Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin F/A-18 Hornet from Strike Fighter Squadron One Five One emerges from cloud created as it broke the sound barrier over the Pacific Ocean, July 7, 1999. (Photo by John Gay/US Navy) As an adventure journalist, I've been privileged to participate in a smorgasbord of extreme endeavors. One category: Flying supersonic in planes.
Now I'm not a pilot - far from it - but I've broken the sound barrier in no less than seven separate aircraft. If I were chasing Guinness records (I'm not), this might be one. Today, for the first time, I decided to dig into the aviation books to discover just what each of the planes is capable of - and how close we came to maxing them out.
Suffice it to say, all of these magnificent flying machines are a wonder to behold, let alone fly in. Russian AirForce Mikoyan MiG-25PU Foxbat takes off at the 1999 MAKS Airshow. (Photo by: aviation-images.
com/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) MiG-25 Foxbat: In 1999, I traveled to isolated Zhukovsky Air Base near Moscow for a joy ride in the trainer cockpit of a MiG-25 Foxbat. The aircraft was developed during the Cold War with the former Soviet Union to intercept high-flying American jets, including the F-15 and SR-71. When my pilot, Alexander Garnaev, maxed out on our flight, we hit Mach 2.
6 and flew as high as 84,000 feet. That may seem extreme, but the aircraft is capable of a lot more. It holds the official altitude record by a jet: Just over 123,500 feet.
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