<html><head><base href="x-msg://54/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><blockquote type="cite"><br><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; "><div style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div><div style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; "><br>A little long but one of the best!!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div><div><div><div><div><div style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 255); "><a href="http://www.wimp.com/breathtakingfootage/" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">Click Here for a Ride In a U2 - Have Your Sound On</a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Good video. Read the text first then watch the video and turn on sound. Right click on screen and click full screen from menu.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Be sure to hit the full screen button on the video. This is truly amazing. Enjoy your flight.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">You can see why the U-2 is considered the most difficult plane in the world to fly. Each pilot has a co-pilot, who chases the plane on the runway in a sports car. Most of the cars are either Pontiac GTOs or Chevrolet Cameros the Air Force buys American. The chase cars talk the pilot down as he lands on bicycle-style landing gear.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">In that spacesuit, the pilot in the plane simply cannot get a good view of the runway.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Upon takeoff, the wings on this plane, which extend 103 feet from tip to tip, literally flap.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">To stabilize the wings on the runway, two pogo sticks on wheels prop up the ends of the wings.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">As the plane flies away, the pogo sticks drop off.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">The plane climbs at an amazing rate of nearly 10,000 feet a minute.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Within about four minutes, I was at 40,000 feet, higher than most commercial airplanes. We kept going up to 13 miles above Earth's surface.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">You get an incredible sensation up there. As you look out the windows,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">it feels like you're floating, it feels like you're not moving, but you're actually going 500 mph..<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">The U-2 was built to go higher than any other aircraft. In fact today,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">more than 50 years since it went into production, the U-2 flies higher than any aircraft in the world with the exception of the space shuttle.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">It is flying more missions and longer missions than ever before <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">nearly 70 missions a month over Iraq and Afghanistan , an operational<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">tempo that is unequaled in history.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">The pilots fly for 11 hours at a time, sometimes more than 11 hours up<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">there alone.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">By flying so high, the U-2 has the capability of doing reconnaissance<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">over a country without actually violating its airspace.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">It can look off to the side, peering 300 miles or more inside a country without actually flying over it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">It can "see" in the dark and through clouds.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">It can also "hear," intercepting conversations 14 miles below.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">The U-2, an incredible piece of history and also a current piece of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">high technology, is at the center of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan .<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Enjoy the ride!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br> <br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Click the link below. Go to the lower Right corner of the screen and click the icon immediately to the left of the volume control to bring up the full screen.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><br></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 255); "><a href="http://www.wimp.com/breathtakingfootage/" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">Click Here for a Ride In a U2 - Have Your Sound On</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div></div></div><div><div style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; "> <o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div></div></div></div></div></span></blockquote></div><br></body></html>