's most commonly used to probe the climate limits of aircrafts tanks missile launchers shelters engines and automobiles a florida blizzard the climatic laboratory has five testing chambers the biggest and most used is the main chamber it's the largest environmental chamber in the world at 55 000 square feet the main chamber can fit large aircraft such as the b2 bomber b29 superfortress c82 packet and the sikorsky h5t helicopter within the chamber is a hangar that has a variable temperature range of negative 65 to 165 degrees fahrenheit it can simulate climatic conditions from all around the world and it can produce solar radiation fog snow storms torrential rain high winds and even sand and dust this is all thanks to mckinley's air makeup system which allows the aircraft's creators to detect possible future failures such as aircraft configuration instability and leaky engines the equipment test chamber is smaller at 4 000 square feet still it has the same capabilities as the main chamber the equipment test chamber is usually used to test jet engines or smaller vehicles and is also available for private companies the sun wind rain and dust chamber recreates ambient and hot test conditions this room can generate up to 25 inches per hour of wind-blown rain as well as heavy sand and dust storms of up to 60 knots the temperature range in this chamber can go from negative 80 up to 170 degrees fahrenheit the salt fog chamber is separate from the others here two heat exchangers create temperatures able to perform a salt fog test they replicate tropical conditions with 100 humidity and salty fog to test the corrosiveness of an aircraft or vehicle last but not least the altitude chamber creates pressure altitude as high as 80 000 feet with a temperature range from 80 to 140 degrees fahrenheit an expensive power bill constant updates and modifications have kept the mckinley lab useful to this day recently renovations have focused on the removal of ozone depleting coolants nearly every us weapon and its associated equipment have made the trip to eglin to undergo climatic testing at the mckinley lab the f-35 is one of the latest to be frozen baked deluged snowed in blown on fogged and humidified in the last few decades the lab was also tested the c5 galaxy the f-117 the f-22 the boeing 787 and the airbus a350 xwb on october 6 1997 the mckinley climatic laboratory was added to the us national register of historic places some of the private industries that have worked with mckinley lab are ford google and some private jet companies the mckinley lab isn't cheap just one day of testing in the main chamber costs between ten thousand to twenty five thousand dollars the monthly electric bill is over two hundred thousand dollars still it's better than the alternative traveling around the world chasing the required weather risking possible attacks or unexpected weather conditions [Music] [Music] you

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Views: 1,057,738

Rating: 4.8178005 out of 5

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Id: Eavbt2GLRLg

Length: 5min 33sec (333 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 17 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/CptHA86]

Just call AGE for a couple heater carts.

[u/TheRedBrown]

Cool.

[u/joshr03]

Why is this sped up? The narration sounds like shit